DID YOU KNOW?
Wild ponies still run free along the coast of North Carolina.
The next morning, Angela was still fuzzy from all of the cold medicine, but she did feel better.
She got dressed and walked over to check on the store. Emma had graciously offered to manage everything while Angela was under the weather, but staying away was harder than it sounded. She walked over, and found the place to be a hive of activity.
So busy, in fact, that neither Emma, Stephanie nor Jeremy even noticed her at first.
Between now and Christmas Eve there’d be a lot of shopping. There always was. Most men wouldn’t start shopping until tonight after work.
Emma helped a woman to the cash register. “Merry Christmas,” she said to the customer, and then hustled over to where Angela was standing next to the last few tree skirts they had in stock.
“I told you to stay home and get well.”
“I know. I couldn’t help it.”
Emma took Angela by the shoulders and spun her toward the door. “You look awful. Go walk down to the pier and get some of Garvy’s soup. That’ll make you feel better.”
“That does sound good. The walk on the beach might clear up my head too.”
“Exactly,” Emma said. “Go on. We’ve got this.”
She knew they could handle it. “You’re right. I’ve got my phone if you need me, though.”
“Quit worrying. I’ll talk to you later,” Emma said as she shooed her out the door.
Angela walked down the side path and over the dune, kicking off her shoes, she carried them as she walked from the edge of the surf to the pier.
She climbed the splintered wooden stairs to the pier, and took a seat in Big G’s Fish House at a table near the window.
“Angela? Good to see you. Heard about the store. I’m so sorry.” Garvy wrapped her into a bear hug.
He was such a good man. Shame on her for letting her breakup with Jimmy form a wedge between the two of them. Garvy had always been such a good friend.
He finally let go of her. “So after Christmas … what are you going to do?”
She was going to have to be able to answer that question at some point. “I don’t know. Right now I’m just focused on the sale and getting the inventory out of there.”
“Well, don’t worry. Something will work out.”
“I know.”
“You get in a pinch you can always work for me,” he said.
Lord, she hoped it didn’t come to that. She couldn’t imagine working around Garvy’s cooking every day. She’d never be able to resist it.
“What can I fix you? Your lunch is on the house.”
“You don’t have to do that. I’m not flat broke.”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s the only thing I know to do. Let me do it.”
“Then, thank you. I came to get a bowl of your homemade soup.”
“You got it, girl.” Garvy disappeared back into the kitchen.
She sat at the table, feeling thankful for the people in her life. A few minutes later one of the waitresses brought her soup to the table.
She dipped the big round spoon into the broth. It tasted as good as she’d remembered.
Garvy came back out to the front of the restaurant. “Good?”
“It’s so good. Thanks, Garvy.”
“You need anything, please know I’m here for you. One more hug then I’ve got to get to work on tonight’s menu.”
She stood and gave him a hug. “Thanks, Garvy. I’m going to be around a lot more. I promise.”
“That makes me very happy. I’ve missed you.” He went back into the kitchen, and just as she lifted her soup spoon to her lips, Geoff walked up to her table.
“Hey,” she said. “What are you doing here?”
“Are you feeling better?”
She dabbed her napkin to her mouth. “I am feeling better, thank you, and thank you again for coming by yesterday. That was so thoughtful … and unexpected.”
“Because you expect nothing but bad things from me?”
“I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair.”
“It’s okay. I deserved it. I saw you talking to Garvy when I first came in. He’s not your ‘guy,’ is he?”
“No. We’re friends. We go way back. He was almost the best man at my almost wedding. Well, the wedding that didn’t happen.”
“Oh. Gotcha. I was surprised to see you sitting here. I didn’t notice your car in the parking lot.”
“That’s because I walked down.”
“That’s a good hike.”
“Not that far. I usually jog a lot further than this, and back. When I’m not sick.”
“You’re a runner?”
“Sort of. I like to run on the beach. Not just run to run.”
“Me too. We should jog together sometime.”
“Uhh.” She put her spoon down, resisting the urge to give him a smarty-pants response. Instead, she said, “Yes. I guess we could do that. I like to run first thing in the morning.”
