20 minutes later Betty called me. She was ready. I took off the oven mitts I still had on my hands, put them on the counter, and went to her and the customer whose order I messed up, to hear what Betty had found out.

"I talked to everyone who bought and received our special Christmas cookies yesterday, and no one has it", Betty informed us, "But there are three customers who have not confirmed that the ring is in them or not, because I couldn't contact them personally. So, you two have to go and look for them to find out who got the ring."

Betty handed me a piece of paper and added, "I've written down the addresses where you can find each one of the three customers. You have to leave now, because the sooner you find it, the sooner you can come back and help me", Betty said to me.

She wasn't looking at me so angrily anymore, but she still was worried, and I knew what was it about.

I took her hand and squeezed it lightly, "Betty, I promise I'll be back in time for you to go home to Emma's!" I smiled and a wave of relief swept over me as she smiled back.

Betty put her other hand on mine and patted me gently, "I know, darling, I know."

Then she released me and turned to both of us.

"Now go!"

I nodded and headed for the door. I took the scarf off the hanger, wrapped it around my neck. Then I put on my winter coat, zipped it up from bottom to top, put on my gloves, and turned to the man.

"I'm ready."

He nodded, and walked past me, opened the door, kept it for me, and we both left the bakery.

"So, where are we going?", the man asked.

I pulled the note with the addresses out of my coat pocket, where I tucked it in before putting it on, to make sure I won't lose it.

"Two of the addresses are quite far away from here", I noted, "Do you have a car?"

He nodded, "Yes, it's parked near."

"Okay. We'll need it."

I showed him the note.

The first address was at the southern end of the city, where the affluent neighborhood is.

"How long it will take to get to the first one by car?", I asked, and then I remembered that... "Wait a minute! I still don't know your name. Actually we haven't met properly at all."

I smiled and held out my left hand, he looked at it and only then took it and squeezed it quite tightly.

"I'm Ashley."

"Oliver", he said, scratching his neck again, then he let go of my hand and nodded to the note with the addresses.

I turned it to him so both of us could read it.

"How far is it, 8-9 kilometers from here?! We should be there in 15-20 minutes", Oliver replied, and turned his attention to the other addresses.

"The second one... I think I know this place. Yes! This is a restaurant. And its nearby, a 10-15 minute walk from here", I said, and added enthusiastically, "Come on let's check it first!"

"No", he stated.

"No!? Why not?"

"Look", he drew my attention to the note, "the third one is in the mountains. The person we are searching for has probably settled in a hut there. Lunch time is approaching and he/she will probably go back to it from skiing to get warm, eat and rest before his or her second session on the ski slopes. My brother does it, he loves skiing, and I guess it could be some sort of routine of the most skiers. So, if we go now we can catch him or her. Otherwise we have to look for someone we don't know on the ski slopes, which is absurd!"

"And you think this is the right place to start?", I asked.

"I think this is the most rational choice", Oliver replied.

"But if the one from the second address is in the restaurant now... we could miss this person while we are at the mountains", I noted anxiously.

"Your co-worker..."

"Betty."

"Yes, Betty, she didn't say that any of these addresses is urgent, so I guess that this person should be in the restaurant for a longer time than one meal."

"Buut...", I was still hesitant.

"We are still in front of the bakery, we could just go back and ask her", he said and turned to the bakery's door.

"NO!", I yelled. I grabbed his arm and pulled him towards me. "No!", I said more quietly, "There's no need to worry her!"

He nodded and turned his back to the bakery.

"Sorry, for yelling at you, I didn't mean it!"

He nodded.

"I'll trust your instincts!", I said with a sigh, "But we must hurry! I need to come back on time. It's important to Betty!"

"Okay!", he simply said.

"So we're going to the mountains", I said, waiting for his affirmation.

Oliver nodded and frowned at me. He headed to his car. I suppose. He didn't say a thing, just walked away from me.

"I guess he is still angry at me. Not that I could blame him. But I hoped that, after we have to spend some time together, the air between us won't be as icy as the weather outside. I hoped there won't be tension between us. Because I hate tension, I really hate it! It makes me nervous. And we saw that I'm not at my best and/or brightest  when I'm nervous", I thought while he was getting further and further away.

Soon he realised that I was not with him, and turned to look for me. I waved at him like a total idiot. Oliver just nodded with his head, as a gesture to follow him, and I did it. Reluctantly. 

I puffed again.

"If you want me to do another mistake, keep act that cold, ice man!", I muttered.

"Did you say something?", he asked, looking at me over his shoulder.

"Ice ice... Ice mountain. Here we come... ice mountain!", I exclaimed with forced enthusiasm.

"GREAT! I'm talking gibberish! But he smiled. I think he smiled. Well, that should be a good sign", I thought, and hoped my gibberish talking will slay the tension between us because, like I said before, it's never in my favour.