by Katie Carver
Ginger didn’t know what to think. Last night with Jake was not only enjoyable, but it was also more than she thought possible. Her feelings for him had taken a strange turn during dinner. He showed her that he was sweet and considerate. When they spoke of their love of baking and cooking, she had felt a connection to him. His smile stirred feelings in her that she hadn’t felt for a very long time. She hadn’t wanted the evening to end. If Jake wrote this, he would have had to deliver it right after their dinner together last night. The line in the flyer about Baxter House being a family home hurt her most of all. She had opened up to him about her mom, which even after all this time was still difficult. The thought that he was just trying to pry information from her to use against her in a flyer made her sick. She didn’t want to believe he was capable of something like that.
“We don’t know that Jake actually wrote this, Matty.”
“Then who? It wouldn’t have been Andy. He would never stoop so low. It’s not your fault you don’t have any family in town.”
Ginger shrugged sadly. She admitted there were few people in town who would be so callous and cruel. “I don’t know.”
“It isn’t right.” Matty’s voice was soft and quiet.
Ginger just looked at Matty blankly. She felt like a wrecking ball had smashed into her and shattered her into a million pieces. Even at her worst, she would never actually go through with doing something that could cause someone such pain.
“I just thought you should know about it. I better get back to the shop. If you need anything from me, you just let me know. I’m not going to stand for this type of behavior, I can promise you that.” Matty walked hastily back out the door.
Her stomach turned when she realized that other people would see the flyer at some point. Word would get around and, even if it wasn’t directly delivered to them, they would hear the contents it contained. She grabbed her coat and turned her sign from Open to Closed. There was one possibility of who it could be other than Jake. Ginger walked quickly down the sidewalk to Franklin’s store. She knew he’d be in this early in the morning. She walked up to his door and saw him fiddling with a vitamin display. She pounded on his window and startled him. He cracked open his door.
“What is it, Ginger?”
“Do you know anything about this?” Ginger asked showing him the blue paper in her hand.
“That idiotic flyer? Absolutely not. I got one, too.” He gestured over to his register and Ginger saw a blue crumpled up paper.
“You didn’t write it?” Ginger demanded.
Franklin opened the door a bit more, Ginger could feel the heat of his store hit her face. “Why would I do such a thing? I’m not going to help Jake win if that is what you are implying. I don’t particularly care for him.”
“You’re the one who put the idea in the Mayor’s head to give him the booth at the festival. Why would you do something like that if you didn’t like him?”
“I don’t like the fact that he’s been cozying up to Mayor Curtis. At the time, I believed it was the charitable thing to do.” A wry smile formed on his lips.
“You don’t care at all about being charitable. You did it so I wouldn’t get it and you knew you were out of the spot,” Ginger snapped.
Franklin gave her an indignant look. “I resent that you would think such a thing.”
“Whatever. You swear you didn’t write this?” Ginger asked with irritation.
“I don’t give a fig who wins that house, Ginger. Why would I waste my time writing such nonsense? A vote for Jake is a vote for Spruce Valley? Puh-lease! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have actual work to be doing.” Franklin slammed the door shut and locked it.
Ginger folded the paper back up, put it into her pocket, and walked miserably back to her bakery. She wouldn’t have put something like this past Franklin, but there would have been nothing to gain from him doing it. That really only left Jake as the culprit of the flyer. She got back to her kitchen and saw the small box of sugar cookies she had made to take over to Jake later as a thank you for dinner. She picked it up and slammed it into the garbage can. Ginger hadn’t been sure what to make of their dinner together, but she wasn’t able to stop thinking about him last night. A small thank you gift would have given her a reason to see him again, but now, that was the last thing she wanted to do. She put on her apron and took a deep breath. She turned on the kitchen radio and heard Bing Crosby happily singing Jingle Bells. She turned it up. Like Franklin, she had actual work to be doing and there was no point wasting one more thought this morning on someone as undeserving as Jake.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jake was feeling the effects today of not having slept well the night before and found it hard to focus on the lunchtime orders. He’d gotten back to the Inn a bit later than usual and found that he wasn’t as tired as he should have been. Spending the evening with Ginger had given him extra energy for some reason and he spent much too long dawdling around the restaurant not wanting the evening to end. When he finally made it back to the Inn, he found it difficult to stop thinking about her. He began wondering whether she had felt the same spark between them he had. It was subtle, but there was no mistaking it was there. It was more than attraction, that had been there from the moment he laid eyes on her, this was something deeper. His mind kept playing out scenarios that would give him a reason to see her again today. He couldn’t just stop by for a visit given their tense history. So far, Jake hadn’t managed to come up with anything that would seem plausible, but it hadn’t stopped him from enjoying the scenarios of seeing the pretty redhead. Even though he knew he wouldn’t allow his feelings to take him down the path to a relationship, something he’d been able to avoid for years, he couldn’t help but feel drawn to her. He just had to make sure that he kept those feelings in check and didn’t let himself fall into old tendencies.
