Over the last few days, they’d gone sleigh riding and toured all the local shops and restaurants. There were quite a few quirky little places that sold handmade goods–everything from scarves to honey and syrup. Hannah purchased a little something in just about every store they went into and she knew it was really so she’d have things to remind her of this trip.
As if thoughts of her time with Gage weren’t enough.
Today they were supposed to go up to the town of Chimney Rock to do a little more shopping and eating. It was going to be a lazy day of being tourists, and then they were going to have dinner with his mom.
As if on cue, there was a knock on the door and Gage walked over to answer it.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re still here,” Rebecca said breathlessly as she came through the door.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Well…I hate to ask, but…” She glanced over at Hannah. “I have a favor to ask.”
“Mom…” Gage sighed. “Hannah took care of redecorating the entire first floor of the building for the residents. Hasn’t she done enough?”
But Rebecca wasn’t even listening. “Hannah, sweetheart, I’m desperate.” She was wringing her hands and it was clear she was distressed.
“What’s going on?”
“Every year, we have a Christmas cookie exchange. You saw the flyers about it, right?”
She nodded.
“You know I don’t bake, but every year I go to the bakery and make up some tins so I can contribute.”
“O-kay…”
“But this year that rotten Martha Stewart wannabe Cathy Jones changed the rules and said all cookies have to be homemade!” Rebecca cried. “Homemade! I mean…why? My bakery cookies weren’t hurting anyone! Heck, for the last two years, Monica Newton just made plates filled with Oreos and Nutter Butters! I just don’t get why this woman is being so hateful and purposely excluding people!”
“Um…”
“I know it’s a lot to ask and the two of you have plans to go to Chimney Rock today, but…I really need your help, Hannah. I refuse to let Cathy keep me from participating. Gage raved about the cookies you and your mom make, and I was hoping that maybe you could bake some with me. We can go to the store and get everything you need–including cookie sheets because I don’t have any–but seriously, whatever you say we have to have, I’ll buy.”
“Rebecca, I’m not sure…”
“No. Absolutely not,” Gage chimed in, rounding on his mother. “She’s already helped you with the decorations; she’s not taking the day to bake cookies so you can compete with yet another person in this building! Where does it end? What happened to this being the season of good will and loving your neighbor and whatever else goes with the Christmas season? Maybe instead of having cooking demonstrations down in that kitchen, someone should be teaching all of you how to behave!”
Both Hannah and Rebecca stood there in wide-eyed shock at his outburst.
And honestly, he kind of had a point.
It had been borderline hysterical how friendly everyone was as a group, but once you got some of them alone, they were fiercely competitive. The thing was, she hated the thought of anyone picking on Gage’s mom for any reason. And it seemed clear that this Cathy woman had a specific bone to pick with Rebecca.
Looking at Gage, she took one of his hands in hers. “Chimney Rock will still be there tomorrow, right?”
He groaned, rolling his eyes. “Hannah…you don’t have to…”
“I know,” she said softly, hoping to soothe him a little. “I know. We’re not going to bake thirty different cookies like my mom does, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing to pick out maybe three or four and spend the day showing this bully that she’s not going to ruin this holiday for your mom or anyone else in the building who doesn’t like to bake.”
“I’m sure I’d like baking,” Rebecca murmured from behind her. “I just don’t know how to do it without burning everything.”
Laughing, Hannah turned and smiled at her. “Well then, part of today’s goal is to teach you step by step how not to burn the cookies.”
The look of sheer gratitude on Rebecca’s face made Hannah drop Gage’s hand so she could hug his mother.
“It’s going to be okay, Rebecca. I promise. We’re going to bake our butts off today and make the prettiest cookie trays this building has ever seen. Don’t you worry.” Then she turned toward Gage. “Do you mind? We can do this together–the three of us–and really make a fun day of it! That’s what I do when I’m home with my family and I’d love to share it with you.”
The smile on his face told her he was on board. Within minutes they were in the car and heading into town to start shopping. While Gage drove, Hannah and Rebecca made lists and discussed the kind of cookies they were going to make.
“We definitely need the hot cocoa ones,” Gage requested. “Those and the red velvet crinkle ones were my favorites.”
That warmed Hannah’s heart and she realized she was getting deeper and deeper with her feelings and by doing this activity with the two of them today was going to be bittersweet. Growing up, she always imagined following the tradition of baking with her own husband and kids, and even though this was just her doing something with friends, it felt like…more.
Like this was going to be one of those moments that had the potential to test her resolve on everything.
Damn cookies.
By the time they hit the store, the final decision was hot cocoa cookies, red velvet, chocolate chip and sea salt, and basic sugar cookies. There were others that she knew would make more of an impression, but she also didn’t want to overwhelm Rebecca. She wanted Gage’s mom to feel like she was the one baking, so it was important to try to keep things simple so no one would accuse her of not making them herself.
It was almost lunch time by the time they were done shopping and they opted to simply add the makings for sandwiches to their cart and eat before they started baking. Gage was going to make them turkey clubs with avocado, and Hannah grabbed a couple of bags of chips to go with them because she was coming to learn that he enjoyed having chips with his lunch.
She was learning a lot of things about him and each of them was making her fall more and more for him.
It just sucked that she had to find him when she was being forced to move out of state.
There is the long-distance option…
But she immediately pushed that thought aside. Moving was always a time-consuming event. Add to that starting a new job and getting acclimated to it all and there was no way she could even think of flying back and forth between Chicago and Raleigh with any kind of regularity.
And that just made it suck even more.
Damn job.
They were walking out of the grocery store, and Gage and Rebecca were ahead of her with the shopping cart. Hannah just stood back and watched the way they were laughing with each other and the way Rebecca’s arm was looped with her son’s. The affection was so obvious and so wonderful to see. Family was so important and even though she had willingly moved away from hers, it didn’t mean she didn’t love them or that they didn’t mean the world to her.