Page 26 of White Wedding
“You sound just like Brody. He already had two pieces this morning.” A little flush crossed April’s cheeks.
Victoria envied her, still in the early stages of love, when everything was so blissful.
“What’s the Christmas emergency?” April asked. “If you need cookies, I’m happy to oblige, but you’ll need to wait until next Monday. This weekend, I’m doing a giant cookie-baking session. Fifteen dozen cookies in two days.”
“Thanks, but I’m good for cookies. My issue is with gingerbread houses.” Victoria popped the trunk of her Audi and extracted the bin with the box containing the largest of the Coriander+Clove houses. She set the bin on the ground, opened the lid, and passed April the instruction sheet.
April’s eyes grew wide. “Wow. This is high-end stuff.”
“Do you think you’d be up for it? I’d need it for the wedding on December 22. And I’d pay you for your time.”
April set the instructions back in the bin. “As much as I love baking, I’m not crafty. Like, not at all. I don’t have that attention to detail. You’d probably be better at it than I would.”
“But I don’t bake.”
“Right, but this isn’t about baking. It’s about being patient and meticulous. And you’re really detail-oriented.” April gave her a hopeful look. “Right?”
“I am, but this might be more than I can handle.” She put the bin back in her trunk. “Rafael said his family might be willing to help with the decorations. I can ask him.”
“Rafael?” April gave her a sly smile. “Is this the guy—”
“Brody told you, right?”
April bit her lip. “Sorry. We try not to keep any secrets from each other. They have a way of turning ugly.”
No kidding.
“It’s fine that you know,” Victoria said. “As long as you don’t tell anyone else. But yeah, I had this scorching-hot affair with Rafael in Baja five years ago. And now I’m working with him. We’re trying to keep the Baja stuff a secret.”
“And trying to resist falling for each other again?” April grinned. “This sounds like a great setup for a romance.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Speaking of which, you never got back to me about our next book club meet-up. Are we doing it this month or are you swamped? I read that thriller you suggested, and I havefeelingsabout the ending.”
One of Victoria’s few escapes was the impromptu book club she and April had started. They’d formed it last spring, after giving up on the company’s book club, which tended to favor dense and depressing literary fiction. Once a month, they met over drinks and swapped recommendations.
“Sorry,” Victoria said. “This month is packed. Can we postpone until January?”
“Sure. The holidays are always pretty intense. But if you need to vent about the wedding, hit me up and we can go out for margaritas.”
“Thanks. I might take you up on that.”
“In the meantime, you have an excuse to call that hot chef of yours and ask for his assistance. Maybe you two could schedule anintimategingerbread-house-making session at his place.”
Victoria rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing romantic about building a gingerbread house.”
“Tell that to the makers of Hallmark movies. I’d say it’s up there, along with building a snowman, making a fire, and having a snowball fight.”
Come to think of it, the Hallmark movie Victoria had started watching on Saturdayhadincluded a gingerbread-house-making scene, complete with longing looks, cute banter, and a frosting war.
Nope. Not going to happen.
Rather than put herself in that kind of scenario, she’d have to tackle the houses herself.
Chapter 10
After his meeting with Victoria, Rafael drove back to his apartment, changed into his running gear, and hit the road. Six hard miles of pounding the pavement. Usually, he listened to music when he ran. But today, he let his mind roam free.
And he thought about Victoria.
He hadn’t expected her to be so honest. But she’d willingly shared the story of her downfall, not hiding the humiliation she’d endured. Now that he understood what she’d been through, he couldn’t stay mad at her. Instead, he wanted to help her. To be her knight in shining armor like he’d been in Baja, when he’d saved her from those drunken college boys.
