by Tegan Maher
“So you admit something’s wrong?” I asked.
“NO! Nothing’s wrong except that I keep getting asked silly questions. It’s the Christmas season. Don’t you have anyone else to bother?” he demanded.
“None of them are so easily bothered as you,” I murmured.
“Fluff,” said the ghost cat.
“Cherry garlands,” I said.
“What?” he demanded.
“I thought we were saying random words that don’t mean anything,” I said.
“My Christmas wish is to not have to deal with you,” he said.
“We live together,” I told him.
“I live outside,” he muttered. “Whoever thought this conversation would make me miss Greer?”
I heard a step on the porch and turned to find Jasper coming up the stairs, smiling happily, having parked his truck in the spot Charlie had just vacated. His cheeks were slightly red and his hair was tousled, and boy was I glad to see him.
I bounced to my feet and went to greet my love, throwing my arms around his neck and leaning into our kiss.
Jasper was staring at me intently. “How are you? I missed you. Mintwood already looked beautiful before I left, but now it’s something else. I can’t imagine spending Christmas anywhere else.”
“Good! Everything here is good. Greer is baking all the time. I still have a few more presents to wrap, but then I think everything is set,” I told him.
He pulled away from me slightly and handed me a flyer that he pulled out of his pocket. “It’s for the Main Street competition,” he said. “The one where everyone sees who has the best decorations. Seems the shopkeepers got wind of it this year. It’s been going on for years, but how it works has been a secret from the shopkeepers. Until now.”
“Oh, no,” I whispered.
“Oh, yes,” he said.
“Bunch of fools,” Paws grumbled.
“What’s his problem?” Jasper whispered.
“We’re trying to find out. So far, no luck,” I told him.
“Not lady trouble, I hope,” said Jasper, still with that damned twinkle in his mint green eyes.
As he rubbed my arms, I heard the scrape of his gloves on my coat. “Let’s get inside. It’s freezing,” I said.
“I don’t suppose there’s breakfast,” he murmured.
“Haven’t you had breakfast?” I asked.
“I can have another,” he said.
“I believe that’s called second breakfast,” I said with a grin.
Once inside, we found the house filled with the wonderful smells of Greer’s baking.
“Is that Jasper? Is he hungry?” she yelled from the kitchen.
Jasper did a fist pump while I chuckled.
“It’s the busiest time of year. Is no one feeding you?” I demanded.
“Everyone is feeding me. I’m very appreciative,” he said.
We removed our wet things and hung them on the pegs in the entryway to dry.
Dressed casually in a green sweater and jeans, and looking as sharp as always, Jasper followed me into the kitchen.
We found Greer juggling several pans and keeping her eye on several things at once. She had already put a plate of scones and ham on the table in the breakfast nook. There was a also a pot of coffee at the ready.
“You spoil us,” I told Greer.
She snorted. “Oh. This isn’t for you. I’m having my other best friends over.”
I rolled my eyes. “Deacon, then?”
“He’s Christmas shopping with his cousin, but he should be here later. I’ll have to cook more.”
“Right. Because this spread isn’t enough for him,” I muttered.
“You know how guys eat,” said Jasper, accepting a plate from Greer with a happy nod. She let him serve himself, and he took some of everything.
Sometimes I wasn’t hungry first thing in the morning, but after all the shoveling I’d just done I was ravenous. I filled a plate and a mug of coffee.
“Too bad Charlie couldn’t stay and enjoy some of this,” said Jasper, sitting down to a heaping plate of eggs, several slices of bacon, two scones, and a side of fruit.
“She likes to eat when she gets to the office,” said Greer. “I think it’s so she can take a perfectly timed bite of food that lets her not respond to co-workers if she doesn’t want to.”
“I thought she was the only one in the office,” said Jasper.
Greer and I brought our plates and mugs and joined him in the breakfast nook. Greer would save plenty of food for Deacon, but that wasn’t going to stop her from eating with us.
