“Open wide,” his friend said in a singsong voice, brandishing the serving utensil like an airplane. “You have a one-way ticket to I told you so.”
“Give me that.” After snatching the spoon, Jack slurped the bizarre concoction. He tried to keep his expression stoic, but to his consternation, the glaze didn’t taste half bad.Drat. He really didn’t want to change the menu again. Especially since Colt seemed bent on turning his humble establishment—which started as a bare-bones diner—into a Michelin star restaurant. And the last thing Jack wanted was a deluge of snobby tourists who cared more about the price tag of the plate than the food itself.
“Ha! I knew you’d like it!” Colt pumped his fist in triumph. “Can I put it on the menu for this weekend?”
Setting the utensil back on the spoon rest, Jack untied his plaid waist apron. “We’ll discuss it later. We don’t want to be late for Luke’s special get-together for Cassie.”
“No kidding. He hasn’t stopped talking about it all week.” Colt shoved the lid on the saucepan. “The way he’s been droning on and on about it, you’d think he was giving her the Hope Diamond instead of some old scrapbook.”
“It’s not any old scrapbook. The Christmas Calendar is what brought your brother and Cassie together. You really should sit down and hear the whole story sometime. As far as love stories go, it’s pretty epic,” Jack told him before swiveling to address his other cook. “Johnson, we should be back in twenty. Hold down the fort.”
Vick Johnson, a tattooed tough guy with a surprising soft side, raised a bottle of barbecue sauce in acknowledgment before slathering it on a plate of steaming hot ribs.
“Feel free to use my new glaze while we’re gone,” Colt added, nodding toward the saucepan on the stove.
Jack bit back a sarcastic remark, marching out of the kitchen before he said something he’d regret.
To his chagrin, Colt continued to blabber about menu changes as they strode across the town square toward The Calendar Café, a bakery and coffee shop that served as the town gathering place.
After drawing in a deep breath, Jack exhaled slowly, watching his breath escape in a hazy white cloud. The frigid night air helped him keep his cool.
While he didn’t blame Colt for his enthusiasm, Jack knew the danger of blind ambition. He’d watched it tear his family apart. Growing up, they’d barely had enough money to make ends meet, but they had each other. And for a time, that had been enough.
Unbidden, his thoughts flew to the Christmas card buried beneath a stack of junk mail. In the professional photograph, his entire family gathered in front of a grandiose mansion wearing matching red turtlenecks, most likely cashmere. Although the rift between Jack and his parents had been going on for years, they’d kept him on their mailing list. Probably to rub salt in the wound.
Not only did it pain Jack to see the garish display of wealth, but he couldn’t bear the depressing reminder that all four of his brothers had followed in his father’s footsteps, right down to their expensive Italian leather loafers. Unfortunately, the tension between Jack and his parents had strained the whole family. And although Jack didn’t hold anything against his siblings, he barely spoke to them anymore.
Except for Lucy. Fresh out of college, and the only girl, she still saw the world with rose-colored glasses. In fact, she optimistically tried to reunite Jack with their parents at every available opportunity. He often wondered if she’d give up if he told her the reason for the division. But out of love and concern for her, he kept the ugly truth to himself.
Absentmindedly, Jack dug his hand inside his coat pocket, grazing his cell phone. He expected a call from her any day now announcing her annual holiday visit.
Although their parents lived in the neighboring town of Primrose Valley, Lucy never missed spending a few days in Poppy Creek with Jack to kick off the Christmas season. Their itinerary usually consisted of gorging themselves on too many sugar cookies while binge-watching Christmas movies. One year, she’d even talked him into wearing an eggnog face mask while they sang along with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire in their favorite film,Holiday Inn. But he drew the line at painting his toenails with candy cane stripes.
Smiling at the memory, Jack felt the tension lift from his shoulders. No matter what went wrong in his world—even an overzealous sous-chef wreaking havoc on his diner—a visit from his sister set everything right again.
In truth, he didn’t think he could survive the holidays without it.
Chapter 2
As Jack pushed through the front door of The Calendar Café, a barrage of warm air greeted him.
Half the town of Poppy Creek appeared to be crammed in between the overflowing pastry cases and enormous open-hearth fireplace. After removing his wool coat, Jack pushed the sleeves of his flannel shirt up to his elbows as he scanned the crowd.
His gaze rested on Frank Barrie and his fiancée, Beverly, canoodling at a table in the center of the room. Jack’s lips twitched at the uncommon sight. He still couldn’t get used to seeing the town curmudgeon with his arm around the sweet, soft-spoken librarian. As someone stubbornly set in his ways, Jack had a hard time processing the drastic transformation.
Seated next to them at the table, Luke and Colt’s mother, Maggie, clutched a plaid scrapbook Jack instantly recognized as the Christmas Calendar. While the original version had been destroyed last year, the reproduction looked identical, right down to the gold foil lettering across the front. The pages inside were filled with all twenty-five festive tasks laid out by Cassie’s late grandparents before they passed away—a precious family heirloom that evoked a tiny pang of envy in Jack’s heart.
Growing up, Jack’s family hadn’t owned many possessions. And the ones theyhadowned were promptly upgraded when his father’s real estate business took off. Jack had managed to save only one keepsake—the cast-iron skillet that had kickstarted his love of cooking comfort food.
“Hey, you two! You made it.” The bright, cheerful voice interrupted Jack’s thoughts.
Penny Heart rushed to welcome them, throwing her arms around Colt’s neck before kissing him as though they’d been separated for several months.
Jack averted his gaze. Nearly everyone he knew seemed to be dating, engaged, or married. And nothing amplified his single status quite like being surrounded by couples in love, especially during the holidays. After all, he couldn’t exactly kiss himself under the mistletoe, now could he?
“There they are!” Eliza Carter, Cassie’s best friend and business partner, gestured toward them, snaking her way through the throng. Her fiancé, Grant, followed on her heels, their son, Ben, lagging behind them.
“Luke and Cassie are in the kitchen,” Eliza told them breathlessly, her huge chocolate-brown eyes dancing with delight. “He’s distracting her under the guise of hanging a new spice rack he made for us. I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she sees everyone!”
