Christmas Cocoa Read online

  “Really?” Josh asked, his eyes widening. He glanced over her shoulder as if he were trying to see if Payton was about finished so they could stop shouting, but the machine continued to whir.

  “Really,” Delaney replied, feigning offense. “What—did you think I was a big city girl or something?”

  Josh chuckled. “No, but you always look so… put together. I was just a little surprised.”

  Delaney wasn’t exactly sure what that meant or why it was funny, but she thought it must have been a compliment of some sort, so she decided to ask what he was implying later if she had the chance, when there wasn’t so much noise. She felt her phone buzz in her hand and glanced down to see that Melody had replied. “No problem. Just be careful.”

  Whether her friend meant be careful of farm equipment or strange men she just met, Delaney had no way of knowing, but rather than clarify, she sent a text back that said, “Will do. If you and Michael and Michael’s dad decide to head back to town, just let me know.” While she felt bad that she wasn’t getting to speak to Melody as much as she had anticipated, clearly her friend was having a good time, and she didn’t want her to feel obligated to hang around all day if she had a chance to ride back with Reid, particularly if things continued to go well with Josh.

  After she hit send, she looked up to see Josh smiling at her. “My friend said to have fun,” she explained. “So I think we’re good to go.”

  “Perfect,” Josh shouted, and as he led Delaney around to the back to help her aboard the trailer, the shaker machine finally switched off. “We could probably squeeze into the cab, but you might be more comfortable back here,” he explained. Even though the trailer was very low to the ground and there was a step-up, he offered his hand, and Delaney took it. She felt a warm, tingly sensation shoot up her arm, despite the fact that they were both wearing gloves, and once she was standing on the back of the trailer, she was hesitant to let go. Eventually, she did and settled herself down on the splintery, needle covered wood, ready for an adventure.

  “Ready to go?” Josh asked, still standing next to the trailer, a crooked smile on his face.

  “Let’s do it,” Delaney nodded, and she watched him saunter off to the front of the tractor. A moment later, the engine turned over, and he began to slowly turn the tractor around. Several children stopped what they were doing to wave at her, as if she were in some sort of Christmas parade or aboard a magical Christmas tractor, and Delaney couldn’t help but giggle as she waved back, doing her best to imitate the beauty queens she saw on TV.

  Josh was driving rather slowly, which Delaney appreciated. Though she was used to farm equipment, it had been a while since she’d found herself on a tractor trailer, and this one looked as if it got quite a bit of use. The countryside around her was lovely, and she took a moment to breathe in the fresh air, trying to push her excitement at getting to spend some time with Josh aside so that she could appreciate the beauty of the snow as it danced through the air, blanketing outstretched branches of green and covering the hillsides in white lace.

  A few minutes later, Josh brought the trailer to a stop not too far from the village. He turned the engine off and dismounted. Delaney decided to wait for him to see if he might offer his hand again. He was already talking as he came around the back of the tractor. “Most people don’t venture too far away from the village, even when it isn’t snowing,” he explained as he paused beside her.

  “It’s so beautiful out here,” she said, still breathing in the fresh mountain air. “And peaceful.”

  “It is easy to forget about the rest of the world when you’re out here, that’s true,” Josh agreed. He offered her his hand, and she acted as if she hadn’t been waiting for it, making a faux surprised face as she placed her hand in his and jumped down from the trailer. “Was your ride okay?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Delaney assured him, reluctantly letting go of his hand and brushing the back of her jeans off. “I hope we don’t have too many trees to gather, though, or else it might not be too comfortable going back in.” She laughed, hoping he knew she was joking, although the thought of riding back buried in trees wasn’t exactly appealing after all.

  “Nah, I think there’s just these three,” Josh replied, gesturing at a few trees lying on the ground scattered amongst their standing counterparts. One of them was quite large, but Delaney didn’t think they could fill up the whole tractor. “I was thinking, though, if you really want a tour of the whole farm, it would probably be best to take the four wheelers. I mean, if you’re not in a hurry. Or if you weren’t just being polite.”

