Page 52 of The Gingerbread Bakery
Annie blinked, swallowing hard. ‘Yeah, it’s us,’ she called, her eyes still on Mac. He’d left her wanting, but this time he’d done it on purpose.
‘I brought the dessert,’ Annie said, taking a step back and then another, finally returning to herself.
Kira trudged around the side of the SUV with two dogs jumping around her in the snow. Mac found it impossible to keep all of her animals straight, so he had no idea which two these were, but one was huge and one was small and white with a Christmas bow tie affixed to his collar.
‘You didn't have to come up here in the snow,’ Kira said.
‘I promised I would help set up,’ Annie said. ‘And besides I wanted to get the house up here before tomorrow.’
‘House?’ Kira asked.
‘Gingerbread house. In lieu of a wedding cake.’
Kira nodded. ‘Right. Of course. The groom hates frosting. Makes perfect sense. Okay. Well, let’s get it inside.’
Bennett came out to help and between the four of them they were able to carefully move the gingerbread house onto a table in the barn. Annie needed to do a few repairs with the extra icing she’d brought, but overall, she seemed pleased that they made it with the house intact.
‘Okay, Kira, what else do you need help with?’ Annie asked, looking around the barn for her next task, studiously avoiding catching Mac’s eye. He had her flustered now and he liked it. Let her spend some time feeling as keyed up as he always did around her.
‘We were going to set up some Christmas trees on that end with white lights to serve as a backdrop for the altar.’
‘I can help with that,’ Mac offered, and Annie immediately turned to argue.
‘You don’t have to stay.’
‘How are you going to get home if I don’t stay?’ he asked. If she thought she was getting rid of him now, she was very, very wrong.
‘Bennett has a plow. I’m sure he could get me home or I could crash here, right?’
‘Sure, of course,’ Kira said. ‘Whatever you want to do.’
‘I’m staying,’ Mac said. ‘I want to help.’
He held Annie’s gaze, daring her to challenge his willingness to help his friend, but she let it go with a raised eyebrow.
‘Okaaay…’ Kira said, her eyes flicking between them. ‘So, Mac, you can help Bennett haul the trees in and get them dried off, and Annie, you can help me and Daisy from the flower shop set up the flowers and place settings on the tables. Hazel and I got a lot done earlier, so that's all we have left to do!’
‘Sounds easy enough,’ said Annie.
‘Great! Because there’s one more thing,’ Kira said, walking toward the corner of the barn. She came back with a cardboard box in her arms and an apologetic look on her face.
‘So… we found these.’ She held the box out in front of her and two small faces appeared over the edge.
‘Kittens!’ Annie squealed. ‘Oh my gosh, Kira! They're so cute!’
The kittens were perfectly normal but what was really cute was Annie’s reaction to them.
Kira sneezed and the two furry faces disappeared back into the box. ‘Yes, they are very cute,’ Kira agreed. ‘However, I am very allergic to them.’ She sneezed again, as though to put a point on the matter.
‘Where did they come from?’ Mac asked, reaching out to rub the little orange kitten between its ears. It nuzzled against his hand.
‘We found them curled up together in the pile of tablecloths,’ Kira said, sniffling. ‘We’re not sure where the mother is, but we can’t have them in here for the wedding and I can’t bring them in the house.’
She sneezed again three times in rapid succession. Bennett had appeared at her side at this point, and he draped an arm over her shoulder, shaking his head. ‘It’s one of the great tragedies of Kira’s life. She can kiss reindeer but she’s allergic to cats.’
‘Reindeer, dogs, bunnies…’ Kira listed on her fingers. ‘I can do them all, but I get within a few feet of a cat, and I can’t breathe.’
Mac took the box from her hands looking down at the two little kittens inside, one orange and one black and white. They peered up at him with big green eyes. Annie came closer and looked into the box as well. A small crease appeared between her eyebrows.
