A Gingerbread Romance

by Lacey Baker

  Brooke continued to say, the sound of her voice like a warning beacon in Taylor’s head. She stepped back from Adam but continued to smile up at him. She’d liked the kiss, and a big part of her hoped there would be more.

  “Let’s get her home before she eats all the snow,” Adam said and then moved away from Taylor to grab Brooke up into his arms.

  When Taylor turned around she saw Adam spinning his daughter in the air. She smiled and wondered, what if…

  Fifteen minutes later they were once again in Adam’s truck, this time singing as loud as they could, “Five golden rings!”

  Taylor knew most of the words to the song, but the swans a-swimming and geese a-laying tripped her up every time. Adam swore he knew all the words, but she and Brooke had caught him singing the wrong lyrics a time or two. The song seemed to last forever as they drove along and Taylor didn’t even care. She was having the best time. They were singing about the Grinch by the time Adam pulled up in front of her house and she resisted the urge to sigh with disappointment.

  “Well, thanks for the ride,” she said when it was beginning to feel awkward with them sitting in front of her house and her remaining in the truck.

  For what it was worth, Adam hadn’t said anything or made any motion to kick her out of the truck.

  “Tomorrow’s December 21st—just three days left to decorate,” she continued.

  “We’ll be ready,” Brooke announced.

  “Okay, great!” Taylor said and then looked back at Brooke. “Get a good night’s sleep snow princess.”

  “I will. You too, gingerbread queen.”

  Taylor loved this little girl. It was as simple as that. She opened the door and stepped out of the truck before waving to Adam and walking quickly to her door. Still giddy from the day and evening she’d had, Taylor unlocked her door and stepped inside her house. She’d just closed and locked the door behind her when her phone rang.

  She answered while she was still in the hallway. “Hello?”

  “Sorry for calling so late, Taylor,” Linda said the moment she answered.

  “Oh, no. That’s fine. Is everything okay?” Of course it was fine that her boss called her. What wasn’t fine was if her boss were calling to tell her about another problem.

  “More than okay,” Linda continued. “Listen, I appreciate you taking the reins with the competition.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Clearly, you’ve held up your end of our little deal. So, I have an early Christmas present for you.”

  Taylor was still on alert because she had no idea what this call was about.

  “Can you say Joyeux Noël?” Linda asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I had dinner with a few of our board members tonight, and you’re their top pick for Paris. Of course, they have to wait for the official vote in the next few days. Which means if all goes well with the competition, you’ll be heading out on Christmas Eve!”

  Taylor’s heart dropped and all the Christmas spirit that she’d just been sharing with Adam and Brooke fizzled. “Christmas Eve?”

  “I know you don’t have plans for Christmas, so this new opportunity is kind of like I made some for you! I mean, a chance to celebrate Christmas in the City of Lights. Oh, and I’m even working on getting you an invite for a Christmas party at the Minister of Culture’s chateau.”

  Within seconds Taylor was lightheaded. Nausea quickly followed as sorrow pierced her chest. She blinked back instant tears that sprung with the thought of not being here with Brooke on Christmas. “Oh wow. That’s so soon.” She inhaled slowly, her fingers shaking as she continued to hold the phone to her ear.

  “I thought you’d be more excited,” Linda said. “I mean, isn’t this what you’ve been pushing for?”

  “Of course, of course. Thank you so much. I can’t wait.” She said those words because that’s what she would have said two weeks ago. “Um, let me know what the board decides.”

  Linda seemed fine with that response and continued, “Okay. Bye, Taylor.”

  Disconnecting the call was easy. Moving from the spot where she stood in the foyer was not.

  Paris.

  Everything she’d ever wanted in a job and to live in Paris again! It would be a dream come true.

  But which dream was it that she wanted now? The one where she was a huge success, or the one where her heart was filled with love?

  Chapter Sixteen

  Three Days Until Judging, Continued

  Taylor needed some air. She needed time to think and clear her head of all the things that had troubled her throughout the night. Instead of going into the office where she knew she would see Linda—who would definitely want to talk more about the Paris position—she went to the mall. That was the perfect place to walk around and keep warm.

  Of course, this close to Christmas, it was packed. If walking was what she wanted to do, she probably should have chosen another location, one where she wouldn’t bump into someone every couple of steps.

  She was just about to duck into a coffee shop to grab a very caffeinated beverage to deal with the mall traffic when she bumped right into Jenny.

  “Oh! I’m sorry.” She touched Jenny’s arm and made sure she hadn’t knocked any of the boxes out of her hands.

  “Hi, Taylor! What are you doing here? I thought you would be decorating the gingerbread house by now.”

  “Yeah, I’m headed there as soon as I leave here, just had to make a stop first.”

  Saying I have to figure out how I feel about your brother and this job and everything else before I can face anybody probably wouldn’t go over so well.

  “Oh, last-minute shopping to take care of? I completely understand. I just had a few more things to pick up for Brooke and then I have to get to work. We’re having our ornament decorating contest today.”

