The Christmas Wish (9 page)

“What?” He dropped her elbow. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”

“It’s fine.” Brinn tugged at the bottom of her chef’s whites. “I’m just not used to being connected with someone. It’s been such a long time and—”

“You’re right. This is your workplace too, and you may not want—”

Brinn pressed her fingertips to Tyler’s lips. “It’s fine.” Brinn stood on her tippy toes and placed her lips to Tyler’s.

“I could do this all day.”

Heat thrilled through Brinn.

“How about dinner tonight? Maybe we stay in? Order Chinese?” Tyler looked hopeful.

“I’d love that.”

“You want to come to me or me come to you?”

Brinn tapped her fingertip to her lip. She wasn’t certain she wanted to go to Tyler’s yet. She didn’t want to confuse Charlotte, and while she really liked Tyler’s parents, spending an evening at their home while on a date with their son would feel strange.

“How about my place.” Brinn flipped her curls over her shoulder. 

“Around eight?”

“Eight.” Alison would open the bakery tomorrow, and there was no baking on Sunday mornings.

“I’ve got documents waiting for me upstairs. I’ll see you at tonight.” Tyler turned toward the elevators, then stopped and turned back. “Nearly forgot. Mom wants to know if you’ll come to dinner next Thursday?”

Brinn rubbed her hands across her checkered kitchen pants. This had to be a dream. Tyler Emerson standing in the lobby of the Grande, kissing her and asking her to the Emerson family dinner?

Brinn nodded. “Of course.”

“Great.” A smile spread over his face. A smile that caused Brinn to tremble. She could hardly look at Tyler when his smile was that wide. Brinn lifted her hand and waved. Her gaze remained fixed on Tyler until he disappeared behind the elevator doors.

“You have a new friend.”

Brinn spun around.

Hans stood just beside her. His face wasn’t stern but serious. “A friend that is very smitten with you.”

“We’ve gone out once.” Brinn picked up a frosting bag. She would go over the seams of the third tower just to be certain it was sound.

“That is the Emerson man, Tyler? No?”

“Yes.” Brinn stepped up the ladder.

“He is very handsome. His daughter is very beautiful. His ex-wife”—Hans shook his head—“she was very horrible.”

An oily feeling climbed through Brinn’s belly with the mention of Charlize. She didn’t have many memories of the Powder Springs homecoming queen. Charlize had been an ice princess who really didn’t care for anyone other than herself.

“Why do you say that?” Part of her wanted to know.

“She worked here, for one summer, in college. You would not know this.”

When she left for San Francisco and culinary school after graduating high school, Brinn hadn’t returned for nearly three years.

“She was a most unpleasant worker. We did not invite her back.” Hans said no more than that. He did not warm up to people easily. The flip side of that trait was that generally he didn’t dislike people either. He didn’t waste his time with the luxury of intense emotion. “Surely this comes as no surprise to you? You were in school with her. You must have witnessed some of this unpleasant behavior.”

Yeah, sure. Charlize had been cold in high school, but they’d traveled in such different circles that Brinn hadn’t been the recipient of Charlize’s unkindness. Deborah, Brinn’s sister, had been around Charlize and her friends. Even though Brinn’s sister was two years behind Brinn and Charlize, Deborah had often, due to her social status, beauty, and popularity, gotten invited to parties thrown by Charlize’s crowd.

Brinn couldn’t ask Deborah about Charlize. She didn’t want to appear that desperate to her family. Ma and Deborah would already have plenty to say when they discovered that Brinn and Tyler were dating. None of their words would feel supportive or helpful.

“He would be lucky to have a woman such as you.” Hans clasped his hands behind his back and rolled forward on his feet. He didn’t smile, but he raised one eyebrow and a twinkle lit in his eyes. “Any man should be so lucky to be with Miss Brinn Bartoli.”

*

“Home for dinner tonight?” Mom set a stack of clean shirts on Tyler’s dresser. He pulled his body up and rolled his shoulders back. His neck muscles were tight. He’d hunched over the drafting table for hours looking at the boundaries for the new land for the Grande project.

“Mom, I love you for doing my laundry, but you really don’t have to. I can do Charlotte’s and mine and even yours and Dad’s.”

“Gives me something to keep busy. Charlotte’s napping and I wanted to do it. Next load is yours. So, dinner tonight?”

