by Scott, Lisa
“Can I help?” he asked.
“Of course.” This time her smile seemed real. She laid out the ingredients, and he scrounged around for cookie sheets.
“Do you make a lot of Christmas cookies?” Morgan asked, leaning against the table.
“Nope. I haven’t made cookies for a few years. Luckily, my sister forced a cookie cutter set on me one holiday, so I’ve got everything we need. She’s just kind of crazy about Christmas.”
Charlie raised an eyebrow. “But you’re not?”
She sighed as she measured out a cup of flour and handed it to Morgan to pour into the bowl. “I’ve never had a great Christmas. My mom died when I was little, and Lindy talks about this magical Christmas, with tons of presents and happiness, but I was too little to remember. After that, most holidays were pretty gloomy. My dad usually lapsed into a funk around the holidays, but Lindy remained ever-hopeful for another fantastic Christmas.” She dumped a cup of sugar into the bowl. “Can you go get a great big spoon?” she asked Morgan.
Morgan nodded and skipped over to the silverware drawer, rummaging through the contents.
Charlie lowered his voice. “I appreciate what you’re doing.”
Jessica gave a little smile but wouldn’t look at him. “I hate the thought of being the reason a child had a sad Christmas. I wish when I was a kid, someone would have done something for me like you tried to do last night.” Finally, she looked up at him, and laid her hand across her heart. “I’m so sorry I ruined it. I really am.”
He squeezed her arm, and was surprised by the effect the move had on him. “You didn’t mean to do it.”
Morgan ran back to them brandishing a big spoon. “Here, I found one.”
Jessica stared at him with her beautiful blue eyes and he pulled his hand away.
She blushed and looked down. “Thanks, Morgan. Now stir up everything in the bowl.”
While Morgan did that, Jessica creamed butter and eggs with a splash of vanilla. “For a non-cookie baker, it looks like you know what you’re doing,” he said.
She shrugged. “Guess it’s like riding a bike.”
Soon, they were pressing metal cookie cutters into the pale dough, peeling off snowmen, ornaments, and stars from the table. They filled up two trays and slid them into the oven. Jessica set the timer for ten minutes. “We’ll let them cool off before we frost them.”
Morgan squealed. “I can’t wait!” Charlie was relieved her mood had improved.
Jessica made frosting while Morgan inspected the decorations she was going to use. “These are going to be the best cookies ever! I can’t wait to show Mommy. But I want to eat one before she gets home. Is that okay?”
“Of course!” he said.
The timer buzzed and Jessica grabbed two potholders from the counter. When she opened the oven, smoke wafted out. She stepped back, coughing, then grabbed the sheets of cookies. Her face fell. “They’re burnt! They were only in there for ten minutes! Her oven must bake hotter than what the temperature reads.”
Morgan’s lip wobbled and she ran from the room.
“We can make more!” Charlie called after her.
Jessica shook her head. “I don’t have any more butter. Think there’s any in the fridge?”
“No. I should’ve gone grocery shopping for them last night.”
Jessica slumped into a chair. “I’m just making this day worse and worse for her.”
He sat next to her and set his hand on her shoulder. “It’s the thought that counts.”
“Not when you’re a kid!” She sniffed. “This has got to be the worst Christmas ever.”
His ex always said he didn’t know how to comfort a woman. She’d said it so often he’d just always tuned her out. But now he realized there might have been a grain of truth in that particular accusation. Uninspired in bed? Nah. She’d been wrong about that. But lack of comforting skills or not, he couldn’t let Jessica blame herself for a botched holiday.
“I’m sure someone somewhere is having a worse Christmas. Like, anyone in prison,” he offered.
She looked at him and tears pooled in her eyes.
Shit. He reached for her hand. “We can fix this.”
She shook her head and gathered the rest of her supplies. “I’ll just make it worse.” She snatched her cookbook off the table. “I’m out of ideas on how to make this up to her. I know you really wanted to make some special memories this morning. I’m sorry I screwed it all up.”
“Stay. We can watch a movie or something.”
She shook her head. “I have to go.”
