Epilogue
“Three, two, one!” The crowd cheered from behind Eliza.
She tightened her grip around a dramatically oversized pair of red scissors, the plastic handles comically bright against her flour-coated hands. Lachlan’s fingers settled over hers, his presence constantly grounding her to the spot as several camera shutters clattered in short bursts.
“Ready?” Piper called to them over her phone, her eyebrows raised expectantly as she held her camera high.
She was live on her TikTok, smiling into the camera as the hearts were already bubbling up the side of the screen.
She stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Hansel and Gretel, trying to coach them on how to “get the best angle.” Eliza’s parents were beside them, her dad grinning wide, and her mum wringing her hands the way she always did when she was fighting back tears.
On the other side, Lachlan’s mum and sister were leaning in so close that Eliza thought they might topple over any second.
They were all in the front row, eyes up front, and cameras set.
Every face on the street was turned toward them, as their little corner of London seemed to hold its breath for the grand opening.
Eliza took a deep breath and looked to the ribbon pulled taut against the double doors of her new bakery, Puffcake’s Pantry. On her shoulder, Puffcake balanced there like a crowned mascot, beaming between her and Lachlan, his chest puffed tall in his moment of fame.
The crimson ribbon fell away, and soon the inside of Eliza’s bakery was swarming with customers. It smelled of sugar, and frosting, and—best of all—Christmas.
By the register, several families gawked and pointed at the Gingerbread Snap Dragons lying on trays inside the glass container by the register. With Puffcake’s permission, Eliza had thought they were the perfect extra touch to her bakery’s selection.
She’d even made tiny little copies of the recipe from back at the cottage.
She bent down next to a little girl, her eyes wide with marvel as Eliza handed her the recipe card.
A little bag of glitter was tied to the recipe card.
“Here, take your dragon, and when you get home, sprinkle just a little bit of pixie dust on him. Then you’ll have your very own Puffcake! ”
The little girl jumped up and down, looking at her mother, eager to put the theory to the test.
Over in the corner, Eliza could see Lachlan trying to wrap up his visit with Piper, but she’d dragged him in on her TikTok live, talking about the bakery’s opening.
He made eye contact with Eliza and silently brought his hand across his throat in a slicing motion, but Piper didn’t notice because she was too busy rattling on and on about the shoppe.
Eliza just laughed, watching their interaction play out. They’d met as soon as Lachlan and Eliza had come home from their Christmas escapade. For New Year’s Eve, Lachlan had driven up to meet everyone.
He was extremely nervous, but as soon as they were around him, he meshed so well with them the way he did with everyone he met; it was like he’d known Piper and Eliza’s mum for years.
When he finally was able to break free from Piper, he made his way over to where Eliza was standing in front of the entrance of the bakery.
She breathed in the faintest hint of evergreen, and she was taken back to another time, another place. Where the two of them met, where the two of them fell in love. She’d never forget, but it was nice to be reminded of such a sweet time in her life. “I just love you,” she sighed on the exhale.
“Yeah?” Lachlan’s upper lip twitched, “I just love you too.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. The back of her throat burned. She bit the inside of her cheek, forbidding herself from crying, but it was too late. The tears swelled in her eyes and blocked her precious view of Lachlan.
“For what, Snow?” His voice was low and tight, brows knitted together in concern.
“For proving me wrong. For sticking around.”
A smile broke from his lips when he realized her tears weren’t sad ones, but happy ones. He bit his lip, and looked to Puffcake, who was resting lazily behind Eliza.
“About that … there’s something we’ve been meaning to ask you.”
Before Eliza could ask, Lachlan was bending down on one knee. The ring was suddenly there, the box open, the diamond sparkling like stars behind a backdrop of night. Eliza’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
“I promise to stick around like the black nasty snow in winter. Puffcake also gives you his word, too, but I told him that he couldn’t piggyback off of me. So …”
Puffcake came fluttering over, and in his claws was a picture of the gingerbread house, the three of them together in front of it. And when she looked close enough, a white speck of something like flour coated her blonde hair and rosy cheeks.
“Is that …?”
“Flour.” Lachlan nodded. “So you’ll never forget where it all began. And that every year, we’ll go back to right where we started. To our cottage, to our annual flour fight—”
“My answer is yes.” Her voice came like a whisper, but in her heart, she’d never felt more certain about anything in her entire life.
Lachlan rose from his crouch and scooped her up, twirling her around and around. He kissed her endlessly, and it felt like an oven had swelled to the hottest degree in her chest. It wasn’t an uncomfortable heat, but only the kind of warmth love and pastries could bring.
It all felt like a pipe dream. Puffcake quite literally was—baked with real gingerbread and piped icing.
Lachlan, on the other hand, was just a lucky, once-in-a-lifetime find.
For an entire year, she kept waiting for the high to crash, for her fondness to spiral, or for his to wane, but it never did.
Their love only grew sweeter as the days stretched on.
Lachlan slipped on a patch of ice that sent the two of them tumbling to the ground in a heap of laughter and kisses. His coat and the snow broke their fall.
“Just so you know, I’ll win the flour fight every time,” he grinned up at her. Lachlan pulled her to him, cupping his gloved hands between her cheeks. She couldn’t help but smile as they kissed. Slowly, she moved one of her hands to gather snow and splatted it on his face.
“I think we should let Puffcake be the judge of that.”