“Count me in. Any time.” He nodded to the chair. “Can I sit?”
“Sure. Join me.”
“Thanks. My mom lives between here and your house on the beach.”
“She does?”
The waitress brought a glass of water for Geoff. “Will you be having something?”
“I’ll have what she’s having. Thank you,” he said, and then turned back to Angela. “Yes. Mom lives in the blue three-story with the white shutters.”
“Wait. Does your mother live in the Dune Our Thing house?”
“Yes. That’s the one. How’d you guess?”
“I know that house. The folks that used to live there were great. They had these dogs. Labs. Those dogs loved running the beach. They were getting so old. I remember when they put the elevator in so the dogs didn’t have to go up and down the stairs.”
“An elevator?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t think my mom even knows there’s an elevator.”
“It looks like a closet door with another door inside it. If I remember correctly, on the third floor it’s off the kitchen hall. Downstairs it’s in the closet to the right of the entryway.”
“Doesn’t that beat all? My mom just got home from the hospital. An elevator would make me feel better about her getting around that big house.”
“Nothing serious, I hope.”
The waitress brought his soup. He paused. “I’m not sure. It’s a heart thing. She’s not telling me much. She had an episode here in the restaurant at Thanksgiving.”
“I heard about that. They took her in an ambulance.”
“Yeah. That was my mom.” He tasted the soup. “This is great soup.”
“I know. That’s why I came. So, I’m so sorry to hear about your mom. Let me know if you need me to come by. I’ll show her how the elevator works.”
“Thank you.” He looked so appreciative.
She spotted the hefty old man Wally, who’d lived here as long as she could remember, walk in the side door. He had long white hair and a beard, with a Willie Nelson–type bandanna around his head. Although he was a longtime staple here in Pleasant Sands, from the look on Geoff’s face as Wally walked toward the table, Geoff hadn’t encountered him before.
“Hey, Wally,” Angela said.
The old man put a hand in the air, then tick-tocked his finger back and forth.
“Oh, I mean Santa,” Angela said.
He leaned in and handed her a sticker that read, I MET SANTA. She’d probably collected a hundred of these over the years.
“Thanks, Santa.” Angela wondered just how weird it would be if her Santa turned out to be the mute Santa who’d hung around the pier for going on twenty years now. Rumor had it that it was PTSD. That Wally had been some kind of war hero at one time. Now he lived in a cottage at the far end of the beach.
As Wally moved on to another table, Geoff asked, “Or is he your guy?”
“No. He’s not. I’ll be honest. I’ve never been much of a Santa fan.”
Geoff sat back in his chair. “So let me get this straight. You own a Christmas store and you’re not a Santa fan?”
“True. The store is important to me because of my grandmother. The history of the building. The story. If it hadn’t been for Momma Grace—she was my grandmother—and for that store I don’t know where we’d have ended up.”
“We?”
“Me and my sister.” Why was she telling him all of this? “My mom died when we were little. I guess my dad kind of flipped out. One day he dropped us off with my grandparents here in Pleasant Sands. He never came back.”
“I’m sorry. I never knew my father.”
“I’m not sure which is worse, but you must know how I feel. I wrote Santa letters asking him to please bring Daddy back. Of course that never happened. I guess I never forgave Santa.”
“Easier than not forgiving your dad.”
She’d never really thought of it that way before. “Yeah. I guess so.”
They finished their soup, then Geoff asked, “Can I walk you back?”
She placed her napkin on the table. “Sure. Why not?”
They walked down the beach, talking mostly about the weather. Angela gave him a little history lesson about Pleasant Sands, and shared stories about some of the people who lived in houses down this stretch of the beach, until they got to her cottage.
You could just see the lighthouse tower peeking above it.
“This is me,” she said.
“I enjoyed today.”
“I did too.”
He shifted weight to his other leg. “Do you think maybe I could come back over tonight and help decorate your Christmas tree?”
Her mouth dropped open.
“I could bring dinner with me. A bottle of wine, maybe?”
“How about eggnog?” she suggested. Definitely safer than drinking wine with him. “Yes. That would be nice.”
He grinned wide. “Good. Thank you. I’ll see you tonight.”