Besides the lights outside her shop and the wreath she’d hung on the front door, Ruth hadn’t done much to decorate for Christmas. Now that Mason had issued his challenge, she was determined to make her shop look like a sugarplum wonderland.
Because there would be no customers to trip over boxes or get tangled in strings of lights, she spent Sunday decorating the store. Usually, she never came in on her day off, but this was important.
The first thing she did was turn on Christmas music and mix up a bowl of applesauce and cinnamon dough to make scented ornaments.
With those in the oven, she lugged in her artificial Christmas tree and set it up in front of one of her windows. She’d tried using a real tree her first year, but keeping it watered and sweeping up the needles proved to be more work than she wanted in her otherwise pristine shop.
After putting on the colored twinkle lights, she stepped back to admire the effect and then went to take the cinnamon ornaments out of the oven. It was a shame they weren’t for eating because they smelled divine.
When the ornaments cooled, she threaded hooks through the little holes she’d punched before baking them, and hung them around the tree. They fit in perfectly with her theme of Christmas sweets, as did the flocked snowflakes that looked like they’d been dusted in powdered sugar and the ornaments shaped like sugared fruit and old-fashioned candy.
As the decorations went up and the carols played, the unsettled feeling in Ruth’s chest dissipated. She even began to feel a bit cheerful with the scent of cinnamon permeating the shop. Maybe it would help sales of her gingerbread cookies when people came in.
After stringing garland along the cookie cases and hanging more snowflakes from strings in the windows, she decided that the inside looked good enough. Was there anything more that could be done outside?
She put on her coat and went out through the front door, then stepped back to look at her shop. The sun set early this time of year so even though it was only five-thirty, it was already getting dark.
As she stood looking back at her store, the lights around the square went on. She paused a moment to just enjoy the sight the breath-taking canopy of lights overhead. Because all the businesses were closed, there were only a few people walking around, mostly couples looking for a romantic walk and an occasional person walking their dog. For the most part, the city square felt peaceful and quiet, like a hushed fairyland.
Footsteps to her right caught her attention. Turning, she saw Mason walking toward her.
“I’d tease you about working so much,” he said, “But I wouldn’t have much ground to stand on, would I?”
“Nope. I’m decorating. What are you here for?”
Mason grinned. “My secret weapon.”
“Weapon? For what?”
“To take you down, cookie girl. You think you’re going to get all the attention with your fancy cookie painting? Well, I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.”
Ruth shook her head and sighed. “Don’t you think this is getting a little ridiculous?”
“Not as ridiculous as your mistletoe up there.”
He looked up at the roof over their head, and she followed his gaze. With a zing to her heart, she realized they were both standing directly under it. And more than that, as thoughts of kissing him fluttered across her mind, she realized that she wanted to kiss him.
Her breath quickened, making it hard for her to answer. “It’s not ridiculous. It’s tradition.”
“Yeah, but have you actually seen anybody kissing under it?”
“Yes. A sweet older couple saw it the other day. They shared the sweetest kiss, and then bought a whole dozen cookies from me.”
Mason turned to face her more squarely and took a step closer. “But isn’t the point of mistletoe that it’s an excuse to kiss someone you ordinarily couldn’t? Or, at least, haven’t before?”
Ruth felt as if she was caught up in a spell as she looked up at him. In the shimmer of lights and the brush of cold evening air, it seemed as if an ancient magic was drawing them together. There were so many reasons to keep her distance, to stand back from him. But none of them seemed compelling at that moment with his eyes watching her and his lips so close.
But what if it was all in her head? It had to be. Mason might have said she was attractive and been friendly, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be romantic with her.
No, her stupid crush on him was making her fantasize again. “That would take more courage than I possess. Besides, it would just create unwanted complications.”
“True. Like, you might even like it and then where would you be?”
Ruth crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down. “Exactly. And smart people avoid liking kisses when a relationship is out of the question.”
“But who wants to be smart when it’s no fun?”
Ruth shook her dizzy head. “It’s cold out here. I’m going back inside. Good luck with your secret weapon.”
She shut her shop door with a little too much force as she went inside, but it didn’t calm her down like she’d hoped it would.
What had just happened out there? She was so confused. She felt like a yo-yo moving up and down between being frustrated and annoyed to fluttery and excited every time she saw him.
Had he actually wanted to kiss her just now? It sounded like it, but that was too impossible.
Maybe he was just flirting with her to distract her from business.
No way. But the effect would be the same whether he meant that to happen or not. She had to keep focused.
