Gingerbread Dreams

By Katie O'Connor

For Poppy Holiday, only one thing matters, rebuilding the bakery she inherited from her grandmother. But that's going to be difficult with her primary oven out of commission. She needs money and needs it fast. The best way to get it is to win Cranberry Cove's annual Christmas gingerbread house competition. There's only one thing standing in the way certain victory and the cash prize she so desperately needs; Darius Badeaux, the one man she swore she'd never love again.

 

More than a decade ago, Darius left his hometown in shame. Caught up in his reputation as a bad boy, he did the most unforgivable thing a teenage boy could do. He'd stood up his prom date. Now, he needs her help to prove he in no longer the renegade they'd known. It was too much to ask, but he needs Poppy to allow him to be part of her gingerbread team. She has every right to refuse him after what he'd done, but he's counting on her generous nature and the spirit of Christmas.

 

Will the season of giving bring them together to build the perfect gingerbread house and salvage their careers, or will the past crush their dreams and their hearts?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Snarky Heart Press
• Release date: Nov 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781989816202

Katie O'Connor

Best Selling author Katie O’Connor lives part time in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She married her high school sweetheart and is living her happily ever after. She is the mother of two grown daughters and is extremely proud of her five grandchildren. Katie’s career path has been long and twisted, with most of her life devoted to her family.  She’s been a waitress, chambermaid, cashier, store manager, as well as a lab and x-ray technician.  Katie trained in martial arts for a while and tried distance running.  She likes to shoot and for a few years performed in numerous staged gun battles with a theatrical group, Guns of the Golden West, at various venues including the Calgary Stampede.  Katie played box lacrosse for a while and even coached for a year.  The team she coached won the gold medal in Canada’s first ever Junior B Girl’s Box Lacrosse Championship. She is an avid quilter and for several years owned and operated a home-based quilting business and designed quilt patterns. Early in her writing career she wrote seven novels while raising twin girls. With family life taking up much her time, she put writing on hold until life calmed down. Now she spends her time reading and writing while splitting her time between Calgary and her bush retreat called Sanctuary. She reads many different genres and has started numerous books, many of which are ongoing, back burner projects.  Her favorite writing spot is on her land where she can listen the wind in the trees and be inspired by the deer that often wander by. She believes in all things magical including dragons, fairies, UFOs, ghosts, and house pixies.  But most of all she believes in love, romance and hope.

Book preview

Chapter One

G uess, what?

Poppy rolled her eyes. What now? Her best friend, Julianna was prone to excitement over nothing. She was, by far, the most enthusiastic person Poppy Holiday had ever met. Julianna’s green eyes sparkled with excitement. Unfortunately, the tiniest bit of gossip sent Julianna into a tizzy. They were supposed to be practicing for the Seventeenth Annual Gingerbread Dreams contest. It was only November fifteenth, but December tenth’s deadline was looming ahead, bearing down on them like a freight train loaded with sticky icing.

Guess who’s back in town? You’ll never guess. Not in a million years. Julianna clapped her hands and did a happy dance. Her jumpy steps reminded Poppy of Snoopy.

I don’t know. Fred Astaire? Kenny Rogers? Beyonce? She wasn’t interested in gossip. She had to focus on building the perfect gingerbread castle. The bakery she’d inherited from her grandmother depended on it. The business could survive or fail, depending on how well she did in this contest. After spending six years at culinary school, away from her hometown, she was ready to set Cranberry Point on fire with her success. Pudgy Poppy was back and ready to slay some demons. Figuratively speaking. But her primary oven had died, and she needed the prize money to get a new one, before her backup oven kicked the bucket.

Would you be serious? This is important. Julianna sighed dramatically.

Poppy traced around another cookie template, working quickly before the still hot cookie cooled and hardened. If she waited too long, the piece would crumble when she cut it. Or it would be too big and wouldn’t fit as snugly as she needed it to. Perfect fit was critical for creating a solid structure. With each precise slice of the knife the enticing aroma of ginger, molasses, cloves, and allspice rose to tempt her. The cookies were warm under her hand, beckoning her taste them. She knew better than to fall for their enticements. Eating her profits would be a mistake in more ways than one.

Okay, she said without looking up from her task. Tell me. Who’s back? She already knew he was back. He’d been back for over a month. She just wasn’t going to admit she’d seen him at a distance already.

Darius Badeaux. He’s not just back, Juliana gloated. He’s taken over the Greek restaurant and changed the name to Mythos Taverna. And, she paused, dramatically fanning her face, he’s trying to enter the competition.

