~~~~~*~~~~~

“You’re supposed to be whisking that,” Maggie said as she glanced over Justin’s shoulder at the off-white, slightly foamy mixture in the bowl he was clutching close to his chest. It should have been forming soft, white peaks by now, but thanks to Justin’s inadequate whisking it was far from ready. “You know what whisking is, right?”

Justin chuckled at the humor in her voice. “Am I doing something wrong, teacher?” he teased, smirking at her playfully. “Cause you can just come out and say it if I am.” He was exhausted and his arm was already starting to cramp but there was no way he was going to admit it. He didn’t want to look like a total wuss in front of this beautiful, baking goddess who’d sprung into his life from out of nowhere. Or rather, the middle of nowhere.

“Well… Maggie said, meeting his eyes and giggling at the expression on his face. Justin smiled as he noticed her lips pulling up into a sideways grin. He already loved the way her eyes danced when she smiled, and the short, suppressed giggle she let out whenever he did something she thought was funny. “You need to get the air into it,” she explained, leaning forward and peering into the bowl. The moment she’d gone into ‘teacher’ mode, her previous shyness had flown straight out the window. She was now confidently swishing around the kitchen, checking the temperature of the oven, rustling her nephew’s hair and checking his whisking action as though she were completely sure of herself. Clearly the kitchen was her domain, and she flourished in it.

“Air into it,” Justin repeated. “Got it.” He lifted his wrist higher and resumed whisking with even more fervor than before. After a few minutes the mixture seemed to transform before his eyes, and before he knew it he had perfect soft peaks forming in the bowl.

“That’s it!” Maggie encouraged, skipping across the kitchen to fetch the bowl of confectioner’s sugar she’d been measuring out. She poured it in little by little as he continued to whisk. “And when all the sugar’s combined we put it into piping bags and start icing.”

“That’s the best part!” Max said from where he was kneeling on the top of his stool, crouching over the counter with a piping bag firmly grasped in his hands and a happy grin plastered across his face. His mouth was smeared with white, along with the cuff of his sleeve, and Maggie suspected that as much icing had gone into his mouth as onto the gingerbread.

“I think it’s pretty well mixed in,” Justin said, giving the icing a final beat before handing the bowl over to Maggie’s waiting arms. She deftly cut and spooned the mixture equally into two piping bags and handed one back to him, giving it a final twist at the wide part before she did so.

“This isn’t weird, right?” he asked under his breath as Maggie steered him across the kitchen towards a spot by her nephew, who was adding the finishing touches to a gingerbread man’s tie. “I mean, I’m not interrupting family time or anything?”

“Believe me,” Maggie said with a wry smile, “we get plenty of family time.”

She met his eyes and noticed that he was watching her carefully, seemingly looking for a sign of hesitation he expected to find written somewhere on her face. Once again Maggie dipped her head and avoided his eyes, pulling her hand away while she still felt she could. She seemed to have some kind of magnetic pull to him that made her want to reach out and touch him all the time, and she was fighting that part of her with every inch of willpower she had.

He might well have given up his afternoon of skiing to learn how to make gingerbread, but that didn’t mean he was interested in her. For all she knew, he might be married… or crazy… or just really liked gingerbread.

“So I’m guessing there’s a technique to this too, right?” Justin asked, breaking the tension that was beginning to build between them. Maggie glanced at him and noticed that his crooked, half smile had returned to his face.

“Of course,” she chuckled.

“And you’re gonna show me how, right?” Justin asked hesitantly as Maggie expertly began to pipe an outline of white icing around a gingerbread man before filling in wavy lines around his feet and hands. Before too long she’d filled in his belt, hair, trousers and even placed three dots for buttons on his shirt.

“Hmmm… maybe,” she teased holding up her creation for him to see as a triumphant smile crossed her face.

“Challenge accepted,” Justin said as he bent over the counter and started to ice his own man. As he concentrated the tip of his tongue poked out of the corner of his mouth and Maggie tried her best not to laugh. He had exactly the same expression on his face as her young nephew, but judging by his efforts, not as much talent in icing gingerbread.   

“Whaddya make of that?” he said triumphantly as he held aloft his own creation before faltering as he compared the two side by side. “Oh…”

“Maybe you just need more practice?” Maggie suggested as she fought back a snigger. It was sweet how competitive he’d become over a silly gingerbread man, and she could tell by the slight pout on his face that he wasn’t used to failing at something. It was pretty cute to see him trying, and struggling, to keep up with her.

“You think that’ll help?” Justin asked, letting out a self-depreciating laugh.

Maggie smiled and bit down on her bottom lip. She didn’t want to lie but… “Hmmm… maybe...?” she said hesitantly.

“You know, you’re a really bad liar.”

“I know.”

