Page 14 of Sweet Dreams

Beth giggled, quickly typing back,

Beth:"Freddie Mercury, huh? Bold choice. Though I suppose if anyone could pull it off, it'd be you. But let's not test that theory, shall we? I like your face just as it is."

"Earth to Beth!" Reese's voice cut through her Yuri-induced haze. "Your cookie scientist is about to set fire to our sugar supply."

"What? Jessie, no!" Beth yelped, rushing over to where Jessie was indeed attempting to caramelize sugar with her Bunsen burner. "We have blowtorches for that!"

As Beth attempted to save her bakery from becoming a science experiment gone wrong, her phone pinged again. She resisted the urge to check it immediately, but her resolve lasted all of thirty seconds.

Yuri:"You like my face, eh? High praise indeed from a master of sweet things. Perhaps I should send you a picture, just to remind you what you're missing?"

Beth's heart raced.Was he flirting? Were they flirting?Before she could overthink it, she snapped a quick selfie–flour on hercheek, hair a mess, grinning like a fool–and sent it with the caption:

"Only if you return the favor, Mr. Minsk. Though I warn you, this is what “death by chocolate" looks like."

"Beth!" Jessie's excited voice broke through her trance. "I think I've done it! Come look at these cookies!"

Beth tucked her phone away, turning to see Jessie proudly displaying a tray of perfectly uniform, golden-brown cookies. They looked impressive; Beth had to admit.

"Wow, Jess. These look great. How do they taste?"

Jessie's triumphant smile faltered. "Oh. I, uh, I didn't actually try them. I was too focused on the structural integrity and surface-area-to-volume ratio to try them.

Reese snorted. "Only you would forget the most important part of a cookie–eating it!"

Beth felt her phone buzz again as the three women sampled Jessie's scientifically perfect (if slightly bland) cookies. She resisted for thirty seconds before excusing herself to check it.

Her breath caught as Yuri's image filled her screen. He was in what looked like an office, his hair slightly mussed, a five o'clock shadow darkening his jaw. He was smiling that crooked smile that made her knees weak, even though a screen.

The caption read:"Death by chocolate looks good on you, moye solnyshko. Though I must say, “death by paperwork” is significantly less attractive."

Beth felt a warmth spread through her chest that had nothing to do with the ovens. She was in trouble, she realized. Deep, sweet trouble.

"Beth?" Reese's voice floated from the kitchen. "Not to interrupt your virtual make-out session, but we've got a situation out here. Mrs. Klaus is back, and she's demanding edible glitter. I don't even know if that's a real thing!"

Beth groaned, reluctantly putting her phone away. "Coming!" she called back. To Yuri, she quickly typed:

Beth: "Duty calls. Apparently, I need to make glitter edible. Just another day in the life of a small-town baker. Talk later?"

His reply was almost instant:

Yuri;"Always, moye solnyshko. Go sprinkle your magic. I'll be here, drowning in paperwork and dreaming of sparkling cookies... and the beautiful baker who makes them."

As Beth returned to the chaos of her kitchen, a smile playing on her lips, she couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, this Christmas would be her sweetest yet.

Six

Beth stared at her phone, thumb hovering over the 'send' button. The message read:

Beth:"So... hypothetically speaking, how would you feel about a surprise visit from a certain American baker? Asking for a friend. The friend is me. I may be losing my mind."

She groaned, deleting the text for the fifth time. What was she thinking? She'd known Yuri for all of two weeks. Flying to Belarus for a week was insane. Right?

A knock on her front door startled her out of her daydream. She opened it to find Mrs. Klaus, her elderly neighbor, holding a plate of cookies.

"Beth, dear! I thought you might need a pick-me-up. You've seemed a bit... distracted lately."

Beth accepted the plate with a weak smile. "Thanks, Mrs. Klaus. That's really thoughtful of you."

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