Christmas Kisses and Cookies: A Fabulously Funny Feel Good Christmas Romantic Comedy (****Newly Edited Sept 2016 - Plus Secret Cookie Recipe!****) Read online

  Copyright November 17, 2015

  Christmas Kisses and Cookies

  By Linda West

  Morningmayan.com Publishing

  All rights reserved

  What happy readers are saying about…

  Christmas Kisses and Cookies:

  “A side-splittingly funny, heartwarming, and delightful read! I laughed so hard, my husband kept asking me what I was reading. The inhabitants of Kissing Bridge were adorable. If you want some perfect feel-good uplifting holiday fun this is the go-to book. I wish I could give it 10 stars!”

  S. Stevens, Kindle Good Reads

  “Within a matter of pages, I was laughing my socks off and immediately fell in love with the slightly crazy Summer … Linda West has such a knack for the humorous side of characters … Her writing style is so upbeat and unique, I hope to see more of these characters I’ve come to love - can’t wait to see what happens next in the cute town of Kissing Bridge!”

  M. Sinclair

  “This is exactly the feel-good Christmas book I was looking for! Right from the start, I was absorbed in the magic of the season and had a smile on my face. I laughed from the first page and finished it in one sitting! I’d love to see a movie made out of this.”

  D. Dragna

  Dedicated, with love

  to

  My Grandma Ethel

  Christmas Kisses

  and

  Cookies

  A fabulously funny feel-good Christmas Romance

  by

  Linda West

  It’s the Christmas season, the happiest time of the year!

  Before we begin, let's get you settled in with a cup of cocoa and a comfy chair. Let’s imagine a crackling fire is beside you casting a warmth and glow. Perhaps a light snow has begun to fall outside. When Christmas is upon us and joy fills the air, we remember that all good things are possible. So sit back, relax, and have a nice drink. You're about to take a wonderful fun-filled adventure with the adorable inhabitants of the Christmas-obsessed town of Kissing Bridge. Now on to the story. I hope you enjoy it. Sending you love and cheer and mistletoe wishes. May your days be filled with Christmas cookies and kisses…

  With love,

  Linda West

  *********

  Make sure you turn to the last page where we have a free gift waiting for you!!

  *******

  Chapter 1

  It was a blistering hot December evening in Los Angeles.

  The stereo blared the Beach Boys Merry Christmas as Summer Landers, a lovely long-legged blonde, strung a single Christmas light strand between her potted palm trees inside her Malibu mansion. She had tried to buy more festive lights at the market, but there were none left. You would think that it was because they had sold out, since Christmas was right around the corner. But no. They just didn’t stock them. Lack of sales.

  That was L.A. in a nutshell. Just forget finding a blow-up Santa anywhere.

  Summer couldn’t help but dislike Christmas in Los Angeles. It went against every version of the holiday she had grown up with. The ever-sunny cloud-free skies were not compatible with her version of winter wonderland. She was a Vermont girl, brought up in a small mountain town, and Christmas meant snow. And snow meant skiing. And boy, how she loved to ski. It was her favorite sport—not that she’d had time to do it in years.

  Summer finished hanging the lonely light strand. The blinking green and red lights seemed to mock her. They looked more ‘downtown hooker row’ than ‘lovely holiday spirit.’

  Summer sighed.

  She had considered buying some of that fake snow in a bottle from Amazon, but decided it was probably full of toxic waste. She yearned for the smell of pine air. Amazon offered that in a can as well—probably also full of toxic waste.

  What was an environmentally-friendly supermodel to do?

  Her cat, Fluff, an overweight tabby, sauntered in with his too-bright holiday red collar and annoying tinkling bell. He hated the collar, but he put up with it every year—not that he had a choice.

  He wanted to be fed, as usual. Summer went into the kitchen and opened a can of gluten-free cat food from Whole Foods. She should stop feeding him so often, people would say—but really he was fat because he didn’t exercise. Summer couldn’t let Fluff outside to play for fear he might get snagged up.