  Delaney could tell from the way he asked the question that he was a bit nervous to hear her answer, and she couldn’t help but smile, trying to hold back an anxious giggle of her own. “That sounds like a lot of fun,” she replied. “Melody said she can always catch a ride back with Reid if they get ready to go.”

  “Oh? You didn’t all come together?” he asked, clearly confused. The snow was coming down just a bit harder now and some had accumulated atop his hat. Delaney was tempted to brush it off.

  “No, Melody and I rode together and met Reid here. She just met him and… well, I guess it’s a little complicated. But he’s a very nice guy, and she won’t have any trouble hitching a ride.”

  The confusion lingered for a moment before Josh shrugged, as if to say he didn’t quite understand but that it didn’t matter. “Okay, well, if you want to help me haul the trees over to the trailer, you’re more than welcome to. Otherwise, feel free to look around, and I’ll be done in a few minutes.

  “I don’t mind at all,” Delaney replied, happy to have the chance to do some farm work again. Josh led her over to the tree furthest from the tractor, and she watched as a cardinal took flight from a nearby spruce, the red-breasted bird bright against the background of the falling snow. “Look at that!” Delaney gasped, pointing at the bird. “He’s so gorgeous.”

  “Like you,” Josh said, and Delaney stopped walking for a minute before he stammered, “I mean… red like you… like your coat and hat.”

  She could tell by the color creeping into his cheeks that he was definitely embarrassed, but she couldn’t help but laugh. “Thanks,” she said, with an over-exaggerated tone. “It’s been a long time since anyone said I was gorgeous.”

  He stopped and looked at her, and she gave him a fake wink, doing her best to imitate an old cartoon, and he began to chuckle. Clearly not knowing what to say, he shook his head and turned back around, walking away, though Delaney heard him mutter, “I find that very hard to believe.”

  “So is there any technique to this?” Delaney asked as they approached the fallen pine.

  “Oh, I guess so,” Josh replied. “Basically, you want to bend down, pick it up, and then move it to the trailer,” he replied.

  Delaney laughed at him as he went through the motions that matched his instructions. “I see. Interesting. Can you go over that again?”

  Chuckling, Josh moved to the end of the tree. “Why don’t you try it with me?” he asked. “First, you bend down.” Delaney dropped into a stance a little bit like a football player ready for the snap, making him crack up again. “Good. Then, you pick it up.” She scooped the top portion of the tree into her arms and looked back at him awaiting instructions. He was too busy laughing to get much out at first, but finally, he managed, “And then you move it to the trailer.”

  “Are you going to help with that part?” she asked, as she began to move in the direction of the tractor, only the top portion of the tree moving, “Because it’s a lot heavier than I thought.”

  “What? You can’t get it on your own?” He stood back up now, his arms crossed against his gray coat.

  Delaney made a mockery of trying to move the tree, pushing forward in the snow but not gaining any traction. “Nope, just not happening.”

  “Maybe you should think about lifting weights, working on your upper body strength.”

  She stopped moving and turned to look at him now.
He was laughing, clearly giving her a hard time, but she narrowed her eyes. “All righty there, mister. We’ll see who can move the tree.”

  “I was just teasing,” Josh insisted, but before he could even step over to help, Delaney started to drag the tree in the direction of the trailer. “Seriously, let me get the trunk.”

  “I’ve got it,” she replied, the tree coming along, though slowly. “I can manage.” She adjusted her grip so that she had more of the tree in her arms, and even though the trunk was mostly dragging through the snow, she was making pretty good time. Within a minute or two, she had the tree back to the trailer. Setting the top of it against the back of the trailer, she let go and took a deep breath. “What do you think about that?” she asked, her eyes wide and her head tilted to the side.

  “I think… you need to actually load the tree into the trailer if we’re going to take it back to the customer,” he said, slowly coming to a stop beside her.

