by Jenny Hale
“I can hardly keep up,” Eleanor called to them, slowing them down.
“Oh, sorry,” Lila said. “Being with Piper is like having a child,” she teased. “I suppose we’ll have to ride the carousel for her.”
“I’m young at heart.” Piper reached out and took Eleanor’s arm, giving her a squeeze. They’d convinced Eleanor to come out with them after telling her that Theo was coming over to fix the leak and they’d all chip in money for her ticket. It had been about an hour’s drive out of town down the snow-filled winding country roads, but Eleanor had assured them that it was worth it.
“This would be a wonderful place to bring a child,” Eleanor said, waving at a little boy who was giggling atop one of the horses. She took in a long, wistful breath. “I always wanted someone to buy their famous Sugarplum Christmas Bomb for, even though it’s heart-stoppingly huge.”
“I read about that,” Edie said. “What is it?”
Eleanor tipped her head back in amusement. “Ah, well I won’t spoil the surprise. You’ll have to get one for yourself to see.”
“The suspense is killing me,” Piper said. “Let’s get one right now.”
“Well, dear, if you can be distracted from the carousel this easily, wait until you see what’s inside.”
They went up to a pair of enormous cherry-red double doors with men dressed as nutcracker soldiers on either side. With gloved hands and pristine uniforms in red and gold, they opened the doors in unison.
“Oh my goodness,” Lila said, stunned.
The floor was made of clear glass, covering thousands of different kinds of candies. A path of chocolates wrapped in a rainbow of cellophane snaked along the center of the room, twisting and turning, leading to different areas of the confectionery. To their right, a row of workers in bright white chef’s suits, and tall hats with holly pinned to them, stirred gleaming silver pots of melted chocolate in various shades, and beside each of them were displays of skewers with different treats on the ends for dipping—marshmallows, peppermints, white chocolate squares, coconut-covered nougat, toffee—all of them arranged in the shapes of Christmas trees. Behind the chefs was a waterfall of chocolate, the smell of buttery, creamy fudge filling the air.
Lila had to tear her eyes from it to take in the rest of the place. To her left were tables of children decorating their chocolates with all shapes and sizes of candies, while Santa’s elves buzzed around with silver trays offering them options. Straight ahead was an enormous spiral staircase leading to the second floor, the entire roof of the place a peak of glass, showing off the electric blue sky. The temperature was still low enough to retain the little piles of snow that had settled on the edges of the roof, giving the whole place a magical feel.
“Let’s head upstairs,” Edie suggested, pointing to a sign that said, Chocolate rum cocktails this way.
“Apparently, upstairs is where all the grown-ups are,” Piper said.
“What else is up there?” Lila asked Eleanor.
“The tasting rooms with wine and chocolate pairings, and the café where you can get your Sugarplum Christmas Bomb. Shall we go?”
“Absolutely,” Piper said.
“Mind if we forego the stairs? The elevators are just over there.” Eleanor pointed to an elevator sliding smoothly upward as kids pressed their foreheads to the glass, their eyes round with excitement.
“Not at all,” Lila replied.
They waited their turn for the elevator and took it up to the second floor. The view from the top was incredible. What Lila hadn’t realized until she’d seen the aerial view was that the rainbow path spelled out the word chocolate in curly script. Eleanor was right: this would be an amazing place to bring a child. Lila could just imagine bringing her own children here one day. If she allowed herself, she could picture being a mother so easily in this quaint little town—pushing a stroller down Main Street, stopping in at the market to get local veggies for dinner, reading children’s stories in the little pillowed area at Imagination Books… Lila pushed the thought away. She was far from being at the stage in her life where she’d have a husband and children.
The doors pinged open and they stepped out into another magical space: a line of booths offering different experiences. The first had a red-and-white striped awning, with tables full of gifts wrapped in festive paper and enormous ribbons. A chalkboard sign by the doorway said, Surprise your loved ones and yourself with a mystery chocolate bundle!
