Ruth shook her head and sighed. “Don’t you think this is getting a little ridiculous?”
“Not as ridiculous as your mistletoe up there.”
He looked up at the roof over their head, and she followed his gaze. With a zing to her heart, she realized they were both standing directly under it. And more than that, as thoughts of kissing him fluttered across her mind, she realized that she wanted to kiss him.
Her breath quickened, making it hard for her to answer. “It’s not ridiculous. It’s tradition.”
“Yeah, but have you actually seen anybody kissing under it?”
“Yes. A sweet older couple saw it the other day. They shared the sweetest kiss, and then bought a whole dozen cookies from me.”
Mason turned to face her more squarely and took a step closer. “But isn’t the point of mistletoe that it’s an excuse to kiss someone you ordinarily couldn’t? Or, at least, haven’t before?”
Ruth felt as if she was caught up in a spell as she looked up at him. In the shimmer of lights and the brush of cold evening air, it seemed as if an ancient magic was drawing them together. There were so many reasons to keep her distance, to stand back from him. But none of them seemed compelling at that moment with his eyes watching her and his lips so close.
But what if it was all in her head? It had to be. Mason might have said she was attractive and been friendly, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be romantic with her.
No, her stupid crush on him was making her fantasize again. “That would take more courage than I possess. Besides, it would just create unwanted complications.”
“True. Like, you might even like it and then where would you be?”
Ruth crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down. “Exactly. And smart people avoid liking kisses when a relationship is out of the question.”
“But who wants to be smart when it’s no fun?”
Ruth shook her dizzy head. “It’s cold out here. I’m going back inside. Good luck with your secret weapon.”
She shut her shop door with a little too much force as she went inside, but it didn’t calm her down like she’d hoped it would.
What had just happened out there? She was so confused. She felt like a yo-yo moving up and down between being frustrated and annoyed to fluttery and excited every time she saw him.
Had he actually wanted to kiss her just now? It sounded like it, but that was too impossible.
Maybe he was just flirting with her to distract her from business.
No way. But the effect would be the same whether he meant that to happen or not. She had to keep focused.
Tomorrow when they opened for business again, she was going to be ready to dominate sales until Christmas. Dominate them.
***
When Crystal got to work Monday morning, she raved about the Christmas decorations and the prominent placing of the cookie painting. It stood on a small easel inside a glass showcase cube that would keep it fresh and clean. “Okay, before I do anything else, let’s get this posted on social media.”
Ruth nodded and went back to work brushing pink luster dust on Santa Claus cookies to give them rosy cheeks. “You’ll have to tell me how well it does. I’m thinking about doing a new one every week until Christmas. Oh, and when you post it, let people know that they can come to the store to enter a drawing to win it.”
“Look at you stepping up your marketing game. What came over you?”
“Mason.”
Crystal laughed. “That sounds sexy.”
With a hot blush suffusing her cheeks, Ruth swallowed hard. “That’s not what I meant.”
Even though she knew it was just a joke, she had to work hard to keep her thoughts on dusting Santa cheeks after that and knew hers were probably a similar shade.
A few minutes later, Crystal made a croaking noise. Ruth couldn’t tell if it as a laugh or cry of dismay. “What?”
“You’re not going to believe this. Look at what’s on the Willow Falls Facebook page.”
Ruth took her phone to see but nearly dropped it when she saw the picture Crystal was talking about. Someone had taken a picture of her and Mason the evening before. They stood facing off with their arms crossed. Her chin was raised defiantly as he smirked down at her. The post said “Owner of the new candy store, The Chocolate Box, locked in battle with Sugar Lips under the mistletoe.”
Gasping, Ruth sputtered out, “But who took this picture? And how dare they call me sugar lips instead of the owner of Sugar Lips!”
“But holy Christmas cookies—this is amazing press. We couldn’t have asked for better visibility.”
“I sure could have!”
“No, just wait. Look how many shares and likes it already has.”
Ruth clenched her teeth and dared to look, then immediately shut her eyes in horror. “That’s almost as many people as live in Willow Falls.”
“Oh, it’s way beyond our town. Now you need to go comment on it.”
Standing up, Ruth set Crystal’s phone on the table with a thunk. “No way. It’s not happening.”
“Come on. You have to. If you show that you have a sense of humor about it, you’ll bring people here in droves. Here, I’m going to log in under the Sugar Lips account and comment. What about, “Come and see for yourself who has better sweets.”
Ruth had to admit that Crystal had a point but she wasn’t happy about it. She groaned. “Do whatever you want. I’m going to go see if Mason has seen this.”
She didn’t bother to put on her coat since the weather was a little warmer than the day before. But when she knocked and went into Mason’s kitchen, she wished she had since he kept his place on the cool side for the chocolate.
He wasn’t in the kitchen so she went to the swinging door that led out front, but just as she pushed through the door, she ran into an obstacle that knocked her backward. As she stumbled, she heard a clatter of something hitting the floor a second before her left foot flew out from under her.
