by Vicki Hinze
David grunted. “I thought so, too. Which is why, when Santa One got sick, Rory was going to be Santa. Then, he stepped in that Baxter trap outside Community Hall.”
“But he’s just gotten out of the hospital. Did you talk to Dr. Fleming about it?”
David nodded. “I did. Rory was mostly in the hospital so they could care for him until he got his walking boot. Dr. Fleming wanted him off his feet.”
Lauren took all that in. “How did you ever convince Rory Hardin to be Santa?”
“You look positively shocked.”
“Truthfully, I am.” She dipped her chin. “Rory doesn’t like social gatherings.”
“True,” David said. “Which is why I recruited Caroline to ask him. He’ll do anything for Caroline.”
“You are sly, David Decker.”
“I thought it was a stroke of genius. It gets us a Santa and it gets Rory and Caroline to the festivities.”
“Brilliant.” Lauren smiled up at him.
He smiled back, and for a second, longing flooded his eyes, and he leaned toward her.
Inside, she was shaking. “Barbara?” Lauren called out. Had he been about to kiss her? No, he couldn’t have been. Could he? “We’re in a hurry.” Maybe that lean in had been due to his leg. Or just a trick of the light. Relieved and disappointed, and grateful she’d been spared another regret, she called again. “Barbara?”
“Sorry.” Barbara rushed in with Baxter at her heels. “I just had to check and make sure he hadn’t picked up any thorns. They can be very painful, you know.”
“I’m sure they can be,” David said. “Baxter okay?”
“Oh, he’s fine. Just fine.” She seemed a little flustered. “Now where did I put the paperwork.” She ruffled through a short pile. “Hmm, not there.”
“Just write some notes,” Lauren suggested. When Barbara grabbed a pen and pad, Lauren reeled off the items on her mother’s list. First for the parade, then the sleigh rides, the roses for the bonfire, and then the largest of the orders for the dance. When she disclosed placement, right from the planning sheet, Barbara looked stunned.
“Well, that’s…perfect,” Barbara said, her jaw slightly agape.
“What’s wrong?” Lauren asked, certain now that her mother and Barbara Pope had already discussed exactly what she’d wanted.
“Not a thing.” Barbara gave her a stilted smile. “This will work beautifully.”
“Not short on poinsettias?” Lauren asked, glancing at Baxter, who was sporting a bright red bowtie with a bell around his neck. “After losing a few to stomping?”
“No. No, we’ll be fine.”
“Lucky for you, Baxter.” David dipped down to scratch his ruff.
“With Baxter in the shop, you know to prepare for little incidents.” Barbara shrugged. “One of the joys of being his pet human.”
David laughed. “I guess we’re done here, then?”
“Yes. Yes, you are.” Barbara’s face turned bright red. “We’ll handle the rest.”
Lauren nodded, turned to David. “We’d better get the tickets to the business owners, then.”
“Right.” He smiled at Barbara. “Tomorrow is the big day, and there’s still so much to do.”
Barbara sent a knowing look at Lauren, then turned her gaze back to David. “Isn’t that always the way of things? Nine million little details.”
Lauren and David left the shop and, out on the sidewalk, David paused. “We need to get the tickets from my car.”
“I’ll do that. You rest your leg.”
“It’s okay.”
“It is, but we have a lot of walking to do, and the snow isn’t helping.” Heavy flurries fell and stuck. “No sense taking risks we don’t need to take. You’ll get a workout in delivering the tickets.”
“True.” He accepted with dignity. “I’ll wait here.”
“Granny’s would be better,” she said. “Out of the cold, and I need another coffee. This job requires caffeine.”
“You never drink caffeine.” He said it before thinking.
He remembered how she liked her coffee. Did that mean anything? “I allow myself one caffeinated cup every morning. The rest is decaf.”
“Ah, changes.”
“Unavoidable,” she said. “Meet you there.” She took his keys and headed off to get the tickets.
By noon, they had delivered the tickets around Town Circle and dropped by Granny’s to grab a little lunch. When David slid into the booth near the front window, he winced.
“You okay?” Lauren asked, opening her napkin and folding it over her lap.
“You were right. That was quite a workout in fresh snow.” He glanced out the window, where the snowfall was heavier now.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Is it really bad?”
“No, just uncomfortable. I do fine on certain surfaces, but ice and snow can be slick, and slick is rough.”
“How did you pull the muscle? Mountain biking?” He used to be a huge fan of that.
“No.” He avoided her gaze. “It was an accident.”
“What kind of accident?”
He wanted to answer, but something seemed to hold him back. She waited, and finally he decided what he wanted to say.
“An ill-timed one. Stupid, really. I was in a place I shouldn’t have been at a time I should have been elsewhere. Had I known then what I know now, trust me, it would have been avoided.”
Cryptic. That he regretted the incident was clear. Stuck with a cane and a limp, who wouldn’t regret it? “I expect most accidents are regarded that way. Best if avoided.”
“I suppose so. Though, some are more costly than others.” He lifted the menu. “What’s for lunch?” His voice brightened. “I’m starved.”
