The Christmas Cookie Wars

Chapter Twenty

Twenty

“This is going to be the best Cookie Daze in the history of all the Cookie Dazes ever to take place in Cookeville!” Finn made the declaration from the front porch, both arms raised to the sky, head tipped back in the sheer glory of joyful anticipation.

Melody snuck a picture on her phone before the moment passed, pretending she was checking a text so she didn’t embarrass him. “We’d better get to the park.” The rest of the team wouldn’t gather for setup for another half hour, but she wanted to be early and make sure they had everything organized.

The entire committee had spent the previous afternoon collecting the rest of the cookies from people in town, storing them all in containers in the concessions kitchen at the park. Once more, Melody had double- and triple-checked the equipment and décor in the shed, making sure they had everything they needed to transform the park into a cookie wonderland.

“I’ve got the sleds for the race.” Tate had rigged up one of the sleds to carry the other four, all stacked up. He pulled them across the snow with a rope.

“Everything else should already be there.” Melody locked the front door and then followed the boys down the block. It was absolutely the perfect day to hold an outdoor event. The sun had warmed the air, melting off the dusting of snow that had fallen overnight—just enough to give the lawns an extra sparkle.

“Can we set up the race first, Mom?” Finn looked so much taller in his boots.

“Sure.” She let Tate press the crosswalk button. “While you do that, I’ll start to set up the carnival games.” They’d had the same ones at the event every year—the inflatable limbo, the Santa snowball toss, the penguin sledding disc drop game, and, her personal favorite, the Christmas tree bowling game.

Jonathan had texted her last night to tell her he would be there to meet them at the park first thing in the morning, and then she’d proceeded to fantasize throughout the night. She was still hoping. Hoping for another moment…another date…

“What happened?”

Melody ran into Tate’s back.

“Whoa. Sorry, buddy.” She lifted her head and the park came into view. “Oh no.” It was a mess.

“Our candy canes!” Finn tore away from them and sprinted to the various items strewn through the snow—all the huge foam candy canes they’d made for their slalom obstacle, the tunnels they’d built, the signs they’d painted only yesterday—everything lay in pieces all over the snowy fields and sidewalks.

Melody walked toward the scene in a haze. The bagged cookies that had been safely locked in the concessions kitchen were crushed and broken—scattered among the debris from the carnival games and the dress-up photo booth.

“I don’t understand.” Finn glanced around, his expression stricken. “We just checked everything in the shed yesterday. And we locked it up when we were done.”

“Someone broke in.” Tate picked up the broken padlock from the snow a few feet away. “Someone did this on purpose.”

“Who?” the younger twin demanded. “Who would do this?”

Only one person came to Melody’s mind. Charlene must’ve been so angry after the meeting the other night…

The sound of a car engine drew her gaze away from the pieces and parts of their ruined festival.

Jonathan’s SUV pulled up against the curb and he and Ainsley got out, running to meet them.

“What in the world?” He stepped over the broken reindeer antler toss game.

“Someone ruined Cookie Daze.” Finn was crying now, and Melody wanted to join him. All that work, all those hours, all the people who’d helped…

“What an awful, awful thing to do.” Ainsley put her arm around him. “It’ll be okay, Finn.”

Melody appreciated the effort, but things were not okay. “Tate, that’s your hat. Right there on the ground.” The custom beanie she’d given him for Christmas last year that said Laugh it up, fuzzball—Han Solo .

“I didn’t do this, Mom.” Tate backed away from the hat. “I swear. I lost my hat at school a while ago but I didn’t want to tell you.”

“I know it wasn’t you.” He would’ve had to sneak out in the middle of the night when she was asleep. And he wouldn’t have. He might’ve gone after Blake in the cafeteria to back up his brother, but Tate wouldn’t purposely ruin the event he loved the best.

“I’m going to keep this.” Jonathan picked up the hat and stuffed it into his coat pocket. “If that’s okay.”

“You believe me, right?” Tate directed the question to his principal.

Jonathan took a knee in front of him. “I believe you. I know you wouldn’t do something like this. And we’ll get to the bottom of who did later. I promise.” He stood back up. “But right now, we need to come up with a plan for how we’re going to save Cookie Daze.”