~~~~~*~~~~~

Two hours and several dozen gingerbread men later, Maggie was just getting to know the intriguing stranger that’d appeared in her life.

“So you don’t really cook much?” she asked as she waited for him to finish piping a few dots on a gingerbread man’s torso before reaching past his hand to drop a few sugar coated sweets onto the icing. Now he’d had a bit more practice he really was getting the hang of it and they were working well together as a little construction line.

“What makes you say that?” he asked with a chuckle. Maggie met his eyes and saw the humor hidden in their depths. “Nah, I guess not. I mean, I can cook a few things, but I usually… don’t.”

“Takeout?”

“Most of the time, yeah. I travel a lot so it’s easier to just eat out.”

“You travel for work?” Maggie asked hoping that it didn’t sound as though she were prying. She was interested in his life and the process of events that’d led to him arriving on her doorstop. She had a few suspicions, but she was determined to reserve judgment until she’d gotten to know him better.

“Yeah, I suppose you could say that.”

“I wish I could travel more,” Maggie said with a wistful sigh. “There’s so much of the world I’d love to see.”

Justin smiled and continued piping. “Me too,” he admitted. “Most of the time I see the insides of airports and that’s about it.”

“So when you get home there’s no one there to cook for you?” Maggie asked, but immediately regretted not choosing her words more carefully. It sounded so obvious that she was fishing around for information about his relationship status, and she felt mortified that she’d uttered the words aloud. She was grateful there was only a five year old around to witness her embarrassment, and he was consumed in decorating gingerbread.

He must think I’m a complete loser to ask him such a question, Maggie thought miserably. Way to go being subtle.

If he sensed her discomfort, Justin didn’t show it. “No,” he said with a good-natured chuckle. He could tell by the flush in her cheeks that she hadn’t quite meant to ask the question that’d slipped straight out of her mouth and he found her reaction endearing. He was glad that she’d asked. It’d saved him from having to somehow work into the conversation that he was single.

He turned and flashed her another kilowatt smile. “Until I head over to my granny’s for the holidays that is,” he said, trying to lighten the tension that’d developed between them. She hadn’t looked him in the eyes since she’d spoken and he could tell she was embarrassed. “I’m pretty sure she tries to feed me my yearly allowance of calories in just a few days.” Maggie chuckled at the image, especially when he glanced down and patted his flat stomach. She wanted to roll her eyes at the implied suggestion that he might somehow be overweight. As if.

“Where’s that?” she asked, popping another sweet onto a gingerbread man’s torso and then tossing one into her mouth. “Your granny’s, I mean.”

“Tennessee,” he said, smiling at her. “My family’s from there.”

“That’s where you live?”

“Sometimes,” he said. “I share my time mostly between LA and New York.”

“Oh,” Maggie said, trying her best not to feel intimidated. Suddenly she didn’t feel quite so sure of herself. So he got to travel a lot and had multiple homes to live in, not to mention in two of the most expensive places to live in the United States? It sure made Silverwood and her life there seem rustic to say the least. “So do you usually spend the holidays with your family?”

“Yeah, mostly. I’m headed back there in a few days’ time.”

Maggie felt her stomach sink with disappointment. She’d hardly expected him to be a permanent addition to the town, but the thought of him leaving so soon was a bitter blow. It was at that moment she realized she was growing far too attached to this person, and she was setting herself up for inevitable feelings of loss when he left.

“So are you staying at the ski resort?” she asked in what she hoped was a casual way.

“Yeah. How did you know?”

Maggie shrugged. “Not many people come to Silverwood on vacation,” she said with a wry smile.