  Delaney’s eyes widened in mock offense. “Give me a minute, and I will,” she said, crossing her arms in imitation of him.

  Josh continued to laugh at her antics. “You know what, you’ve exerted yourself quite a bit for now. Why don’t you just go wait over there, and I’ll do the rest.”

  “What am I? Some sort of a delicate flower?” Delaney asked. Shoving him aside playfully, she said, “All right. I’ve got this.” The tree ended up being a lot lighter than she anticipated now that it was standing upright, and she was able to push it into the trailer without his help, even though he attempted to give her a hand. Once the entire tree was in the trailer, she turned to look at him and said, “There! See, I told you I could do it.” She took a seat on the end of the trailer, breathing a little heavier than she was willing to let him see.

  “Nice job,” he replied, still smiling, though he’d finally stopped laughing. “Who’d have known my evil plot to con unsuspecting bakery owners into moving Christmas trees for me would actually work.”

  Delaney began to shake her head slowly from side to side as if she actually believed him. “I should have known there was something suspicious about you. I bet your name isn’t even Josh Taylor, is it?”

  “Nope,” he teased. “In fact, I don’t even work here. This is all part of a big Christmas tree black market racket. By midnight tonight, these trees will be exported to South America, and this unsuspecting farmer will never even know I was here.”

  Delaney couldn’t hold back her laughter anymore, and by the time she finally caught her breath, the entire trailer was shaking. After a long moment, Josh sat down next to her on the trailer. “Are you okay there?”

  “I think so,” she replied. “I’m sorry. I guess I just don’t get out much.”

  “No?” he asked, a lopsided grin on his face. “And here I thought I was just that amusing.”

  “You are,” she assured him. “But I spend most of my days listening to little old ladies talk about their grandkids and which friend has pneumonia or to mothers reminding their children not to talk with food in their mouths.”

  “Well, then, I guess this is sophisticated conversation, then,” Josh replied.

  She had managed to contain herself by now, and looking into his hazel eyes, she suddenly couldn’t remember what was so funny anymore. “Honestly,” she said, swallowing a lump in her throat, “I think I was just so nervous about driving over here, wondering if you’d even remember who I was, I guess I’m just a little… slap happy. Sorry.”

  Josh’s eyebrows arched and his grin morphed into a humble smile. “You really did come all the way over here just to see me?”

  Delaney absently ran her hand through the strands of long brown hair that fell past her shoulders. “Yeah,” she admitted with a shrug. “I hope you don’t think that’s too weird, but I really enjoyed our conversation at the bakery, short as it was, and I thought maybe you did, too. So… why not? It beats hanging out at the bakery all day listening to my teenage employees fit the word ‘like‘ into every sentence, like, every other word.”

  “Well, that’s pretty… cool,” Josh said, looking down at the ground. Delaney wasn’t sure how to take his remark at first. Did he think she was a stalker? That she was nuts? That she was a lunatic who didn’t even know how to properly load a Christmas tree? Eventually, he returned his attention to her and said, “I really enjoyed talking to you, too. In fact, I would’ve stopped back by if I’d been headed that direction.”

  He ended his sentence with a bit of a lilt, and Delaney wondered if there was more he’d planned to say, but since he didn’t add more, she smiled, and decided to accept his statement at word value. “Good,” she said, “I mean, I know I can be a little silly sometimes, but that’s just who I am.”

  “No, it’s great,” he replied, cutting her off. “You’re great.” He stood then, as if he didn’t trust himself to say anything more. “Shall we get these other two trees back before the people who cut them down can’t remember what they were doing here?”

  “Yes, let’s do,” Delaney agreed, jumping to her feet. This time, as they approached the smallest of the three trees, she decided not to be so silly, though it was hard once they began to chat about the best way to work together to get the tree back to the trailer. By the time they had the third tree, the largest by far, loaded up and Delaney was sitting next to it, dangling her feet over the edge of the trailer and waiting for Josh to fire up the engine, her sides hurt from laughing so much. Somehow, she had gotten the impression that she could let her hair down with Josh, that she could be silly for no reason at all, and so far, it seemed that her intuition was correct. Regardless of whether or not he was actually having as much fun as she was, she knew this was a day she’d remember for years to come.

