20. Chapter Twenty #2
A little smile played at the corner of her lips. “So, you heard about that.”
“I might have. I might also have been shown some pictures of the castle-like structure that you built. It was impressive. I can see why you won.”
She let out a little laugh. “Thanks.”
“So, I’ll stay and build a gingerbread house if you will.” He looked expectantly at her.
She didn’t say anything. She was torn about what to do.
As though he could tell she was on the fence about the decision, he said, “We should make this interesting.”
“What do you have in mind?” She was almost afraid to know the answer.
“We’ll make a wager.” He paused as though he could just pluck the idea from the air. “How about this? We each have to pick what place we’ll finish. If my number is closest, you have to go have some hot cocoa with me at the Kringle Cup Café. If you win, I’ll leave you alone to enjoy your holidays.”
Ouch. She wasn’t so sure she wanted to win this contest, but she wouldn’t mind spending some more time with him. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
He blew out a breath. “Good. You have to name what place we’ll come in.”
She paused to give it some thought. Parker appeared to have never done this before. That would put her at a disadvantage. “I think we’ll place third.”
His brows rose in surprise. “You seem pretty confident.”
“I am. How do you think we’ll do?”
He pursed his lips, as though giving the decision some serious consideration. “I think we’ll place seventh.”
“You don’t have much faith in our abilities, do you?”
Before he could answer that question, Merry stepped up on the little stage at the end of the room.
“Welcome, everyone, to our annual gingerbread house decorating contest. As you noticed, we’ve switched things up a bit this year.
Everyone has a partner so those houses should be twice as nice.
You can use anything on your table to create your amazing gingerbread house.
You’ll have two hours to create it. And now because I know you all are anxious to get started… Begin. And good luck.”
A frown pulled at Belle’s lips as she looked around. Everyone was already busy assembling their houses. She was going to have to plan quickly and implement even faster.
“What’s wrong?”
She glanced over at Parker, and their gazes caught and held a moment longer than was necessary. It made her heart skip a beat. Heat rushed up her neck and settled in her cheeks. She glanced away.
She’d meant to ask him something, but she couldn’t recall what it was. Maybe that was because her heart was now racing, and all she could think about was how good he looked with the scruff trailing down his strong jawline and that cream-colored sweater paired with a pair of faded jeans.
“Belle?”
Oh. Right. Focus. And then it came to her what she’d been about to ask him. Her gaze lifted and briefly met his. “Do you have a pen?”
He smiled. “This sheriff always has a pen.” He reached into his coat and produced a pen. As he handed it to her, he asked, “What do you need it for?”
“This.” And then she started to draw on the disposable white tablecloth.
He leaned in closer. “What are you drawing?”
“An octagon.”
“I know I’m going to regret asking this but why?”
“Because our house has to be distinct to win. So maybe an igloo house.” She continued to draw out her idea.
After she’d drawn most of it, he said, “Don’t you think that’s a lot of pieces to hold together. And the roof… It looks complicated.”
She hated to admit it, but he was right. With a frustrated huff, she leaned back in her chair. She needed something easy but would give the appearance of being complicated.
“I’m sorry.” His voice held a conciliatory tone. “Your plan looks amazing. I just don’t know if I can help you build something so intricate. Sometimes, I’m all thumbs.”
“You’re right. It’s too complicated for the time we have to build it.” And time was ticking.
She had another idea. She pointed to the table. “Take all of the candies off that baking pan.”
As he followed her instructions, he asked, “Why?”
“You’ll see.” She grabbed the scissors and started to cut a portion of the paper tablecloth.
Parker gave her a puzzled look, but she ignored him as she continued to work. Once everything was off the metal baking pan, she turned it over. Then she smeared some of the white frosting on it before adhering the paper table cloth to it.
“What is this?” Parker peered at the beginning of her creation.
“This is going to be the yard for our gingerbread house. With only two hours to complete it, I can’t go all fancy with the house design, so I thought we could embellish the yard.”
“Are we allowed to do that?”
“She said we could use anything on the table, didn’t she?”
He nodded, but he still didn’t look convinced.
“Do you want me to ask Merry?”
He hesitated. Then he shook his head. “Let’s do this.”
Instead of debating the right and wrong of spending her evening with Parker, she just let herself enjoy the time. She already knew he was good in the kitchen, so it wasn’t a big surprise that he was helpful building the gingerbread house.
Although, there was a part of her that didn’t want to make the house too fancy. She found herself not wanting to win their bet. The thought of Parker avoiding her left a sour feeling in the pit of her stomach.
So, was it a total accident or did she subconsciously make a mistake when she cut the walls of the house? And then when she went to put the walls together, she didn’t use enough frosting, and the walls fell down. One of the walls cracked in half. Thankfully, they had more gingerbread.
These mistakes were so unlike her because she was good at cake decorating. But every time she glanced over at Parker, she would lose her train of thought, and her stomach would dip. She inwardly groaned. This was going to be a long evening if she had to redo every step.