The Christmas Plan Read online

  “I don’t have an apartment anymore, remember?”

  Walking up to her, he tapped her lightly on the tip of her nose. “Stop focusing on the negative. I’m only trying to help.”

  She gave him a bashful smile. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I guess I’ve always been afraid to let myself think about it because there’s so much to it. And then there’s a chance it will fail and then where will I be?”

  “Aspen, that’s a chance we all take.” He wrapped her in his arms again–something he didn’t normally do, but right now he couldn’t seem to help himself. “I make independent films and documentaries. Some of the stuff I’ve pitched sounds great at the time, but the finished product tanks.” He shrugged. “It’s a chance you have to take. Which would you prefer–never knowing if you could have done it or trying your best and…”

  “Finding out that I suck at what I do?”

  “That wasn’t what I was going to say.”

  Her soft laugh was her only response before she let out a long breath. “I get what you’re saying and…I’ll think about it. I haven’t been allowed to plan anything for so long that I think I’m a little overwhelmed at the moment.”

  “So take this time to see how you like it,” he offered. “Work out everything for this little Christmas venture and see if you want to take it to the next level. If nothing else, you could always come back here with me every year and sell your creations. I can guarantee you everyone would love it.”

  When he saw her smile, he knew he said the right thing.

  They stayed like that for several moments before he wondered if he should let her go. Maybe it was his imagination, but it seemed like she was moving closer.

  “What would I do without you?” she whispered, her eyes looking up and scanning his face.

  It would have been easy to make a snarky comment or make light of the whole thing, but he couldn’t make himself utter a damn word. If anything, he was holding his breath and waiting for what she was going to do or say next.

  The next thing he knew, he could feel her warm breath on his cheek and he knew what was coming. She pressed her lips there–something she did often and did multiple times today–but tonight, they lingered. Aspen didn’t move away and it seemed she was also afraid to breathe.

  Tomorrow he’d probably kick himself, but he was unable to stop.

  Slowly, he turned his head. Aspen didn’t move. With barely a breath between them, Gabe wondered who would be brave enough to make the move and close the distance.

  Aspen.

  Always Aspen.

  Her lips touched his softly, tentatively, but before she could move away, Gabe reached up and anchored his hand in her honey blonde hair and pressed closer. Neither deepened the kiss, but there was definitely a reluctance to break apart. He heard her soft hum as she seemed to relax against him. Her hand moved up over his back and shoulder before it came up to caress his jaw. It was a combination of pleasure and…no. They couldn’t do this. It was a line they’d never crossed and one they shouldn’t. There was an entire month to get through and the last thing he wanted was for her to be uncomfortable with him.

  Reluctantly, he broke the kiss, resting his forehead against hers.

  “Um…” He cleared his throat again. “We probably shouldn’t have…”

  Aspen placed a finger over his lips. “It’s okay. I get it,” she said quietly, slowly putting some space between them. And for the life of him, he couldn’t tell if she was upset or not.

  “Aspen, I…”

  “Don’t,” she interrupted before yawning. “It’s late and we’re both a little out of sorts, that’s all. We’ve got another long day tomorrow and I think we need some sleep.”

  He nodded and took a step back. There were dozens of questions racing through his mind, but when he looked at her, she was holding his coat for him.

  Message received.

  He screwed up.

  “Good night, Gabe.”

  Swallowing hard, he said, “Good night.”

  Five

  There was a definite spring in Aspen’s step the following afternoon when she delivered her first batch of chocolate samples to the Andrews’ tree lot. Her pretty gift bags decorated in red and silver looked incredibly festive, and the basket she placed them in was the perfect display.

  Mrs. Andrews had gushed over how amazing it all looked and Aspen just figured she was being encouraging, but when she showed up at the lot and Mr. Andrews made a big fuss over it, she knew she had done something right.

  “I can’t thank you enough, Aspen,” Paul said as he set up the basket on the table outside the office. “Most of the lots offer free cocoa or candy canes, but we’re the first to be offering homemade candy! I bet we’re going to be a big hit!”

  “Well, I hope so,” she said, still afraid to get her hopes up. “This is the first batch so you’ll have to tell me how they go tonight at dinner. I’ve got to go and meet up with the festival committee to go over all the rules and plans and all that fun stuff. I’ll see you at home!”

  “Thanks again, Aspen!” he called out as she made her way across the lot. Gabe was talking with a customer so she simply smiled and waved and kept going.

  The walk across town didn’t take long. The meeting was at the community center and even though she still didn’t know her way around, the small line waiting to get in told her she was in the right place.

  Taking her spot at the end, she smiled at the people around her and felt a little nervous. This was a community event, and she was not a member–just a visitor. What if people resented her being here and taking a spot from a resident? What if there were other chocolate sellers here who didn’t want the competition? What if…?

  “Oh, Aspen, hey! I’m so glad you could make it!”

