Graham
Ican’t get rid of this goofy grin on my face. Missy and I made out like a couple of teenagers last night right up until Noel woke up and began chasing her tail all over the house. We finally decided to pen her in the laundry room. Missy had a doggie gate she bought for that very purpose, and Noel calmed down and went right back to sleep on that overstuffed cushion Missy wedged in there with her. The thing was the size of a Volkswagen, but Missy insisted she wants nothing but the best for her baby girl. Our baby girl, I corrected.
A laugh strums from me at the memory as I head into the Gingerbread Bakery and Café with a single lavender rose in hand. I just dropped Noel off at the lot, stopped off at the florist for something simple. I’d give Missy a dozen of these if I didn’t think it’d send us ten paces backward. Nope. Missy is skittish. She’s always held her guard up way too high, and I’d hate to have her think I was merely in it to scale the wall. That’s not what this is about. That’s not what those kisses were about either. I can scale just about any wall I wanted back in New York—heck, probably here in Gingerbread, too, but what Missy and I shared last night was special. I’ve never had a single kiss that ever made me feel the way she did. I’m not quite sure that I get what’s happening here, but the rose seemed like the right move, a thank you and an apology for overstepping my bounds all in one.
No sooner do I step inside and spot Missy pouring a cup of coffee at the counter than a body tackles me with a violent embrace.
I pull back to find Sabrina Can’t-Shake-Her-Loose-Jarrett coming at me again, only this time she smacks her lips right over mine.
My insides twist into a knot as I quickly pull away. Like a reflex, my eyes immediately dart to Missy. But she’s turned abruptly away, helping the next customer on deck with a shoulder lifted high in our direction as if to shield her from witnessing any more of the spectacle. She has to know that I didn’t initiate it, that I would never even contemplate kissing Sabrina, let alone doing it to her face in her shop. My heart feels heavy as that granite slab Missy has her hands pressed against. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she were forcing her fingers to remain there rather than wrap themselves around Sabrina’s neck—or worse, mine.
“It’s beautiful!” Sabrina shrieks as she plucks the rose right out of my hands and spins around, waving it through the air, causing a scene with it in true Sabrina fashion. “Can you believe it?” she sings to someone to her left, and my heart thuds once again as I spot Mom and Dad watching the two of us with bewildered expressions. I’m slow to glance back Missy’s way, but, sure enough, she’s giggling right alongside Holly. I’m guessing she’s figured out the rose was meant for her. Great. And now she gets to watch me squirm my way out of an early morning gathering that I want no part in. “It looks like we are definitely on the right path.” Sabrina navigates us to my parents’ table, plucks a chair out, and pushes me in it before taking a seat to my right. Both Mom and Dad lift a curious brow my way.
“Son.” Dad forces a smile to come and go. “Sabrina here tells us you’re quite serious. And so soon upon your arrival. How—interesting.”
Sabrina is quick to wave him off. “Like I always say, why put off a good thing?”
Mom nods as if affirming this madness. “That’s what I always say, too.” She offers a stern glance in my direction. “Why didn’t you tell us this brilliant girl came up with a plan to save Holiday Pies all by her lonesome?”
I can’t help but frown as I glance past her at Missy who’s busy pretending to organize her platters. She knows perfectly well she’s positioned within earshot. A dark laugh lives and dies in my chest. Maybe I should give her a show?
“That’s right.” I do my best to project my voice. “Sabrina here thought of it all on her own. In fact, she convinced Missy to lend her the kitchen and then proceeded to bake her heart out and donate all the pies she auditioned for us to the homeless shelter downtown.” My lips press tight to keep from grinning like some deranged loon. I don’t know where to look first. It’s like Christmas.
I glance to Missy who’s busy rolling her eyes to the ceiling before shooting me a look and heading to the kitchen. I knew she’d catch on quick. I’m slower to cast a glance in Sabrina’s direction—but, rather than being angry with the half-truths I’ve just spouted, she looks mildly confused as she nods in acceptance of this accolade.
“My goodness, Sabrina!” Mom chirps at the benevolence of it all. “The next time I see your father I’ll be sure to tell him what an angel he’s got on his hands.”
