Page 44 of Sweet Christmas Wish
Ever so slowly, she returned to reality, and it finally hit her that the sun had been in her eyes when she woke up. The sun. She gasped, sitting up with a start that sent her head spinning. Clutching her forehead, she laid back down, breathing fast and beginning to panic.
She was always up well before the sun to bake and get Sweet Thing open, so if the sun was already up…
Oh no! No, no no no!
Sarah grabbed her phone from the nightstand and saw that it was just after nine a.m. A text from Will sat on her screen. She squinted, waiting for the words to come into focus before she read them.
WILL:I opened the shop already. Take your time and come down when you’re ready.
Well, that was a relief. Sarah let out a huge sigh and fell back against her pillows, rubbing at her eyes. Why was she so out of it? Why had she slept so late? That wasn’t like her. She reached back in her mind, trying to pull up memories of the night before.
Slowly, like pieces of a puzzle, bits of memories came back to her—primping in the mirror for a date, chugging cold medicine, finding an unfinished coffee on the front counter and drinking it, flirting drunkenly with Will…
Sarah groaned aloud, humiliation and mortification spreading through her.
What must Will think of her?
Any attraction he’d had toward her must be long gone by now—on the night of their first date, she had gotten accidentally drunk and was totally out of commission for the night. She pulled one of her pillows over her face at the memories and silently screamed into it, releasing some of her nervous energy.
She was just contemplating whether it would be truly horrible of her to simply never leave her apartment again and never face Will when her phone began ringing. Pulling the pillow off her face, she grabbed her phone and saw Lacy’s name flashing across the screen. Sliding the green button over to answer it, she put the phone to her ear.
“Lacy?” she croaked, suddenly realizing how dry her throat was and how dusty her voice was from disuse. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Have you seen the article inThe Outletyet?” Lacy’s voice was frantic on the other end of the line.
The Outletwas the newspaper from Blueberry Bay, a town a short distance from Snowy Pine Ridge. It was by far the most popular newspaper in Snowy Pine Ridge, despite being from another town. Sarah frowned, struggling to sit up, the phone still glued to her ear.
“No, I just woke up. What article?”
“They just ran an article this morning talking about how Michelle and her Olympic skier husband will be arriving in the area soon!”
“Oh, no…”
“Please tell me you already told Will about Michelle being married.”
“Umm…”
Lacy screeched on the other end of the phone. “Are you serious?”
“I’ve been meaning to, I swear! I just never found the right moment.”
“Oh my gosh, Sarah! Will’s probably seen the article by now!”
“I know,” Sarah groaned. She rubbed at her forehead, feeling the first threatening hint of a headache. “I messed up, big time.”
“Oh, no.” Lacy sighed, her voice turning more gentle. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. You tried to warn me and I didn’t listen.” Sarah bit her lip, hard enough to make herself wince and felt the first prickling of tears in her eyes. “I’ve really gone and dug myself into a hole now.”
* * *
When Will had gotten to the shop early that morning and found it dark and empty, it hadn’t taken much to realize that Sarah was probably still wrapped up in a heavy alcohol and cold medicine induced sleep.
So he had taken it upon himself to open up the shop.
First, he’d hunted through the bakery’s freezers and fridge to see if Sarah had overbaked any of her pastries. To his relief, he found a stock of frozen cookies, cinnamon rolls, brownies, and gingerbread loaves. He had set about thawing and warming them, and then made a sign for the pastries left over from the day before, marking them as half-price as they were day-old.
Soon enough, he had the bakery ready to open, and for the next few hours, he handled the steady flow of customers coming in to order pastries and coffees before heading to their jobs.
