better have more than a quick kiss for me later!” she called after him.
“You better believe it!” he called back. He knew he’d never get to sleep now. His mind was too awake, and the possibilities too many. If luck was on his side, he just might be able to wrap up the situation at Gingerbread Inn before it ruined Christmas or someone got hurt.
CHAPTER 12
“WELCOME TO GINGERBREAD Inn,” Bella said for what seemed the millionth time that night. She plastered a smile on her face, took the group’s coats, and told them how to get to the display room.
It seemed as if the whole town had come out for the festival. Not that Bella could blame them. She’d seen Emory’s show piece and most of the others as they’d come through the inn, and it was amazing to see what people could accomplish.
As long as those people aren’t you, she thought with a snort. Bella didn’t have a creative bone in her body, but she’d grown to where that didn’t bother her much anymore. She had other talents. “I think,” she muttered.
“You think what?”
Bella spun and smiled widely. “Why, Jimmy Harmon. Don’t you look like a man.” She put her hands on her hips. The young boy had cleaned up quite well after Grandma and Mrs. Harrison had gotten ahold of him.
The young man rolled his eyes and pushed his hair out of his face. “You didn’t answer my question. And I’m already a man.”
Bella bit back her laugh. This kid had moxie. She liked it. “I was just talking to myself.”
“About?’
Bella’s eyebrows rose up. “My...aren’t we nosy?”
“Asked the woman who wants to be a journalist,” he shot back.
Bella laughed and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. Even at twelve, he was as tall as she was. “Good point,” she conceded.
Bella...” he whined. “Why are you avoiding the question?”
“Why are you so intent on knowing?” she retorted.
“Because I need something to distract me from the adults in there,” he said, jamming a thumb over his shoulder. “They’re all so serious. I mean, it’s gingerbread. Why is everyone making such a big deal out of it?”
“Why?” Bella made a shocked face. “Have you seen what some of those artists have done with their displays?” She shook her head. “Don’t you find that kind of skill amazing?”
Jim shrugged. “Nah. Why waste all that time on something you’re just going to eat? They spent what? Like, hours creating something pretty that the rest of us will just eat in two minutes.”
“You can’t eat it,” Bella said.
Jimmy’s jaw dropped open. “What?”
“Uh...nope.” Bella pursed her lips. “They use construction-grade gingerbread, which is hard as a rock. And the royal icing isn’t something you want to eat either. It’s meant to resemble concrete, not food.”
“Are you telling me that they’re just going to...” Jimmy’s eyes jumped all over the room as he searched for the word he wanted, “to...throw away all that candy and stuff when this is over?”
Bella nodded, her head tilted to the side. “Yeah. You really didn’t know that?”
His hands flew up in the air. “Then why the heck did they do this in the first place?”
“Because it’s pretty?”
“Who cares!”
Bella smiled and shook her head. “Okay...let’s throw this in another direction. Who cares if a grown man can put a ball in a hoop a few feet over his head?”
Jimmy grew serious and put his hands in the air in front of him. “Whoa now. You’re crossing a line.”
She folded her arms over her chest. “Well, maybe you crossed one when you made fun of the gingerbread houses.”
The front door opened just as Jimmy was rolling his eyes, drawing Bella’s attention. She hurried over, then paused and drank in the sight. “Well, hello, Sherlock,” she quipped.
Henry gave her that smoldering look that she loved so much.
I can’t believe I just used that word. She let it float in her head, tasting it in her mind. But there was no other word for it. She loved that look on him. She loved when he came around. She loved bantering with him. In fact, she just plain loved him. What rotten timing. Who falls in love in the middle of an unsolved case?
“Hello, Belle,” he said, his voice low and husky.
The sound of it sent a little thrill up her spine.
“You look fantastic.”
Bella smiled and swished her dress from side to side. She’d chosen a light blue dress that showed off her eyes and figure to its best advantage. And right now she was