Free A Holiday To Remember by Jillian Hart Page B

family? That’s what we did every year. It was sooo much fun. It was sort of like the story of the elves, but I always thought we were honoring the wise men.”
    “You sound pretty wise to me, Miss Mia.” Kind, infinitely kind, Jonah hunkered down to draw out a wooden box from beneath the table.
    The fall of light from the overhead windows revealed the box was full of short lengths of woods in different shades of stain with different finish work, but Debra could not stop noticing the man.
    “Let’s go sit down in the front office with these plans and these samples.” Jonah hefted the box. “We’ll finalize all our details and snack on the Christmas cookies Leah and Olivia dropped off this morning.”
    “Are they the ones I helped make yesterday?”
    “I wouldn’t doubt it.”
    Debra watched Jonah and Mia amicably talking as if they’d known each other forever. Something stirred in her heart deep beneath the disappointment and the impossibility. She didn’t know what the emotion was or why she felt it. She only knew that it was a powerful and pure feeling. Somehow she made her feet carry her forward after the hippity-hop of Mia’s gait across the workshop.
    As Mia told Jonah of her plans of going to a church activity this evening with her new cousin, Debra did her best not to notice the dependable line of Jonah’s shoulders or the uneven pad of his gait. She hung back. He did not look at her as he brought the plate of cookies to the coffee table between a mismatched couch and chair, which sat in a cozy reception area.
    “These are the cookies Olivia and I made.” Mia dropped onto the couch, sinking into the comfortable-looking cushions. “I did all my Christmas trees with white frosting, because they had snow on them. Olivia did hers in green. See?”
    “I see.” Jonah’s kindly grin died when he saw Debra approaching. He nodded once in acknowledgment and went to the hot-water carafe in the corner, where clean cups and boxes of tea bags were perched on a Christmas themed tabletop.
    She clutched her purse more tightly, willing her gaze away from the solid line of his back, which he kept firmly turned toward her. See how he wasn’t interested in her? Whyever had she thought he was? She mentally shook her head. So, she was intrigued by the man, it was nothing more. It couldn’t be. Besides, he clearly didn’t feel intrigued by her. Goodness, what was wrong with her?
    She skirted the corner of the coffee table to sit down next to Mia. The plans spread out in front of them were amazing. Such detailed and careful work. The hours it must have taken him to do this. When had he found the time?
    “Sorry, we’re out of hot chocolate.” He set a tray on the table beside the cookies. “But we do have a good choice of tea.”
    “You do. Thank you.” Debra felt awkward as she forced herself to lean forward to inspect the boxes of tea he’d slid onto the tray beside three bright red mugs. The hot water sent curls of steam into the air. Debra reached for one of the tea boxes. “There’s peppermint, Mia.”
    Instead of commenting on her favorite herbal tea, Mia paused for a moment and frowned as she did when she was thinking hard. As if coming to some conclusion she came to life and bounced off the couch cushion. “Jonah, you have to sit over here next to my mom. See? I can sit in the chair!”
    Debra coughed once in surprise. The box of tea bags tumbled from her fingers and hit the table. What was Mia up to? It was impossible to read anything but excitement in her merry brown eyes. Her face was one big smile as she slipped around the table and dropped into the chair, blocking Jonah from doing so.
    Jonah stood frozen with apparent surprise. “Don’t you want to sit next to your mom?”
    “Nope, I do that all the time.” Breezily, Mia grabbed a green-frosted cookie.
    Debra felt the shock start to slip away and she could plainly see how uncomfortable Jonah looked as his gaze studied the empty couch cushion