“There’ll be a couple of other people in and out of the office,” Greer said with a shrug.
4
Breakfast was as delicious as usual, and I felt so full and satisfied when I was finished that I was almost sorry I had to leave the house. But there were pets to be checked on and last-minute errands to be done, so I pulled myself together and helped Jasper and Greer clean up. By the time we were finished, I was happily anticipating my Christmas-related errands.
Since Jasper didn’t like me driving my “death trap” of a car on icy roads, he was going to take me on my pet sitting rounds. Then I had some things to do downtown, so he’d leave me to it, and hopefully I could get Deacon to run me back out to the farmhouse a little later.
When the clean-up was done, Jasper and I bundled up again. As we put our layers on, he looked into the living room and saw our Christmas tree next to the green sofa.
“You three got the tree already, I see,” Jasper said.
“We sure did,” I told him. “We went into the woods and chopped our own! I wish you had been there, but we didn’t want to wait so long. Maybe next year we can do it together.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t get it two months ago,” Jasper laughed. “I’m sure Charlie would have loved that.”
“If we could have found a tree that would last two months, she probably would have,” I said.
When we headed outside we found that the snow had stopped. But the air was still bitingly cold.
Paws was on his crate, sitting in a sulky silence. He didn’t even glance my way as I emerged from the house. When he saw Jasper, though, he straightened right up.
“You there. What do you think you’re doing this Christmas? Did you get a good gift for Lemmi?” the cat demanded in a harsh tone.
Jasper and I stopped, and Jasper said, smiling despite Paws’s unpleasantness, “I think I got her a good gift. I hope she likes it, anyway.”
“Don’t be rude to Jasper,” I called out to Paws.
The ghost cat shifted on his crate. “Why not?”
“Because he’s family, and you know we aren’t rude to family,” I told him. My breath turned into puffs of air as I spoke.
“Greer’s family, and I’m rude to her all the time,” Paws pointed out.
That was true, but Greer kind of deserved it. Between the two of them, each gave as good as they got, whereas Jasper was never anything but kind to Paws.
Jasper frowned into the distance, but didn’t react further. I wanted to throttle Paws, but that wasn’t possible with a ghost.
Time was running short if I was going to figure out what was wrong with Paws by Christmas, so I had decided to consult with my friend Liam while I was downtown anyhow. Liam was clever and above all creative, and maybe he’d have some ideas.
Liam didn’t know I was a witch and could see ghosts, but he specialized in angst and was a professional analyzer of drama. I could add a visit to Liam onto my list of town errands, and that in turn would necessitate a stop at the café to get coffee for both of us. Or maybe he could meet me there, since I had already talked to Charlie about meeting there for lunch. Also known as cookies.
The list of things I had to get done today was getting longer by the minute.
As Jasper and I made our way to his truck, I mused about our Christmas gifts. I hoped he’d like the gift I’d gotten for him, but I was never too sure of myself when it c
ame to gift-giving.
What I had gotten him was a hand-carved sign that said Wolf Corporation, and a locally knitted hat that I’d seen him admiring at several winter carnival fairs.
With those gifts in place, I felt good about our Christmas together. We had agreed not to overdo it, to the point where he had been away for several crucial Christmas season days. But we were spending time together today, and I hoped we were exactly on track for a lovely season.
I glanced back at Paws one more time before we pulled out of the driveway. Karen, one of the tea ladies, had come over to talk to him, and I was bemused to see that he looked a little more at ease than he’d been when he was talking to us.
“Where to first?” Jasper asked.
“Don’t you have to get to work?” I said.
“I have time. I’ll drive you to your pet sitting stops, then to Main Street. Deacon can meet you later and drive you back, if you don’t mind,” said Jasper.
“Sounds good,” I said, sinking back into the big, comfortable seat of his truck.
Turned out it was a good thing Jasper was driving. A couple of the houses that had cats I had to take care of hadn’t been plowed out, so the truck came in extra handy. I had no idea how to use the plow, so my just borrowing the truck would surely have ended in disaster.
