Page 30 of Daycare Santa

Chapter 12

Gina changed the flavorof their date without telling Zack.

By some miracle, Seya was off this evening and agreed to stay with Luca. To get ahead of her task list, Gina rose an hour earlier for prep work on the food she couldn’t do overnight. She’d also scheduled a meeting with the team to discuss the day’s functions.

By ten o’clock, she sliced and boxed the fruit cake for the first event of the day, and every team member was busy at the counters and stoves. In between assisting and supervising, Gina’s mind couldn’t stay off Zack. Was she doing the right thing by going out with him?

She’d surprised herself when she accepted his offer and realized later, when she was alone, that although Boyd and Nichelle betrayed her, she wasn’t heartbroken.

That admission forced her to be honest with herself. She’d used the hectic pace of the season to avoid dealing with her emotions. The reason she refused to slow down was that if she did, she’d have to accept what she’d known in her heart.

It was bad enough to part ways with her business partner, but the threat of forfeiting the business name made her face and neck blaze even now.

She couldn’t hide from the fact that she’d lost more when her friendship with Nichelle ended, compared to what she had with Boyd. Their comfortable relationship made Gina feel safe, but she wasn’t in love with him and didn’t want to be. Not when Zack was making her rethink everything she knew about men and relationships.

“Good riddance, Boyd,” she whispered while deftly slicing fruitcake squares.

She couldn’t understand the logic behind Nichelle’s further actions. Since the split, she’d been hinting to Gina’s customers that she was going out of business. Gina found out about that bit of duplicity when a long-standing client called to get the details.

“Were you going to ditch us without a note or warning?” the woman asked, which left Gina floundering. Eventually, she said, “You know me better than that.”

Giving an explanation without painting Nichelle in a bad light was challenging, but Gina left her client satisfied that she’d provide catering service for her upcoming dinner party.

How Gina could have misread two people who were so close to her said something about her discernment, which brought her back to the current situation.

If she let herself fall for Zack and he hurt her, or vice versa, the devastation would be too much to bear after losing Chase. She didn’t want to experience that kind of upheaval again. Ever.

But you could go all-in with Zack Winters, if you let yourself go.

The knife in her hand clattered to the floor, and Tara looked up from the puff pastry she was sealing. “Are you all right?”

“Sure.” Gina smiled to reassure her. “Why?”

After sprinkling flour on the metal surface and the rolling pin, Tara said, “You look like you had a come-to-Jesus moment just now.”

“Don’t worry. I’m good.” She glanced at the clock. If she didn’t stay on track, she’d still run late after her attempts to get ahead. “I’ll be back this evening to check on things.”

Tara’s eyes twinkled behind cat woman glasses as she gave Gina a knowing grin. “Wecanmanage. Do what you have to do.”

With a lighthearted chuckle, Gina removed the plastic apron and dumped it, along with the disposable gloves. “You don’t have to tell me twice. I’ll come in tomorrow and take care of whatever needs to be done.”

One of her policies atAll Things Tastywas that they left nothing undone for the following day that could be completed after a function. The cleaning staff saw to sanitizing the kitchen each time, but Gina liked to do a last sweep going into the weekend.

She stopped in her office, grabbed her handbag, and locked up. On the way to pick up Luca, she turned the radio to a station playing Christmas music. She sang along with Ray Stevens’sGrandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, then chuckled to Frank Kelly’sChristmas Countdown.

Gina pulled into the daycare, prepared to wait a while, but didn’t have to do so since Luca entered the lobby a couple of minutes later. She suspected Zack wasn’t there, and Luca proved her right once he climbed into the van and buckled up.

“How come you’re so early?” he asked.

“I’m going out this evening. Seya will stay with you.”

“Okay. Can I use my tablet? I didn’t get any computer time today since Uncle Zack didn’t come.”

“No problem, but you can’t stay on it all evening.”

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