Page 32 of Miss Humbug
I really had to wonder what was in it for teen TL. She didn’t seem all that interested in any of this.
Not far behind, several of Emmaline’s judges gathered at our table. A middle-aged Black woman wearing gingerbread cookie-shaped earrings inspected a wrapped bundle of …gingerbread cookies. No surprise there. “Would you look at that—Marlowe’s got her own logo.”
Mrs. Holly examined the bundle. “How clever.”
“Ethanmadeit for the sale.” Marlowe beamed my way. “Isn’t he so enterprising? We offered samples of all our products until they ran out.”
A white man in glasses, probably well over seventy, carried a mini flip pad and made a note with a sharp pencil. “Samples! That’s neat. Your idea?”
I wasn’t used to this much attention. Well, at least, when I wasn’t asking for it. “I come here every year and always wished I could try the stuff before I bought it.”
Ashe walked over, a hulking presence in plaid flannel. “Hey, Grans. How is everything?”
She beamed at him. “Wonderful. Let’s keep moving. I want to see your table. This is sofabuloushaving all my grandkids selling items for charity.”
I glanced at Marlowe who rolled her eyes. But she was smiling.
Something told me her grandmother didn’t seem concerned with who won the bake sale. With all the Holly kids here in one place, I couldn’t blame Emmaline Holly for liking it too.
As they moved on, Rafe’s steady stare from across the room landed on me. Was he scowling? At a cookie fair?
The man was intense. And intense about winning.
As long as there was a land prize to win, I couldn’t forget this was a competition.
We sold all of our bake sale stock before the others in Marlowe’s family. Each of them had bundles leftover. Us? Only crumbs.
Marlowe hugged me. “We did it! What a week.” She pulled back, giving me every bit of her attention.
Her family lingered nearby. We needed to keep up our act. I tugged her closer.
Her eyes widened in shock until I whispered, “We’re dating, remember?”
She nodded, blushing. “What would I have done without you?” She looked up at me, her arms still anchored around my neck. I swore she meant every word.
Dangit, my heart tugged at her declaration. I’d missed that—her needing me. “You know I’d do anything to help you.”
“And for the prize.” She winked at me. “Obviously.”
She unattached herself and began cleaning up the table. I was definitely keeping my sights on the prize. Only sometimes those sights got a little sidetracked by a Marlowe smile.
I wanted more Marlowe smiles in my life.
“Hey, so next we’ll need to pick out a cake to make for Tasty Bake next week.” More baking time together. Maybe she’d douse herself with flour again. Pathetically cute and surprisingly hot.
Her shoulders slumped. “More baking. Just what I want after a week of baking.”
I took her stack of presentation plates and loaded them into our plastic bin. “You’re practically a pro now. We won this round of the contest.”
“I seriously couldn’t have done it without you. It’s more like you won this round.”
One step closer to what we both wanted.
My mind jumped to New Year’s. Would Marlowe still be here? What about January? I’d been soaking up every moment with her. Getting used to those moments.
I was setting myself up for potential disaster. Because honestly? I wanted more than land for the farm. I wanted…Marlowe.
Too late to guard my heart against it. I was already falling for Marlowe all over again.
