He scratched his head. “The pickle prize?”

“You don’t do the pickle tradition?”

“Never heard of it. But if it involves a pickle, I’m game.”

“You need a pickle ornament and you have to hang it in some very arbitrary spot on the tree. And whoever finds the pickle first on Christmas morning gets a prize.”

“Gives new meaning to hide the pickle.”

She sniffed. “I can’t believe you never heard of it. The tradition goes way back. According to Wikipedia, anyway.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“Look, they’ve even got pickles for sale.”

They were displayed with the stocking stuffers. They chose one that had eyes and a mouth, a sprinkling of glitter, and a movement activated switch that caused it to yodel.

“How have I managed to live my life without a yodeling pickle?” asked Logan.

“It’s a new world order,” she said.

Toy-shopping with Darcy, just like cooking with her, snowshoeing with her, surfing with her, did not suck. She was very serious in her deliberations, weighing the merits of the slingshot versus the potato catapult, a xylophone versus a recorder. He couldn’t remember laughing with a woman so much. He’d just come from a stressful work meeting and he needed this, needed a change or some shift in perspective.

In the middle of doing a yo-yo trick—an impressive one at that—she looked up at him and grinned.

“What?” he asked, liking the grin.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. For what?”

She gestured at the toys they picked out. “I thought I’d have to miss out on this.”

He paused. “You don’t have to miss out on a thing.”

“Picking out toys is one of the best things about Christmas. It’s part of the magic.”

“For somebody who doesn’t like kids,” he said, “you sure like kids.”

“You’ve got it wrong,” she said. “I do like kids—a lot. The whole nieces-and-nephews thing is right up my alley. I’m just not into parenting.”

“Aunting, then.”

“Yep.”

“Sounds good.” He changed the subject. “Okay, there’s one gift we haven’t nailed down yet.”

“Angelica,” she said. “She’s adorable. What should we get her?”

He thought about the conversation at breakfast. Great big round eyes, soft lisping voice. I want to see my mom. “The only thing she wants is the one thing we can’t give her.”

Chapter Fifteen

chapter fifteen

Logan O’Donnell was dangerous. Darcy concluded this halfway through the toy store spree. Whenever she was with him, she felt herself getting way too interested in him. That was the dangerous part. Interest led to a deeper crush, which led to passion, which in turn would lead to an emotional entanglement she wasn’t ready for.