by Katie Carver
Jake and Kacie waited for their turn with the oven and Ginger chatted happily with the other participants. After the first round was baked, it was their turn. He handed Ginger the cookie sheet and she added it to the others in the oven.
“Each person bakes one dozen and then we do a taste test,” she explained politely. “You can take the rest of the dough home with you to freeze or bake later.”
“Do you hold many classes?” Jake asked with mirrored politeness.
“One or two a month, depending on if people are interested. This is the second this month, so there aren’t too many people.” She turned her attention to Kacie. “It’s nice to see you. Are you having a good Winter Break?”
“Yes. I’m here for a few more days, then I go back to my mom’s,” Kacie said.
“If you have time, and it’s okay with your Dad, stop by the bakery. I have a small Christmas present for you.” Ginger smiled at her and looked at Jake. “Is that okay?”
Jake nodded.
“Can Ginger have dinner with us?” Kacie asked.
“I’m sure Ginger is busy,” Jake answered awkwardly.
“She can’t be busy every day. Or you should just ask her out and make her dinner. Like a date,” Kacie said happily.
A look of sadness washed over Ginger’s and Jake’s face began to burn. He didn’t know what to say, but he had to think of something quickly. “Let’s just focus on the cookies, kid.” Jake tried to make the sentence sound light and pleasant, but it still came out forced. The next five minutes waiting for the cookies to bake was filled with an awkward silence. He was grateful for the ding on the oven when they were finally ready.
Jake and Kacie stood around Ginger’s front table with their other cookie classmates and she doled out paper plates and napkins. Each person took a bite or two of each other’s samples and compared notes. Ginger’s batch was unsurprisingly the best, but it turned out Jake and Kacie had produced a decent cookie, too. To Kacie’s immense joy, the rest of the class voted theirs the best.
“This was fun!” Kacie said happily as they packed up the unused dough. “Can we make the rest tonight?”
“We’ll see,” Jake said evenly. Kacie looked at Jake sheepishly and he knew she had finally realized she was in trouble.
He was able to keep his cool until they were out of the classroom. “Why would you say something like that?” he asked in a hushed tone. “We’ve already discussed that I will not be dating Ginger.”
“Why not, Dad? She’s perfect for you,” Kacie said in a pleading whisper.
“That’s enough,” Jake said louder than he should have and a few heads turned towards them. He regained his composure and started again. “You don’t get to dictate to me who I should date and I don’t appreciate you meddling in things that you don’t understand. Who I date is not up for discussion, do you understand?”
“Yes,” Kacie said sadly. Jake could tell that he’d hurt her feelings, but he needed to make himself clear.
They walked back to the restaurant in silence. Kacie walked back to her usual booth and picked up the book she’d been reading earlier. He went to the kitchen and threw the leftover dough into the refrigerator and slammed it shut. It had been difficult enough to see Ginger again after they’d confessed their feelings to one another. Kacie’s innocent remarks would have just been laughed off if they’d occurred at any other time, but seeing the hurt on Ginger’s face was almost more than he could bear. Jake looked at the clock on the wall, it was nearly five o’clock and close enough to dinnertime. He could start a meal, but he wasn’t hungry after snacking on cookies and he knew Kacie wouldn’t be either. He went to the walk-in freezer to grab something to thaw, but when he flicked the light switch it wouldn’t go on. He checked the clock again and walked to the dining room.
“The lightbulb in the freezer is out. If I hurry, I can make the hardware store before it closes. Do you want to come along?” he asked hopefully.
“No,” she said and returned her attention to her book.
“I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Yep,” she said sourly.
He grabbed his jacket and hurried out the door. He didn’t have time to speak to her right now if he wanted to make it to the hardware store, but they definitely needed to have a conversation to clear the air. Jake knew she would avoid him for the rest of the night and sulk in a book. He hated fighting with her. They had so little time together that any of it spent in silence was just wasted moments. There were already enough of those in his life and he had made up his mind he wouldn’t have any more ever again.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ginger stretched up her arms in the air and yawned loudly. It was only five-thirty and she still had hours to go before she could get upstairs to her home to relax. She hadn’t slept very well and that combined with how dark it was outside made her a bit sleepier than she was normally at this time of the day. She had a feeling she was in for another restless night, but hoped that she was tired enough to get in a few hours at least. Seeing Jake today made Ginger even more upset with herself for screwing up what might have been. Kacie was such a sweet girl and she knew she had no way of knowing that what she had said would pierce Ginger’s already devastated heart. What had made the whole ordeal even worse was that she could see in Jake’s reaction that he had pitied her for her sadness. She didn’t want his pity. She didn’t want anything more than the politeness he offered her. After the way she had acted, it was more than she had deserved. She’d tried telling herself she’d get over him and that seeing him would get a little less troublesome each time it happened. She could only hope that one day, the sight of him wouldn’t make her heart want to leap out of her chest. Right now, the possibility of that seemed too far off to even matter right now. She was nursing a broken heart and would be for the foreseeable future. She needed to grieve for what never was and what never could be. The best thing was to keep busy, but with Christmas Eve only a few days away, the orders were becoming more manageable. After many years of running herself ragged, she’d finally learned to give everyone a cut-off date for ordering. She’d sell out of everything the day before Christmas Eve and she’d have the rest of the year to catch her breath. The chime rang on the door, and she hurried to finish boxing up the order in front of her and walked up front.