Oh, of course. How stupid of him. Had he figured she’d stay here all day? That would’ve been fine with him. But she probably had plans with her family. “Okay. I hope the rest of your Christmas is great, Jessica.” And I hope to see you again.
She gave him a weak smile. “You, too.”
He closed the door behind her wishing his ex hadn’t been right—he knew nothing about consoling a woman. The sobs coming from the family room reminded him there was a smaller, younger woman waiting to be disappointed by him, too. He went to find her, wondering if there was any way to make this right for Morgan.
And for Jessica.
***
Jessica dumped her ingredients on the counter and searched the cupboards chocolate. Nothing. And she was out of ice cream, too. Too bad she’d left the icing with Charlie and Morgan. She could’ve eaten it by the spoonful, that’s how lousy she was feeling.
Her cell rang and she saw her sister’s ID pop up. Lindy would just keep calling, so Jessica answered.
“How’d Project Santa go?” she asked. “Isn’t it fun making Christmas dreams come true? You should have done this years ago.”
Jessica laughed into the phone to mask her tears. “She hated the gifts I brought and I burned the cookies we were going to decorate.”
Lindy was silent. “Oh, honey. I’m so sorry. Please come out with us tonight. I can’t stand the thought of you alone and sad on Christmas.”
Yes, nothing like hanging out with two perfectly-happy love birds to cheer up a depressed, lonely girl. “That’s okay. It’s just another day. Really. I’m fine. Have fun. We’ll talk later this week.”
“At least let me drop off your presents today.”
Jessica sighed. “If you must.”
“You know I must. I’ll stop by after work.”
Jessica hung up and found a bag of chocolate chips. She quickly downed a handful, but didn’t feel any better.
She puttered around the house, catching up on cleaning. It was either that or curl up in bed and wait for Christmas to be over. After she finished vacuuming, she stared out the front window at the house across the street. Sally’s car was in the driveway, and Charlie’s was still there, too. By now, Sally must’ve heard the whole story. Jessica really wanted to apologize. And yes, she wanted to see Charlie again. He was handsome, super sweet to his niece, and he’d been kind to Jessica as well, despite everything she’d done.
She bundled up and trudged over to Sally’s. Ringing the doorbell, she stepped back, waiting for someone to answer.
The door cracked open and Morgan peeked out with a hopeful look on her face—that promptly fell when she saw it was Jessica. “Oh, it’s you.”
“Can I come in please? I want to talk to your mommy.”
Morgan shrugged and let the door swing open. Jessica followed her inside.
“Mommy’s sleeping. She worked all night and wants to rest before we go to Grandma’s.”
“Oh, she must be really tired.”
“Yeah, Uncle Charlie is, too, and he promised he’d help me build a snowman. But he fell asleep while he was reading me a story.” She crossed her arms and looked down at her feet.
Jessica could see Charlie slumped over the arm of the couch, the book still open on his lap. She was probably asking for trouble, but she knew what she had to do. “I could help you build a snowman.”
Morgan’s head snapped up. “Really? Right now? Y
ou mean it?”
Jessica nodded. “Get your coat and things on, and we’ll go outside and make the best snowman ever.” She bit her lip. That was probably a bad promise to make, given her track record so far that day.
After getting dressed, Morgan led the way, and they picked a spot out front that wasn’t entirely covered in footprints from the night before. Jessica sent up a quick prayer that this was good packing snow and not the fluffy stuff that wouldn’t stick together. She scoop up a handful of snow, patted and shaped it between her gloved hands, and smiled. A snowball rested in her palm.
“Okay, Morgan. Now let’s roll this little ball in the snow until it’s big enough for the snowman base.”
Morgan nodded and took the snowball from her, rolling it through the yard. It got bigger and bigger, until Morgan needed help pushing it.
“I think that’s good. Now let’s make a smaller one for the middle.” Jessica handed her another snowball and Morgan made a second ball. A light dusting of snow fell from the sky. The street was perfectly quiet and still. A talented photographer could’ve turned the scene into a lovely postcard—if they Photoshopped the trampled front yard out of the picture.
