Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Jax
“Welcome to the ninth annual Christmas cookie bake-off!” Mom throws her arms out in grandeur, her eyes gleaming with joy.
I take a beat to soak in this moment. Ten years ago, our Christmases were spent trying to keep my dad at home and off his phone or computer long enough to enjoy a family holiday that wasn’t tainted by gambling or booze.
The gambling in and of itself wasn’t so bad, but when he lost a bet, he’d start drinking, and when he drank, he’d start throwing punches.
I’m relieved to have the comfort of friends and family around me now. I have an amazing girlfriend, even if I can’t share that with everyone yet. My best friend is back for the longest he’s ever come home since he left, and everyone I care about is safe, happy, healthy, and in one place.
“I’d like to introduce our guest judges this evening: Bennett Rhodes, Lacey Rhodes, Nana Rhodes, and Carol Greer.
” Mom can hardly contain her excitement.
Since there are new competitors this year, we decided it would be fun to have a full judges’ panel.
The Rhodes family seemed to make the most sense since Lauren and Charlie were already competing.
Plus, Nana Rhodes has been begging to be a part of this for years.
“Bennett, do you care to share with the contestants what they will be judged on today?”
“I would love to, Aimee. Thank you.” Mr. Rhodes stands from his place at our dining room table, now deemed the judges’ booth. Sporting a bright smile, he has a little more life in his eyes than a week ago when Lauren was trying to keep him away from the water tank fiasco.
“Today, my fellow judges and I will be choosing a winner based on creativity, holiday festivity, presentation, and, of course, taste.”
As soon as Mr. Rhodes takes his seat, his wife stands. I bet they rehearsed this at home. I’m sure it was hilarious to watch.
“You will have three hours to make your creations. During that time, the judges will leave the baking area so as not to be swayed by anything that goes into each individual process.”
“Plus, three hours is a long damn time to just sit here and watch y’all,” Nana Rhodes adds.
“What my mother-in-law said.” Mrs. Rhodes gestures in Nana Rhodes’s direction, a smile spreading across her face as she takes a seat.
Nana Rhodes stands up proudly. “While there are no rules for this bake-off, we do—” She pauses and glances at her fellow judges.
“Do I really need to say ‘request’? That sounds kind of lame. I’m not going to say that.
” She swats a hand. “Essentially, don’t intentionally sabotage anyone and make sure to share the oven because y’all are limited on time. ”
Aunt Carol stands from her spot once Nana Rhodes has sat down. “If you need anything from the store, you can contact one of the judges, and we can pick it up. Good luck and happy baking, y’all!”
We quickly disperse into separate corners of the kitchen and dining room while each team plots their creation.
“Please tell me you came with some good ideas, Mr. Hollywood.”
Charlie rolls his eyes. “Just because I came from LA doesn’t mean I’m going to have brilliant ideas, but yes I came prepared.”
“What do you got?”
“I’m thinking we do a spinoff of my Nana and Papa’s love story. They met at Christmastime in a Christmas tree lot. It’s easy to pull off, it’s got some creativity and a plot line that will tug at the judges’ heartstrings.”
“I like it. What do you think, Rhett?” I glance up at the man who is quietly standing opposite me.
While setting up, we determined four teams would be too many if we only had one oven to share, so Mom and Aunt Carol offered to take a step back this year, likely because they knew they didn’t stand a chance.
They’ve quite frankly never been a threat.
Then Rhett joined Charlie and me, and Olivia joined Lauren and Callie.
“I like it.” Rhett nods. “We’re going to crush the girls if they go with Olivia’s idea. She wanted to do some sort of Christmas version of Resilient Paws. I told her she needs to learn how to stop working when she’s not at work.” He shakes his head, but there’s an affectionate smile on his face.
Despite Rhett being difficult to read, no one has ever doubted he loves Olivia. A lot. I point an accusatory finger at him and ask, “How do we know you aren’t working for the other side?”
He shrugs. “I guess you can’t know for certain, but I’m telling you now, as much as I love that woman, I still want to crush her.”
I glance at Charlie, wordlessly asking, should we trust him?
Charlie beams and offers his hand for Rhett to shake. “I like this guy! You’ll be a nice addition to the team this year.”
We start mixing the dough for the sugar cookies, plain and chocolate because Rhett insisted the chocolate will be great for turning into Christmas trees.
He orders us around the kitchen, and we grab supplies for Rhett as he asks for them. As much as it hurts my ego to be his servant, I can put aside my feelings of inadequacy for a moment if it means beating the girls at this competition.
