She didn’t mean to start laughing as hard as she did, but she couldn’t help it. The whole thing was so absolutely absurd and yet totally appropriate given the way the night had started, there was nothing to do but laugh. Sam, however, wasn’t laughing.
“It’s not funny, Annabelle! We went to all that trouble, and for what?”
“Sam,” Belle replied calmly, trying to control her laughter, “you know full well that Candance or Jason took photos of Logan Gale while he was in the restaurant. They are obsessed with him. Call them, get them to put their photos on their social media accounts and tag one of those tabloid websites, and make sure they mention the actual restaurant in their post. We can correct him and maybe even get him to fix his own mistake. Heck, he might even apologize for stealing the wine if he knows the press is going to get involved. You can’t get so worked up about this stuff, Sam.”
Belle pulled into a parking space in the hospital’s lot and turned off the car, ready to bolt inside. She hoped that was the last crisis she had to field for Sam until after the holidays.
“What am I going to do without you, Annabelle? You’re so much…”
“Calmer?”
Sam snorted. “I was going to say organized, but fine. How am I going to run this place without you?”
“As we’ve discussed, I’m not gone. I’m just long distance. Now, go take care of the Christmas Eve dinners and then please, have a good holiday, Sam. I love you.”
“Yeah, yeah, you better,” he said with a chuckle. Once they said their goodbyes, Belle ran into the hospital and toward the elevators, but she didn’t make it as far as the doors, because an elderly woman shouted at her to stop.
“Hold it right there, young lady. All visitors have to sign in at the desk. Now, slow down and tell me who it is you are rushing through here in such a hurry to see?”
Belle backed up slowly and stopped in front of the woman. She recognized her because a friend from elementary school used to joke about his grandmother’s unpronounceable Gaelic name and it was unlikely there was another “Caoilfhoinn” in Wintervale.
“Mrs. Fisher, right? Your grandson is Randy Fisher?”
The old woman lit up. “He sure is! How do you know my Randall?”
“We went to the same school when we were kids, before he went off to private school. Nice to meet you… Mrs. Fisher.”
She nodded at Belle and gestured toward the elevators. “Just tell me who you’re going to see, and I will write you down.”
Belle sighed with relief as she started walking. “Meg Harrison! I’m her granddaughter, Belle. Thanks!”
“Oh!” Caoilfhoinn called out. “Popular lady, that Meg Harrison. Your boyfriend was here to see her last night.”
That stopped Annabelle in her tracks once again. “What’s that now?”
“Ay, handsome lad. Sandy hair, muscular like one of those movie superheroes, glasses. He came by long after visiting hours had ended last night to see Ms. Harrison. He stayed for a while and the skedaddled.” She leaned forward and gave Belle the same grandmotherly eyebrow raise that Meg did when she was about to tell her something serious. “He seemed like a nice boy. The kind of boy who would run out in the middle of the night to check on the grandmother of the woman he loves. You don’t see that a lot in men these days. If you want my advice, and no one says you do but I’m going to give it to you anyway, that one is a keeper, Miss Belle Harrison.”
Annabelle didn’t know what else to say. She wasn’t sure there was anything else to say; Caoilfhoinn Fisher, a woman she had never met in her life, had just dropped a truth bomb on her that it wasn’t going to be easy to ignore. And Belle had a feeling that Meg was just going to agree. “Thanks, Mrs. Fisher. I appreciate it.”
The older woman nodded and waved her on, but she called after her, “Just my two cents, is all! Merry Christmas!”
Belle had barely stepped off the elevator on Meg’s floor when she heard her grandmother’s voice echoing down the hallway.
“Then call me a dang cab! I’ve been discharged! I want to go to the Wintervale Bake-Off and I will walk there if I have to, but I refuse to stay in this bed a moment longer!”
Annabelle groaned as she rushed double-time to Meg’s room, where she found her grandmother sitting in the chair next to the hospital bed, sporting a brand new, pine-green colored cast and waving a crutch at an exasperated nurse. When Meg spotted her granddaughter, she cried out in excitement.