  She looked up to see Erika Jacobs–the head of the festival committee–walking toward her. “Hey, Erika! Thanks for inviting me.”

  “You didn’t happen to bring any samples with you, did you?” she asked hopefully.

  That made Aspen relax a little. “Sorry! I did just drop some off at the Andrews’ tree lot so…if you haven’t gotten your tree yet…”

  Smiling, Erika replied, “Well, drat. We bought our tree there last week. Had I known Paul was going to be giving away candy samples with a tree, I would have waited!”

  * * *

  The line started to move and within minutes, everyone was seated and facing the podium where Erika and a few other women were standing. For the life of her, Aspen wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be doing or if she needed to take notes, but she figured she’d just wing it. After all, how hard could this all be?

  “Thank you, everyone, for coming out today for our final planning meeting for our annual holiday arts and crafts festival,” Erika began. “As you know, this festival has been a town staple for more than fifty years and I can’t thank you all enough for being willing to share your talents with all of us.”

  There was a round of applause and an overall buzz of excitement in the room that Aspen found herself getting caught up in. Looking around, everyone was smiling, and it made her wonder what kind of crafts everyone was making.

  Luckily, she didn’t have to wait long.

  “This year is going to be a huge success; I already know it. There are a ton of returning favorites as well as some first-timers. I’m going to pass around a list of everyone who is registered and I’d like for you all to look it over and make sure your information is correct,” Erika went on. “We want to have a directory available since we’ll have over fifty vendors at this year’s event. There will be people on hand to direct shoppers to what they need, but we’re going to be encouraging everyone to walk all the aisles and visit all of you!”

  Aspen took the list as it was handed to her and scanned it to see what other vendors were going to be selling. There were a lot of cakes and cookies listed along with holiday home décor, candles, ornaments, and centerpieces. As she continued to read, it amazed her at what an eclectic even
t it was going to be. There were going to be artists and musicians, clothing vendors, and even someone with livestock for those who wanted a “fresh” holiday dinner.

  Okay, that one made her shudder a little, but she checked off her name and saw that everything was correct and breathed a sigh of relief that there were no other chocolatiers on the list. With a smile, she passed the list to the woman beside her and put her focus back on Erika’s presentation.

  An hour later, they were done with the informative session and everyone was invited to chat with each other while cocoa and cookies were served. Aspen could tell that everyone already knew one another and she felt more than a little out of sorts. She wished she had invited Mrs. Andrews to come with her just so she would have someone to talk to.

  So, she walked around, sipping her cocoa and nibbled on a sugar cookie and wondered if she should just go when…

  “Excuse me,” someone said as they tapped her on the shoulder. “Are you Aspen? The chocolatier?”

  Nodding, Aspen smiled. “I am. And you are…?”

  “Oh, right. Hi! I’m Melanie Stone,” the woman said. “My husband Josiah is the sheriff here in town and he heard about your work and I wanted to see if I could maybe order some candy from you. He’s got a huge sweet tooth and I would love to surprise him with some if you’re taking orders.”

  Aspen knew her eyes must have gone a little wide, but she quickly forced herself to relax. “Well, um…I hadn’t given it much thought but…sure! What does he like?”

  “Hmm…it might be easier to mention what he doesn’t like,” Melanie replied with a small laugh. “Actually, he loves it all, but he’s particularly fond of dark chocolate and coconut. Does that help?”

  “It does! I don’t have anything prepared but I could have something for you by say…Thursday?”

  “That would be great. Thank you so much!” They exchanged phone numbers and Aspen was about to walk away when Melanie made one more request. “Um…okay, I’m just tossing something out here but…I’m an author. I write romances.”

  “Oh, my goodness! How fun!”

  Melanie’s smile grew. “Thanks. So I’m going to be signing books at the festival and I always have some goodies at my table and…” She paused and shook her head. “Never mind. It’s probably wrong to even ask.”

  “No, it’s okay. Go ahead.”

  “Well…I was going to ask if you could make some chocolate hearts or something like that for me to have at the table. You could totally put your name and logo on the packaging and I’ll send them over to you, but I just thought it could be something fun and different to offer readers.” Then she cringed a little. “Am I being too pushy? Would that be taking customers away from you?”

  The bark of laughter was out before she could stop it. “Are you kidding me? If anything, it will definitely send people to my booth! I think we can totally work something out! How many would you like?”

  Now it was Melanie’s turn to go wide-eyed. “Um…a couple of dozen at least, right?”

  Don’t get too excited…don’t get too excited…

  “I think that should be work,” she said calmly.

  “You work up the numbers on what you want to charge and when we meet up on Thursday, you can let me know. Will that work?”

  “Charge you? But…you’ll be sending people my way. I can’t possibly charge you!”

