Baker's Bob (River's End Ranch #16)

by Kirsten Osbourne

  She shrugged. “I have no idea.”

  “More than five?”

  “I think so. I’m not sure.”

  “Let me know when it’s been long enough…”

  “I don’t understand…”

  “You said we couldn’t talk about marriage until we’d been on five dates, and preferably six. Remember?”

  She smiled. “I guess I remember that.”

  “Goodnight, beautiful.” Bob touched her cheek one last time before going back to his Jeep and leaving. She stood watching him go for a moment. Whoever would have thought she’d fall in love with a Bob?

  Miranda let Cinnamon outside and gave her fresh food and water. The dog brought her a favorite stuffed toy to throw. Even Cinnamon seemed a little dejected on days that Bob didn’t come over. She wasn’t sure who was falling harder…her or her dog.

  When she closed her eyes to sleep that night, Bob’s face was there on the inside of her eyelids. She dreamed of him as she always did.

  *****

  Miranda was even busier than usual the following day. Pastor Kevin was there at three to help her, and he brought his new wife Bridget along. Bridget was yawning widely, but she was ready and willing to work. Miranda rolled out the clumps of dough and used the cookie cutter, leaving the other two to pick up the cookies and put them on the cookie sheets to bake.

  Bob came in and picked up the cookies they’d baked for him the day before, nodding at Pastor Kevin. Miranda had forgotten that the two of them were good friends. “Sorry I couldn’t bring them by,” Miranda said.

  “You’ve got enough on your hands today just making all those cookies happen.” Bob took the box and waved. “I’ll pick you up at six? The decorating starts at seven. Will that give you enough time to get everything ready?”

  Miranda nodded. At any other time of year, she’d just stay there on the ranch and nap, but they were booked to capacity for Christmas. There were a lot of families that came back for the Christmas festivities year after year.

  After the first couple of rounds, they had a system in place and it went quickly. The only time they were slowed down at all was when someone came in to buy something. That was the hard part. At ten, Bridget had enough. “I’m calling Kaya in to deal with customers. She probably just went to bed, but she’ll live.”

  “Don’t wake her!” Miranda protested. She liked Bridget’s sister, but she knew she wrote all night while other people slept.

  Bridget ignored her and made the call. “Kaya, we need you to run the cash register at the bakery today. Yes, I know I don’t work at the bakery. Okay, see you in twenty.” Bridget tucked the phone back into her pocket. “She’s on her way.”

  The bell over the door rang and Miranda went to the counter. “Hi, Matt. What are you hungry for today?”

  “What’s going on?” Matt asked. “You never have a bakery full of helpers.”

  “We’re kicking off the ranch’s Christmas week activities with cookie decorating tonight. So in addition to my usual holiday baking, I need to get all the cookies ready. We’re expecting about a hundred people, and each one typically decorates a dozen cookies. So we’re baking twelve hundred cookies today.”

  Matt blinked. “That’s a lot of cookies.” His eyes locked onto her bracelet. “Beautiful bracelet.”

  Miranda stroked it absently. “It’s from my Secret Santa. What can I get you today?”

  Matt studied her for a moment before responding. “I’ll take two blueberry muffins and two orange muffins. No kolaches today?”

  “There was no time around cookie baking. I’m planning on kolaches on Wednesday this week.” Like everyone else on the ranch, Matt had developed a soft spot for her kolaches.

  “I’ll see you Wednesday then. And tomorrow, of course.” He winked at her and left the bakery, and she turned, noticing that Bridget was staring at her.

  “What?” Miranda asked.

  “Who was that?” Bridget asked. She returned to working, but her mind was clearly still on Miranda and that man who had come to talk to her.

  “Matt. He’s here until the end of the year. He comes every morning for a treat, and he takes it to the saloon and has some of the fancy coffee with it.” Miranda hurried back to work, cutting out more of the cookies.

  “Are you interested in him?” Bridget asked, seeming concerned.

