by Jacki James
“So, who was that?”
“That was my most recent ex. It wasn’t serious, but I was the one who ended it. Nothing against Porter, he’s a good guy, it just wasn’t what I wanted. He wanted to go to the city to hit the clubs all the time, and if we weren’t going to a club, he wanted to go to a show, and if it wasn’t a show, it was shopping. Drove me crazy. I don’t mind an occasional trip to the city, but I don’t want to spend all my spare time there. If I wanted that, I’d just move there.”
“Well, I didn’t like his attitude.”
“He’s okay, really, and the shop is cool if you want to go back and browse.”
“No, nothing caught my eye as my style, but it’s a great concept. What’s next?”
“A store called Naturals. It’s a yarn store. They sell all-natural yarns and teach knitting and crocheting and all that kinds of stuff. Plus, they sell ready-made things that the shop owner, Milly, makes. Remember I mentioned Wilson’s Feed and Seed? She’s a Wilson.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Small towns are something else.”
“I know, I’m not sure if the family was part of the original artists’ colony, but if not, they’ve been here since almost the beginning. They’re all super nice, though.”
We went inside and I started looking around at the ready-made stuff, but Terry went straight for the yarn. “Anything particular you boys are looking for?” an older woman asked us from behind the counter.
“That’s Nicolas,” Terry said. “He bought the old Pearson place. He’s browsing, but I need to know if there is anything special Mikah has been wanting. I haven’t bought him anything for Christmas, and I figured you would know what was on his wish list.”
“Hold on, I have something special that just came in that I think Mikah would love. Let me get it.”
“Mikah has a thing for yarn?”
“Yeah, he took a knitting class a couple of years ago and he got hooked. Says it helps him relax and get rid of stress way more than anything else he’s tried. He’s made some great stuff, but after he had given us as many hats and scarves and throws as we could take, he contacted a friend of his that runs a soup kitchen. He sends him the hats and stuff and Avi makes sure they go to people who need them.”
“Okay, Terry, I have a couple of things here,” Milly said, setting the stuff on the counter. “This one feels amazing, and I know he’s been wanting to work with it, but it isn’t along the lines of what he likes to make for the guests that come into Avi’s soup kitchen. They feel too expensive. But I also have these. It isn’t much cheaper, but the way it’s made feels more like regular yarn. They’ll be warmer than synthetic, but if he makes a hat or scarf out of these, no one will be able to tell they aren’t.”
“This time let me get him the special yarn. What is it?”
“It’s called Qiviut. It comes from muskox. I know he’s been wanting to make something out of it. How much do you want?”
“Do you have enough for him to make a hat and a scarf?”
“I do, let me bag it up.”
I’d been listening to their exchange with interest. “I’m just curious why he wouldn’t want to give them the one that feels expensive if they both cost the same?” I asked.
“At first when he decided to donate the things he made, he sent really nice ones, and his friend said that they had a hard time getting people to use them. They would take them, but they felt so expensive they wouldn’t use them because they didn’t want them to get soiled. But the whole point was to send things they could use, so Milly helps him find yarns that are good quality and will last but feel like regular yarn. They still keep a few of his really nice ones, usually for when a younger boy or girl comes in who doesn’t care if it’s better than they deserve, as one of the people said.”
“Let’s get him both yarns. Then he can make something nice for himself and something to give away. I’ll split it with you.”
He gave me a kiss and told Milly we wanted both. “He’ll love this. He can never get enough yarn.”
“Great, I also want to get a hat and scarf for each of the kids.”
“Take your time,” Milly said. “There are some really cute ones.”
By the time we bought the hats and scarves and went to the toy store, I had all my Christmas shopping done. “I’ve never had such an easy time buying my Christmas presents. This was amazing.”
“That is just one of the things I love about Avana Springs. For being so small, it really has everything I need.”
I shook my head and sighed. It wasn’t enough that I was living in the middle of Christmas central, now I was going to a Christmas parade. My plan had been to make sure the house looked nice, and then go into the city for the day. But because of the deal I’d struck with Terry, I had to go not only to the parade, but to the Christmas tree lighting. It was like I was living in an alternate universe. One where my house was the most decked out house in town for the holidays, my family was coming for Christmas, and I’d physically gone shopping instead of grabbing gift cards or ordering off the internet.
While I waited for Terry, I did one last walk through to make sure everything looked the way it should. The house was pretty, I couldn’t argue that. But I’d watched Terry work himself to death for days to get it to look so Christmassy, and for what? So a bunch of people could see it, and then we would take it all down in a month. Okay, so it hadn’t been all bad. I thought about Terry tangled in the lights trying to decorate the banister. He’d insisted he was tall enough and could reach it without the step-ladder, but that hadn’t worked out so well for him. It had worked out fine for me though, because I got to untangle him. I would never look at a stand of lights again without seeing them lit up, wrapped around Terry’s body, while I kissed him senseless. I was still picturing that when he came in the front door carrying a box.
“I was sitting at my house wondering if there was anything left do over here when it occurred to me that this would be perfect on your mantel.” He reached into the box and pulled out his grandmother’s snow globe.
