Page 21 of The Blessings of Christmas
“Lemon bars. Kate brought some last night.” Turning to the blue binder he’d left open, she paged through. “Here we go. Lemon bars.” She smoothed a hand over the page. How did such delicate hands get so much work done?
“I’ll just leave you to it,” her mother said, disappearing through the swinging doors.
“Any eggs that have to be separated today?” he asked, hoping to heck she said no.
“No eggs to separate, just lemons to peel. I picked up a bag full from Nacho’s vegetable market yesterday but I left them in the car.” Sarah’s eyes darted to the door. “Hope they’re not frozen stiff.”
“I’ll get them.” Ryan needed some air. Not bothering with a jacket, he rushed out to her car. The sharp cold air reminded him of February when the boys dared each other to hop in the lake to prove how strong they were. They’d been idiots back then.
Slipping on the hard-packed snow, he opened her car, grabbed the bag of lemons and dashed back inside.
“Thank you, Ryan.” Slitting the bag open with her knife, Sarah squeezed one. “Nah. They seem fine.”
Now, how did she know that? The woman was just plain amazing.
While she got busy measuring out the flour and sugar, Ryan took the hot chocolate cookies out to Lila, who fussed over them. He felt pretty pleased about that. Then he hustled back to watch Sarah work. Sometimes she’d talk to herself, saying stuff like, “Just a little bit” or “even it off perfectly.” She’d get this cute little frown between her eyes.
“What can I do to help?” After all they weren’t paying him to stand here like a goof staring at Sarah.
Opening one of the wide drawers below the counter, Sarah whisked out a metal thing that looked dangerous. “Now with grating, we’re just whisking off peels. Not too hard. Just lightly take off the thick yellow skin.”
He leaned in, the lemon tickling his nose. “Smells good.”
She smiled. “Kind of gets to you, doesn't it?”
“Yep, you do.” What had he just said? “I meanitdoes.”
But Sarah hadn’t heard him. She was laying into those lemons when all of a sudden she yelped. The grater clattered to the chopping board. “Oh, I am such an idiot.” She peered down at her bleeding knuckles.
He grabbed her hand. Blood was seeping through tiny nicks in her delicate skin and he felt nauseous. “You’re not an idiot but we need some bandages.”
“In the medicine chest above the sink. What would the health department think if they ever saw me, bleeding into my cookies?” she joked in a wobbly voice.
“They’d probably ask for one.” Ryan was off to the bathroom. Only took him a second to find the box. The only bandages he saw were from the Avenger movies. Sarah must use these for the boys. Grabbing the box, he headed back, painfully aware of how his uneven walk must look as he covered that open stretch of floor.
“Hold still.” Ryan told her, tearing a bandage from its paper wrapping with his teeth. “You’ll need one for each knuckle.” He was winding the third bandage around her middle finger when Sarah's mother spun in from the front.
“Oh my goodness.” Stopping in her tracks, Lila gave them a look. Jolted, Ryan dropped Sarah’s hand.
“Mom, look at how careless I am.” Sarah wiggled her fingers while Ryan closed the metal box with a snap. “What is it?”
“Oh, nothing,” Lila said in a high, sing-song voice. The bell jingled in the shop and she dashed back to the front.
Ryan didn’t want Sarah’s mom to be getting any ideas, not that he wasn’t beginning to have plenty of his own. “Why don’t you measure and I’ll grate?”
“Think you can handle it?” Sarah flexed her fingers.
“Of course I can.” Ryan picked up a lemon. How hard could this be?
He laid into it. Hard. The darn lemon wouldn’t budge. It was stuck.
“You're not digging to China.” Sarah laughed after he’d finally gouged a chunk out of the lemon. How was she getting those itty bitty peels? “Ease up.”
That wasn’t easy for him but it worked. Pretty soon he had the light strokes down. In his mind he was skimming Sarah’s soft skin. Barely touching it while he hummed along to “I’ll be Home for Christmas.” While he grated, Sarah cut and squeezed the lemons. “Do you think the lemon bars will sell out like the thimbles?” he asked.
“They might, if my mother visits the library again.” Lowering her voice, Sarah said, “I wonder how serious this thing is with the librarian.”
He couldn’t help but smile. “How long has she been alone?”
