Note: Thanks for the reviews, everyone! Only one more chapter to go.

Also, GoogleMaps also told me that the drive from New Paltz to New York is only 1.5 hours. Whoops! Let's blame the other four hours on the traffic leading in and out of the city.

Chapter 2: Spending Time with Danny

Danny fell asleep within thirty minutes of Mindy starting the movie. She tried not to think about how almost sweet he looked when he was asleep and how he was snoring very softly. She actually thought it sounded more like a low buzzing. She remembered that he told her once when she woke him up in the doctor's lounge sofa that he only snored when he was very tired. She was filled with gratitude that he actually was here with her and all of her friends, even though he had told her multiple times in the past that country houses were for sissies. She slipped out from under the covers quietly to brush her teeth and wash her face.

By the time she returned, the movie is already on the part when Meg Ryan is at Fox Books to snoop around the business. Mindy loved this movie and she turned off the lights minus her bedside lamp and brought the laptop onto her lap for better viewing. She looked over to make sure that Danny was sleeping soundly. He grunted once, but then turned on this side and was still. She patted his shoulder affectionately and was soon engrossed with the movie, even though the laptop was at its lowest sound setting and she could barely hear the dialogue.

Danny woke up slowly as he felt something hot on his hip. He shifted to his other side, only to see Mindy intently staring at her laptop, which was now curiously on the bed, resting on his hip, and blowing a steady stream of hot air through his half of the blankets. She looked cute, hunched over with the screen's glare on her glasses, mouthing along with the words. He lost track of how long he was surreptitiously watching her with half-lidded eyes until he she sighed in contentment. He knew from countless viewings of Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, and, once, She's All That in the doctor's lounge, that her sigh, that particular sigh, meant that the movie was over. She was so sentimental about everything that Danny was surprised she was not crying.

"Movie's already over?" he asked with a scratchy voice. He saw Mindy startle and then quickly wipe her eyes under her glasses. So she had been crying, he knew it.

"Did I wake you?" she whispered. "Sorry, I was trying to be quiet." She was putting her laptop back on her desk and Danny noticed that during the time he had been asleep, she had put on her glasses and changed into a sleeveless pajama set. He had to admit that it was form-fitting and accentuated her lovely shape, but it was also covered in neon-bright ice cream cones, which lessened the sexy factor. She tugged upward on her top by her cleavage and Danny took that to mean that he should stop staring. She always felt awkward when Danny looked at her like that.

"Just get into bed," he said. He looked over at the clock, "it's almost one and we're going to be driving a long way in a couple of hours." Mindy gingerly climbed back into the bed, being careful to avoid touching his prostrate body, and began to fluff her pillow. Danny grumbled and pulled her into the bed and reached over her body to turn off the bedside lamp. Mindy could feel his bare arm and part of his soft t-shirt on her chest and his face was so close to hers, she could faintly smell his shampoo. If she turned just a little, they would be bumping noses. She could feel her pulse racing and ordered her body to calm down. This was Danny, a grumpy sleepy Danny who wanted the lights off. With the room sufficiently dark, Danny flipped the covers over her body.

As she lay there stiffly, she could tell Danny was not asleep yet. "Thanks for coming up here, Danny," she said into the darkness.

Danny shifted so he was on his side facing her and she could barely make out his profile in the dimness. "Your friends seem nice, but I can see why you'd want to leave." Mindy shivered as she felt his breath on her shoulder. "You need more blanket?" he asked. She felt him shifting the cover so she could have a larger portion. Gwen's earlier conversation flashed through her mind and she wondered why nothing had ever happened between her and Danny. She would never admit it so to him, but she did think Danny had a nice body and he probably had chest hair unlike all the male celebrities on the magazines.

"They want the best, but the best seems to involve being in a relationship," she whispered.

Not this conversation again. Danny was too tired to continue down this path. "Relax, go to sleep, you're great, don't worry," he muttered. With that, he threw his arm over her middle and put his head down on the pillow.