Once we’d hit all the pet sitting stops, Jasper dropped me off on Main Street. I had plenty of time before Deacon would be available to give me a ride back to the farmhouse.
I wandered down Main Street, appreciating the beautiful decorations as I went. Many were homemade and were used every year, but every year there were also some new ones to admire. One of my favorites this year was a large, sparkling candy cane that rotated slowly outside the art gallery. Putting up the elaborate light display was an enormous production that a whole gaggle of townsfolk were involved in every year.
Detective Cutter and Keith of Mintwood Mucking led the charge with the strings of lights. Detective Cutter was Mintwood’s own detective, and because of my work as the Witch of. Mintwood we had many occasions to cross paths. He didn’t know my secret, but I was fairly certain he wished we crossed paths a lot less than we did.
My feet crunched on the snow as I walked. The sidewalks were mostly clear, but there were still patches of snow here and there. Each shop owner was responsible for removing snow from his or her storefront, but Keith went up and down most of Main Street helping those shop owners who were less shoveling-minded, or less fit for the job. At the moment he was hard at work shoveling out Fearne and Frannie over at the hardware store.
He didn’t help out at the art gallery, because he didn’t get along with the owner there, but the Daily Brew was always shoveled out first thing. It was important to make sure that anyone needing to shovel could have coffee.
Charlie was already waiting for me inside the café, her blond hair peeking out of a dark blue hat as she blew on her fingers to warm them up. Mrs. Barnett, the owner and proprietor of the Daily Brew, gave Charlie a look. The establishment isn’t cold, is what the look said. She didn’t seem to realize that Charlie’s fingers were still recovering from being outdoors.
The café was lovely in its Christmas finery. Each table had a tablecloth on it, either silver or green, and the mugs were red or white. Each corner of the room was hung with garlands wrapped around light fixtures.
“Morning, ladies,” said Mrs. Barnett when we approached the counter. “Coffee and cookies today? I have fresh-baked peanut butter Hershey’s kiss cookies.”
Charlie and I exchanged glances.
“We came for lunch, but if they're fresh baked. . . .” I murmured, and Charlie nodded.
Mrs. Barnett smiled and said, “Very good. I’ll get them from the oven and bring them to your table.”
I loved to watch people passing the café as we ate and drank, so we took a table in the window. Today, many of the pedestrians were carrying small gift bags. It was almost Christmas, so everyone was finishing up their shopping while enjoying the first snow of the season.
We were just settling in when Liam joined us. His cheeks were red and he wasn’t wearing a coat, but given that the Twinkle Costume Shop was just a few doors away, I didn’t think the red cheeks were from cold.
Then I saw his eyes snapping and realized he was angry.
Ordinarily he would have ordered coffee before sitting down, but today he slid right into the seat next to me. He couldn’t have ordered anyhow, because Mrs. Barnett was in the back room getting Charlie’s and my orders. Even so, I didn’t think that was why Liam had skipped going over to the counter.
“Hi,” said Charlie with raised eyebrows. She could tell as well as I could that all was not right with our friend.
“Hello,” said Liam, his voice curt.
“Happy holidays?” Charlie offered.
Liam gave one angry shrug. “I suppose.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Liam looked behind us and over his shoulder. He loved to gossip, but apparently he was intent on being secretive today.
“Lots. As a matter of fact, a ton. Do you know that there’s a competition to see who has the best Main Street decorations?” he asked.
I hesitated for only a moment, long enough for him to hold up his hand as if to tell me not to bother answering. “Who am I kidding?” he demanded of no one in particular. “Of course you know that. You’re a Mintwood staple. You know everything!”
5
I lapsed into silence. Clearly Liam was working through something and just needed to rant.
