I focus on being greeted by the comforting warmth and smell of the bakery, and it keeps the cold at bay as I walk. In just a few weeks, the town has turned from a gorgeous autumnal town to a winter wonderland with Christmas bleeding from every available crevice. Christmas lights cling to every streetlight, with strings of color connecting them all like a dot-to-dot puzzle. Christmas trees of all sizes sit in front of shops, on top of post boxes, and decorate the town square like its own little forest.

The Christmas spirit is well in the air, and it may be the first time in my life that I’ve really felt it. Christmas with my parents wasdinner parties in rich, mahogany-filled offices and boring small talk with stiffs in suits. There was little in the way of cheer and certainly nothing like ugly Christmas sweaters or sparkling neon lights.

I pass at least six Christmas-sweater-wearing people on my walk and make a mental note to get one of my own. I want to embrace that cheerfulness.

I cross the town square and turn down the street where the bakery is, only where I expect to see Sweet Noel lit up with its usual golden light, there’s nothing but a harsh glare of bright lights and a police car parked outside.

All festive cheer vanishes from my heart, replaced by a coldness that freezes across my chest.

I break into a run, sprinting across the street. Panic grips me and multiple terrible, dark thoughts burst through my mind in the seconds it takes me to reach the bakery.

Is Lily okay? Did something happen to her? Is this my fault for not insisting on seeing her home?

With my heart in my mouth, I burst into the bakery and brace myself for a scene from a horror movie or worse.

Instead, there is only Lily, who leaps up at my entrance and clutches a broom to her chest.

“Fucking hell!” she squeals, and her face turns pale, then it floods with color. “James! What the fuck are you doing?”

“Oh, my God, Lily!” I surge forward but catch myself before I actually touch her. “I saw the police car and I just… I don’t know. I was so scared something had happened to you.”

I scan her face and every inch of her body, right down to her snow-covered boots. Her hair is scraped messily up on top of her head, and there are bags under her eyes. She’s dressed in sweatpants and a loose plaid shirt that’s buttoned up wrong, but I refrain from pointing it out.

“Nothing happened to me,” Lily snaps. “Although you nearly gave me a damn heart attack!”

“I’m sorry.” I hold up both hands. “I was just scared.”

“I…” Lily’s shoulders slump, then she rubs at her forehead with the back of her hand and pushes some stray hairs away from her face. “I’m okay. But this place…”

It’s then I notice the state the bakery is in. Behind me, the glass on the door is broken. The floor is littered with glass shards and cake from the destroyed display cases that line up alongside the counter. The till dangles from cables a few inches from the floor, and all the shelves behind the counter, usually filled with desserts and awards, are smashed to pieces.

“Oh, my God.” I can scarcely believe what I’m seeing. “What… Lily, what happened?”

She dejectedly shrugs one shoulder and leans against her broom. “I have no fucking idea. Cops came to my house this morning to say the alarm had tripped in my bakery but the security company couldn’t get ahold of me. I’d left my phone downstairs in my purse when I went to sleep, so I missed their calls. By the time the cops got here, the place looked like this.”

My mouth hangs open and I turn slowly, taking in every detail of destruction. Who the hell breaks into abakery?

“Is anything missing?”

“My award,” Lily mutters. “But I don’t care about that. All of this…” She casts one hand toward the destroyed display cases. “The cakes and desserts I made are wrecked. I can’t sell them. I’ll lose so much money on them because my insurance doesn’t cover baked goods. Which…” She puffs out her cheeks. “I’m going to argue about it, but who knows.”

“And the back?” I glance toward the door leading deeper into the bakery.

“Whoever it was didn’t make it that far. Thankfully. It makes no sense because if I were gonna rob this place, I would go straight to the back and try and haul out the oven or something. That monster cost me fifteen grand. But this… this just hurts.”

The pain in her voice cuts through me like a hot knife. All plans to talk about the kiss and everything else instantly vanish from my mind. I shrug off my coat.

“How can I help?”

“You don’t have to do anything,” Lily says. “I’ve got this. The cop car outside is just to serve as a deterrent in case the culprit comes back. Apparently, they think whoever did it will come back to take in the damage as a passerby.”

“Does that make me look guilty?” I joke softly.

Lily closes her eyes briefly. “No. Unless you secretly hate bakeries.”

“No, I’m a huge fan,” I assure her. “But seriously, you shouldn’t be doing this by yourself. Let me help. Whatever you need. Cleaning, coffee, something to eat? I’m your guy.”

Lily puffs out her cheeks and rubs at her neck as she glances around, then she nods slowly. “If you insist, I could use help cleaning up. But don’t you have patients?”