Ruth tried to go through the rest of the day as if she hadn’t just made a complete fool of herself. Somehow, she’d gotten it into her stupid, stupid head that Mason was possibly interested in her. She hadn’t precisely thrown herself at him, but she’d been pretty obvious. Mason’s expression had been impossible to read, but it definitely hadn’t been the warm response she’d been hoping for.
At least he hadn’t completely rejected her.
But then that girl, Brianna, had come in, looking like everything Ruth wished she could be—slim and pretty with flawless makeup. The worst part was that she’d be working very closely with Mason every day. How could she possibly hope to compete with someone like that?
“You’re such a dummy,” she growled as she carried a tray of iced cookies to the rack to dry.
“What? Me?”
Ruth looked up at Crystal, confused. “Huh? Oh my gosh, no. I was talking to myself.”
“Well, that’s a relief. I didn’t know what I’d done wrong.” As she spoke, she plopped down on the stool across from Ruth and leaned her elbows on the gleaming stainless-steel counter. “So, tell me why you’re a dummy.”
“No.”
“Come on. You’ve been in a crabby mood ever since you took cookies over to Mason.”
“You are way too observant, you know that?”
“That didn’t answer my question.”
“Have you seen his new employee?”
“No?”
Ruth hesitated over what to say. She hadn’t exactly told Crystal that she had a crush on Mason, in the worst and most juvenile way, but she knew it wouldn’t take much for her to figure it out. “I’ll watch the front. You should go over and meet her. I’m sure you’ll put two and two together.”
Crystal studied her with a sharply raised eyebrow, then got up. “Be right back.”
A minute after she left, Ruth heard customers come in so she went to greet them. She waited with a patient smile while two little kids took forever to pick out which cookie they wanted. Crystal came back while Ruth was finally ringing them up.
As soon as the door closed behind the customers, Crystal said, “I don’t see what the big deal is.”
“Are you kidding me? She’s…everything I’m not.”
Crystal shook her head. “You’re so ridiculous. Yes, she’s cute, but you’re gorgeous. Gor-geous.”
“You’re sweet.” Turning, Ruth headed into the back. She had a million more cookies to ice. Unfortunately, Crystal followed her.
“I’m not being sweet. You’ve never seen yourself clearly. Besides, it’s not just about looks. It’s about chemistry. How do you feel around Mason?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I definitely feel something, but I have no idea if he feels it too.”
“Do you feel all buzzed and aware of him? Does your skin tingle if you touch?”
“I don’t know,” Ruth said. “We haven’t touched. But, yes, I like being around him. Which is ridiculous since we’ve barely spent any time together.”
“Okay, listen. You need to relax. If Mason can’t see how amazing you are, then you don’t want him anyway. Just relax about Brianna.”
“I probably gained five pounds this weekend, so I’m not exactly feeling attractive. And then I went over and hinted that I’d like to hang out—”
“You did? Why didn’t you say so? I want details.”
“There aren’t any details. His face sort of shut down for a few seconds and then he said he’d like that too, but not with any enthusiasm, and then Brianna came in. At which point, I ran like a chicken. So now things are just sort of hanging. Forgive me for freaking out.”
“Yeah. Wow. Well, it’s not like he shunned you or anything. Maybe if she hadn’t come in, you two would have a date right now.”
Ruth picked up a pastry bag with bright red icing and started piping an outline around a Santa cookie. “I doubt it. If anything, he probably only sees me as a friend. And that’s fine, right? Because we need to have a great sales month and he’s over there tempting away our customers with his delectable chocolates. What was I even thinking?”
The bell in the store dinged—a customer needing help—and Crystal jumped up right away. “Chill out,” she said over her shoulder.
“Yeah, right,” Ruth muttered. Like that was going to happen.
***
Ruth didn’t see Mason for a few days. After what had happened, she was sure he was avoiding her. And she sure wasn’t going to go over to see him until he made a move one way or the other.
One morning, she went outside and walked past The Chocolate Box to the mailbox on the corner. It had not been a spy mission.
When she’d looked through the big glass windows, past the display of gold-wrapped candy bars and boxes of gorgeous chocolates nestled in gold boxes, she’d seen Brianna and Mason standing behind the counter. They’d been awfully close together while they talked.