“I don’t see why not,” Justin said. He glanced up at the snow flecked window pane but it was already too dark outside for him to see anything. “This town is kinda nice,” he said before turning and meeting her gaze. She raised an eyebrow that suggested she wasn’t quite buying it. “You know, in a quaint and… basic kind of way.”

“Basic’s the word,” Maggie chuckled. “There are like four shops in Main Street, and only a launderette and a garage on Second. I’m amazed anyone bothers to stop by on their way to the resort. From what I’ve heard it’s a little different up there.”

“You’ve never been?”

“No,” Maggie said. “I’ve been skiing a few times, but we lived locally so there was no reason to stay over. Plus, everything’s much more expensive up there.”

“Yeah, I noticed that.”

“But I guess it’s a pretty nice place to be over Christmas. I hear they decorate for the guest and put on activities for kids.”

“You heard right. It’s like a winter wonderland. Me and some friends are sharing a cabin just outside of the main resort, but even that came fully decorated. Had its own tree and everything. Every time I head outside I keep expecting to see a herd of reindeer and a sleigh on the roof.”

Justin was joking, but the fact was lost on Max who hadn’t yet learned about sarcasm. “Reindeer?” he said in a high pitched voice, turning around to face Maggie and Justin with wide eyes. “There’s reindeer? Can I go see them?”

Maggie leaned into Justin’s shoulder as she eyed the expression on her nephews face, “You’ve mentioned the R word,” she said in a whisper as she glanced up into his eyes. The closeness to his body set her heart racing, and she quickly leaned back and hurried to regain her composure. Justin saw her cheeks flush and his grin broadened.

“The R word?” he repeated. “Reindeer?”

“He’s crazy about animals,” Maggie explained, still whispering. “We may be in trouble.”

Max hopped down off the stool and padded over to where Justin was standing before staring up at him with an endearingly hopeful expression. “Can I go to see the reindeer?” he repeated in a small, pleading voice.

Justin started to laugh, but Maggie was too embarrassed to find the situation funny. “Maxey, that’s rude,” she chided him. “You can’t just invite yourself places. You’re supposed to wait to be asked.”

“But he said there’s reindeer,” Max whined as he turned to Maggie with a confused frown. “I want to see the reindeer!”

“He didn’t say there were reindeer,” Maggie corrected him, “he said… oh, nevermind…”

“Max,” Justin said seriously, bending his knees so he was face to face with the youngster. His voice was soft but authoritative, which was exactly the right way to deal with one of Max’s mini tantrums. “I tell you what, buddy. Let me take your aunt Maggie there first and if she thinks you’ll enjoy it then you can come another time, ‘kay?”

Maggie stared at Justin’s back feeling as though the rug had been pulled out from underneath her feet. She could hardly dare to believe that he’d suggested taking her along to the ski resort. Any minute now she expected to wake and discover that it’d all been a very strange, but pleasant dream.

“Whaddya say, Maggie?” Justin asked, straightening and turning to fix her with a mischievous smile. Maggie could see the humor hidden in the depths of his eyes, but also something else. Was it hope? She couldn’t tell, but she couldn’t continue looking deep in his eyes to discover either. She was starting to forget everything but how incredibly blue they were. It’d be way too easy to get lost in those eyes. “Maggie?”

“Huh?” she asked, glancing between his and Max’s face. They were both staring at her awaiting her answer, but she’d already forgotten the question. And the fact she needed to breathe.

“Do you want to go to the resort with me?” he repeated his smile widening and his eyes crinkling around the edges. Maggie stared at him, wondering how she’d come to this moment. How had this handsome man come into her life? And was he really asking her out on what she could only assume was a date? She could hardly dare to believe it was true, and yet she so badly wanted it to be it felt as though her insides were aching with the prospect. Time alone with him? That was something she barely needed time to think about.

“I…er…I’m…” she stuttered, her cheeks flushing. As much as she wanted to scream yes at the top of her voice, her mouth took a moment to catch up with her brain, and her surging hormones.   

“You know what,” Justin said with a grin. “I’m gonna take that as a yes.”

Maggie giggled, trying to pretend her heart was pounding away at a million miles an hour. Her whole face lit up at prospect and she nodded shyly. “Yes,” she said. “That’s a yes.”

~~~~~*~~~~~