“Well, it’s about time, girl! I had all but given up on you! Will you get me out of here? I’m just about crawling up the dang walls!”
Belle set her bag down on the bed and turned to the nurse, whose cheeks were bright red from frustration. “What’s going on?” she asked patiently.
“I’ll tell you what’s going on! They’re trying to…” But Belle held up a hand to silence her grandmother.
“I asked the nurse, gran.”
The nurse took a deep breath. “Ms. Harrison has been discharged with some instructions for home care, but the doctor wasn’t comfortable letting her go without a family member here to be responsible for her. So, we were having a bit of a… discussion over how she was going to get home.”
“I’m not going home,” Meg grumbled. “I’m going downtown to see the tree lighting and the Bake-Off!”
Belle gave her grandmother a stern look, which was enough to quiet Meg down again. “Well, I’m here now. What do I need to do for us to leave? Are there papers I need to sign or something?”
“No, miss. She’s ready to go. I just need to call an orderly up with a wheelchair to take her to your car.”
“I’LL WALK!” Meg shouted. Belle spun around and pursed her lips, afraid if Meg kept causing trouble, they would still be trying to get her out of the hospital on New Year’s Eve.
“If you can just loan me a wheelchair,” she said to the nurse calmly, “I can take it from here. Thank you so much for your help.” Belle reached into her purse and retrieved a little cellophane bag full of the cookies she had made, then handed them to the nurse. “Merry Christmas!”
It was enough to soften her into getting the wheelchair without reporting Meg to security. When they were alone, Belle spun around with her hands on her hips.
“Were you trying to cause a scene?”
Meg threw her hands in the air. “No one was listening to me! And they wouldn’t let me leave on my own! I never miss the contest, Belle! Not once. Anyway, you’re here now, so it doesn’t matter. Let’s get going! I have Christmas treats to sample.”
Luckily, the nurse was as anxious to get Meg out of the hospital as Meg was to leave, so not ten minutes later, Meg and Belle were in the car and making their way towards downtown. At first, neither of them said anything, even when Meg noticed the massive trays of cookies in the back. But when they had to stop to allow a crowd of pedestrians headed for the town center to cross in front of them, Meg turned to look at her granddaughter with serious eyes.
“I didn’t think you were coming back.”
Belle gasped. “Of course, I was coming back. I promised I would.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t call. You didn’t text. Nothing. And you kind of ran through the door at the last minute there, kid. Wouldn’t you have been a little worried too?”
Belle gestured to the back seat. “I was up all night baking and making icing. Then there was an incident with my alarm. By the time I found a rental car, I was lucky I made it. But I’m here. You know I don’t break promises to you, gran.”
Meg reached out and squeezed her granddaughter’s hand. “I know, baby. It’s just been a rough few days. I’m glad you’re here now. And I know James will be glad you made it back, too.”
Annabelle felt her cheeks turn pink at the mention of James’ name, which was a sign that all of the anxiety she had been feeling had melted away. In its place was hope; she could only pray that he was feeling the same way now.
“I hope you’re right, because I made some decisions last night that mean I’m going
to be here a lot more often. Maybe… forever…”
Meg spun around too fast and winced at the pain it caused her, but nothing could hide the excitement in her eyes. “Forever? What do you mean forever?”
“Well, Sam and I have worked something out. He’s going to manage the restaurant, we’re going to hire a pastry chef and a new kitchen manager, and twice a month, I’ll drive down to Manhattan and help him do all the planning and business stuff. I think it’s going to work out pretty well, and if we have to adjust anything as time goes on, we can.”
Meg was grinning from ear-to-ear. “And what will you do here?”
“I don’t know yet. But I can figure something out. There are empty shop spaces downtown so maybe I can launch another branch of Arcadia. Or maybe I can try something else entirely. I’m really free to do whatever I want for a while. To start over fresh in a town that knows me better than I know myself.”