  Reaching out, Melanie hugged her. “You are incredibly sweet, but it wouldn’t be right for me to just take them from you. So work up a price that you think is fair and we’ll talk on Thursday.” And before she could say anything else, Melanie was waving to someone across the room and saying goodbye.

  “Holy crap,” she whispered to herself. “I think I just made my first official sale.”

  And the only person she wanted to share that with was Gabe.

  Putting her mug down on the nearest surface, Aspen quickly made her way across the room and out of the building, slipping her coat back on as she went. It would be crazy to run down the street, but it was exactly what she wanted to do. All around her music was playing and people waved at her, but all she could focus on was getting to the tree lot.

  Five minutes later, she spotted Gabe’s red knit cap and saw he was loading a tree onto the roof of a car. She stopped in her tracks and watched as he laughed and tied the tree in place. He looked rugged and happy and…sexy.

  What the…?

  Okay, now was so not the time to think about that or the kiss they shared last night, but…there it was.

  Sexy.

  Gabe was sexy.

  There. I said it.

  Or…thought it.

  Groaning, she moved over to one of the red wooden benches across the street from the lot and simply…watched.

  It would be a total lie if she said she’d never thought about things happening between the two of them, but now that they’d kissed? It scared her. A lot. Like…way more than she thought.

  They hadn’t seen each other today except from a distance, and now she worried that things were going to be weird between them.

  Which was the last thing she needed right now.

  He was her rock. Her anchor. And right now with all this exciting stuff happening with her little chocolate venture, she needed his support and friendship more than ever.

  Across the street, the tree was secured, and the people were thanking him and Aspen knew it was possible he’d see her sitting there any minute.

  Maybe I’m overreacting, she thought. Maybe it was just a kiss and we’re both adults and it’s no big deal. Sometimes people kiss.

  There. That was logical.

  Of course it didn’t mean that it was going to stop her from wondering what it would be like to really kiss Gabe–like with teeth, and tongues, and passion.

  The need to fan herself was strong and she wanted to smack herself in the head because it was twenty degrees out.

  Letting out a long breath, she knew she had to get herself under control before she walked across the street. He knew her so well that he’d be able to tell she was embarrassed or worse, exactly what she was thinking about.

  With a curt little nod, she firmly told herself no more thinking about last night’s kiss.

  No more thinking about future kisses.

  And lastly…

  Gabe spotted her and smiled broadly as he waved at her and her heart simply skipped a beat.

  And all she wanted to do was run over and grab his face and kiss him.

  Things just got complicated.

  Two nights later, it was after eleven when Gabe found himself staring up at the ceiling again. He was tired, his body hurt from a long day of moving trees, and yet he couldn’t seem to relax. It was like he kept waiting for the other shoe to drop–for Aspen to call him out for kissing her. It was such a breach of their friendship and every time he thought about it, he wondered what the hell he had been thinking.

  Liar.

  Okay, he knew exactly what he was thinking and, given the chance, he’d probably screw up and do it again.

  Which was why he was doing everything humanly possible to avoid being alone with her.

  Fortunately, she was deep in chocolate-making mode and didn’t have a lot of free time so that was one obstacle cleared. But that wasn’t going to last forever. Eventually he was going to have to face her and they were going to have to talk about…it.

  Right now, however, he was more than happy that things were going well for Aspen with her chocolate business. It seemed like word of her creations had spread around town because people were coming to the tree lot and asking more about the candy than the trees! More than once, someone had come to get a chocolate sample and bought the tree as an afterthought! His father was loving it and Gabe had to admit, it was a pretty cool marketing tactic.

  That’s when inspiration struck…

  They had already shot a short video for the website that simply talked about the business of growing Christmas trees and how it’s been a staple of Silver Bell Falls for
so many years, but…what if they did one for fun? One that showcased both the trees and the candy? It would be great visibility for Aspen and by putting it up on social media, it had the potential to draw even more customers to the lot! It was an almost foolproof plan!

  Sitting up, Gabe reached over for his phone which was charging on his nightstand and shared his idea with Aspen.

  Gabe: What are your thoughts on being part of a promotional video for the lot?

  * * *

  Aspen: You mean like as an extra? Pretending to be a customer?

  * * *

  Gabe: No. Like promoting the chocolates.

  * * *

  Aspen: …

  When she didn’t respond right away, he knew she was either not comfortable with the idea or covered in chocolate.

  And was it wrong that his mind went a little to the gutter and envisioned licking the chocolate off of her fingers?

  Aspen: I don’t know, Gabe…

  * * *

  Gabe: It won’t take long. Just a couple of takes of you with the display and showing some of your pieces. Like a mini showcase of your work

  * * *

  Aspen: I guess it could work

  * * *

  Gabe: But…?

  * * *

  Aspen: Can you come down here? I want to show you something

  Well, I walked right into that one, didn’t I?

  Gabe: I’ll be down in a few