Can't Love Christmas

Twenty Four

Ash had finished setting all the supplies on the counter when her doorbell rang. She rushed to answer it.

Rowan stood on her front step holding a paper bag with dinner, and her ornament dangling from his finger, which she reached out to take from him.

"Hi! Come on in. It's all set up and ready to go."

"Straight to business I see." He stepped inside and unzipped his coat.

"We've got a lot to do, so we've got to get started." She headed to the kitchen while Rowan took off his shoes and outerwear, leaving them on her hall table. He padded after her in his socks.

He took in the spread on the counter. There was an unopened gingerbread house kit beside eight bowls of various candies, pretzels and coloured confections, a tray of rice crispy treats, a box of graham crackers, a container full of icing, marshmallows, and a whole bag of shredded coconut. "Wow. That's a lot of sugar."

"Don't say it like that," Ash chastised. "I know you have a sweet tooth."

Rowan blushed in response. "Isn't this a bit much though?"

Ash pulled out a large rectangle covered in aluminum foil. "We've got a lot of landscaping to do though."

Rowan's eyes boggled. "I thought the kits came with everything we need!"

"They do. But only if you're thinking inside the box. We are expanding the neighbourhood too."

"Okay, clearly you have a vision, so you can lead this activity. I am sorry in advance if I ruin it."

Ash bounced on her toes. "Okay, so, this house," she gestured to the box, "is going to be Santa and Mrs. Claus' house. Then we are going to use graham crackers to build little huts for some of the elves. And obviously decorate everything."

"Okay. Well, I brought dinner, so let's eat that first and then we start construction?"

"Sounds good. What did you bring?"

"Just some shepherd's pie from the pub. It should still be warm, but we can toss it in the oven for ten minutes to warm it up more if we need to."

She pulled out the ceramic bakers. "Wait, why isn't this in a to-go box?"

"Perks of owning the place, I don't have to eat shepherd's pie out of cardboard."

"Well, thanks!" She turned and put them into the oven. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Whatever you're having is fine."

She turned on the kettle and got out two mugs and the hot chocolate powder. "Sorry it's not quite as fancy as yours was, but hopefully it will suffice."

"It's all good. Can I also have a glass of water? I'm not sure how well hot chocolate goes with the shepherd's pie."

"You'll never know until you try." The kettle clicked off and she finished preparing the hot chocolate for them. Rowan reached for the bag of marshmallows and added a few to each mug.

"No! Those are for the gingerbread house!"

Rowan looked dumbfounded. "Are you seriously offering me hot chocolate, but not the marshmallows, when they are sitting right here?"

Ash stuttered. "I'm not restricting them, but like, don't you want them for the house?"

In response, Rowan shoved his hand back in the bag and pulled out a handful of marshmallows. He looked Ash straight in the eye, and shoved the whole handful in his mouth. He did not break eye contact until he swallowed them all. Ash bit her lip.