“Does this ball look good?” she asked Jessica.
“It looks perfect. Now help me pick it up and put it on top. You grab one side and I’ll get the other.” Together, they lifted it and set it on top of the bottom. Jessica held out her hand for a high-five. Morgan smiled and slapped her fuzzy wool palm against hers.
“One more for the top,” Jessica said.
As Morgan was rolling out the final ball for the head, she turned to look back at Jessica. “There were some cool pages in the coloring book Santa brought. I forgot that coloring can be so much fun.”
Jessica felt a huge smile light up her cold cheeks. “I’m glad. I loved coloring when I was little.”
Morgan patted the ball she’d made. “I think this is ready. Let me try to put it on top.”
“Go for it.”
Morgan picked it up and plunked it on the second ball. “We did it!” She ran back to where Jessica was standing and hugged her.
Jessica’s throat tightened and she patted Morgan’s back.
Morgan looked up at her. “I just wish we had buttons and carrots and stuff to decorate it. Or wouldn’t it be cool if we could color it in like it was a coloring book?”
An idea came to Jessica. “Maybe we can. Wait right here.” She dashed back to her house and ran into her garage. She scooped up cans of leftover spray paint that she’d been reluctant to throw out. She knew being a packrat would pay off someday. She ran back to Morgan’s house and dropped them in the snow. “Let’s paint our snowman!”
Morgan’s mouth fell open. “Are you serious? We can do that?”
“What, you think someone’s going to call the police?”
Morgan shrugged, like it was a good possibility.
Jessica frowned. “Don’t worry. I made a mistake last night.” Then, remembering the image of Charlie struggling to get in the window, she fought back a grin. “I heard something that scared me.”
Morgan nodded and grabbed a can of red spray paint. “Let’s make him look like Santa.”
They painted their snowman red and gave him black dots for buttons and eyes. Morgan found a can of green spray paint and spent a long time spelling out “Merry Christmas!” on the front lawn.
“What’s all this?” Charlie was standing in the driveway with his hands in his coat pockets.
Jessica was so startled she dropped her can of spray paint. “Hi! I stopped by to talk to Sally, and Morgan was looking for someone to build a snowman with.” Jessica looked down at her boots. “You were both sleeping.”
“God, I hope I wasn’t snoring.” He frowned. “Or worse—drooling.”
She laughed. “Neither, I promise.”
“Uncle Charlie! Look what we did! We made a snowman and we painted it, just like it was a real-life coloring book or something! Come see!” Morgan waved Charlie over for a closer look.
“Nice work. We’ve got a couple of artists here.”
“Do you like the angel I painted?” Morgan pointed to the figure that looked more like a bat than an angel. Then she froze. “Oh. My. Gosh. Uncle Charlie! I think I see hoof prints.”
Charlie looked over at Jessica and one side of his mouth curled up. Her heart thumped faster and she wished she could give him a hug. She bit her lip and raised an eyebrow.
He turned back to Morgan. “Really? Show me.”
She pointed to one of the few hoof prints left in the snow that hadn’t been destroyed by police shoes. She dropped down on her hands and knees for a closer look. “It is! It really is a hoof print.” She stood up and wrapped her hands around Charlie’s waist. “You were right. We did see proof he was here.”
“Let’s go make some hot cocoa for your mommy and then we can show her this beautiful front yard. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The lump that had been sitting in Jessica’s stomach like a hunk of coal since she’d ruined everything the night before was gone. But now she felt out of place. “I’ve got to get back. My sister’s stopping over later.”
Charlie walked over and grabbed her hand. “Thanks. You really came through, Jessica,” he said softly. He squeezed her fingers and she squeezed back.
She wanted nothing more than to drag him over to her house, mistletoe or not. Instead, she shrugged. “Get her inside so she can enjoy Christmas with her mom.” She almost choked on the last word, wondering what it would have been like with her own mother. But the way Charlie stared in her eyes chased that bad feeling away. His look made her feel warm and hopeful. She squeezed his hand again.
Morgan ran to her. “We’ve got the coolest house on the street now. Thanks, Jessica!”
