Loving Luke: (Cookies and Kisses) (A Christmas Novella)

by Cecelia Dowdy

  Passing this class was just part of the first step.

  He checked his watch, his stomach growling again. He really needed to get going so that he could fetch Lisa and take her to her friend’s house. One of her school mates was hosting a birthday slumber party this evening, and she needed to be there in an hour. They’d packed her sleeping bag and her other things before he’d dropped her off at Kim’s that morning. All he needed to do was pick her up and drop her off at her friend’s house. Apparently, they’d be serving pizza, cake and punch for dinner at the slumber party.

  He glanced at his book again. He needed to study this evening. Would Kim be willing to help him study tonight? They didn’t have a study session planned but, if she didn’t have plans, then he wondered… No, he couldn’t ask her to do that for him. He was already taking advantage of her time and to ask her to help him tonight….he just didn’t want to impose. His cell phone buzzed. He checked the Caller ID, spotting Kim’s number at the cookie bakery. “Hey, Kim.”

  “Dad, it’s me, not Kim. Where are you? I don’t want to be late.”

  He chuckled, shoving his Calculus book into his backpack. “I’m on my way.”

  “Good. Ms. Kim is mad because the cookies burned.”

  He frowned. “Huh?”

  Before he could comment further, his daughter disconnected the call.

  Chapter 6

  Luke pulled into an empty parking space in front of the bakery. The CLOSED sign was posted on the door and he walked in, the sleigh bells above the entrance tinkling. Kim and Lisa sat at a table, apparently waiting for him. Kim’s brow puckered with worry and the acrid smell of burnt food filled the air. The scent reminded him of his burned dinners. “Dad, we need to get going!” Lisa rushed to him, holding her overnight bag.

  “We’ll leave in a minute.” He focused on Kim. “You burned your cookies?” He couldn’t recall Kim ever burning cookies, not even when they’d been in high school.

  She shook her head. “No, the oven’s broken.”

  “Did you call the repair man?”

  She nodded. “I did but, they’d already closed for the day. I probably won’t be able to get an appointment until Monday.”

  Finally, he’d found a way to help Kim! “I can probably fix it for you.”

  “Really?”

  He’d found that over the years, he was pretty handy at fixing things. Sometimes, he’d had to use the internet and look at YouTube videos for instructions, but, if he focused, he was usually able to fix just about any appliance or plumbing problem. When he’d been married to Salina, they’d not had much money, but, they’d never had to call a repair man since Luke was always able to figure out how to fix their appliances.

  Kim sounded so surprised that he’d wondered if she thought he was a loser. After all, he couldn’t cook, he was terrible at math, and he was at odds as to what to do with his daughter. His life was a mess, and she probably regretted kissing him one week ago. “I can try. I’ll drop off Lisa and be right back.”

  His daughter settled into the back seat of the car, pulled out our IPod, placed her earbuds into her ears, listening to her music. While driving, he prayed, unsure what to do about his budding feelings for Kim. Lord, I liked kissing Kim. I’m attracted to her. But, I don’t know what to do about it. Do you think I should talk to her about it, Lord? What can I do?

  He pulled on to the street in front of the home where the slumber party was being held. He dropped off Lisa, making sure she had all of her stuff, including the festive pink gift bag containing her birthday present. As he waved goodbye and got back into his car, he realized this would be the first evening he’d had alone, without Lisa, since she’d been born. He returned to Kim’s bakery, pulled into the open space in front of the establishment. Gripping the steering wheel, he hesitated, closed his eyes. Be truthful. Talk to her. The words came clear and strong into his mind as he got out of the car, and strolled to the bakery.

  Kim waited for him, her dark eyes wary. Her dad’s tool box rested on the table. She looked so upset that all he wanted to do was pull her into his arms, kiss her full, pouty lips. But, he couldn’t do that now. She obviously didn’t want his affection. He made himself comfortable at the table, removing his phone from his pocket. Kim sat beside him, her brow furrowed as he went onto the internet, searching. The pleasant floral scent of her perfume teased his nose, again reminding him about how attractive she was. “Now, what’s wrong with your oven again?”

