Page 61 of The Christmas Blueprint

“The wreath-making class is going to be such a success, you might want to teach another one during the Christmas Market,” Killian added.

“Shut your mouth.” Sophia tossed her last snowball at him so that it fell softly over his perfect hair. “I haven’t even taught one class and now you have me teaching two.”

“I think you should teach an ornament-making class at the Christmas Market,” Harlow implored. “You taught me how.”

“Excellent idea, Harlow—two against one, Soph.” He laughed and ran his hands through his hair, irritatingly making himself and his thick, chestnut waves even more appealing. “You’ll have the space at the booth and an eager helper.”

“I can help you teach the wreath-making and the ornament-making classes, Sophia,” Harlow said, her eyes glowing with earnestness. “Killian and I both can, right?” She looked up at Killian, who stilled.

Sophia cocked one brow and her hip. “Not so amused now are you?”

Killian shocked her when he crouched down on a knee in the snow, and peeked into her bucket. “You have an interesting collection of nature in there,” he said, his smile lopsided. Then he looked up at Sophia, a few snowflakes on his eyelashes.

“Absolutely,” he said. “Harlow and I are signed up for the honor of being your Christmas minions.”

Chapter Sixteen

“Oh, hey, Mom,”Sophia said several hours later as she tied a red and white ribbon around a box containing a rose-colored cashmere shawl for a customer. “Thank you so much for shopping with us,” Sophia said, smiling at the father and son, who bounced on his toes, trying to get a better look at her tree of felted gnome ornaments. “I’ll be with you in a minute,” she told her mom and added a sprig of silver stars to the knot so that it cascaded down around the bow.

“Wow.” The boy goggled at her. “That’s pretty.”

“I love it,” Sophia said, smiling at him. It was weird. Since she’d been spending some time with Killian and Harlow in the evenings as they clicked around online home design and architecture sites looking for inspiration for Hunter’s home and designs to differentiate the spaces for potential Mill Market businesses, she noticed kids a lot more. This boy might attend Harlow’s school.

She automatically glanced at the door, anticipating Killian’s arrival with Harlow soon. The day had flown by. It always did, but this week especially.

“Is this a Christmas present or another occasion?”

“It’s a Christmas present for my grandma.”

“Okay then, why don’t you pick one of the gnomes from the tree, and I will tie it to the package.”

“We get one? Grandma will love it. Maybe she’ll hang it on the tree. If we buy Mom’s present here, then Mom will get one, and the…the…what are they called?”

“Gnome.” Sophia found herself utterly charmed watching the father and son look through the tree together, both of their faces and hair—not as rich a brown as Killian’s—so similar.

“The gnomes can play together. I wish I could—”

“Choose a color, Thomas.”

“Maybe this dark pink one to match the sweater?” He looked up at his dad.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea.”

Thomas carefully extracted the gnome from the tree and held it to his cheek a moment and whispered a soft hello before he handed it over.

So sweet.

Sophia hoped his sweetness didn’t get squashed out of him. If her brothers had had any sweetness or tenderness, she’d never seen it. They’d always been big, loud, busy, always vying to be top dog in any encounter and determined to boss her around.

“Why don’t you choose one for yourself?” Sophia said impulsively.

“Really?” the kid breathed, then he looked at his dad for confirmation.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “The holiday shopping season is just starting.”

Longing, hope, and a touch of anxiety glimmered in the young boy’s eyes.

“Positive.” Sophia smiled at the child. “I have a young friend about your age who comes in a couple of afternoons after school and helps me make them. She has a little workstation right here.”

---