So was she. Her stomach had been growling for half an hour. “Granny’s vegetable soup for me.” Lauren couldn’t resist. “It’s absolutely the best, and maybe by the time I get it down, I’ll thaw out.”
“It’s pretty cold out.”
“Freezing.” She stuck out her hand.
He grasped it, gently squeezed her fingers. “Frozen.”
She smiled and withdrew her hand.
Bailey Adams, the current owner of Granny’s appeared at their table. “David, I’ve mapped out the route for the sleigh ride. You want to come by later this afternoon and check it out.”
“Sure.” He glanced at Lauren. “We have to be at the caterer at six o’clock,” he told Lauren. “Kenneth’s got the dinner ready for us to sample.”
“That’s fine,” she said. “Should I come with you to check the sleigh route?”
“I can handle that,” David said. “I’m sure you’d like to visit your mom.”
“I would, if you’re sure.”
“Absolutely.” He looked back at Bailey. “What time is the lunch crush over?”
“About two o’clock, if that fits your schedule.”
“I’ll meet you there.”
Bailey nodded, glanced at them both. “I don’t know what you two are doing different, but ticket sales are through the roof on all the events.”
“Really?” Lauren was pleased. “I haven’t had time to check the site, but everyone is increasing their order.”
“We’re getting folks from two counties over,” Bailey said. “The inn’s totally booked, and the motel near the park is, too.”
“That’s a good sign.” David smiled at Lauren.
“Whatever it is, keep it up,” Bailey said. “We need the funds for the music program, but we sure could use a school nurse, too.”
“That’s a great idea,” David said, turning again to Lauren. “Mrs. Wong wants to be an RN.”
“She’s been an LPN for years.” So far as Lauren knew, there’d been nothing that had come up she hadn’t been able to handle.
“The kids need an RN, she says.” David shrugged. “She’s done as much as she can do online, but she’s got some practical experience to get before she earns her degree.”
“Can she
do it and be back to school in the fall?”
Bailey answered. “If she can take leave the last two weeks of school, she’ll be done in time for the next school year. But she refuses to leave the kids unless someone steps in and takes over.”
“Maybe we could hire a temp or something like that,” David suggested.
“Can’t find one. At least, we haven’t yet. The school board has looked high and low, but no luck so far. What we need is a Christmas miracle. Maybe you two can figure something out. You’re doing great on the festivities.” Bailey turned and returned to the kitchen.
Lauren did have an idea.
“What?” David asked Lauren.
She snapped her gaze to him. “Excuse me?”
“You’ve got that look.”
“What look?”
“The one that says you have an idea.” She opened her mouth and he wrinkled his nose. “Don’t deny it. I know you too well. What’s the plan?”
“It probably won’t work,” she said. “It’s asking a lot.”
“What is?”
“Reverend and Mrs. Wong do so much to help others in the community. I can’t believe others wouldn’t step up for them.”
“They likely would, if they knew there was a need and why. She’s doing this RN thing for the Ridge kids, not for herself. I say we go for it.” He leaned toward her over the table. “Who can refuse you when you get that look?”
He had refused her. But why bother pointing that out. Besides, this was for the kids and for the Wongs, not for her. No community rallied better than Holt Ridge. “You’re exactly right, David.” Lauren smiled. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
“If any place will step up, my money is on the Ridge.”
“Mine, too.” She pulled out her phone. “Jess, it’s Lauren. David and I need a favor…”
David waited expectantly until Lauren hung up the phone. “She’s working on it.” Lauren smiled.
“You think she’ll come through?”
“I have a good feeling,” Lauren said. “Jess reminded me that Mrs. Wong sewed Minnie’s arm back on in third grade. She’ll take two days of vacation time to fill in at school.”
“Two down, eight days to go. That’s great.” David grinned. “Minnie? Who is Minnie?”
“Jessica’s doll. She wagged that thing everywhere until Middle School. I suspect she carried her in her backpack straight through High School, though she’d never admit it.”
“Seriously?”
“I suspect, I said.” Lauren dropped her voice to a whisper. “Jessica freaked out at taking tests. Minnie was her good luck charm. Jessica never took a test without her.”
“Bless Mrs. Wong for fixing her up, or Jessica might not be an RN today.” David laughed hard.
So did Lauren. That had every head in Granny’s pivoting to see what they found so funny.
“They’re still gawking at us.”
Lauren took a sip of water. “It’s different.”
“How?” David turned to the window. “They still all watch our every move.”
“Yes, they do. But look at their faces. That’s what’s different.”
David scanned the dining area, then looked back at her. “They do look different.”
“It’s not curiosity or waiting for a war to happen now.”
“It’s more than that,” he said. “They look happy that we’re getting along.”
“As, I am sure, are we. It’s so much easier on us all, isn’t it? To get along well, I mean.”
His expression softened. “Discord between us…it just feels wrong.”
“It makes anything we have to do together harder.”
“At least that hasn’t changed. We’ve always gotten along well.” He stopped, then his expression soured. “Except when I went off the rails.”
Breaking up with her by text. Off the rails was a decent description. But the pain had left his face, and she didn’t want to bring it back. “Past is past,” she said, brushing the comment aside for both their sake’s. “Finish your soup. It’s getting cold.”
