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She wiped her sleepy-looking eyes and sat up.
“You can sleep,” he said, feeling bad. She had to work early the next morning.
She propped several pillows against the headboard and reached for her television remote. “I have a better idea.” She turned on the TV and scrolled through the channels until she found an old black-and-white holiday movie,It’s a Wonderful Life.
She moved closer to him and rested her head against his shoulder. “This okay?”
“This is perfect,” he said, kissing the top of her head before turning his attention to the movie.
Unfortunately, it was unexpectedly too perfect. Somehow in a matter of weeks, this breathtakingly beautiful brunette had him questioning the life he’d thought he had figured out.
Chapter Fourteen
December 15th…10 Days Until Christmas…
Absolutely nothing could destroy Jessica’s mood the next morning. Not the last-minute cancellation of a cookie order she’d spent five hours on the day before, or the voicemail from Mr. Dorsey reminding her the clock was ticking. The night before with Mitch had her practically floating across the bakery floor at five a.m. even though she’d only gotten an hour of sleep. Having to pretend they weren’t seeing each other in front of Lia had made her feel guilty as shit, but it had also been the most incredible foreplay. The element of secrecy and danger…
Leaving her house with him finally sleeping soundly in her bed had been hard, but also a little exhilarating. Her vivid imagination had obviously gone full throttle, and she couldn’t fight the thoughts of how wonderful it would be if they lived together and could wake up together like that every morning.
She refused to let the reality of the situation bring her down or spend time overthinking what really came next.
She was even in a good enough mood that the next order on her list made her smile for the first time in the ten years she’d been making it. The Jameson Nightmare Christmas order… She’d be enjoying those desserts that year, too.
Mitch’s family were nice, open, caring, friendly people, even if his mom was a little over the top when it came to Christmas. And it was the season of goodwill. Lia really couldn’t be that upset, could she?
She tied her apron around her neck and gathered the ingredients for the chocolate Panettone. It was one of the harder desserts on Mrs. Jameson’s list and it lasted longer than some of the others.
Turning on the radio to the local festive holiday channel, she got to work. There was definitely more love going into this cake this year.
Love.
Sigh. How close she’d come the night before to telling Mitch that she was falling for him. She’d wanted to say it. The moment couldn’t possibly have felt more right, after an incredible night of passion, cuddling in bed, watching Christmas movies, the warm glow of the season all around them…but she needed to be careful. Already, the damage to her heart once he left might be irreparable.
Two hours later, a loud crash from next door made her pause her dough kneading.
What on earth was that noise?
Anotherbangas though something had fallen against the wall she shared with her aunt’s shop, then voices had her straining to hear better. Her aunt was at work already?
The voices grew even louder, her aunt’s and another woman’s. Then another loud thumping sound had Jessica abandoning the dough and running out of the bakery, her hands sticky with the mixture. Using her shoulder, she pushed open the door to Frankie’s Fabrics and ducked just in time as a roll of silk flew past her head.
Racks of material were tipped over and reams of fabric stretched out across the floor. A bucket of loose buttons had been scattered all over and her aunt’s life-size antique Mrs. Claus decoration was lying facedown near the door. Her recording of “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas” stuck skipping, so that the lyric “Have a ho…” played over and over on repeat.
It might have been funny if the scene in front of her didn’t have her panicking. Was her aunt being robbed? Why hadn’t she grabbed a rolling pin or knife on her way out?
Jessica’s head snapped right and left and her eyes widened as she saw Mrs. Barnett poised and ready with a mannequin arm. “Just admit you lied!” she was saying to Frankie.
Lied? About what?
“Put down the mannequin or so help me…” Jessica had only seen her aunt Frankie this red-faced once before. When Trent and his sisters had snuck out and drove to Santa Monica for an outdoor concert when they weren’t of legal age. Her aunt was normally calm and rational in her dealings with everyone, even her neighbors.
Positioned between the two stores, Jessica often felt like a mediator between the two women. They’d had their share of disagreements over the years, like when Mrs. Barnett had created some heinous smelling oil that was so strong, it had seeped into Frankie’s fabric and she’d had to send it all out for cleaning before she could sell it, or when they’d both dressed up as Elvira for the local businesses along Main Street’s Queens of the Dark Night Contest and had had to share the first place prize.
But she’d never seen the two of them get physical.
Mrs. Barnett wouldn’t actually attack her aunt with the hard, plastic limb, would she? She’d done quite a bit of damage to the store.
Jessica stepped in between them as Mrs. Barnett advanced toward her aunt, holding the mannequin arm like a baseball bat. Her aunt held a glue gun in each hand. Unplugged but still slightly menacing and completely out of character for a passivist.