“Should we all buy a little one to put under the tree?” Lila said. Then she explained to Eleanor, “Normally, we take our trip just before Christmas Eve so that we’re there for the big day, and then we all wake up on Christmas morning and open our presents, but we couldn’t make it happen this year, so we’re going to open our gifts the night before we leave.”
“You don’t have families to visit?” Eleanor asked.
“Nope. I don’t have any relatives. My mother died just after I was born, and I lost my dad to cancer when I was twenty.”
“Oh my dear…” Eleanor laid a gentle hand on her arm.
Lila smiled in gratitude at her gesture. But she didn’t want to think about being alone because it would remind her that her dad wouldn’t be there for yet another holiday, and the ache that came with that settled upon her like a sack of bricks when she let it. “The others live so far away from their families that they don’t travel to be with them every year,” Lila continued, shifting the focus to her friends.
“I usually go to see my parents in San Diego on Thanksgiving,” Edie explained. “That’s when my brothers prefer to visit, because they want to spend Christmas at home with their own kids.”
“And my family lives in Portland,” Piper said. “But my parents travel over Christmas so we usually get together for other holidays. Last year, we all flew home for my nana’s birthday.”
“Want to be an honorary member of our little club?” Lila asked.
“I’d love to.” Eleanor’s eyes shone with happiness.
“Everyone pick something,” Edie said. “It’s on me.”
Lila chose a narrow, rectangular mystery chocolate bundle, with gold wrapping and a deep red bow.
After they’d chosen their presents, they filtered through the rest of the booths, sampling their signature peppermint chocolate drops, little squares of the fried homemade banana bread the brochure had promised, and all sort of confections—all free for tasting. Finally, they ended up at the café.
“I barely have room for anything else,” Piper said, rubbing her thin torso through her red suede vintage fringe jacket, which she’d fashionably paired with an oversized knitted cream scarf that now hung loose over her shoulders. “But I have to try that Sugarplum Christmas Bomb. There’s been way too much hype around it to leave without experiencing it.”
“I second that.” Lila nodded toward the white tables with bright green umbrellas set up to shield them from the sun coming in through the glass ceiling.
They went in and took a seat at one of the tables. Not long after, a waitress came over. “Welcome to the Sugarplum Café,” she said, placing a gold-wrapped candy on the appetizer plate that sat in front of each of them. “Take a minute to look over our menu and let me know if you have any questions. I’ll be right back with some hot cocoa and a glass of water for everyone.”
“I’ll never have enough space in my stomach for the Christmas Bomb if I eat this,” Piper said, holding up the gold-foiled sweet.
“I agree,” Eleanor said, “but you need to at least open it. There’s a little message inside every one.”
Lila unwrapped hers, revealing a butterscotch candy. She set it on her plate and spread the wrapper out to read her message. “Mine says, When faced with a choice, choose to believe. It’ll change your life.”
“Ooh,” Edie said, squinting her eyes in contemplation.
The more Lila thought about the statement, the more she realized that she’d spent her whole adult life believing in everyone else but herself. She’d believed in
Razz, in her friends, in the kids she had worked with, but what was true about her? What was she capable of? She’d never tested her limits to see. She’d always taken the easy route: staying in a city she wouldn’t have necessarily chosen for herself, taking a job that her boss himself had said could be filled by any warm body as long as they were willing to undergo the training. What did she really want in her life?
Just then the waitress returned, setting down mugs with a candy cane protruding from a pile of marshmallows. “Are you ready to order?” she asked.
“I think we’ll all do the Sugarplum Christmas Bomb,” Piper said.
“All of you?” the waitress asked. “You could probably share.”
The three of them consulted Eleanor.
“Oh, go on,” Eleanor urged them. “Why not get your own? You only live once, right?”
Piper turned back to the waitress. “Four Christmas Bombs then.” Once the server left their table, Piper said, “I love my fortune! My message says, Trust in yourself and you’ll reach your dreams.” She hugged it to her chest. “Maybe my expansion of Scented Spirit will be a good move. I needed to hear that right now.”
