Page 62 of Cowboy’s Christmas Baker

“That was a good cake,” her dad said. “Oh, but remember when those chimney birds got into the Engelmans’ basement?”

Mallory was laughing before he could get started, and when Harrison looked over, he saw that the candles were set out, the Christmas card holders were already hung, and Katie was just setting up the creche.

An hour later, they were still laughing, though now they were telling fun stories of Christmases past as Harrison pulled lawn decorations out of the garage and handed them off.

Mallory looked happier than he’d ever seen her, and Katie seemed right in her element, scampering around the lawn and looking for the best places to put each decoration, pointing to her choices for Mr. Fisher and waiting for him to agree or to make a different suggestion.

It was fully dark, but with the moonlight and the outside lights on, they were able to set things up just fine.

“We won’t finish tonight,” Mr. Fisher said at last. “I’ve got to be up early, and you even earlier, I assume?”

“Definitely early,” Harrison agreed.

“Why don’t we plug in what we’ve got?” Mr. Fisher offered. “And the next time you stop by, I’ll have the whole thing going for you.”

“Okay,” Katie said, her disappointment at having to leave clearly overshadowed by her excitement to see everything plugged in.

Mr. Fisher headed back to the garage, and a moment later, the snowy lawn was illuminated by plastic snowmen, half a dozen elves, and a great big Santa in his sleigh, but without any reindeer to lead it.

“Wow,” Katie breathed.

“Oh, that’s nice,” Mr. Fisher said, coming back out from the garage.

Mallory gazed out at the lawn with tears in her eyes.

Harrison knew that she was thinking of her mom again, and this time he moved to her instinctively, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“It’s beautiful,” he told her gruffly.

She nodded, her lips pressed together, looking happy and sad all at once. He knew the feeling well.

“Next time you’ll do the reindeer, right?” Katie asked Mr. Fisher.

“Of course,” he told her. “And the manger scene. Can’t have Christmas without that.”

Katie nodded wisely.

“I think we earned that second treat,” Mallory said, nodding. “Wait here.”

Harrison dropped his arm from around her shoulders, and she headed back inside, returning in a snap with the bakery box of jingle bell knots.

“I want to know what you think of these, Dad,” she said, looking up at him seriously.

“Is this one of your mother’s recipes?” he asked.

“Inspired by one of hers, yes,” Mallory said with a smile. “But not exactly like hers.”

She opened the box to reveal the soft pretzels adorned with chocolate and crushed candy cane.

“Oh, look at that,” her dad said excitedly, reaching right in to peel one off. “That’s awfully festive.”

They all watched as he took a bite.

His eyes closed and he smiled as he chewed.

“Reminds me of my first date with your mother,” he said, opening his eyes. “We had chocolate cake for dessert and I ate a mint in the car, hoping she’d let me give her a kiss.”

“Did she?” Katie asked.