Mindy tried to think of something smart and sassy to say about him and making a move, but by the time she had something on the tip of her tongue, she could hear Danny's soft buzzing next to her.

xxx

Danny's internal clock woke him up at 6 o'clock sharp. He began to stretch his arms when he became conscious that one was pinned under a warm body. Mindy. She had her head on his chest and their legs were tangled. He had never been in such an intimate position with someone who was not a sexual partner. He saw how her long eyelashes fanned out on her face and how she was lightly drooling on his shirt. Her arm was draped over his abdomen and disappeared under the blanket. To Danny, she looked natural and appealing. He should wake her up immediately, but she was wriggling in her sleep and her soft body pressed against his was causing him to go from half-mast to almost full alert. He was a grown man and could enjoy himself a little longer, but then she made a small noise against his chest and suddenly he was aroused like a teenage boy. He started to shake Mindy's shoulder a little too roughly at first. This development was alarming.

Mindy woke up with her face pushed up against something warm. She snuggled into it some more before she realized where she was and that Danny was calling her name. She popped up so fast she would have clocked Danny in the nose if he had not quickly placed his hand on her head. "Oh my god, Danny. What time is it?" she asked groggily.

"It's six," he said as he slid his arm from under her.

"Please one more hour," Mindy pleaded. "This is ungodly early and it's so cold." She started to put her head down on the pillow when she saw Danny's shirt. There was a small wet spot and she knew exactly what it was. Mindy could not help the mortified express on her face. This was Danny, Danny Castellano, who she just drooled on and who was looking at her with wide eyes. "I am so sorry, Danny," she said with a grimace, "I'm a little old to be drooling." She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "I only do this when I'm really tired."

"I don't really mind," Danny said gesturing to his shirt, "It's a natural response for a lot of folks." He saw how pink her cheeks were and felt bad for waking her up. Her hair was rumpled with her lips pursed and he could tell she was about to go on about her humiliation and get dramatic about waking up next to each other. He had to change the subject. "Alright, one more hour of sleep and then we head out." He set his cell phone alarm for one hour.

Mindy opened and closed her mouth before she realized he was actually agreeing to sleeping in an extra hour with her. She smiled before she lay down and soon began to snuggle closer to Danny's warmth. "Danny, it is freezing and you're like a furnace!"

Mindy was wiggling again, but this time she was awake and knew exactly what she was doing. "Wait," Danny started and tried to prevent Mindy from getting too close, but he felt her halt the moment she felt his erection brush against her hip. He felt his ears get uncomfortably warm. Mindy told herself to calm down. It was only a penis. Penises can get erect in the mornings without any stimulation. And this was Danny.

It was normal. "Morning wood, right?" she said awkwardly, trying to sound nonchalant, "It's totally natural." With that she pulled the covers under her chin and closed her eyes for a blissful extra hour of sleep.

Danny looked over carefully at her already sleeping form. She always had to have the last word, even when she was only half awake.

xxx

Mindy slowly woke to the sound of Carl's voice being carried in from outside. "Touch is different from tackle, you know," she heard him say. It was still five minutes to seven and she was about to open the window to tell Carl to shut his hole, but then she heard Danny's lower voice, "I think got it. Let's play." She padded over to the window to see Carl and Danny playing football in the backyard or at least Carl was explaining the intricacies of touch football while Danny impatiently waited to throw the ball around. He was wearing track pants, a college sweatshirt, and sneakers. She knew that Carl had a tendency to over-explain and go on so she was mildly surprised at how Danny kept the exasperation out of his voice. He always seemed to have a particular irritated tone when he was talking to her.

She could see Dinah and Mitch standing nearby long with Gwen and Rob, who both held steaming mugs in their hands. She started to hurriedly get changed and ready to go outside. Apparently all the adults in the house woke up early except her. On her way out of the bedroom, she saw that Danny's bag was already neatly packed and sitting next to the door.

By the time she made her way outside, Sarah, Dennis, and Geeta were already there. "Morning," Dennis called out cheerfully. He had an arm around Geeta's waist and she waved in greeting. "We're trying to get a quick game going," Dennis said. "Carl's just going over the rules of two-hand touch."

"Morning workout for the boys," Geeta said with a shrug of her shoulders.

Mindy had gotten dressed to play in sneakers, a hoodie, and a puffy vest, but Geeta was already wearing a blouse with tight jeans and heeled boots. Mindy was hit with a pang of self-consciousness as she looked down at her comfortable jeans, but then resolved herself. "I'm trying to play too," she said. She looked over and saw that Gwen was also dressed nicely for the day, but she was relieved to see that Dinah was wearing running gear and warming up next to her husband.

Danny smiled when he saw Mindy walk out into the yard. He was relieved to see that she was dressed to play in sneakers and a sweatshirt. They needed an extra player and, although Rob had offered to play, he seemed reluctant.

