Hockey Holidays Read online

  “That’s really great of you.”

  “We’re lucky that we make enough with the bakery that we can do that kind of stuff for them. And you should see their little faces light up when they see me, well, they light up because they know I have cupcakes, not so sure it has anything to do with me.” Avery laughed, then her face dropped, and she made herself busy with the cookies.

  But Kyler saw her sadness, and he couldn’t help but ask. “What are you thinking about?”

  “Me?” Avery asked, a surprised look forming on her face. “Oh. Well, it’s just that we normally collect money through the year in a jar at the register. We usually get enough to buy one thing off of each kid’s wish list, so they have something to open at the Christmas Eve party.”

  “That’s a great thing that you do. So why so sad?”

  Avery sighed. She took the trays out of the oven and put two more in their place. “Because this year we didn’t collect enough. I was only able to get them all little things like socks, slippers, or a stuffed animal for the little kids. I wanted to get the kids a game system for the tv room, but there wasn’t enough left to do that.” She sighed again and turned away, hiding her face from him. “I just hate disappointing them.”

  “I’m sure they aren’t even expecting what you’re getting them. So, I don’t think they’ll be disappointed. Sounds like they look forward to the time you take with them, and that means more than money and gifts.”

  Avery shook her head, not looking convinced.

  “I’m sure everything will work out. Things have a way of doing that.” Kyler said. He had an idea, but he couldn’t do anything until he got home. For now, he needed to get Avery’s mind off her troubles. “Hey, Avery, do you think you can show me how to make the colored icing?”

  “Sure. Then I could use some help with this gingerbread house.”

  After icing some cookies to look like Santa Claus or candy canes, Avery showed him how to make snow on the roof of the gingerbread house. Kyler watched closely as she layered the white icing. The way she moved the icing bag, and how her technique was perfection had his full attention. Still staring at her, he missed her asking him if he was ready to take over.

  “Kyler?” Avery asked again. She held out the icing bag to him. “Think you can do that?”

  “Piece of cake… or cookie.” Kyler took the icing bag and did his best to emulate her movements. Standing back and checking out his handiwork, he even surprised himself. It looked just like new fallen snow.

  “Nice. Okay, I really need to finish these cupcakes. Can you outline the windows and the door, and I will be right over?”

  Kyler nodded. All the things his mom taught him were coming back to him. He missed being in the kitchen, baking, and decorating. It was a different kind of rush than being on the ice.

  When she was finished with her snowman cupcakes, she piped red and green icing on the house, accenting it. Then she attached a gingerbread man with a glob of icing, in the front yard of the house. “Just a few more things, then I’ll add the finishing touches tomorrow.” She piped white icing on the chimney and accented the walkway.

  Looking at the house, he couldn’t believe what they accomplished together so quickly. “Finishing touches? You mean it’s not done?”

  Avery laughed. The girl was adorable, and extremely talented. Before long she had him using cookie cutters to create more cookies. She taught him how to outline the cooled ones with icing, and he helped make various other cookies. She even had him adding the faces on the snowman cupcakes. He hadn’t had this much fun in a long time. It not only brought back memories of his mom, but it was like he and Avery had known each other for ever.

  The Christmas music played in the background, and for the first time in years, he wasn’t annoyed by it. Maybe it was the non-traditional pink décor throwing him off. Maybe it was the rush of memories that Avery helped bring to the surface. He missed holiday baking with his mom. After losing her, Kyler never thought he would bake again.

  It had been a long day of making cookies. Once Kyler was home, he knew he needed to rest, but his brain wouldn’t stop spinning with ideas. Tomorrow was going to be ever rougher than today, with all the holiday pick-ups, but he couldn’t force himself to just relax. He still had too much to do if his ideas were going to come to life.

  Kyler settled in front of his television with a cold beer and leftover pizza. Opening his laptop, he searched every local toy site he could find. Christmas was in only a few days, so many of the toys were out of stock, but somehow, he lucked out finding many new and popular items.

  He was sure these kids didn’t care what they got, as long as they got something, but that wasn’t good enough for him. Picking up his cell, Kyler texted his agent, asking him to get the children’s wish lists from the orphanage.

  Kyler didn’t know how he did it, but before long the lists were in his email.

  Looking over each of their wish-lists, he made sure to purchase at least two things for each of them off their lists for them to open at the party. And if possible, something off their list for Christmas day. These kids weren’t asking for much, so it was easier than he thought to accomplish the task than he had imagined. Which left him more time to buy things he was sure that they didn’t dream of getting.

  As he shopped online, an idea hit him. He typed out an email to his agent, asking him to create a fund for the orphanage. Kyler wanted a percentage of his money to go to this fund so there was always money to buy Christmas gifts for the kids. He would continue to supply the fund with money as long as he could afford to.

  Chapter Five

  Avery

  It was Saturday, three days before Christmas. Avery knew from experience that today was going to be busy. By seven o’clock, when Kyler walked in, she had a line ten deep at the register.

  Relieved, she softly smiled and nodded towards the boxes stacked on the counter. “Kyler, am I happy to see you. I could use a runner. There are boxes in the back with names on them. Here’s a list of ones I need. Bring them over to me. Thanks.” Avery rang up the next person in line and handed a very confused looking Kyler a list. “Becca is in the back getting orders ready for later today. Let her know you’re here in case she needs any help once it slows down.”

  Kyler shifted his coffee to his opposite hand and slid off his jacket before taking the slip of paper. “Yeah. Okay.”

  The customer she was waiting on chuckled. “Is he new?”

  That customer was one of the few that had no idea who Kyler was. Avery nodded. “Sort of. He’s just helping out.”

  A few folks in line started to chatter, and stare in Kyler’s direction.

  She lost track of how many times she answered the question “is that Kyler Wilson?” before noon. There was not enough coffee in the world to deal with this on one of the busiest pick up days. Maybe having him help out was a bad idea.

  With the steady line of customers, Avery didn’t have time to think about Kyler being there. Or how handsome he looked in those tight blue jeans and hooded sweatshirt. Or realizing all the reasons she fell for his charms that drunken night maybe didn’t have much to do with the alcohol at all.

  By three o’clock, the bakery had finally cleared out. Now, and probably for the remaining hour they were open, it should be slow, just the typical Saturday traffic for a single cupcake, or small order. But by the looks of the cases, there weren’t many single cupcakes left.

  “Kyler,” Avery did her best to hold back a chuckle. “You still hanging in there?”

  The poor guy looked exhausted. He was in the best physical shape out of all of them, and yet his face was red, and even though his hair was short, it was mussed. Kyler had shed the hooded sweatshirt about an hour ago and tossed out his hot coffee for ice water. It was hot in the bakery, and she was warm too, but she was also used to it. The oven heated the room up plenty, but in addition, he had been running back and forth from the kitchen to the register and handing out orders.

  “I’m still