Adaline woke with a start at four o’clock the following morning, surrounded by the evidence of her indulgent self-care session the night before. The television was still streaming her favorite reality baking show on a seemingly endless loop, tiny bottles of nail polish littered the coffee table and each of her ten fingers was tipped with a different color, à la Taylor Swift. If anyone knew how to put a member of the male persuasion in her rearview mirror with style, it was Tay. After pizza, a sheet mask and a mug of hot cocoa topped with a generous dollop of peppermint cream liqueur, Adaline had been more than ready to do whatever it took to shake Jace Martin off for good.
The healing powers of her multihued manicure were yet to be seen, but Adaline didn’t have time to worry about that now. Waking up at four was borderline sleeping in for a baker. The shiny glass display cases at Cherry on Top weren’t going to fill themselves before opening at nine. Plus, today she needed to prepare a few special items for the Comfort Paws bake sale. They needed to start the fundraiser off with a bang.
Fuzzy blinked up at Adaline with sleepy eyes until she uttered the magic word: breakfast. A writhing happy dance followed, and as soon as Adaline set Fuzzy’s bowl on the kitchen floor, the puppy dove for his food, scattering kibble everywhere. Adaline wound her hair into a messy bun and secured it with a red rhinestone cherry barrette while he chased down each and every crumb. Once the puppy’s belly was full and Adaline was dressed in one of her standard bakery uniforms of jeans, crimson sneakers and a pale pink sweater boasting hand-crocheted cherries, they were off.
Adaline walked Fuzzy the short distance to the town square until Bluebonnet’s white gazebo came into view, trimmed in twinkle lights and shimmering like a Christmas dream in the silvery moonlight. Adaline slipped the key into the bakery’s front door and flipped on the overhead lights. Cherry on Top was always the first business on the square to come to life in the mornings. Adaline loved this time of day. She always cranked her music loud while she rolled out the dough that she’d laminated the day before and let rest overnight.
Baking was its own form of magic. In a world that could be unpredictable and even scary at times, she always found comfort in knowing that she could mix flour, eggs and butter in the right proportions and come out with something perfect and delicious. She’d been just six or seven years old when Gram first taught her to make a pie, covered in flour and standing on a kitchen stool so she could reach the countertop. For Gram, baking had been a hobby. But Adaline had known from that very first pie that she’d open her own bakery someday. She loved the idea of sharing her grandmother’s recipes and making people happy. Was it even possible to be sad while biting into an ooey-gooey German chocolate cake or a warm cherry turnover, fresh from the oven?
Doubtful. Since opening Cherry on Top six years ago, Adaline had become a vital part of nearly every birthday party, wedding, holiday celebration and Thanksgiving feast in Bluebonnet. She couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
Fuzzy watched as she slid pies in and out of her big industrial oven, placed cupcake batter into muffin tins with her Gram’s old ice-cream scoop and frosted a cake for a retirement party at the senior center. The puppy had long settled into the routine of being a baker’s dog. So long as he could keep his gaze glued on Adaline, he was perfectly content. Ford had helped her build a little gated nook for him in the space between the kitchen and the counter area, so she could move back and forth and still remain in her dog’s line of vision. Maple had somehow found a pet bed that looked like a big cupcake and functioned as a plush doghouse so Fuzzy could lie about in style. Naturally, the cupcake bed was topped with a red velvet cherry.
Adaline was busy arranging the fruits of her labor in the display cases as the first rays of soft pink sunlight filled the bakery. The treats for the bake sale were already all boxed and ready to go. When the bells on the front door jingled, she knew without even looking that the girls from Comfort Paws had shown up to help set everything up for the fundraiser in the town square.
“Just a sec,” Adaline called as she breezed toward the counter area from the kitchen with one last tray of cupcakes. “I’m totally ready. I just need to get these crushed candy cane cakes in the bakery case, and then—”
Her voice stopped as she took in the sight of Maple, Belle and Jenna standing just inside the bakery door. Their respective dogs—Lady Bird, Peaches and Ginger—wagged their tails happily and stood at the end of their leashes. The expressions on the human’s faces were noticeably less enthusiastic.
“What’s wrong?” The baking sheet nearly slipped from Adaline’s hands. “It’s not raining, is it? The forecast looked clear when I checked it last night.”
Jenna shook her head. “Nope, not raining. But you might need to go out there and take a look.”
Maple and Belle exchanged a glance, as if mulling over whether to explain what was going on or to just let Adaline see for herself.
“But what?” Adaline dumped the tray of cupcakes on the counter and marched toward the door without bothering to remove her apron. Whatever was wrong, how bad could it really be?
She pushed open the door, eyes trained on the gazebo...
Except Bluebonnet’s most iconic landmark was completely obscured by a wall of evergreen trees. They were everywhere. Neat rows of blue spruces, Fraser firs and Scotch pines stretched from one end of the square to the other. Adaline could only assume the white gazebo still stood somewhere in the center, surrounded by a maze of evergreens. Somehow, since she’d arrived at Cherry on Top just a few hours ago, a forest had materialized on the town square.
