Page 54 of Second Chance Christmas

She set about battering the chicken and setting it aside to cook after she made the cookie dough then peeled and diced the potatoes. Next, she set to work on the cookies. An hour later buttery sugar goodness filled the entire downstairs and she sighed with delight as she bit into a star-shaped cookie. Who said you couldn’t have dessert first?

Ivy slipped in a second batch then fired up the stove and set the chicken to fry. Sometimes life deserved some of the good stuff.

The front doorbell rang through the entire house. Funny she didn’t hear Aspen’s truck pull up.

Max raised his head but made no move to accompany her as she wiped her hands and made her way through the dining room to the front foyer. “Great guard dog you are,” she called over her shoulder.

Ivy flung the front door open and froze.

Towering over her was a man straight out of a country western music video with a dainty woman on his arm that was as beautiful as he was handsome.

“Merry Christmas! We’re the Howards. You guys have a wonderful place up here. A little hard to find though.”

Her eyes widened with pure shock and the half-chewed cookie in her mouth nearly choked her.

SHIT. Did she have her days wrong? Couldn’t be. Right? She rushed to the registry table, nothing more than a table with a few drawers and pretty seasonal candles and a hand-painted welcome sign pushed to the side.

The logs. Where did Gran put those freaking things? Why hadn’t she already checked them by now? She flicked open one drawer then the next. Where did her note say she put them? They were usually right here.

Nothing.

Ivy rushed back to the door where a smiling couple waited in the cold. Great, she’d already broken the first rule of hospitality by leaving them on the doorstep. One hand on the door, Ivy clutched the apron around her middle and yanked it off and tossed it to the side. What she had on underneath wasn’t much better but at least it wasn’t covered in flour or worse, at least she wasn’t naked!

A sweet couple –who appeared as though they belonged in Texas rather than a small town in Alaska—handed over several pieces of luggage. “If you don’t mind, please miss. So I can help the lady inside out of the cold.”

“Yes. Of course.” Ivy took several pieces of luggage and stood back from the door.

The gentleman cupped a hand over his mouth, leaned back and belted out a hearty whoop in the direction of the woods.

Okay. That was a first.

Ivy offered a tentative smile at him and gave a courteous laugh when he received several back in the direction of the lake.

“Gotta wrangle the kids somehow. Simple hollering doesn’t work as much.”

“Please, won’t you come in out of the cold?” She stammered her words, wobbly from the surprise.

Kids? She was slightly afraid to ask how many. The wife who looked ready to pop any second, playfully slapped at her husband before they moved past her and stepped into the foyer. “Mrs. Winters, we presume?” they turned and asked in unison.

Momentary dumbstruck, Ivy quickly stacked the luggage beside the small registry desk Where the hell were those logs? “Um. No, well yes, but I think you’re referring to my grandmother. She’s not here right now.” But boy, would she hear about this in epic proportions!

“Sorry we’re early,” confirmed the gentleman with a rueful grin. “The missus here didn’t want to wait,” he continued as he pressed a tender kiss to his wife’s forehead. “We tried calling yesterday before our flight but didn’t get an answer. With the new baby on the way we thought we better get a jump on the holidays, you know what I mean?”

“Oh, yes. Um, I’m so sorry. We had problems with the power. I don’t really know how to say this, though. We really aren’t open at the moment.” She sounded like a heel just saying that and immediately wanted to take it back.

“Oh, please Ms. Winters.” Just as the overly pregnant woman reached out to place a hand on her arm, several smaller versions in various sizes of the older man came barreling through the front door. Boots, Stetsons, Wranglers… all miniaturized for a range of kids, from just learning to walk with the help of an older sibling to heartbreaker territory.

Snow trailed them into the inn and on their tails came a younger version of Max. Except this version competed with his human counterpart siblings in how loud he could howl.

A muffled sound like a car door caught her attention and she groaned when she spied another couple climbing out of a minivan.

“Please, miss. There’s not another place to stay within forty miles and I don’t think I can take another hour in the car with these boys. We do have a reservation. Can you squeeze us in a couple of days early?”

More like four days early. Days she needed. She wanted to play the bad guy, put her foot down and refuse. The place looked hideous and these people wanted to stay here?

Six sets of brown eyes and a puppy looked at her expectantly.

Ivy didn’t have the heart to say no. Stuffing three rowdy boys back into a car would make her a little crazy too.

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