Dottie rushed to the ladies’ room. Thankfully, it was empty, and she could be alone with her thoughts. She was confused. Her parents had said she had no match. But Wy was claiming that he was her match. Both of those things couldn’t be true. How did he even know she was on LK Brides? None of this was making sense.

She needed a moment to figure out what was going on. She tried calling her parents, but neither of them picked up. They also didn’t return her texts. She was on her own. The orientation meeting for the day was going to begin soon. Time was running out for her to make a choice about her next move.

Her parents wouldn’t lie to her. Wyatt must’ve heard her talking about it. She didn’t remember talking about the dating site, but maybe in her excitement she had forgotten. But there was no way he was her match. If she’d gotten matched, her parents would have told her.

She liked Wy, but she couldn’t go on a date with him. She’d already agreed not to do that. It was a strange thing to lie about, but she wasn’t going to hold it against him. It was dishonest, and she was going to pretend like that part had never happened. After all, he was a very nice man, and she wanted to be his friend. It was so great that they were working together that she didn’t want to ruin it all.

In her experience, whenever she told a man who had asked her out “no, thank you,” it didn’t go well. If you turned someone down, there was a good chance they would stop talking to you. Telling Wy no would be the easy part. Getting him to agree that not dating was better could be hard.

She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. Yes, that would do. If she looked happy, maybe he would feel happy and smile back at her. That was a thing, right? Like if someone yawned, you would yawn too. That was what she would do. She would happily tell him that she couldn’t date him, and then he’d feel happy too.

If that failed, she was going to quit this job. It would be no fun if Wy didn’t want to talk to her anymore.

She left the pink and white bathroom and slowly walked back to him. With each step she took, her panic rose. Her butterfly beat nervously against her chest. Even her animal wanted to be far away from here.

He was standing in the same spot she had left him, his big hands shoved inside his jeans pockets and his shoulders rounded forward. He looked so hopeful, she almost said yes. She hated that she would have to hurt his feelings.

“Wyatt.” She smiled so big, her cheeks hurt. “Since we’re working together, I don’t think it would be a good idea if we tried to go on a date.”

He nodded quickly. His face fell for only a second. Then he smiled brightly too and squared his shoulders. “You know, you’re right. It’s better that we don’t date, because it could make things awkward here at work, right? We should keep things professional. But I’d still like to be friends, if that’s okay with you.”

The butterfly in her chest didn’t slow, but Dottie sighed with relief. “Right. That’s exactly what I was thinking. I’d love to be friends.”

“Well, great minds think alike.” Wyatt laughed easily. “I’m glad I’m working with someone as cool as you. I was worried I wasn’t going to like anyone here, so I’m glad I met you.”

“Me too.” She grabbed his forearm and squeezed it tight. “I was ready to quit if we couldn’t be friends. Really, Wyatt, you’re the nicest person I’ve met in Maple Creek.”

He nodded. “Thank you. Have you ever done something like this before?”

“Not often. I don’t have very many friends.”

“Me, either. But I meant, have you ever worked as an elf or done a job where you had to dress up?”

Dottie laughed. “Oh, no, I haven’t really worked much. My parents preferred it if I stuck to my schooling. I had a tough time finding a job after college, since I had no work experience. I worked part-time as a grocery cashier over the summer before I moved here, though.”

“You went to college?” He nodded approvingly. “I stopped at high school. That’s cool.”

“I only did an associate’s degree,” Dottie explained. “But I didn’t do it right. I majored in basket weaving.”

Wyatt looked confused. “That’s not a very good major. No wonder you couldn’t find a job. I can’t imagine there are many places hiring basket weavers.”

Dottie giggled. “That was a joke. I must have told it wrong. My dad says it all the time. I majored in entrepreneurship, but it may as well have been basket weaving. It was just as hard to get a job, and as you can see, I’m working as an elf.”

“Oh.” Wyatt laughed too. “Well, you’re going to have to communicate at this job. I bet you’re going to communicate circles around all of us with your fancy college degree.”

“I don’t know. I’m really not much good at communicating. Like I said, I can’t really make friends. I don’t think I learned much of anything practical.”

“Why’d you pick it, then?”

“My dad thought it was a good idea, and my mom agreed. At the time, it seemed like a great plan. I thought I’d be able to find a job lickety-split. It didn’t work out like that.”

