20. Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty
H is idea was taking shape.
Parker looked down at the polished pieces of colored glass. He’d used an old rock tumbler he’d found in his parents’ garage to smooth out the sharp edges. He wished it was as easy to smooth out his relationship with Belle.
He’d been working every evening on this project.
He intended to make something special out of broken ornaments.
He’d bought clear glass ornaments and a low-heat glue gun.
After sanding the glass to roughen up the surface for better adhesion, he’d adhered various shaped bits of colored glass to the ornament.
He wanted the ornaments to be perfect for Belle. He wanted to pay homage to the heirloom ornaments that once graced Belle’s tree.
Knowing it would be impossible to cover the entire ornament in glass fragments, he’d gone to the craft store to buy fine white glitter glue. He used it like sparkly grout between the shards of glass.
He’d been working on the project every chance he had.
At last, he was working on the final ornament.
He only had a few more pieces of glass to glue to the ornament.
He picked up a green bit of glass and, using the glue gun, he dabbed some glue on the base and then pressed the green glass to it.
He held it for a few seconds to make sure the glue took hold.
He just set the ornament down in order to choose another piece of polished glass when his phone rang. It was probably work. He was used to them calling him after hours with questions. To him, being the sheriff wasn’t a nine to five job. It was a way of life. And he loved what he did.
He put his phone on speaker as he worked to clean up the annoying glue strands. “Bishop.”
“Parker, is that you?” a female voice asked.
“Yes. Who is this?”
“Oh, sorry. It’s Merry Kringle.”
“Hello, Mrs. Kringle. What can I do for you?”
“We have a problem, and we need your help.”
He stopped cleaning up his mess. Suddenly, he slipped into his sheriff persona. He picked up the phone and pressed it to his ear. “Did you call nine-one-one?”
“Uh, no. It’s not that serious.”
He sighed in relief. “But you need me?”
“Yes. Please.”
He couldn’t imagine what she wanted his assistance for if it had nothing to do with his sheriff duties. “Could you tell me what this pertains to?”
“Uh…” It sounded like someone was speaking to her in the background, but the voices were muffled, as though the phone was covered. “Parker, I have to go. If you could come to the community center right away, I would greatly appreciate it.” And then the phone went dead.
He lowered his phone. The community center? It took him a moment to remember, but there was a Christmas event taking place there that evening. What in the world had gone wrong that they would need him?
With a sigh, he unplugged the glue gun. He only had a few more pieces of glass to attach to the last ornament. He would work on it when he got back. He still had to add the glitter glue and then seal them. He would have to keep at it since Christmas was just a couple days away.
Just in and out.
That was Belle’s plan when she arrived at the community center.
Sure, she’d signed up for the gingerbread house competition, but that had been before the dognapping and before she’d ruined things between herself and Parker.
Now, she just wasn’t in the Christmas spirit.
There was this hollow spot in her chest and nothing seemed to fill it.
She just wanted to go home and curl up on the couch with Odie. Instead of Christmas movies, maybe she’d watch some romcoms. Then again maybe she’d watch a crime drama. Yes, that sounded much better.
As she approached the door of the community center, it opened before she reached it, and two teenagers barreled past her. They didn’t seem to notice her. She grabbed the door handle before the door could close.
When she stepped inside, she was surprised to see so many people.
Christmas music playing in the background got lost in the murmur of voices.
People were festively dressed in ugly Christmas sweaters, reindeer antlers, and a couple had on Rudolph noses.
She felt underdressed in her snowflake sweater.
She reminded herself she wasn’t staying, so it didn’t matter.
With the bags of pretzels in each of her hands, she headed for the kitchen area. As she worked her way through the room, numerous people stopped her and asked about Odie. She was so grateful to be able to tell them he was doing well. Each day he was a little more like himself.
When she made it to the busy kitchen, she held up the bags. “I have the pretzels.”
Merry smiled at her. “Thank you so much for picking those up. I appreciate it.”
“Not a problem. But I should be going.”
“Going? But you signed up for the contest.” Merry held up a clipboard and pointed. “I have your name right here.”
Belle inwardly groaned as she pasted on a smile. “I forgot about that. But I’m sure nobody will notice if I skip out.”