  Kim’s mouth dropped open. “Don’t you have to look at the oven to see? Why are you looking at your cell phone?”

  He resisted the urge to groan. He took a deep breath, again recalling that they were not as well acquainted as they should be. Since their passionate kiss, she’d been doing a good job of keeping emotionally distant. After he fixed her oven, they were going to have a serious discussion about that. “Look, I’m good at fixing things. You don’t remember how I’d fixed that old motorcycle in high school?”

  When they were teens, he had not had much money, but he’d wanted a motorcycle. He’d worked and was able to purchase a used motorcycle that needed a lot of work. He’d discovered his knack for fixing not only bikes, but, cars, too. “Before I work on an appliance, I usually look on the internet first, look at YouTube videos, to see how to fix a problem. It doesn’t take me too long and I’m usually able to fix it.”

  She raised one of her cute, thick eyebrows. “Usually?”

  Did she think he wouldn’t be able to help her? “What happened to your oven?”

  She sighed. “My cookies burn, even if I set the timer. They burn after only a few minutes.”

  “Sounds like the heating element is out.” After doing his research, he returned the phone to his pocket. “Let me see your oven.” He followed her back to the kitchen, trying to ignore the cute sway of her hips as she made her way toward the oven. He opened it, looked inside. After he was finished, he told her what he needed. “I can buy the stuff at the appliance store.” He checked his watch. “They should still be open.”

  After they’d purchased what was needed and he’d done the repair, Kim pulled out some cookie dough. “I want to test the oven to be sure it’s working.” His stomach growled as she plopped the cookie dough onto the pan, about to place it into the pre-heated oven.

  “Hungry?”

  “Yes.” He didn’t bother telling her that he’d declined the dinner invite from his study group since he’d wanted to spend an extra hour studying. Soon, the scent of chocolate chip cookies filled the air. Kim pulled out her cell phone and ordered a large pizza. Surprisingly, she’d ordered his favorite toppings: pepperoni, mushroom, and onion. During their high school dates, they’d often eaten pizza at the pizza parlor. He had to wonder if she ordered that kind of pizza because she’d remembered it was what he liked.

  Soon the pizza had been delivered. Luke payed the delivery man and Kim boxed up the cookies that she’d just baked. “Let’s go to the house to eat.” She locked the door to the bakery and they walked the few steps to Kim’s home, which was adjacent to the bakery. They entered the festive yellow kitchen, and again memories bombarded him. He’d spent a lot of time in this house, usually when Kim’s parents were out.

  The same rooster-patterned wallpaper lined the perimeter of the room. They sat at the table and he took her hand and prayed over their meal. They then consumed the pizza, guzzling ice-cold Cokes. Once they were done with their meal, Luke leaned back against his seat, focused on Kim. A drop of pizza sauce stained the side of her mouth. He leaned toward her, swiped the stray sauce away. Her pretty eyes widened, and she looked at him.

  He shrugged. “Sorry. I couldn’t resist.”

  After they’d feasted on chocolate chip cookies and cold milk for dessert, Luke broached the subject of his Calculus. He told her about his studying in the library for the day. “I just need to go over some of the concepts they covered today.”

  They moved to the living room and Luke pulled out his book and after about an hour
of studying, he finally felt he spotted a light at the end of the tunnel of darkness of Calculus. He took a deep breath, the quietness surrounding them. He glanced around Kim’s familiar living room. He’d spent a lot of time in Kim’s small house. He recalled knocking on her window in the middle of the night so that he could sneak into her room. At one point, her parents had forbidden her to date him, which was when they’d started secretly meeting behind her parents’ backs, which had been blatantly wrong. Since he was a parent now, looking back on his life, he knew that Kim’s parents only had her best interests at heart. He was a wild, reckless teen and her parents were only trying to protect her. Whenever he was with Kim, he seemed to be caught in a vicious cycle of thinking about the past.