“Seriously?” I asked. I couldn’t believe he was going to bring something that mattered so much to him to my house for the house tour, but when he set it in the center of the mantel, I had to agree it was perfect.
We walked down to Main Street where all the festivities would take place. For such a small town there were people everywhere, and every single one of them seemed to know Terry. Which of course meant, what should have been a ten-minute walk, was taking twenty.
“If we had to watch the parade, I don’t understand why we couldn’t have done it from my front porch instead of dealing with all these people,” I grumbled.
“You’re grumpy today,” he pointed out.
“Really? I wonder why.”
“You’re being ridiculous. You haven’t even given it a chance. Look around. See how excited everyone is?”
I looked around the gathering crowd, and yes, most people looked excited. A couple just looked cold, and there were a few who looked annoyed because they had to be here. I latched on to those guys. “Not everyone, look at that guy over there in the ball cap and the blue jacket.”
Terry followed where I was pointing and burst out laughing. “That’s Clark Davison. He’s no fun. He’s always annoyed, has been as long as I’ve known him. Don’t be a Clark, Nico. Nobody likes a Clark.”
“Maybe he has a reason to be annoyed.”
“Maybe, or maybe he finds a reason. Ever think of that? It’s just as easy to find a reason to be happy as it is to find a reason to be grumpy, you know?”
“You sound like my mother.”
“Well, she sounds like a wise woman. Maybe you should listen to her.”
“You should come for Christmas and meet her,” I said, without even thinking.
“What?”
I had no idea where that came from, but it was too late now to take it back, even if I wanted to. But I didn’t want to take it back. I thought my family would love Terry, and I want
ed to spend Christmas with him. “You said you weren’t going to see your family, so come spend Christmas with us.”
“Will there be Christmas music, food, presents, and people having fun, or are they all a bunch of Scrooges like you?” he teased.
“You and my mom will get along perfectly. Trust me, I’m the only Scrooge in a family full of happy Christmas elves.”
“That’s hilarious, and I would love to come to your house for Christmas.”
I spent the rest of the day watching Terry find things to be happy about everywhere, while I tried not to look for things to be annoyed about. By the time the parade was over, I had to admit it has been hard to not enjoy myself. It looked like every group in town, from the gymnastics team to the ladies quilting circle, all had a float in the parade. Some of the businesses did as well, and I asked Terry why he didn’t have one. He said he chose to sponsor one of the kid’s groups instead, and their float would have his name on it. The best was the local motorcycle group who were all dressed like Santa Claus. They had people walking with them dressed like elves handing out candy. When the last float went by, we moved with the crowd down toward the town square. “What happens now? It’s still a couple of hours until time to light up the tree.”
“Now we get some hot chocolate and either walk over to the pavilion to listen to the band play, or we can wander around to the booths to see what people are selling. The Episcopal church always has a bake sale, and they have some of the best brownies on the planet.”
“Brownies and hot chocolate?” I asked.
“Hey, don’t judge. There’s no such thing as too much chocolate.”
We decided to wander around. Terry introduced me to people and we browsed the booths, and before I knew it, they were announcing the tree lighting. I was guessing a lot of the people who’d been there had children in the parade because before dusk the crowd had thinned out, but there were still a fair number of people gathered around the tree waiting for the mayor to flip the switch and light it up. Terry took my hand and led me through the crowd to stand with the small group of men who had been at my house helping with the trees. We all said our hellos and talked a little about the parade and the upcoming house tour. We stood there waiting in the cold, and I wondered what the big deal was. All these people probably already had Christmas trees at their houses. Hell, thanks to Terry, I had three. What was the big deal about lighting this one?
The mayor stepped up to the microphone and began. “Happy Holidays, everyone! This is such a wonderful time of the year; a time of sharing love with one another. It’s about bringing overall joy into the lives of others, and that is what Avana Springs is all about. This year I get the honor of introducing our Sheriff, Wyatt Ford. He has spent the last year making sure the citizens of Avana Springs were safe, and now he’s going to light the tree.” I was pretty sure I heard Charles say, safe my ass, but before I could ask him, the man in the sheriff’s uniform flipped a huge oversized switch that I was pretty sure didn’t go to the tree, and the lights came on and the people cheered.
I turned to ask Terry what the big deal was, but when I saw his face, I didn’t have the heart to say anything. He was absolutely glowing as he looked at it. I turned back to the tree to try and see it through his eyes. It was massive and the lights were beautiful. It was lit with a mix of colored lights and just enough white ones to break up the color and make them stand out even more. “Shouldn’t there be something on top of the tree?” I asked.
“Just watch for a minute, they aren’t done yet.”
“Thank you, Sheriff Ford. Now, if Ms. Whitley will come up with her class. You may have heard them singing earlier today in the pavilion, but let me tell you, if you didn’t, you missed quite a performance.” A group of about fifteen small children and a pretty young woman went up and stood in front of the crowd. “This is our kindergarten class this year, and they have the honor of lighting the star.”
“It’s the North Star,” one of the kids said seriously. “You never get lost if you follow the North Star.”
