The Christmas Wish by Maggie Marr

Author:Maggie Marr [Marr, Maggie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC027020 FICTION / Romance / Contemporary; FIC044000 FICTION / Contemporary Women
Publisher: NLA Digital LLC

Chapter Sixteen

Brinn put the finishing touches on the chocolate Yule log she’d made for the Emerson family dinner. She placed a sprig of real holly on the end and walked toward the blast chiller. She’d raced back to the bakery around four. The new piece of foundational gingerbread was adhering to the cracked piece of the foundation. They’d know more in the morning. Regardless of how well the fix appeared to hold, there was now a real problem in the foundation. So much for feeling excited about the Christmas castle ceremony. For the next week, she’d worry the castle might fall. If the castle could just make it until the end of next Thursday, Christmas Day, then she and Hans could begin deconstructing it.

Brinn opened the blast-freezer door and slid the Yule log into the chiller. She’d go home, shower, do her hair, and even put on makeup. Her stomach tightened. Her nerves. She couldn’t shake her nervousness about dinner with the entire Emerson family. She’d pick up the Yule log on her way to Tyler’s house. She shut the freezer door, and there stood Ma.

Brinn pressed her lips together. She hadn’t seen Ma since the incident with Dom. Avoidance had been pretty easy. This was their busy time, and Brinn was at the Grande for half the day every day. Brinn crossed her arms over her chest.

Ma nibbled her lip. “Do you have a minute?”

Brinn shook her head and then pulled her Bea & Barbara apron over her head. She purposefully wadded the apron into a giant ball and tossed it toward the laundry bag. Ma cringed.

“I really don’t.” Brinn reached for her coat near the back door. “I have plans tonight.”

“The Emerson family dinner?”

Of course Ma knew. Ma and Carol Emerson had gone to the church coffee earlier in the week. Brinn grew up in this small town, and yet she kept forgetting that there were no secrets. Not even the ones Ma thought she could keep. Brinn reached for the bakery’s back door.

“Brinn?”

Brinn stopped and turned back toward Ma. “I really do need to get ready. They expect me at seven.”

Ma glanced toward the clock above the back door.

“Five minutes?” Her eyes contained a softness, a sadness, a need for Brinn to pause and listen to what she had to say.

Brinn slipped off her coat and followed Ma into the tiny office. Ma closed the door.

“I want to apologize for embarrassing you.” Ma closed her eyes as though she was absolutely horrified at what Brinn had witnessed in the upstairs hall earlier that week.

“Embarrassing me?” Brinn scrunched her eyebrows together. “You didn’t embarrass me.”

Ma’s mouth dropped open as though Brinn had just said today was the final day of planet Earth. Ma couldn’t fathom that Brinn wasn’t embarrassed by her behavior.

“I love Dom. I think you guys are great together. I used to wonder why the two of you never dated.”

Ma dropped to the chair beside her desk. She clasped her hands in her lap and twisted her wedding ring.

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