Save it? “Everything’s ruined.” Melody scanned the debris. “Nothing is usable. None of the food, none of the decorations, none of the activities. Someone sabotaged us.” Charlene was involved. She had to be. And that woman had actually planted Tate’s hat there so everyone would think her boys were responsible? It was unbelievable.

“Everyone will be here in two hours.” Finn sniffled. “There’s not enough time to fix everything.”

Melody took in her two devastated children, the shock and sadness snowballing into anger. “Sure there is.” She whipped out her phone. “I’m texting the other committee members to go door to door to start collecting decorations and goodies—cookies or candy or whatever people have at home.” She fired off the text. “And I’ll get my family here to help Finn and Tate start the cleanup. Jonathan and Ainsley, you start on the north side of town. I’ll start on the south side.” And she knew exactly whose house she’d stop at first.

“Sounds like a good plan.” Jonathan was gazing at her the same way he had before he’d kissed her for the first time—openly and intently—but Ainsley pulled her dad in the opposite direction. “This is gonna be awesome! But we’d better hurry. We have a lot of work to do!”

Yes, they did, but that didn’t mean Melody didn’t want a few minutes wrapped up in his arms. She turned her back on the craving and jogged through the snow all the way home to get her car.

Ten minutes later, she pulled into Charlene’s driveway. Like everything else in the woman’s life, her house projected perfection. A newer-model expansive two-story with a gleaming stone exterior and a wide front porch. Even the Christmas lights were straight and taut—perfectly spaced to cover every eave and window.

Melody climbed out of the car, her conviction gaining steam. She couldn’t let Charlene get away with ruining Cookie Daze because of some personal vendetta. This rivalry, or whatever it was, had to stop now. She stabbed a finger into the doorbell, and Charlene opened it right away.

Melody opened her mouth to give the woman a piece of her mind, but she could only stare.

Instead of one of her expensive pantsuits, Charlene wore a pair of tattered joggers and an oversized sweatshirt. Her dark hair had been pulled into a crooked ponytail and there wasn’t a trace of makeup on her face.

“What’re you doing here?” Her voice wobbled like she’d been crying.

“Are you okay ?” Concern overrode her righteous indignation. She moved to step inside the house.

“It’s none of your business.” A few tears slipped down Charlene’s cheeks but she angrily swiped them away. “You need to leave. Please.” She started to cry, really cry, and Melody couldn’t seem to move.

“Charlene, is there something I can do for you?” She’d never seen her like this. How could she walk out when the woman was sobbing and all alone? “Do you need anything? You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong, but—”

“Ward left me.” She buried her face in the crook of her arm like she wanted to hide. “Three weeks ago. I thought he’d be back. I thought we’d work it out, but he just told me he wants a divorce.” She gasped out a sob. “A divorce! After everything I’ve done for him. Can you believe that?”

“Oh no.” Without thinking, Melody threw her arms around her. “That’s so awful.” How could her husband walk out on her right before the holidays? “I’m sorry, honey. What a horrible, horrible thing to deal with.” She knew how it felt to lose a partner.

“Don’t tell anyone.” Sudden horror gripped Charlene’s features. “I don’t want anyone to know yet. I can’t imagine how people will talk.”

“I won’t say anything.” Melody glanced around the foyer. With everything Charlene was going through, she had a hard time picturing the woman breaking into the shed and ruining Cookie Daze. “Do you want me to make you some tea or something?” Melody snuck a glance at her watch. She had so much to do, but she could spend a few minutes.

“No. No, no. I’m fine.” Charlene raised her head, looking around like she was embarrassed. “Why did you come here? Clearly it wasn’t to hear me blubber.”

Melody thought about making up a lie, but she’d hear soon anyway. “Someone sabotaged Cookie Daze. The shed got broken into last night, and now everything’s ruined—all the games and decorations and supplies we’ve worked so hard to collect—”

“And you thought I had something to do with it?” Charlene looked like she might cry again.

“Not necessarily.” At least not anymore. “We’re trying to save the event before everyone shows up. So we’re going door-to-door looking for decorations and cookies and treats and whatever anyone can contribute to make this happen. But I’m really sorry I bothered you. If I had known—” She started to head for the door.

