by Jenny Hale
“Oh, I’m so excited,” Piper said with a giggle. “Let’s go grab a few ornaments and some lights and get the car. Time to spread some Christmas cheer.”
Six
“We bought way more greenery than we needed,” Lila said with a chuckle as she stood in the living room, still out of breath after hiding the tree from Eleanor and then dragging it with Piper all the way to the house through the snow.
Eleanor had fallen for their plan hook, line, and sinker. The girls had told her that Piper and Lila wanted to keep shopping at the Christmas tree farm but Edie and Charlotte had gotten cold, so they’d come home. They’d said that they’d love her to keep them company and then Edie suggested the photo shoot. Eleanor wasn’t quite sure about that and it had taken a little convincing, but Edie promised it would be worth it to take a new photo while they were there visiting because then she’d have it at the ready if and when she updated the website for Fireside Cabins.
“We’ll find a place for it,” Piper called to Lila, filling up a glass at the kitchen sink with the water for the reservoir in the tree stand. She came back in, and poured it into the stand under the tree in the corner of the room.
Lila stretched a piece of cedar garland along the broken window, trying to figure out how to hide it. “I wish we could do something for the rest of the house too,” she said. “I worry about all her cabins being empty. Did you see how many people were at the Christmas tree farm? Those are potential customers for Eleanor.”
“With all this land,” Piper said, “she could retire if she sold this place, and it’s a goldmine for the right investor. Do you think she should sell it?”
“I think on paper, yes,” Lila replied. “But she’s all alone and she has so many memories here. Even updating it might be a delicate subject, let alone selling it.”
“You’re right,” Piper agreed. “Can you come over and help me string these lights?”
“Absolutely.” Filling up Eleanor’s home with happiness was important to Lila because she knew all too well what it was like to need to hold on to the memories. And if a few Christmas lights could bring back the joy of this house for Eleanor, then Lila would do whatever it took.
They’d worked at light speed, and Piper and Lila had finished decorating the living room before Eleanor came back.
They’d created quite a bit of merriment: the mantle was dripping in wide swags of spruce greenery held up by bright red glittered Christmas bows, their ribbons cascading down in waves, the flames in the fireplace shimmering off their sparkling surface. The enormous tree in the corner was decorated in reds and whites with crystal snowflakes that sent a buttery glow through the room, the white lights dancing off the hardwood floors like fireflies. They’d found a few candles and lit them around the room, wrapping the bottoms in fresh pine they’d cut and wired together to make candle rings. They’d decided to hang wreaths in all the windows, tying big gold bows that filled the center to hide the cracked window. They’d even put out a bowl of milk for the tabby cat Presley, who would come out of hiding and brave strangers in his house just to have some, they discovered.
Piper had texted the other two women to see if they could get Eleanor outside, pretending they wanted to take more pictures for the photo shoot. Then she sneaked into the cabin to grab some of the cookies and Christmas snacks they’d brought with them, along with wrapping paper, bows, and a handful of her soaps and lotions to wrap up under the tree.
Lila set out the final bowls of candy canes and plates of macaroons, Piper’s apple pie pita chips, chocolate fudge, and Lila’s vanilla bean cookies, and Piper gave a last nudge to arrange the stack of beautifully wrapped gifts in silver-and-red paper under the tree. When they’d put the finishing touches on everything, Lila texted Charlotte and Edie to let them know they were ready, and then she ran around and switched on a couple of lamps, turning off the overhead light for ambience.
“Let’s go meet them on the front porch,” Lila said, excited.
They went outside just as Eleanor and the other two were crossing the lawn, confusion already spreading across the elderly lady’s newly made-up face. With professional hair and makeup she looked about twenty years younger. Her skin was softer, her cheeks pink with blush, her hair combed into a soft wave. She had on a blouse under her open coat and a pearl necklace.
“You look amazing,” Lila said as she made her way to the porch.
