Page 61 of Under the Mistletoe
Poor Jess, she had it bad, and Greyson seemed oblivious to it all.
“But you both had more finals to grade.” Devin wiped extra meringue from her finger.
“We do, but we have three hours to help you.” Piper nudged Jess and took off her coat.
Jess was already helping so much with running the Santa store. Who was she kidding? All of these people had things to do, and yet they put their priorities on hold to help her. There it was again.People are willing to help. You just have to let them.
The people in Heritage had made her more of a priority than her parents had her entire childhood. She couldn’t even wrap her mind around that.
She cleared her throat. “Do you know how to make meringue?”
“I know how to follow a recipe.” Piper walked over to the mixer and grabbed the recipe that Devin had printed off. “Why don’t you show me, and Jess can help Greyson with the houses.”
“I’ll help with the meringue.” Jess hurried over. The girl was all confidence except where Greyson was concerned. They might have to talk about that.
Devin had just gotten them started when the door opened again and in walked Janie and Hannah. Hannah clapped her hands together. “Put us to work.”
Devin walked over to where the candy had been left. “We need to open the candy and sort of make organized chaos of it.” Hannah and Janie dug into the bags, and Devin lowered her voice right by Hannah. “Have you heard from Logan?”
Hannah eyed her with a knowing smile. Maybe she hadn’t been casual enough. “Luke’s mom said he called yesterday from Chicago. He was in meetings Monday through Thursday and then tried to fly home yesterday, but he missed his connection. Evidently, his bag with his phone in it was in lost baggage in Chicago for the week. It took more time to find and claim than he had between flights, so they moved him to the first flight this morning. So hopefully, we’ll see him today.”
“Oh, that’s good.” Her voice came out small. He hadn’t had his phone for the week? So he didn’t get any of those messages until last night. The moment of relief was quickly replaced by a sickening feeling in her gut as she thought through her last few texts. He was going to think she’d lost her mind.
She’d be lucky if he didn’t return to his cabin just to get away from her.
“I know this is an odd question.” Janie ripped open a bag of licorice. “But my mom said that the baby Jesus has been missing from their Nativity since the ice-skating party. I was wondering if you had remembered anything?—”
“Another one?” Devin pulled out bowls from a box she’d left under the table. “Nate said the one at the church is missing from the foyer.”
“Fallon said the one from the display in the Sugar Shack is gone as well.” Hannah shrugged and poured a bag of M&M’S into a bowl.
“I don’t love that it seems to be following our events around.” Devin didn’t want to think of one of the kids as a thief.
“Do you think it’s a prank?” Janie’s voice was hopeful.
“If it is, hopefully they will all show up at once.” Hannah pulled open another bag of candy.
Devin handed Hannah another bowl, then returned to her seat across from Greyson. The guy was a pro at this. He’d already done six, and they all seemed sturdier than the ones she’d assembled. “One of the families mentioned theirs was missing the day that I dropped off the invitation bags, but I stopped at about twenty houses. I can’t remember who it was.”
“Hopefully the baby Jesus from the live Nativity stays put on Wednesday.”
“How’s that coming along?” Hannah asked and tore open another bag.
“MaryLynn thinks I should cancel it. She feels the liability is too high with live animals. But I met the animals. They’re so sweet. And there’s something that I just can’t put my finger on that I can’t let go. But I have to make a decision by Monday night.”
Before Hannah could respond, another text came in. Devin grabbed her phone, but it was the Wagners. All five of their kids had come down with a stomach bug and wouldn’t be here. She dropped her candy bag and did a quick count of the houses. “Might as well stop with that one, Greyson. This will be enough.”
“What about all those?” He motioned over walls and roof pieces.
“Thirteen kids canceled in the last ten minutes. I’ll have candy for years.” She pushed to a stand. This was not going to help convince the board.
“Can we invite a few of the other local kids?” Greyson pulled out his phone. “Nate said Charis was fussing about not being able to come.”
MaryLynn had said to keep it separate, but the church had donated all the candy, and there was no reason to let the houses go to waste. “Why not?”
“I’ll start calling.” Hannah held up her phone.
“And I’ll keep building houses.” She piped another bead of meringue along the wall’s edge, then held the two pieces together. She had just made another bead when a crisp breeze filled the room as the door whipped open. She glanced over.
