The Christmas Cookie Chronicles: Christine: A Twilight, Texas Story

By Lori Wilde

Come join a meeting of the First Love Cookie Club!

“On Christmas Eve, if you sleep with kismet cookies under your pillow and dream of your own true love, he will be your destiny.”

Everyone in Twilight, TX knows that Christine Noble can mix up the most delectable concoctions and turn them into amazing Christmas cookies. And the whole town also knows she can’t seem to find the ingredients for finding true love. Then through the doors of her shops strides Eli Borden—the man she still thinks of as “the best kisser ever.”

To her surprise, Eli asks her on a date…and to her greater surprise she accepts. Maybe it’s the mistletoe, or the season, or even the cookies…but suddenly something magical happens. But the dreams that Christine thought she’d given up on are suddenly coming true—and it all begins with another kiss Eli.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Dec 20, 2011
• ISBN: 9780062116987

Lori Wilde

Lori Wilde is the New York Times, USA Today and Publishers’ Weekly bestselling author of 87 works of romantic fiction. She’s a three-time Romance Writers’ of America RITA finalist and has four times been nominated for Romantic Times Readers’ Choice Award. She has won numerous other awards as well. Her books have been translated into 26 languages, with more than four million copies of her books sold worldwide. Her breakout novel, The First Love Cookie Club, has been optioned for a TV movie. Lori is a registered nurse with a BSN from Texas Christian University. She holds a certificate in forensics and is also a certified yoga instructor. A fifth-generation Texan, Lori lives with her husband, Bill, in the Cutting Horse Capital of the World; where they run Epiphany Orchards, a writing/creativity retreat for the care and enrichment of the artistic soul.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

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Even though she wished she could fast-forward her life and skip right over Christmas this year, Christine Noble smiled at her departing customers.

Happy holidays, she called over the merry jangle of jingle bells fixed to the door, wriggling her fingers in a wave she hoped didn’t look as half-hearted as she felt.

The smell of yeast, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin permeated the cheerful yellow walls of the Twilight Bakery on that sunny Monday morning. Christine hummed along with The Most Wonderful Time of the Year playing on the satellite radio. She took a bite of cookie from the sample pieces she kept on the counter beside the register. A spicy burst of chipotle-spiked chocolate melted sweetly on her tongue. The texture of the cookie had just the right combination of chewy crispness. It was a new recipe. Her own creation. And pretty darn tasty, if she did say so herself.

A casual observer would assume Christine was filled with Christmas spirit. He would be wrong.

Despite the smile on her face, the delightful aroma in her shop, the upbeat song on her lips, and the flavor of the perfect cookie in her mouth, Christine’s heart was breaking. Her parents were spending the holidays in Europe with her younger G.I. brother and his wife and kids. She hadn’t been able to go, because she was baking the wedding cake for a Christmas Eve wedding. Her darling cat, Cocoa, which she’d had for fifteen years, had passed away three days before. And then there was the letter that had arrived that morning from the last-chance specialist confirming what many other physicians had told her over the years. In spite of all the marvels of modern fertility medicine, Christine would never, ever be able to have children of her own.

She was thirty-one, single, and childless, when what she wanted more than anything in the world was a baby in her arms. What seemed so easy for most people was for her the equivalent of scaling Mount Everest in December without a Sherpa. Futile. Hopeless. Impossible.

What man would ever want a woman who couldn’t bear him children?

But life after her accident had taught her one important lesson. Attitude mattered. So she refused to have a pity party. She smiled, and she hummed, and she took pride in her bakery. She tried hard not to think too much about everything she was losing.

The buzzer in the back of the bakery went off. She limped toward the door separating the bakery storefront from the kitchen. The smells were richer in there, robust and warm. She grabbed industrial potholders, took banana-nut cupcakes from the oven, and put them on a cooling rack. They were the last batch of the day, so she turned off the oven and tracked over to the sink to wash her hands. She pulled a tube of lotion from her apron pocket and slathered it over her chapped skin.The doorbell jingle-jangled.

Her smile had slipped while she was behind closed doors. She quickly pasted it back on and went out to greet her customers.

Four of her friends stood inside the store. Caitlyn Marsh, who owned the flower shop down the street, had her eight-year-old son, Danny, in tow. Emma Cheek, a Hollywood actress who’d moved to Twilight to marry her childhood sweetheart, veterinarian Sam Cheek. Emma had her five-month-old daughter, Lauren, balanced on one hip and her seven-year-old stepson, Charlie, by her side. Children’s book author, Sarah Walker, held hands with her nine-year-old stepdaughter, Jazzy.

And there was Jenny Cantrell. She and her husband, Dean, ran The Merry Cherub Bed and Breakfast. Jenny was thirty-seven, six months pregnant with her first baby, and glowing. She had been through a myriad of fertility treatments before conceiving, and she’d been the one to urge Christine to see her specialist. Jenny had been lucky. Christine was not. She dreaded talking to Jenny, because she knew she would ask about the outcome of her doctor’s visit.

Hi, guys! Christine chirped. Dial it down a notch. Too perky and they’ll get suspicious.

We came to cheer you up. Emma ran a hand over Lauren’s fuzzy little head. She had bright, auburn hair just like her mother. For a moment, Christine feared they’d somehow learned about the contents of the letter. It was difficult holding onto a secret in Twilight. Then Emma said, We heard about Cocoa. We’re so sorry for your loss.

She struggled to hang onto her smile. Cocoa was a great cat.

When you’re ready, Emma said gently, Sam’s got a couple of stray cats at the clinic that need a good home.

Thanks. Christine knew that her friends meant well, but she just didn’t want to talk about either Cocoa or her doctor’s visit. So. She rubbed her palms together. What can I get for you?

Jenny, Emma, Sarah, and Caitlyn glanced at each other. You don’t have to put on a happy face for us, Sarah ventured. It’s okay.

What about you guys? Christine asked the three oldest children, bending to their eye level, palms resting on her upper thighs. Sugar cookies or gingerbread people?

Gingerbread! Jazzy sang out, her blond curls bouncing. Last Christmas the little girl had been close to death. Thanks to Sarah’s parents, who were both heart surgeons, this year Jazzy was the picture of health—rosy cheeks, bright eyes, a hearty appetite.

Sugar cookie, Charlie said.

Mom, Danny said, Can I get a cupcake instead of a cookie?

Caitlyn nodded.

Avoiding her friends’ eyes, Christine busied herself with filling their order. Along with the baked goods, she served milk to the children and coffee to the moms, decaf for Jenny.

Come sit with us. Emma patted the empty spot across from her at the long table.

There weren’t any other customers in the bakery at the moment, so Christine didn’t have a handy excuse for not sitting down. Reluctantly, she poured a cup of chai tea for herself and joined her friends, Sarah on one

Reviews for The Christmas Cookie Chronicles

[fiberfool · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Another enjoyable entry in the Christmas Cookie Chronicles. I would have enjoyed a bit more overlap with other characters from the previous stories, but it was a nice holiday read.