“Thank you,” Eleanor said, touching her new hairstyle. “I had no idea I could ever look like this.” She gave a thankful nod to Charlotte. “What are y’all doing here on my porch? I thought you were out shopping.”
“Well, we all were. Charlotte and Edie told you a little fib.” Lila opened the door. “You see, we hated to leave you over here by yourself when we were hogging all the Christmas excitement in our cabin…” She led Eleanor into the living room.
Eleanor stood in silence, her lips open just slightly as she took in all the festive decorations. She didn’t move but her eyes glistened, tears spilling down her cheeks. She placed her fingers over her mouth, clearly still in shock.
“Merry Christmas,” Lila said.
Eleanor turned her streaming eyes toward the four of them. “Y’all are like a group of Christmas angels,” she said. “You have no idea what this means to me.”
She wobbled on her feet, needing to sit down. Lila helped her to the sofa. With jittering hands, Eleanor motioned for them all to take a seat.
“I’ve been by myself for two years now, and Christmas is really hard on me. I never thought I’d find myself out here all alone.” Her lip wobbled, but then she turned toward the Christmas tree, and it subsided. “Y’all have brought life back into this place.”
Lila felt a surge of purpose and affection for Eleanor.
They stayed and chatted with Eleanor for quite a while before she started to look tired. The sun had gone down, plunging them into the kind of darkness that was only possible in the depths of the countryside.
“We still have a little greenery left,” Lila said when they’d gotten back to their cabin. “What should we do with it?” She walked over and stretched it out on the kitchen counter. Suddenly, it hit her. “I could sneak over and decorate the coffee shop door.” She put her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggle.
Edie nodded. “That would serve him right for racing you around today like you were some sort of jockey.”
Lila laughed, but inwardly she couldn’t get her mind off it. It was the first time she’d really been surprised in a while, and she actually enjoyed it. So much so that she wouldn’t mind riding with him again sometime.
“I’ll toast to that,” Charlotte said, clinking her glass with the others.
“I’m gonna do it,” Lila told them, grabbing the leftover garland and then putting some scissors and wire into one of the boxes they’d used to bring the decorations home from the farm.
“I wish we could be a fly on the wall when he sees it!” Piper said.
Lila slid on her coat. “I’ll be right back.” She grabbed her purse and phone and ran outside to her car. She drove right off, not even letting the car warm up, the winter cold giving her a shiver from her head to her toes.
Merging onto the main road, the sharp turns caused her to have to grab the supplies to keep them from sliding from the passenger seat onto the floor. The dark sky above was an endless expanse, the clouds hiding any hint of a star. As she drove, she thought about how much Theo confused her. He went from ice cold when they’d first met to whatever that was during their ride, and then he’d left again, barely even making eye contact. She’d never met anyone so difficult to read.
When she arrived at the coffee shop, she pulled up along the edge of the road and cut off her lights, not wanting to draw attention to herself. Cinching up her scarf against the biting wind, she snatched the garland and the box of supplies from the passenger seat and got out of the car, quietly closing the door. Then she walked across the small gravel lot, the darkness wrapping around her with the
frigid cold of night. She tossed the decorations over her shoulder and blew air into her mittened hands to try to keep warm.
As she approached the coffee shop door, she had to check to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. She stopped in front of it, unable to slow her whirring mind.
There, on the door, was a Christmas wreath, and at the bottom it had a big red bow. Unexpectedly, hope swelled within her. Had she worked her very own Christmas miracle?
The crunch of gravel behind her registered just as she heard his voice. “May I help you?” he snapped.
The hope she’d felt evaporated in an instant at the harshness of his voice. “I was just bringing this over to you,” Lila said, holding out the garland. Like always, she couldn’t read him at all, and the last thing she wanted to do was to make a fool of herself. “We had extra when we finished decorating.”
He stepped up to her, closing the space between them. “And so you thought you’d bring it to me when the shop is closed?”