“So, anyway, I had always suspected as much. Townsfolk get cagey around this time of year, you know? And you can’t always attribute it to too much mulled wine. Although I’ve tried. Sometimes I’ve behaved poorly, and as my dear friends, you know that’s exactly why. Anyway, there’s been some poor behavior, let me tell you. What I found out today is that there’s an actual competition. You can tell, right?” He looked between us for confirmation, but he obviously wanted to keep talking.
“Yes, right. Each year certain store’s window fronts get more elaborate. I decided that it was the stores that hadn’t looked as good the year before. More decorations, local decorations, beautiful handmade stuff, but, like, what’s going on?”
Mrs. Barnett came out of the back of the kitchen and raised her eyebrows at Liam. He shrugged defensively. I couldn’t tell from her expression whether she’d overheard any of his rant or not.
“Would you also like a coffee and a cookie?” Mrs. Barnett asked.
She had already brought a whole plate of cookies, but she clearly thought that the plate of ten in front of us was only enough cookies for two.
Liam looked at her so wildly for a moment that I could almost read her mind. Did she know about the Main Street competition? Was she going to win this year? Of all the places on Main Street, the Daily Brew was the most central. If someone wasn’t getting coffee, they were getting tea. If you forgot lunch, you went to the Daily Brew. Mrs. Barnett saw everyone, and knew everyone, and had the power to over steep coffee and make everyone’s life miserable.
Not that she would ever hurt her business by doing so.
After a moment, Liam’s shoulders sagged and he relaxed. “I would love some coffee, with a heavy pour of cream. Please,” he said.
Mrs. Barnett nodded once and headed off to get him some coffee, while Liam looked back at Charlie and me and blinked several times. “Where was I?” he asked.
“Maybe you were about to tell us why you’re so agitated right before Christmas,” Charlie suggested.
“I didn’t know there was a competition that I was losing,” Liam said. “If I had known about a competition, I would have done things differently. My presentation wouldn’t have been the same,” he tried to explain.
Charlie tossed her hair over her shoulder and gave a gentle shrug. “I don’t think you have to do anything differently. The outside of your storefront is gorgeous, and I love it,” she said.
Liam waved his hand and br
ushed that away as if it didn’t matter. Charlie wrinkled her nose at him.
“This is Mintwood,” he said. “You can’t slack in this town. Especially not if you want to make it on Main Street. You have to keep up or get run over. All the other shops probably knew about this, and have known for years. Me with my dinky homemade decorations. They’re probably laughing at me. Did you know I’ve used the same light strings for three years in a row? Imagine, and I’m trying to be environmentally friendly.”
Just then the door opened and Miss Violetta came in. Miss Violetta was a hairdresser with a shop on Main Street. When she first opened her shop, the workmen who were fixing it up for her found a skeleton in her wall. That had been an interesting case for me to solve in my role as the Witch of Mintwood.
Miss Violetta waved to us as she headed for the counter. Mrs. Barnett was just curving her way to deliver Liam’s coffee and cookies, but she didn’t stay to chat. Miss Violetta was waiting.
Liam leaned toward us and braced his forearms on the table. “It’s on. Miss Violetta is nice, but she probably knew too. I have a reputation to maintain, and it’s glitter-covered and vintage-filled. I’m going to have the best Christmas decorations you’ve ever seen, just you wait,” he said.
Charlie and I exchanged concerned looks. I already thought Liam had the most beautiful Christmas decorations on the street. Now who knew what would happen.
Liam sighed and blew on his coffee, then picked up the small container of cream that Mrs. Barnett had brought over and dumped the entire contents into his coffee. “I don’t suppose you can tell me when voting ends?” he asked.
Charlie leaned forward with her earnest face on. “It doesn’t matter. Your storefront is beautiful. It would be a completely arbitrary judgment,” she informed him.
Liam took a big gulp of coffee and shook his head. “It does matter. Of course it matters. These are my peers. You are all my people. How am I supposed to look any of you in the face if I don’t do well in this competition?” he asked.
Charlie leaned away from him and shook her head. It was clear that she wanted him to believe in himself and his decorations.