After that, she’d poured her frustrations into her work. Soon, she had all of her cookie cases filled, including two whole cases of seasonal gingerbread cookies. She got her custom order for a winter wedding done a day early even though piping the same monogram on a hundred heart-shaped cookies made her fingers cramp and her eyes cross. By Tuesday of the next week, she was even starting to run out of things to do, so she let Crystal go home early and took over minding the front of the shop.
A group of four older women had come in with their grandkids, and she was busy serving them when Mason walked in the front door. Her brain came to a screeching halt even as all her senses went on high alert. It was like she could feel his nearness in the prickles on her skin.
“No, not that one. The one next to it,” said the lady she was helping.
Pulling herself back together, Ruth grabbed the other gingerbread girl that was nearly identical to the one she’d been about to pick up and put it in the lady’s box. She watched Mason out of the corner of her eye as she finished the transaction.
He didn’t seem in a hurry as he moved from case to case examining her cookies. What did he think of them? She hated how desperately she wanted him to be impressed.
When the ladies finally left, she waited tensely behind the counter as he came towards her. “Hello, stranger.”
He smiled slightly, just a sideways lift of his lips. “I know. Sorry. I’ve been busy.”
“We always are, huh?”
The look he sent her then was sharp and remorseful. “Yeah.” His eyes shifted to her display cases. “Your cookies look even more amazing in person. How has business been?”
Ruth resented the question since it had definitely slowed to a trickle while there seemed to be a steady stream of customers walking past her windows to his front door. But he sounded like he meant it in a friendly way so she couldn’t snap his head off. “Not as well as I’d like.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “That’s too bad. I’m sure things will pick up. I get a lot of people coming in, but there are always some who walk out when they see the prices. People just don’t understand the cost and time that go into things like this.”
Ruth was in complete agreement with him there. “Oh man, don’t I know it. It took me a while before I stopped feeling bad when people complained about the price. I gave out a lot of discount in my early years before I finally learned to stick to my guns.”
He nodded. “Sometimes I think maybe I should use cheaper ingredients and charge less, but I think I just need to find my market.” He pressed his lips together. “That’s why I need to talk to you about something.”
Seeing the look on his face, Ruth felt nervous. He looked too uncomfortable about this conversation for it to be anything good. “Okay.”
He hesitated. “I know you’re worried about me taking some of your business.”
He stopped abruptly, thinking through his words. The pause gave Ruth time to shift gears. He wasn’t here to talk about their awkward conversation from a few days ago. She was relieved but hurt at the same time, “Go on.”
“I submitted a bid for the Candy Cane Ball this morning.”
He said it in a rush, as if confessing a terrible crime. She didn’t say anything for a moment as she tried to figure out her reaction to the news. No, it was best to put that aside right now. The only reaction she could give was a professional one.
After taking a deep breath, she summoned a smile and said, “Good for you. And good luck.”
“Ruth…You understand, right? That I had to try? I need to get my name out there.”
She understood completely. Really, she did. And she didn’t blame him at all. Her income from custom orders had tripled since she’d done the ball for the first time.
All she could think about was that Sharon Windover would jump at a chance to showcase someone new this year. And as she thought about her bid, she felt sick. It wasn’t even competitive.
She had gone back and forth on the price she’d charge and had finally gone with the higher amount, thinking that she was likely to get the gig and might make more of a profit this year. Because the ball was a charitable event, Sharon chose businesses that gave the best donations and price reductions. The bid she’d presented had been well below her retail price, but now she was sure it hadn’t been low enough.
“Look, Mason, I no hard feelings, okay?”
“Ruth, I wish…”
But she cut him off before he could say any more. “Stop worrying about it, Mason. Really. I’m a big girl and, I hope, a professional. Thank you for telling me.”
“So, do you still want to get together sometime?” he asked.
He sounded as miserable as she felt. She needed to put them both out of their misery. “Hey don’t worry about that. We’re both so busy, it would be hard to figure out anyway. Besides, I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
There. She couldn’t make it any easier for him to gracefully step away from her undesirable invitation. Now they could both move past this and focus on their businesses.
“Oh, okay. Yeah. Well, I guess I’ll get back.” He turned and opened the door. But before he left, he turned and said, “For what it matters, I am sorry, Ruth.”
When the door closed behind him, all her composure fell apart. She looked at the clock and saw that it was almost time to close. She didn’t care if any more customers came today. They’d just have to come back later because she was done.
The only thing she wanted to do was go home and hide away in her apartment where she could lick her wounds in privacy. Then tomorrow, she’d come in ready to dominate the Christmas sweets business.