“Oh. But you’re wrong. Your partner will notice.”
“Partner?”
Merry nodded. “We decided to switch things up this year. We’re having two-person teams to work on each house.”
There had to be a way out of this. Belle grasped for the first excuse she could come up with. “But I don’t have a partner.”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry. We matched people.
In fact, your partner is at…” She glanced at the clipboard.
“You can find him at table thirty-four.” And then Merry checked her gold wristwatch.
“You better get to your seat. The competition starts in five minutes.” When Belle didn’t immediately move, Merry said, “Go ahead. I can’t wait to see what you create this year. ”
Before she could respond, Merry moved away to speak to her husband.
Belle’s gaze moved to the counter closest to her.
There were bowls of colorful gumdrops, peppermints in both red and green, and so many other candies.
She had to admit that she could decorate a mighty fine gingerbread house with all of that.
In fact, last year she won this very contest.
“Hey, Belle.” When she turned, Candi smiled at her. “Are you going to participate?”
“I’m thinking about it.” She glanced around. “Is Holly here too?”
“I haven’t seen her. She might be home with Tater Tot,” Candi said. “You should stay. I need some real competition.”
Belle continued to hesitate. She thought of Odie, who’d been outside for a short walk in the snow, and had his dinner was waiting for him when he woke up. He would be good for a little while.
And maybe this was what she needed to get her holiday spirit back. Yes. This was exactly what she needed.
“Okay. I’ll participate, but I have to warn you that I’m going to win.” She sent Candi a teasing grin.
Candi’s eyes widened, and then she smiled. “We’ll see about that.”
Belle glanced around the room. “I just have to find my table and find out who they partnered me with. I’ll see you later.”
As Belle walked away, her gaze scanned the numbers on the center of the tables. She was midway to the back of the large room when her gaze strayed across number thirty. She was in the right area. She picked up her pace.
She spotted thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three and at last she spotted thirty-four. She lifted her gaze to see who she’d been partnered with. Her gaze met mesmerizing brown eyes. Her heart fluttered in her chest. It was Parker.
Part of her said to turn around and leave, but the other part of her wanted to know why he was sitting at her table. Her feet made the decision for her when they started in Parker’s direction.
When she reached the table, she asked, “What are you doing here?”
“To tell you the truth, I’m not sure. I got a call from Mrs. Kringle that they needed me here.
But when I arrived, no one knew why she’d called me.
When I tracked down Mrs. Kringle, she said that everything was taken care of and that since I was here, they needed one more person for the gingerbread contest. And you know how she can be.
The next thing I knew I was sitting here. ”
Belle pulled out a chair and sat down. “That’s pretty much how I ended up here too. Except my story involves pretzel sticks.” And then she recalled the roses. “Thank you for the roses. They’re beautiful.”
“How’d you know they were from me?”
She shrugged. “You’re the only one I know who would do something that sweet.”
He smiled. “I’m glad you liked them.”
Just then a bowl of the pretzel sticks she’d bought for Merry was placed on the already crowded table.
“Pretzels, huh?” In a perfectly straight face, Parker asked, “So, are we allowed to eat the decorations?”
She couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not. Then he grinned at her, and they both let out a little laugh. It felt good. She hadn’t laughed all week. Maybe she’d been missing him more than she’d been willing to admit to anyone, including herself.
Parker reached out and took a pretzel. The next thing she knew, it was in his mouth.
“Parker, stop. You can’t eat the decorations. They won’t give us anymore.”
Parker looked at the bowl. “I didn’t know.” Then his attention turned to her. “So, does this mean we’re doing this?”
She eyed up the table, noticing that they’d included Twizzlers this year and a few other candies. She did have a title to defend after all. And she liked the idea of spending a little time with Parker.
Before she could change her mind, she nodded her head. “Let’s do it.”
The smile slipped from his face. “In all fairness, I must confess that I have no experience with frosting.”
She suddenly worried that this was his excuse to get out of the contest. “It’s okay. You don’t have to build the gingerbread house. You can go.”
There was a momentary look of relief on his handsome face. But soon it was replaced with worry lines. “But what about you?”
She shrugged. “Maybe I’ll go home to Odie.”
“But you can’t. You have a title to defend.”