Reaching out with both hands for anything to stop her fall, she grabbed hold of fabric and held tight until her downward momentum halted abruptly.
Looking up, she saw Mason’s face inches from her. Relief swept over her but it was short lived when she realized that he was crouched over her, straddling her legs, with his arms wrapped around her back and waist.
And her hands? They were clenched onto his t-shirt as if she had no plans to ever let him go.
“Wow,” a feminine voice said behind them. “Are you guys okay?”
In a swift, easy movement, Mason had them both righted again. And when Ruth’s foot threatened to slip again since it was still on top of a plastic tray, he steadied her with a hand at her elbow.
“I’m fine,” she said. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were coming through.”
Mason grinned. “That’s one of the hazards of a swinging door. I’ve been so busy today, I was hurrying around too fast to pay attention.”
Not sure she found the situation as humorous as he did, Ruth pulled up the Facebook post in her hand. “Don’t get too cocky about your uptick in sales. It’s because of this.”
He looked at her with confusion a moment before reading the post. “Huh. That explains that. I had people standing outside my shop this morning, so I’ll take it.”
“Of course you will,” Ruth said. “Well, I just came over to make sure you saw it. I’ll get out of your way now before I cause any more disasters.”
“It wasn’t a disaster for me,” Mason said.
She raised an eyebrow. “No?”
He shrugged. “There weren’t any chocolates left on that tray.” But the teasing look in his eyes betrayed him.
“Have a nice day,” Ruth said, striving to hold on to whatever pride she had left.
“You too, sugar lips.”
Chapter Eight
Mason hadn’t spent as much time sculpting chocolate as he’d wished he could while he was apprenticing, but now with Brianna working the front of the shop, he could spe
nd more time creating with the medium he loved. Making a Christmas sculpture out of chocolate was ambitious, sure, but he needed to be to keep up with Ruth, the icing artist.
Currently, he was piping scroll details on a twelve-inch white chocolate sleigh with colored chocolate. The inside of it was hollow so he could fill it with colorful molded chocolates. It would need to set up for several hours before he put it on display. Once he did, he would follow Ruth’s lead and blast it all over social media. He really needed to spend some time finishing his website so he could start pushing online orders. There was so much to do.
Brianna came in just as he was setting aside his piping bags. She paused to look over the sleigh. “I can’t believe how much better it looks now that you’ve put all those red and green decorations on it. It’s way better than that cookie painting they’ve got next door.”
She’d definitely gotten behind this competition that had sprung up, in a good-humored way, but Mason shook his head. “It’s good. I don’t know if it’s better.”
“Definitely different. I’ve seen chocolate sculptures before but only in big cities. I’ve never seen anything like this. People are going to flip over it.”
Mason chuckled and carefully lifted the marble tile he’d placed the sculpture on. He carried it to his special cooler which was kept at sixty-five degrees and less than fifty-percent humidity at all times. After placing it on a secure shelf, he turned and found Brianna still watching him. “What?”
“You need to take a break. Why don’t you go to lunch or something?”
“I’ve got a sandwich to eat.”
But Brianna shook her head. “You work way too much. You’ll never keep it up for long. All the cases are full for the customers and I know what I’m doing now. You can leave things in my hands for one hour, right?”
He was sure he could, but that didn’t mean he wanted to take a break. But then his thoughts went to Ruth who worked as hard as he did. He’d be willing to take one if he could spend it with her.
Taking his apron off, he said, “Okay, I’ll go. But probably not for an hour.”
“Awesome,” Brianna said with a victorious smile as she went back to the front.
Mason put on his jacket and went around to Ruth’s back door. She was in her kitchen at the mixer, dropping softened butter a pound at a time into the giant bowl. She turned and looked up but didn’t say anything as she focused on her task.
Mason knew better than to interrupt her, but when she put down the empty tray that had held the butter, he said, “My assistant is making me take a break. Want to go to lunch with me?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t—not in the middle of making dough. And I really don’t have time today.”
Since he saw sincere regret in her eyes, he didn’t feel as if he’d been rejected. Just the opposite in fact. Maybe if he gave her more warning in the future, she’d want to go with him. “I get it. How about if I bring something back for you?”
“I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“You aren’t asking. I might as well grab something for you while I’m out.”
“I have been craving bowl of broccoli cheddar soup from Masterson’s Deli all day. Let me get some money for you.”
Mason held up his hand to stop her. “It’s on me.”
But Ruth had already gone into her office. She came back with a ten-dollar bill. “You let me pay for mine or the deal is off.”
He rolled his eyes but took the money. “Fine.”
“There should be enough for you to get me a large vanilla Dr. Pepper too.”
“If there’s not, I’ll get the extra change from you when I get back.”
“Okay,” she said.
Mason leveled a narrow-eyed look at her. “I was being sarcastic.”
She grinned. “I know. But I wasn’t.”
Mason shook his head as he went out but found himself smiling like an idiot as he walked to his car.
