by Lacey Baker
All the warning bells against liking him, which had been on a low buzz in her head up until this moment, were now chiming loudly.
“So, who organizes all this?” Switching the subject was always a good defense.
“The people that live on this street. It’s been going on for years. Every Christmas gets more and more spectacular. Families move out, new families move in, but the tradition carries on. They even have a committee that meets throughout the year to plan when they’ll all decorate their homes each year and if there’s a theme, stuff like that,” Adam explained.
“How do you know all this?” His lovely single family home was in a development at least five miles from here.
“He knows because the house he grew up in is just three blocks away,” Brooke answered.
Adam smiled down at his daughter. “Until Grandma and Grandpop retired and sold the house to move back to their hometown in North Carolina.”
The house Adam grew up in with his parents and his younger sister. The home where his mother taught him to bake. That was the type of home Taylor had once dreamed of having. She loved her parents, respected them immensely and was even grateful for all the opportunities they afforded her, but a part of her used to wish she’d had this type of home with these Christmas traditions and now these memories. Tonight, she realized that part of her still did.
Allowing herself to think about that house she’d once dreamed of, another idea for the gingerbread house came to her. “Oh! A fireplace would be great. I’ve always wanted a home with one.” Where she could hang her stocking every year.
“A fireplace?” Adam asked. “Well, how would we make flames out of candy?”
“I’m not sure, but we do need to make a candy run for more decorations, so we will try and find out,” she said.
They all chuckled and continued to make their way around the cul-de-sac. Brooke had been walking between them, but when she saw the life-size figures of girls on ice skates, she ran along the sidewalk to get a closer look.
“Daddy, look they’re skating in the yard!” Brooke yelled and posed just like one of the decorations.
Taylor hurriedly took out her cell phone and snapped a picture.
“Send that to me?” Adam asked before she put her phone away.
She looked at him and nodded. “Sure.”
After she slipped the phone back into her pocket, Adam took her hand in his and they began walking again. Brooke caught up but walked in front of them now, still in awe of all the decorations. Taylor, on the other hand was much more focused on the strangely warm feeling of having her hand in Adam’s as they moved along like a picture-perfect family.
The bulk candy store at the mall was a wonderland for anyone with a sweet tooth. Taylor wasn’t a big candy person. Aside from her favored peppermint bark, cakes and cookies were her favorite indulgence. Still, she could feel the energy of every child who walked through the doors and into the oasis of barrels filled with colorful and tasty candy treats. White shelves lined all the side walls and clear jars set on the shelves filled with hard candy, licorices, and gummies. There was a section for chocolate covered everything, another section for retro candy and then another for gourmet jelly beans. She was certain they would find everything they needed to decorate the gingerbread house in here.
Brooke was once again walking right in front of Adam and Taylor. She was in charge of decorations, after all. Today her mass of hair was pulled into one afro puff sitting cutely near the top of her head. Adam looked at Taylor and smiled as they both watched Brooke go from barrel to barrel peeking inside, sometimes picking things up and really thinking about whether or not they could use them on the house.
He had one hand pushed into his front pants pocket, and his coat—which he’d decided to wear today—was zipped, but he’d taken off his hat when they’d stepped inside the store. Taylor clenched the small purse she carried in front of her to resist the urge of reaching for his hand again. Walking hand-in-hand with him while they looked at the final house decorations had felt nice and…special.
“Nah, red licorice doesn’t look like flames,” Taylor said when Brooke picked up the long, individually wrapped strands from a table and showed them to her.
They passed a white table filled with the type of rainbow hard candy that was always sold at amusement parks. Jumbo rainbow swirl lollipops were in one large crystal vase and long rainbow twisty pops were in another. The next table used white ceramic cake tiers to display colorfully wrapped boxes of taffy, while more clear jars were filled with individually wrapped pieces, separated by flavor. Brooke stopped at the next table and pointed.
“Maybe orange slices?” She was directing all her questions to Taylor and Adam was standing by with an amused look on his face.
Taylor shook her head. “I don’t think so. Getting warmer though.”
The next display was of all types and sizes of colorful hard candy.
“I got it! Glass candy can look like flames for the fireplace,” Brooke announced, her eyes open wider.
Coming to stand beside her, Taylor couldn’t help but agree. “That’s brilliant! With reds, yellow, orange…let’s get a case of it. Oh and we should get loads of the gumdrops for decorating.”
“You two are really good at this,” Adam said with a shake of his head.
“We are,” Brooke agreed and hurried to the counter to speak to the sales clerk.
“How can I help you?” the clerk asked Brooke.
“We’ll take all the orange and red glass candy that you’ve got. And can I get some gumdrops too?” Brooke spoke like a seasoned shopper.
The clerk’s bright smile never wavered. “Sure, how many would you like?”
Brooke contemplated a moment before replying, “Um, maybe five thousand.” She thought again and shook her head. “No. Ten thousand.”
Taylor looked at Adam with a mixture of pride and amusement before they both shook their heads.
“You sure about that, young lady?” The clerk teasingly asked Brooke.