“I’ll help.” Charlene moved in front of her. “I mean, if you want me to. I know I haven’t exactly been supportive lately, but I could really use a distraction this morning.”

Ha! She definitely hadn’t been supportive. But Melody contained her reaction. She could let the past go. Things had been much harder for Charlene than she’d thought lately. Ward had left three weeks ago, and she had to wonder if that was the real reason Charlene had disbanded the committee. “We’d love to have you help.”

“All right, then. I’ll get dressed and cover this neighborhood.” She was already on the move up the curved staircase. “In fact, I bet my neighbor Lynne will go door-to-door too. We can cover more ground that way.”

“That would be great,” Melody called. “Then I can go back to the park and help with cleanup.”

“We’ll meet you there soon!” A door closed upstairs, and Melody took that as her cue to make a hasty exit.

···

Back at the park, Melody had just joined Finn and Tate on garbage duty when her parents and Kels and Doug pulled up in rapid succession.

“I can’t believe this!” Her mother wore her full puffer snowsuit and a pair of matching earmuffs. “Do we know who’s responsible? Because I’ll give them a piece of my mind.”

“Not yet.” They didn’t have time to get distracted right now, so she didn’t give them the chance to speculate. “Mom, you team up with Finn and Genevieve. Dad, you’re with Tate. Doug, can you go find a rake and some huge garbage bags?”

“You got it.” Her brother-in-law sprinted back to their car and drove away.

She and Kels headed in the opposite direction and worked on piling up the bags of crushed wasted cookies.

“You don’t think Charlene would be this desperate, do you?” Kels asked. “I mean, I know she’s intense, but this is legitimate vandalism. We could report her to the police.”

“It wasn’t Charlene.” Melody kept her promise to keep the divorce quiet, but she did tell her sister about Tate’s hat lying on the ground in the middle of the mess—a clear setup. “So as far as everyone else knows, the only evidence points to my kids.”

“Unbelievable.” Her sister tossed another cookie bag on the pile. “Do you think it’s the same person who messed with Jonathan’s ingredients at the contest too?”

“It has to be.” But she had no one on her list of suspects. “Jonathan said he was going to get to the bottom of it, but right now we need to try to pull off a miracle. And all this waste breaks my heart.” She scanned the snowy field they were walking through. At least most of the larger debris had already been cleared by the others.

Doug pulled the car up near where they were walking and brought garbage bags and a rake. “I’ll get the cookies raked up if you bag ’em.”

“Deal.” Melody dumped an armload of cookies into the trash while Kels held the bag open. Soon the boys joined in, turning it into a game of basketball, throwing the cookies from a distance.

They’d finished clearing the ground when a whole line of cars pulled up to the curb, filling the entire block.

“What’s happening?” Tate tossed the last bag into the dumpster.

“I have no idea.” But doors were opening and people were unloading things—lawn ornaments and decorations—even several giant candy canes Melody recognized from one of the yards on the outskirts of town.

“Mr. Braxton!” Finn pointed down the street. Jonathan was jogging toward them along with Ainsley.

The butterflies fluttering in her chest carried her to meet him.

“That was amazing.” Ainsley was out of breath. “When we started to tell people what happened, they started to offer us all kinds of stuff.”

“Wow!” Finn had joined them. “This is awesome! We can even use those candy canes for the race!”

“Yes, and there’s a lot more stuff I thought we could use too.” She directed him to follow her. “Let’s start setting up.”

Tate joined the two of them and they walked away talking through plans.

It took every ounce of willpower Melody had not to throw her arms around Jonathan. “We did it. We saved Cookie Daze.” There had to be thirty cars parked along the curb and in the lot. And people. So many people. There was Charlene, unloading boxes out of her car while she barked orders at the neighbors she’d recruited.

Doug and Kels and her parents and aunt and uncle hurried to help various friends and neighbors unload, carrying box after box to the pavilion.

“The market donated cookies and brownies and pies and cupcakes.” Jonathan laughed. “So we might have to change the name to Dessert Daze this year. But it’ll work. We’ll make this work.”

“We will.” Longing whispered through the words, and she didn’t even care if he heard it, if he could see her real feelings all over her face. Maybe she couldn’t have him today, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want him; that didn’t mean they couldn’t share a moment.

