A Gingerbread Romance

by Lacey Baker

  “Well, like I said, you have a great eye for decorating. So I propose we make you chief decorating officer for the gingerbread house. That is, if that doesn’t step on anyone’s toes?”

  She’d caught sight of Adam walking into the room and decided to include him in the conversation.

  “I’d be more than happy to share the glory,” he announced.

  Brooke smiled. “Yes! And after I finish cutting out all the reindeer, we should watch a movie. That’ll be the best night ever!”

  Oh, no. Taylor was certain she should be leaving now. She’d been with Adam all day—at the store, the marketplace and now at his home. She should leave. This had surpassed co-worker cordiality.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Adam answered and looked pointedly at Taylor.

  What was she supposed to say now? No, Brooke, I can’t stay and watch an innocent movie with you because my mind keeps wandering to not-so-normal thoughts about your dad. That was not going to go over well at all.

  “Sure!” Taylor heard her answer and tried to smile. She was staying to watch a movie with this very nice little girl and her very nice father.

  Taylor was already in the living room when Adam joined her. She’d been hoping that Brooke would finish and come in first, but nope.

  “So we’re watching a movie,” he said rubbing his hands together. He moved to a shelf that was lined with a number of DVDs. “What should we watch? Something with action or maybe superheroes?”

  “Superheroes? Really? How old are you?” she quipped.

  He looked over his shoulder at her with a mock frown. “Hey, I happen to be as serious about my superheroes as I am about my baking. Come see for yourself.”

  Taylor crossed the carpeted floor to a stand near the window and leaned over slightly to look at the DVDs on display. He was right, there was an entire row of superhero movies. She shook her head. “This is pitiful, you know,”she teased, though she was sure he could tell that she didn’t really mean it.

  “What? Why? What type of movies do you like?”

  Taylor stood to answer and they were once again face-to-face. How did this keep happening?

  “I um…I like,” she cleared her throat. “I like…”

  “Christmas movies!” Brooke announced when she came running into the living room.

  Taylor had instantly backed away from Adam at the sound of her voice, so Brooke easily slipped between them and selected a movie off one of the lower shelves.

  “This one. I like it, but Jordan said it was old the last time I took it to her house. It’s not old because it’s in color. I tried to tell her that,” Brooke explained.

  “Oh, that’s actually my favorite holiday movie,” Taylor admitted when she glanced at the case. “Well, I like the older black and white version. But this one was good too.”

  Adam shrugged. “Then I guess I’m outnumbered. We’re watching Miracle on 34th Street.”

  He took the case from Brooke and moved over to the television. Taylor gave Brooke a high-five and the two of them made their way to the couch to take a seat.

  Almost two hours later, Brooke was asleep between Adam and Taylor and the movie was near the end.

  Once again Taylor watched the little girl Susan experience the heartbreaking discovery that Kris Kringle had not gotten what she’d asked him for. It didn’t matter how many times she saw this part, or in which movie version; the heaviness in Taylor’s chest was just the same. Longing burned in the pit of her stomach as she thought of the house and family she’d wanted, just like Susan.

  Minutes passed in the movie before Susan was riding in the car with her mother and soon-to-be step-father when she saw the house she’d dreamed of and asked for. Susan’s elation upon seeing that house was exactly how Taylor wanted to feel. That moment of completion when Susan is in the house running up to her bedroom and the mother and father are standing in the living room trying to figure out what’s going on—it was precisely what Taylor wanted. What she’d had to accept she might never have.

  She twisted her fingers together and finally had to look away from the television. “Aww.” Brooke’s head had fallen on her chest. “She didn’t even make it to the end of the movie.”

  “It’s been a long day for her,” Adam said looking down at his daughter.

  They’d turned off the main light, and the glow from the Christmas tree in addition to the television illuminated the room. It had been a comfy and cozy movie night.

  “I should go.” Or rather, she really needed to go. She couldn’t take much more of the emotional rollercoaster she was on at the moment. “I can call a taxi and be gone in a matter of minutes. Then you can properly put her to bed.”

  “No, it’s late, I’ll take you home,” Adam said.

  “But Brooke’s asleep. I don’t want to disturb her. I’ve interrupted your routine enough tonight.”

  “Nonsense,” he told her. “She’s a heavy sleeper and will probably sleep the whole way. Besides, I’m not letting you catch a cab home. I’ll just get her coat.”

  Adam was up before Taylor could say another word and a few minutes later they were all piled into his truck.

  “Thanks for the ride,” she said when they pulled up in front of her house.

  “I had to. You’re the only adult I know in Philly who doesn’t own a car,” he joked.

  They’d already discussed her reasons for not having a car—because it didn’t make sense if the car would spend most of the time parked in her garage while she traveled. So she only offered him a smirk before turning to look at Brooke who was, as he’d predicted, still asleep in the back seat.

  “Cute,” she whispered and then looked at Adam. “She’s a great kid.”

  He nodded. “Well, she certainly seems to have taken a liking to you.”

  And she liked Brooke. She just didn’t want to like Brooke’s dad.

