Page 15 (1/2)

Once I have my pastries and cocoa in hand, I head to the back, where Sutton and Lexi are already deep in debate Sutton’s got her

Man problems

“I’oats” Sutton blows a strand of hair from her face and sits back in a huff, arms crossed

Oh, no Not being goat-friendly is a dealbreaker for Sutton Maybe oats, or even a soft position Or any opinion at all Outside of the occasional petting zoo, or cute oat cheese, nore the existence of the creatures But Sutton’s whole life basically revolves around goats She lives in an Airstrea Linus, her first ever goat rescue And Sutton’s goats are sort of fah-quality goat et here in Reindeer Falls Especially the peppermint soap It’s seasonal, obviously, and it smells incredible

But the point is, insulting Sutton’s goats is basically declaring war on Sutton herself

“Oh, no,” I juo full angry elf on theive me a name”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Sutton says, flipping her long, pale blonde hair over her shoulder “I’o, okay?”

I rins

“She had her own run-in with one of the Threeso “We really need to rename them Does Trio of Hotness work for everyone?”

“Sure, he’s hot,” Suttonto herself “But I don’t need that kind of jerk energy in my life”

“Tellof Ryan’s well defined abs and his coard for Reindeer Falls culture

“They are a handful,” Lexi agrees I want to ask her what she means by that, but then she rushes in with, “So you admit you have a crush on Ryan”

“Ugh” I groan in defeat, throwing ht about hienetically blessed, but you failed to mention his affiliation with the Grinch Party, which we all know is a dealbreaker for me”

“Grinch-loving, goat-hating, dog-inheriting jerks,” Sutton agrees

“Sounds like you both have giant crushes” Lexi grins, then leans in and lowers her voice before adding, “Just re them down the chimney”

Sutton blows a straw at her while I lob a crules, and I do lare at her But it’s hard because I love her so much

Still I can’t abide this

“Enough about these guys,” I say “We need to finalize our February book Did we decide to go with the handso to love Christ to love the small town?”