Page 47 of One More Yule Log
“Oh. You should sit down. In case you lost a lot of blood.” She nodded sagely, pushing Ben toward a barstool.
Gray just put his head down and chopped, not wanting to laugh at her.
“Oh, thank you. You’re very good to me.” There wasn’t an ounce of sarcasm in the words. “What would I do without you?”
“You don’t have to!” She showed off her little dance in the dining area, then popped back in to help Gray, happily chopping lettuce and mutilating tomatoes.
Gray got the meat going, humming “Jingle Bells.”
He could get used to this. He was already used to this. Wow. Gray glanced over at Ben, who was filling bowls with all the chopped stuff, and his heart just expanded. And he wasn’t even Grinchy.
Ben looked over at him and smiled. “Hey, love.”
“Hey. Should we put on a little music? I don’t want to inflict my humming on you.”
“Alexa, play Christmas music.” And suddenly the music filled the air. Oh, nice.
“Go technology.” Gray was starting to realize how stripped down his life was.
“Right? I love the music on demand. It’s so decadent.”
“It feels that way, for sure.”
Liv sang loud, and they both laughed, because she was clearly telling them to hush. Silly girl. Gray heated up taco shells, then the rice. “Voila! Taco night.”
“Taco night!” Ben cheered and poured two glasses of wine. “You can have a Coke, baby girl.”
“Ooh! Thanks, Daddy!”
“You’re welcome. No fussing later, though, okay?”
“Nope. None.” She crossed her heart.
Gray settled in, opening salsa and sour cream. “Wine makes me a better person.”
“Yes. It’s the way to grind off the rough edges a little.” Ben winked at Gray, and they clinked their glasses together.
“Big people are weird. How does grape juice make you so happy?”
“You’ll see someday, kiddo.” Gray clinked his glass against hers too.
“I like sparkly apple juice better.” She crunched into a taco moments later, making a big show of moaning. “Good, Gray!”
Ben took a bite of his own, and it felt amazing, the way Ben nodded and dug in. “So good. Thank you, babe.”
“Anytime.” He munched, laughing at the antics of father and daughter, just really relaxing. “There’s cupcakes that were uh… well. They weren’t suitable for sale. For later.”
“Yay!” Liv bounced. “Tomorrow, we make one more practice Yule log, right?”
“One more, Miss Liv. I’m ready.”
“I bet you’re almost done with the big rush now, right? All the parties are getting done?”
“Mostly, yeah. I have a rush order to do day after tomorrow, and I’ll do anything you need. After that, it’s just fill the can cookie orders.” They did a deal where people could come in and fill a tin with various cookies by weight.
“Can I come help, Gray? I can make cookies.”
“You can come anytime you want as long as your dad is okay with it. I can always use help at the shop.” Gray knew Alice loved having Liv there too.