“Okay, I think this first batch can be cut and put into the oven. Just bake them for eight minutes. We can cook them for a maximum of twelve, but we need to check them early. I don’t know how hot the oven runs,” Rhett instructs.
“Pretty hot. Our stuff gets burnt every year.”
“That’s because you don’t have a single baking bone in your body,” I say to Charlie.
“That’s not true! I bake delicious chocolate muffins. Ask Callie.”
I glance over to the girls’ group as Lauren tosses her head back in laughter, and I forget what I’m doing for a second. I love to see her so happy. She’s the most gorgeous girl I’ve ever met, inside and out, and her laughter is so infectious—
“Jax? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were staring at my sister.”
I go pale and immediately try to hide it by turning my focus down to the cookie dough as I stick one of the Christmas tree cutters into it and wiggle it around a little.
“I was just going to ask you how being around Callie has been, but I got distracted because I thought I heard the girls say something about their idea.”
“We’re already committed. We can’t change things now,” Rhett mumbles as he mixes up the plain cookie dough.
Charlie doesn’t look up from his chore of cutting dough. “It’s been fine. She hasn’t said a word to me besides hello, but I guess I should’ve expected that.”
“I’m sorry, man.”
“It’s all good.” Charlie tosses a hand. “It’s not like I expected anything different from her.”
“You just let me know if you change your mind. I’m happy to play wingman again, especially for you two.”
“You’d do that?” His eyes are shining.
“Of course. I like Callie. We’ve stayed friends since you left.”
“What?” The shine in his eyes is gone as they narrow.
“It’s nothing more than a very platonic friendship. Don’t worry. I think we trauma-bonded a little over you leaving.” I meant it as a joke, but the look of horror on Charlie’s face shows it didn’t land well. I guess I should shut up now.
He finishes placing cookies on the first parchment paper–lined sheet, and swivels from the counter to put them in the oven.
I thrust an arm into his chest. “How about I put them in? Wouldn’t want you forgetting to set a timer. We can’t overbake these if we are going to beat the girls. They have Callie’s baking skills and feminine charm on their side.”
He squints at me like I spoke to him in a foreign language. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“In case you missed it, three-fourths of the judges’ panel is made up of women.
You know when your sister does something, and you’re just like what the hell?
” He immediately nods. “Well, the only one who’s going to be thinking that with us is your dad.
The rest of the panel will be wrapped around their finger because they’ll just get it. ”
He purses his lips. “Shit.”
“Yeah.” I take the cookies and move toward the oven. Lauren is also heading that way, and when her gaze meets mine, she presses her lips together to blow me a kiss. I bite my lip, trying to hide my smile, and trip over my own damn feet. The cookies go flying off the tray and onto the floor.
“What are you doing?” Charlie shouts, his voice strained. He’s never done well with competition.
Lauren slips her cookies into the oven and then crouches down to the floor to help me pick up my mess. “It’s okay. I’ll help him.”
“No way.” Charlie inserts himself between us. “He doesn’t need help from the enemy.”
“Chill out, Char. I’m not going to sabotage your cookies.” Lauren plucks a few off the floor. “They already need to be thrown in the garbage.”
“They might not be. The judges didn’t see them on the floor. Throw ’em in there. The oven will kill any germs.”
Rhett moves into the scene. “Those are not going into the oven. Throw them away. We have plenty of dough, and I can make a half batch in less than five minutes if we need to.”
“Fine.” Charlie crosses his arms, pouting like a five-year-old as he stomps back to our station.
Lauren dumps a handful of broken trees on the baking sheet where I’ve been collecting them.
“I see you’re trying to get in my head,” I note quietly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She continues picking at the floor, gathering up every last crumb.
“I’m going to report you for sabotage. You can’t distract me like that. You know I’m a complete fool for you.”
She bites her lip as her cheeks flush. “You know I love to hear that, but I didn’t do anything.”
“Yes, you did. You did it on purpose.”
“Even if I did, you can’t report me to the judges. How would you explain it to them?”
She’s got me there.
“You’re the devil.” I get up from my spot crouched on the floor.
“No, I’m a perfect angel, remember?”
Lauren bats her eyes, looking way too satisfied with herself. I’ll show her. She wants to play? Game on.
I dump the cookies in the garbage before retreating to our spot at the counter. Charlie has almost filled another cookie sheet already.
“Please tell me you saw what they’re making?” Charlie says when I join them.
“No, but the girls are playing dirty, and we need to retaliate.”
Charlie’s face glows with excitement. “I’m in.”
The two of us glance in Rhett’s direction, and he shrugs. “Oh, what the hell? I’m in too. Olivia won’t let me live it down if they win.”