2 A Christmas Wedding To Die For by Pat Amsden Read Free Book Online Page B

Come up and tell me all about it. So she did.
    "Leave the decorating to me," Grandma Ellie said over tea. "I'll borrow paintings from friends and we'll put them around. Could Heath make a cupcake holder that looked like an artists' palate?"
    "I'll check," Maxine said. Tiredness intermingled with excitement as she considered her Grandma's plans. Some of the work she and her artist friends produced was excellent and she had a flare for color. "What if something happens to the paintings?
    Grandma Ellie wasn't worried. "Most of us do it for fun. And I'll make sure they know there's a chance something could happen so they won't put in any favorites. Also there's probably insurance and I won't be putting in any million dollar paintings."
    "Are you sure..."
    "I love doing things like this! Especially for family."
    "If you're sure," Maxine said. She gave her Grandma a big hug as a gush of love filled her. She was, as she well knew, incredibly lucky to have Grandma Ellie in her life.

Chapter Four
    Chapter Four
    Christmas Eve was upon them. The weather had turned to more normal temperatures in the low sixties making it so that everything was melting with only the odd pile of dirty snow or half-melted snow to mark the event.
    If it was possible her shop was busier than ever. She'd called in all her extra people, Ally, Jane and Marcus as well as a few new ones she'd gotten by calling the local cooking school and getting some recommendations from the head of the program.
    With two big cakes to get out today as well as her mother flying into town she was busy. She hated the idea of anyone being unable to get chocolates for under their tree or in a stocking. So she and Heath had both come in early to make batches of truffles and salted caramels, lazy turtles and Chocolate Santa's along with Christmas bark and chocolate covered pretzels.
    The new girls, Sara and Danielle had been put to work filling boxes and wrapping them while James would be helping Heath and Marcus with the cakes. Sara hadn't been happy about that.
    "I'd much rather help with the cake," she'd said when she'd been directed to help in filling the chocolate boxes. "Anyone can do this."
    "Then you should be able to do it with no trouble," Maxine had said sweetly. "Perhaps later in the week there'll be more cooking tasks but right now we just need to get things done as quickly as possible. And James will be a lot better when it comes to heavy lifting. Our cakes are heavy."
    Sara had done as she was asked without further comment. Maxine knew she wasn't happy about it. Perhaps Au Chocolat was not the place for her or perhaps when she'd had a few days to get over not being asked to run the kitchens as she stepped through the doors everything would be all right.
    Did Santa have these issues with his elves she wondered? Still with the smell of chocolate and Christmas baking in the air, along with the sound of Christmas music playing, she couldn't help but be filled with the spirit of Christmas.
    The Chocolate brunch cake was three layers of her Devil's food cake decorated with silver bells and branches of pine with holly berries thrown in for good measure. On the top was a sleigh with a jolly Santa and presents. The insurance company throwing this party had made it a family party and wanted a traditional Santa.
    And they were stuck in traffic now. The insurance offices were in the new Uptown area which normally was about a ten minute drive. Today they'd already been driving at a snail's pace for the last fifteen minutes. And in less than half an hour she was supposed to be out at the Victoria airport to pick up her mother.
    She called her Grandma Ellie. "Traffic's a nightmare. I'll never make it back to James Bay to pick you up and out to the airport in time."
    "You don't have to," her Grandma Ellie said. "I'm down in Mayfair picking up a last minute Christmas present. I can meet you there and we can take my car."
    "I'll see you then."
    Hopefully. She could see Uptown from where