Christmas Jinx by Natalie-Nicole Bates

Author:Natalie-Nicole Bates [Bates, Natalie-Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JMS Books LLC
Published: 2016-11-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

Early the next morning, Jinx began to clean. She put all her might into scrubbing the kitchen until it gleamed under the bright overhead lighting. There wasn’t a nook or cranny she didn’t attend to. Every inch of the oven sparkled. Even though she wouldn’t recommend it, the floor was clean enough to eat off of.

What propelled her into action and kept her going was the thought of Marnie and her business. She would not let her go down this busy holiday season. She would also make sure For the Love of Fruitcake was represented at the Christmas Bakeoff.

She couldn’t bake Marnie’s fruitcake. So what? Marnie was right, there had to be other things she was good at. She just needed to figure out what they might be.

Jinx went upstairs and peeked into Marnie’s bedroom. She was soundly asleep, and would probably stay that way for at least a few more hours. There was time to shower and experiment. This time though, there would be no fires, no water on the floors, and absolutely no mess.

For the better part of the next hour, Jinx studied Marnie’s fruitcake recipes at the kitchen table. Each recipe was so complicated and contained so many ingredients. Were they all really necessary?

She opened the refrigerator and removed a one kilo bag of dehydrated fruit, soaked in fruit juice. She then retrieved a bag of self-rising flour. Since the raising agents were already added to the flour, it was one less thing to mess up. After referring to Marnie’s recipe, she deduced four cups of self-rising flour would do the trick. She sifted the flour into a large bowl, added the fruit, more juice, and mixed it all together. Afterward, she carefully poured the mixture into a greased square pan and smoothed the batter. Once the pan was in the preheated oven, she set the timer for one hundred ten minutes. It was so simple, but with a little luck, it might just work. She would not leave the kitchen until the cake was safely out of the oven.

Sure, it wouldn’t be Marnie’s fruitcake, but if she were successful, at least it would show Marnie that Jinx was committed to helping her be a success.

As the cake baked, she prepared a cup of coffee and drummed her fingers on the butcher-block top of the kitchen table, thinking about Marnie. How beautiful she was, how perfect her body was, how her skin quivered just a little when Jinx had caressed her bare belly. She fantasized what Marnie’s lips tasted like, how her nipples would feel between her fingers…

Daydreaming.

It’s what got her into trouble so many times before. She needed something constructive to occupy her mind. She looked through the kitchen cupboards and shelves, and found a large tub. She lifted the lid, and the mouthwatering, spicy aroma of gingerbread filled the air. The tub contained stacks of gingerbread men cookies. An unconscious smile crossed her lips. She had always loved gingerbread men, loved to look at them in the bakery windows, and every so often she would have enough money to buy one.

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