Just South of Christmas

by Grace Palmer

  Grappling with all that used to bother him a great deal, but not so much anymore. These days, he was much more concerned with building a future with Ashley.

  Instead of a ballplayer, he saw himself as a husband, and maybe one day even a father. It was right there for the taking—a future that was different, yes, but maybe better than the ones he used to daydream about. He could reach out and grab it. He was ready.

  Or rather, he would be. Just as soon as he managed to convinced Mr. Pearson of that.

  Drew unlocked the door to the small cottage he and Ashley were renting near the center of town. It was only a couple of blocks away from Melanie’s practice, and so she was able to walk to work most days. The studio apartment was small, but since Ashley would go off to Portland the following year and Drew was going to be alone for most of the week, it didn’t matter. They would be able to save money and for the time being, Drew quite enjoyed being in such close quarters with her.

  “Ash?” he called her name as he stepped inside the studio.

  “I’m here,” she replied. A moment later, she stepped out of the bathroom with a smile on her face. Her golden hair cascaded down her back over an oversized black sweater that concealed much of her beautiful figure. Her legs were in a pair of worn gray skinny-jeans.

  “You look lovely,” he said. He meant it, too. Then again, Ashley could prance around the house in her old terry cloth robe and he would still think she was beautiful.

  “You don’t look shabby yourself, Mr. Leasing Agent Baldwin.”

  He grimaced at the nickname she’d bestowed on him. She meant it in a good way; he knew that. Still, it didn’t sound like him. He pushed the uncomfortable thought aside and rushed forward, scooping her up in his arms and giving her a gentle kiss.

  “You smell lovely, too. What is that?”

  “Abalone Mist. Melanie gave it to me. Like it?”

  He nodded; the floral scent suited her. It was fresh and chipper, just like her personality. Drew was about to point out the time and rush off to get changed when his eyes grew wide in alarm.

  “What happened here?” He took a hold of her hands and lifted them up so he could inspect them further.

  Scratches ran along both of her hands and when he pushed the sweater back, he noted them on her forearms as well.

  She shrugged. “Not to worry. We got a pregnant stray cat in, along with some pretty unhappy woodland creatures. It was havoc at the practice.” She paused and frowned. “We’ve had a whole lot of woodland creatures these past few weeks, actually. I think it’s because of the construction going on all over the place.”

  Drew swallowed. Some of the construction was due to the company he worked for. In addition to the condos, there was a resort going up in Inverness and several recently purchased homes were being renovated. However, he chose not to bring that up as he knew it would spoil the mood.

  Instead, he lifted her fingers up gently and kissed her cuts. “There.” He smiled. “All better.”

  Ashley giggled as her cheeks flushed. “Drew Baldwin, you have it in you to be very romantic when the mood strikes, don’t you?”

  “Baby, I’m romantic around the clock. 24/7 romance. Don’t I bring home flowers and chocolate?”

  “You might show your romantic side by doing the dishes once in a while.” She stuck her tongue out and her gaze went straight to the kitchen where an assembly of dishes, most produced by him, waited to be cleaned and put away.

  He pretended to pout. “That’s not very romantic now, is it?” But a moment later, he let his shoulders sag as if he were giving in. “Alright, alright, you win. Don’t twist my arm about it. Dishes it is. But first, the Walkabout. Come here.”

  He pulled his giggling girlfriend into his embrace and pointed out the window. “Let me paint you a picture.” He raised his hand and gestured as if he were a painter. “You and I, walking in the snow. Christmas décor everywhere, the sound of carols in the distance, and the smell of gingerbread and coconut macaroons in the air. Don’t tell me that’s not romantic.”

  She grinned and crossed her arms in front of her. “Don’t forget the part where there will be hundreds of Willow Beachians all around us, squawking, ‘When’s the wedding? When’s the wedding?’ like seagulls. Very romantic.”

  She laughed, wrapping her arms around him then. “All joking aside, it sounds magical and I can’t wait.”

  They stood for a moment, clinging close, forehead to forehead with eyes full of love.