  What was it about Christmas that brought on so many contests?

  Taylor recalled Adam mentioning Jenny was a marketing student and she’d been late coming to Brooke’s concert because she had to work. So maybe she worked in the mall? Christmas was a great time of year for a marketing student to gain in-store experience.

  “The winner gets a fully decorated Christmas tree from the store next year,” Jenny continued.

  Bublicity. Taylor chuckled as she thought of the word Brooke had trouble pronouncing. An ornament decorating contest would definitely bring potential customers into the store. A completely decorated tree up for grabs would probably make them wander around the store wanting to look at what might possibly be featured on the tree they could win. Publicity was always a good reason to have a contest.

  “That sounds like fun.” She didn’t think she sounded as excited as Jenny did, but then she had a lot on her mind.

  “You wanna walk with me? I have to be back at the store before the contest starts,” Jenny said with a smile.

  It was similar to Adam’s smile, but different, which made Taylor think of family. Connections and putting down roots, building foundations, all things Taylor had stopped believing in a long time ago.

  “Sure.” Taylor fell in step beside her and they walked in silence for a few minutes. “Adam didn’t say you worked at the mall.”

  “I don’t. I’m a marketing student, but I work part-time for an international toy company with a branch here in Philly. I’m hoping to make it a full-time position once I graduate.”

  “That’s great. When will you graduate?”

  “In May, thankfully,” Jenny said with a sigh. “I’m so ready to be done with school I could scream. I told Adam that after I graduate I’d have more time to help him with Brooke, and he could go back to culinary school and finish or just open his own bakery. I’m leaning toward the latter because he’s gained so much business experience from working with Ray. And I know I could work up a good marketing plan to really set
his business apart from all the other bakeries in the city.”

  Jenny sounded very excited, and Taylor couldn’t help but think along those lines too. She also thought again about the investor Adam had seen with Annabelle. Maybe she should look into that and find out what was going on.

  “He’s very talented. I believe he would do a fantastic job owning his own bakery. I wonder if my boss knows of any other investors he could approach. I mean, since the other ones turned him down.”

  “He told you about that?” Jenny asked but shook her head before Taylor could answer. “Of course he did. He likes to use that as an excuse now, but I think they were silly for turning him down.”

  “I agree,” Taylor replied. Her mind was already buzzing with people she could ask about investors—Linda, her parents, maybe even Bradford.

  “Hopefully he’ll get a lot of exposure from the gingerbread contest to help push him along,” she said.

  “That’s exactly why I told him he should join you in the competition. It would be great if people knew how good he was.”

  Taylor knew. Adam was a terrific guy, a wonderful father and a talented baker. He could have been everything she ever hoped for in a man, if she’d actually been thinking about finding a man. But she hadn’t. Not in a very long time. Not since Paris, coincidentally. How could the place where she’d been dumped by her college sweetheart still be a place where she wanted so badly to live? Because she hadn’t loved Randall the way she loved that city. Paris was supposed to be the pinnacle of a career she’d worked so hard to build. And now she was so close, Paris was almost in the palm of her hand.

  “We’re here,” Jenny said when they were in front of the department store. “Why don’t you come in and join the fun?”

  Taylor wanted to say yes. What better way to clear her mind than to sit down and decorate a Christmas tree ornament? But she couldn’t hide forever. They had a tight schedule to meet and she didn’t want to keep the team waiting.

  “No, thanks. I’m going to head over to the Marketplace and get to work on the decorating. It was good seeing you, Jenny.”

  Jenny smiled and tilted her head as if she was hearing something that Taylor wasn’t saying.

  “You like him, don’t you?” she asked Taylor.

  “Like who?” Because answering a question with a question always worked.

  When Jenny only raised a brow, Taylor sighed.

  “We’re just working on this competition together. That’s all,” she said and was about to walk away.

  Jenny made a face that said she didn’t believe any part of Taylor’s statement. “That’s the same thing he told me when I asked him about you. You two make a perfect couple because I don’t know anybody else who can’t see what is so obvious.”

  Taylor politely brushed Jenny’s comment off with a smile and a wave. She was on her way out of the mall when she thought the thing that was so obvious was that she’d made a colossal mistake.

  “Not bad. Just a little more decorating.”

  Taylor turned to see Adam standing behind her. She’d been working on more details to the decorating around one of the windows. They’d used red foil-wrapped chocolate roses to put in the window boxes, but she’d wanted to add a little more flair around the boxes and the surrounding area.

  “Where did everyone go?” Taylor asked when she turned around.

  He chuckled. “You must have really been in a zone. I let the rest of the team go. Holidays and such, and they were tired.”

  Taylor really hadn’t been paying attention. She’d been so focused on getting as much done as possible she hadn’t even spent as much time talking to everyone today. That may have been on purpose, but she didn’t want to dwell on it now.

  “Well, I don’t blame them. I’m kind of tired, too,” she admitted.

  “So, have a seat,” he replied.

  “Okay.”