“Well”—the mayor chuckled—“it may not be as big and bright as the actual North Star, but it is bright, and if you’re lost, it’ll help you find your way to the center of town. Now, Ms. Whitley, if you’ll do the honors,” the mayor said, and the young woman stepped forward. She motioned for the kids to crowd around and together as a group, they flipped the switch, and the star on the top of the tree came on. Terry leaned against me and I slipped my arm around his waist. Okay, so the tree was pretty, the star was as bright as the North Star, and for the first time in forever, I didn’t feel lost at all.
Chapter 12
Terry
By the time I got home Friday night, I was beat. It was like the lighting of the Christmas tree two weeks ago had flipped a switch and now everyone wanted to order flowers and buy knick-knacks. I was so glad that we got Nico’s house finished before things got crazy. They had been so busy I hadn’t even been able to go on the house tour. I’d been working ten-hour days every day, and I was looking forward to the weekend. I had Jerri coming in to open the shop, and instead of just doing deliveries, Wally was going to work all day on both days. Jerri could make arrangements every bit as nice as mine, and with him there to man the counter, they should be fine.
I opened the fridge and stood there looking at the basically empty shelves. I hadn’t even taken the time to go grocery shopping. Looked like my only two options were take-out or cereal, so I checked the date on the milk. Okay, take out it was, then. I opened the jug and gave it a sniff just to be sure before I poured what was left of it down the sink. Okay, shower and the diner it was.
I turned on the water and while it got hot, I stripped off my clothes. One of these days, I wanted to get one of those on-demand hot water heaters like Nico had. I smiled thinking about him as I stepped under the water. He had brought me lunch every day this week.
“You have to eat,” he said on Monday. “The parade is over, and the holiday insanity has officially begun. It’s not going to be a holiday for you if you don’t take care of yourself. I’m the same right before a release. We work for months on these games, but once they go live, things are crazy for a couple weeks, so I get it. We just need to get you through until Christmas.”
He’d been so sweet all week, and he was right. If he hadn’t been here, I probably wouldn’t have taken time to eat, and I for sure wouldn’t have turned the shop over to Jerri tomorrow. By the end of the holiday season, I would’ve made myself sick. But instead, I’d taken tomorrow off, and I had plans for one Nico Stavros.
I’d checked the weather and they were predicting snow overnight tonight. The air was heavy and damp the way it always got before it snowed, so while it didn’t snow often in Avana Springs, it looked like we might get some this time. It was perfect timing, because as long as it didn’t warm up too much over the next couple of days, we would have a white Christmas. Who didn’t love a white Christmas?
I got out of the shower, wrapped a towel around my waist, and headed to my room to get dressed. I made it halfway down the hall when I heard a door shut and something clatter from the back of the house. I detoured to the right to see who it was. My guess was Walker or Mikah. We’d been living so in each other’s space for so long it wouldn’t have surprised me to find either of them in my kitchen.
Instead I found Nico, setting up food on the small kitchen table. “Hey, you. What are you doing here?” I asked, smiling at him. Even as tired as I was, it was nice to see him.
“I knew you would be exhausted, so I brought pizza and popcorn, and I thought maybe we could eat dinner, and then watch one of those ridiculous holiday movies you love.”
“You’re going to watch a Christmas movie with me?”
He walked over and gave me a kiss and I melted a little. “I’m not promising to like it, but I do promise to be a good pillow for you to lean on while you watch it and relax a little.”
“That sounds wonderful,” I said.
“Okay, yo
u put on something comfy, then let’s eat some pizza and watch a movie.”
“What the hell was he thinking?” Nico practically yelled at the television. “Is he stupid? She obviously loves him and he obviously loves her, and come on, even the kid is on board. He can’t buy her lodge out from under her and turn it into condos.”
I was trying not to laugh at him, but it was hard. Really, really hard. “Have you ever watched one of these movies before?” I asked.
“No,” he said, looking at me like I was crazy.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” I gave him a quick kiss and settle back down into my spot. He hadn’t been kidding. He made an excellent move watching pillow. “Just keep watching.”
He did keep watching, but I didn’t. He woke me by shaking my shoulders gently as the credits rolled. I sat up and stretched. “So, did he turn the lodge into condos?” I asked with a yawn.
“Of course not. He told his boss to shove it and now he’s co-owner of the lodge. You need to get some sleep. I’ll get out of your hair,” he said, picking up our empty cups and the bowl of popcorn from earlier.
“You could stay if you wanted.”
“Are you sure? I know you're tired.”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay, just let me throw this away.” He dumped the popcorn in the trash and put the dishes in the sink. Once we were settled into bed and he’d pulled me close, he said, “Get some sleep, we have all day tomorrow to play.”
The next morning, I woke up warm and wrapped up in Nico’s arms. I snuggled in for a minute until I remembered what I was waiting for. I squirmed out of his embrace and raced to the window. Yes! Snow.
“Nico!” I yelled. “Wake up, it snowed. Like really snowed. Not like a dusting, but like inches. Actually, it’s still snowing out there. How amazing is that?”