  “Hmmm,” she said in another attempt to change the subject in her mind. “So um, you even decorate your truck for Christmas.” She motioned toward the Santa bobble head dancing on the dashboard.

  Adam laughed.

  “Our house is all decorated, my truck got a little jealous.”

  She chuckled too and then they were staring at each other. Smiling and staring. Staring and smiling. Like two silly teenagers in love…

  “That your house?” he asked and Taylor could not have been more relieved.

  “The one on the end there? You don’t have any decorations up,” he continued.

  “Who’s got the time?” she asked with a shrug.

  Adam looked shocked or maybe he was offended, or both? She wasn’t sure. “No Christmas decorations?”

  She didn’t have a reply. Decorations had not been a part of her Christmas routine in so long she didn’t think anything of it anymore. But now that he’d said something, the fact that every other house on her street was heavily decorated made hers appear dark and lonely. Perhaps even unlived in, or unloved.

  Boy, she was really having an emotional night.

  “You know if one of the gingerbread judges saw this we’d be disqualified for lack of Christmas spirit. No wonder you don’t know what a real gingerbread house should look like.”

  “Ah, please,”she said with a wave of her hand. He was really taking this seriously.

  “It should be colorful and inviting. It should be decorated to the hilt but with love. It should make you think of your grandma’s house.”

  “Well, my grandmother lives in a high rise…in Tampa,” she informed him with a chuckle.

  Then she unsnapped her seat belt because it really was time for her to go. “Goodnight.”

  “Hey,” Adam called before she could get out. He reached for the Santa bobble head and gave it to her. “The first item in your Christmas decoration kit.”

  She accepted the weird-looking Santa and stared at it a fe
w seconds. “This?”

  “What can I say? It’s a start.”

  They both laughed and Taylor opened the door. “Thanks again for dinner, the ride, and the Santa.” She was smiling as she climbed out of the truck and closed the door.

  And as she walked up her driveway the Santa had her grinning again, so she turned around and waved it at Adam. She could see him smiling in the front seat and her chest tightened. Taylor turned and hurried into her house. She closed the door behind her and fell back against it, thinking that she was glad to have survived the night. Now she could stop having weird thoughts about Adam.

  But as Taylor walked further into her house, the silence seemed louder. At Adam’s house there’d been the sounds of the TV when they were watching the movie and their chatter during dinner. It was also a bit chilly. She moved to the thermostat to check the temperature, but realized the chilliness came from her stark white walls and the bare rungs of the banister going up the steps. Even her paintings didn’t make her house nearly as warm as Adam’s home felt. Brooke had explained that she’d wrapped the garland around each rung on the banister at their house and she’d put the big red bow at the very end.

  Now Taylor felt like a Scrooge for not putting up Christmas decorations, and more than a little homesick for the dream she’d once had.

  “Thanks, Adam,” she muttered and then sighed as she went up the stairs.

  Chapter Ten

  The next day Taylor got a call she never thought she would receive.

  “I can’t make it to the Marketplace to work on the gingerbread house today. Brooke’s sick. I had to keep her home from school.”

  She stopped what she was doing—looking over a draft of an apartment building for Josephine to submit to Linda for approval. Her hand immediately went to her chest as beneath the pale blue sweater she wore her heart began to thump wildly.

  “Oh no, Adam. Is she okay? Do you think you should take her to the hospital instead?”

  His response was a light chuckle which had her staring at the phone receiver as if he could see that she was giving him the “are you crazy?” look.

  “I don’t think it’s that serious. Probably some type of twenty-four hour virus. The school sent a letter out last week that several students had fallen ill. She’s not running a fever, but she’s not able to keep any food down. I’ve already put a call in to her pediatrician, and his advice is to continue to force liquids and as long as no fever develops, the virus has to run its course. If she’s not better in the morning I’ll take her into his office. But I wanted to let you know because losing a day will set us back.”

  Her pulse calmed a bit after the full explanation and now that the vision of an ambulance or Brooke lying on a stretcher had dissipated.

  “Well, you were going to speak to your boss about us using his kitchen to bake the gingerbread faster today. So maybe I’ll just come over and we can work in your kitchen and that way you can still keep an eye on Brooke.”

  And she wanted to see her. Of course, she couldn’t say that. Because how would it sound that she—Adam’s co-worker of sorts—would want to see that his daughter was okay? Crazy. She knew because that’s what she’d told herself when she’d lay in her bed last night, trying to fall asleep, but instead thinking of Brooke and how happy she’d been watching the first part of that movie last night.

  “You don’t have to do that. Using the professional kitchen at Ray’s would be better and cut some of our time, so I’ll call him as soon as I hang up with you. And if Brooke’s feeling better tomorrow I can get in there early and make up for lost time.”

  She opened her bottom desk drawer and pulled out her purse. “Nonsense. Then we’d lose an entire day and have nothing to show for it. If I come over we can at least get some of the batches done. Just let me wrap up here and I’ll be right over.”

  “Okay. If you’re sure this is what you want to do. I’ll see you when you get here.”

  “I’m sure. I’ll see you in a little bit.”