While Brooke nodded, Taylor chuckled and removed the credit card from her wallet to hand to the clerk. “Yeah, she’s sure. She’s the chief decorating officer, after all.”
The clerk accepted the card. “Well, all right, then.”
After signing the purchase order and giving the address to where she wanted the candy delivered, Taylor turned to join Adam and Brooke at the store’s entrance. They walked out of the store together.
“So, where to next?” It hit her rather quickly that she wasn’t ready for her time with them to end.
That seemed to happen more and more frequently. What usually started out as work days were turning out to be wonderfully relaxing and enjoyable times with them. It was an unexpected joy, but one that Taylor was finding she enjoyed immensely.
“We were going to look for a new dress for the Winter Concert, right, Daddy?” Brooke looked up to Adam and he nodded.
“She’s singing in the concert at school tomorrow, and I did promise her that after we finished working on the gingerbread house today we would find time to make it to the mall to shop for a new dress,” Adam said.
Then he leaned over and whispered to Taylor. “I usually try to have Jenny help her with shopping because I’m really not good at it. You think you could give us a hand? I mean, since we’re already at the mall.”
“Yes!” Brooke yelled and danced around to take Taylor’s hand. “We can go dress shopping. Your clothes are always so pretty, Taylor. Can you help me find the perfect dress?”
Taylor laughed at Adam as he realized his attempt at whispering hadn’t worked at all. But that laughter died quickly when she watched Adam’s expression go from happy to sad. She followed his gaze and saw Annabelle coming out of a restaurant on the other side of the mall. Annabelle was with that same man who’d come to the marketplace a couple of days ago.
; Taylor stepped closer to Adam. “Who is that with Annabelle?”
He hesitated as if he wasn’t going to reply, but then said, “Nick Brexley. He’s one of the investors I met with six months ago. The one who told me he didn’t want to invest in a culinary school dropout.”
“Oh.” That was all she could manage because she wasn’t sure what seeing the investor with Annabelle meant.
“Guess I won’t be going back to him to ask if he changed his mind about investing in my bakery. Looks like he’s already found a baker to invest in,” Adam stated flatly.
But Annabelle already had a restaurant. Before Taylor could say that, Brooke spoke up.
“Dress shopping?” She asked the question while looking from Taylor to Adam and back to Taylor again.
Suspecting this was the last thing Adam wanted to discuss in front of Brooke Taylor replied, “I’d love to help you pick out a dress, Brooke.”
Now, Brooke took Taylor’s hand. “Yes! We can go to the store over there.”
The store over there turned into four different stores until eventually, they struck gold.
Brooke stepped out of the dressing room wearing the cutest dress Taylor had ever seen. It was fitted black velvet at the top with long sleeves and a scooped neck, at the waist was a red bow that tied in the back, and the red, green and white plaid skirt was full falling mid-calf. She spun around in front of Taylor and Adam as if she were on a miniature runway.
“What do you think of this one?” she asked.
Taylor waited. Adam was growing weary of this little shopping spree, but he was trying desperately not to show it. In fact, he was at this moment looking at her with great consideration.
He lifted a finger and made a twisting motion. “Turn around one more time,” he told her.
Brooke happily obliged.
“Hmmmm,” he said, bringing that finger to rest on his chin in a great contemplative look. “What do you think, Taylor? I mean, I liked the previous one, the one with the emerald green but there’s something about this one.” He gave Taylor a quick, knowing glance and she went with his cue.
Taylor walked over to Brooke. “Let’s see,” she said and touched the material of the skirt. “The thin lines of gold weaved through this plaid design give it pizazz and hint at a celebratory mood.”
Brooke nodded. She ran her hand down the material in the same way that Taylor was doing. “I agree,” she told Taylor.
“But the black breaks up the color so that you’re not overdoing the holiday theme,” Taylor continued.
Brooke shook her head. “We don’t want to overdo it.”
Adam stifled a grin.
Taylor stood back and gave Brooke one long look. Then she turned to Adam and nodded. “I think this one might be it.”
“Precisely what I was thinking,” he said and then grinned at his daughter. “Get this one, honey. You look great.”
Watching Brooke run to her father and hug him made a lump form in Taylor’s throat.
“You’re going to look so pretty at the concert tomorrow,” Taylor told her when they were finally leaving the store, only a few minutes before it was time for the mall to close.
“I can’t wait to show Jordan my new dress. Oh, and my project,” Brooke said once they were through the doors and walking in the parking lot toward the car. “They’re going to be judging all the class projects tomorrow at the concert. You should come, Taylor, because you helped with the project too. Please, please can you come?”
Looking into Brooke’s pretty hazel brown eyes, Taylor’s heart ached and also wept with joy. She recalled always wanting her parents to come to school events with her. Sometimes they could and other times it wasn’t possible, either due to their work schedules or because there just simply weren’t any school activities, depending on where they were in the world. But she did have plans to work on some final reports for her last project at work in the morning. She and Adam had already talked about meeting up later in the day to work on the gingerbread house.
“I believe Taylor may have some work to do at her office tomorrow, honey. But Aunt Jenny is coming and I’ll be there,” Adam said.