Poppy’s knife wobbled and she slashed a chunk off the template she was tracing. She knew he was back and had opened Mythos Taverna. He was entering the contest? Seriously? What? She hated the way her voice rose in alarm. Of all the people…

I thought you’d be interested. She grinned and winked before tearing open another bag of candies for sorting. Every jellybean and gumdrop was sorted by color to ensure even distribution on the final project. They wouldn’t be putting the candies on their trial versions, but sorting was time consuming and tedious. It was a good task for the early morning quiet, before the day’s rush started. She’d debated ordering custom colored candy, but mixed packages were more frugal and she could use the leftovers on other cookies, the ones she sold out front.

The one thing Poppy wasn’t, was interested in Darius. No way. No how. That ship had sailed years ago. The night of her senior prom to be precise. I hope he has every success in his new business. And she hoped he didn’t get into the contest.

Darius Badeaux had lived up to his name. He’d been Cranberry Cove’s bad boy for years. Nothing serious, just a penchant for leather jackets, motorcycles, fast cars and the occasional prank. Just bad enough to attract silly teenage girls and to make parents wary. He was definitely on Poppy’s No-Go list after what he did to her.

I’ll bet he’s changed. I’ve heard that after his six years in the military, he went to Paris for culinary school. You guys will have so much in common.

I run a bakery. He runs a Greek restaurant. That puts him squarely in competition with me for Cranberry Cove’s limited dining out dollars. There is only so much to go around. Plus, I have no interest in Darius Badeaux. None at all. She could barely speak the lie without wincing.

Did I say you did? Julianna laughed and popped a yellow gumdrop into her mouth. I thought you’d be interested to know that he’s reopened the restaurant, she mumbled around the candy. You used to work there. I know you were upset when it closed. And don’t forget, he caters to lunches and more formal nights out while you feed the sweets lovers. Not really competition at all, if you ask me.

Poppy snorted. She knew Julianna too well to believe she wasn’t taunting Poppy, just a bit. They’d been best friends since Poppy’s mom babysat Julianna when they were both three. It felt like both forever and only months at the same time.

Darius was a different story. From the time his family moved to town in grade six until graduation night, Poppy had been in love with Darius. When he’d asked her to their prom, she’d been ecstatic. The bad boy jock asking the pudgy girl out was a dream come true. She should have known better.

Her dream had turned into a nightmare only days later.

The bakery doorbell jangled and Darius Badeaux strolled in. Speak of the devil. He looked exactly the same and completely different. His hair was still black, curling dangerously just past his collar. His brown eyes shone even from across the room. She’d been a sucker for those eyes. He’d traded torn jeans and T-shirts for tidy Chinos and a button-down shirt. He looked every inch the successful entrepreneur beneath his expensive leather bomber jacket. An undefinable hint of bad boy remained and only added to his sexy appeal. Her heart stuttered. Her skin prickled with gooseflesh. He was too attractive for his own good, and for hers.

Nope. Not falling for him.

Practicing an improvised version of the behavior modification skills she’d learned from her diet coach, she visualized her heart locked in a steel box behind a brick wall, safe from harm. Safe from Darius Badeaux. Temptation avoided was temptation gone.

He looked delicious.

Why couldn’t he have gotten old, fat, and bald? Did he have to get better with age? Women never got better with age. It was one of the universe’s cruel jokes. Men got hotter, sexier. Women just got older.

Darius, come in. Julianna hurried forward to greet Poppy’s old nemesis and shake his hand. Welcome back. So good to see you. It’s been years.

Julianna, good to see you. You look great. I hear you have kids now. Congratulations. He looked up, his gaze catching Poppy’s. What is that delectable aroma? Gingerbread, fresh pastry and is that mincemeat I smell?

Dang. She admired his nose for scents. Nothing appealed to a food lover like a person who could detect ingredients by smell alone. Why couldn’t she stop staring?

He slid past Julianna, and strode toward Poppy. Poppy. Congratulations on taking over the bakery. I know you’ll keep it as successful as your grandmother did. You were the best baker in our high school cooking class. I always envied your skills.

Darius. What can I do for you? Blunt, not quite rude, but to the point. Exactly the tone she was striving for. Professionally distant. She didn’t want to talk to him, nor did she want to think about the precarious position of the bakery.

I’d like a few minutes of your time, if you can spare them. He smiled winningly. It had been that grin she’d fallen for in her youth. The hint of a dimple in his left cheek and the smile, just slightly off kilter, as if he were trying to hide it from the world. She didn’t adore that look. Nope, not her. She