Page 11 of Single Dad's Christmas Cookie

Idecided to save Emma’s pre-made meals for another day. Dinner tonight was covered. I sent Amelia off to Mother’s where she could learn pristine and proper etiquette with a dose of attitude and bad manners.

Mother was nothing if not respectable, but she also forgot that people were humans, and she tended to be a little more elitist than I remembered as a kid growing up. Maybe she had gotten cranky as she got older. But she adored Amelia, and this took care of getting Amelia properly fed for the evening. I, on the other hand, was throwing myself on the mercy of some catering company who was sending over a cook.

The doorbell rang.

I pressed the ring cam app on my smart watch. “I’ll be right there,” I said without looking at the video.

I yanked open the door and stood frozen in place.

“Bryan?”

“You?”

Those big blue eyes blinked up at me. Nova, the perfect name for a goddess, was standing at my front door.

Reality rushed back in. I reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her inside before I closed the door. “What are you doing here?” I demanded. “I have somebody showing up for an interview, and I cannot have you here. Did you follow me?”

“What are you talking about?” She held out a small piece of paper and waved it under my nose. “You called and left your address. Said you were looking for a cook.”

I snatched the paper from her. It had three decorative Cs across the top, an illustrated cup of coffee, and a cookie across the top.

“That’s you?” I asked.

“Not really, but I was there and answering the phone when you called.”

“You didn’t follow me?” I wasn’t relieved, exactly, and part of me was a little disappointed that this woman hadn’t been so impacted by my presence to come seek me out. On the other hand, I kept dreaming of her and would have gone looking for her if I had known where to start.

“It’s been a couple of days, and I know we had a couple of drinks, but I left the hotel before you did. There was no way for me to follow you here.” She glanced up and around the entryway to my house. “Nice place, but I didn’t follow you. I’m here to cook for you.” She held up the canvas shopping bags in her hands.

“You’re a cook?” I asked. “I didn’t think you were a cook. What did you say you did?”

She smiled. My body surged with lustful energy as I remembered everything about her, from the curve of her lips, to her softgiggles, to the way she gasped for breath when I tickled under her ear.

“I don’t think I told you what I did for work, but since I’m here for what is essentially a job interview, that would be an appropriate question for me to answer at this point,” she said. “My name is Nova Castleman, and I am a first grade teacher at a private academy nearby.”

“Wentworth or Leeds?” I asked.

“Wentworth,” she responded calmly. “And I find myself in need of a seasonal job. When you called the catering company this afternoon, I answered the phone because everyone there had disappeared.”

“So you decided to come and cook for me?”

She pointed to the paper still pinched between my fingers. “I didn’t have a name, just an address, so I came to cook forsomebody. The fact that it’s you…”

“That’s an awkward coincidence.”

She nodded. “Look, Bryan, um, if this is going to be problematic for you, I can go.” She started to turn.

“No!” I shouted. I didn’t want her to leave now that she was here. Nova, the woman from my dreams, was in my home. “I need somebody who can cook. Somebody who can pre-make breakfasts that are easy to heat up, prepare an appropriate Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner for a small gathering. And I only need them until January fourth when my regular cook comes home from her vacation.”

She blinked a few times. “Timing-wise, that’s ideal. I need to confess something.”

I nodded, encouraging her to continue.

“I only have two and a half weeks off from school, so your need for a cook for almost the exact amount of time couldn’t be more perfect as far as I’m concerned. I already brought the groceries. I’m here. Why don’t you let me at least make dinner for you, and then you can decide? After all, wasn’t that the whole point of having somebody come and cook for you tonight? Kind of an audition?”

“Let me show you to the kitchen.” I took a step back and turned, indicating that Nova should follow me.

“Will I be cooking for you and your wife?” she asked.

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