“I’m going to Brinn’s.” Mom greeted his words with a smile. “Once Charlotte goes to bed.”

“Is Brinn coming to dinner this week?”

“She said yes.” He scrubbed his hand over his hair. “Are we sure having her over for the family dinner is a good thing?”

Carol tilted her head. “Those are your brothers. How could you possibly deny them the opportunity to embarrass you in front of the girl you’re dating?”

Tyler cracked a smile at his mother’s joke. “Right, and I respect that my brothers get to embarrass me. All I’m asking is does it have to happen so soon? Maybe we wait a while? Give Brinn a couple of weeks to really fall for me before we expose her to everything that is Breck and Kent.”

“You forgot about Chuck.”

“Chuck’s married and pretty well tamed. Katherine keeps him on a tight leash. Not nearly as worried about him as I am the other two.”

“Brinn’s known your brothers a long time. She’s been exposed to them for nearly as long as you have. I don’t think she’ll be too surprised. As for the two that remain unleashed? They’ve both called me asking what’s going on with you and Brinn. You may not make it to next week before you hear from them. You and Brinn were spotted last night on Main and then kissing at the Grande today.”

“We weren’t kissing.” Tyler rolled his eyes. “I had to stop by the Grande and get some paperwork.”

“Paperwork that couldn’t wait until Monday.”

“Got me a date for tonight.”

“You’re smart like your father. He used to pull the same types of tricks that I didn’t even know were tricks until well after we married.”

“Can’t just rely on the Emerson good looks and charm.” He tapped his temple. “Gotta use the old brain to impress a girl like Brinn.”

“Daddy?”

Charlotte rounded the corner, rubbing sleep from her eyes and pulling her pink wubby blanket behind her.

“There’s my girl.” Tyler lifted Charlotte into his arms. She cuddled her face into his neck. “How’d you sleep?” The soft, milky scent of sleep and her warm little body pressed against him. “I have something for you.” Tyler walked to his dresser and picked up one of the gingerbread castles wrapped in cellophane and tied with a brilliant red bow. “Brinn made that for you.”

Charlotte’s eyes widened and she sat straight up. She examined the gingerbread cookie through the cellophane wrapper. Pink and purple sugar sparkles and silver icing decorated the cookie. Pearlescent white beads lined the edges. Even a princess with long, curly blond hair leaned out from the window at the top of the tower.

“A princess.” Charlotte breathed out with wonder and excitement. “The pretty lady made me a princess.”

“She told me to bring you by next week to see the castle again because it will look more like a castle.”

Charlotte smiled and met her father’s eyes. Tyler’s heart melted. Her pleasure, her joy, Charlotte’s happiness meant everything to him.

“Come on, bug. I have some milk to go with that cookie.” Carol reached her arms toward Charlotte.

“Grandma, we can’t
eat
the cookie.”

“Then what shall we do with it?” Carol asked with great seriousness.

“Let’s hang it on the tree.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Carol turned toward Tyler’s bedroom door. “I have some other cookies you can have with milk, okay?”

Charlotte nodded. The two walked out of the room, and Tyler settled into his chair. He had more work he wanted to finish before he took Charlotte for a walk and a swing at the park. They might even build a snowman in the front yard. His phone beeped. He grabbed it and flipped it over. A text from Kent, his younger brother.

Pool tonight?

Busy.

I bet you are. Tomorrow night at seven.

Tyler shook his head. His brothers would not be denied. He surrendered.

Done.

He wasn’t going to escape the teasing of his brothers until the family dinner. Better to get their harassment out of the way sooner rather than later. By the time the family dinner rolled around next Thursday, maybe they’d behave better since they would’ve already teased Tyler. At least he could hope.

Avoiding Ma on a Saturday wasn’t tough. Brinn stayed at the Grande and worked on the Christmas castle. Then she lingered in the kitchen, talking with Hans and Edgar about the upcoming week’s work and how she guessed they’d be finished a half day before the official ribbon cutting. At the end of the day, Brinn slipped into the back of Bea & Barbara’s, pretty certain that Ma had already left so she could pick up Nonna from her book club’s Christmas luncheon. Ma’s car wasn’t out back.