“Melly!” Kels waved her to the pavilion. “You two better come and help us get organized. There’s a lot to sort out here.”

A lot to sort out was an understatement. When the rec center had gotten wind of what occurred, they’d lent them all of their carnival games. “These can be set up on the cleared sidewalk near the playground,” she told Doug. She deputized him and his project management skills to get the games ready.

“And Mom and Dad, you can start bagging and distributing the cookies. They’ll need quite a few for the race. And the carnival games will be giving them out as prizes too.”

“Say no more.” Her mom found a wagon and the three of them loaded up.

“Jonathan, can you show all of the food trucks where they’ll be setting up?” A few had just arrived.

“I’m on it.” He jogged away and she watched him until Tracey tapped her on the shoulder. “Here are props we collected for the photo booth. We even have this fun backdrop.”

“Great. You and Deb and Nancy can be in charge of that.” She checked the list on her phone. They almost had just as many events and activities as they’d lost.

“What about a karaoke station?” Aunt Bernice asked. “I called my DJ friend, Mr. Spinz, and he should be here any minute.”

“I love that addition.” Kels looked at the diagram she’d drawn up last night. “We can do that in the outdoor amphitheater, if you can find some volunteers to shovel it out.” They hadn’t been planning on using that space, but she wouldn’t turn down another fun thing for people to do today.

“No problem,” her aunt assured her.

“What can I do?” Charlene asked behind her.

Once again, Melody had to shake off the shock. She actually wanted to help, and Charlene knew how to get things done. “You and I will both circulate and supervise.” Melody pointed her toward the carnival games. “We’ll share the director role and make sure everyone has everything they need.”

“You’ve got it.” Charlene smiled at her. A real smile!

The next hour flew by while Melody cruised from station to station, offering her help and opinions, watching the entire community come together to pull off a holiday miracle. At noon, they were ready to welcome their friends and neighbors who hadn’t made it yet and even some tourists who’d heard the buzz.

Before she got too busy, Melody hiked up the hill to watch the boys kick off the first-ever Great Cookie Race, which already had a line winding back to the trees.

“On your marks, get set, go!” Finn waved a red flag he’d found somewhere, and the racers took off down the hill on their sleds to the cheers of everyone standing around.

“Did you see that, Mom?” Finn held up his hand for a high five. “Everyone loves the race. Look at our line!”

“It’s amazing,” she agreed. “In fact, I want to see the rest.” She moved carefully down the hill in her boots and watched the racers go through the candy canes and through the tunnels and then build the snowmen at the end, where Tate was running back and forth keeping an eye out for the first team to finish.

“This is a big hit, huh?” Jonathan stood near the finish line.

There he was.

Melody had had her eyes out for him the whole time but hadn’t been able to locate him in all the chaos.

“They’re having a ton of fun.” Her chest cramped with suppressed gratitude. “Thank you for helping to save the day. They were so upset when we got here.” If Jonathan hadn’t lent her his optimism and enthusiasm, she would’ve canceled the whole thing.

“Look at what we all did.” Jonathan always seemed to distribute the credit. “This might be the best Cookie Daze the town has ever—”

“I got your text.” Charlene hurried to Jonathan, Blake lagging behind her. “You said you needed to talk to us right away?”

“I do.” Jonathan gave her a cool look. “I wanted to talk to Blake while you were here.” He crouched until he was eye level with the kid. “I saw you take Tate’s hat out of the lost and found the other day.”

“No, I didn’t.” Fear rattled Blake’s voice.

“You did,” Jonathan said calmly. “Remember? I asked you if you found what you were looking for? You said yes and stuffed this very hat in your backpack.” He removed Tate’s hat from his coat pocket and held it out to Blake.

Melody watched the kid squirm. Unbelievable. Blake had been sabotaging them the whole time?

Judging from the genuine surprise on his mom’s face, Charlene had had no idea.

“I don’t understand,” Charlene said to Jonathan. “If the hat was in the lost and found, it was fair game. It’s not like Blake stole it.”

“We found it here in the middle of the mess this morning,” Melody told her. She hated to give her more bad news, but that was the truth. “Right outside the shed, where Blake apparently wanted us to find it. You wanted everyone to think Finn and Tate ruined Cookie Daze. But it was you.”