Her grandmother squeezed her into a side-hug so tight, Belle almost swerved off the road. “Gran, not while I’m driving!”
“I’m sorry! I’m just so excited! I’ve wanted you to come home for so long and now you’re finally doing it. I know it’s not just for me, but it’s still enough to send me straight over the moon. This is the best Christmas present I ever could have gotten. Thank you, Annabelle.”
Belle grumbled as they got to the last light before downtown and found themselves stuck in a line of traffic. If she had been alone, she would have just walked it from a parking space where they were stopped, but Meg was still in a wheelchair and there was no way she could push that wheelchair for five blocks in the snow. Annabelle had to keep reminding herself she wasn’t in New York anymore, so horn-honking wasn’t going to get her anywhere, but she had to get her cookies to the competition before it started, and she definitely needed to talk to James first. None of that would be possible if she came running up to the center of town half-an-hour after the contest had ended.
“Gran… what do I do? We’re going to be stuck here until Christmas morning at this rate!”
Belle hadn’t done all that work and come all that way just to miss her chance to apologize to James. If she wasn’t at the Bake-Off, she knew that James would never be able to forgive her. This was her shot to make things right and to show him that they could move on. Meg stuck her head out the window to gauge how far they were from the town square.
She could just make out the giant Christmas tree in the center of town from where they were, which meant they were closer than it appeared.
“If you pull down this side street, it leads you to an alley behind Meow & Then. We can leave the car right behind the shop. No one will be calling the tow truck on you on Christmas Eve, least of all me. Then you can stack the cookies on my lap and we can hurry like the dickens!”
Using a specific set of skills learned from driving the catering truck in Manhattan, Belle disengaged herself from the traffic and weaved down the side street until they were safely hidden behind Meow & Then. After finishing the complicated process of unloading the entire contents of the car into Meg’s lap, Belle used every ounce of her energy to start pushing the wheelchair through the packed snow in the alley. By the time they got to the contest, she was going to be soaked in sweat and look like an absolute mess.
“Are we going to make it?” Meg asked as she tried to help Annabelle by pushing on the tires of her wheelchair.
Belle took another deep breath and gave the chair a final shove out of the alley, so they were finally back out on Elm Street, which eventually connected with the town center.
“We have to, gran. We have to.”
24
James
James sat behind his designated table in the town square, surrounded by matching tables all around him. Each one decorated with a festive tablecloth, twinkle lights, and brightly-colored plaques bearing each contestant’s name. There were even more people competing in Wintervale’s Christmas Bake-Off than last year, which made James just a little nervous; he still didn’t know if the pie he had made was up to his usual standards.
Looking all around him, he saw giant towers of red and green cupcakes, an elaborate display of gingerbread children playing around a gingerbread house, and a huge peppermint cake with a red and white fondant bow. He looked down at his maple pumpkin pie, and for the first time in the years he had been competing in these competitions, he wasn’t sure it was enough.
He’d sent Daisy out to spy on the other people who were competing for him, but mostly he just wanted her to scoot off and get a dose of Christmas spirit. He’d been such a grump ever since Belle had left town, and he was worried that he was going to start to sap her of her holiday joy too.
His daughter had been working overtime to try and cheer him, but since his talk with Meg at the hospital, he knew he had to take a minute and formulate a new plan. He couldn’t keep rushing into everything like a fool and risk what little chance he might still have with Belle.
He hated the idea of getting through Christmas without telling her how he felt, but if she needed time to herself, he was going to give it to her.
Daisy ran back up to James’ table holding a gingerbread cookie in her hand that was dressed in a little elf outfit and holding a tiny candy cane.
“Dang it,” James muttered under his breath as he eyeballed the gingerbread cookie. “That’s really good.”
