Page 156 of How My Neighbour Stole Christmas
Her eyes meet mine. “I want to.”
“Okay, you good to go after this?”
“Yup.” She grins, and just to put on a show for the town, I tilt her chin up and press a very soft kiss to her lips, eliciting a round ofahhsthroughthe gym. When I pull away, I catch the glare in Taran’s eyes, so I offer her a wink and then take off toward my station where I find Max looking over a recipe in his hand.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“A recipe I found online.” He pulls a vial from his pocket. “It’s pineapple flavoring. I think we go with the same theme as the fruitcake.”
“No,” I say, moving past him. “Have you lost your fucking mind? We’re not bringing back pineapple. That was a mistake, and we’re not making it again. We’re making a traditional candy cane, and we’re going to impress with our technique, not our flavoring.”
“Fine,” he grumbles and pockets the vial. “But can we at least make it a triple-striped candy cane with red, green, and white?”
“That I think we can do,” I say as I move toward our station. “Okay, let’s make a quick plan.”
Storee
“Is something going on between the two of you?” Taran hisses in my ear while I watch the thermometer on my sugar.
“What?” I ask, not looking at her because I don’t think I could look her in the eye. “No, why would you think that?”
“Uh, because of the way you keep glancing over at him, the way he keeps glancing over at you, and the kiss right before this competition started.”
“Ugh,” I groan. “That’s all part of his plan to make the town think we’re together. I have to match his energy or else I come off looking like the asshole who won’t date the hometown hero. It’s annoying. Come on, Taran, you know what I’ve been dealing with.”
I can feel Taran’s eyes on me. Studying, seeing if I’ll break.
But I don’t.
“Yeah, I guess that is kind of annoying,” she replies.
“And now I have to go to his freaking farm tonight because he told Martha I would. Probably just going to sit in the barn and stare at the hay until an appropriate amount of time has passed.” I inject annoyance into my voice despite being filled with glee.
I’ve been so busy with Taran and Aunt Cindy the last two days that I haven’t been able to focus on finding time to be with Cole, and it’s been driving me crazy. Sure, the texts are nice, and the pictures he’s sent me of himself lying in bed shirtless and sad that I wasn’t with him have been great to stare at, but they haven’t been enough.
I want to be able to touch him, have him hold me…kiss me.
“That is annoying because I could have used your help looking at some new lights I’ve been thinking about purchasing.”
“You know, maybe we can talk about this a little bit later,” I say as the temperature of the sugar reaches 320 degrees.
“Maybe tomorrow at breakfast—I’m going to get to bed early tonight.”
“Sure,” I say as I lift the pot off the heat and bring it over to the marble slab where I pour it out. I glance past Jimmy, who’s adding air into his sugar, and spot Cole and Max whispering to each other. It looks like a disagreement because Cole shakes his head and Max seems adamant.
Those two…they’re ridiculous.
I set the pot on a trivet and then pick up one of the spatulas to start flipping the sugar over, adding air to it and letting it cool down. After a few minutes, I divide the sugar up. I put red food coloring in one portion, knead it and set it to the side. And then I put the peppermint in the other and move that around, the fragrance strong as my hands start to grow tired from all the kneading. This is where Cole came in handy as he did most of the grunt work with the sugar.
Ugh. Hand aching, I bring my sugar lump over to the hook behind my station, loop it around and start to pull, but my hands are tired, and thesugar still feels hot despite wearing gloves. Panic sets in as I realize that if I don’t start really pulling, I could mess up this whole thing.
I tug and loop…tug and loop, but after the third round, I’m exhausted, and the sugar hasn’t fully changed into white yet. I’m about to step back when I feel a warm body come up behind me.
“Let me help,” I hear Cole say as he brings my hands back up, and together we pull on the sugar, looping it back around the hook over and over until it’s pure white and ready to go. I remove the sugar from the hook and turn toward Cole. He smiles at me and then kisses the tip of my nose, causing the crowd to let out another round ofahhhs.
He sure knows how to work them.
Thankfully, I know whatever he’s handing out is real, even though it’s supposed to be fake in my family’s eyes.