Sandy walked into the kitchen holding an order. She placed it down on the counter without a word and went back to the dining room. Sandy had barely spoken to him today. She was usually so upbeat and friendly, but today she seemed upset by something. Jake worried something was wrong with her aunt or maybe she wasn’t feeling well. He’d ask the next time she walked in with an order. He didn’t want to overstep, but he knew she was the type of person who would work when she didn’t feel well just to not cause anyone an inconvenience. He looked down at the order for Chicken Marsala. It was one of his least favorite dishes to prepare and eat. He didn’t care for mushrooms, but it was a staple of too many menus to be excluded from his. Jake put some butter in a frying pan and turned up the heat. He searched the counter for the Marsala Wine but didn’t see it out. He went to the pantry and rifled through the shelves. It had somehow found its way to the back of the top shelf. He reached in, but somehow managed to knock off one of the front items. His gut reaction was to grab for it, but in doing so, the towel slipped that had been hanging from his shoulder, an old habit from his culinary school days. When he saw the towel falling, he turned his attention to retrieving it, but wasn’t quick enough. The hand towel landed on top of the stovetop and in moments was in flames. Jake darted to the far wall where the extinguisher was, but couldn’t get to it before the alarms began to sound. He quickly put out the fire, but smoke filled the room.
Sandy opened the kitchen door. “Are you okay?” she asked anxiously, yelling over the fire alarm.
Jake went to the back door and propped it open to allow the smoke to disperse. “I’m fine. It was a dishtowel. Stupid mistake,” he called out miserably to her from across the kitchen. Jake heard the sound of a fire truck roaring from the station down the street and knew the worst wasn’t yet over. “We’ll need to make sure everyone evacuates. Just to be on the safe side.”
The fire truck pulled up just as Jake had ushered the diners out to the sidewalk. He let the first fireman know the fire was out before they entered. He saw Andy pull up a few moments later. He jumped out of his truck and walked quickly over to Jake.
“Is everyone okay
?” Andy asked breathlessly.
“Yes, it was an accident and I got it put out a minute later,” Jake said embarrassed his little error caused so many problems.
“What happened?”
“A towel dropped on to the stove and caught fire. Rookie mistake.” Jake grinned sheepishly.
After a few moments, the alarm ceased and the first firefighter exited the restaurant and walked towards Andy. Andy met him halfway and firefighter whispered something to him. Andy nodded as he listened. He said a few words to the firefighter that Jake couldn’t hear and walked back over to him.
“What’s the verdict?” Jake asked.
“You can go back in, there is no damage and the fire is completely out. The real problem is over at Ginger’s.”
Jake’s pulse raced. “Did something happen to Ginger? Is she okay?” he asked quickly. The fear she had been harmed made his stomach churn.
“She’s fine. Her alarm system didn’t trigger. About twenty years ago, there was a big fire in town and it damaged five buildings. After that, the city made it mandatory to have an alarm trigger the neighboring building when there is a fire. Victoria’s went off, but Ginger’s didn’t. We’ll have to evacuate her until it can be checked out and repaired if necessary.”
“How long will that take?” Jake asked.
Andy shrugged. “A couple of days?”
Andy walked off towards the firefighter again and they made their way to Ginger’s. He knew the news wouldn’t be well received. He watched as she listened to Andy and saw her expression change from interest to fury. He couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t something she had done and now she would suffer for his mistake. Jake didn’t like that he could be the cause for anything that would cause her misery. He saw her disappear from behind the counter and Andy and the firefighter came back outside.
“Is it okay if I go talk to her?” Jake asked. Now that they had spoken to her, he wanted to apologize for his stupidity.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Jake. You might want to give Ginger a little while before talking to her,” Andy said.
“Maybe I can help.”
Andy gave him an apprehensive look. “I’m not sure she’d be open to any assistance from you at this moment. She wasn’t too pleased about all of this.”
After ten minutes of waiting, Jake looked up to see Ginger exiting the bakery with a small suitcase. He jogged up to her, ignoring Andy’s warning. “I feel like an idiot, Ginger. I’m really sorry. If there is something I can do, let me know.”
She turned towards him and slammed her suitcase down to the ground. “If there is something you can do? I think you’ve done more than enough, don’t you?” She glared at him. “You know Christmas is a busy time and because of you, I’m not even allowed in my building. Not only will people not get their orders, now I don’t even have a place to live!” She pointed a finger threateningly at him. “If you think for one minute, I actually believe this was an accident, you are sadly mistaken. After what you did with that flyer, there is no doubt you are capable of sabotage in order to win the contest.”
“Ginger, I don’t know what you are talking about. I didn’t do any of this on purpose.” Jake didn’t understand where this amount of anger was coming from. He could understand her being unhappy about it, but to accuse him of doing it to gain some sort of upper hand was an extreme leap, even for Ginger.
“You want to do something for me? Then just leave me alone.” She walked towards her car and threw her suitcase in the backseat. Before getting in, she turned towards him one last time. “I wish you had never moved here,” Ginger muttered sadly.
Jake stared at her in shock as she drove away. He looked towards the crowd gathered in front of the restaurant. Their eyes were intently fixed on him. No doubt everyone had witnessed the tongue-lashing he had just endured. Jake slowly moved towards the restaurant to where Sandy had been standing.
