“Hi,” Hannah returns.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us, Bran?” Sandra asks.
“Sure. Hannah, Sandra. Sandra, Hannah.”
Sandra rolls her eyes. “It’s nice to meet you, Hannah. I don’t remember seeing you around before.”
“No. It’s my first visit to Lake Mistletoe. I’m Keller’s cousin, just here for the holidays,” Hannah elaborates.
“How nice. I hope you enjoy your stay with us,” Sandra says before turning her attention back to me and giving me a pointed look. “I have to run. Thursday, Bran. Don’t forget.”
Then, she hurries toward the door, passing Trixie and Trudy as they come bounding into the shop, chatting away, as they do.
“Excuse me,” Sandra says politely before disappearing down the sidewalk.
“Hi, ladies. What brings you two beauties in this morning?” I ask.
“Oh, you charmer,” Trudy says, waving off my comment. “We’ve just come to fetch Hannah.”
“Are you ready, dear?” Trixie asks.
“I am. Where are we off to next?”
“Bob called and asked for us to swing by the hardware store and pick up the new post hole digger Hoyt is holding for him, and then we’ll head back to the inn and help Alice with the afternoon tea service.”
“Would you look at this? I need something like this for the pool area at my house in Palm Springs,” Trudy says as she admires the dining table Hannah noticed earlier. It’s a four-foot-by-eight-foot handmade solid acacia wood table with a custom resin river in a dark brown and emerald green.
She turns to her daughter. “Don’t you think this would be lovely with the tiki bar top, Hannah?”
“It would.”
“Bran, can you guys do this in an aqua-blue accent color?” Trudy asks.
“We can do it in any color. Keller builds the table, and I do the epoxy design,” I explain.
“I must have one,” she says.
“Okay. Let’s get an order written up,” I say as I walk to the counter. “You’ll have to be patient with me. It takes me an extra few minutes to type everything out, one-handed. I chicken peck on a good day, but now, it’s more like a chicken on Ambien pecking.”
“We’re in no hurry. I still can’t believe my daughter hit you with a lamp.”
“Mom, I didn’t just hurl a lamp at him for no reason. He was breaking into my room,” Hannah defends.
“Technically, it was an unprovoked attack,” I quip.
“Technically, perhaps, but I didn’t know that at the time,” she insists.
“I hope she at least apologized,” Trudy continues.
“Of course I did. Several times.”
“She did, but if she really wanted to make it up to me, she’d agree to go to dinner with me,” I say, both of us ignoring her.
“She definitely should,” her mother agrees.
“Dinner? You mean, like a date?” Hannah asks.
“Yes. Exactly like a date,” I reply as I turn to face her.