“Uh…” she said breathlessly, unable to find her words. She was usually quick on her feet, but her head was a jumble as she looked into his piercing blue eyes. “I was going to decorate your door as a surprise,” she said honestly, once she’d found the ability to speak again.
“Well, I don’t need it decorated anymore.” His tone was such that she couldn’t tell what he meant by it. Was he telling her he’d done it for her? Or was he telling her to go away?
“I see that.” She took in a steadying breath.
“I hate surprises,” he said, brushing past her to the door and putting his key in the lock.
Lila’s cheeks burned with unease, his brusque reaction stinging her. It was Christmas. And if he didn’t want her coming around, perhaps he shouldn’t have taken her on that ride. But at the very least, she was his customer. She deserved some common decency, surely.
She strode up behind him. “Tell me why you put that wreath up,” she demanded.
He opened the door and flicked on the lights, not answering.
“Tell me,” she pressed him, coming in behind him.
He shut the door, the two of them standing in the empty coffee shop. “Trudy was getting rid of it and told me to take it home—I live upstairs.” He pointed to a small stairway at the back of the shop. “Trudy couldn’t bear it dying on her.”
“Trudy?” she questioned.
He took in an annoyed breath, as if she were supposed to know the answer. “Trudy Johnson, Rex’s mother. She and her husband Judd own Pinewood Farm.”
“Oh,” she said, the word withering on her lips. So he hadn’t gotten the wreath for her… “Well, here’s some more,” she said, holding out the greenery. “We don’t need it, and your customers might like it.” When he didn’t take it, she put it on the bar. “Why don’t you like surprises?” she asked, as he headed over to the staircase at the back.
“Because sometimes they can rip your heart out,” he replied, heading up the steps. “Lock the door behind you when you leave.” His voice sailed down the stairs, echoing in the empty space between them.
Seven
“Should we go to the coffee shop this morning to see the look on Theo’s face?” Edie said to Lila as they all sat around the kitchen table having a big, over-the-top vacation breakfast like they always did—eggs, sausage, bacon, an array of muffins and biscuits, fruit, and cheesy homemade grits. She passed Lila the butter for her biscuit.
“Maybe not,” Lila replied, still rattled by the conversation, or lack thereof, that she’d had with Theo last night, the whole thing leaving her totally confused. She finished preparing her biscuit and nipped another piece of bacon from the plate in the middle of the table.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Edie said. “We shouldn’t start our day with Mr. Sourpuss barking at us because we wanted to spread a little Christmas merriment.”
“I wonder what he thought when he saw it,” Piper said, looking around the table as she delivered mimosas to everyone. “He’s so mysterious. Doesn’t he know that he’ll probably sell more coffee if he’s actually pleasant to talk to?”
“Unless it’s just us he doesn’t like,” Charlotte said.
Lila stiffened at the thought.
“He didn’t seem that way with Rex at the farm yesterday. Did you see how the little boy responded to him?” Charlotte continued.
“Why wouldn’t he like us?” Piper asked. “We haven’t done a thing to him.”
Lila shook her head, wondering if Charlotte was right. Theo had been awfully friendly with Rex, and he’d even hung a wreath on his door for the little boy’s mother, yet he barely even cracked a smile whenever he looked at her, and then that intense reaction to being surprised—what had he meant by that? But then she remembered the softness of his voice as he’d said, “I’ve got you,” and how tightly he’d held her on that horse ride, his big hands gripping her firmly, keeping her safe. It didn’t make any sense.
“What are you thinking about?” Edie asked. “You look like you’re solving an algebra problem over there.”
“I don’t know,” she replied, not entirely present in their conversation anymore.
Edie leaned into her view. “You don’t know what you’re thinking?”
“Hm?” she said, swimming out of her reverie. She needed to get to the bottom of it. Suddenly she couldn’t stand it. Theo couldn’t just treat her like that. “I forgot the box of scissors and stuff at the coffee shop. I’ll go get them.”
Piper’s knife and fork stilled in her hands, as if she were dialing in to Lila’s inner thoughts. “We could all go get them.”