  He needed to think about now, right now. There was so much about Kim that he didn’t know, and all he could do to start things off, remove this awkwardness between them, would be to be honest with her. “I can’t stop thinking about that kiss.” There, he’d said it. He’d opened up the conversation and it would be up to Kim to help him carry this through. If she didn’t like the kiss, then, she could confess that to him, let him know. At that point, he’d at least make an effort to stop these kissing fantasies before they got out of hand.

  Her brown skin flushed, and she raised her eyebrows. He waited. He could wait all night if he had to. But, they needed to clear the air, discuss this apparent attraction between them. He didn’t want any interruptions, either.

  “Where’s your dad?”

  She swallowed, scratched the back of her neck. Did his confession surprise her, make her feel uneasy? “He’s asleep. I think he’s catching a cold or something.”

  He nodded, glad to hear that their conversation probably wouldn’t be interrupted. “Kim, we really need to talk.”

  “Talk? Do you mean about the kiss?”

  He nodded, scooting closer towards her. He wanted to take her into his arms, kiss her again, but, he tightened his hands into fists, refusing to touch her until they’d cleared the air. “I liked kissing you. I liked it so much that whenever I feel overwhelmed about my math, I think about kissing you and I calm down.”

  She raised her eyebrows, cleared her throat. “I liked kissing you, too.”

  This was good to hear. Now they were getting somewhere. “Since we kissed, we’ve been awkward and uneasy toward each other.”

  She nodded. “I wasn’t sure if us kissing was a good idea.”

  “Why?”

  “My life is a mess. I’m unemployed and that’s why I moved back home to help with the cookie bakery.”

  He shrugged. “Why would being unemployed make your life a mess? I don’t care if you have a job.”

  “Well, I care. I don’t know if I want to stay here in Bethlehem with my dad.”

  Whoa, this was a surprise. He’d just assumed she was comfortable working in the cookie bakery again. “So, we can discuss that later. But, why do you say your life is a mess? Is it just because you’re not using your college degree?”

  She bit her lower lip, looked toward the wall. “No,” she mumbled. She was hiding something. He could feel it. Kim never looked you in the eye when she didn’t want to talk about something. She finally turned to face him again. “I honestly didn’t know if the kiss was just nostalgic, or, if it really meant something to you.”

  “You say nostalgic. I guess you’re talking about when we were kids.”

  She nodded. “I keep thinking about the past.”

  He nodded. “Me too. But, you know, we need to get to know each other as we are now. We shouldn’t use the past to judge our relationship now.”

  She frowned. “What relationship?”

  “There’s so much about you that I don’t know. I want to spend time with you. I’m not just talking about your helping me to study either.”

  She blinked, as if she found his words stunning. “Do you mean date?”

  He nodded. “Yes. I think the Lord used Lisa to bring us together.”

  She scoffed. “You sound like Heather.”

  “Heather? Are you talking about your friend from high school?”

  She folded her arms in front of her chest. “Yes. She basically told me the same thing.”

  “Sounds like Heather knows what she’s talking about.” He recalled the rip in his backpack that caused his Calculus book to tumble out while he’d been in her bakery. “Maybe He brought us together so that you could help me with my math. But, maybe something more. We’ll never know unless we try.”

  “Luke, I don’t know. So much has happened…” The distress in her voice made him pause. Unable to resist, he took her hand.

  “What do you mean?”

  She chewed on her lower lip. “Look, I was engaged and it ended badly, right after the holidays last year. I lost my job…”

  He caressed her fingers. “What happened with your job?”

  Luke held her hand as she told him about her years in college, getting her accounting degree, passing the CPA exam. She then told him about having her first job out of college and being laid off four years later. She gave no details about her big breakup with her boyfriend during Christmas last year. He wasn’t sure if she wanted to avoid the subject, or, if she simply forgot to talk about it. He made a mental note to ask her about that later. “Luke, I just thought I was so great. I knew layoffs were coming, but, I honestly didn’t think anything like that would happen to me.” She then told of her mom’s death, and about how it had affected her. “So, I figured since I was unemployed and my mom had passed, I may as well move back home and be with dad. He needed my help.”

  Her voice faltered when she mentioned her father. “You don’t get along with your dad?”