Tomorrow when they opened for business again, she was going to be ready to dominate sales until Christmas. Dominate them.
***
When Crystal got to work Monday morning, she raved about the Christmas decorations and the prominent placing of the cookie painting. It stood on a small easel inside a glass showcase cube that would keep it fresh and clean. “Okay, before I do anything else, let’s get this posted on social media.”
Ruth nodded and went back to work brushing pink luster dust on Santa Claus cookies to give them rosy cheeks. “You’ll have to tell me how well it does. I’m thinking about doing a new one every week until Christmas. Oh, and when you post it, let people know that they can come to the store to enter a drawing to win it.”
“Look at you stepping up your marketing game. What came over you?”
“Mason.”
Crystal laughed. “That sounds sexy.”
With a hot blush suffusing her cheeks, Ruth swallowed hard. “That’s not what I meant.”
Even though she knew it was just a joke, she had to work hard to keep her thoughts on dusting Santa cheeks after that and knew hers were probably a similar shade.
A few minutes later, Crystal made a croaking noise. Ruth couldn’t tell if it as a laugh or cry of dismay. “What?”
“You’re not going to believe this. Look at what’s on the Willow Falls Facebook page.”
Ruth took her phone to see but nearly dropped it when she saw the picture Crystal was talking about. Someone had taken a picture of her and Mason the evening before. They stood facing off with their arms crossed. Her chin was raised defiantly as he smirked down at her. The post said “Owner of the new candy store, The Chocolate Box, locked in battle with Sugar Lips under the mistletoe.”
Gasping, Ruth sputtered out, “But who took this picture? And how dare they call me sugar lips instead of the owner of Sugar Lips!”
“But holy Christmas cookies—this is amazing press. We couldn’t have asked for better visibility.”
“I sure could have!”
“No, just wait. Look how many shares and likes it already has.”
Ruth clenched her teeth and dared to look, then immediately shut her eyes in horror. “That’s almost as many people as live in Willow Falls.”
“Oh, it’s way beyond our town. Now you need to go comment on it.”
Standing up, Ruth set Crystal’s phone on the table with a thunk. “No way. It’s not happening.”
“Come on. You have to. If you show that you have a sense of humor about it, you’ll bring people here in droves. Here, I’m going to log in under the Sugar Lips account and comment. What about, “Come and see for yourself who has better sweets.”
Ruth had to admit that Crystal had a point but she wasn’t happy about it. She groaned. “Do whatever you want. I’m going to go see if Mason has seen this.”
She didn’t bother to put on her coat since the weather was a little warmer than the day before. But when she knocked and went into Mason’s kitchen, she wished she had since he kept his place on the cool side for the chocolate.
He wasn’t in the kitchen so she went to the swinging door that led out front, but just as she pushed through the door, she ran into an obstacle that knocked her backward. As she stumbled, she heard a clatter of something hitting the floor a second before her left foot flew out from under her.
Reaching out with both hands for anything to stop her fall, she grabbed hold of fabric and held tight until her downward momentum halted abruptly.
Looking up, she saw Mason’s face inches from her. Relief swept over her but it was short lived when she realized that he was crouched over her, straddling her legs, with his arms wrapped around her back and waist.
And her hands? They were clenched onto his t-shirt as if she had no plans to ever let him go.
“Wow,” a feminine voice said behind them. “Are you guys okay?”
In a swift, easy movement, Mason had them both righted again. And when Ruth’s foot threatened to slip again since it was still on top of a plastic tray, he steadied her with a hand at her elbow.
“I’m fine,” she said. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were coming through.”
Mason grinned. “That’s one of the hazards of a swinging door. I’ve been so busy today, I was hurrying around too fast to pay attention.”
Not sure she found the situation as humorous as he did, Ruth pulled up the Facebook post in her hand. “Don’t get too cocky about your uptick in sales. It’s because of this.”
He looked at her with confusion a moment before reading the post. “Huh. That explains that. I had people standing outside my shop this morning, so I’ll take it.”
“Of course you will,” Ruth said. “Well, I just came over to make sure you saw it. I’ll get out of your way now before I cause any more disasters.”
“It wasn’t a disaster for me,” Mason said.
She raised an eyebrow. “No?”
He shrugged. “There weren’t any chocolates left on that tray.” But the teasing look in his eyes betrayed him.
“Have a nice day,” Ruth said, striving to hold on to whatever pride she had left.
“You too, sugar lips.”