Adaline stumbled to a halt on the sidewalk. She blinked and then blinked again.
“Please tell me I’m seeing things,” she heard herself whisper.
“I wish we could,” Belle said.
A man walked past them hauling an enormous fir tree on a single muscular shoulder, face obscured by a swath of evergreen branches. Lady Bird panted with excitement.
“Read the room, Lady Bird,” Maple muttered to the golden retriever.
“I don’t understand.” Adaline shook her head. Maybe if she shook it hard enough, she could rattle some sense into what she was seeing. “What’s going on?”
“It looks like someone is setting up a Christmas tree lot,” Jenna said.
“An illegal Christmas tree lot,” Adaline corrected. “We have dibs on the town square. I’ve talked to the mayor’s office about this three times since Thanksgiving.”
“Maybe we should head over to city hall and get this straightened out.” Belle glanced at the time on her phone. “School starts in an hour, but I’ve got thirty minutes or so to spare.”
As the school librarian at Bluebonnet Elementary, Belle was in the midst of creating a reading education assistance dog program as part of Comfort Paws. Her puppy, Peaches, was the program’s first dog dedicated to helping children who were struggling readers.
Jenna shook her head. “I don’t think the mayor’s office is open yet. I was just over there last week to pay the final installment on the dance school’s reservation for the town auditorium. We’re having our Christmas recital there.”
“Final installment?” Maple’s forehead scrunched as she swiveled her gaze toward Adaline. “I don’t remember cutting a check to the city of Bluebonnet. Did we have to pay to reserve the square and the gazebo?”
“No.” Adaline shook her head. “I mean, technically, we might have. But since Comfort Paws is a charity organization, I managed to sweet-talk the mayor into letting us use it for free.”
“By ‘sweet-talk,’ do you mean you brought him pie?” Belle aimed a knowing look at Adaline’s apron.
“Obviously,” Adaline said. It was a wonder how many doors a fresh-baked pie could open.
“I’m beginning to have a bad feeling about this.” Maple gnawed on her bottom lip as another flannel-shirt-clad guy stomped past them hauling a tree. Lady Bird leaned against her legs, a true comfort dog in action.
Adaline had to do something. This fundraiser was her baby. Since Lady Bird had been a working therapy dog for years, visiting a variety of facilities in rural Texas with Maple’s father before he’d passed away, Maple had taken over the job of facilities coordinator. Comfort Paws hadn’t even held its first official training class yet, and Maple already had an entire binder full of hospitals, retirement centers and medical offices who’d requested a therapy dog team once the program was in full swing. Belle had already devoted countless hours toward putting together the reading program at the library. Since Jenna had adopted Ginger, the rescue dog who’d given birth to Peaches and Fuzzy, she’d already trained the grown-up Cavalier to pass a national therapy dog certification exam. It was only natural for her to spearhead Comfort Paws’ training program.
Everyone but Adaline already had an important role in their fledgling organization. She wanted to do her part. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this. Don’t worry. Everything is going to be fine. Take a good look at these trees because I’m about to make them disappear.”
Belle gave her a sidelong glance. “You can’t just snap your fingers and make them go away.”
“Watch me.”
Adaline drew herself up to her full height and stomped across the emerald-green grass of the square until she spotted one of the tree-wielding men. This one had a blue spruce balanced on one shoulder and an axe propped on the other. From behind, he looked an awful lot like the Brawny paper towel guy. Or a Hemsworth brother in a woodsy Ralph Lauren ad.
A waft of evergreen scent enveloped Adaline as she closed in on him, and just as she gave the man a stern tap on the shoulder—the one with the axe—a memory from the day before came flooding back.
You smell like a Christmas tree farm.
She’d uttered those exact words, hadn’t she?
To Jace!
Dread snaked its way up her spine as everything suddenly began to move in slow-motion—the gentle wind rippling through the man’s hair, the languid turn of his body as he moved to face her, the tantalizing flex of his forearm as the axe slid from his shoulder.
A rush of warmth washed over Adaline, as if she’d been baking in a hot Texas kitchen on a late July afternoon. But this wasn’t summertime. It was December in the Hill Country, and she’d been in such a hurry to see what the Comfort Paws girls had been so worried about that she’d dashed out of the bakery without a jacket. She should be freezing right now.
“Adaline.” An easy smile came to Jace’s lips.
It was him. What had Adaline done to deserve this? She was beginning to feel like she wasn’t on Santa’s nice list after all. It felt more like her name occupied the top spot on the naughty list.
And every other spot as well, all the way down to rock bottom.
“Can I interest you in a Christmas tree?” Jace winked at Adaline, who looked awfully flushed, considering the chill in the air. “For putting up with Uncle Gus yesterday, I’ll give you the friends and family discount—one hundred percent off.”