  “I’m going out with Bob. How could I be interested in Matt?” As her bracelet jangled on her wrist, she felt guilt wash over her. Who was giving her the gifts? Bob hadn’t mentioned the bracelet at all, and Matt hadn’t seemed affected when she said it was from a Secret Santa. Did he know who it was from?

  Kaya burst through the door. “What’s the big emergency? I didn’t get to bed until seven.”

  “You didn’t have to come!” Miranda protested. “I told Bridget not to call you.”

  “Do you have that much to do?” Kaya asked.

  Miranda sighed. “We really do. I’m going to need to nap every day this week if I want to get up as early as I need to and still participate in the evening activities. So…we could use the help.”

  Kaya walked behind the counter. “Where can I get an apron then?”

  Miranda spent five minutes showing the girl how to use her cash register, and showing her where the price list was. “If you have questions, just ask.”

  “I will! And when I’m not helping customers, how can I help with the cookies?”

  Miranda looked around the bakery. “Could you get the cookies that are cooled into the boxes that I have on that table over there?” she asked, pointing at a table she didn’t usually use. “That would speed things up just a bit.”

  “I’d be happy to.”

  Bridget pulled a tiny shrimp fork from her pocket and waved it at her sister.

  Miranda sighed, looking at Pastor Kevin. “Do you think they’re going to be able to behave enough to actually be of help today? Or are they just going to get on my nerves?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine. Want me to pray you have patience?”

  Miranda laughed. “That might be the best offer I’ve had all day.”

  When it was time for the bakery to close, all of the cookies were stacked in boxes. Miranda smiled. “We did it. I’m going to call the front desk and have someone deliver these things. That was a lot of cookies.” She had just finished mixing up eight big five-gallon containers of icing. She’d even made two five-gallon containers of cream cheese frosting. She’d probably gone overboard, but there would be children, and there was no telling how much frosting would go on the cookies and how much would go in the mouths. There were four containers of white, two red, and two green. She’d made a three-gallon container of black. She also had gallon containers of sprinkles in several colors.

  Everything was on the table and ready to be carried off to be used that evening. She was glad her night was upon them, because after it was over, she’d be able to enjoy the festivities and not stress. “You guys go. And thank you so much for your help today. I’ll make sure that Wade knows who all helped.”

  Kaya shrugged. “Don’t tell him about me. I’m not even an employee of the ranch.”

  “I’m telling him about everyone.” Miranda hugged the twins in turn. “You guys are awesome.” She watched them leave before calling the front desk to get everything moved. She couldn’t believe they’d actually gotten it all done.

  *****

  Miranda tried to nap when she got home that afternoon, but she wasn’t used to sleeping during the day. Instead, she closed her eyes for a while and then she read a little…and she worried a lot about how things would go that evening. Lily’s band would be playing Christmas songs in the background, so that was taken care of. Punch was going to be provided by Kelsi. She couldn’t think of anything else they needed, but she was still nervous. She’d never had to coordinate an event quite this big.

  Of course, she wasn’t really coordinating it, but she was providing the cookies, and she would move from table to table, showing the gue
sts different techniques she used to decorate…and she had to do a couple of samples when she got there. Why hadn’t she done that today?

  She took deep breaths. She hadn’t had time, and she knew it. Glancing at the clock, she saw that Bob would be there in a few minutes, and she was glad. As nervous as she was, it was best to just get the whole thing over with.

  She changed into jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt, and grabbed her favorite blue gingham apron. Her mother had made it for her when she’d announced she was going to be a baker, and it had always been special. Maybe tonight it would give her the confidence she needed to make it through the experience.

  She let Cinnamon out back just as the doorbell rang. She hurried to the door and let Bob in, and then ran back through the house to herd Cinnamon inside. The dog was ecstatic to see her favorite man and she let him know it.

  “You ready?” Bob asked.

  Miranda nodded. “As ready as I’m going to get.”

  “You’re really nervous about this, aren’t you?”