  Ashley glanced over his shoulder at the clock on the living room wall. “You better hurry, though, and change out of your work outfit, Superman. Before it gets too late.”

  “Roger that. You stay right there, Lois Lane.” He pretended to open up his shirt like the superhero revealing the logo on his chest, and they both laughed as Ashley let go of him so he could rush off toward the bathroom.

  Snow was falling, love was blossoming, and it was almost time for the Walkabout, one of his favorite activities of the year.

  Drew Baldwin’s life was pretty good.

  7

  Georgia

  Georgia exited the car and pulled her winter coat closer against herself. It was getting chilly outside. She leaned back into the car and pulled her purple scarf out of the glove compartment, wrapping it around her neck.

  “Georgia, giddy up already! Everyone is here. Waitin’ on you, slowpoke,” Alma called for her from the town square up ahead. She looked up and spotted all of her friends already congregated in front of the large Christmas tree. The sun was setting rapidly and the street lights were already on.

  “Have a hot toddy.” Alma greeted her with the drink already in hand. She wrapped her numb fingers around the drink and inhaled the spicy aroma. It was delightful. The hot liquid felt delicious going down her throat, especially since it was so cold outside.

  With that taking the chill off, she let out a contented sigh, looked up, and took in the beautiful tree. Even without the lights on it, was spectacular.

  “What a sight!” she beamed. “Isn’t it?”

  “Agreed.” Gwen’s sing-song voice was even more mellow than usual. Her cheeks flushed and she smiled. “Do you know what else is going to be a sight? The mulled wine station the Thompson’s put up in front of their house. What better way to keep your strength up than a hot mulled wine three-quarters through the walk!”

  “If that’s not sufficient reason to participate, I don’t know what it is,” Georgia laughed. “Although I have to watch myself. I still have to host a party. We need to make sure the hostess remains in respectable condition.” She giggled again and felt in high spirits.

  “Oh, there’s Melanie!” Gwen pointed up ahead to where Melanie and Colin were presently entering town square. For a moment, Georgia’s joyous mood was interrupted by a pang of concern for her oldest child. Melanie had a strained expression on her face while Colin’s was as dark as an impending thunderstorm.

  “Hey, sugar!” She greeted her daughter with a kiss on the cheek.

  “Hi, Mom.” The strain on her face was evident in her voice as well, and Georgia frowned.

  “What’s the matter? And don’t say, ‘Nothing.’ I know you better than the back of my own hand.” She whispered the words so Colin and her friends could not hear.

  Melanie leaned forward and dropped her tone. “Everything is going to be alright, Mom. It’s just that Colin was forced to fire the guy he hired to help finish the house and we ran into him in the parking lot. They exchanged some ugly words, and Colin is… well, he’s not in the mood for a walk, let alone Christmas decor sightseeing.”

  Georgia patted her arm. “Not to worry. A walk with his friends and family will do him good. You’ll see. A glass of mulled wine or a hot toddy and he’ll be good as new.”

  “I hope so.” Her daughter did not look convinced at all.

  “Colin, I’m pleased as punch you could join us!” Alma, unaware of the trouble, approached Colin and thrusted a hot toddy into his hand. He took it with a forced sm
ile. While Georgia did not know Colin as well as she did Drew’s girlfriend, Ashley, or Tasha’s boyfriend, Eddie, she could tell he was indeed not in the mood for a Walkabout.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Anderson. Glad to be here.”

  Georgia noticed a flash in her friend’s eyes. Alma caught on quickly when things were not right. Gwen, meanwhile—bless her heart—was entirely unaware. She clapped her hands together and pointed forward to where Caroline Piedmont was emerging alongside the major from behind the tree.

  “There she is. The Winter Queen! Like something right out of a fairy tale. What a vision!”

  Georgia smiled. This was exactly what she’d picture when pushing for Caroline to be made Winter Queen. The woman looked every bit the part.

  “Is that Caroline Piedmont? The woman I’ve heard so much about?”

