A Gingerbread Romance

by Lacey Baker

  Adam couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes! Look, I know I’ve been a stubborn old fool trying to stick to what’s always worked around here. But now we have people banging down our doors to get to your cakes. I heard that big-time pastry chef offer you a job at one of her new restaurants.”

  “And you also heard me turn down Annabelle’s offer.”

  “Yes, I did. But I know you’ve always wanted to open your own bakery, so I’ve been thinking, why not open it right here?”

  “I don’t follow,” Adam said, afraid to get too excited.

  “I’m talking about your own display case, building your own customer following for your specialty cakes. Your name out front so that all of Philly will know where to find you. What do you say, partner?”

  This was unbelievable and unexpected. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t fantastic. “Sounds pretty good to me,” he told Ray before shaking his hand.

  “Okay then. We’ll get all the legal stuff done after the holidays.” Ray clapped his hands together after their handshake.

  Feeling as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, Adam couldn’t help but grin. “Wait ‘til Brooke hears about this.”

  “And Taylor, what about her?” Ray asked. “You know, ever since you found out she was leaving, you haven’t smiled much. So why don’t you go tell her how you feel,” he suggested. “And let her decide if she wants to leave or not.”

  “Ray,” Adam said and then turned so that he was leaning against the table right beside Ray. “I don’t want to stop Taylor from living her life.”

  Ray nodded. “All I’m saying is, Taylor is the one who walked in here and asked you to partner up. She came to you, cap in hand. Now maybe it’s your turn to do the same.”

  Adam could have continued to argue but something told him that would be futile. “Is it that obvious how I feel?” he asked Ray.

  “Is Christmas tomorrow?” Ray replied. “Please, I can tell you don’t want Taylor to go. So go tell her.”

  “What if she leaves, anyway?” Which had been Adam’s fear all along. He’d thought long and hard about just pouring his heart out to Taylor and asking her to stay here with him and Brooke, but the thought of her saying no and still walking away was something Adam did not want to experience.

  “Well, then she leaves. At least she’ll know how you feel.” Put so plainly in Ray’s way, it didn’t sound so bad. Still a little scary, but wasn’t that what change was? Taking the risk, doing the thing that frightened you, to get what you wanted the most?

  Adam could spend more time contemplating this, or he could do what he’d wanted to do all along. “Thanks, Ray,” he said and clapped his boss, now partner, on the shoulder before running out the door.

  Adam drove as fast as legally possible to Taylor’s house, praying the whole time that she would still be there. He had no idea what time her flight was leaving; she’d just said tonight. So he had a chance. He didn’t know what he was going to say to her, but he would figure that out when he got there.

  He parked his truck crooked in the spot in front of her house and then got out to run up the walkway. He rang the bell, waited about two seconds, and then rang it again. Another second or so ticked by and he lifted his hand to knock, but the door opened and he breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Thank goodness I thought I’d missed—”

  Adam’s words halted when he saw Wendy on the other side of the door.

  “Wendy? Is Taylor here?” he asked.

  “Sorry, Adam, I was just taking care of a few things. She was in a hurry and she left for the airport a couple hours ago. Her flight’s taking off any minute.”

  Adam thanked Wendy and walked back to the truck, deflated. He’d been too late. She was gone and so was his second chance at love.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Taylor sat at the airport holding her plane ticket. A few seats down from her was a family—mother, father and daughter. The little girl was looking down at the tablet in her hands. Taylor smiled because the entire scene reminded her of herself when she was younger. Drawing while they waited for a plane. Boarding with her parents and starting over in a new place, again and again. She wondered if that little girl felt sad about going to Paris. Was this a move for them? Or just a vacation?

  Instrumental Christmas music played overhead and a Christmas tree stood in one of the corners of this section of the airport. Other people waited to board the same flight. It felt like business as usual, even though it was Christmas Eve. Taylor wondered what Brooke was doing. Was she baking the cookies to leave for Santa’s snack? Or maybe she had more gifts to wrap? No, she was probably watching a Christmas movie. Taylor smiled at the thought. She would have loved to sit and watch that movie with Brooke.

  “This is the pre-boarding call for flight 714 bound for Paris. At this time, anyone requiring assistance or traveling with children, please check in,” the attendant announced.

  Families had pre-boarding privileges, and since she was not part of a family, Taylor remained seated, waiting for her turn. But as the family walked through the door to board the plane, Taylor noticed the little girl had left her tablet. She hurried to pick it up, intending to take it to the attendant, but she looked down at the screen first. Everything went completely still as Taylor saw the picture the girl had been drawing using an app on her tablet. It was a father, mother, a little girl and a Christmas tree.

  Taylor held the tablet in her hand but did not move. Memories flashed through her mind like a movie trailer of her life, so fast she was instantly out of breath. She’d drawn a picture of the house she’d dreamed of living in and packed it to take with her when she moved. Everywhere she went she drew another picture of another dream, another family. Her family. The one she wanted in a place where they decided to live. One place, one family, forever.

  She hurried over to the desk.