“Mine says, Take time for yourself and you’ll find love on the horizon. Maybe things will go even further with Jarod,” Edie said. She lifted her hot cocoa to her mouth and took a sip before turning to Eleanor, who was already misty-eyed. “What does your say?”
She read her message. “Take time to look around you to see the goodness in people. There are angels everywhere.” She smiled at each one of them. “That is so very true. I am sitting with a table full of them right now.”
“Aw,” Piper said, patting her hand.
As they fell into conversation, Lila pondered the message in her candy wrapper some more, and she couldn’t get it out of her head. She wanted to tell herself that it was just a cute Christmas note for kids, which didn’t really mean a thing, but the words kept rolling through her mind.
“Here we are,” the waitress said, pulling Lila from her thoughts.
The woman set down a dish the size of a small fishbowl in front of each of them. It was full to the brim with vanilla ice cream, which sat on something bright purple and crumbly. Piled high on top of the ice cream were so many different toppings that she could hardly focus on one at a time.
“What’s in this?” Lila asked the waitress.
“We start building it with our sugarplum pie. It’s chopped almonds, figs, sugared blueberries, and our house-made sugarplum filling baked into a buttermilk pie crust, warmed and placed below the ice cream and then topped with candied blueberry truffles, white chocolate cubes, brown sugar graham cracker wedges, sugar cookie morsels, and finished with a drizzle of our famous sugarplum syrup plus a big dose of whipped cream and a cherry.” The waitress handed her a spoon. “Enjoy,” she said with a grin.
They all dug into their own personal bowls. Lila took a bite, the warm spicy crunch of the pie mixing with all the toppings and the cold vanilla like a burst of holiday cheer.
“I can’t believe how good this is,” Piper said, as she savored the last remnant on her spoon before going back in for more.
“You’re not lying,” Edie agreed.
They all looked at each other and laughed, and Lila took in the moment. As she considered what she believed in and what she wanted for herself, still unable to get that message out of her head, she knew one thing for sure… What she wanted was to create a life where she could be around the people she loved most. In the end, that was what it was about for her: people. She was so happy to be with her friends, both new and old.
Nine
Wearing a pink Santa hat with a white fur trim, Lila stood beside Piper, next to a post with festively painted arrows pointing in different directions: Peppermint Road, Ginger Avenue, Sugar Drop Lane, Cocoa Court. Under the sea of lights glowing above them, she gave a bright smile and squeezed Piper around the shoulders as Edie snapped their photo.
“Let me see,” Lila said excitedly, as she grabbed Piper’s arm and ran over to Edie to peer over her shoulder at the shot. “What a great picture!”
“Definitely a keeper,” Piper agreed. “Text it to us, Edie.”
With the winter darkness taking hold by five o’clock, Lila and her friends decided to have dinner at the enchanted forest they’d read about earlier. It had worked out because Theo had called and said he had another commitment, and wouldn’t be over to work on the plumbing until around seven.
“Which way to the restaurant?” Lila asked.
Edie unfolded the pamphlet they’d gotten when they’d arrived, revealing an enormous cartoon map. She tapped the path they needed to take. “Looks like Sugar Drop Lane is a straight shot. So I guess we follow those lanterns.” She pointed to the trail of flickering lanterns that lined the winding track through the woods. Every single tree was bound with sparkling lights, from the roots to the tips of their bare branches. Peppering the snowy hills, between the glittering trunks of oaks and pines, were fully decorated Christmas trees. Holiday music filled the frosty air.
Lila closed her eyes to take in the icy aroma of winter and the sounds of laughter as children ran along the different paths, running through mazes of brightly lit hedges or roasting marshmallows by the fire pits that dotted the bare areas on the hills.
“Look.” Piper’s whisper caused her eyes to snap open.
