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watching before she took a handful of the chocolate buttons and held them out to her.

      “Want one?”

      Sofia turned her head left and right, making sure no one could see them before she took a small part of the handful that Iona had taken. She popped them into her mouth and Iona did the same.

      “Yum. These are good.”

      “They are. Do you think anyone would notice if I took a gumdrop?” Sofia asked.

      “Which color?” Iona replied.

      “Green,” Sofia said.

      Iona carefully picked out one green gumdrop and playfully handed it to Sofia, who popped it into her mouth. Then she took a white one for herself.

      “I see we have two eager helpers waiting to decorate,” one of the volunteers said as he came over.

      He was young, in his early twenties, with a close-cropped haircut and an easy smile. As he stooped down to talk to Sofia, Iona smiled at her own fond holiday memories.

      There was something about Christmas that just brought out the best in people. That had always been her favorite time of year and she was determined it would be again. He stood up and held his hand out to her.

      “I’m Josh,” he said.

      “Iona,” she replied. “What are we going to decorate?”

      “How does Santa’s sleigh sound?” Josh asked.

      Sofia made a face and Iona wondered what it might be like for the six-year-old to be explaining all the time that she didn’t believe in Santa. “Well, we’ve been eyeing the gingerbread men and women. I think Sofia wanted to make a special one for her daddy.”

      “Even better. Come on over here, ladies, and I’ll help you get started.”

      Sofia smiled up at Iona. “Thanks. I do want to make something special, for Papa.”

      “I figured you did,” she said, ruffling the little girl’s hair as they walked to the table. They were both given aprons, gloves and Iona had a twinge of conscience remembering how she’d stuck her hand in the candies earlier, but she was scrupulously clean and had used hand sanitizer, so she felt a little better.

      She and Sofia finished making their gingerbread people. And as she decorated her boy, she made sure he had black eyes like her brother and the same dark hair, which she formed from licorice. The both of them were trying to figure out what was next and as the older sister, Iona knew she should be the one to make the first move.

      When she was done, she noticed that Sofia was still working, so she decided she’d make another set of gingerbread people to resemble Santa and Mrs. Claus. She thought they’d turned out pretty good. She glanced over at Sofia’s creations and noticed she’d made the boy look like her dad, with bright-blue eyes and dark-chocolate hair, and she had made a tie around his neck. The girl also had dark-chocolate hair but it was shorted than Sofia’s and had curls on the forehead. The girl had on an apron made of orange frosting and brown eyes.

      “I love your cookies. Is that you and your Papa?”

      Sofia shook her head. “That’s my mama. Even though she’s in heaven, Papa misses her.”

      Iona’s heart broke as she looked down at the little girl and she wondered if her path had crossed with Mads’, not for business, but to help this little family find the magic of Christmas. Maybe she’d been blown into their lives like the wind in the Candied Apple Café storefront. It made her smile to think she could do that. Her father had always said her faith in people would be her downfall and it had taken her partnership with Cici and Hayley to make her see how wrong he was. Of course, she’d only had the courage to try it because he’d had a massive heart attack and she’d wanted to do something to stand out in his eyes and win his approval.

      She shook that thought off as Sofia slipped her small hand into Iona’s. She realized this little girl was trying to get her father’s approval too.

      ***

      Mads wasn’t too thrilled with having to take a call now when he’d insisted that Sofia come to the brunch with St. Nick, but this call wasn’t one he could ignore.

      Wayne, the duty manager at the Common, texted him that it was urgent, so he called her as he kept an eye on his daughter and Iona.

      “Sir, we have a major emergency in the retail shop. There is a leak in the ceiling. I’ve called maintenance and the Duty Manager is taking care of the guests but maintenance think a pipe might have burst. We might need to vacate the rooms above and we’re at full occupancy tonight,” Wayne said.

      “Is the concierge calling other resorts?” Mads asked.

      “The concierge can’t find rooms due to the tree lighting at Rockefeller Center later. He suggested maybe you could call in some favors.”

      Mads knew that Lexi had made the right call. “I will. Have the concierge text me the list of who he has been in contact with and I’ll start calling in favors.”

      In the hotel business, there was no such thing as a hands-off management style approach.

      “I will,” he said. “Is there anything else I can do?”

      “I need you to go and check out the rooms and see which, if any, are affected. How many rooms did maintenance think would need to be cleared?” Mads asked.

      “They were vague. Housekeeping and the front desk manager are going from room to room to see where the leak started. We believe it shouldn’t be more than four rooms on the corner above the retail shop, but they aren’t sure how high up the leak is.”

      “Keep me posted,” he said. “I’ll drop by later this morning unless you need me there now?”

      “I’ve got this under control. We really need your connections to get rooms for our displaced guests,” Wayne said.

      “I’ll be in touch.” He took a moment to make sure that Sofia was still doing okay with Iona and then went to one of the round tables that were set up for families once they’d gotten food from the buffet, after they finished visiting Santa or decorating cookies.

      He used the list that the concierge had given him and started making calls. Work was a distraction and he gladly threw himself into it. He’d gambled on staying in Manhattan this Christmas. His brother had suggested they come to California and stay with him, but he knew that running away this year would mean that Sofia would have to deal with Christmas here next year.

      He left a message for a friend with a lot of connections in the Manhattan hotel business, and had just set his phone down, when he heard the sound of jingle bells. He glanced up to see Sofia and Iona standing there. Sofia had on a big smile. One of the biggest he’d seen in a long time.

      “Papa, we made gingerbread cookies,” she said, as she set the cookies on the table in front of him and then climbed up onto his lap.

      He glanced down at the cookies and then back at his daughter, who was kicking her leg and swinging it while talking to Iona. He wasn’t listening to the conversation, instead he simply saw the cookies and knew that she’d made her mom and him.

      His heart was breaking a little bit when he saw them. The fear that lingered in the back of his mind was that he wasn’t enough to be both mother and father to his daughter.

      “I hope you don’t mind,” Iona said, sitting down next to him and turning to face him. The bells on the end of her hat jingled, which he noted made Sofia smile.

      “I’m sorry, I missed that last bit,” he said.

      “I let Sofia eat some of the candies while we were decorating, is that okay?”

      “Yes, of course,” he said, noticing that she watched him carefully. “Sorry, I was distracted, we have an emergency at the Common. We’re going to have to head over there soon.”

      “I

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