  “Excuse me, a family that just boarded forgot this,” she said and handed the tablet to the flight attendant.

  “Oh. I’ll make sure they get it,” the flight attendant replied.

  Every ounce of sadness that Taylor had been feeling was now replaced by nervous energy. Her heart thumped as she went back to her seat and grabbed her phone out of her purse. She started pressing numbers on the phone with shaking fingers and spoke the moment the call connected, “Linda? This is Taylor. We need to talk.”

  Christmas Morning

  Brooke was on gift number four. She’d ripped through the first three so fast, Adam was just getting a chance to gather up the wrapping paper and put it into a bag.

  “Look, Dad, new skates! Santa even remembered I was wishing for pink skate guards!” She lifted the skates out of the box and showed him.

  There was nothing better than seeing his child happy, and Adam knew he needed to cherish these moments.

  He put the bag aside and knelt down on the floor next to her. “Santa doesn’t usually drop the ball,” he told her with a grin.

  “I know! I’m so ready to go out and skate with them. It’s just too bad Taylor’s not here. We could have all gone skating together.”

  Adam thought about Taylor’s text message to him several days ago. She’d said she wanted ice skates for Christmas. The thought made him smile in spite of how sad he still felt about her leaving.

  “It’s okay. You and I will go. But first, we’ve gotta check out Santa’s Landing, so go get dressed and grab your coat.”

  “You’re right. We can open the other gifts when we come back. That way Jenny’ll be here with us.”

  Adam nodded. Jenny was coming over at noon and they were going to have lunch and then watch movies all day until dinner. That was their grand Christmas plan.

  “Right. Now go on and get dressed while I finish cleaning up your mess,” he told her.

  “Okay. I’ll be right back.” Brooke
was only gone for a few seconds when Adam began picking up after her.

  She’d gone through her stocking and left everything that was in there on the couch. Adam put it all away. He went to hang her stocking up again and paused. Brooke’s stocking would hang next to his. What would it have been like to have Taylor’s hanging there too? If he closed his eyes, he could still see it hanging in the gingerbread house, and he could hear Brooke saying “home is where you hang your stocking.”

  With a shake of his head, he promised himself he would not spend his entire day thinking about her.

  Adam was just about to take the bag of trash out to the garage when there was a knock at the door. He went to answer it, expecting to see one of his neighbors. Mrs. Riley, maybe; she always baked fudge for the holidays and she hadn’t brought them a pan yet. Adam really liked Mrs. Riley’s fudge. But when he opened the door he decided he liked who was standing there much more.

  “Taylor? What are you doing here?” He was unable to mask the surprise and the happy tinge to his voice.

  “I’m sorry. I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” she said.

  “Not at all. I thought you’d left. Come in.” He moved and let her step inside, because the last thing he wanted was for her to leave again.

  She looked great in a red sweater and beige coat. He’d missed seeing her, and it had only been one day.

  “Well, I was on my way last night, but then I realized I forgot something.” She came inside and stopped just in front of the stairs.

  “What’d you forget?”

  She sighed. “I’ve been traveling for so long, I forgot what home felt like. And since I found it again this week, why would I want to leave?”

  Adam was afraid to get excited. “But what about your job?”

  Taylor smiled, a light in her eyes.

  “My firm got the downtown re-development project. The mayor confirmed it, which meant that Linda would need someone to manage it. I met with Linda last night and we had a long talk before conferencing with the Board. Linda is now taking the Paris position, and I’m going to stay here as director of special projects, starting with the re-development project. Josephine will take my position and be on hand should I need any support staff. This will be the biggest job I’ve ever done.”

  His pulse quickened as he struggled to make sure this was all really happening. “But what about Paris? Your dream?”

  She shook her head. “I thought that was my new dream, but then I realized that I’ve got everything I used to dream of right here.”

  “So you’re staying?”

  “I am.”

  Adam resisted the urge to yell with joy, or to pick her up and spin her around to show how happy he was. Instead, he decided to share some news he had.

  “Great! Then you can come to my grand opening, or re-opening I should say.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Ray’s Bakery is having a grand re-opening as Ray & Adam’s Bakery. I’ll be handling the specialty pastries only. I’m so glad you came into the bakery that day, Taylor. This wouldn’t have happened without you.”

  Taylor grinned. “Are you kidding?”

  He shook his head.

  “Adam, that’s great! This calls for a celebration!”

  “Then we better get you some skates because in this house on Christmas Day, after we go to Santa’s Landing, we hit the ice.”

  Adam stepped closer to her then because he’d fought it long enough.

  “But, before we go this year, I think there’s another tradition we should start.” He was standing right in front of her now, so close he could smell the floral fragrance of her perfume.

  “Oh, no, I’m afraid to ask what that is,” Taylor said.

  Instead of saying it, Adam looked up at the mistletoe hanging from the ceiling.

  Taylor followed his gaze and when he eased his arms around her waist, she lifted hers and looped them around his neck.

  Adam lowered his head and kissed her the way he’d been dreaming of doing since the day they met.