  Hearing the unfamiliar voice, Georgia turned. A man was standing beside her, smiling brightly with a hot toddy in hand. He was her height, rather short for a man. His hair was shaggy and dark-brown with a few grey strands. His face was angular and clean-shaven, although he’d missed a few hairs on his chin.

  She furrowed her eyebrows, desperate to recall where she might know him from. There was little Georgia disliked as much as not recalling someone’s name. It was embarrassing. However, she was coming up short.

  “Why, yes,” she said. “That is Caroline. I must apologize, I can’t for the life of me remember— have we met?”

  She waited for the man to help her out with his name, but instead, he chuckled and took a sip of his drink. “Delicious stuff, isn’t it? Anyhow, no, we haven’t met. But I recognized you from the town website. You have such a welcoming face, I thought I’d come on over and say hello. New to town, me. Trying to get my bearings. Seeing a familiar face is always a comfort, don’t you think, Ms. Baldwin?”

  She nodded and forced a smile on her face. Georgia glanced around to make sure her friends were within reach. Alma certainly was. She, Melanie, and Colin had formed a small circle not far from Georgia and were chatting away while Gwen had moved a short distance to greet Liza, Stella, and their spouses. Off in the distance, still at the parking lot, she spotted Cheri and Pam getting out of Barb’s car.

  Knowing they were close by gave her some comfort. The scraggly-haired man, friendly as he was, frankly made her shudder. “Giving her the heebie-jeebies” was the expression she heard Tasha use frequently, and she thought that summed things up nicely.

  “Right, it is. You said your name was…?”

  He smiled again—thin-lipped, the warmth of it not reaching his eyes—and shook his head. “I haven’t. Paul. Pleasure to meet you. Say, what is your experience being a businesswoman in this small town? Running an inn? Must be stressful.”

  She pressed her lips together and considered her options. Should she make her excuses and leave? Then again, he seemed genuinely interested and the reason she agreed to a profile on the town website was to drum up business and make connections. Wasn’t this exactly what was to be expected?

  “It can be. I have help though. My children and my partner. Why do you ask?”

  The man shrugged. “No reason. Well, that’s not quite true. My sister used to run an inn. In fact, your story reminds me of hers. At least as it reads on Willow Beach’s handy-dandy website. She ran her inn with her husband who then left her. She couldn’t cope and eventually sold it.” He shrugged then.

  The warmth Georgia had felt upon seeing her friends and the Christmas tree rising tall in the town square was starting to fade more and more with every second she spent in this man’s presence. “Heebie-jeebies” wasn’t doing it justice anymore; something about him and the way he was talking to her felt downright wrong.

  “Did she now? That is a shame.”

  He nodded sagely. “It was. I thought at the time she was making a mistake, but as it turned out, she was right as always. She used the money to travel. She met a new man and now she’s happier than ever. Had she hung on to the inn, who knows what would have happened.”

  Georgia frowned then. “Yes, one never knows what the future holds.”

  “You’ve never felt like selling then?”

  She took a step back. This was the second time this month that someone had brought this matter up to her. No, as a matter of fact, it was the third. It had come up in conversation with Gwen a few weeks prior when they found themselves discussing their future. Gwen wanted to travel the world one of these days, go on cruises and the like. Georgia could never join her because there was no way she could leave the inn for more than a few days at a time.

  The idea of selling entered her mind for a split-second but she’d dismissed it just as quickly. Then, more alarmingly, someone had called her with an offer. The agent for a real estate agency had asked her to sell at a ridiculously low price.

  At the time, she’d put it down to Nancy Friedman. Every few years, Nancy toyed with the idea of selling only to dismiss the thought again days later. Georgia figured the call was her having one of her contacts put their finger on the pulse of the competition. But now this odd fellow…

  “I have no plans to sell. I’m rather set in my ways and happy. I couldn’t imagine my life without the inn. I’m sorry to hear you sister did not feel the same.” She knew she sounded a little prim and proper, but with the bad vibes radiating from this man, she wanted to put as much distance between her and him as possible.

