“Should be. The Sims said they only need me for a couple hours.”
School was closed for winter break, but Ed and Tammy needed some time to wrap all the Santa presents without kids in the house. So, instead of Julianna hanging out at their house, they were dropping the kids off at her grandfather’s. The cover story was that Jules needed help making cookies.
“We should even have enough time to eat some dinner before we go,” Julianna added.
Grandpa Kramer rubbed his hands together and waggled his caterpillar-like eyebrows. “Now you’re speaking my language.”
Julianna finished her soda and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She decided to take out all her cookie ingredients to prepare for her baking babysitting adventure. It was a very Rick-like thing to do, she was sure.
Everything was lined up on the repurposed workbench/kitchen island, including all the measuring spoons and cups, when the doorbell rang. Mabel, who had been resting comfortably next to Grandpa Kramer on the couch, jumped down and barked repeatedly in case the humans hadn’t heard someone was at the door.
At seven years old, Evie Sims was probably the cutest child in all of Christmas Town. She had the biggest, bluest eyes Julianna had ever seen. Her chocolate-colored hair was French braided with a red-and-white bow holding it together at the bottom. She looked like a candy cane in her red with white trim dress, striped tights, and feet clad in sparkly ruby red slippers.
“Hi, Mabel!” Evie threw her arms around the dog’s neck. Mabel returned the love with a thorough face-licking. A puppy was the number one thing on the little girl’s Christmas list this year. Her parents were hoping that receiving the two dozen other presents on her list would make up for not getting one.
“Jules, guess what tomorrow is,” Bobby said as he maneuvered past his sister’s love fest with the dog. Bobby was nine and the dangerous combination of high energy and super smart. He would be keeping his parents on their toes for years to come.
“Um …” She tapped her chin. “Garbage day?”
“No!” Bobby’s freckled nose wrinkled as he giggled at her silliness. “It’s Christmas, you crazy.”
“Christmas?” Julianna smacked her forehead. “Grandpa, why didn’t you tell me tomorrow was Christmas?”
“I thought it was next Tuesday,” Grandpa Kramer replied, playing along.
“Thanks for inviting them over to bake cookies,” Ed said, trailing in behind the kids.
“No problem,” Julianna said. “Good thing I picked today since tomorrow is Christmas.” She ruffled Bobby’s hair.
“Can I crack the eggs?” Evie asked.
“I get to crack the eggs. You’re too little to do that,” Bobby said, taking off in the direction of the kitchen. His sister was quick to follow, protesting that she was in fact not too little.
“I better follow them. Come on back when everything is ‘wrapped’ up,” Julianna said with a wink.
“Thanks again, Jules. I’m praying the five-hundred-piece dollhouse that my wife swears our daughter needs doesn’t take me all night to put together.”
“Five hundred pieces?”
“Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration,” he admitted. “Regardless, I promise to be back in a couple hours.”
The sound of a metal cookie sheet hitting the floor and more arguing came from the other room. Julianna headed back to the kitchen to play referee and put her sous-chefs to work.
Julianna’s grandmother had been an amazing baker. Coming over to Grandma and Grandpa Kramer’s to make all the cookies for Christmas had been her favorite thing to do during the holidays. They would make marshmallow and cornflake wreaths, chocolate crinkle cookies, and Grandpa’s favorite—butter spritz. All of them had been delicious, but Julianna loved the buttermilk cutout cookies the most.
Nothing reminded her of her grandmother more than the soft, mouthwatering sugar cookies decorated with royal icing and sprinkles. Each cookie had been a work of art. Grandma Kramer’s Christmas tree cutouts had silver dragees for ornaments and her reindeer wore red icing collars. This would be the third Christmas without her, and Julianna missed her terribly.
The Sims helped make a batch of the buttermilk cookie dough and while that chilled, whipped up the dough for peanut butter blossoms.
“How long do we bake the cookies?” Evie asked. Flour had somehow managed to dust the little girl’s nose.
