Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
SAMANTHA
D id anything smell better than cookies baking? Especially when those cookies were molasses – Sam’s very favorite. She hadn’t had them in a long time, and that rich smell sure took her back. The cookies also diverted her attention from her throbbing ankle. To Aunt Cate’s delight, Marlowe had found a roll of molasses dough. Now they were rolling out the first batch. “Not too thin,” Aunt Cate reminded her.
“I like them thick too.” Sam was standing next to a kitchen chair, her knee resting on the seat to relieve the pressure on her ankle. Keeping busy was the best antidote for any type of pain, or so she’d learned. They wanted to have the cookies finished so that they could all decorate them together the next morning on Christmas Eve. Marlowe was holed up in her bedroom, working with the movies they hoped to watch that night.
Aunt Cate had spread out the cookie cutters on the kitchen counter. A Christmas tree, a star, Santa with his pack of toys, and of course, the gingerbread man and the angel. The cookie cutters may have been tucked away for many years, but Sam still remembered the day her mother had found them in a Charlevoix shop. Each girl had been able to pick out their favorite, and Sam’s had been the tree. If memory served her, Izzy went nuts over the angel with wings and Marlowe liked the gingerbread man. “He’s a brave little guy, crossing that river on the fox.”
Sure, Sam’s foot still throbbed. Although she’d tried taking ibuprophen for the pain, it hadn’t seemed to work. She wanted to keep that to herself because no way did she want to get stuck in an urgent care center during the holidays. If it was sprained, it would heal. She had to tough it out.
When the front doorbell rang, they both looked at each other. “Who could that be?” Aunt Cate wiped her hands on the apron that said, “Christmas calories don’t count.” She had some cookie dough in her hair and smudge on her cheek. Her aunt looked cute as could be.
“Probably Amazon delivering more packages.” Directing her eyes to her aunt, Sam tried to stare her down, but Aunt Cate wasn’t having it.
“Samantha, I thought we agreed that we weren’t going to get each other gifts.”
What could Sam say? Despite her injury and everything else, she was getting into the Christmas mood…and didn’t that include gifts? Late at night she could hear the sound of a scissors on wrapping paper coming from her aunt’s room.
The front doorbell rang again. “Well I guess I better get that.” And Aunt Cate bustled out the door and down the hallway. She was wearing her pink slippers and they slapped the heels of her feet as she walked.
Sam hated being an invalid like this. After all, she’d come here to help. But Marlowe seemed to have picked up most of the work.
Although she heard some mumbling at the door, she couldn’t make out the words. Was it Amazon? The door closed and then it sounded as if her aunt was wheeling something down the hall. Soon she appeared in the doorway with a big grin on her face. “Will you look at this?” She pushed something into the kitchen.
“What is it?” The metal contraption had black wheels and handlebars extending down to a padded bench.
“The person who delivered said it was a scooter. A physician has ordered it for you. Let’s see.” Aunt Cate looked down at some paperwork in her hand and then pinned her with those questioning eyes. “Dr. McCall? Anyone you know?”
Oh, for heaven’s sake. “That’s Josh. You know, the friend who helped me out with my ankle. We saw him at Coffee and Cupcakes your first day here. How, um, considerate of him.” Why was she tripping over her own words?
Aunt Cate brought the scooter closer to Sam’s chair. “So I guess you kneel on it?”
“Looks like it.” While her aunt held the scooter, Sam positioned herself. The cushion under her knee felt good and took the pressure off her ankle. “I’ve seen people use these at the mall. I suppose Josh deals with them all the time. “
“My, oh my. You’ll have to thank him.” Her aunt had gone back to her cookie dough while Sam settled her left knee on the pad and grabbed the handlebars. Maneuvering it around the chairs, she reached the hall. Marlowe had suggested getting her a crutch. But Sam hated those things. This felt a lot better.
“Who was at the door?” Marlowe came skipping down the back steps. Then she saw Sam perched on the scooter. “When did you get that?”
“A medical supply company delivered it. I guess Josh ordered it for me. Pretty great, huh?”
“Ordering a medical supply for you?” Marlowe broke into a wicked smile. “That must be a new dating tactic. Kind of like sending flowers? So, is he your doctor now?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” By that time Sam had wheeled the scooter back into the kitchen with her sister right behind her. “But I really appreciate his consideration.”
“Oh, I think he’s more than considerate.” Marlowe had caught Aunt Cate’s attention and wasn’t letting go. “Maybe he’s sweet on you.”
Spatula in hand, Aunt Cate glanced over, interest lighting up her eyes. “Have I been missing something?”
“Remember when Sam was in high school?” Marlowe dove right in. “Josh McCall hung around her all the time. Practically camped out on the front porch, waiting for Sam.”
“That tall boy with a lot of hair?” Aunt Cate appeared to be thinking back. “Of course. But I didn’t recognize Josh at Coffee and Cupcakes.”
“Don’t be silly.” But Sam could feel herself blush. This was stupid, but true.
Marlowe wasn’t giving up. “Right, you didn’t see the way he looked at you while you were sipping your hot chocolate.” Then Marlowe saw the cookies spread out on the brown paper bags to cool. She quickly snatched a gingerbread man. “Mind if I sample one?”
Aunt Cate waved a warning spatula. “One. That’s all. They’re a lot better with the frosting. We’re going to do that tomorrow morning when Izzy is here.”
“I can’t wait until Holly is old enough to help us bake cookies.” Marlowe glanced over at Holly’s empty highchair.
“Me too.” Sam was having such a good time with that little girl. And she was relieved that the conversation had moved on from Josh.
“Looks like you’re having a good time with Holly.” Aunt Cate twisted the metal bowl from her mixer and put it in the sink to soak.
There was an undertone here. Okay, so Holly had been a total surprise…and so was her reaction to the baby. Sam would have to admit that at first she thought that Izzy adopting a little girl without having a partner was ridiculous. Raising a child was a huge responsibility. Too big for her baby sister. But that hadn’t been the way it turned out at all. “Izzy’s doing a great job.”
“And we can’t tell her that often enough,” Aunt Cate said, turning back to her mixing bowl. Grabbing the final hunk of dough, she plumped it into shape with her hands. Then she grabbed the rolling pin to roll it out, but not too thin. Sam liked the molasses cookies when they were thick and soft so her teeth could sink into them.
Because her sister always had to be doing something, Marlowe starting washing the cookie bowl. “What about you? You’re a natural with her. But you and Kurt never thought about being parents?”
This was dangerous territory. Drawing her thoughts together, Sam slipped from the scooter back into the chair. “Oh we thought about it, but we decided that our careers were more important.”
“Having your own company takes a lot of energy,” Aunt Cate pointed out.
She should have told them then about regretting that decision, but they were having such a good time together. Why ruin it by making them feel bad? Sam sniffed the air. “Am I smelling burnt cookies?”
Jumping up with a yelp, Aunt Cate grabbed her hot pads. That was the first time that Sam had ever shared that painful truth about the baby with anyone. To her surprise, it felt good to tell her family about Kurt’s affair, but she still intended to keep it private back in Chicago. She suspected that some of her associates were aware of Kurt’s cheating, although no one had ever mentioned it.
But who was she kidding? Maybe she’d been blind. Maybe they’d known about his girlfriend all the time and didn’t want to hurt her feelings. It felt good to have that painful truth out in the open with her family, more candid than she chose to be with her business associates. The new year was right around the bend. Aided by her family’s newly-found support, Sam was determined to somehow start fresh.
But how could she do that with her injured ankle wrapped in a bandage?