He finally picked up his spoon and got started, which Lauren took to mean the pain in his leg had subsided enough that he could eat now. Grateful for that, she went to work on eating her own.
11
December 21st
1:30 PM
“Mom, you’re awake and sitting up.” Lauren smiled and entered the hospital room. “I’m so glad.” The difference in the way she looked was profound. “The medicine is working.”
“I told you it was.” She smoothed her hair with her hand. “Jessica did my hair this morning after my bath. I have to tell you, few things in my life have felt as good.”
“She’s a wonder.” Lauren sat down on the edge of the bed at its foot. “I have some news for you, if you’re up to hearing it.”
“Of course.” She leaned back against the chair.
“Ticket sales are brisk. We’re going to have enough to fund the music program and a little more.”
“What little more?”
“Two weeks of nursing so Mrs. Wong can do her work on her RN to finish it up before school starts.”
Her mother gasped. “Oh, Lauren, that’s wonderful news. But who will nurse the kids the last two weeks? That’s been the problem. Finding someone qualified to hire.”
“Jessica took care of it.” Lauren lifted a hand. “When the nurses found out what Mrs. Wong was doing, they wanted to help, so they’re all taking a day or two of vacation time to fill in at school so Mrs. Wong can be sure the kids are taken care of and she can do what she needs to do.”
“A Christmas miracle,” her mother said, clapping her hands. “That Jessica is just a wonder.”
“She is something else. Always has been.”
“Does Mrs. Wong know yet?”
“David and I are going to tell her tonight, before we go to dinner.”
Her mother sobered. “You have a dinner date with David?”
“No. No, it isn’t a date. Kenneth Pope has the sample meal prepared for the Christmas dinner and dance. We have to sign off on it tonight, before he goes further with it.”
“Why?” She seemed surprised. “We’ve never required a sample meal. Most of us have eaten Kenneth Pope’s food all our lives.”
“So, you didn’t do that?” Lauren was more stunned than her mother.
“Of course not.” Her expression backed up her words, and it was clear she was pretty peeved someone else had required it.
“And what about requiring two signatures to approve anything?”
“Like what?”
“The ticket design, the photographer, the flowers…”
Her eyes widened with every disclosure, but she quickly shielded them. “I, um, think that’s wise, considering neither you nor David have planned these events on your own before.”
She didn’t have a clue about any of it. “Mom…?”
No answer.
Her eyes shut.
And she was asleep, or feigning sleep. She wasn’t going to disclose a thing.
“Never mind. It’s not important.”
Her eyes opened.
Caroline had been right. Vanessa Holt was thinking, but she wouldn’t share those thoughts. Lauren had recognized that look of her mother’s her entire life. Little could wrestle a peep out of her. But maybe there was another path. “You know, last night when I went into your She Shack for the candy canes and ribbon, I found some papers…”
No change in her expression. Nothing clouding her eyes. “What kind of papers, dear?”
“Ones I would have expected to be in the planning packet but weren’t.”
“In my She Shack?” Confused, her mother shrugged. “I can’t imagine.”
“Mom, do you promise me you didn’t take them out of the packet and put them on your work table?”
“Why in the world would I do that?”
“I have no idea.” She kept her voice calm, unemotional. “Maybe to make David and I spend more time t
ogether?”
“No, Lauren.” She rubbed at the edge of her robe between two buttons. “I think it’s good that you and David are doing the festivities together, but I didn’t put any papers from the packet into my She Shack. That is a fact.”
Not a hint of motherly matchmaking.
Caroline. She was the only other person who had access to both Dad’s home office, and Mom’s She Shack. Time to drop the subject. “The good news is everyone has more ticket requests than they initially ordered, and the hotels are booked.” And the locals weren’t staring at David and her, expecting fireworks anymore. That was above and beyond just good news. It was another miracle. At least, it was in Lauren’s book.
“And David?” Worry flashed across her mother’s face. “Is he holding up okay?”
“He seems fine,” Lauren said, taken aback by the odd question. “The snow and ice are making his limp more pronounced. He was in pain at lunch, but after he sat down for a while, it was better enough that he could eat.”
“Did he tell you that?”
“It was impossible not to notice it.”
“He promised me he wouldn’t overdo, but I was afraid he would. It’s the Christmas thing, I expect.” She tasked, clicking her tongue to the roof of her mouth. “Lauren, you must make him slow down and get off his feet more.”
“I can’t do that.” The idea mortified her. “I have no right to say anything about what he does or doesn’t do. It’s none of my business.” What was the Christmas thing?
“Having compassion for a fellow human being you nearly married makes it your business. It’s the right thing to do.” Her eyes narrowed. “You have no idea how he suffers with that leg.”
She was getting upset. And so was Lauren. “You’re right, Mom. I don’t have any idea. I don’t even know how he was injured other than it was an ill-timed accident.”
“Indeed it was, and isn’t that enough?”
“Maybe it should be, but, no, it isn’t.” Too agitated to sit, Lauren stood and paced a short path between the foot of the hospital bed and the window. “The human being in me doesn’t want to pry. But the bride dumped the night before her wedding demands details.”