“We’re going to set the timer for ten minutes and then check on them. Why don’t you two start unwrapping the chocolates so we can put them on the cookies as soon as they come out.”
Julianna got the kids set up at the kitchen table and reminded them to put more candy in the bowl than in their mouths. The doorbell rang and Grandpa Kramer shouted over Mabel’s barking that he would get it. He appeared in the kitchen a minute later with a package in his hands.
“Kevin from next door said this was in their mailbox yesterday. He apologized for not running it over earlier.” He handed her the rectangular package wrapped in plain brown paper.
The return address was Gavin’s in New York. Her hands began to shake. How dare he send her a Christmas present. They hadn’t spoken or communicated at all since she had left the city. She set the package down, not sure what to do with it. Part of her wanted to throw it in the garbage.
“You gonna open it?” her grandpa asked.
“Not right now,” she answered, trying hard to keep her voice steady. She was over him, and his gifts or apologies weren’t going to change anything.
The timer buzzed and Julianna pulled the first pan of warm cookies out of oven. She showed the kids how to press a piece of candy into each cookie. The package on the counter called to her like the tell-tale heart. By the fifth glance, Grandpa Kramer had had enough.
“Stop torturing yourself and open it.”
Julianna got up and put another batch of cookies in the oven and set the timer. He was right. She grabbed her jacket and yanked on her boots. Snatching the package off the counter, she headed for the back door.
“Can you watch them for a minute?” she asked her grandfather. The two Sims were admiring their decorating job by drooling over the cookies. “They can each have one cookie.”
Grandpa Kramer nodded and the two little ones couldn’t get the cookies in their mouths fast enough. Julianna slipped out the door. Her plan was to open the package in the shed, away from prying eyes and innocent ears. There was no telling what might come out of her mouth when she looked inside.
The old shed out back was filled with firewood and things her grandfather was never going to use again but didn’t have the heart to throw away. Useless tools, flat bicycle tires, and broken flower pots could all be found inside. Next spring, Julianna planned to clean it out for him, knowing he’d never get to it himself.
She used her boot to move the snow by the door so she could open it. In here, no one would be able to witness whatever reaction would come with opening Gavin’s gift.
“Just get it over with,” she said to herself as she tore at the paper, letting pieces fall to the floor. Inside was a book. A book of poetry. A book of poetry written by Gavin, to be exact. Tucked inside was a card.
Jules,
You always loved my poems. I hope you read these and look back on our time together with fondness instead of regret. I’ve thought long and hard about what went wrong and I know now that we were doomed from the start. You are a beautiful, brilliant, and compassionate soul. But you were only using me to run away from your life. Until you love yourself and figure out what you want out of life, it will be impossible for someone else to love you. I know you thought you were angry with me, but in time, I think you will see that you are really angry at yourself.
Merry Christmas,
Gavin
Julianna had to read the note twice for the words to really sink in. So basically he was saying, “It’s not me, it’s you.” He was a lying, cheating snake because she didn’t love herself? He didn’t respect her enough to be honest about his
feelings because she lacked self-respect?
Hurt turned to anger, which quickly gave way to unadulterated rage. Julianna’s entire body shook with it. Every muscle in her body tightened and red colored everything she saw. Her fury was so great she was sure if she exhaled, fire would shoot from her nostrils.
Fire. The letter and the book needed to burn. Burn until they were nothing but ash. Julianna spotted an old metal bucket and tossed Gavin’s words inside. On the small workbench there was a box of matches they used to start the bonfires they had out back in the summertime. She lit one and dropped it in the bucket, watching the card with Gavin’s arrogance written inside of it catch fire.
People made mistakes. Julianna had made some. She could admit that. She had been trying to figure out what she wanted.
Julianna clenched her fists and covered her eyes. She had used him. Running away to New York wasn’t about getting married and being in love. It was about hiding from the life she didn’t want. But why did she hide when she could have just been honest about what she did and did not want?