  “I am! I’ve never done anything like this before. I know my cookies are good, but I don’t know how people will like the set-up I have in mind. And we still have to go and get the frosting divided into the cups I’ve prepared. I was told to prepare for one hundred guests. What if we only have fifty? What if we have two-hundred?”

  Bob caught her and kissed her. “Calm down. The only thing that matters is you do your best. And there will be no doubt in anyone’s mind that you’ve done all you can do to make it perfect.”

  She sighed. “I know. I’m being a nervous mess. I have to stop.” She grabbed her apron and headed for the door, calling to Cinnamon over her shoulder, “Be good girl!”

  When they got to the event-barn, Miranda sprang into action. There were ten volunteers there waiting for her, more than she’d expected. She put her apron on and started dividing the frosting into the different cups. Each person would get a cup of white, a cup of cream cheese, and half cups of red and green. Then each table would share a cup of black.

  She’d arranged to have twenty tables with eight chairs each, hoping they wouldn’t all be needed. The cookies were laid out, and each person would get to choose their twelve favorites to decorate.

  Bob helped her divide things up and the volunteers took the cups of frosting to the tables. Lily and the band came to set up, and the Westons all came in a little before seven, each one with their spouse…except Dani and Wade who weren’t yet married.

  When everyone was there, and people were seated, the excitement was almost palpable. Wade had to borrow Lily’s microphone to be heard. “I’m so glad everyone is here to help us kick off the Christmas week festivities here at River’s End Ranch. I know Miranda has put a lot of work into making over a thousand cookies to decorate, and she’s going to give a brief demonstration of different techniques you can use. Let’s all give her a hand to thank her for the extra time she put in to make this event memorable for all of us.”

  Miranda blushed and took a deep breath. She took the microphone Wade offered her and thanked everyone for coming. She showed them a couple of different ways to use the materials on hand, and then she told everyone to pick ten cookies each. They had ended up with more people than she planned for, so she was glad she’d made such a generous amount of cookies.

  She moved from table to table, sitting with the different groups and answering questions. Bob was moving around from table to table as well. She had explained what she’d be teaching, and he’d claimed he was more than capable. He was a chef after all.

  By the time they ushered the last guest out at nine-thirty, Miranda was exhausted, but happier than she’d imagined she’d be. Kelsi hurried to her and hugged her. “You did so good! I heard everyone talking about how much fun this was, and they hope we’ll do it every Christmas.”

  Miranda felt tears spring to her eyes. She felt silly, but she’d worked so hard for that night, and it was finally over. And it had been a success! She’d done well.

  Bob walked over and slipped his arm around her waist. “Let’s get out of here. Great job, but I know you’ve been up a whole lot longer than you should have been. Tomorrow night we have the snowmobile races!”

  Miranda smiled. “At least I’m not in charge!”

  Wade patted her on the back. “Go on home. Everything will be washed and back in the bakery before you work tomorrow. Good job.”

  Miranda liked Wade, but she was still a little intimidated by him. “Thanks.”

  Bob led her out to his Jeep, and she rested her head on the back of the seat, fighting to stay awake. “What a night.”

  “I hope you know how much everyone enjoyed the evening. You really did a good job.”

  “Thanks for everything you did to make me look good.”

  “All I did was help shine a little light on you. You were already beautiful.”

  Miranda blushed, pleased with everything that had happened. “Thanks for the ride. I’ll see you in the morning with cookies.”

  Bob kissed her softly at her door. “Dream of me.”

  She sighed as she let herself inside. Of course she’d dream of him.

  Chapter Seven

  Miranda groaned as she fought to get out of her sleep fog. It was only Tuesday. Christmas week was wonderful for the guests, but difficult for the employees at times. She wasn’t sure she was going to be able to stay awake all day if she didn’t get more sleep than she had!

