Page 21 of Sweet Christmas Wish
“What? Nothing, nothing…”
Sarah folded her arms, giving Colette a look. “Come on, that didn’t look like nothing!”
“Um…” Colette fiddled with her scarf, looking cagey and uncomfortable. “Um… I really shouldn’t say anything…”
“Aha!” Lacy said, stepping closer. “So thereissomething to say!”
“You can tell us,” Sarah pressed. “Is it about Derek?”
Colette bit her lip, then slowly nodded. Lacy’s eyes widened and her heart began beating faster. As Derek’s cousin, Colette would be the person that knew what was going on with him if anyone did.
“What is it?” she pressed. “Please tell me!”
As if unable to withstand the pressure of the secret she was carrying any longer, Colette took a deep breath and spilled it all.
“I shouldn’t say anything. Really, I shouldn’t, but… let’s just say Derek wants to ask you a special question. A very special question.”
Lacy gasped, her eyes opening even wider. A marriage proposal? She hadnotseen that coming, and her heart began to race at the thought of it. Excitement and butterflies bubbled up in her stomach, filling her whole being.
“Oh my gosh,” Sarah was yelping. “He’s going topropose?”
“Shh!” Colette urged, looking nervous but also incredibly excited. “I wasn’t supposed to say anything!”
“Our lips are sealed,” Sarah promised, looking as though she might burst.
“Oh my gosh…” Lacy murmured when she could finally speak again. “Oh my gosh…”
Without even saying goodbye to her friends, Lacy turned and walked out of the coffee shop, her thoughts in a complete daze. As she stepped out into the cold, she felt as though she were floating on air, totally oblivious to the snow beneath her feet.
CHAPTERELEVEN
Will only just held back a growl of frustration when he realized that his thoughts had strayed yet again to a certain blonde bakery owner. To distract himself, he took a large bite of one of the complimentary chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies offered in the lobby of The Snowy Pine, but that only served to steer his thoughts right back to where he had started. After all, though the cookies were good enough—and clearly baked with love—they couldn’t hold a candle to the baked goods at Sweet Thing Bakery. Will quickly chased the bite of cookie back with a drink from the cup of milk sitting beside his elbow.
Tipping his head back against the leather armchair he was sitting in, he stared up at the ceiling overhead. It vaulted majestically with its crisscrossing wooden beams and highlighted the huge staircase that led to the inn’s rooms. He sat beside the enormous stone fireplace in the lobby, where a low fire crackled and popped softly, providing warmth and ambiance. Normally, he would enjoy such a setting to no end, but this particular afternoon he found that his thoughts seemed to stay stuck on Sarah Langston with a peculiar stubbornness.
Sighing, he allowed his thoughts free rein and mulled over the problem that had been bothering him ever since he’d gone to drop off the chocolate bars at Sarah’s bakery the night before. She had looked so vulnerable with her tousled hair and her silly zebra-striped pajama set. What had really done him in, though, was the sight of her eyes filling with tears that she quickly blinked away while trying with all her might to look strong and capable.
And shewasstrong and capable, he knew that. It took a certain bravery and courage to keep running a business alone, especially after her family had moved on.
No, she was certainly not weak, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t also struggling. Even though she hadn't wanted to tell him what was going on, he could see that something with her business had her deeply worried, even though she put on her face of fierce independence.
Will didn’t want to step on her toes or get in her way, but he also couldn’t stop thinking about how worried she had looked before she had hurried to cover her fears for his benefit. He wanted to help and, if she would only let him, he was sure that he could dosomethingto ease her burdens. After all, he was an accountant with a keen business sense. Solving business problems was his bread and butter.
There was a special place in his heart for small businesses like Sarah’s. He had always wanted to run one of his own, so he had a vested interest in seeing small businesses succeed. However, if Sarah wouldn’t confide in him, was there anything he could really do to help?
As the smell of a delicious roast and potatoes dinner wafted into the lobby from the hotel kitchen, Will’s mind was far from the upcoming meal. All he could think about was that one question: what could he do to help?
He turned the question over and over in his mind, looking at all of the angles and trying to think outside the box. If Sarah was going to let him help, she would need to feel like they were going into business as partners, not like Will was trying to ride in like some knight on a noble steed, trying to save the damsel in distress.
As Will continued munching on his cookie, he reached for the glass of milk again, wishing for a moment that the milk was a latte instead. The idle thought gave him pause and he slowly set the cookie down as an idea began to take shape in his mind.
Reflecting on his years as a barista, concocting all sorts of delicious and decadent coffee menu items, he began to wonder if serving drinks would be good for Sarah’s business. Hadn’t she apologized profusely the other day about not having a drink to offer him in addition to his gingerbread loaf?
She had looked so forlorn, like she had failed, and he almost laughed aloud as he realized how brilliantly simple such a plan would be.
Pulling a pen from his shirt pocket and grabbing the napkin his cookie had been sitting on, he began jotting down notes for his idea—potential costs, seeking out suppliers and vendors, how to merge a drink menu with Sarah’s current baked goods menu, and more. In no time at all, the skeleton of what would likely become a solid business plan was sketched out on the napkin and Will was filled with an excitement he hadn’t felt in ages, even on the slopes.
Whatever was going on with Sarah’s business, bringing in more money would surely only be a help to her, and this plan would certainly do that. Snowy Pine Ridge was lacking in the coffee department, and he knew that this plan would help to bridge that gap, as well as bringing in a good amount of extra income to Sweet Thing Bakery.