“Jules! Jules! The cookies are burning!” Bobby shouted from the back door.
Julianna ran into the house as smoke billowed from the oven door. The smoke detector beeped, sending Mabel into a barking fit.
Where in the world was her grandfather?
“Grandpa Kramer had to go to the bathroom. The timer went off, but we didn’t know what to do,” Bobby explained as Jules slipped on the oven mitt and pulled out the burnt cookies. She dumped them in the sink and turned on the water. The hot cookie sheet sizzled and more smoke filled the room.
Evie sat at the table with her hands covering her ears and her eyes shut tight. Julianna opened the back door to air the kitchen out and used a kitchen towel to fan the fire detector until the alarm stopped ringing.
Grandpa Kramer came running into the room with his newspaper in hand. “What happened? I was only gone a minute, I swear.”
“Crisis averted,” Julianna said, taking a seat at the table. “We lost a batch of cookies, but I didn’t have to call the fire department, thank goodness.”
Three times in one day would have been beyond humiliating. There was no way she could face Rick again because of yet another disaster. His opinion of her would be worse than Gavin’s, if possible. Luckily, she had saved herself this time. Strong and independent, that was Julianna.
“Can we call the fire department about that?” Bobby asked, pointing out the open back door.
Julianna’s stomach dropped. No. No, no, no, no. She got to her feet but didn’t need to see to know the horror of what was happening outside. When she got to the door, reality weakened her knees.
The shed was on fire.
Chapter 6
Rick was less than an hour away from the end of his shift when the call came in. There was a fire at Old Man Kramer’s place. Mr. Kramer lived on the edge of town, near the Christmas tree farm where, an hour from now, Rick had planned to find his family’s Christmas tree.
He might have been mad if he wasn’t so worried about Julianna. Was she home when the fire broke out? How did the fire start? Was her grandfather okay?
All his worries eased when he spotted Julianna and Mr. Kramer standing out front as the truck pulled up to the house. He was more than relieved to see flames shooting out the top of the shed in the backyard instead of their home.
Tanner connected the hose to the nearest hydrant and Rick directed the other men to the back. Julianna bit her lip when he walked over to check in with the family.
“Everyone okay?” he asked, eyes firmly on Jules.
“We’re all fine. We were in the house when the fire started,” Mr. Kramer explained.
Ed and Tammy Sims were also there with their two kids. “This makes my little chimney incident last year seem like no big deal, right?” Ed asked with a hopefulness that wasn’t lost on Rick.
Rick caught Julianna’s eye and noticed she was quick to put two and two together. Her lips twitched as she fought a smile.
“Let’s see what’s going on first. Anyone know how the fire started?”
Julianna raised her hand. “My wrath.”
“Your what?” Rick must have misheard her.
She sighed and began to ramble. “I set the horrible Christmas gift my ex sent me on fire, but the cookies I was baking started to burn and the smoke detector went off, freaking out the kids and the dog, so I threw the cookies in the sink and got the blasted beeping to stop and was so proud of myself for not burning down the house that I forgot about the fire in the shed.” She took a breath before continuing. “There’s a bunch of firewood in there. It must have caught fire pretty quickly because the whole thing was engulfed in flames in a matter of minutes.”
“I thought I said you should steer clear of fire today. You’re lucky you didn’t burn down the whole town given your luck today.” Rick shook his head and laughed.
Without word, Julianna turned and stormed away. She marched right up the steps and into the house, slamming the door shut behind her.
“She’s had a bit of a rough day,” Mr. Kramer tried to explain.
Rick knew all too well what kind of day she’d had. Making the situation worse was not his intention. The last thing he wanted was to add to the negativity. However, as much as he wanted to make things better with Julianna, he had a job to do. After making sure there were no other combustible items in the shed, he gave the guys the okay to put out the fire with the hose.
“All clear in the back, Lieutenant,” Gary said a few minutes later over the radio. “Fire’s out.”
“Come with me,” Mr. Kramer said, throwing his arm over Rick’s shoulder. “You can give her the good news.”