“You can go home, Sandy. It will probably take the rest of the day to clean up the kitchen,” he said evenly.
She looked at him with concern. “Are you okay?
“Great,” Jake said miserably.
He was far from okay. His restaurant was in shambles and he would lose out on all business today. The restaurant wasn’t his only trouble. All the progress that had been made with Ginger had disappeared. There was no chance the two of them would be anything more than two people at odds with one another. Any hopes he had thinking she had experienced the same spark he had were shattered. The evening before had just been an anomaly. One that he’d make sure he didn’t repeat.
He suddenly remembered that Sandy had been quiet earlier and his intention to find out the reason was delayed by the fire. “Is everything okay with you? You weren’t yourself this morning. I meant to ask before all the chaos happened. Is your aunt okay?”
“She’s fine. It wasn’t about my aunt.” She pulled a blue piece of paper from her pocket. “You didn’t do this, did you?” She handed him the paper.
Jake heard Andy from nearby come to his defense. “Of course, he didn’t write that. Anyone who thinks he did is wrong.”
Jake opened the folded sheet and read the words and was immediately grateful to Andy for coming to his defense, though he doubted many people would believe his innocence. The paper in her hands must have been what Ginger was talking about.
“I’ve never seen this before. Where did you get it?”
“I ran into Matty this morning on my way into work. She told me I should know who I was working for and gave it to me.” Sandy looked down at the ground. “I’m sorry, Jake. I don’t know how I could have thought you did it. That part about Ginger having no family was really harsh.” She looked at Jake apologetically. “Listen, I’ll stay to help. You don’t have to pay me or anything.”
Jake crumpled the paper up into a tight ball. “No, go on home, we’ll try this again tomorrow. Thank you for offering, Sandy.”
He didn’t blame her for believing the town gossip, but he wanted to be alone. He went back into the restaurant and listened to the crowd as they discussed the flyer’s contents and who could have concocted it as he walked past them. Jake opened the kitchen door and appraised the damage. He was lucky it hadn’t been much worse. Everything he’d worked towards could have been gone in a blink of an eye. His entire life savings would have vanished if that fire had spread. He shuddered to think about what would have happened if it had been any worse. His daydreams had made him careless and stupid. It was just another reminder to Jake that he needed to keep a clear head and stay away from any entanglements. He was no good at them anyway. The fire was a wake-up call for him to re-focus on what was really important. He knew that from now on, he couldn’t allow himself to be distracted by the problematic woman next door, or any woman for that matter. The day had started out in a much different way, but Ginger’s angry words echoed in his head. She told him that she had wished he’d never moved there. Right now, he wasn’t so sure he didn’t feel the same.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ginger had been barred from going into her bakery for almost two days. If it had been at a different time of year, the length of time wouldn’t have affected her so profoundly. She was already struggling to keep up with her orders and now she’d be falling much further behind. Ginger got up from the couch, which also functioned as her current bed, and went to Victoria’s kitchen to check on the progress of the dough rising. At least she was able to get a few things done while staying there, but the tools and ingredients she needed were back at her bakery. It wouldn’t have been cost-effective to buy anything new, Andy had assured her that she’d be back in soon. If her homelessness continued much longer though, she’d need to see if Thelma, the cook at the Murphy Inn, would allow her to use the kitchen there. Ginger was sure that she’d be welcome to do so, but the chance of running into Jake again deterred her from making the request so far. She would try to finish what she could at Victoria’s. She picked up the coffee carafe and poured herself a fresh cup. Ginger l
ooked down at her mismatched outfit and wished she spent a little more time packing things from her apartment. In her anger, she hastily threw things into a suitcase, not paying attention to what she was packing. There was no one to impress, so it wasn’t too great a hardship. It had just made her feel awkward and even more displaced. Ginger heard a knock on the door and went back into the living room. She self-consciously smoothed out her frizzy ponytail. She hadn’t remembered any of her hair products, let alone a brush. Another side effect of her haphazard packing. She could see through the door window that it was Andy. She hadn’t been expecting to hear from him so soon and worried it wasn’t good news.
“Tell me I can go home,” Ginger said exasperatedly.
“Well, hello to you, too, Ginger,” Andy said walking in his sister’s home.
“Hi,” Ginger said quickly. “I assume you’re here with news, so spill it.”
“You are free to go back to the bakery,” Andy said and smiled.
“Finally!” Ginger said relieved. “I still don’t understand why Jake’s fire was my problem. I don’t see why I had to suffer for his stupidity.”
“It’s a good thing it happened the way it did. If there was really a problem and your alarms didn’t go off, you’d be out of luck. Especially, since you live there. You should be grateful that he had that fire.”
“Grateful? I don’t think that’s the word I’d use for my current fiasco. Besides, I’m not entirely certain that he didn’t just do it on purpose,” Ginger said bitterly.
“Now how in the world would he have known your alarms wouldn’t go off, Ginger? You’ve met Jake, right? Does he strike you as the kind of guy that is capable of knowing what goes to where in order to sabotage you?” Andy asked with a snicker. “And anyhow, the electrician determined the cause was a corroded wire. Once that was replaced, everything worked fine.”