  Her next-door neighbour had lost her peekaboo poodle, Mr. Peebles, just that way. One minute they were enjoying mimosas on the sun deck…the next minute, Mr. Peebles was flying across the yard via hawk. Ever since that upsetting episode, Fluff had been an indoor cat.

  She poured him some milk into a bowl. He lapped away happily.

  Summer glanced at the pile of mail on her table. She sighed and started sorting through the envelopes.

  Boring, boring, boring.

  Usually by now, one would think that people would be sending festive holiday cards. Back home, you received so many Christmas cards that you could decorate your house with strings of them! But no, not in La La land. Christmas was almost here and not one friend of hers in L.A. had seen fit to send a real holiday card. Sure, there had been e-cards and text emojis, but real handwritten Christmas cards seemed to be non-existent in L.A., and Summer assumed it must resemble work of some kind.

  She gazed at the poor palm tree trying to support the twinkling lights. The palm fronds weren’t meant to hold weight, so now they wilted like poor Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree.

  Summer sighed. This was the time of year when she missed home the most. She reminisced about Christmas back home and how very different it was from this shallow, shiny tinsel town, with no tinsel. The stores had been out of that too!

  She glanced at the date. Twelve days before Christmas. By now, her mother’s kitchen would be filled with the smells of baking sweets and roasted walnuts. Frank Sinatra’s Christmas music would be playing and mistletoe sprigs would be hung in all the archways. Her Aunt Carol and Mom would be decorating the tree, drinking hot cocoa, and making the famous Landers’ Christmas cookies together.

  Summer spotted a bright red envelope in the pile of regular boring white mail. She gleefully reached for it and opened it immediately.

  Then she groaned.

  It was the annual Mistletoe Ski Event invitation from her hometown, Kissing Bridge.

  Summer shook her head.

  Only people from Kissing Bridge Mountain threw their biggest galas in the midst of winter. Kissing Bridge was famous for its skiing and its snow, and the local mountain people embraced them both. It was also home to one of the most renowned ski resorts in all of Vermont, Eagle’s Peak. Winter was always a happy event and the Christmas holiday season was the highlight of the year. In the winter fairyland of Kissing Bridge Mountain, the 12 days before Christmas were filled with one merry celebration after another.

  Summer didn't know why they kept sending her the invitation to that stupid Kissing Bridge Mistletoe Ski Event when she never replied. She hadn't gone in ten years.

  It had been so long since she had gone home at all. One year had grown into two, then five, and now it was nearly ten years since she had been home for Christmas.

  She frowned at it.

  Still, the invitation to the event had continued to come every year at about this time.Summer couldn’t help but smile as she looked at the old-time photo on the invitation.It showed the original vintage high school picture of her and her classmates on the very
first Mistletoe Ski Event ever.

  There she was with Brad Anderson. They were snuggled up together, arm in arm smiling. The picture of young love.

  She and Brad Anderson had met in their freshman year and had dated all though high school. At one time she had thought they would be married and live happily ever after on Kissing Bridge Mountain. Who would ever have suspected that he would have done what he did to her, just hours after that picture was taken?

  It had been the worst day of her life.

  Chapter 2

  Her iPhone rang out Silver Bells…

  Summer looked down to see her Aunt Carol's name on the screen.

  “Hey, Aunt Carol. How are you?”

  Her Aunt Carol was her mother's oldest sister and the oldest of all of Grandma Izzy’s children. Aunt Carol had been engaged to a very wealthy New Yorker and lived there for a short bit, before he met an untimely demise—snake bite in Kathmandu. He died before he got off the mountain. Poor Aunt Carol was devastated. But not surprised.

  It was a case of the Landers’ curse.

  Losing the men they loved was indeed the curse of the Landers Ladies. Due to this malady, the entire family had only ladies left in it. Yet, they weren’t without their gifts.