"Mindy, you going to play?" Danny called out. "So far it's me, Carl, Dinah and Mitch, and Dennis. We need one more to round out the numbers."

"I'm definitely in," Mindy said. She might not know all the ins and outs of football, but she knew enough to be competent and she could feel her competitive nature start coursing through her. She wanted to play and she wanted to win.

"We only have two women on the teams so you two can cover each other," Carl began, but immediately cut off by two angry voices.

"No way!" Mindy cried, "Dinah's a college athlete, I'm on her team."

"Mindy and I are on the same team. I'm call one of the boys," Dinah said at the same time.

Danny saw that both women looked mutinous. Dinah and Mitch were in workout clothes and he noticed that Dinah already had strands of hair sticking to her forehead with well-worn sneakers on her feet. She and Mitch probably already went for a run this morning. They both looked like they would do healthy things like that together.

"I call Mindy," Danny said. She immediately mock glared at him and gave him a convoluted signal that involved a head nod, some clapping, and pounding her fist against her other open palm.

"What does that even mean?" Danny asked with a confused look.

"It means, 'you're going down, Castellano,'" she said. He rolled his eyes at her dramatics.

Carl looked affronted that his suggestion was shot down so quickly, but recovered by saying that Dinah could cover him instead and how he did not mean to imply that that the two women would have to play off each other. However, his high-minded speech was interrupted when Gwen called out, "Don't be too rough on him, Dinah!"

With the teams set at Mindy, Dinah, and Dennis against Danny, Carl, and Mitch, the teams seemed fairly evenly matched. Danny was glad that Dennis was on Mindy's team thereby eliminating any two-hand touching between them. He did not like the way Dennis's eyes lingered on Mindy when they sat down to dinner last night, especially since Geeta was constantly on his arm.

In the first play, Dinah intercepted a throw from her husband and positively blew past Carl on her way to a touchdown.

"Shit!" Danny shouted, "Where's your defense, Carl!" Carl did a couple of leg stretches and after a brief chat with Mitch, they switched positions. As the game progressed, two things became very obvious. First, the no-tackle rule was not being followed. Everyone except Carl and Dennis was covered in grass stains, melting snow, and mud. Second, Mindy made up for her lack of speed by playing smart and sneaky. She had successfully pulled a bait-and-switch and gotten tackled by Danny while Dinah successfully carried the ball to another touchdown. His team was losing. Badly.

When the football came his way, Danny tucked it under his arm and turned to make a dash for the other side of the field. With Dinah already down, Mindy and Dennis ran to tackle him, but Mindy was a lot closer. When he first felt her soft body try to tackle him, he tried to run through it, but she eventually brought him down by being deadweight with her arms in a strange bear hug around his middle. He landed on his side with a wad of Mindy's hair in his mouth. Mindy put her hands on his chest as pushed herself upright. "Are you okay?" she asked, extricating herself. Danny opened his mouth to respond, but was momentarily overcome by the memory of waking up to the feeling of her legs tangled between his.

Mindy did not wait for a response but stood up without offering him a hand and did some bizarre chicken dance complete with flailing arms. "Boo-yah!" she cried. When he got to his feet, she hip-checked him as she carried on with her victory jig.

By the end of the game, Danny's team lost, but a score could not be determined since Dinah and Mitch were still arguing over Carl's scorekeeping. Danny threw an arm around Mindy's shoulder as he walked inside to shower and get ready to leave. "Good game," he said somberly.

Mindy craned her head to look at him. "Not embarrassed to lose to the girls' team?" she said jokingly as he shook his head with a laugh.

"First of all, Dennis was on your team too. Second of all," Danny said, "you guys didn't have Carl on your team." Mindy giggled at that. "Anyway, you guys played better," he said casually.

Mindy beamed at him, happy and rosy-cheeked with a mud streak on her cheek. "I know," she said rubbing in her team's victory. She felt rather than saw Danny's eye-rolling. "You can be on my team next time," she promised.

xxx

Everyone was courteous enough to let Danny and Mindy shower first so they could get going. Danny stood patiently by the open passenger's side door as he waited for Mindy to finish her goodbyes. She had insisted on driving since he had driven up yesterday.