“I understand,” Wyatt said. “I thought it would be much easier, too. My job is great most of the year, but getting laid off these couple of months in the winter really sucks.”

“I didn’t realize it was every single year. That must be so hard.”

He shrugged. “Most of us get jobs plowing snow or something. I want to do something different this year. When I heard they were opening this Santa Shop, I knew I wanted to try it out.”

“Is this brand-new?” Dottie asked. “I thought this was your Christmas tradition here.”

“We have a parade, but this is the first year we’re going to have a Santa. This was Tim’s idea. We’re kind of the guinea pigs. If everything goes well, we’ll do it every year.”

“That sounds nice. I can’t believe you guys didn’t have a Santa before.” The idea of Christmas without a big festival was sacrilege to Dottie. Going to all of the festivals and events was one of the best parts of the season.

“Yeah, I really am looking forward to being an elf all season. Seems like a lot more fun than sitting at home alone.”

“I’m not home alone anymore, but I’m glad to be out and about, too. Ever since I got to town, it’s just been me all the time, and it was no fun at all.”

“You and your parents just moved here, right?”

He leaned back against the wall behind him, stretching out his long body. Dottie was distracted for a moment as his shirt rode up, revealing a slim line of tight abs. Shifter men did have the best bodies, and Wyatt was no exception.

She tore her eyes away and looked at his face as she talked. “It was just me at first. My parents came down occasionally, but now they’re here for the holiday break. I’m glad to have them. It gets so lonely.”

He shook his head and gave her a lopsided smile. “I wish I’d known you were here. I would have had you over any time. I hate living by myself too. I used to have roommates, but now it’s just me.”

Dottie nodded. “Yeah, that’s how I feel too. My parents are my roommates, and I miss having them around. Why don’t you live with your parents if you hate being alone?”

“That’s not really an option.” Wyatt shifted uncomfortably and moved away from the wall. “It looks like they’re starting orientation. We’d better get inside.”

Dottie followed him into the auditorium. They sat together and quietly waited for the presentation to start. She could see she had said something that had made him uncomfortable. Probably talking about her parents. Stupid. No man wanted to be friends with someone who lived at home like a baby. Wyatt probably lived all by himself, like a real adult.

She hoped he wouldn’t hold it against her. Even though she lived with her parents, they let her have her freedom most of the time. It wasn’t that much different than having any other kind of roommate. She wouldn’t bring it up again.

After they’d finished orientation for the day, she and Wy walked to the parking lot together.

He walked her to her car. “See you tomorrow?”

“You know it.” She waved and gave him a hug.

She was so happy that it had all gone well. After that initial hiccup, they had managed to recover. Wyatt really was a special kind of guy.

When she got home, she couldn’t wait to tell her parents all about her day. First, she had to ask them about the weird thing at the beginning about LK Brides.

“So, Wy asked me out,” she told her dad after she found him in their office.

His eyebrows shot up. “I see. What, like a date?”

“Yeah. I told him no, of course. The funny thing is, he said that we were matched on LK Brides.”

“Hmmm.” Her dad grabbed a magazine from the table and started flipping through it.

“What a strange thing to say,” her mom said from across the room. “She doesn’t have any matches does she, dear?”

Her dad’s face blazed red. “Well, you might have had some kind of match. I clicked that I wanted to receive more information, but I haven’t checked it again since then.”

“Are you kidding me, Dad?” Dottie was crushed. “You said I didn’t have any matches.”

“None that have been completed,” her dad said carefully. “That’s different. I don’t know anything about him yet, so I didn’t want you to get your hopes up. I can go in and check now to see if he was your match. If you’d like me to, that is.”

Dottie contemplated it. She did like Wyatt, but she barely knew him. If they did try to date, there was a good chance it would all get ruined, anyway. Being friends was really better than being boyfriend-girlfriend. She didn’t want to risk the burgeoning friendship just for a chance at romance.

“It’s okay,” she said finally. “I really like being his friend. I don’t care if we’re matched. In fact, you can delete my profile. I don’t really want to be matched anymore. I’ll find my mate the old-fashioned way.”

Her dad sighed with relief. “Great. What movie do you ladies want to watch tonight?”

The matter was settled. Wyatt would probably prefer it that way, too. They were free to continue their friendship without any fear of bringing romance into the equation.