If Gus had been there, he would’ve chastised Jace for giving away his profits. His business wasn’t exactly year-round. Once the holidays were over, Jace would have to stretch whatever he made all the way to the following Christmas.
But Gus wasn’t there. It was just him and Adaline and a few hundred evergreens. Plus, a trio of women and their dogs who were watching them with rapt interest from about ten yards away.
“Friends of yours, I presume?” He arched a brow toward their audience.
“Yes,” Adaline said, frostily enough that Jace got the impression she was the source of the chill in the air, rather than anything to do with the actual weather.
If she weren’t so doggone cute, it might’ve been more irritating.
“Yes to the tree?” Jace tilted his head. “Or yes, you have something to do with the dog walkers who currently look like they just found lumps of coal in their stockings on Christmas morning?”
“No to the tree. I don’t need a Christmas tree. Although, the offer was...nice, actually.” She frowned as if it pained her to admit he had a decent bone in his body. “I meant yes, those are my friends. But they’re not dog walkers.”
“You sure about that?” Jace aimed a meaningful glance at the three dogs—a golden retriever, plus two little spaniels who bore an uncanny resemblance to Fuzzy, minus his felt reindeer antlers.
“The four of us are the board of directors for Comfort Paws. We’re a community outreach organization that trains, certifies and places therapy dog teams throughout the Texas Hill Country.” She swallowed, and Jace traced the movement up and down the slender column of her throat. “We will be, anyway, once we get our training program off the ground. Which is why this”—she flailed her arms around, encompassing the entirety of the Christmas tree lot he’d just spent the past two hours setting up—“cannot be happening.”
Jace had no clue what the connection could be between his trees and her therapy dog organization, but if she thought he was dismantling the lot, he had some bad news for her.
“Oh, it’s happening.” He rolled the blue spruce off of his shoulder and it landed on the ground with a thunk. This chat was clearly going to take more time than he’d anticipated—time he didn’t have if he was going to finish everything he needed to do before the lot opened at ten o’clock.
“Hey, Jace? We’re finished unloading the truck.” One of the workers he’d hired hitched a gloved thumb toward the empty flatbed, parked adjacent to the town square. “So we’re going to take off unless you need anything else.”
As per his written contract with the mayor’s office, Jace needed to get the truck out of the way before the businesses on the square opened. Which meant he really needed to finish the wackadoodle conversation with Adaline.
“That’s it. Thanks for your help!” Jace lifted his hand in a parting wave toward his modest crew.
“What are you doing? They can’t leave. They need to get all of these trees out of here,” Adaline said, eyes widening with panic. More arm-flailing ensued, along with some jumping up and down. “Come back!”
The dog walkers starting heading their way. Jace felt a headache coming on in three, two, one...
“Adaline, why don’t you tell me what’s going on? Clearly, there’s a problem, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out what it is.” Honestly, who didn’t love Christmas trees?
“I have this space reserved, starting today and ending the day after Christmas.” Her gaze flitted over his head in the direction of the gazebo. “Comfort Paws is holding a big fundraiser here. It’s what’s going to pay for our entire training program next year.”
“I don’t think so.” Jace never would’ve arranged to haul everything that was left of this year’s harvest all the way to Bluebonnet without all the logistics figured out ahead of time. He reached into the pocket of his flannel shirt for his copy of the contract. “I have a fully executed agreement from the mayor. I paid a pretty penny to lease the town square for the duration of the holiday season.”
“Adaline, that looks like an official document,” one of the dog ladies—the one with the golden retriever—said, placing special emphasis on the word official.
At least someone was seeing reason around here.
“Nice dog,” Jace said as the retriever nudged his hand with her big gold head. He gave her a scratch behind the ears, as the two smaller dogs scurried toward him to sit politely at his feet and wait their turn.
“Thank you.” The golden’s handler smiled.
Hurt flashed in Adaline’s blue eyes. “You don’t need to be nice to him, Maple. He’s stealing the town square right out from under us.”
“If you call reserving the space, signing a contract and paying for the entire lease in advance with a cashier’s check stealing, then yes.” Jace placed a hand over his heart. “Guilty as charged.”
“I can’t believe this. You’re impossible. You were impossible in fifth grade, and you’re still impossible. This is not over!” Adaline spun on her heel and marched back toward Cherry on Top with her apron strings trailing furiously behind her.
Another of the dog ladies blinked. “I don’t get it. What just happened? And why is she talking about fifth grade?”
“I’ll explain later,” Maple said under her breath.
“You sure you don’t want a Christmas tree?” Jace called after Adaline, because he couldn’t quite resist. He’d never had this effect on a woman before, and as baffling as it was, it was also intriguing. And maybe even a little bit fun. “The offer still stands.”
She shot him a glare over her shoulder before proceeding to walk straight into a row of Fraser firs.
“Let me know if you change your mind. You know where to find me.” Jace felt himself smile. “Right here until December 26.”