Page 55 of Second Chance Christmas

She pulled a set of room keys out of the drawer and handed them to the gentleman. “You guys can have the Tom Sawyer room. Third door on the right. It’s the large suite for a large family.”

“Thank you, miss.”

“Please, call me Ivy.”

“Mighty obliged, Ivy.” He tipped his hat before leading his family up the stairs.

Ivy placed her palms on the reception desk and let her head fall forward.

So far Ivy Effect three and Ivy zero. She could win for losing, but keeping tally wouldn’t help anyone. Especially her.

A wisp of something caught her eye a second before the deafening chirp of a fire alarm rang out.

“Oh!” She gasped and bolted through the dining room only to skid into the kitchen as smoke boiled out from the edges of the oven. Ivy dove for her phone and punched in the only number she could think of.

She really needed to stop thinking she coulddoChristmas and give up already.

CHAPTER TWELVE

It smelled like Christmas died. She officially killed Christmas. She was a Grinch and Max was well… Max. The irony was not lost on her there. She had watched the movie enough times to remember the villain’s cute pooch and hers shared the same name.

Ivy swung the oven door open to a face full of angry smoke that one at one time would have been beautiful little Christmas tree cookies and reindeer. Now black blobs of yuck stared back at her. She grabbed a mitten and reached in for the tray.

The hiss of grease was the only prelude to the flames that suddenly burst to life from the stove to her right.

“Oh Lord save me from myself!”

Ivy flinched and nearly fell backward over Max. “Watch out, Max!” She tossed the charred cookie tray on the counter. Ivy shoved him behind her as she picked up a lid from the countertop and beat back the pops of grease. A lick of yellow danced high as she inched closer to turn the stove off.

She tossed the pan in the sink, ready to grab the extinguisher when a flame flared too high. “Oh for Pete’s sake, what else can go wrong!” Blood rushed to her head.

With Max sprawled on his back at her heels, she did a lunge and pivot that rivaled Olympic skaters, snatched the extinguisher and nailed the curtains with a blast of foam.

The sink was next.

Once. Twice for good measure. From the side, smoke still clogged the kitchen and she nailed the charred blob of cookies too.

“I give up.”

Didn’t trouble come in threes? She held her breath, waiting. “Please God, send help or a sign I don’t belong here and I’m out.”

With her heart still lodged close enough to her stomach she couldn’t tell which hurt more, Ivy looked around for her phone. This was out of hand now. What sane woman left her B&B in the busiest time of the year? “Come on Gran, pick up!”

“Give me the juicy stuff after the beep.”

She didn’t smile this time at her gran’s cheery recorded message. “Gran. You have to come home. This place needs you.” She turned to make sure no one was within earshot before continuing. “I know what you’re trying to do and it isn’t going to work. Maybe I’m not cut out for this B&B stuff. I can’t seem to get anything to go right. It’s been one thing after another. And Rocco. Why didn’t you tell me about Rocco? And back to Aspen. Gran, Aspen and I—It’s just, I don’t know. But I’m—It’s just crazy.” The beep cut her off.

“Damn it!” She hugged the phone to her chest. What good would talking with her do anyway?

Ivy tossed the charred, smoking cookie tray on the counter with a loud clank.

“Please God, give me the strength if nothing else,” she whispered. The job in New York was a blessing in disguise.

She didn’t have time for crazy. Plans were made to be kept and she had everything planned out. There was only one way to get back on track and that boiled down to her new job. If she could somehow manage that, then everything would fall into place. It had to.

Then why did her gut churn like a windmill at the thought? She worked hard to shove away the unsettled feeling. Action. She needed something to occupy herself, and since cooking didn’t seem safe for anyone at the moment, she moved around the kitchen and opened all the windows.

Proof of her failure still fumed from the sink. It would take forever to rid the place of the stench and now she had to find out what to feed these people.

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