While waiting for Blake, Nicola stood in the hotel's expansive lobby and gazed at her surroundings in complete awe. She moved toward a bench and sank onto it. Across from her, a crew was busy decorating a giant Christmas tree.
“Christmas is almost here…”
As she watched them place ornaments on the branches, she thought back to her childhood.
Christmas has been a special time in the Rhymes household.
Nicola, her sister Madeleine, and their mother would decorate the tree and then bake sugar cookies in the shape of Santa's reindeer, stars, stockings, trees, and snowmen.
Their father had a knack for showing up just as the first batch came out of the oven.
Their mother would put the icing on a cookie and feed it to her husband.
She remembered how she and Madeleine would roll their eyes at