  Forty minutes later, she was dressed and unlocking the door to the bakery. She scooped up her gift on her way in, having no doubt it was another charm for her bracelet. Whoever her Secret Santa was, he was predictable. He hadn’t missed a day yet. Though she did wonder how he’d known where she lived to deliver gifts on Sunday…

  No matter. Whoever he was, he obviously wasn’t malicious. She was pretty sure the gifts were coming from Matt. He’d commented on the bracelet and his eyes always seemed to go to it when he walked into the bakery. She wanted it to be from Bob, of course, but Bob…what did Bob really know about women? She now completely believed he’d been telling the truth when he’d said he was fighting with her about the number of chocolate chips to give her some attention. Only Bob!

  She got inside, and she opened the small gift, smiling when she found a tiny little bug. She had no idea what it was. It looked a little like a beetle? Or…wait…was it a chigger? She held it up to her face to look closer, but she realized she had no idea what a chigger looked like.

  She grabbed her phone and googled it, comparing the small charm with the insect she’d talked to Bob and only Bob about. But Jaclyn knew…was there a chance Jaclyn had mentioned to someone else that she was obsessed with the bug?

  Maybe it was Bob leaving these sweet gifts, but she couldn’t know…not yet anyway. Hopefully her Secret Santa would reveal himself. For now, she put the bug back into its box and put the box into her purse. She had to get her mind off Bob and albino brain chiggers. She had to work, after all.

  Her bakery was swamped all day. A little girl came in with her mother as soon as she opened. “I want some muffins. I had a lot of fun last night,” she said shyly. “The cookies were fun.”

  Miranda guessed the girl was four or five. “What kind of muffin? I have orange, blueberry, and mixed berry today.”

  The little girl frowned, obviously thinking about the momentous decision in front of her. “Orange,” she finally said. “I’m Gabriella.”

  “It’s nice to meet you. Do you want one muffin or two?”

  “Four,” the little girl responded.

  Her mother shook her head. “She’ll have two. And I’ll have three mixed berries, and her dad would like four blueberry.”

  “Sounds good to me. If you haven’t tried Kelsey’s Kafé for breakfast yet, you should. Bob is an amazing cook.”

  “Isn’t Bob the man who was helping you last night?” the mother asked.

  Miranda nodded, blushing slightly, but pretending not to notice. “He was.”

  “Someth
ing’s going on there?”

  Miranda shrugged. “We’ve gone out a few times. He’s a good guy.”

  “I’ve heard something about legendary fights about the number of chocolate chips in cookies. That was the two of you, right?”

  “Yeah. That was Bob’s way of telling me he was interested, apparently. The man needs lessons in how to treat a lady.”

  The mom laughed. “Well, the rumors have been fun to listen to. I hope you and Bob are on the ranch for a very long time. We love his cooking, and we love the event you put together last night.” She paid for the muffins and raised her hand in a wave. “Will we see you tonight at the snowmobile races?”

  Miranda nodded. “I’ll be there with Bob. We’re not participating, but it will be fun to watch!”

  As they left, she heard a text message come into her phone and since the bakery was quiet for a moment, she picked it up. The text was from Bob, and she smiled as she tapped his name to read the text. Dinner before the snowmobile races? I can bring something to your place right after work.

  She smiled, tapping the screen quickly. Sounds good. I will need to nap after dinner, but I can’t miss the races. She stifled a yawn, surprised she’d been able to stay on her feet.

  Wade walked into the bakery next, smiling at her. “Our first annual cookie decorating was a huge success. I’m so glad you suggested it!”

  “I’m thrilled you think so! It was a lot more work than I thought it would be, but I’m pleased with how it turned out.”

  “Who helped you with the cookies? I know you gave me a list of people last night, but it was quick and I didn’t get all the names.” Wade pulled out his phone, ready to tap in the information.

  Miranda looked at Wade for a moment, surprised at how stressed out he looked. His usually neat hair looked as if he’d been running his fingers through it, and his skin color was a bit off. “You okay?”

  Wade nodded. “Holidays are kind of stressful around here. Who helped?”