Page 289 of Screwged for Christmas

Ms. Lucille waved them away as Aspen turned the truck around.

“You don’t have to take me.” She did her best to look nonchalant by flipping through her planner and acting like she didn’t want to jump out of the moving truck and run all the way back to Seattle.

“As if I would back out of giving my word. Besides, Ms. Lucille knows the fire department has to be there.”

She stopped and sat back. “The senior citizens of this town are con artists and I supplied the communication know-how.” Ivy grinned. She smelled a conspiracy and it started with a five-foot-two-inch little old lady in green curlers.

Aspen backtracked to the inn, passing a cab in the drive as he pulled to a stop in the drive. Ivy slipped from the cab of his truck, wind picking up a few strands of her hair, her boots crunching in the fresh snow.

“Hmm. I wonder who the cab is for?”

“A guest maybe?”

Ivy turned to Aspen, her hand on his arm. “God, I hope not! Please don’t let that be guests! We haven’t even started on the upgrades and the painting. Then there’s the stuff to pick up from town, too. Food. Curtains. Oh, please don’t let that be a guest.”

“If it is, look at it as added help.”

That man. His sunny outlook on everything grated on her nerves. “How do you do that?” Not because she didn’t like the laid-back approach, but because the technique seemed totally lost on her. Her mind just didn’t work that way.

“What?” He shrugged with a rueful grin.

“Find the silver lining and everything. Yeah, It’s annoying,” she huffed, blowing long strands of hair over her forehand up.

He laughed. “Just a natural knack, I guess. I could take you to town. You can hide out at the station for a while. Especially with all those cupcakes. I can give you a grand tour and then we can try Kade’s first attempt at kitchen duty.”

She cringed. “Uhhhh…”

“Yeah, I know. He couldn’t cook growing up either, but your dessert will make up for it.”

She wanted to. “He’s a product of a master chef. It doesn’t seem logical he can’t cook.”

“I wish someone would tell him that.”

Painfully aware she’d grown used to spending time with him again so quickly, she went against her feelings and retreated. Nothing sounded better than an afternoon catching up and to see where he worked. “I should check on Gran. Besides I’m sure she has lists of things of us to do. But you take the cupcakes to the guys. I bet they’ll love them.”

“No problem,” he said with an indulgent grin. Reaching over, Aspen slid her hand into his and that same tingling struck a nerve shooting up her arm with a bead on her heart. She watched in awe as he pressed his lips to the back of her hand. “It’s nice to have you home, Ivy Sunday.”

Home. She hadn’t thought of Dixen as home in a long time. Which made her smile fondly. She spent every summer helping in the B&B as a teenager and every Christmas helping her grandparents prepare for holiday visitors.

This should be in the bag for her, but every time she looked at her planner filled with task after task, a weird tightening crushed her chest. “I’ll see you soon. Thanks for everything today, Aspen.”

She rubbed the place he’d kissed as Aspen pulled away. If Ivy dared to believe…nah. She figured Fate didn’t exist. Then again, maybe it did and it couldn’t get past the Ivy Effect.

Snow started to fall again and the cold ushered her to move inside. Ivy climbed the front stairs to the spacious wraparound porch. White wicker love seats with rich green cushions dotted the entire space with the occasional side table to break up the spaces between.

Gray clouds from the snowstorm dimmed the daylight making it appear mid-afternoon already. Deep shadows played through the front windows as Ivy peered inside. Despite what she told Aspen, if she hurried there was enough time to make a run to town and still get some work in on the placeandpick up some clothes until hers arrived. Maybe Gran would want to come with her.

She dragged her feet up the rest of the stairs and fished in her pockets for the key.

Nothing. Darn! In her rush out the door, she’d forgotten to grab a set her Gran kept on hand. She cupped her hands on the sides of her face and peered through the front window before she reached out to press the doorbell.

Nothing. “What the heck? No power? Again?”

She walked around the porch to the side kitchen door and stopped in her tracks as she rounded the corner.

“Gran?”

Suitcases piled around her feet as she reached forward to tape a note to the door.

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