  She hung up the phone just in time to see Josephine leaning over the ledge of her cubicle staring directly at her.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Brooke’s sick. She can’t go to school today. I have to go.”

  Standing she pulled her coat off the back of her chair and was about to walk out of the cubicle but she noticed Josephine’s quizzical look.

  “Oh, I was almost finished with your plans anyway. I made some notes in the margin. Once you address those, it should be good to go to Linda.” And as far as Linda was concerned, Taylor’s prime assignment right now was winning this competition, so she hadn’t been given any other projects to work on.

  Josephine tilted her head. Today’s bell-shaped earrings jingled with the motion. “I’m not thinking about those plans right now. I’m kinda wondering what’s going on with you.”

  Taylor frowned because she didn’t understand what Josephine was trying to get at, not because Josephine was almost blocking her way and she needed to get going. She wanted to stop by the store to get some things for Brooke—orange juice, ginger ale and popsicles. Taylor’s mom always gave her popsicles when she was sick.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Taylor Scott doesn’t do house calls for sick kids. The Taylor I know works her butt off on every project even when a team member is down.”

  Since she was still standing there, Taylor pushed her arms into her coat. “We’re going to work at Adam’s place.”

  “Oh, right. Adam, the very good-looking baker who had you just slightly off your game yesterday.”

  “What? I’m never off my game.”

  Josephine stood up straight and folding her arms over her chest. “You two were verbally sparring in front of us, and for the rest of the day you worked almost side-by-side. And if you think Wendy and I, your closest friends in the whole world, didn’t notice that, you might be further gone than we thought.”

  She pushed her purse onto her shoulder and shook her head. This time of year Josephine’s mind was normally somewhere between Christmasland and the office, but this might be the worst she’s ever been. She was obviously confused.

  “We got a lot of the preliminary set up done yesterday. After today we have nine days left until judging. Between work and everybody’s holiday shopping, that doesn’t give us a lot of time.”

  “Uh huh. Right. If that’s the excuse you want to go with. But I’m thinking you might be looking at the hot baker a little closer than just his gingerbread skills. And it’s cool because he was certainly checking for you.”

  “Stop.” The one word wasn’t spoken with as much force as she thought would have been more successful with Josephine. The woman’s wide grin in response was proof. “I gotta go.”

  Josephine stepped aside. “Okay. Yeah, you definitely gotta go. Tell Adam I said hello.”

  Taylor was already walking away by the time Josephine yelled that last part. Her giggling could be heard even as Taylor steadily moved away.

  She was still shaking her head by the time she stepped into the elevator. “I just want to check to make sure she’s all right. That does not mean I want to get closer to the hot baker. Does it?”

  “It’s all right, sweetie. It’s okay to be interested in a hot baker.”

  The older woman standing in the opposite corner of the elevator and holding two big shopping bags startled Taylor. She hadn’t even noticed there was someone else in the elevator when she boarded.

  “Oh my, did I say that out loud? I’m sorry. Just have so much going on in my head right now.”

  The woman smiled, her thin brightly painted lips spreading slowly. Her silver-white hair was styled in tight curls and wise brown eyes twinkled. “My advice? Slow down and let love find you. It shouldn’t be a race, but a gentle glide into your destiny.”

  The elevator bell dinged before the doors opened. Taylor wait
ed while the woman stepped off and walked through the lobby never looking back at her. She hurried outside to get a cab, all the while wondering how strangely eventful this morning was turning out to be.

  Five hours later Adam had baked most of the gingerbread on his own while Taylor spent the bulk of her time going in and out of the bedroom with Brooke. About half an hour after she arrived at his house and they’d gotten settled in the kitchen, he’d gone in to check on Brooke and mentioned that Taylor was there. From that point on Brooke’s requests had been for Taylor.

  During the few times in the past that Brooke had been home sick, Jenny was able to stay with her. But today Jenny had classes she could not miss. She was only one semester away from graduating with her marketing degree and winter finals were beginning. Adam was used to sharing his daughter’s attention when she didn’t feel well, but he wasn’t used to sharing it with another woman—or at least, one who wasn’t a family member.

  Right now she sat on the edge of Brooke’s bed leaning forward to wipe her face with a cool cloth. He’d told her that was something he did to keep the fever away and because it comforted Brooke, something his mother had told him to do when she was a baby. Watching Taylor do it now stirred something inside Adam.

  “Do you want to try another cracker?” Taylor asked Brooke in a voice so soft Adam barely heard her.

  “No,” Brooke replied. “I’m tired now.”

  “Okay, honey, well you just take a little nap, and when you wake up maybe you’ll be ready for some nice warm soup.” Taylor finished with the cloth and set it on Brooke’s nightstand right beside her princess-themed lamp.

  “And after soup we can watch another movie,” Brooke told Taylor. “I already picked one out—Home Alone, the one where the little boy is home sick by himself.”

  Taylor’s smile—the one Adam was getting very used to seeing—spread fast as she agreed. Adam couldn’t believe this woman was here in his house, with his daughter. A few days ago he had no idea who Taylor Scott was, and now she not only had him participating in a giant gingerbread contest, but she was helping to take care of his sick daughter. What was going on?