  Adam took her hand and led her down the stairs at the front of the exhibit stage. They sat on the side right next to the gift boxes they’d thought would be a nice touch in front of their house.

  “Thank you.”

  “Look at us,” he said while looking around. “Just a couple of folks sitting on our stoop watching the world go by.”

  Taylor nodded. “Nice little place we got here.”

  “Our own little chalet,” he said with a chuckle.

  “You know, I have to admit, the traditional roof is nice. But we do have some competition from our neighbors who’ve built quite the skyscraper.”

  “Winning would be the icing on the cake, but I only entered this crazy competition to show Brooke her dad could dream big.”

  Taylor could not resist the opportunity to say what she was feeling in this regard. “And why just dreaming? Why not make your bakery dream a reality?”

  He shrugged. “Ask the investors who turned me down.”

  “Well, you didn’t have your glorious gingerbread win under your belt then.”

  “Well, fingers crossed.” He actually crossed his fingers and they both chuckled.

  “You could always look for new investors. I mean, I know you’re thinking the guy you met with before may be working with Annabelle now. And that might be true, but he’s not the only investor in the world.”

  “I’ve been giving it some thought,” he said. “Actually, I’ve been giving lots of things some very serious thought.”

  “Well good for you.” She wouldn’t tell him about the people she planned to ask about potential investors yet. Just in case they didn’t pan out, the last thing she wanted was to discourage him again.

  “You know this takes me back to sitting at the front of the house with the family. A little music playing—something to dance to because my parents both love to dance.”

  “I have an idea, do you think we could use music for our gingerbread house?”

  “That’s a great idea. I mean, we already have four of the five senses. Sight. Smell. Tastes.” He leaned in a little nudging her until she smiled. “Touch and ah, hearing. Awesome. That’d be great.”

  Taylor nodded her agreement, pleased with how easily they seemed to come up with ideas together. While that hadn’t always been the case, she could look back now and see the natural progression of their relationship. Their working relationship, that is.

  “How about a doorbell that plays music? Or isn’t that traditional enough for you?”

  He did this whole sarcastic thing with his face and shoulders and she nudged his shoulder because he thought he was so funny, but really he was just being charming, as usual.

  “I’ll allow it. What kind of music?”

  “Um, a carol maybe? Something up-tempo.”

  He pulled out his phone and scrolled through an app to find the right music. After skipping through two or three songs, he landed on one that sounded strange but then familiar as the lyrics began a very upbeat “Jingle Bells.”

  “This one?” she asked skeptically.

  “It’s a good song to dance to,” he replied before getting up. “Here, let me show you.”

  “Huh?”

  “What? Can’t dance?” He started to move.

  “Oh, I can dance, all right,” she replied, but decided she’d rather watch him.

  He fell into the rhythm easily, snapping his fingers as he moved. This man could bake, cook a fantastic pizza, ice skate, and now dance.

  It’s no wonder I’m in love.

  What? Did she just think…

  Adam did another dance move that ended with some type of flourish, and Taylor could not help but laugh.

  “What?” she asked when he pointed at her.

  When he danced his way over to her and took her hands, she figured this was definitely better than overanalyzing what she’d just been thinking. “Okay,” she said and joined him while he danced in the aisle.

  The
y moved to the music together as if they’d been dancing like this for years. They did a little flourish together this time and a move that Taylor only recalled seeing on those reality TV dance competitions—not the one where the guy lifts the woman into the air, thank goodness, but he held one of her hands and they both reached out the other hand as if they were going to take a bow. She was laughing and enjoying herself when he pulled her back to him and they danced up close. She was never going to listen to “Jingle Bells” and not think of this moment again.

  When Adam held her arm up for a spin, Taylor thought this was so much more than she’d bargained for…and then that spin turned into an embrace which led to him dipping her over his knee and leaning so close that…

  Yes, Taylor wanted to kiss him. She absolutely did.

  But a light flashed in the distance and the spell was broken.

  “What’s going on over here?” A security officer asked while continuing to point the flashlight at them.

  Adam brought Taylor up until they were both standing.

  “Just working on our house,” he told the guard.

  “This place yours?” the guard asked skeptically.

  “Yup, all of it,” Taylor said with a nod as if she thought that would make him believe her.

  Adam added, “Wait until you see it finished.”

  “Looks good,” the guard replied. “But you can’t really be here right now. I’ve got this place on lockdown like Fort Knox. Anything happens to these houses, it’s on me.”

  “We’re about to head out, but ah, you want a taste?”

  The guard looked like he was taking his job of watching the gingerbread houses very seriously, but Taylor doubted he’d turn down the offer of a piece of gingerbread.

  “I’m on duty.” He shook his head like he was going to refuse, but continued, “I suppose a little taste wouldn’t hurt.”

  Adam walked back to the stage and picked up a tray of gingerbread. He returned to where Taylor and the guard were standing and extended the tray to the guard.

  “Baked fresh this morning,” Adam stated proudly.

  The guard took a piece and bit into it. He chewed for a few seconds and then nodded.