Erin laughed at Jenny’s recitation. “He’s hanging out with me for the holiday and wanted a tree. And winterberry, apparently.” She glanced at him on the other side of the store where he was having an animated conversation with Paul Martinez.

“Hanging out,” Jenny said, making air quotes. “Is that a metaphor?”

“For what?” While she tried to avoid Jenny’s probing stare, Erin arranged and rearranged things on the counter.

Placing a hand over Erin’s to refocus her attention, Jenny waggled her brows suggestively.

“Not yet it isn’t.”

“But it might be?”

“We’re taking it hour by hour. So far, it’s been fun. That’s all I can tell you.”

“You’re still coming tonight, right?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.”

“Bring him. Alex and Paul adore him. They’d love to have him there, and so would I so I can gauge his intentions toward my sweet sister-friend Erin.”

For many years after Toby died, she and Jenny had struggled to define their relationship to outsiders. Somehow “friend” didn’t seem adequate when they should’ve been sisters-in-law. Over time they’d settled on sister-friend, but it had been a very long time since either of them had used the term. Hearing it now brought special meaning to a day that was already shaping up to be pretty special.

“I’m sure he’d love to come. I’ll ask him.”

“You’re still bringing your famous seven-layer dip, right?”

“Yep.”

“Good, because Alex asked me to make sure. I think he’d eat it with a spoon if I’d let him.”

“I’ll make extra for him.”

“He would love you forever for that.”

Slim rejoined them, carrying a huge bundle of winterberry. “Are you done talking about me?”

“Could he be any more full of himself?” Erin asked Jenny.

“Did she talk about me? Tell me the truth.”

“She didn’t say a word about you,” Jenny said with a straight face.

“Nothing at all? I’m gutted, crushed, devastated.”

“You’re also very dramatic.” Amused, Erin handed over a twenty to pay for the winterberry and took the ten in change. “Let’s get going. We’ve got a tree to decorate.”

“I’ll see you tonight,” Jenny said.

“See you then.”

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do in the meantime,” she whispered to Erin. “Which means anything goes.”

“Shut it!” Erin said, leaving Jenny laughing.

While Slim put the tree in the back of his pickup truck, she got into the cab that smelled of his distinctive cologne. If rakish sex appeal, quick wit and sharp intelligence could be captured in a scent, whatever he wore did the trick for her.

He got into the truck and fired it up, blasting the heat. The frigid day was overcast and stormy, the kind of winter day she loved and the majority of sane people hated.