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“I’m not so sure this will work,” she mused out loud.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll see Ryan later, and he’ll work on my knee. An hour or so sitting here won’t kill me.”
She met his warm gaze. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” He sat down, then looked at Hope. “Good afternoon, Miss Hope.”
A demure expression filtered across her daughter’s face. “Good afternoon, Mr. Walker.” She held up the cookie cutter in his honor. “This is yours. You can cut out as many as you want, but make sure you get some good Christmas ones in too.” She nodded once as if to dot the end of her speech.
“I can do that.” He looked around Bebe’s house. “Where arethe decorations? I thought you’d be all decked out, as much as you talk about the love of Christmas.”
Bebe sighed as she took a Christmas tree cutter and began to make cuts in the rolled-out dough. “It’s on my list to do this weekend.”
“We should decorate tonight,” Hope exclaimed. “We have help now. You do want to help, right?” She stared at Jay expectantly.
“I’d love to.” He smirked at Bebe. “Do you want my help,friend?”
She knew exactly what he was doing. Yet seeing his friendly expression with that hint of teasing didn’t churn her stomach into knots. No, she actually felt like they were friends again. For some reason, Bebe had to battle against tears at the sweet thought.I missed this.
She turned away, clearing her throat. “Sure. That would be helpful ...friend.”
Nothing more was said as they listened to Toni Braxton sing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Bebe looked around the kitchen island, and her breath caught. Hope had a look of pure concentration as she switched out different cookie cutters. And Jay—well, Jay was staring right at Bebe.
Her cheeks warmed, and she averted her gaze to the cookies. “Guess I should get some of these in the oven.”
“Will you ice and decorate them when they’ve cooled off?” Jay asked.
“Mm-hmm.”Why was it so hot in here all of a sudden?
It wasn’t like she’d never seen a man staring at her. In fact, she’d caught Jahleel looking at her many times before.Yeah, in the past. But y’all have moved on from that. You’re here now, in the present, and that wasn’t a look you give a friend.
She swallowed. But they’d already agreed nothing would happen between them. They’d stay in their lanes—individual lanes, of course—and when he went back to Texas, that would be that.Her heart would be completely safe because there was no romance brewing. How could a person fall while making cookies?
You can’t. You’re just doing a festive activity tohelp him see the joy of Christmas once more.
Right. Feeling better, Bebe put the first batch into the oven and set the kitchen timer.
“Okay, should we decorate the house while the cookies bake?” she asked.
“Yes!” Hope squealed and jumped up. “I know where the bin is. I’ll bring it out.”
“It might be too heavy, Hope.”
“Then I’ll push it, Mama.” Hope rolled her eyes as if annoyed by Bebe’s obvious lack of common sense.
Instead of being offended, Bebe chuckled. She turned to Jay. “Want to sit on the couch and get that leg elevated?”
“How can I help decorate if I’m sitting?”
“You can hand out the ornaments. Make sure nothing looks crooked.”
He nodded. “Okay. I’ll be the DJ as well.”
“Hey, what’s wrong with Toni Braxton?” She placed her hands on her hips.
“‘This Christmas’ by Chris Brown is better. I mean, he even starred in a Christmas movie.”
“Okay, I like that song, but Toni is classic. Who doesn’t like her voice?”
