Just One Kiss (Whisper Lake #4) - Barbara Freethy Page 0,55

chocolate that was bittersweet.

An hour later, Hannah's kitchen looked like a bakery with flour, sugar, vanilla, and eggs cluttering up her counter. The heat from the first batch of cookies made the room not only warm and cozy but also filled with the scent of chocolate and cinnamon. Hannah felt a wave of nostalgia. Watching her mom patiently help Brett cut out sweater cookies, she saw herself in the same scene a very long time ago. She could also see a young Kelly pouring sugar into a bowl and Tyler toddling around in a diaper with chocolate smeared across his mouth.

Her heart ached as the image now included her dad coming in to steal a spoonful of raw cookie dough. Like her, he'd been too impatient for the cookies to bake. Her mom would tell him it wasn't good for him. But he never listened, and their playful argument often ended with a kiss.

She didn't know much about their relationship beyond what she'd witnessed, but she'd always thought it was strong. Her dad had been the solid anchor to her mom's neurotic and impulsive tendencies. They'd balanced each other out. And in the years when they were a whole family, there had been a lot of fun, a lot of good times.

More stress had entered the family when Kelly had gotten into her middle teens. She had inherited more of her mom's reckless impulsiveness than her dad's steady, plodding personality. But even with the fighting between Kelly and their parents, there was always a strong undercurrent of love. Her dad had had a patience with Kelly that made the two of them very close but had put a distance between Kelly and her mom. And then he'd died, and the family had shattered.

Watching her mom with her grandson now made her feel like some of the old family love was coming back. Or maybe it would be a new love, a new start.

They could never be what they were, but scenes like this gave her hope for the future. She just wished Tyler and Kelly were here, too. Tyler would be home Tuesday. But Kelly??/p>

Would she ever come back? Or would she keep running for her life?

She wished Kelly would reach out. Then she could find a way to help her. Although, if Kelly had killed a man, regardless of her motivation, helping her might not be possible. But she could still help Brett. She could still try to make this Christmas special for him.

"When is Tyler getting in?" her mom asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Tuesday morning." She paused, suddenly realizing that the guestroom she had reserved for her brother was now being used by Brett. "I'll have to put a blow-up bed in my office."

"That should work."

"I think we should make a big deal out of Christmas morning," she added. "We need to make it special."

Her mom met her gaze. "That makes sense."

"But I'm going to need some decorations." She paused and spelled out the rest. "A t-r-e-e and some g-i-f-t-s."

"Oh, that's right. Maybe you should run out now and take care of some of that."

"I don't want to leave in the middle of all this."

"I have things under control. Let's be honest, I'm much better at baking than you are."

"I know, but Brett is here."

Her mom let out a sigh. "You don't think I can watch a four-year-old? I raised three kids."

That was her mom, the queen of denial and make-believe. "You're glossing over some not-so-great years," she couldn't help saying. "Like the Christmas you almost burned the house down."

"You burned the house down, Grandma?" Brett echoed.

Her mother sent her a pointed frown and then looked back at Brett. "I did not. Hannah is exaggerating."

"What does exaggerating mean?" Brett asked her mother, always curious about everything.

"Never mind. Just keep stirring. I'll be right back." Her mother marched out of the room, motioning for Hannah to follow her. "I can watch Brett," her mom said, a note of decisiveness in her voice that Hannah didn't hear that often.

"I just don't want to put any stress on you, Mom."

"Do you think I'm suddenly going to drink because you leave me alone with a four-year-old for an hour?"

"I don't know. You've been triggered by very small things in the past. Yesterday, you didn't even want to see Brett. You were afraid."

"I was," her mother admitted. "I was afraid that my heart would break when I saw him, that he would remind me so much of Kelly that I wouldn't be able to