Geeta walked over and stopped right in front of him. "Mindy said that you were single and you seem like a nice guy," she handed him a business card. "This is my sister, Priya. You should give her a call sometime." Priya, the card said, was an assistant professor of history at a college in Connecticut.

Danny was flattered, but a little apprehensive. Blind dates never went well for him. "Thanks," he said simply and put the card in his pocket.

Mindy passed a retreating Geeta as she made her way to the car. "What's that about?" she asked.

"She told me to call her sister," he said as he got in and buckled his seatbelt. Mindy accelerated a little too roughly. She had always had a strange unspoken rivalry with Geeta ever since Dennis brought her to that Thanksgiving dinner. In Mindy's mind, Geeta was what Mindy 2.0 would look like. She swallowed hard as she thought about how Danny would look, walking hand in hand with Geeta's equally hot sister. She did not dwell on why she had the sensation of tightness in her chest, but she did vow to finally join the gym across the street from her apartment.

After multiple attempts to play car games failed, they traveled mostly in silence with Mindy pouting. The snow was picking up and Mindy pulled into a rest stop outside Newburgh.

"Why are we stopping?" Danny asked in confusion.

"Well, Danny," Mindy said, still miffed, "it's starting to snow heavily and I think we should wait it out."

Danny looked outside his window and just then noticed how heavily it was snowing. "You sure it's going to stop soon?" he asked.

"An hour tops," Mindy said confidently. It snowed like this in Concord, Massachusetts when she was a child and she could tell it was a short storm and not a blizzard.

"I'm hungry, where's the goody bag Gwen gave us?" he asked. Mindy passed over the brown paper bag.

There was a lot of rumpling paper until Danny broke the silence. "Gwen is awesome," he said as he pulled the snacks out of the bag she insisted they take for the long drive. When Danny and Mindy declined having her wash and dry their muddy clothes, she had also insisted that they take a garbage bag for their clothes so that his car seats stayed clean. "There's assorted nuts, multi-grain crackers, dried fruit, and two bottles of water," he recited as he pulled items out. He opened the bag of nuts and poured some into his mouth. "This is some high-dollar trail mix," he said with his mouth half full.

"Well, she's a mom," Mindy said, just a little wistfully. She thought about how Gwen bought all-organic stuff and how she made sure to pack Riley well-rounded lunches. She thought about how her own refrigerator currently held ketchup, a block of cheese, a bag of really old salad mix, and an empty Brita pitcher. She looked at Danny and smiled how he had the snacks distributed neatly along the center console, his lap, and the dashboard. His long fingers slowly began to put the uneaten snacks away. She remembered how gentle they were when he tried to give her that weird face massage during her failed gynecological exam. She wondered what they would feel like on her body as they traveled down her breasts then lower and lower. He would be kissing a path down toward her bellybutton and, as his hands caressed the side of her hips, she would run her hands through his thick hair, massaging his scalp.

"Mindy, earth to Mindy," Danny said, waving his hand in front of her face. She snapped out of her reverie and coughed to cover her dry mouth. "You hungry? I picked out the nuts since I know you only like the chocolate anyway." He held out a handful of M&Ms.

Mindy swallowed hard. He had remembered her diatribe about how she always got trail mix to be healthy but then always picked out the M&Ms, which would then inevitably lead to her tirade about how she should have just gotten M&Ms instead. She wanted to kiss him right then, but somehow, she was shy when it came to Danny and she tried to formulate a question she would be able to ask.

"Danny," she said, trying not to squirm. She grabbed a green M&M to stall for time. "Do you ever wonder why we never … you know, happened?" Her heart was beating so loudly she could no longer hear the traffic at the rest stop. She looked up in time to see Danny choke on his sip of water.

Mindy patted his back and he shot her an inquiring look. "Why do you ask?" he said carefully. In all their years as friends, lots of people had asked whether they were a couple and there were a couple of jokes at their expense, but Mindy had never brought it up with him in a serious manner. He remembered Mindy and Gwen's conversation last night and he gazed at her trying to determine her motive.

Mindy immediately lost all her nerve to continue the line of questioning. She was not prepared for her question to be met with another question. "Let's forget it, sorry I brought it up," she said. She fidgeted with the buttons on her sweater. She felt Danny's eyes on her and she looked up to meet his gaze.