“No, I’ll go,” Lila said, getting up. “I’ll be back in time for our day out, but I want to talk to him.”
“What happened last night?” Edie asked, following her with her eyes as Lila slipped on her shoes. “I know we’d all turned in by the time you got back, but I’d expected you to run and jump on all our beds, waking us up and telling us what you’d done. You’ve been quiet this morning—it’s not like you.”
“I’ll fill you in later. But I can’t until I talk to Theo.”
They all sat around the table silently looking at her, and she knew what they must be thinking. Why was she rushing away to talk to some guy instead of spending quality time with the people who knew her best? But she wouldn’t be able to enjoy her vacation until she got to the bottom of Theo’s reaction.
“I swear,” she promised. “I’ll be fast.”
Lila strode through the snow that was now piling up beneath her feet, through the coffee shop door, the Christmas wreath swinging as she closed it behind her, and past a few people sitting at the tables with their coffees. “Hey, Johnny,” she called to the overall-clad man in the corner she remembered from their first visit.
Johnny didn’t look away from his paper, but his hand went up in greeting.
The closer she’d gotten on her way there, the more she’d realized that no matter what Theo’s issues were, he had no right to be so rude to her. And the more she’d considered this, the more frustrated she’d gotten.
She went straight up to the bar and glared at Theo, her eyebrows raised in anticipation, just hoping he’d figure out that he owed her an apology. When he didn’t say anything, she dropped her fingers down on the bar and squared up to him. “What’s the matter with you?” she asked quietly, so as not to disturb his customers.
His expression didn’t change from the blasé one he’d had when she’d first walked up, and that just angered her even more.
“Well, right now, the matter is that you aren’t ordering your coffee, since people are waiting behind you.” He looked past her and apologized to the woman who’d come in after her.
Lila stepped aside. “You can order,” she said, to the lady’s inquiring stare.
The woman squinted up at the menu on the wall. “I’ll have a double-shot espresso with… What dairy substitutes do y’all have?”
Lila let out a huff of sardonic laughter.
“I just got some new o
nes,” he said. Theo rattled off a few selections of various milks: coconut, oat, cashew, soy—but no almond. A thud of disappointment mingled with the frustration Lila already felt, while she waited, inwardly gritting her teeth. She’d gotten all her courage up on the way over and now it was slowly withering away.
Eight o’clock in the morning must have been the busiest time for Theo because someone else stepped in line right after the woman, and then two more people came in and waited at the side for their to-go orders. Surprisingly, business wasn’t too bad for the coffee shop with no name.
Once there was a lull in customers, she addressed Theo again, her initial surge of adrenaline having completely subsided as she’d waited. “Look, I won’t stick around and bother you, but I just want to know, what have I done to make you so angry with me?”
There was a crack in his cool demeanor, and a flash of something she couldn’t identify flickered in his eyes for a second, but he wouldn’t answer.
“What was that during the horse ride yesterday?” she continued, exasperated by his silence. “You knew we were going to the farm. If you wanted to avoid me, why did you come and then offer to lead the ride?”
He grabbed a rag and moved down the counter, wiping coffee rings from the surface. She followed him.
“I’m glad you did,” she said gently. “I just don’t understand what changed between then and last night.” She leaned over the counter, demanding his attention. “Why did you go through all the trouble to get your saddle, find me, and take that ride? I want to know, Theo.”
His lips parted as if he was going to say something, but then he snapped them closed.
“Tell me,” she pressed.
Finally, he said, “Sorry. I had a momentary lapse in judgment at the farm. I won’t let it happen again.”
Another customer came in and Theo went over to take the order.
Her heart sank. So the only time Theo had shown her anything other than hostility had been a “lapse in judgment.” She couldn’t deny the unexpected hurt it caused her, but she wasn’t going to spend the rest of her vacation worried about some random guy who very clearly didn’t want to be around her, who she would never even see again after this trip.