  Aunt Carol had swiftly moved back to Kissing Bridge Mountain after his death, but insisted on keeping her newly-adapted, heavy New York accent for show. She thought it made her seem regal. Who was anyone to tell her otherwise?

  “Yes, I’m fine. Thanks, Aunt Carol. Busy as usual. I just got back from London last night…a letter from my mother? Oh, the cookie competition!”

  Summer leafed through the rest of the boring white mail looking for her mother's signature Tiffany-blue-colored envelope.

  “Here it is.”

  Summer opened up the envelope and took out a clipping of her mother’s smiling face in the local Kissing Bridge Gazette. She was holding up the blue ribbon as winner of the Annual Silver Bells Cookie Competition.

  Summer smiled. The Landers’ clan had held claim to the reigning throne of the Silver Bells Christmas Eve Cookie Competition Queen for the last 50 years. Long since before Summer was born, Grandma Izzy's famous cut-out cookie recipe had been winning blue ribbons for the Landers. The blue-ribbon-winning cookie recipe had been passed down from sister to sister, and now to Summer as well.

  Every year the Landers made the cookies together, and every year they won. It was a Christmas tradition that the Landers ladies held proudly.

  “I found it, Aunt Carol. I see it. She looks great! Looks like another blue-ribbon year for the Landers!”

  A loud “HRMMPH” was her Aunt’s only reply.

  Summer looked at the phone.

  “Obviously then, you're coming home for Christmas this year.” Aunt Carol said it more as a fact than a question.

  Summer was completely confused.

  “I can’t come home for Christmas, Aunt Carol. I’d love to, really…But, I'm flying out tomorrow to shoot a commercial for Gucci all week.”

  Another loud GRUNT from Aunt Carol’s end.

  It was not like Aunt Carol to be short on words.

  Summer continued. “Then I have to fly right back to L.A. to do a shoot with Maxim.”

  Aunt Carol croaked out a curt, “fine.” And with that, she hung up abruptly on her niece.

  Summer looked at the phone oddly as she put it down. If she wasn’t mistaken, she had just gotten hung up on.

  It was Sunday, so as usual, Summer planned to watch her favorite movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The Landers women loved romance and one of the best romances of all time was Breakfast at Tiffany’s. In fact, it was a weekly Landers’ tradition back home, to all brunch together on Sundays and enjoy a sweet or two while they watched it together.

  Summer cuddled up with Fluff on her big couch and hit the remote. Gosh, she loved Netflix. She smiled as the opening credits started, and soon she was mouthing all of the words she knew by heart.

  Summer munched on a cookie, and wondered if she'd be alone for the rest of her life.

  Chapter 3

  It had been another rough overnight flight.

  She had to stop flying the red eye. Summer Landers stared at her reflection in the mirror with a sigh. She knew she was running late—really late. Her beautiful mane of golden hair reigned down over her shoulders, framing her beautiful face. She peered closer; she definitely wasn’t going to be able to hide those circles under those stunning blue eyes from Jasper. Jasper—or as Summer referred to him—the ‘Blue Monster,’ was the lead photographer on the shoot. He was brilliant and keen-eyed and never missed a thing.

  She snapped her compact closed and tossed it back in her purse.

  Even when she didn’t feel great, she still looked stunning. She was Summer Landers, after all. Just this month she had been named top supermodel and Sports Illustrated ‘Babe of the Year.’ Her time had finally come.

  Since being scouted from her hometown, Summer had been flying around the world nonstop for years. The back and forth, late nights and different time zones were wearing. It was finally catching up with her. She got out of the cab and hurried toward the production trucks.

  The place was humming with activity. A large crew, lights, and cameras were in place. Even a crowd had gathered to watch the Gucci commercial being filmed on Fifth Avenue.

  Summer tried to sneak into the makeup truck, nodding to the skinny P.A. as she passed.