"Do you think you'll call Geeta's sister?" she asked. She tried not to sound manic and perhaps jealous, but she could not help it. After a weekend of emotional turmoil, figuring out her burgeoning (or had it always been like this?) feelings toward Danny, and now being stuck in tight quarters, she could not stop herself from asking all the questions that jumbled around in her head. Gwen's voice telling her to 'ask him out' kept coming back to her.

Danny was wary of where this conversation was going. They had only been pulled over for twenty minutes. "Probably not," he said. "I wouldn't like it if my brother tried to set me with someone without my knowledge, so I'm thinking it's the same for everyone else. Blind dates never work."

Sometimes Danny made it seem like all his decisions were so easy and logical. "Oh," she said disappointedly. He had probably decided he and Mindy were not relationship material when they had first met. He did not seem like someone who changed minds easily.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Do you want me to?" he asked. She was always trying to push different women on him and he even asked some out, but such arrangements never worked out for him. He had not been in a serious long-term relationship since he had gotten divorced and that was almost a decade ago.

"No!" she cried.

Danny smirked knowingly.

"I mean, only if you want to," she said. She was going to make a smart comeback, something along the lines of 'You wish,' but now that she was legitimately thinking of asking him out, it seemed out of place.

She had to psych herself up if she was ever going to ask him. Why was this so difficult? She thought about how they had first met. He was still married then. She remembered how he was a couple of years further along in his residency than she was, but he was still one of the older students. Well, there were older students in the group who always came to happy hour, but Danny always seemed older, so serious and straightforward. He could never hang out because he had to 'get home to his family.' She had thought he had kids for over a year because of this. She had heard through the grapevine that he had gotten divorced after he had gotten hired at Shulman & Associates, but that his loner mentality and general crankiness was still there. After Dr. Shulman hired her, she and Danny did not get along and constantly sniped at each other. But after they became partners and after she began to drag a begrudging Danny out to various social events, they had become friends. Mindy thought back to how within the last year, he had become each other de facto dates to mutual social events.

"Danny," Mindy asked. She fought the urge to look down at her hands like a teenager. She was an independent and confident woman. "Would you be okay if I kissed you? Like an experiment to see if there's sparks, you know?" 'What a lame line,' she thought to herself, as she leaned over the center console and grabbed the lapels of his coat to bring him closer to her side of the car. He looked surprised, but did not fight her actions. Mindy was overcome by how startlingly sincere her anticipation was, and to kiss Danny, of all people. When their faces were inches apart and Mindy was starting to close her eyes in eagerness, Danny's eyes darted over her shoulder.

"Mindy, I would love to continue this 'experiment,' but this is not the time," he said softly. Mindy could feel his breath on her cheek and she could smell the faint smell of his cologne, laundry detergent, and something distinctly masculine. He leaned back a little and put his hands gently on her shoulders to maintain the distance.

Mindy pulled back quickly, breaking the contact of his hands on her body. She could not remember the last time she was so keenly disappointed. She grabbed his hand and plucked up all the M&Ms he was still holding. "You don't have to be such a jerk," she muttered around a mouthful of chocolate. "You could have just said 'No thanks, not interested.'" After all that inner dialogue about telling Danny that she might be attracted to him, he was the one not interested.

He looked out the window and then back at Mindy. She was hunched over in her seat, facing him, and refused to make eye contact with him. "Hey," he said rubbing her arm. She hated that they gotten to a point where casual touching was acceptable. "I didn't say I'm not interested. I said 'This isn't a good time.'" Mindy started to protest when he covertly pointed over her shoulder, "We have an audience."

Mindy whipped around so quickly that Danny had to pull away to avoid being slapped by her hair a second time. She dropped a couple of M&Ms in the process. At some point, a minivan had parked to the left of their car and currently a handful of little girls had their hands and faces pressed up to the windows to peer into their car. Immediately, Mindy's heart softened and she giggled when the girls looked away in unison, embarrassed at being caught peeking. The minivan was probably waiting out the snowfall just like them. "They're probably jealous of our snacks," she said quickly and nudged Danny's shoulder. "You should go offer them some."

Danny wanted to say that they were probably more interested in the kissing that they thought they were going to see, but held his tongue. "Nope," he said instead, "A grown man offering little girls candy from a weird bag," he shook his head, "is not a good idea."

She looked over at the bag of snacks, grabbed them, and resolutely opened her door. "Are you at least going to come with me?" she asked. "What if the mom is like a crazed psycho killer?"

