The Mistletoe Affair

“I hope so, because if you don't really mean it this time, I'm asking you to walk away. I won't see Matt hurt again.'

Standing, he moved to her side. “I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere.” He smiled, the flash of anger of a moment ago completely gone. “Matt's down for a nap. I think I'll take him to a movie when he gets up.'

“A movie?” She hadn't been to a movie in ages.

“You could tag along. You, Matt and me. Let Matt see us as friends.'

She hesitated, uncertain. She didn't want to encourage Paul.

“I'll buy you two boxes of chocolate-covered-raisins.'

She looked up again. Her mouth rounded. “You remembered?'

“We have a history, Katherine.'

Her hand clenched involuntarily into a fist below the level of the counter. A history. “Including infidelity.'

Some fleeting emotion crossed Paul's face, which she interpreted as regret. He bowed his head briefly and spoke. “I'm sorry about that particular history. In this case, it won't repeat itself.'

She jerked her chin up. “Won't it? And the other history we have, do you remember? When you returned one week later, the crude remarks you made about-my lack of experience, and-'

“Not loving you, and marrying you only to please my parents,” he finished for her. “I'll spend the rest of my life wishing I'd never hurt you. Okay, I'll admit it, I lied. I know I screwed us up,” Paul lifted his head a little, “but the time we were married wasn't all bad-was it?'

She glanced down at the floor. “No, not all of it, at least not in the beginning.'

“Katherine, give us a chance again.'

She gnawed on her lower lip lightly, considering his words.

“I don't expect overnight miracles. All I'm asking is for you to think about it,” he whispered.

She inhaled one breath and held it for a good ten seconds. He waited. She shook her head. “No. I can't think about it.'

* * * *

Katherine double-checked the pantry for the baking ingredients she needed. Everyone would bring a covered dish to the party on Tuesday, but she wanted to make a variety of cookies for her contribution as well as some to hang on the tree. “Darn,” she said, adding another item to the list.

“Okay, cook,” Paul said, entering the kitchen, “what are we missing?” He walked over and untied her apron, watching it float to the floor.

She laughed. Except for that one kiss in her bedroom, he had been thoughtful and careful not to invade her space again.

When she bent to retrieve the apron from the floor, he grabbed her list from the kitchen counter. His eyes scanned it, focusing in on one item.

“This what you said ‘darn’ about?” he asked, pointing.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes. I have enough ingredients for some of the cookies, but not all of them.'

He stuffed the paper into his pocket. “I'll go get these for you. Consider it done. Anything else you need to add before I leave on my mission?'

She widened her eyes in surprise. “You're going to a grocery store? You've never walked inside one in your life.'

“Is that where you buy these things?” His grin was infectious, and she shook her head, smiling back at him. “It can't be that dangerous. Customers go in and come out alive every day.'

She decided not to tell him where the store actually was. His finding it would be a true test of his commitment to her Christmas cookies. She turned back to her pile of ingredients.

After she and Matt had dinner, she craned her head to check the clock, wondering if she would have to send out a search party for Paul. Or maybe make a poster. Lost, one Harvard attorney, born with a silver spoon in his mouth. A twenty-five minute trip had now taken him almost two hours.

She sighed, turned the dial to preheat the oven and removed the double batch of chilled Christmas cookie dough from the refrigerator.

“They ready to roll out and cut?” Matt asked, surrounded at the table by assorted cookie cutters, a wreath in his left hand and a star poised in his right.

His excited glow warmed her. She set the bowl beside two large floured cutting boards. He laid his cookie cutters on the table and she handed him a blob of dough. Wasting no time, he plopped it down, grabbed the rolling pin and concentrated hard on flouring and rolling out his first masterpiece.

When he had cut the last one out and placed it on the baking sheet, he floured the board again, reached for a second ball and rolled it out. She chuckled. Small lumps of dough stuck not only to the metal cookie cutters, but also to his chubby fingers, the side of his mouth, and a tendril of hair slipping over his forehead.

Katherine heard footsteps at the back door.

“About time you returned, Paul,” she said as she snatched it open.

“Wrong man,” Jared said, with a strained smile.

Matt, cookie cutter in hand, ran to him. “Mr. Randall, you're just in time! We're making Christmas cookies for the party.” He handed Jared a tree shaped cutter caked with drying batter.

Katherine and Jared exchanged an amused glance. He knelt in front of Matt, tugging the putty-like bulbs from his hair. “I came to fix the roof for your grandma. Afraid I wouldn't know what to do with one of these.” Jared handed the cutter back to Matt and stood.

Matt's eyebrows rose. “You and your mom never made cookies?'

Shifting from one booted foot to another, Jared glanced at the ground, almost like he was hunting the words to say. When he looked back up, Katherine saw him swallow hard before he answered. “She got sick a lot, so she couldn't.'

“As Grandpa would say, ‘no time like presents’ or somethin’ like that. Let's make some now.” Matt's small hand took Jared's large hand and pulled him toward the kitchen table. “See. It's ready to cut when you roll it flat.” Matt took a star shape, pressed it into the dough, captured it, and placed it onto a sprayed cookie sheet beside them. He looked up with a triumphant grin. “You make a hole to hang it on the tree. It's easy, but you got to eat fast when they get cooked, ‘cause as soon as they're decorated Mom freezes ‘em.” He pointed to the assorted icings and candies lined up like soldiers in a parade around the table.

Katherine noticed the high color that crept into Jared's face, and she moved beside them. “Maybe the roof repair can wait. Besides you'll need your ‘official helper’ to supervise your work.” Matt agreed, and she quickly handed Jared a couple of cookie cutters.

Jared backed away from the table full of pink icings and dainty candies. “I don't want to bother anyone. Maybe this isn't such a good idea.'

“Nonsense. My mother's shopping with some of the neighbors, and Paul's lost at some grocery store. Assuming he recognized one when he saw it.'

His eyebrows knitted together. “You're kidding.'

She shook her head. “Nope, he's never been inside one in his entire life. So far, his twenty-five minute trip has taken over two hours. Apparently, he's lost. So, dig in,” she said, gesturing to the table.

Jared paused, and that was all Matt needed. He dragged Jared down into the chair beside him and began explaining the intricacies of cookie decorating. Moving to the counter, she began making the dough for her thumbprint cookies. She smiled when Matt stopped to help Jared occasionally, making sure everything went smoothly with him. Katherine set her bowl of dough in the refrigerator as they filled the last baking sheet.

“Wasn't that fun?” Matt asked Jared.

He grinned and held his hands up. “Yes, but we're covered in flour.” Both sets of eyes dropped to stare at the table, which looked like a snow slope. Jared looked up again, a corner of his mouth crooked up. “Sorry.'

Katherine shook her head grinning. “Don't worry about it.” She moved aside to let them wash up at the sink. “You and Matt can repair the roof leak, while I bake these batches and clean up this cookie-hazard area. I'll call you when they're done.'