Page 54 of Cakewalk

“Hurry up, you two!” Caulfield called out. “Santa came!”

“He does know Santa isn’t real, right?” Gigi asked with a giggle.

“GeorgiaGrace, you take that back right now!” Holden said, his hand flying to his chest in mock indignation. “Life is too short to not believe in Santa. Is that understood, young lady?”

“Yes sir!” she nodded, holding back another laugh at the knowing look he was giving her.

“Gigi, we color code gifts, that way we know what belongs to who,” Catherine explained as she and Holden walked over and sat on the couch. “Heath is the snowflakes, Caulfield is the Santas, Holden has elves, and yours is the ornaments.”

“So, the Frankenstein, mismatched paper ones are yours then?”

“I’ve been wrapping her gifts like that for over forty years. Why waste the paper scrap when it’s still perfectly good?” Heath commented.

Catherine rolled her eyes, but then immediately blew her husband a kiss. Gigi loved the way the two of them didn’t shy away from being affectionate with each other, even after more than four decades together. It must have been where Holden got it from. Glancing over at the pile of gifts, she was taken aback by the size of the items that were wrapped in her designated paper.

“Y’all didn’t need to get me anything!”

“Oh honey, of course we did! That’s what family does,” Catherine said.

Family.

Gigi’s heart skipped a beat at the word. She’d spent so much of her life wanting a family like the ones she’d seen on TV, and now here she was, celebrating Christmas with one. It was almost too much. She sat there, trying to collect her thoughts, taking in the flurry of unwrapping gifts. Catherine nearly came out of her chair in excitement over some bubble bath, in a scent that had been discontinued years ago, while Heath and Caulfield laughed uncontrollably when they discovered they both had bought the other tickets to see some folk singer they really liked in concert. The whole scene was like something out of a made-for-TV movie.

“This one is from the whole family,” Holden said, appearing at her side, carrying a large box covered in ornament paper.

Carefully, she ripped away the paper, unsure of what to expect. Everyone else’s gifts so far were much smaller in size, leaving her a little apprehensive. A quick tug at the paper revealed a picture of a bright teal stand mixer, just like the one she’d secretly been looking at online.

“Oh my God,” she gasped. “No, no, it’s too much!”

“Nonsense!” Heath said. “Holden tells us that you’re baking up a storm! If that’s so, you need one of those things!”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“You can start by keeping us well stocked in these sticky buns,” Caulfield commented.

Gigi glanced at Holden out of the side of her eyes, watching as he bit back a knowing smile. The look on his face was priceless—all furtive and flirty. She could tell he wanted to make some kind of innuendo but was still trying to respect the sanctity that was Christmas morning.

“Well, I didn’t know about the color code rule, but the little box with the butcher paper on it is for you,” she told him, trying to get his mind out of the gutter. Grabbing it, he tore into it, removing the paper in a single rip.

“Noise cancelling headphones? Talk about too much, Gigi.”

“It’s so you can concentrate on your writing if I’m in the house baking. That way you don’t have to listen to Taylor and me duet all the time.”

“I love your singing, but I’m sure these will come to good use,” he said, giving her a kiss. Picking up a rectangular box, he handed it to her. “This is from me.”

“But the ornament…”

“Was extra. This is my real gift to you.”

She removed the paper, lifting the lid on the white box emblazoned with “Haley Made,” and pulled the glittery tissue paper back, unveiling a stunning brown leather-bound journal. The front was embossed with “Recipes from the kitchen of Gigi Hawthorne” curved over a hand-painted image of a cupcake sitting in front of a snowcapped mountainscape.

“Holden, it’s beautiful!” she said, fighting back more tears.

“Believe it or not, that was made right here in Colebury. Haley used to work at the Busy Bean, but now has an online store where she makes custom leather goods. I figured you needed a place to keep all those recipes you were developing.”

The box slipped from her lap as she launched herself into Holden’s arms, clinging to him for dear life. The tears she had been fighting back earlier seemed to have won the battle and were now streaming down her cheeks, but she didn’t care. She was too overwhelmed by the thought and care he put into the gift. No one had ever given her anything as personal as Holden had, and it was more happiness than she could handle. The three little words she had held back last night were bubbling up to the surface again. She finally let go of him after a long moment and turned to watch everyone else open their remaining gifts but snuck a glance at her new notebook every couple of minutes.

When the last of the gifts had been opened, and they had cleared away all of the ripped paper and bows, Gigi let out a massive sigh. The morning had been absolutely perfect. Now, she needed to get to work on making sure their Christmas dinner was just as amazing.