More like a devil, but that might be a little harsh. Sabrina did come up with a great idea. And I can’t hold the fact she’s wildly attracted to me against her. Heck, at this point, I should probably come with my own addiction warning. I can’t help but stifle a laugh at how ridiculous that sounds. I would have given anything to have shared that with Missy. I know she’d have a feast with that one. I’m teasing, of course. Sabrina is stalker material no matter how brilliant a scheme she devised to save Holiday Pies.
Sabrina chortles up a storm. “Please do. He’s forever looking to hear good things about me. I’m his only child, so it’s a direct reflection on how I was raised. My mother and father both worked hard to give me everything I have.”
This coming from a twenty-six-year-old woman who still lives at home and has no problem running up her father’s credit cards. I know all about the lifestyle she’s living because she’s told me so in arduous detail. I shoot a quick glance to Missy who is now unnaturally immersed in rearranging cupcakes on a stand, bouncing them around from one place to the next as if it were a game of checkers. Her eyes flit over to mine, and an undeniable spark jumps from her to me. It’s powerful, electric, and it is nothing I will ever feel for the girl to my right, currently informing my parents that we will most likely be bicoastal.
Mercifully, Dad has a dental appointment that’s due to take place in the next ten minutes, and Mom is quick to usher the two of them out the door. I take advantage of the natural pause by excusing myself for a moment and head over to Missy.
Her lavender gaze matches those petals I purchased, the very ones that found themselves in the wrong hands. I had the entire exchange set up in my mind—me giving Missy the rose—her tearing up with gratitude and then maybe even gifting me another one of those sweet kisses right here in the bakery. Sweetest things going are Mistletoe Winters’ lips. That’s for sure.
I lean in to whisper, my eyes still magnetically pinned to hers. “Meet me behind the bakery in five minutes?”
She bites down on her bottom lip a moment, and she glances to Sabrina as if she were afraid of her.
“Make it ten.” She wrinkles her nose. “You’re not getting away that easily.” She disappears in the back, leaving her perfume to linger, wrapping itself around me like a scarf I never want to take off. I take in a deep lungful of the sugary scent before heading back to the table and find Sabrina on her feet, gathering her purse.
“There’s a boutique down the street that just got in the most fabulous dresses. The auction is just around the corner, and I don’t have a thing to wear. Why don’t we spend the afternoon trying on some of the more revealing numbers?” Her voice is thick and husky as she leans in with suggestive intent.
“I would, but I don’t think they have my size.” I pat my thighs. “I’m cut funny.”
She twitches her cheek. “Fine. I’ll pick out a few extra dresses while I’m at it, though. One for the auction.” Her finger glides over my jaw. “One for Christmas Day.” She caresses my cheek, and I flinch. “One for New Year’sEve.” Her thumb rubs over my lips with a hint of promise. “And one sultry number I wouldn’t dare wear out of the house in this kind of weather.” A throaty laugh bubbles from her. “In fact, I can model that one for you first. Say this weekend sometime? I’m free Saturday night. It would give us something incredible to look forward to.” She wets her lips as if she were chomping at the bit—and I do believe she is chomping at the bit.
“Actually, I have a thing”—quick, come up with anything—“with the dog, you know.” Thank God for Noel. And now I know how relieved parents the world over must be when they can use their child as an excuse to get out of just about any unwanted event. I guess children—or in this case pet children—really are a blessing in disguise.
“Ugh.” She bucks as if she might actually be sick and tosses that rose to the table as if it were diseased. “I’ve got an idea for you. Get rid of thatthing.” She hacks out a laugh at her own bad joke as she speeds for the door. “I’d better get going before those divas from my book club swoop in and steal all the good stuff. It’s a good thing you’re not going. I’d hate to have one of those alley cats try to sink their claws into you. They can’t be trusted, you know.” She points behind me a moment. “Stay here and hang out with that one all day. She couldn’t steal you away from me if she tried!” She blows me an air kiss, and I pretend to catch it. “Ta-ta for now!”
Missy glides in next to me, and together we watch as Sabrina struts down the street in those sky-high heels.
“That looked brutal. And you’re right. The two of you don’t look serious at all.” She gives a playful frown my way.
“First—we’re not serious.” I wince because on second thought I should never have pretended to catch her kisses. “And second—I was given strict orders to spend the day with you.” I pick up the rose off the table and offer it to her with a playful twitch of the brows. I can’t imagine she’d accept it after it was so brutally defiled.
