Page 74 of Single Dad's Christmas Cookie

“I wasn’t supposed to fall for you. I know I shouldn’t have, but…”

“But nothing. I fell for you too. And we can compare notes to figure out who fell first. So I’m staking my claim as first.” Ipressed my lips to hers in a quick kiss. I enjoyed kissing her and planned on doing it all the time.

“We should get started cleaning and packing so we can go home. We have more presents to unwrap. And it’s time to make this Christmas a happy one for you.” I kissed Nova again.

“It’s already the best Christmas I’ve ever had,” she said as she wiped her tears.

I’d believe her when she could say it without crying.

33

NOVA

It didn’t take terribly long for Bryan to clean the kitchen. He found the source of the smell and made sure he took it out with the garbage. It took much longer for Amelia to help me pack. She wanted to ask what everything in my room was. Why did I have face wash? Why did I have hair conditioner? Why did I have shampoo?

“Why do you have a razor in the shower? You didn’t grow a beard. You’re a lady.”

“You’re right, I don’t grow a beard,” I said with a sigh as I took the pink shaver from her before she could hurt herself. I was going to have to explain to her at some point in time about shaving her legs, but this wasn’t the time for it.

I took one last look at my little apartment and felt exuberant. I wasn’t going to have to stay here anymore. I wasn’t even sad I was leaving. It was more a case of I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

I’d come back in a few days and finish going through what I wanted to keep.

“You don’t even have to pack anything,” Bryan said. “Put labels on what you want to keep and what you want to dispose of or donate.”

“You make moving sound so easy.” Moving up here had been relatively easy. I had fit everything I thought I would need into two large suitcases. No furniture, no kitchenware, just personal effects because I was supposed to have gotten a furnished room. Everything that was in this apartment, I had scrambled to find once I got here.

It was such a contrast to leave the small apartment and the overcrowded apartment complex and arrive at their house. It was a mansion, and I still hadn’t had time to explore every nook and cranny as much as I had wanted. I had resigned myself to never knowing the full extent of what this place held.

Now I had all the time in the world. I wasn’t limited to spending time in the kitchen or entertaining Amelia. I was still doing that. I was still going to do that for the next week and a half, but I lived here now. I could wander around whenever I wanted.

The walls of the side entry where we came in looked different to me, somehow.

Even the den seemed different.

“Oh, wow, Santa Claus really did deliver,” I said as Amelia dragged me into the den to show off the Christmas tree and the pile of presents surrounding it.

We had camped out with its fireplace and haphazardly decorated Christmas tree. This room should have been familiar, yet it seemed different. It was as if I could see the walls painted with love and comfort and belonging.

“How about I make some hot chocolate and then we can start opening presents?” I suggested.

“That sounds like a very good idea,” Bryan said. “Amelia, why don’t you help me take Nova’s things upstairs, and we’ll all meet together in the den? We can start Christmas morning the proper way.” He grinned at me, and I felt butterflies in my heart and fluttering in my stomach. Tears filled my eyes again. I stared up at the ceiling and blinked hard, trying to will them away. I was not going to cry anymore. I had cried more than enough this morning.

I peeled my coat and scarf off as I walked to the kitchen and hung and put my things up in the back coat closet, where I was used to putting them. I paused with the hanger in my hand. This was where the employees kept their things. I didn’t actually know where the real coat closet was. There had to be one in a place this size. It was probably an entire room. I should ask for an official tour later. That would be something good to do after dinner.

I put my coat away and wrapped an apron around my waist. I removed the sausage balls and cinnamon rolls I had prepared the day before. They were covered in copious notes of instruction for cooking.

I set the oven to preheat and started making the hot chocolate. The cinnamon rolls were going to take more than a few minutes. I popped the prepared sausage balls into the air fryer. They would cook faster that way, and I didn’t have to fuss with the deep fryer.

This kitchen had every gadget conceivable—deep fryers, air fryers, more Crock Pots than I had ever seen, even in one of my mom’s church potlucks. I was going to have a great time playingwith all of them. I giggled. This was my kitchen. We had a full-time, professional cook, and I was going to love that.

I hoped she liked me. I hoped she’d let me cook sometime, or let me help her, because I did enjoy cooking. It was tranquil, almost soothing.

“Hey, Nova, aren’t you going to come in and open presents with us?” Amelia practically yelled at me as she came into the kitchen. “Daddy thinks you must have gotten lost or something.”

I laughed. I had gotten lost in my thoughts “Not lost. I’m making breakfast real quick.” I glanced at the timer on both the oven and the air fryer. I had a couple of minutes before anything would be ready. “Why don’t I come into the den and you can open one or two presents, then I think breakfast will be done?”

I followed her into the den and was amazed again at how many presents there were. And to think I had been afraid that Bryan would forget and not get his daughter anything under the tree for Christmas morning.

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