“And you’re the one who switched out my sugar with salt at the contest too, right?” Jonathan added. “I remember seeing you in the gym before the contest started and then you weren’t there the rest of the day.”

“He wasn’t even at the Cookie Contest!” Charlene was shaking her head now. “We didn’t attend this year.”

“He was there.” Jonathan had the kid trapped in an unrelenting stare. ‘You said hi to me. And I saw you talking to some other kids, who I could ask to verify you were there.”

Charlene whipped her head to gawk at her son. “How did you get to the contest?”

“I rode my bike,” he muttered.

“Listen, Blake.” Jonathan waited until the kid looked at him. “You can either tell us the truth, or I can file a police report and let them investigate for vandalism.”

“It was just some stupid decorations.” Blake wouldn’t look at any of them. “I’m so sick of Finn and Tate always being the best at everything. They kept talking about their dumb race and they wouldn’t even let me help.”

Ah. Now she understood. Finn and Tate had a tendency to be exclusive when it came to projects.

“So you were trying to make them look bad?” Jonathan prompted.

“It was all a joke.” Blake was looking up at his mom now. “They made me look stupid in the cafeteria, so I wanted to embarrass them too.”

Charlene gasped. “I can’t believe you would do this to me.”

To her ? Melody shared a look of disbelief with Jonathan.

“You’re the one who said you hoped Cookie Daze would fail because no one appreciated you in this town,” Blake retorted.

Melody backed up a few steps to give them some space. Maybe Charlene had been projecting her feelings about Ward’s abandonment on the rest of the committee.

His mother looked around. “I don’t think I said that, exactly.”

“You did. That’s all you’ve been talking about for weeks.” Blake threw up his hands in obvious frustration. “I thought you’d be glad.”

“No! I’m not glad. Blake, you can’t vandalize things. I’m so sorry,” Charlene seemed to say to everyone gathered around them. “You’re going to fix this, mister.” She grabbed his wrist and started to drag him away, going on and on about how embarrassed she was.

“Mystery solved.”

She hadn’t realized how close Jonathan was standing to her. But she felt his presence now, all the way to the very center of her heart.

“Mom, Mr. Braxton,” Finn called from up the hill. “We need one more team to compete!”

Jonathan held out his hand to her. “What d’you say?”

“I’m in.” She was all in. “As long as you pull the sled.”

He laughed and didn’t let go of her hand all the way up to the starting point.

“You two get the red one.” Finn pointed out their sled. “It’s the fastest.”

Melody climbed onto the sled and Jonathan sat behind her, his legs coming around her. She leaned into him for one short second, feeling his strong chest against her back, and her whole body sighed with happiness. Today she could get away with this. Maybe not tomorrow, but today she would enjoy being this close.

“On your marks, get set, go!” When Finn waved the flag, they pushed off, the wind whooshing over her face. She couldn’t seem to stop laughing as the bumps jostled them together.

Jonathan laughed too, his arms holding her.

When they came to a stop, he crawled out of the sled and pulled her around the candy canes and then through the tunnels, while she tried to help push and collected all the cookies she could grab.

“Quick! The snowman!” She scrambled to get out of the sled. “Let’s roll the base.” Thankfully, she’d had a lot of practice building snowmen with the boys.

On the sidelines, Finn and Tate and Ainsley had come together to cheer them on as they completed the body.

Laughing, they clumsily sculpted and rolled the last snowball for the head, and then she rifled through the goodies she’d collected in the sled.

“Here, we’ll use these donuts for the eyes.” She handed them to Jonathan. “And we can make the mouth with these miniature cookies.”

“Perfect.” Jonathan jabbed the cookies into the snow. “We’re done!” He raised his arms in a victory formation.

Tate came over and took his time inspecting the snowman. “Three-piece snowman with desserts for decorations.”

“And look how many cookies they collected in their sled.” Finn pointed.

“I think you two are the winners!” Ainsley announced, and the kids closed in on them, cheering and hugging.

In the middle of the group hug, Jonathan’s eyes found hers, and that tender expression on his face made her heart swell.

He moved in closer, until their faces were inches apart. Her breaths suspended in anticipation, but he didn’t kiss her. Instead, he smiled and said, “We make a really good team.”