Brooke looked crestfallen, even though she nodded as if she agreed. Taylor stopped walking and turned to kneel down in front of Brooke. Touching a hand to the little girl’s chin and tilting it up so she could once again see her pretty eyes, she said, “I would be honored to come to your concert tomorrow, Brooke.”
The light was instantly back in Brooke’s eyes, and the girl’s arms flew around Taylor’s neck for a hug that almost knocked Taylor off her feet. Taylor accepted the hug, holding on tight to the feeling of making someone happy. Someone, who at one time, she’d been just like.
Chapter Thirteen
Wearing a Santa hat and a jingle bell necklace and earring combo that perfectly matched her red turtleneck sweater and red and green skirt, Josephine stopped at Taylor’s cubicle after going for her fourth cup of coffee today.
“Ugh, I’m still so sleepy today. Went over to my dad’s assisted living center to help him decorate his tree and door for the building-wide contest and ended up staying for dinner. Beef stew, those canned flaky biscuits he loves, and holiday punch. Four of the women on his floor joined us, and it turned into a mini-holiday party in apartment 6B,” she said with a roll of her eyes and a groan.
Taylor chuckled. She’d just finished her last report and only had one more email she needed to send before she could leave for Brooke’s concert. She had come into the office early to get everything done in time.
“Sounds like you had a good time, though,” she said to Josephine who had entered the cubicle and was now in her favorite position, leaning against the edge of Taylor’s desk.
“It was fun and festive, but I knew I needed to get in here on time or Linda would kill me.” She took a sip of her coffee. “What time are we meeting at the marketplace this evening?”
Taylor continued typing her email. She’d heard Josephine talking but she was really trying to get the email finished.
“Yoohoo? Taylor? You there?” Josephine said this time tapping Taylor on her shoulder.
“Huh? Oh yeah, I’m sorry. Just trying to hurry up and get this done. I have to be at Brooke’s school by four. So we’re not going to meet at the marketplace tonight,” Taylor said. She looked at Josephine and then quickly back to her screen.
“Ooooooh,” Josephine said.
Taylor glanced at her again. Josephine had a knowing smirk on her face. One arm was folded over her chest while she held her coffee mug—which was a giant snowman’s face—in her hand, poised just a few inches from her mouth.
“What’s that look mean?”
“A few days ago you left to go bake dough at Adam’s house because Brooke was sick. Last night when I texted you, you said you were going for an inspiration trip with Adam and Brooke. A day or two before the dough baking at his house, you were shopping for baking items with Adam. Oh, and Wendy told me when we were working on the gingerbread house yesterday that she met Adam’s sister Jenny and Brooke at your house the day before. They were putting up Christmas lights.” Josephine wiggled her eyebrows and continued to stare at Taylor.
“Okay, you’ve got my itinerary committed to memory. So what?”
Taylor returned her attention to her screen.
“Soooooo,” Josephine exaggerated the word. “Now you’re going to Brooke’s school?”
Taylor sighed. “It’s a Christmas concert and she invited me last night after we went shopping for the candy to decorate the gingerbread house. Work,” Taylor said. “We were working last night.” Taylor could exaggerate words too.
“I see,” Josephine said. Out of the corner of her eye, Taylor could see her nodding. “So how exactly does a Christmas concert work with decorating a gingerbread house?”
Taylor sat back in her chair. She should’ve
known Josephine wasn’t going to let this go.
“She asked me to come, Josephine. What was I supposed to do, tell her no?”
Josephine vehemently shook her head. “Of course not, Taylor, the girl is adorable. And even though she has an aunt, I’m sure she misses having a mother. I know I did when my mom passed away when I was ten. So you should definitely go. It’s a really nice thing you’re doing for her.”
“I’m just going to see how her project does in the contest. I helped her with a few parts of it, so I guess I’m invested,” Taylor said.
“If you helped her, then I’m sure it’s going to do well. Besides, I’d much rather spend time with a very cute and very talented baker than stay cooped up in here.”
Josephine was a lot of things, but subtle was not one of them. Even though she’d resumed sipping her coffee, Taylor knew what she was really trying to do.
“We’re working on this competition together,” Taylor insisted. “That’s. All.”
Josephine pulled her mug slowly away from her mouth and nodded. “Right. You’re just working with him.” She pushed away from Taylor’s desk and walked out of the cubicle. But before going to her seat she looked back at Taylor. “Have fun at the concert, where you won’t be working.”
Taylor had to turn in her chair just to see Josephine once again waggling her eyebrows and this time giving her a huge knowing grin. Taylor could only shake her head and laugh.
She couldn’t have told Brooke no if she’d wanted to; the girl had looked way too sad at that possibility. And she hadn’t wanted to tell her no. Taylor wanted to go to the concert. She wanted to see Brooke on that stage singing the Christmas carols that Taylor already knew she could sing all the words to because she’d done so in her house before. Taylor also wanted to see Brooke’s diorama win the contest, because she was certain it would, even without seeing the competition. She wanted to do all those things with Brooke because she liked the little girl. She liked her a lot.
And if she didn’t hurry up she was going to be late for the girl-she-liked-so-much’s concert.