  “If I’d written a list for Santa, he couldn’t have brought me a better gift. Merry Christmas, Taylor,” he whispered when he finally pulled back.

  “I’m glad I finally found somewhere to hang my stocking. Merry Christmas, Adam.”

  “Dad, who are you talking to?” Brooke asked as she came running down the stairs.

  She stopped at the bottom and exclaimed, “Taylor! You’re here?”

  “Yes, I’m here,” Taylor began, but before she could finish Brooke came over and hugged her.

  Adam watched their embrace with barely restrained joy.

  “And I couldn’t be happier!” Taylor said looking over Brooke’s head.

  He knew he was wearing a wide, goofy grin that at this moment he had no intention of changing.

  “Me too!” Brooke said.

  Taylor broke the hug. “Now, how about we go check out those new skates I see under the tree.”

  Adam followed them into the living room. He stood back watching the two of them talking about the skates. Brooke knew exactly which store they could go to after the holidays to find Taylor a pair just like hers, and Taylor suggested she take some formal lessons.

  With his arms folded over his chest, Adam wondered what his mother would have to say about this. She would most likely tell him to enjoy every minute of it.

  Epilogue

  One Year Later

  “Everything’s better with butter,” Gloria Dale said as she eased a Pyrex dish out of the oven. “It’s definitely the key ingredient to my baked macaroni and cheese.”

  As if to prove her point to Taylor, Carol, and Jenny, who were all standing in the kitchen preparing for some part of the huge dinner they were having, Gloria peeled back the aluminum foil covering the dish.

  “Mmmmmm,” Jenny immediately moaned.

  “Oh yes, Gloria, that looks absolutely scrumptious,” Carol added.

  Taylor made a sound and rubbed her stomach, her gaze catching on the glare of the princess-cut diamond wedding ring on her finger. “It tastes as good as it looks,” she told her mother. “I’ve had it a few times this year, and I personally went to the grocery store to get everything she needed to make it for tonight.”

  “We had to have everything just perfect for this dinner,” Jenny chimed in. She was using a knife to smear butter over the dinner rolls that had come out of the oven just a few minutes ago.

  Jenny was right, tonight did have to be perfect. It had to be everything Taylor had dreamed it would be—her first family holiday dinner.

  “Would have been even more perfect if your friend could have joined us,” Gloria said.

  Jenny rolled her eyes at that statement, but only Taylor could see her because she was standing across the island from her. Jenny’s back was thankfully to her mother so Gloria couldn’t see her reaction to her comment.

  “Oh, Jenny, I didn’t know you were seeing someone,” Carol said.

  Taylor jumped in as she glimpsed Jenny’s eyes widening with irritation. “I think we’re just about ready. Jenny, why don’t you go in and gather everyone? We’ll bring the last dishes out to the table.”

  Mouthing a silent “thank you” to Taylor, Jenny made her way out of the kitchen with haste.

  There was no need for thanks. Taylor understood what Jenny was going through. Break-ups could be hard, and during the holiday season they could be brutal.

  In the last year Jenny had become the sister Taylor never had, and in turn, she’d become the same to Jenny. So she’d happily given her a reprieve from the mothers who could be a bit overbearing at times.

  “Taylor, I didn’t get a chance to tell you when we got in last night, but you did a fabulous job with this house. Your father and I are so proud of you for starting a new job and taking the time to design a bigger house for your family,�
�� Carol said. She was scooping the green beans out of the pot on the stove and putting them into one of the white china bowls that matched the themed set she’d purchased online a few months ago.

  “Yes, she did. Designing it from the outside and then decorating the inside. Such a talented girl,” Gloria added.

  Adam’s mother and Jenny were like twins with their mocha brown complexions and high cheekbones. Gloria’s hair was streaked with gray and styled in neat pin curls.

  “Will said the construction crew did a good job, too. You know he was concerned when he left from up here two months ago and they hadn’t even finished the plumbing,” her mother-in-law continued.

  Warmth and pride washed over Taylor as she looked up to see her mother and mother-in-law watching her. With all the love and respect she had for them, Taylor smiled and tried to contain the tears of joy that she finally had a complete family in her home for the holidays. As if on command, the little one inside kicked and she rubbed a hand over her stomach again.

  It wouldn’t be long now. Excitement and anticipation filled her days, and sometimes she actually had to pinch herself to make sure it was all real.

  “Thanks, but Adam and Brooke helped a lot.”

  “I know. Brooke told me all about the plans she had for her bedroom,” Gloria said. “And when we got here two days ago she couldn’t wait to show me the finished product.”

  “I’m really glad all of you could come and are staying here with us for the holidays,” she said.

  It was exactly how she’d envisioned it, her husband and daughter and all their family and friends here on Christmas Eve getting ready to share a delicious dinner.

  “Babe, can you ladies come on, they’re getting restless out here.” Adam stepped into the kitchen with a panicked look on his face.

  “Oh tell your father to cool his britches. I know he’s the one who’s making a fuss. That man likes to eat at the exact time you say you’re having dinner,” Gloria said. She grabbed the macaroni and cheese and headed out to the dining room.