Brinn took a deep breath and slipped off her coat. She lifted the ancient clipboard Ma still used to track orders in and deliveries out of the bakery. Another bit of the bakery that Brinn had yet to convince Ma needed to be changed. A computerized order system was needed, and yet Ma didn’t agree. Brinn walked to the giant stand-up mixer. There were more cookies to be made. She poured in fifteen cups of flour, the eggs, the sugar, and turned on the mixer, which folded the ingredients.

The scent of Chanel No. 5 and the poke of a finger into Brinn’s shoulder informed her she’d not dodged Ma.

“Brinn, a word.”

Brinn flinched and her head dropped forward. She followed Ma into her office like a bread thief on the way to the guillotine. Ma’s office wasn’t much bigger than a coat closet, but they both squeezed in, and Ma sat at her desk while Brinn sat in the one worn chair beside the door.

“What’s this I hear about you and Tyler Emerson?” Ma’s brows pulled tight and her head tilted to the side. There was no joy in her eyes. For a woman who had desperately wanted Brinn to date, Ma seemed unhappy about Brinn dating Tyler. “Kissing at the Grande? Holding hands on Main Street?” Ma looked away and jutted her chin. “Not even having the courtesy of mentioning any of this to me, your mother. I have to hear it on the street, at a luncheon full of old birds? Even your grandmother knows more than I do. Said she was there the first time he asked you out.”

Brinn’s neck heated and cold film of perspiration covered her hands.

“It’s nothing serious.”

“Serious enough for him to waltz into the Grande while you’re working and plant a kiss on your lips.” Ma pressed her fingertips along the edge of the desk and then dusted the surface with her palm. She didn’t look at Brinn. Her eyebrows were pulled high and her jaw tight. Her nostrils flared and her gaze finally met Brinn’s. “Not exactly how I want my daughter to be known in town.”

With each word, Brinn’s shoulders hunched forward. She was a grown woman, and yet her mother’s displeasure could sink her into a state of near-adolescent silence. How was that possible? Why was that possible? Brinn took a deep breath. She rolled her shoulders back and kept her face soft but her eyes firm. “Ma, who I date isn’t any of your business.”

Ma’s head whipped back toward Brinn and her mouth dropped open. But she fought back the words that Brinn knew she wanted to say.

“I’m a grown woman and who I choose to see has nothing to do with you.”

“Maybe in San Francisco, but have you forgotten that Powder Springs is a small town? Who you see, how you behave, what we do in public has a direct impact on our business. You represent the Bartoli family when you’re in public. How do you not know this? Your father and I drilled that into you and your sister.”

“Maybe a little too much drilling.”

Ma’s features flattened out into a softer look, and she leaned forward the tiniest bit. “Brinn, I just don’t want what happened to you before to happen to you again.”

“Tyler isn’t Marco.”

“I’m not comparing Tyler to Marco. There’s no comparison, no reason to believe that Tyler is that type of man. Look at how he cares for Charlotte.” Ma’s fingertips pulled her locket to the left and then the right, and her eyes darted from Brinn to the calendar on her desk. “It’s just…” She paused as though she didn’t know how to say her next words, didn’t want to say the next words. Her hesitation held so much meaning. Finally her gaze met Brinn’s. “It’s just that Tyler and Charlize…” Ma’s words drifted away. “There is a type of woman that Tyler seems to find appealing and…”

Brinn’s heart careened through her chest. An oily bile flowed through her gut.

“You don’t think I’m pretty enough for Tyler Emerson.”

“I didn’t
say
that.”

“You don’t have to.” Brinn jumped to her feet. Her chest tightened. She couldn’t stay in this office. She couldn’t catch her breath. “Oh my God, my own mother doesn’t think I’m good enough for the Emersons. You think I should date someone like Herb Delwicky. That accountant that you wanted me to start seeing.”

“That isn’t what I meant.”

Brinn placed her hands on her hips. “Then what did you mean, Ma?”

Silence
. All Ma returned to Brinn was silence and a flat look. A look that broadcast
I can’t
say
it, I can’t tell you, that no, you are not pretty enough for Tyler Emerson.

“You need to put the cookies in the oven.” Brinn pulled off her apron and crumpled it into a ball. This was how her mother pictured her? As a poor old maid who was unattractive and could never be with a man like Tyler Emerson?

“Brinn—”

“Enough, Ma.” Brinn turned and grasped the doorknob. “You’ve said more than enough tonight. I have to go. I have a date to get ready for.”