  The man waved a hand and she noticed the lack of a ring on his finger. There was, however, a tan line where one had been recently.

  “No matter. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for it. Who knows? To each their own.”

  Georgia blinked. “What is it you do?”

  The man didn’t reply at once, but instead surveyed the area. “Keeping an eye out for my friend. I’m exploring my options, as it were. Branching out into new directions.”

  That’s by far the vaguest explanation of one’s occupation I’ve ever heard. Georgia turned her head and discreetly motioned for Alma to come rescue her. She was quite done with this conversation. There was something highly unpleasant about the man. She didn’t know what it was, but she didn’t want to be in his company any more than was necessary. Fortunately, Alma rushed over at once.

  “Georgia! What are you doing? Caroline is about to start her speech and then we got to get to truckin’. Or walking, as it were.” She looked at the man, Paul, with a surprise on her face. “Excuse me. I don’t believe we’ve met. Alma Anderson.”

  The man’s face flashed with recognition. “Another of the town’s business ladies from the website. Proprietor of The Duke Saloon.”

  Alma narrowed her eyes but before she could question the man further, he excused himself in a muttered, barely audible whisper. “My friend just arrived. I’ll have to dash. It was good to meet you, Ms. Baldwin. And you, Miss Anderson.” He bowed in an almost comical manner and then rushed away.

  When he was gone, Alma turned to Georgia with a suspicious narrowed slant to her eyes. “Who in the world was that?”

  Georgia shrugged. “A peculiar guy, that’s who.” She shook her head and linked arms with her friend. “Come on, let’s not worry about it anymore. It looks like the speech is starting, just like you said.”

  The two joined their friends once more and watched as, up ahead, Caroline headed for the podium.

  After a short speech by Caroline, the mayor flicked on the Christmas tree and the crowd could not contain their delight.

  Caroline stepped forward to cut the ribbon and with that, Winter Fest was at last in session. The school band and choir walked forward at full, joyous volume, leading the Walkabout down the road, as snowflakes tumbled down lazily and the voices of the townspeople rose up in the first of the night’s carols.

  “Would you take a look at that reindeer!” Gwen marveled at a house ahead.

  “Whose house is that?” Stella asked. She and Sam had been walking a little bit ahead of them but were now stopping in front of the bright display.

  “It’s the
DeVines’. Santa won’t be missing their house this year, that’s for sure.”

  Georgia watched as Melanie did her best to keep a chipper façade. For a moment, it seemed to work. Even Colin appeared captivated by the life-sized reindeer and snowman on top of the DeVine family’s roof.

  Georgia’s attention was diverted then as her phone rang and she fished it out of her pocket. At once, her face lit up as Joel’s name flashed across the screen.

  “Hello my love. We’re almost halfway done with the walk. Where’ve you run off to?” She pushed her finger into her right ear so she could hear better against the background noise produced by the revelers.

  “I’m sorry. I was held up at work. But I’m here. And to make up for my tardiness, I’m not by myself. I found a couple stragglers.”

  A moment later Ashley, Eddie, and Drew’s voices shouted, “Merry Christmas!” into the phone.

  Georgia laughed, her heart full.

  Not to be outdone, Alma, Gwen and Melanie followed suit, snatching the phone from Georgia’s hand playfully and hollering back at the Baldwins on the other end of the line.

  Once Georgia wrestled her phone back from her friends, she pressed it to her ear. “Where are you, love? I’ll come find you.”

  There was a pause, and then— “Well… we are standing on a street corner beside a rather large dreidel that’s perched against the most impressive Christmas tree I’ve seen so far. There seems to be a menorah in the window beside a wreath.”

  Georgia knew it at once. “The Goldbergs’ house. You’re just half a block from me. Stay put; we’ll be there in a moment.”

  A moment later, they turned the corner and found themselves in front of the brightest house thus far. Decorated with both Hannukah and Christmas decorations, the Goldbergs’ house was the very definition of a unified household. Each member’s faith was represented with beautiful, tasteful decor.