Gingerbread Kisses: A Clean, Small Town Christmas Romance (Reindeer Ridge Book 2) by Macie St. James

Author:Macie St. James [St. James, Macie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

15

Tatum was exhausted. It had been the longest day in recent memory, and now that it was coming to an end, fatigue had suddenly set in.

But as the bus pulled up in front of the hotel, it hit her that she wasn’t tired. Not the sleepy sort of tired, anyway. Her body was achy like she’d just worked a double shift at the bakery, but her brain felt like it was running on four cups of coffee.

“Don’t forget your award,” Ian said as he stood and gestured for her to exit ahead of him. She looked back and saw it on the seat where she’d set it between them. It had felt like a way to protect it during the bumpy ride back to the hotel.

Ian would keep her award safe. Maybe he’d keep her safe, too.

She disregarded that thought, clutching the box with both hands as she followed the line off the shuttle bus.

Julie was waiting on the sidewalk for the two of them as they stepped down. “Congratulations, girlie. I tried to catch you right after you won, but you were surrounded by people.”

Yes, that had been a bit much. She wanted to send all of them Malcom’s way. That ten-year-old kid had been something else. He’d gotten a toy train while Tatum’s prize had been a beautiful Christmas tree angel that was too big for the small tabletop tree in her condo.

“Thank you,” Tatum said as they walked into the hotel lobby together. Ian fell into step behind them. “It was a total surprise, honestly. I missed the judging.”

“You didn’t miss much.” Julie laughed. “They all huddled together, and next thing we knew, they’d stuck two cookies on the podium. The big announcement by the tree was where we all heard the official winners.”

That made Tatum feel better for abandoning the scene before the winner was announced. She was glad she’d been able to help out at her booth, but she felt like she should have been there.

“I’m going up to my room,” Julie said. “See you two in the morning.”

She turned and waved to Ian before taking off. The move took Tatum by surprise. It left her standing there with Ian when she probably should have been on her way to her room with Julie.

“Sleeping pills?” Ian asked when Tatum turned to say goodnight.

She shook her head. As exhausted as she was, she likely wouldn’t need any help falling asleep.

But then, her mind was still buzzing, so maybe she shouldn’t say that so soon.

“I was thinking about grabbing a cup of chamomile at the hotel restaurant,” he said. “Want to join me? I could get them to make you some warm milk.”

“Warm milk?” She laughed.

“Or chamomile.” He shrugged. “My mom always made me a cup of warm milk when I couldn’t sleep. Did the trick every time.”

“Tea will be fine,” she said. “Maybe with some honey.”

Without even discussing it further, they both started walking toward the hotel restaurant. Should she be doing this? She should head up to her bedroom and just try to go to sleep.

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