“Not like that. We're hanging lights,” Molly said, rolling her eyes. “We can use the help.”
“I can’t. BakeTown waits for no man. Or woman.” Hannah breathed out an enormous sigh that fluttered her bangs. “I’m still trying to nail down which recipes I want the host to taste on-screen. They’ll be in town in a few days to film the segment. Live.”
“Live? That's awesome,” Molly told her with a gentle punch to the arm.
Hannah’s eyes were wide as she shook her head. “Live means if I make a mistake, the entire culinary world will see it in real time...”
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“Don’t freak out! Freaking out isn’t allowed,” Molly said quickly. She gave her friend's hand a squeeze. “Hey, Hannah. You’ve got this, okay? And you better call me if you need help with anything.”
“Actually, you may be the perfect person to call. The best way to get out of BakeTown coming for their segment would be if my kitchen completely burned down, and I know you could help me with that.” Hannah grinned after her words.
“One time! There was a kitchen fire one time!” Molly glared at Hannah with mock anger.
Hannah laughed before she nodded towards the clock on the wall. “You better hurry up with those cheese logs. Mr. Carmichael won’t have too much fun hanging those Christmas lights all alone.”
“Yeah, yeah, just give me one sec—” Molly paused, as she caught onto Hannah’s turn of phrase. “Mr. Carmichael?”
“Yup.” Hannah grinned and headed towards the back of the bakeshop. “Have fun with the hubby!”
Molly wanted to voice her complaints. She wanted to tell Hannah that she was dead wrong. That there was no way she would ever be interested in Nicholas Kerstman. The man hated Christmas, so obviously that would be a terrible match.
She wanted to say all those things, but Hannah wasn't coming back to hear them. So, Molly finished up her delicious, cheesy dinner in silence, while inwardly scolding herself for not loathing the word hubby being associated with Nicholas Kerstman.
At least not as much as she should.
* * *
“Merry Christmas!” Molly greeted Nicholas at the Brownstones’ doorstep with a light-up Christmas bulb necklace in each of her hands. “Here. This one’s for you.”
She held the necklace out to Nicholas who stared down at it with pure confusion. “For me?”
“Yes. For you,” Molly repeated, rising up to her tip-toes, and placing the necklace around his neck. “And you just click the button right here to turn it on.”
Molly proceeded to click a small, green button on the necklace’s underside, causing the necklace to glow with bright reds and greens, the colors blinking and changing every few seconds.
“Oh. This is a lot.” Nicholas brought the necklace closer to his face as he inspected it. His eyes came up to meet hers and her breath caught a little bit. “Do people really wear these?”
“Of course we do. They’re festive.” Molly reached into her skirt pocket, pulling out an oversized Santa hat that was way too big for her head. “See? Festive!”
“Please don’t tell me that you brought one for m—and yep, of course you did.” Nicholas sighed before lowering his head, allowing Molly to place an oversized Santa hat on him.
“Now, we match,” Molly said, beaming a smile over at Nicholas.
“It’s a dream come true.” Surprisingly, he didn't sound annoyed. If anything, it sounded sincere which was more confusing.
Mr. Brownstone came to the front door with lights tangled around his forearms. “Molly, would you mind getting the ladder from the garage?”
“Actually, I can do that, Mr. Brownstone,” Nicholas offered. He took three steps before glancing around with an embarrassed smile. “Well, I can do that once someone tells me where the garage is...”
“Come on. I’ll show you.” Molly took the lights from Mr. Brownstone’s forearms, wrapping them around her own. “Did you want to be on the ground this year, Mr. Brownstone? Or do you just want to give feedback on the final result?”
“Feedback on the final result,” Mr. Brownstone rasped. He grinned at Molly though. “I don’t think I could stand to be on the roof for even a minute tonight, not in this kind of weather. But I completely trust your artistic expression.”
“We promise we won’t let you down,” Molly assured him. “We’ll knock again when we’re done.”
Mr. Brownstone nodded and went inside, leaving Molly and Nicholas alone together.