Deck the Halls. Arlene James

he’d told her about needing help with furnishing and decorating the place was true. In fact it had begun to take on a certain urgency as his mother and sisters had started pressing him to let them have a go at it. He shuddered mentally, imagining what that might mean. If he wasn’t very careful he’d walk into his own house one day soon and find it outfitted in chintz and lace and filled up with kitschy knickknacks.

      He liked what Jolie had done with the apartment much more than what his mother and sisters had done with their respective homes. Could she be talked into giving him a hand with his place? He was trying to think how to broach the subject when his stomach gurgled and growled—more like roared, actually. It was so loud that Jolie burst out laughing.

      Mildly embarrassed, he clapped a hand over his belly.

      “Feeding time at the zoo, I take it,” she teased.

      “Hey, I’m a hardworking man, and it’s dinnertime, okay?”

      “Okay by me,” she grinned.

      Suddenly his heart was beating a little too pronouncedly as he made a spur-of-the-moment decision. He shifted in his seat, wondering if it was wise but knowing that he was going to do it. Fearing she could get the wrong idea, though, he made the suggestion as casually as he could manage.

      “Listen, there’s a pretty good restaurant up here on the right. Why don’t we stop off and grab a bite?”

      For a second, he got no reaction. Then she made a face, and he was sure that she was going to tell him to go soak his head. To his surprise, though, her answer was fairly ambiguous.

      “I’m not really fit for going out after a day at the cleaners. It’s dirty, smelly work, and—”

      “You look good to me,” he blurted and then could’ve bitten his tongue off—until she slipped him an almost hopeful glance out of the corner of her eye. “It’s a casual sort of place,” he added quickly. “I’m, uh, not exactly dressed for anything fancy, either.” He indicated his uniform with a wave of one hand.