“It was fun. Maybe we can do it again.”
“Can I keep the paint?”
“Sure!” Realizing she was still holding Charlie’s hand, she dropped it. “So, Merry Christmas. See you again, sometime.” She hoped that didn’t come out as awkward as it sounded.
“I sure hope so.”
Jessica went home and made herself a mug of hot chocolate, and if she had a candy cane, she would’ve plunked it in—that’s how festive she was finally feeling. She’d made Morgan smile. Maybe the little girl would have a good Christmas after all.
She drew a hot bath, brought in her cocoa and a book, and lit a cinnamon-scented candle. Another holiday touch, how about that? It wasn’t what you’d call a typical Christmas, but at least she was feeling better.
Half an hour later, she got out of the tub, applied an expensive, goopy clay-mask to her face that she’d been meaning to use, but never had time for, and popped It’s A Wonderful Life in the DVD.
The doorbell rang and she wondered why Lindy was so early. She patted the towel wrapped around her head and wiggled her nose as the clay started itching her face. At least Jessica had a good excuse not to join Lindy and Alex.
She opened the door and her stomach tumbled. It wasn’t Lindy. She blinked at Charlie and Morgan. “Hello,” she said as calmly as she could.
Charlie was doing a bad job stifling a grin. “Hi, I hope we aren’t bothering you.”
She gripped the door. “No, not at all. I was just catching up on my … my beauty regimen.” God, did she really just say that?
“You look funny!” Morgan said.
“Hey, that stuff on her face must help Jessica look as pretty as she does,” Charlie told his niece. Then he pushed Morgan in front of him. “We just wanted to bring you these. Even though you can’t eat them, we had fun decorating them. Didn’t we, Morgan?”
“Yeah, but I really wish we could eat them.” Morgan looked at them sadly and offered her the tray.
Cheery snowmen with crooked grins smiled up at her. Ornaments with burnt edges were covered with frosting and mounds of pink sprinkles. Jessica took the tray. “They look great, guys.”
Charlie grinned at her. “Just wanted to show you
it wasn’t a total waste.”
“Thanks,” she said softly. A tingle zinged from her toes to her nose.
“I hate to run, but we’ve got to get to my Mom’s. Do you want to join us? After you get dressed, of course. There’s always tons of food, lots of fun.”
“That’s really sweet of you. But my sister’s coming over and it’s going to take a while for me to get ready.” Her fingers grazed her cheek, now crisp with dried clay.
“I don’t think anyone would notice if you came like this.”
Morgan laughed.
“Your uncle’s a funny guy,” Jessica said.
“Well, Merry Christmas. I’ll stop by and say hi the next time I’m visiting Sally and Morgan.”
“Good. I’d like that. Especially if I don’t look like this.”
He laughed and waved and as they walked across the street.
She hoped he meant it. She’d love to see Charlie again.
She washed off her mask and dried her hair. Lindy would probably think Jessica was moping around so Jessica got dressed, too—in red, just to show some holiday spirit—when the door bell rang.
She prepared herself for a blast of Christmas cheer. Taking a deep breath, Jessica answered the door.
“Merry Christmas!” Lindy hugged Jessica. “Oh, look at you. I thought you’d be sulking around in your jammies. And not even the cute ones I bought you last year, probably those ratty thermals you like.”
Lindy bustled over to the couch with bags of presents. Jessica could see the imaginary glitter swirling in her wake. “Wait till you see what I brought!” In years past, Lindy had brought ridiculously expensive gifts in tiny little boxes from Sublime. This year, she had big bags from Save Land.
Jessica pulled out the beautifully wrapped boxes and was surprised to find outfits from the discount store. Her sister had changed. “These are super cute. Thanks. Your gift card is in my purse. I’ll get it in a minute.” It probably still had the receipt wrapped around it.
She handed it to Lindy. “I just used up my Starbucks gift card from last Christmas. Perfect timing!”
“Thanks for all this. It’s nice, really.”
Lindy reached into her purse. “I’ve got one more thing for you.” She pulled out a small rectangular package and handed it to Jessica.