Chapter 23
CHAPTER 23
JULIET
J uliet dug her hands into the chilled cookie dough, still reeling from last night’s conversation with Nate. Would he really accept Luke’s job offer and stay in Poppy Creek? She’d tried to put the possibility out of her mind all morning to focus on editing her manuscript. She’d even brainstormed dozens of different backstories for Nick, but each time she tried to make changes to his character, the whole story felt off somehow.
Distracted and frustrated, she’d abandoned her laptop in favor of butter, eggs, and flour. She’d read somewhere that basic manual tasks could help reset the brain. Maybe baking sugar cookies would be the cure she needed?
With a satisfying thwack , she slapped the rolling pin against the ball of dough, pressing with a little more force than necessary. Ah. The motion offered more stress relief than she’d expected. She continued to drag the rolling pin back and forth, letting her mind wander.
What if I wrote Nick as a Christmas tree farmer with debilitating pollen allergies? Or an artisan baker who suddenly develops a gluten intolerance? Or a dog groomer who can’t handle pet dander?
Juliet groaned at her feeble attempts to change Nick’s backstory and still maintain a compelling character. Besides, A Dog Groomer’s Christmas Promise didn’t have quite the same ring to it.
The clatter of the rolling pin against the counter drew her attention to the task at hand. She’d rolled the dough so thin she could see the wood grain of the butcher block. Great. Time to start over.
She scraped the dough back into a ball with her bare hands, relishing the tactile sensation of the soft, spongy texture. For fun, she formed the dough into three circular mounds, stacking them like a snowman.
“Cute. Not sure how evenly it’ll bake, though.” Nate stood in the doorway, gazing at her with the most adorable grin.
At the mere sight of him, all the stress drained from her body, replaced by an intense longing to be held by him, to bask in his comforting presence.
As if on cue, he bridged the divide and pulled her into his arms. She melted into him, inhaling his soothing scent while simultaneously blinking back tears. They’d only just found each other. If he stayed in Poppy Creek, how would she survive being separated?
“I’ve missed you,” he said softly into her hair.
The last few days, he’d been beyond supportive, giving her ample time and space to write without a single complaint.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, she murmured, “Missed you, too.” And if he moved to Poppy Creek, she’d go on missing him. “How are the sets coming along?” she asked, avoiding the one question she really wanted to ask. And what about the job? He’d tell her when he was ready.
“Great. All finished! In fact, Luke said to tell you he plans to swing by soon to grab a copy of the play, so Cassie can make copies for the kids.”
“Oh, right! Of course.” She’d texted Cassie that morning to tell her she’d finished. She glanced at her sticky hands. “I’ll just quickly wash up.”
“Want me to grab it for you?”
“You don’t mind?”
“Nope. And I accept cookies as a form of payment.”
“Deal.” She grinned. “My laptop is wirelessly connected to Frank’s printer, so all you have to do is pull up the file and hit Print.”
“I think I can handle that.”
“A man of many talents,” she teased. “The file is labeled School Christmas Pageant . It’s on my desktop.”
“Got it.” He pressed a quick kiss to her forehead before striding out of the kitchen.
“The login password for the laptop is charles dickens . Two words, all lowercase,” she called after him, blissfully aware that she trusted him completely.