The Christmas Plan - Samantha Chase Page 0,20
the family came home for dinner, Aspen could tell they were all exhausted. It was so cold outside and even though she knew they had a heated tent and plenty of hot coffee and cocoa, it had to be brutal to be working outside all day. While everyone was talking about who came in to buy trees and how much they sold, Aspen had slipped out to go and pick up their dinner.
As usual, everyone she saw waved and said hello and asked her to say hello to Gabe and his family. Every building in town had Christmas lights up and as much as she knew she sounded like a broken record, it really did look like the world’s most perfect winter wonderland–complete with snow and music!
Luckily not “Silver Bells” this time.
Back at the house, when she walked in with four pizza boxes, everyone jumped up to help her. Gabe got to her first. “What in the world?” he asked with a small laugh, taking the boxes from her.
“We ate a lot of chocolate today and the kitchen was a mess so we opted for takeout,” she explained.
He glanced at her over his shoulder and frowned. “Seriously?”
“Um…yeah. Why?”
Placing the pizzas on the table, he gently led her to the corner of the dining room. “My parents never get takeout. My mother cooks dinner every night and they only go out to eat for special occasions. Did she know you were doing this?” he looked over her shoulder toward the kitchen. “She could already have something cooking in there.”
He looked so serious and sounded so concerned, and yet it was hard not to laugh. Quietly, she cleared her throat and whispered, “Yes, Gabe. She was well aware of my plan. Not only that, she paid for it, so…I think she’s cool with the whole thing.”
Everyone was gathering around the table and there was a ton of talking and if Gabe had anything else to say about it, he opted not to.
Dinner was yet another boisterous time and by the time she retreated to the tiny house, she was grateful for the silence.
Sunday was more of the same–Gabe and his father, uncle, and grandfather went to the tree lot, and Aspen gave a lesson on dipping chocolate to his mother and grandmother. They had done chocolate-covered marshmallows, pretzels, and some dried fruit. Mrs. Andrews had already started making plans for how she was going to be on the hunt for strawberries for Valentine’s Day, and Aspen knew she’d have some fun with it.
When they had exhausted things available around the pantry to dip in chocolate, Aspen decided she wanted to go and check out the tree lot and maybe lend a hand. Bundling up as warmly as possible because she still couldn’t believe people were able to stay outside in such cold temperatures, she drove into town and told herself this was going to be fun.
“Hey!” Gabe said with a big smile when he spotted her. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to help!”
The skeptical look on his face spoke volumes.
“I’m serious, Gabe. Your mom and grandmother are making a big dinner, we did a bunch of chocolate stuff, and I wanted to get out and…you know…help.”
He took her by the hand and led her to the small wood shack that was the office for the tree lot. Once inside he poured her a cup of hot chocolate–something they kept going all day long–and motioned for her to sit on one of the stools. “Aspen, no one expects you to work while you’re here. I just thought this would be a good distraction for you to get away.”
“Yeah, I know and I appreciate it, but I can’t just sit around all day doing nothing.”
“You’ve been making my family extremely happy with all the chocolate you’ve been making. My dad’s been telling everyone in town about it, and it’s only a matter of time before people are going to be asking you to make some for them.”
She let out a soft snort. “Please, I’d welcome it. It would give me something to do and it would be the first time I’d be making my creations for me instead of for the restaurant and letting them get all the credit.” Pausing, she let that thought sink in for a minute. Then she looked around the office and realized it was a bit more spacious than she originally thought. “Um…this may sound crazy, but…what would you think of maybe selling some chocolate here? You know,