Page 66 of Cowboy’s Christmas Baker

“So why don’t you look happy?” Valerie asked her suspiciously.

Because I’m falling for Harrison and Katie, and I don’t know if I should…

“Supply and demand,” Mal said weakly, shrugging. “I can’t seem to make enough to keep up.”

“Raise your prices,” Valerie said briskly. “And have a limit per customer. It will only make them more popular.”

“Maybe,” Mal said.

But she hated the idea of raising the price even more than the idea of limiting people to one or two. Anyone with kids at home would want several, and folks were hurting these days. It didn’t feel good to bump up a price just because she could.

“If you want to buy the building, you need cash,” Valerie said reasonably. “You give away half of what you make already. Why not let people pay a little more so you can invest in your business?”

“If I owned the place, I could knock out a wall and put in another oven,” Mal mused out loud as the crowds began pouring in from the parking lot.

“There you go,” Valerie said, nodding briskly. “Well, I’m off. I’m volunteering today.”

“What for?” Ana asked.

“The dunk tank for the autism charity,” Valerie said with a smile.

“You volunteered to be dunked?” Mal asked in wonder, trying to imagine her always-put-together friend actually letting herself get plunged into a tank.

“Not on your life,” Valerie sniffed. “I’m taking the donations and handing out the balls.”

“Good for you,” Ana said. “That’s a great cause. Good luck today, Mal.”

“You too,” Mal told her.

“And give him a chance,” Ana whispered when Valerie had gone. “I would.”

She disappeared into the thickening crowd, heading to her own booth and her mom and little Theo before Mal had a chance to reply.

“Oh, are these your jingle bell hops?” Ginny Davies asked, hurrying over from the booth where she and her two best friends, Shirley Ludd and Betty Ann Eustace, were volunteering. “The girls and I really wanted to try them.”

The girls were all grandmas now, and they were the pillars of the community. Every good thing in Trinity Falls seemed to have been dreamed up or supported by the trio of women who saw no challenge as too big, and no cause too small when it came to uplifting the community they loved so much. If they wanted to try Mal’s new creation, it was a true honor.

“Of course,” Mal said happily, not correcting her on the name of the treat. “Big or small?”

“Oh, how nice that you have a choice,” Ginny said. “Better make it small. We’ll be sampling lots today.”

Mal slipped three into a bag and placed Ginny’s payment in the donation bin.

“Thank you so much, dear,” Ginny said. “I know these will be gone in a heartbeat.”

“I’ll be over at your booth for lunch,” Mal said. “I’ve been looking forward to Mrs. Ludd’s chicken and dumpling soup all week.”

“I’ll tell her you said so,” Ginny said in a pleased way. “Oh, and I hear that reporter will be here today with Sloane.”

“Kai Blackstone?” Mal asked.

“That’s the one,” Ginny said, nodding. “Anyway, you’d better set aside a pair of these for them. Can’t have him coming here and not trying the best dessert in town.”

“Oh, wow,” Mal said, touched. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure, dear,” Ginny said over her shoulder as she hurried off with her bag.

Behind her, three teenagers were sprinting through the crowd to Mal.