Marry-Me Christmas. Shirley Jump

me weeks to figure out some of them, after I took over the bakery. I should have paid more attention when I was little.”

      His brows knitted in confusion. “I read it was a third-generation business. What happened to the second generation?”

      “My parents died in a car accident when I was in middle school. I went to live with my grandparents. Grandpa Neil died ten years ago.” Sam splayed her palms on the table and bit her lip. Flynn MacGregor didn’t need to know more than that.

      “And your grandmother? Is she still alive?”

      Sam hated lying. It wasn’t in her nature to do so. But now she was in a position where telling the truth opened a bucket of worms that could get out of hand. “She is, but no longer working in the bakery.”

      He wrote that down. “I’d like to interview her, too.”

      “You can’t.”

      Flynn looked up. “Why?”

      “She’s…ill.” That was all he needed to know. Joy’s privacy was her own. This reporter could keep the story focused on the present.

      Nevertheless, he made a note, a little note of mmm-hmm under his breath. Sam shifted in her chair. “Don’t you want to try a cranberry orange muffin?”

      “In a minute.”

      “But—”

      “I’m writing an article, Miss Barnett, not a review.”

      She shifted some more. Maybe her unease stemmed from his presence. The airline magazine had done the interview part over the phone. The reporter had come in and bought some cookies, then found his happy ending, unbeknownst to Sam, at a different time. Talking to someone she couldn’t see, and answering a few quick questions, had been easy. This face-to-face thing was much more difficult.

      More distracting. Because this reporter had a deep blue, piercing gaze.

      The bell over the door jingled and a whoosh of cold air burst into the room. “Sam!”

      “Mrs. Meyers, how can I help you?”

      “I need more cookies. My dog ate the box I brought home. I didn’t even get a chance to feed the batch I bought to my Carl and that man is in the grumpiest of moods.” Eileen Meyers swung her gaze heavenward. “He’s hanging the Christmas lights.”

      “In this weather?”

      “You know my husband. The man is as stubborn as a tick on a hunting dog, Sam. There are days I wonder why I’m even buying those cookies.”

      “Because they’re your husband’s favorites,” Sam reminded her. Eileen had been in the day before, plunked down her money, her love for her husband still clear, even in a marriage that had celebrated its silver anniversary, and was edging its way toward gold.

      Eileen harrumphed, but a smile played at the edge of her lips. “Will you get me another dozen?”

      “Ginny can help you, Mrs. Meyers.”

      Eileen laid a hand on Sam’s arm, her brown eyes filled with entreaty. “I love your Aunt Ginny, Sam, I do, but you know my Carl better than I do some days. He says you’re the only one who can pick out the cookies he likes best.”

      Across from her, Flynn MacGregor’s pen tapped once against his notepad. A reminder of where her attention should be.

      “Please, Sam?” Eileen’s hand held tight to Sam’s arm. “It’ll mean the world to Carl.”

      “This will just take a minute,” she told Flynn. “Is that all right?”

      “Of course.” A smile as fake as the spray-paint snow on the windows whipped across his face. “I’ve already waited for that massive line of customers to go down. Dealt with my car breaking down, and a blizzard blowing through town, which has undoubtedly delayed my leaving, too. What’s one more box of cookies?”

      Sam filled Eileen’s order as quickly as she could, trying to head off Eileen’s attempts at conversation. And failing miserably. Eileen was one of those people who couldn’t buy a newspaper without engaging in a rundown of her life story. By the time she had paid for her cookies, she’d told Sam—again—all about how she and Mr. Meyers had met, what he’d done to sweep her off her feet and how he’d lost his romantic touch long ago.

      “Are you done playing advice columnist?” Flynn asked when Eileen finally left.

      “I’m sorry. Things have been especially crazy here since word got out about those cookies.” Sam gestured toward the plate, where the trio of Grandma’s special recipe still sat, untouched.

      “The ones that are purported to make people fall in love?”

      She shrugged. “That’s what people say.”

      “I take it you don’t believe the rumors?”

      She laughed. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s true. If two people find a happy ending because they eat my grandmother’s cookies, then I think it’s wonderful. For them, and for business.”

      Flynn arched a brow. “Happy endings? Over cookies?”

      “Not much of a romantic, are you?”

      “No. I’m a practical man. I do my job, and I don’t dabble in all this—” he waved his hand “—fanciful stuff.”

      “Me, too.” Sam laughed, the chuckle escaping her with a nervous clatter. “Well, not the man part.”

      “Of course.” He nodded.

      What was with this guy? He was as serious as a wreath without any decorations. Sam laced her fingers together and tried to get comfortable in the chair, but more, under his scrutiny. The sooner this interview was over, the better. “What else did you need to know?”

      “How long have you been working here?”

      “All my life. Basically, ever since I could walk. But I took over full-time when I was nineteen.”

      Surprise dropped his jaw. “Nineteen? Isn’t that awfully young? What kind of business person could you be at that age?”

      “You do what have to, Mr. MacGregor.” She sipped at her coffee, avoiding his piercing gaze. He had a way of looking at a woman like he could see right through her. Like Superman’s X-ray vision, only he wasn’t looking at the color of her underwear, but at the secrets of her soul.

      She pushed the plate closer to him. “I think you’d really like the sugar frosted cookies. They’re a Joyful Creations specialty.”

      Again, he bypassed the plate in front of him, in favor of his notes. “Did you go to culinary school?”

      She shook her head. “I couldn’t. I was working here. Full-time.”

      “Having no life, you mean.”

      She bristled. “I enjoy my job.”

      “I’m sure you do.” He flipped a page on his notepad, bringing him to a clean sheet of paper.

      “What’s that supposed to mean?”

      “I’m not here to tell you how to run your business.”

      “And yet, you’re judging me and you hardly know me.”

      Flynn folded his hands over his pad. “Miss Barnett, I’ve been covering this industry for a long time. Talked to hundreds of bakers and chefs. This is the kind of business that consumes you.” He let out a laugh, another short, nearly bitter sound that barely became a full chuckle. “Pun intended.”

      “My business doesn’t consume me.” But as the words left her mouth, she knew Joyful Creations had, indeed, done that very thing, particularly in the last few weeks. The business had taken away her weekends. Vacations. Eaten up friendships, nights out, dates. Left her with this empty feeling, as if she’d missed a half