A horrible thought filled him as he heard the chime of Hannah's door. “Please don’t tell me you’re throwing me a going away party. If that’s what this is, then letting me turn around right now would be the best Christmas gift that you could possibly give me—”
Nicholas stopped his own attempts at guessing Molly’s surprise once a familiar scent filled his nostrils. It was something he hadn't smelled in years.
“Molly? How did you...?” Nicholas then moved his hand from his face..
Every countertop inside of Sweetness & Light had a Buche de Noel cake sitting on top of it. There had to be at least twenty finished cakes. All of them were decorated in the same style as his aunt’s cakes in his youth. They looked like little brown logs with little imitation plants swirled onto the side in buttercream frosting and marzipan mushrooms sprouting from the cakes’ chocolate tops.
Nicholas spun towards Molly in a confused circle. He was struggling to grasp that she had somehow done this for him, that she could be so thoughtful. “Molly, did you do all of this for me?”
Molly nodded, before she leaned into Nicholas’ side. “Is it good? What do you think?”
“What do I think?” Nicholas’ laugh burst from his chest as he looked around at the myriad of cakes. “I think you’re absolutely magical, Molly Carmichael.”
He picked her up and spun her around by the waist. She giggled with delight when he set her down. Nicholas bent to kiss Molly, but he then decided against it as he remembered how he’d signed the papers to sell the shop.
“Oh. Is something wrong?” Molly’s question sounded anxious.
Nicholas then shook his head, but he let go of her waist. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just a little lost in thought.”
“You know what’s good for helping you think?” Molly said, moving away from Nicholas, and pulling out a stool at the counter. “Eating cake.”
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s true,” Nicholas told her. He shook his head with a smile. “But let’s see if it works.”
He took a swipe of frosting with his finger, and brought it to his lips. His eyes went wide. He forgot everything except the cake.
The frosting was perfect.
It tasted faithful to his aunt’s old recipe, right down to the consistency of the frosting itself.
But how?
Nicholas dug his fingers into the front of the cake, not caring about how strange it was to eat cake with his bare hands. He tore off a small piece, popping it straight into his mouth. His smile then grew so big on his face that maintaining the expression began to cause him pain. Wonderful Christmas memories of his aunt flooded into his mind.
All the good memories. All the happy times. The joy of Christmas.
“Molly, it’s perfect,” he whispered. “I don’t know how you did this, but it's amazing.”
“Christmas magic,” Molly replied. She shrugged, grinning back at Nicholas. “And a little help from Hannah’s recipe for Buche de Noel, too. She didn’t help me at all, by the way. She was supposed to come check on me while I was baking, but I think she got caught up with something at her apartment.”
Nicholas cut off Molly’s words with a sweet, sugary kiss, which she seemed delighted to return. Her sweetness combined with the chocolate in a way that made his heart ache and race at the same time.
“Thank you, Molly.” Nicholas’ voice was tender. “No one’s ever done anything like this for me before.”
“Well, it wasn’t exactly a favor,” Molly explained, making her way to the other side of the counter. “It’s part of my overall presentation. Have a seat, if you don’t mind, Mr. Kerstman.”
Nicholas sat at the counter, his finger once again reaching for the frosting. Maybe frosting would help lesson the guilt. He knew he should stop her now. He knew that he should tell her what he'd done, but he couldn't. She'd worked so hard on the cakes. She had a presentation. It wouldn't be fair to all the effort she'd gone through not to at least listen to her.
Molly then brought her phone out of her pocket and seemed to be studying its screen.
Her serious face caused Nicholas to grin over at her. “Ms. Molly, have you made yourself a list? Are you currently checking it twice?”
“Shhhh! You’re throwing off my presentation.” Molly brought a symbolic finger to her lips and then cleared her throat. “Okay, I think I’ve got it...”
“Ready when you are,” he told her.
Molly brought her hands together, and she smiled at Nicholas. “Good evening, Mr. Kerstman. Thank you for attending my presentation today. Tonight, we’ll be discussing the importance of math—”
“Math?” Nicholas asked, not expecting that at all.