  She shrugged. “About as well as we can. He doesn’t agree with everything that I do.”

  “When you mention him, you seem upset. Why move back in with him if he upsets you?”

  She looked at him as if he were an idiot. She raised her right eyebrow, an old habit she used to have when she was mad. “Because he needs my help, that’s why.”

  “That first night you helped me study?”

  “Yes?”

  “You’d said that your dad was glad to hear from Tina?”

  He’d never understood why Kim felt inferior to her sibling. She’d often told him that Tina was the favored sibling in the family, but, he’d never witnessed this. The times he’d spent with Kim’s family, he had not noticed any favoritism, but, perhaps he was not able to notice that since he’d been a young, self-centered teen at the time. The few times he’d run into Kim’s dad, when he’d come to get Lisa, her dad would give him a cool nod, maybe a hello. He had not been overly friendly, but, he did seem to dote on Lisa.

  Kim scoffed. “You’d think that Tina hung the moon the way my dad gushes when she calls. If he’s in a bad mood, then talking to Tina makes him feel better.” She shrugged. “I’m here, helping out with the family business, and my presence doesn’t seem to bring him much joy.”

  He continued holding her warm hand, the distress in her voice making him pause. “Can I be honest with you about something?”

  She leaned back, her eyes widening. “You must be planning on telling me something big if you say that.”

  He blew air through his lips, not wanting her to lose her temper. But, being honest was what he was all about nowadays. If what he said made Kim angry, then he’d simply apologize and try not to upset her again. “I don’t think you moved back home because you were unemployed and you’d broken up with your ex. I don’t even think you came back to help your dad.”

  She jerked her hand away. “You don’t know a whole lot about me and my life.”

  This was going to be harder than he thought. “I know that, but, I’m trying to learn. I like you, Kim, and I hate to see you hurting.”

  “I’m not hurting.”

  “Yes you are.” He touched her shoulder. Lord, please don’t let her lose her temper. “It sounds like you moved back home to try and get your dad to like you better.”<
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  She furrowed her cute brow, chewed her lower lip. “What do you mean?”

  He took a deep breath. “Kim, you’ve always envied the relationship your father had with Tina. You want the same kind of relationship. You moved back home to try and make your father love you as much as he loves Tina.”

  Her eyes widened and she scooted away from him. Wow, looked like he’d made her really mad. He touched her shoulder, desperately wanting to calm her down. “Honey, don’t get upset.”

  “Don’t call me honey,” she said through clenched teeth. “Are you implying that I moved back home just to get my dad’s approval? Do you know how pathetic that sounds?”

  She’d raised her voice. She’d always gotten loud when she was angry. He calmed her down the only way he knew how. He leaned toward her, pressed his lips to hers. She tasted good and sweet, like chocolate and vanilla.

  “What’s going on in here?” Kim’s dad, James Taylor, stomped into the living room, staring at them with his groggy-looking eyes. He wore his bathrobe and Luke figured Kim’s loud voice had woken him up. Maybe it was time for him to go home.

  Chapter 7

  “Why are you baking cookies?” Her dad came into the kitchen, his hands shoved into the pockets of his bathrobe.

  Still mad about the previous night, Kim didn’t initially respond. She pulled the pan of heart-shaped vanilla cookies from the oven. It was Sunday and the bakery was closed, but, she’d had a sleepless night and had wanted to do something. She’d attended a sunrise service at church before going for a long, hard run. With longing, she recalled that she and Luke had gone running together as part of their Physical Education class in school. Luke had been pretty fast and she’d always struggled to keep up with him. He’d slowed his pace for her, and she’d often wondered why he’d never gone out for the track and field team at school.

  Luke. Luke. Luke. He’d popped into her mind yet again and it was driving her crazy. They’d not had time to finish their conversation last night since her dad interrupted them. Luke had boldly apologized to her father before making his exit. Her father had then bombarded her with questions, his deep voice sounding gruff from his cold. Upset about what Luke had said, and unable to talk to her father without losing her temper, she’d mumbled that she was going to bed.