  Chapter 10

  Josh couldn’t believe his eyes when he’d turned to find Delaney smiling up at him just an hour or so ago. At first, he though he’d grown delusional; he’d spent so much time thinking about her over the last week or so—had he finally begun to imagine that other women were her? Of course, he realized rather quickly that he was not hallucinating, and it was the real Delaney standing before him. He was still shocked, however, as she explained what had brought her to Taylor Tree Farm, and while he was ecstatic to have the opportunity to spend some time with her, he was definitely caught off guard. More than once in the short amount of time they’d spent together, he’d already found himself sounding utterly ridiculous. Luckily, she didn’t seem to mind, and he’d already determined that she had the best sense of humor of all the women he’d ever met before.

  As he steered the tractor back in the direction of the village, he tried to go as slowly as possible to make sure he didn’t jostle her around too much. When he’d initially asked her to go with him, he had assumed she’d decline—not that he wanted her to, but the trailer wasn’t exactly the comfiest place to sit while riding up and down rolling hills. She’d grabbed on with gusto, though, and watching her tackle that Christmas tree had been the funniest thing he’d seen in a long time. There was definitely more to the pretty little baker than initially met the eye.

  Normally, it wouldn’t have even crossed his mind to consider dating someone who lived so far from his home in Washington, DC. After all, he knew long distance relationships seldom worked out, and there was no reason to overcomplicate things when it wasn’t necessary. If he really wanted to date, there were plenty of available girls in DC. He’d had his fair share of first dates over the years, even a couple of second ones. But lately, he had sort of given it up altogether. Most of the girls he met were shallow and never laughed at his jokes. Delaney was definitely different than those girls. Not only was she a hard worker who had taken the initiative to start her own business, she wasn’t afraid to literally get her hands dirty, which was amazing. And anyone who thought his attempts at humor were even mildly amusing was okay in his book.

  He pulled up next to the shaking station, which was thankfully off, and noticed Travis headed toward the tractor. He climbed down as his brothe
r came to a halt in front of him. Though his hands were shoved inside of his coat, and he didn’t seem to be in any hurry, his expression showed he was a bit put out, and Josh wondered what might be going on.

  “Everything okay?” Josh asked, glancing over his shoulder to see if Delaney was having any trouble getting off of the trailer.

  Travis opened his mouth as if he were going to let his brother in on whatever was troubling him, but he stopped abruptly as Delaney approached. “It’s… nothing,” he replied, his voice trailing off. “I’ll tell you later.” He was looking at Delaney expectantly as she came to a stop next to Josh, a smile lighting up her beautiful face.

  “This is Delaney,” Josh said, gesturing at her. “Delaney, this is my brother, Travis.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” the older brother said, offering his hand, which she took.

  “You, too,” she said, still smiling. “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.”

  “Not at all,” Travis replied, shaking his head. “Are you the one who owns the bakery in Charles Town?”

  Delaney looked from Travis to Josh, a puzzled expression on her face. She returned her gaze to Travis. “That’s me,” she nodded.

  “I may have mentioned how good your cocoa is,” Josh attempted to explain, hoping she didn’t think he’d said anything specific to his brother about her personally.

  “And our mom is having fits over the sorry excuse for hot chocolate she’s been serving in the shop, so she’s also mentioned that we should get you over here to ‘fix it.’” He made air quotes to emphasize the final words.

  Though she looked a little uncomfortable, as if she wasn’t sure what to make of so much attention being placed on her cocoa, Delaney said, “Oh, well, then, I will definitely see what I can do.”

  “I’m sure Mom would love to meet you,” Travis nodded, and then, as if he wasn’t sure whether or not the comment might get him in trouble with Josh, he added, “I mean… because of the cocoa.”