First Kiss Last by Sara Miller (latest books to read .txt) 📕

the store.” He looked to Sky, giving her credit. She beamed.

“It really is perfect!” She kissed Cade and gave Sky a side hug. She was even happier when she felt Sky hug her back.

That was the real Christmas gift.

Trying not to be overwhelmed by her emotions, Leah focused on removing the waffle iron from the box. With that done, they all turned their attention toward preparing the food.

Making breakfast as a family was mass chaos but Leah loved every moment of it. Eventually the kids cleared out, leaving Cade and Leah to easily finish the meal preparation. Sky and Liam returned when the food was ready and made quick work of it.

When the mountain of waffles had dwindled down to two and Cade had snagged the last piece of bacon, Liam was practically bouncing in his chair. His excitement could barely be contained. Even Sky’s gaze kept shifting toward the tree.

“Well, I think it’s about time for my after-breakfast nap.” Cade stretched and pretended to yawn.

“Dad!” Liam roared.

“He’s just kidding, bud,” Sky assured him.

Liam shook his little head at his father as if gravely disappointed in him. Leah couldn’t help but laugh.

They ignored the dishes and headed back to the living room. Liam’s eyes were glued to the mountain of presents. Cade had him pass out all the gifts before anyone started opening anything.

As they took turns opening their gifts, the stacks of presents slowly disappeared but piles of wrapping paper, empty boxes, and discarded bows took over. Leah surveyed the gift carnage and smiled. She was delighted with her new fuzzy pajamas and mint cocoa. Sky’s gift of a deluxe edition Kane Brown CD was a pleasant surprise.

“You seem to really like that guy whenever he comes on the radio,” Sky shrugged. “Especially the more lovey-dovey songs.” She made a face.

“He’s one of my favorite country artists right now. Wow, Sky, thank you. You really have a talent for gifts!”

Sky smiled shyly, pleased but uncomfortable with the attention. She sifted through her gifts and pulled out her new headphones.

Leah remembered shopping with Cade. He had grabbed earbuds at first but she had steered him toward the old-school style of headphones instead.

“These are perfect.” Sky put on her new headphones and flashed her dad a bright smile. “I hate how earbuds fit, they always hurt or fall out. Thanks, Dad.”

“You’re welcome, darlin’.” Cade reached out and squeezed Leah’s hand. She squeezed back, thankful to have helped.

Liam jumped from gift-to-gift before diving into his new animal encyclopedia. Leah was glad it was a hit.

Cade enjoyed his Christmas haul as well. Leah wasn’t comfortable with all his gifts being work related, even though Cade had asked for them. That just didn’t feel like much fun to her.

Leah was glad she had veered from his list. It felt great to see him smile and laugh at her gift. He’d barked with laughter when he pulled the black apron out of the box.

“What’d ya get, Dad?” Liam asked.

“An apron for when I grill.”

“That’s nice,” Liam said, quickly returning to his own presents.

Sky however was a little older and wiser. She leaned over so she could see the front. Leah watched as the teen took in the image of a pig and the saying “every butt deserves to be rubbed.”

“Do you get it?” Cade asked.

“Yes,” she told him. She turned to Leah, “And yes. I believe my English teacher would call that a double entendre.” She gave them both such a disapproving look that soon the three of them were laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Liam demanded. He crawled over and took the apron. “Ha! Pig butt!” he laughed, causing them all to laugh harder.

Leah loved this family so much.

Chapter 28

After all the gifts were opened and the kids had cleaned up the living room, Leah and Cade tackled the kitchen.

“Hey, what about the ‘give back’ gift? I thought I was baking cookies for the kids to pass out.” She turned to Cade, feeling disappointed at being left out. Which was silly since they had included her in so much. Cade looked guilty.

“Well, I did call around and a few nursing home facilities sounded like they wouldn’t mind if we just dropped them off as a donation . . .”

“Oh, so not the great idea we thought it’d be.” Now she really was disappointed. She continued to clean up as Cade continued.

“Kind of, yeah. So we picked out some store-bought treats and dropped them off at one of the places I called. It was a bit anticlimactic and I could tell the kids were bummed.”

Leah nodded. That sucked. The kids had been pretty excited; they all were.

“So I called around a few more places.”

“Yeah?” She did not feel very hopeful.

“And I found a place that said their residents get very few visitors, even on the holidays.”

Leah looked up, “Really?”

“And they said they would be thrilled if a family wanted to stop by and visit. Especially with homemade cookies.”

“Really!”

Cade nodded.

“So did you go?!”

“It’s just now Christmas.”

It took a second for his meaning to sink in. They hadn’t gone yet. She checked the time and saw it was still plenty early in the day.

“So you mean . . .”

“Are you up to some baking?”

“You want me to bake cookies. Like right now?”

“Cookies!” Liam whooped behind her and she jumped.

“We’ll help,” Sky offered with a shrug. She did look hopeful though.

Leah nodded, Liam whooped, and they all got to work. Leah mixed up a batch of simple sugar cookie dough. It had been one of Gigi’s favorite recipes and was perfect for last-minute baking. The dough was easy to make, could be baked right away, and the cookies were delicious.

When Sky said she wished they looked more Christmassy, Leah shocked her by using food coloring to make red and green sugar. Once rolled in the sugar, the cookies instantly looked festive. They quickly slid the trays in to bake.

As they waited, they decided to also make chocolate chip cookies. Nothing fancy, but they all thought the elderly