To her surprise, it wasn’t a customer, it was Jake. Ginger could see from his pale complexion and the look of fear on his face that something awful had happened. “Jake? What’s wrong?”
“Is Kacie here? Please tell me she’s here,” Jake pleaded in a panic.
“She’s not here. I haven’t seen her since this afternoon.”
Jake began to pace the room, his fists clenched at his sides. “Where could she be?” he muttered to himself. “If she shows up here tell her to stay put!”
“She’s wandered off before, I’m sure she’s close by,” Ginger offered.
Jake shook his head quickly. “This is different. She’s angry with me. We had a fight.”
“I’m sure she’s fine. She probably just took a little walk. Where was she last?”
“At the restaurant. I ran to the hardware store to get a lightbulb and when I got back, she was gone. I looked all over, but she’s not there.” Jake rubbed his forehead. “She doesn’t know her way around. I don’t know my way around. It’s dark and it’s cold. What if she’s lost?”
“Did you try calling her?”
“She left her phone on the table,” Jake said.
“Jake, she’s a smart kid, probably the smartest I’ve ever met. She couldn’t have wandered too far, we’ll find her, okay?” Ginger said soothingly. She grabbed a sweater from under the counter and put it over her apron. “Where have you looked?”
“I went to the ice-skating rink because we talked about that earlier and I walked up and down the street. She hasn’t been gone too long. Do you think she could be back at the library?” he asked as they rushed out of the bakery.
“The library closes at five o
n Thursdays. Let’s check Town Square. Maybe she wanted to look at the lights.”
They ran across the street and each took a different direction. After searching their half, they both returned to the Gazebo with no luck.
“She’s not here. I don’t know what to do,” Jake said frantically.
“I’ll call Sheriff Sam. He knows the town better than anyone.” Ginger pulled the phone from her pocket and called in the details on Kacie.
He answered on the first ring. Ginger explained the situation and asked for his help. She knew the Sheriff would be better equipped to locate her. When Sam asked what Kacie was wearing, Ginger covered the phone with her hand.
“She had on jeans and a pink sweater, right?” Ginger confirmed.
“Yes,” Jake said dryly.
Ginger saw a look of dread in Jake’s face. She continued to talk to the Sheriff a few moments more all while keeping an eye on Jake. He was beginning to look a little unsteady. When she ended the call, she walked over to where he was standing.
“He’s going out to look for her,” Ginger said.
Jake looked at her blankly for a moment. “The police were just called to find my missing daughter.” He struggled to get out the words. He looked around the square and yelled. “Why isn’t there anywhere to sit around here?”
Ginger guided him over to the gazebo stairs and helped him to sit. “She’s okay, Jake. Just take a couple of deep breaths.” Jake buried his head in his hands. Ginger felt so helpless. She wished there was something she could do to take away his worry. “Look at me, Jake,” Ginger demanded. Jake turned his head reluctantly and stared into her eyes. “Kacie is okay. This town is boring, remember? There aren’t many places she could have gone. We’ll find her. The Sheriff is out looking now, too, so it’ll just be a matter of time before she’s found,” Ginger said firmly.
Jake’s eyes closed for a moment and sighed. “What if she ran away?”
Ginger smiled at Jake reassuringly. “She didn’t run away. I don’t know her as well as you do, but I do know there is no way she ran away.”
“We had a fight this afternoon. She was angry with me. I meant to talk to her about it, but I hadn’t had the chance. When her mom and I divorced, I made a vow to myself that I’d never make Kacie suffer for it. Even though I tried my best to be there for her, I worked too much. It wasn’t until I was faced with the prospect of her leaving that I finally realized how much I’ve missed. I don’t want to miss anything else.”
“Kids get angry, Jake. That doesn’t mean she ran away. She adores you.”
Jake rubbed his face and stood up quickly. “I can’t just sit here. Where should we look next?”
“We can check the shops that are still open and then we’ll double back through the town square to the other side of the street.”
Jake nodded in agreement and followed her to the opposite end of Main Street. There weren’t many places open, but it didn’t hurt to check out the ones that were. They made it over to the grocery store and scanned each aisle quickly.
“She’s not here let’s keep going,” Jake said hastily.
They started down the street again when Ginger’s phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and saw it was Sam. She answered immediately. “Did you find her?”
She looked at Jake as she listened to the Sheriff. Jake watched her every motion. She hung up the phone and smiled. “She’s at the restaurant.”
Jake breathed a sigh of relief. “She’s safe.”
Ginger smiled happily seeing the fear in Jake’s eyes vanish. “She’s safe.”
Jake hugged Ginger tightly for a moment and let go as quickly as it began. “She is in so much trouble,” Jake said airily and headed towards the restaurant.
Ginger struggled to keep up with his long strides. When they got there, he barreled through the door and immediately scooped Kacie up in a tight hold.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again, kid. I was so worried,” Jake said.
