“Here,” Hannah replied with a sigh. “Christmas and Valentine’s Day are our busy times. And this year we’re doing all the cookies and candy for the children’s Christmas gift bags.”

“Christmas is always a busy time. I hired Doc Bennett to take over for me until after the first of the year. He needs the work, and I need time off.”

“Are you going away for the holidays?” Hannah asked him.

“Not a chance. I’m doing some construction at the house.”

“What construction? I thought you loved the house the way we designed it.”

“Oh, I do. But things have changed and I wanted to update. Do you know that you can buy a humungous LED big screen now?”

“I hadn’t noticed. I’m perfectly happy with the television I have now.”

“I’m not. You know those old movies you love, Hannah?”

Hannah began to smile. “You mean the old romantic comedies and the chick flicks?”

“Yes. And the old detective films. They’re all remastered now. And I needed to enlarge the den so that I could get a hundred-and-twenty-inch screen on the wall without being crowded.”

Hannah’s mouth dropped open. “But . . . that’s practically theater-sized!”

“That’s right. And won’t it be fun to watch our favorite classic films in a home theater with perfect surround sound and incredibly comfortable seating?”

“Maybe,” Hannah said, but she couldn’t hide her delighted expression. She loved to watch classic movies with Norman.

“Then you’ll come out to watch films with me when my home theater is finished?”

Hannah’s timing was perfect. She waited a beat before she answered. But when Norman started to look a little nervous, she relented. “Yes. You can bet I’ll be there!”

“Wonderful!”

Norman looked very happy, and Hannah felt a little guilty about what she had planned to say next. But that didn’t stop her. “You bet I’ll come! But only if you’ve got a popcorn machine.”

Norman’s smile grew larger by the nanosecond. “I knew you’d say that!”

“I’m that predictable?”

“No, it’s just that I know you so well. And because I know you that well, I’ve got one.”

“You have a popcorn machine?”

“Yes. I bought one just so I could say I had it. Of course I don’t know how to work it yet, but . . .”

“I’ll figure it out,” Hannah cut in. “When I was in high school, I made popcorn for every movie they ran in the auditorium. And when I got to college, I made popcorn in the big theater, the small theater, the concession stand for football, basketball, and baseball games, and any other special events where they thought they could make a profit selling it. There’s not a popcorn machine on the face of this earth that I can’t learn to operate.”

“This one’s digital.”