They were greeted at the door by Julianna’s dog. The border collie gave Rick a good sniff before letting him pet her head.
“Jules?” her grandfather called. “Come here a minute, would you?”
Julianna appeared at the end of the hallway that led to the kitchen. She wiped her cheek with her hand and cleared her throat. She had been crying but was doing her best to cover it up. Rick’s heart broke. He had never wanted to hurt her.
“What?” she said, her tone harsh. Rick deserved her ire.
Mr. Kramer commanded the dog to come and the two of them went back outside, leaving Rick to face the music on his own.
“Fire’s out.” Rick barely pushed the words past the lump of regret lodged in his throat.
“Well, aren’t you the Christmas hero? Congratulations. I’m going to go back to baking cookies while everyone else spends the evening chuckling about what a fool I am.”
“You’re not a fool.”
“Don’t patronize me, Rick.” That wrath she said started the fire was back with a vengeance. “What else would you call someone who gets stuck in a tree, locked in a freezer, and burns down her grandfather’s shed all in the same day?”
There was this unexplainable need to take her in his arms and hold her until she believed he thought she was one of the most amazing women he had ever met. He took a cautious step in her direction.
“First of all, someone with a fear of heights who climbs a tree to rescue an old woman’s cat is brave, not a fool.”
She folded her arms across her chest. He took two steps closer.
“The person who gets locked in a freezer because her aunt failed to repair a door that needed fixing and doesn’t make said aunt feel the least bit guilty is gracious, not a fool.”
She swallowed hard but didn’t disagree with him. One more step and he was close enough to touch her. He could hear her breath catch and wondered if she could hear his heart beating in his chest.
“The person who burns down her grandfather’s shed because some thoughtless jerk sent her a gift that made her mad enough to set it on fire is human.”
He reached up and wiped away her fresh tears with his thumb. He felt her lean into his touch ever so slightly.
“The only fool here is me for hurting your feelings. I’m sorry,
Julianna.”
Rick lowered his head, desperate to kiss this brave, gracious, human woman. Just before his lips met hers, the timer on the oven went off. The sound jarred Julianna out of the moment and she backed away.
“I better get the cookies out before they burn, too.” She slipped away, leaving Rick breathless. His lips were tingling, angry they hadn’t gotten that kiss.
“Fire investigator is here, Fisher. He wants to talk to you,” Tanner said over the radio.
Never in all his years with the fire department had Rick forgotten he was on duty. Until today. What was he doing? Julianna was messing with his head. There was still a lot of work to be done and even more once he finished his shift. If he wanted to earn his men’s respect as their captain someday, there was no room on his to-do list for kissing Julianna.
No matter how much he wanted to do it.
~*~
It was way past six when Rick finally left the firehouse. He’d have to miss the pageant, but he had to find a tree before the rest of the family showed up back at the house. He texted his brothers and hoped his mother would forgive him.
Rick jumped in his pickup and headed for Tall Timbers Tree Farm — the only place in Christmas Town that allowed people to cut down their own tree. Murphy’s Tree Lot had plenty of good trees, but there was something about doing the work himself that appealed to Rick. It made him feel like he was doing more than just spending money on a tree.
The ache in his chest wasn’t easy to ignore when he passed by the Kramers’ house. All the neighbors who had gathered outside to watch the action were gone. It looked as though the investigator was finished as well. There weren’t any visible lights on in the house. Maybe Julianna and her family had made it to the pageant after all. Lynn had showed up as the engine company was leaving and mentioned this was their plan.
Rick felt like such a heel. Here Julianna’s aunt thought he would be the right kind of man for her niece and he had proven to be “The Jerk 2.0”. Julianna deserved so much better. She was probably grateful that oven timer went off when it did. Kissing her would have been a mistake, a beautiful mistake but still a mistake.
A Heartwarming Christmas: A Boxed Set of Twelve Sweet Holiday Romances Page 39