Page 24 of Baking it Merry

As soon as she turned to walk away, he called out, “I’d like you to be back at 5:30.Please,” he added, because he knew he was sounding a little like a dictator.“You know, since you have the hot cocoa bar to set up now too.”

The smile this time was tight.“Then I’ll see you at 5:30.”

“And hot cider?Is it too late to add that?”

The sigh was soft and tinged with mild annoyance, but she offered him a faint smile.“I’ll take care of it.”

When she turned to walk away, he let her.But he still had his doubts about how the rest of the night was going to go.

“What did you do?”Daphne screeched when she arrived at 5:30.With a small cry of dismay, she practically ran around the house before she came to a stop in front of him, waving her arms.“Seriously, what did you do?Why did you change everything?Do you have any idea how hard I worked?Do you realize why everything was set up the way it was?”

“Um…” Honestly, he thought it was just set up that way because she liked it.“There was a reason?”

“Yes, Tristan!There was a reason!”Mumbling under her breath, she took off her coat—a longer black wool one this time—and threw it on his couch.Tonight she had on a retro style red dress with white furry trim on the collar and wrists.

Like Mrs.Claus.

Good grief…

Still, it was fitted to the waist before the skirt flared out and it showcased a fabulous figure that she’d been hiding beneath her sweaters and sweatshirts.

Red heels clicked on the hardwood floors as she walked around in dismay.“How am I supposed to fix all of this before everyone arrives, plus set up what I need to?”She glared hard at him.“Youknewwhere everything was going!Why would you do this?”

“I just thought…”

“That I didn’t know what I was doing?”she yelled at him.“Or that you know better, even though you’ve never catered anything in your life?Honestly, Tristan!You just made everything so much more difficult, and the thing is, you don’t even care!”

That wasn’t completely true, but…

Luckily, he was saved from having to respond as their two servers arrived.Tristan was about to introduce himself when Daphne began giving them orders in her own sweet-but-stern way.

“Slight change of plans,” she began.“Some things got moved around while I was gone that I need to fix.Marcus, I’m going to need you to start carrying in all the food, please.And Jackie, I would really appreciate it if you could set up the hot cocoa bar over there on the sideboard.The hot cider will go there too, just at the opposite end.I have everything made and put it in an insulated bag on the front seat of the truck.There’s a box on the floor in front of it with everything you’ll need to set it up.”

“You got it, Daph!”she said as she quickly made her way toward the front door.

“Is there anything I can do…?”Tristan hesitantly asked.

With a snort of disgust, she began rearranging all the decorations she had originally set up in the living room.“Got a time machine so we can go back to where I left everything a few hours ago?”

“Okay, fine.I shouldn’t have touched anything,” he admitted.“I just thought…”

Holding up a hand to stop him, she gave him the barest of glances as she said, “We don’t have time for this.If you really want to help, please just…go away and let us work.”

He heard the weariness in her voice and, knowing how she was usually so cheery and upbeat, it made him feel guilty.

But he still went out to her truck and helped Marcus carry tray after tray after tray of desserts.He got Jackie an extension cord for the crock pots and twinkly lights she was using on the hot cocoa bar.At one point Daphne handed him a basket for the ornaments he was going to let everyone put on the tree tonight and told him to gently place them all in it and to put it on the console table behind his sofa.

He didn’t dare argue or try to place it anywhere else.

It took a little over an hour, but everything was in place and looked even better than he could have imagined.He was just finishing setting up a bar where everyone could serve themselves, since it was just family, when Daphne came walking toward him.

“Everything is all set,” she politely informed him.“Both Marcus and Jackie know exactly what to do and will make sure everything gets cleaned up and will assist your guests with whatever they need.If you have any questions…”

“So you’re not going to stay?”

Shoulders sagging slightly, she gave him a weary smile.“We’ve already discussed this.There is no need for me to stay.Now if you’ll excuse me…”

For the life of him, Tristan had no idea why this was so important to him, but he also didn’t want to have this discussion in front of her staff.Gently, he placed a hand on her arm.“May we speak in private?”

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