Free Together for Christmas by Lisa Plumley

herself saying something similar to Heather about the “permatanned CPA type” she’d be expected to disarm and distract. She lifted her chin. “He’s an orphan.”
    They both gawked at her with twice as much disbelief.
    “Or a foster child, at least,” Kristen amended, feeling a fresh tug of empathy for him. The look on Casey’s face when he’d told her about his watch being stolen had really struck her. She didn’t think he’d meant to tell her about it. “When he mentioned it, I got the sense that he didn’t like to talk about it much.”
    Just like she didn’t like to talk about her attachment to her diner very much. But Kristen did identify with her work there. She was proud that she’d made something out of nearly nothing—even if she had almost gone broke while doing it. She was proud that she’d done something—anything—that Heather hadn’t done first, to more resounding applause, and better.
    “Right.” Talia crossed her arms. “Tragedy. Very slick.”
    “A difficult childhood isn’t ‘slick’!” Kristen protested.
    “He’s probably not even telling the truth.”
    “Talia!”
    But her friend only poked her head into the passage to the dining room and looked around. “Hmm. It’s tough to single out ‘vulnerability’ in a crowd.” With a droll grin, she motioned for Gareth to join her. She pointed. “There. Is that him?”
    Gareth held up his hands. “I don’t want to be in the middle of this. When you two fight, it makes me want my blankie.”
    “Very funny.” Talia dragged him closer. “Just look!”
    “I’m on Kristen’s side,” Gareth insisted.
    Talia sighed. “Fine. I’ll just go ask him myself.” She tied on her apron, stuck her order pad in her pocket, then squared her shoulders. “One dreamboat, on the house, coming up.”
    “No!” Gareth grabbed her. “You’ll blow Kristen’s chances.”
    “What chances?” Kristen glanced up from the break table.
    Gareth looked guilty. Then, airily . . . “Nothing. Never mind.”
    But it was too late. By then, Kristen had already realized what he was up to. “ Don’t try to set me up with him,” she warned. “I told you before, if I want a date, I’ll get one.”
    “No, what you always get is a dirty, sordid fling.”
    Kristen grinned. “That’s the best kind.”
    “It’s the most meaningless kind,” Gareth said. “You deserve more. You deserve love . And happiness!”
    “Believe me, the kind of love I get makes me very happy,” Kristen joked. “Especially when it’s done right.”
    Talia backed him up. “You know what we mean! The second a guy seems like he might actually be nice and things might be going somewhere between you two, you drop him like a rock.”
    “Right.” Skeptically, Kristen gazed at her friends. “So that’s why you want to fix me up with a mysterious troubleshooting former orphan who’ll only be in town until Christmas. Hmm. Sounds like perfect long-term romance material to me! What could possibly go wrong?”
    “He,” Talia said meticulously, “was a foster kid.”
    “He might be long-term romance material,” Gareth added, a familiar matchmaking gleam in his eye already. “We don’t know.”
    Kristen only laughed. “It doesn’t matter anyway. Sure, I like him. But I already gave him my litmus test—”
    At that, her friends both groaned in unison.
    “Do you want to die old and alone?” Talia asked.
    “That stupid test is a guaranteed hookup-breaker,” Gareth said.
    “—and he failed. Okay?” Kristen slid down from the break table, then straightened her apron. “Even if I wanted to sleep with Casey, I would have to resist. It’s my policy.”
    “It’s dumb,” Gareth said. “Bordering on destructive.”
    “You have to separate yourself from your sister some other way,” Talia put in. “Because that method is doomed to fail.”
    “It’s working pretty well so far.” The idea of getting hot and heavy with someone who’d seen Heather “performing”