Daisy bit into the cookie and then shrugged dismissively. “It looks good, but it doesn’t taste so great. It’s too sweet. That peppermint cake with the big bow? They made one for people walking by to sample and it tastes like they forgot to the peppermint in. I think you’re a shoe-in to win, daddy.”
James patted his daughter on her head, jingling the bell that hung off her wool hat. “You’re a good kid, Daisy.” She gave him a hug and then ran off in the direction of the tree where some of her friends from school were getting hot chocolate from the refreshment stand. As she laughed and ran around with the other kids, he couldn’t help but realize how fast she was growing up and realize how much had changed for them even in the last year. He wondered what the next year would bring, especially with everything that happened in the last week alone…
His mind had totally drifted off into another world when he heard a familiar voice trying to draw his attention. James looked up from the table and saw Wintervale’s Mayor, Lydia Graham, standing in front of him with her husband and little boy. They were dressed to the nine’s in holiday-themed outfits; her son was even in a reindeer costume… and he looked absolutely miserable.
James slid him one of the simple Christmas cookies he’d made for the kids, hoping it might cheer him up. He almost cracked a smile but then right back to being surly. James couldn’t blame the kid.
“James Everley! It wouldn’t be a Bake-Off without one of your delicious concoctions. Are you going to blow the judges away again this year?”
He forced a sunny smile onto his face and tried to fake the confidence he wasn’t remotely feeling. “That’s certainly my goal! I think you’ll find that this year’s entry is both delicious and homey, the perfect combination for a holiday treat.”
“No doubt, no doubt,” Mayor Graham said with a distracted smile. “I couldn’t help but notice that Annabelle Harrison’s table is empty. We were really looking forward to having a celebrity in our contest this Christmas. Did you know that she intended to cancel her appearance?”
James was fairly confident that Belle didn’t view the contest as an “appearance,” as if she’d been booked for a spot on a cooking show. But he also didn’t have an answer as to why she didn’t show up, especially after all of the arguing they had done over the competition just a few days before.
He knew her well enough to know that losing by default would make her crazy, so she must have really needed to get away from him, which just made his stomach drop even further into his feet. He sighed and shrugged, trying not to make eye contact with the mayor as she waited patiently for an answer.
“I think I heard sh
e had an emergency back in Manhattan, so she may have been delayed there. But I don’t know for sure. She’s cutting it a little close, that’s for sure,” he said, looking at his watch.
“Indeed. But we still have twenty minutes before we announce the start of the competition, so perhaps she may make it yet. I look forward to visiting your table again, James!” The mayor and her family walked off toward the tree, her son trudging miserably behind them as some of the other kids chuckled in his direction.
The minutes ticked by slowly, marked by James’ friends and neighbors stopping by his table to say hello and wish him a Merry Christmas. The crowd in the town center was getting bigger by the minute as more cars filtered into the area, jockeying for parking spaces and occasionally honking in frustration.
He couldn’t remember a more hectic Christmas Eve in Wintervale and James couldn’t help but wonder if some tourists had gotten wind of the event. There were definitely a few faces he didn’t recognize. In fact, there were so many people milling about that he almost didn’t notice Belle as she pushed Meg in her wheelchair down the sidewalk; Meg was grinning from ear-to-ear, her lap stacked high with plastic trays full of beautiful pink cookies. Belle looked exhausted, as though she had wheeled Meg all the way from the hospital. When they got to James’ table, Belle’s hair was a mess and her scarf was askew, hanging way too far to one side.
“Belle! Meg! I didn’t think…”
“We almost didn’t!” Meg laughed. “All these dang tourists taking up every inch of free space. My incredibly tough granddaughter pushed me and a mountain of cookies all the way from the shop!”
James looked at Belle in absolute awe. “I’m really glad you made it.”
“Me too,” Annabelle whispered. She didn’t get a chance to say anything else because a fraction-of-a-second later, Mayor Graham came rushing up behind them, clapping her hands together.
A Sugar Cookie Christmas: A Sweet Holiday Romance (Wintervale Promises Book 1) Page 17
