Chapter Eight

Bones

“Is something wrong with Snow?”

I shook my head and offered a reassuring smile. “Nah, just shorthanded over the holidays.”

She furrowed her brow and looked more concerned than I expected. I glanced at her name tag—Cheryl. “Is something wrong with Kelsi and Tom?” she pressed.

I shrugged. “Not really sure. Snow asked me to help, so I’m here to help.” That was the honest truth. Snow had never asked me for help before, so whatever this was, I was there to make it easier on her.

Cheryl’s expression softened, and she nodded approvingly. “Well, that’s nice of you. Snow’s so talented at what she does. She deserves nice people around her to help. I just hope she can still get my frosted sugar cookie order done for next week. I plan on giving a free cookie with every order leading up to Christmas.”

I nodded. “I’m sure she’ll be able to get them done.”

“Are you sure? It’s twenty-five dozen,” Cheryl added and watched my face carefully.

Twenty-five dozen. That was… a lot of cookies. I fought to hide my surprise. “Uh… Sure, that won’t be a problem for Snow if that’s what you ordered.”

“And that’s plus my normal weekly order,” Cheryl added.

I nodded again and hoped I was selling the “no problem” angle. “No problem at all.”

Cheryl followed me as I stepped out of the freezer with her clipboard tucked under her arm. “Well, good. Then I won’t worry. See you next week, then?”

“Next week,” I echoed and hoped I hadn’t just agreed to anything that’d get me in trouble with Snow.

“Sunday, though,” she clarified, tapping her clipboard. “Snow said she would deliver everything on Sunday.”

I felt my eyebrow twitch at that. Today was Thursday. That meant Snow had three days to pull together twenty-five dozen cookies on top of the usual orders. “Sunday it is.”

It probably wasn’t my place to promise that, but Snow knew her schedule better than I did, right?

I made my way back out to the front of the bakery and stopped at the counter to grab a coffee. The line moved slowly as people browsed the display cases and chatted with the staff. The whole place was filled with that holiday hum of busyness and cheer.

Finally, I got to the front. The cashier greeted me with a friendly, “What can I get for you?”

Before I could answer, Cheryl’s voice piped up from down the counter where she’d switched over to making coffee. “Whatever he wants, just give it to him.”

I raised my hand in thanks and called back, “You know what Snow usually gets?”

“Pecan pie latte, double shot, double whip,” Cheryl answered with an easy grin. “Might want to make it a triple shot since she’s shorthanded.”

I turned to the cashier. “I’ll take one of those and a black coffee for myself.”

The cashier smiled, and as she turned to grab the cups, she asked, “Anything from the bakery case?”

Again, Cheryl’s voice called out from her end of the counter, “He’s with Snow! He can get his sweets straight from the source!”

“Just the coffee,” I chuckled.

I stepped to the side, watching the people in line after me. Every single one of them had some kind of order from the bakery case. I couldn’t help but smile a little—Snow’s sweets really were the talk of the town.

After a few minutes, Cheryl came over with my drinks. “Here you go,” she said, carefully handing them to me. “Say hi to Snow for me, yeah?” She winked.

“Will do,” I replied and gave her a nod as I took the coffees and headed for the door.

“I’ll see you Sunday?”

I smiled with a nod.

Snow hadn’t asked me to help her any more than what I had done today, but something told me she was going to need a hell of a lot more help.

Twenty-five dozen cookies.

Holy shit.

Snow

I heard the familiar hum of the van pulling up, and I couldn’t help but glance out the kitchen window. There he was, climbing out of the driver’s seat with that rugged ease that made me pause every time I saw him. Bones, all tall, lean muscle in his leather jacket and worn blue jeans, sauntered toward the door and held two cups in his hands. His sunglasses shielded his eyes, but I could imagine his intense gaze just the same. The man looked like he’d stepped out of an old-fashioned movie reel, and here he was in my driveway.

I barely remembered to breathe as I practically tripped over myself to get to the back door. I swung it open just as he reached it.

“You’re back,” I called, immediately feeling a bit ridiculous for stating the obvious.

Bones chuckled a low, warm sound and stepped inside. He held out one of the cups to me. “Cheryl said this was your usual, though I forgot what she called it.”

I took the cup, peeked under the lid, and inhaled the sweet, nutty aroma. “Mm, pecan pie latte with whipped cream. She knows me too well.”

“Triple shot. She said you might need the extra caffeine,” he noted and glanced around the kitchen as he closed the door behind him.

Oh, so he planned to stay a while? Good thing I’d managed to tidy up a bit after I pulled the last batch of muffins from the oven. But with the mountain of sugar cookie dough I still had to make, it wouldn’t be neat for long.

“Triple shot, huh?” I laughed and took a sip, savoring the warmth. “Is Cheryl trying to make sure I don’t sleep for a week?”

Bones leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms. “Pretty sure you’re not going to sleep much anyway with the twenty-five dozen cookies Cheryl has on order for Sunday.”

I wrinkled my nose and tried to laugh it off. “I can do it.” I took another sip for good measure, trying to hide my nerves behind my coffee cup. “Probably a good thing she did give me a triple shot. I was just about to start on the dough.”

“Three hundred, Snow?” His voice was full of skepticism and a little bit of amusement.

I gave a casual shrug and hoped my face didn’t show my inner panic. “It’s only three hundred cookies, Bones. No big deal.” It wouldn’t be a big deal if I had Kelsi here to help me.

“Plus her usual order on top of that, right?”

I nodded and motioned over to my stack of order slips on the table in the corner of the kitchen. Boxes, labels, and packing materials cluttered almost every inch of the surface as evidence of the non-stop holiday rush.

“That’s a pretty big stack.” He raised an eyebrow and eyed the mountain of orders.

“Yeah,” I admitted, unable to keep the edge out of my voice. I forced myself to flash a confident smile. “But I’ve got it under control.”

Bones gave me a look, the kind that saw right through my bravado. “And you’re going to do all that by yourself?”

“Totally,” I said and tried to sound nonchalant. “Not worried at all.”

“And then do deliveries, too?”

“Yup!” I chirped, more chipper than I felt. I didn’t have a plan yet; I’d just been telling myself I’d figure it out as I went, maybe hit the road with boxes of cookies whenever I could catch a spare minute. But I’d worked myself through crazier holiday seasons before, right? I could do this.

Probably.

Bones watched me for a moment, and his gaze softened as he took in the organized chaos of my kitchen. “Well, if anyone can handle it, it’s you,” he said. “I should probably get out of your hair, though.”

“Thanks again for the coffee,” I replied and gave him a genuine smile this time.

“If you need anything,” he said, his voice a bit lower, “I’m just across the driveway.”

“Sounds good,” I said lightly, though the offer gave me a flutter I tried to ignore. I didn’t plan on needing help again, but the fact that he offered? Yeah, it did something to me.

Bones opened the door, but before leaving, he glanced back with his eyes soft and intent. “Just… ask, okay?”

I laughed a little too brightly. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

He stepped out, and as he crossed the driveway, he glanced back over his shoulder. I lifted my hand in a little wave, which he returned with a nod before he disappeared into the garage.

I shut the door and exhaled. Bones was a distraction I didn’t need right now, no matter how damn good he looked in that leather jacket. Shaking myself out of it, I turned back to the kitchen and took a deep breath. Time to make dough for twenty-five dozen cookies.

Here we go.