When he returned thirty minutes later with their lunch, they sat at a small metal table tucked in a corner of her kitchen. It was under a giant dry erase calendar and next to the coat rack, but it was the best first date he’d ever been on.
Not that he was calling it a date. He knew that would freak her out. Him too, if he was being honest. However, the comfort of warm, fragrant soup sending wisps of steam between them and the way their feet kept touching under the table made him feel more comfortable than he’d been in a long time.
They didn’t talk much while they ate, but when the food was gone and their appetites satisfied, neither of them hurried to get back to work.
“How long can you stay?” Ruth asked.
“I don’t have to go yet. Why?”
“I still want to hear how you got into chocolate.”
He smiled and gathered his trash into the large bag from the diner. “Ah. There’s not much to tell, really. I didn’t drink and party like the rest of my teammates, so since we traveled a lot, I became something of a foodie.
“When I began to feel the end of my career on the edge of the horizon, I started to think about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. So, I went to culinary school, and while there, I moved more and more toward desserts and especially chocolate. It was a challenge and an art. After school, I found places to apprentice and learn from some of the world’s masters.”
“That must have been amazing.”
“It was a lot of hard work, and not much fun to be honest, but the things I learned… yeah, that was amazing.”
“So, why did you come back to Willow Falls?”
Mason leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms as he sprawled more comfortably in his chair. His left leg brushed against hers accidentally, but when she didn’t pull back, he kept it there. “It’s home. I hated that my nephews and nieces were growing up while I barely knew them. And I couldn’t ignore the fact that my parents were getting older. When I started thinking about opening my own place, I realized how much I was missing by being on the other side of the ocean, so I packed up and sank most of my savings into The Chocolate box.”
Ruth shook her head as if she was amazed. Surely, he wasn’t misreading the look of admiration in her eyes as she said, “I think that’s so cool. Who knew when we were in school, and so completely different, that we’d both end up here selling sweets.”
“It’s crazy. So how did you get into the cookie business?”
She laughed in a self-deprecating way. “Oh, my story isn’t nearly as glamorous as yours.”
“Trust me. Nothing about my life has been glamorous. Did you go to culinary school?
“Uh, no.” She rolled her eyes. “The extent of my education has been online business classes. As for the cookies, well… I’ve always been into art and baking. I saw some tutorial videos for how to make cookies so I gave it a shot. Before long, I was obsessed. I made them for baby showers, wedding showers, birthday parties. As I got better and created my own recipes, people started paying me to make them.
“After a couple of years, I was making enough to quit my job as a waitress and make cookies full-time. But my apartment kitchen was hardly ideal. I saved enough money to have three months of operating costs and my parents co-signed for a loan, and here I am. See, so not glamorous.”
Leaning toward her, he dropped his hand over hers on the table and gripped it. “But so admirable. This is hard. Do you know how many businesses fail in the first year? It scares the pants off me. But you’re making this happen.”
Ruth looked down at their hands. “But I always feel like I’m one bad month away from closing my door for good.”
Mason gave her hand a quick squeeze and let it go. “I get it. But hey, December is a great month to sell sweets, right?”
“Fabulous. January is terrible though because everyone starts diets after New Years.”
“See? You’re a wealth of information. I’ll stock up on ramen noodles while I have a good cash flow.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Well, we all have to sac
rifice when following our dreams, but I hope you don’t really mean that.”
He laughed. “I do not. Culinary school makes you a bit of a snob, you know?”
“I don’t actually, never having gone, remember? Now that my guilty secret is out, I hope you’ll still talk to me.”
“You certainly don’t have to worry about that.”
Even though he didn’t want to, he really did need to get back to work. This was precisely why dating her would be a distraction. Just touching her hand had been a heady experience. If he was free to do more than that, well…he wouldn’t be going anywhere. He sighed. “I’ll see you later?”
“Yep.” She got up to put her soup bowl in the trash. “Thanks for picking up lunch for me. It really hit the spot.”
“Sure. We’ll have to do this again.”
She nodded. “Sounds great.”
Mason left but only because he had too. Hopefully, Brianna would be willing to cover for lunches more often.
Chapter Nine
Crystal and Ruth stood behind the cookie counter the next day, reading through all the comments on Mason’s Facebook post about his chocolate sleigh sculpture. They had to read them between customers, so every time they pulled it back up, it seemed there were more.
“Wow. It’s really getting some attention,” Crystal said, scrolling through the post again.
“Well, when you’re giving away ten pounds of fancy chocolate, you’re bound to. I really want to go over there and see it.”
“So, go ahead. What’s stopping you?”
Ruth didn’t want to tell her that she was a complete mess over Mason. The way he’d touched her hand—sigh. It played through her mind over and over again. As she remembered the look in his eyes, his nearness, his complete focus on her, she got butterflies every time. No, she couldn’t confess that. “We’re too busy today. I’ll go later. Maybe after hours.”
Raising an eyebrow, Crystal said, “We’re not that busy.”
“No, but we could get a rush any minute.”
“Yeah, right.”
Sugarplums and Mistletoe Page 5