Danny rolled his eyes. He could see the beleaguered woman sitting the driver's seat of the mini-van. She was thin and petite, and looked like she was nursing a terrible headache. "She is not a killer, look at her! She has like five little kids in that car with her! Besides, you look like you could take her," he said confidently.

She gave him a glare as she stepped out of the car and slammed the car door. Danny groaned as he followed her toward the minivan. He stood awkwardly next to her as she rapped briskly at the driver's side window.

"Hi, I'm Mindy," she said cheerfully as the woman opened the door. She gestured toward Danny, "And this is Danny."

The sounds of excited chattering stopped as the woman turned around to shush all the girls in the back. Mindy noticed that they were all wearing girl scouts uniforms. She remembered her girl scout days with fondness and she loved the cookies. If she remembered her uniforms correctly, these girls were Brownies.

"I'm Gloria," the woman said tiredly, pushing her dark hair behind her ear, "Were the girls bothering you? We just needed a minute to wait out the snow and the girls are a little excited from their meeting."

Danny zoned out for a second and by that time Mindy and Gloria were deep in conversation. After Mindy assured her that she and Danny were doctors and that the crackers and dried fruit were in their original unopened plastic wrappings, Gloria accepted them and distributed them to her passengers. "Thank you," she said gratefully, "The store here is closed and they've been complaining about snacks the whole ride down."

Mindy was soon engrossed in conversation with the girls and Danny shuffled from one foot to other awkwardly. He never knew what to do in these situations. He heard the two women exchange addresses. 'Now she's made another best friend,' he thought. He saw how the little girls 'oohed' and 'aahed' at Mindy's nameplate necklace. 'Maybe six new best friends,' he corrected himself. At least the snow was letting up finally. He was startled out of his thoughts when Mindy pushed at his shoulder. "Danny, do you have any cash? I'm trying to buy some cookies and I don't have my checkbook with me." She had her open wallet in her hand. "And I only have $2 and change."

Danny patted his pockets. "I must have left my billfold in the car," he said as he walked back to his SUV.

"Aww," Gloria said, "My father used to call it a billfold." He heard Mindy immediately launch into how he was an old old man at heart. As he dug through his bag, he could hear Gloria ask Mindy how long she and Danny had been married. He chuckled softly as he heard Mindy haltingly explain that they were just friends.

"OK," he said when he returned, "I have a ten."

Mindy looked incredulous. "I told those girls I'd buy three boxes from each. That's fifteen boxes at $4 each!"

Danny was shocked at her admission, but gamely opened his wallet again. He had a fifty dollar bill that he kept in a hidden pocket for emergencies. He pulled that out and held it out with his original ten. "$60 for cookies," he said with a shake of his head.

Mindy clapped excitedly as she handed the money over to Gloria. Apparently, they had already exchanged addresses and they lived not too far from each other. "You have to support the girl scouts, Danny," she said. "I was a girl scout as a kid." Gloria promised that the girls would stop by Shulman & Associates to drop them off in a couple of weeks.

Danny smiled at how happy Mindy was and pictured a little Mindy in a girl scout uniform. He had seen an old family photo in her apartment and he recalled a chubby girl with coke-bottle glasses with crooked teeth and blunt-cut bangs. It was not difficult to imagine that little girl was also a girl scout.

As they got back into the SUV and the minivan pulled out, Danny offered to drive back because he knew how much Mindy disliked driving within the city limits.

"I promise I'll pay you back," Mindy said as she got into the passenger side. "But they were all so cute and-"

Danny pulled out onto the highway. "Don't worry about it," he groused. "Support the girl scouts and all that, right?" He had never personally spent $60 on snacks, but was not surprised that Mindy would. She could probably spend more than that on nail polish.

"Danny," Mindy said, patting one of his hands on the steering wheel. "Thank you. You're such a teddy bear under all that grouchy, I-hate-everything exterior. You saw how excited those girls were to make a sale." Mindy thought back to her cookie-selling days. "It's the best feeling ever," she recalled.

Danny wanted to tell her that he technically bought them for her and that she was just as excited to be buying the cookies as those little girls were to sell them. Before he could, he felt something crunch under his foot. It was an M&M. "Now there's chocolate all smashed into the upholstery," he grumbled instead. "And how does a grown woman only have $2 in her wallet?"

Mindy smiled as she crossed her arms in front of her sweater. "Teddy bear," she said.

xxx