Page 29 of The Holidays with Dr. Mitchell
“Check out the tray of cookies,” Laney said, walking over to the kitchen of her large suite. “Looks like we get to decorate them.”
“Right here,” I said, pulling a letter that looked written by Santa himself and reading it:
In the art of island holiday cheer…
These are for you, Sweet Lady, while your man is not near,
we invite you to decorate cookies of sweet delight,
for when your man returns,
he will have worked up a robust appetite…
“Ooh,”Laney hung onto the word sassily. “I’m pretty damn sure the appetite these guys will have worked up will have them craving more than cute, iced Christmas cookies.”
“This is all very adorable, you know?” I said. “It’s quite charming and very tropical North Pole-ish. Don’t you think?”
“I do, and look at that Christmas tree,” Laney said, chuckling and pointing across the dining area toward the living room.
The fireplace was lit, and the mantle above it was adorned with palm fronds and ferns to replicate the pine garland we were accustomed to. Soft white lights twinkled throughout the display that framed the healthy amber flames of the fire below.
As we walked toward the fireplace, a skinny artificial pine tree was decorated with ornaments made from seashells painted in Christmas colors. It was magical and encouraged me to feel more festive than before.
“It looks like the tree has a theme,” Laney said. “Look, there’s painted ornaments with horses and doctors. I’m guessing that’s to represent our professions. And Collin loves sweets, so that must be why everything has this sugar-coated glitter on it.”
“Hmm,” I said, studying her room and taking it all in. “It is verygingerbread sweetsin here. I wonder what mine and Jake’s room is?”
“Let’s go see,” Laney said with the excitement of a child on Christmas morning. “What’s Jake’s favorite thing?”
“Jake loves everything,” I answered. “What I’m curious about is how these people know Collin has a weakness for sweets?”
“Maybe the guys filled out a questionnaire when booking this sex retreat?”
I chuckled. “Look at us. We’re on a sex retreat inyourgingerbread Christmas-themed room,” I mused, knowing that our beloved CEOs had a lot to do with this. They kept me and Laney in a great mood while they pranked the hell out of Jake and Collin.
I just had to hope they didn’t go too far over the top with whatever they’d planned for Collin and Jake.
“Oh, this is adorable,” Laney said, walking into my villa. “It’s a surf shop gingerbread house complete with a taco truck. Lookat this,” she said, pointing at the truck with a laugh. “They’re gingerbread iced wheels.”
“This is too funny,” I said. “What about the tree?”
We walked into the living area, which was a replica of Collin and Laney’s room, and looked at our tree. It was glittering and festive with painted tacos, surfboards, chips and guacamole, and jalapeño ornaments.
“I didn’t realize Jake loved tacos and surfing so much,” Laney said with a laugh.
“To be fair, heisobsessed with street tacos,” I laughed. “It’s so cute. Let’s go back to your place and do ornaments there, and we’ll ice cookies here tomorrow. What do you think?”
“I think this is the coolest thing ever. I didn’t expect it, so I appreciate it that much more.”
“Me, too. Who knows, maybe we’ll be tasked to make homemade gifts for everyone later this week?”
Laney and I both fell into the sweet charm of enjoying the holiday season, even if we were in paradise and staying in a hut over the ocean water. Being inside the villas made us feel the holiday cheer. I missed Jake, but I also loved this. Doing handmade projects and making souvenirs to remember this darling holiday getaway was the icing on the cake for me. It was unexpected and appreciated. Isn’t that what the holidays are all about, appreciating the unexpected and being delighted to gift simple treasures to your loved ones?
Well, that’s what we were tasked to do: create tiny treasures for our husbands that would always remind them of what this intimacy retreat was all about—finding that spark again and the youthful glow we all had when we were first married.
CHAPTER 16
Jake