  “Thank God you’re here, Summer. Jasper is freaking out,” she whispered conspiratorially. Just then an angry blue-haired Jasper came stampeding toward them.

  “Really Summer, our biggest shoot? My career is hanging on this and you show up two hours late?”

  “I’m sorry, Jasper. The red eye got in late. I didn’t sleep great and the alarm—”

  “Save it! You have more excuses than I have time for. I need you on set in 15 minutes!” He stuck his head in the makeup truck and yelled to the makeup crew inside. “15 minutes!”

  Summer sat down in the makeup chair with a sullen look. The makeup and hair crew flocked around her and set to work. Within moments and swipes of the brushes she was transformed into a goddess.

  The makeup artist studied her work. “You look gorgeous, Summer—if I do say so, myself.”

  Summer gazed at her reflection.

  “Thanks, Marissa. You’ve worked your magic once again.”

  She felt horrible. Blue Monster was at his worst. Everyone thought modeling was so glamorous, and all she wanted was out.

  Within moments, Summer was in front of the cameras, smiling as if she hadn’t a care in the world. The camera lights kept popping—pop, pop, pop!

  On the outside, she smiled like the professional model she had become. But inside, Summer was ready to explode.

  Chapter 4

  Thank goodness the shoot was over.

  Summer sat in her dressing room in front of the mirror, wiping off glitter makeup. The sun had been intolerable and Blue Monster had lived up to his ill-tempered self. Summer hated to make him angry. Of all the photographers she worked with, she enjoyed him the most, even if he did have a horrible temper. Her agency was not going to be happy. She’d been late again. Time is money, and all that.

  Summer made her way toward the curb just as a new light snow had begun to fall. She thought how nice it was to be in Manhattan, where unlike L.A., there was festive holiday energy. She could almost feel the good will in the air in celebration of the happy holiday season.

  Just then, a crowd of busy shoppers jostled by, knocking into her as they headed for the Macy’s sale.

  Summer tried to move out of the way to let them pass. “Oh owww, that was my foot! . . . Oh excuse me… ” She got pushed and shoved back and forth by the passing masses as they fought down the street.

  One particularly rude man banged into her so hard, she fell down onto the cement ground and all the contents of her purse spilled out onto the sidewalk. She scrambled to pick up her things between the throngs of feet going by. T
he hurried crowd stampeded on, everyone nearly stepping on her. She grabbed up her phone and keys and finally snatched up her cat’s favorite toy—a scary looking Gumby— just in time, before a dashhound nearly ate it.

  Summer righted herself triumphantly, with her bag in one hand and Fluff’s Gumby in the other. The mass of shoppers poured on by. So much for the holiday spirit!

  Across the street, Summer spotted the famous Tiffany’s store from her favorite movie. She took a moment to take in the beauty of the storefront before she walked over to it.

  Silent Night played over the speakers outside the store and the show windows were filled with beautiful diamond necklaces and rings. Summer peered at the pretty diamonds in the window lost in thought.

  Tiffany.

  Diamonds.

  Christmas.

  She sighed heavily.

  Christmas was here again so soon. In the past, Christmas had been the highlight of her year. Now it just seemed to bring up all the painful memories she had tried to forget.

  And what had that weird phone call from her Aunt Carol been all about?

  Summer knew that it was only a matter of days now before her mother would call and ask her to come home for Christmas, again. First came the card with the clippings from the Kissing Bridge Gazette showing the picture of last year’s cookie contest winners, and then came the phone call. It was always the same conversation. “Please come home. We love you. We miss you. We need your help with the cookies...”

  Summer was running out of excuses.

  A car honked and pulled Summer out of her reverie. Jerry, the uber rich executive producer from the shoot, stopped his expensive black Mercedes next to her.

  “Looks like you could use a lift…” He accessed her, as if she were weak prey.

  “No, thanks. I’m good.”

  “Sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. I’m waiting for Drake.”