Page 98 of The Gingerbread Bakery
‘I know. Apparently, he was standing nearby when she went to the inn to work out the room availability for her visiting family. She felt bad and invited him, too.’
‘Well, whoever he is, he's looking at Daisy like he wants to get to know her better,’ Iris said, waggling her eyebrows. She had a hand over her growing belly and her bare feet propped up on the chair next to her. She looked tired but happy as she watched Archer slow-dance with Olive.
‘That's adorable,’ Daisy said, looking at them spinning in circles, Olive perched on Archer’s feet.
Iris nodded. ‘That's how they get you.’
‘Well, if that didn’t do it, the roast chicken definitely would have. It was so tender I wanted to cry,’ Annie said, making the other women burst out laughing again.
‘The man knows how to cook,’ Iris said, ‘that’s for sure.’
Archer grinned at Iris from his spot on the dance floor and Olive waved. She looked adorable in her velvet Christmas dress, little patent leather Mary Janes on top of Archer’s dress shoes. Something across the room caught her eye and she came running over to Iris.
‘Is that hot chocolate?’ she asked, her face filled with the intensity of a girl who would go to the ends of the earth for chocolate. A girl after Annie’s heart.
‘It’s actually a whole hot-chocolate bar,’ Annie told her. ‘With toppings.’
‘Toppings?!’ Olive squealed.
‘Marshmallows, candy canes, little cookie bits, oh, and whipped cream.’
‘Whipped cream!!’
Olive was practically vibrating now, and Annie ignored the look of horror on Iris’s face. It was all part of the fun of being an honorary auntie.
‘Yep. All the whipped cream you can eat.’
‘Daddy!! Can I have some?’ Olive turned around to where Archer was standing behind her, staring daggers at Annie. Annie smiled up at him.
‘Sure, Liv, let’s go.’
‘Weddings are the best!’ Olive was already halfway across the room before the sentence was fully out of her mouth.
‘You’re welcome,’ Annie said, and Archer shook his head like he was resigned to the fact that Olive would never sleep again.
‘You want anything?’ he asked Iris, leaning down to kiss her.
‘Well, all this talk about hot chocolate…’
Archer sighed but the little smile on his face betrayed him. He loved every minute of it.
‘I’ll get you one.’
‘Extra marshmallows, please. It’s for the baby.’
Archer laughed and pressed another kiss to her lips before straightening. ‘Of course. For the baby.’
‘Love you!’ Iris called as he walked away.
‘Wow.’
‘I know,’ Iris said with a smile.
Annie shook her head, debating if she also wanted hot chocolate, but instead turned her attention back to Daisy. ‘So, are you going to go talk to him?’
‘What? Talk to the architect guy? No, nope. No way. Not in the market for weirdos that stare at you from across the room. No, thank you.’
Annie laughed. ‘Good call, although he is a pretty cute weirdo,’ she said, remembering her short-lived plan to invite him to the wedding as her date.