Suddenly, a familiar face caused her to home in on one particular peal of laughter. Rex threw his head back, giggling as—to Lila’s complete surprise—Theo swung him up on top of his shoulders, and handed him a giant paper stick of baby blue cotton candy. Lila felt as though her feet were glued to the path, her breathing shallow as she witnessed the softness in Theo’s face, the way his eyebrows rose and his hefty chuckle when Rex grabbed his cheek to hold on. Theo’s elbows were pointing out, his hands clasped behind Rex’s back, talking a mile a minute to the little boy.
Excitedly, Rex pointed to Santa’s Toy Shop with his free hand, his other clasping the cotton candy. “Let’s look at them toys in there,” Rex said.
“All right, but then we need to head home and get you a burger, or your mama’s gonna have a word or two with me. It’s dinner time.” Theo walked Rex over to the shop’s entrance and Rex wriggled down his back, running inside.
“Come on, Theo!” he called through the door from the center aisle.
Theo laughed, stepping in, the door closing behind him.
“Hey, Lila,” Edie called.
Only then did she realize her friends had moved along down the trail, and Lila was standing in front of the toyshop alone.
“Sorry,” she said, catching up with them, her mind spinning.
“Was that Theo with little Rex?” Piper asked, threading her arm through Lila’s as they walked.
“Yeah,” Lila said, still struggling to find words.
“I didn’t know he was capable of smiling,” her friend teased.
Lila grinned, but she’d barely heard her friend; the kind look Theo had given Rex and their banter burned into her mind. Why was he so different with her?
“They’ve got wine on the menu,” Edie said, reading the back of the pamphlet as they neared the restaurant. “I’d say we all need a glass, yes?”
“Definitely,” Lila said, trying to shift her focus back to her friends. “Wine would be good…”
“The old cast iron pipes were full of corrosion, and that, mixed with the cold temperatures, caused the pipe to split and burst,” Theo said to Eleanor once Lila and her friends had gotten back, all business. Lila viewed him with a new lens after seeing him with Rex earlier. “It’s just a matter of replacing the pipe, but I want to warn you that you might be facing this issue throughout all your plumbing on the property if it’s the same age as this.”
Eleanor nodded, fear sweeping across her face.
“I could get it done faster if I had some help, but I don’t think we’ll find too many volunteers, so if you’re okay with the room being torn up for a few days, I
can work on it every evening after I close the shop.”
“What if I worked the shop for you?” Lila offered.
She immediately took stock of Edie and Piper’s reactions, having not consulted them at all, but they both seemed so worried for Eleanor that they didn’t flinch.
Edie’s phone rang and she stepped out of the room to answer it.
When Theo didn’t reply, Lila asked Piper and Eleanor if she and Theo could have a minute.
“Of course, dear. We’ll be in the kitchen,” Eleanor replied.
Lila pressed her hand against the dated wallpaper and stepped over a waterlogged pile of clothes to reach Theo. “It might be fun to learn how to make all the coffees, and it would free you up to come here for more than just the evenings,” she continued. “I could learn how you make the drinks during the busy times, and then you could leave me there when traffic is lighter.”
He glanced at her, unsure.
“I’m a waitress. I know how to take orders and be nice to the customers. Are you nervous that I’ll show you up, and they’ll all be asking for me?” She gave him a grin. “Or even worse, there might be an actual name on a sign out front. I’ve got ideas already…”
He pursed his lips in disapproval, but she could tell by the twitching at the corners of his mouth that he was hiding his amusement, giving her a flutter.
“Come on,” she said, putting her hand on his arm to drive it home that she was serious.
He moved, brushing her fingers with his hand. Before she could catch her breath from the lightness of his touch, he’d stepped away.
“Okay,” he said.
“What?” she asked, barely able to form a coherent thought as she looked into his eyes. But then she scrambled to harness this because she wanted answers. She wanted to know why he was so cold every time they were together. He seemed to hide his emotion like some sort of rare jewel, as if it could be stolen from him. She reached out to touch his arm again. Immediately, she could see him start to pull back. “Don’t,” she said.