“I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t know you were worried,” Kacie gasped in Jake’s arms.
Jake released Kacie and he put his hands on her shoulders and looked her squarely in her eyes. “What were you thinking?”
“I left you a note,” Kacie said apologetically.
“No, you didn’t.”
“Yes, it’s over here on the hostess stand. I thought for sure you’d see it.” She walked over and grabbed the small handwritten note and handed it to him. “I realized I forgot my hat at the library, but when I got there, the librarian was just locking up. She was really nice and let me in to look for it. When I got back, you weren’t here and I just figured you were still out. I didn’t know you were looking for me, really, I didn’t. It wasn’t until the Sherriff knocked on the door that I found out you thought I was missing,” Kacie explained.
Jake turned to Sheriff Sam and shook his hand. “Thank you.”
Ginger realized they must’ve missed her arriving back at the restaurant while they were in the town square. She walked over to where Sheriff Sam was standing and stood beside him. “Thanks,” she said and lightly elbowed his arm.
He smiled down at her. “It’s my job.”
“Well, you’re good at it.”
Ginger smiled as she watched the Sheriff leave. She took one last look at Jake and Kacie, making sure that everything was okay, and knew it was time for her to go, too. After what Jake had just gone through, he didn’t need her hanging around. She slipped quietly out the door and went back to her bakery.
Ginger hadn’t made it to the counter before the door opened again. She turned to see Jake standing there. He walked up to her slowly. “You didn’t say goodbye.” Jake was so close, Ginger felt her heart begin to race and she swallowed hard. “I didn’t get to thank you,” he said softly.
“You don’t have to thank me.” Ginger managed a slight smile. “I’m just glad she’s okay.”
“Ginger, if it wasn’t for you, I don’t know what I would have done. I couldn’t think straight. Kacie is the most important thing in the world to me and the thought of her in danger made me sick. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate everything you did.” Jake placed his hand on her cheek and stared into her eyes. The sweet intensity of his stare made her head swim. Ginger leaned her chin up closer to his, but Jake jerked his head away quickly and took a step back. “Sorry,” he said quietly. “That was wrong.”
She wanted so badly to tell him everything that was in her heart. The sorrow she felt for how she’d treated him and the sorrow that she felt at his rejection. For a moment, she thought of asking for another chance to start over, but quickly dismissed the idea. He’d made up his mind, using his gratitude towards her tonight to ply a feeling from him that didn’t exist wouldn’t be right. She looked down at the ground and tried to regain her composure.
“It’s fine. It’s been an emotional night,” Ginger said shakily. “I’m sorry, too.”
“I’ll leave,” Jake said evenly.
“Wait,” Ginger said and went to the back of the counter. She produced a small gift bag and handed it over to Jake. “For Kacie.”
Jake nodded solemnly. “I’ll give it to her.” He examined the bag. “What is it?”
“Agatha Christie books.”
“Books? She’ll love that. Thank you, Ginger.” Jake smiled down at Ginger for a moment and then left Ginger standing in her bakery.
Ginger sat at the table near the door and looked around her small little bakery. His rejection of her kiss stung, but she admired the fact that he’d stopped it before it happened. She was in love, there was no denying it, and she’d never felt anything like it before. Suddenly it no longer mattered if he felt the same or if he ever would feel the same. What was important was how she felt right now. He’d opened her heart to the hope and joy that came with that feeling and for that, she’d always be grateful. Jake made her remember what love truly was and it included sometimes putting someone’s needs before your own. If he wanted a place where he and his daughter co
uld feel safe and happy, a place where they’d make memories together, she would do everything she could to help him get that. She’d help him win the Baxter House.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“I can’t believe I’m gonna miss the festival,” Kacie bemoaned as she adjusted the bunting on the Jake’s Place booth. “Can’t I just stay until after it’s over?”
“You’re on a plane tomorrow night. I don’t think your mom would appreciate you missing your flight for a silly little festival,” Jake said.
“It’s not silly. I think it’s cool.”
Jake wasn’t sure how cool the festival was, but he was enjoying the father-daughter time.
“Interesting booth, Jake,” a sarcastic voice said from behind him. “That’ll really bring in the money.” Jake turned to see Franklin examining his booth.
“I hope so, seeing as that’s the whole point of it,” Jake said.
“I hope your prizes are worthwhile. I also give free vitamin C packets to anyone who plays. It’s my little way of giving back to the community. It’s winter and people need to keep their immune system up. Do you take vitamin C?” Franklin asked Kacie.
“I think so,” she said hesitantly.
“You should make sure. You don’t want to get sick if you can avoid it, do you? I find that a good mixture of vitamins and antioxidants keep the winter colds away. I have a lot of different kinds at my store. Jake, you should come by and stock up.”
“We’re fine, Franklin. But thank you for your concern,” Jake said tersely.
“Suit yourself,” Franklin said with a shrug and walked away.
“That guy is weird,” Kacie said.
“Kacie, you aren’t supposed to say mean things about people.” Jake watched as Franklin smugly inspected the other booths. “But in this case, I’m willing to make an exception.”
“Do you care if I go check out what other booths are like?” she asked.