Christmas in Evergreen Tidings of Joy - Nancy Naigle Page 0,55
day, Michelle pulled the name out of the hat. “Day fourteen is Ben Baxter!”
Katie and Ben hugged in the excitement, and then he opened up the box. He pulled out a string of giant cookie cutters made from copper. “I think this means it’s time for another night of baking cookies at Barbara’s Country Inn. Who wants to help?” His eyes went straight to Katie.
Her heart fluttered at being considered one of the gang. “Count me in.” She couldn’t wait to get in the kitchen with him again. Shoulder to shoulder.
“We’ll make a night of it,” Megan said. “And whoever bakes cookies and wants to participate in a cookie swap, come to the inn Saturday at noon with however many you want to swap. It’ll be a fun way to get a wide variety of goodies with a whole lot less work and mess.”
That night, Ben came over to the inn with a bag full of groceries and a laminated recipe card.
When they walked into the kitchen, Megan was putting together a goody basket for new guests arriving. “You two make yourself at home in here.”
“You’re not going to help us?” Katie asked.
“No, I’ve got plenty of other things to do. Have fun.”
Katie would be lying if she said she wished Megan had stayed. It was kind of nice being in the kitchen with Ben without half the town around. Just the two of them. Would it be like this in their own kitchen? She tried to picture him at home in her condo.
Ben unpacked the groceries and set them on the island.
“Laminated. This must be one special recipe.” She reached for it.
“Yeah. Nan’s grandmother’s shortbread cookies. I think you’ll really like them.” He snagged the card from the table. “Of course, I’ll have to swear you to secrecy. It is a family recipe, after all.”
She zipped her lips. “My lips are sealed.”
“Excellent.”
“So, let’s get started. What do we need to set the oven to?”
“Three hundred,” he answered from memory.
“Are you sure? I don’t think I’ve ever baked anything in my oven at less than three twenty-five.”
“Trust me.”
“Okay!” She set the temperature on the oven then went back over to the island. There were only three ingredients on the paper. Sugar, butter and flour. “Is this all there is to the whole recipe? Three ingredients?”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t believe you have a laminated recipe card for a three-ingredient recipe. It can’t possibly be this simple.”
“Believe it.” He turned, then slowly, softly, said, “You know, the best things in life don’t have to be all that complex.”
She turned toward him to respond, just as he stepped forward. “Oh!” She stumbled, nearly falling into his arms, but he caught her by the waist, his hand grazing her lower back. Her breath hitched. “I believe that.”
He pushed her hair back from her face. “Good.”
The oven started beeping, indicating it’d reached the desired temperature. She touched her forehead and turned around to get a glass of ice water.
Before the night was over, they’d made sixty shortbread cookies using the cookie cutters from the time capsule. The stars were her favorite.
The next afternoon, she was working on her article when Ben walked in.
“How’s it going?”
“Okay. Added the thing about Eisenhower being credited with inventing the Christmas advent calendar, and that gave me an opening to talk about the time capsule. I like that. I also mentioned that in addition to tourism growth, there’s been population growth. I think—”
“You’re done?”
Katie shook her head and leaned forward on her elbows. “No. I mean, maybe. It’s gotten hard to write. It’s a business magazine, so while I know what they want, more and more I feel like I’m missing something. The word count is there, and it’s due tomorrow, but something about it isn’t…quite…”
“What? Are you afraid they’re not going to like it?”
“No. Not really. I love freelancing. And I’ve been able to do it for a while now, but that’s not what I want to do. I think I’m more worried they will.”
“Them liking it is a bad thing?”
“I want to write my second novel. It’s harder. Takes longer. And there are no guarantees.”
“Well, when are you going to start working on that?”
“I guess as soon as I turn this in.” She looked at the stack of paper she’d accumulated about this town over the past couple of weeks. “So many people have told me so many wonderful stories about this town. I just want it to be wonderful.”