Kevin hadn’t felt this way in a long time. Lisa had a way of letting him lower his guard. He rubbed his fingers together, still feeling the spark of when their hands met. It had been a while since he’d dated anyone, but he couldn’t remember the last time a woman left him feeling like this. A little frantic, off-balance. The natural, undeniable attraction was only the start of it. There was the good work they were sharing, too. And her passion for her work matched his. A first, for sure.
Trying to pull himself together, his eyes wandered across the street where Michelle, Thomas, Hannah and David were standing outside of the Home Bakery next door to the Kringle Kitchen.
David was probably still trying that mystery key out on doors. Hannah was a good aunt to let that kid drag her around. There was nothing that gave any indication whatsoever that the key even went to anything in this town. It could’ve come from anywhere. For that matter, it could’ve been purely decorative.
He heard them talking from across the street.
“It doesn’t fit. How about Daisy’s store?” David pointed right at him.
“That’s a great idea,” said Hannah.
David took off in a run, dragging Hannah along by the arm. Thomas and Michelle were catching up with them just as David struggled with the key on Daisy’s door.
“Hey guys,” Hannah said.
“Hey!” Lisa peered around the tree.
“We were just trying the key on Daisy’s store, and it’s not working,” Hannah said.
David looked disappointed. Hannah gave him a squeeze. “We’ll keep trying later,” she said. “I know we’re early, Lisa, but it looks like you could use some help now.”
“Yes, I wasn’t expecting you until eight-thirty, but I sure could use the help.” Lisa stepped away from the tree. “You can help Kevin with this,” she said to Thomas and David. Gesturing to Hannah and Michelle to follow her, she said, “I have to go inside and finish up the decorations.”
“Dad, can you help me?” David asked, grabbing the handmade tree topper, a top hat with a magnolia and a pretty feather spray of pine and holly on it. “I want to put the tree topper on.”
As Lisa, Hannah and Michelle headed toward the store, Thomas picked up David. “One. Two. Three. Oh wow, you are getting way too big for this.”
“Seriously too big,” David agreed, laughing as his dad set him down.
Kevin looked on at Thomas and David’s relationship. He’d once been that close with his dad, too. Things had gotten so off track between the two of them. He’d been about David’s age when Mom died. He hadn’t known how to deal with his own feelings, and seeing Dad so hurt still felt like an open wound when he let himself think about it.
Dad had become a very different man after that. Closed off, and angry. Now he understood more what his father had gone through, but the damage between them had already been done.
Thomas looked over at him. “Kevin, I’ve been thinking through a few things and wanted to run something by you.”
“Sure. What’s up?”
“It’s about work.” It probably had to do with the job offer. Hopefully he hadn’t waited too long to give him an answer that he’d filled the position with another candidate. He had his attention now. It was time to make a decision. “Okay.”
“Okay. First things first. Let’s finish this tree.” Thomas handed a gold ball to Kevin that David had just put a hook on. The three of them made an assembly line, cutting down dramatically on the time it would’ve taken to finish decorating the tree.
When they were done, Kevin stepped back.
“It looks great,” said David. He high-fived his dad.
Kevin had to admit Dad had been right. This was a nice tree, and no one would ever notice the bad spot. Sorry, Dad. Sorry for reacting so negatively. He needed to tell him how nice the tree looked when he saw him later.
With Kevin, Thomas, and David handling the outside, Lisa got down to business inside the store. Michelle, Lisa, and Hannah draped the store with garlands and hung Megan’s ornaments carefully between the evergreens. The space was coming together so nicely.
She handed Hannah the box labeled “Nutcrackers.” “I don’t know exactly how many are in there, but you can use them to fill the shelves behind the counter over there. Spread them out. Maybe mix them in with some of the little things already around.”
“Got it.”
Lisa handed the next box off to Michelle. “This box has stockings and an adorable garland made of miniature stockings. There’s all kinds of cute stuff like that in here. Go wild. Use it to brighten up the place.”
“This will be fun.” Michelle grabbed the box and headed for the counter, rummaging through it as she did. “Oh, you’re right. This stocking garland is great. I love how colorful it is. I hope there’s enough of it to drape across the whole back shelving unit. Wouldn’t that be cute?”
“It would.” Lisa took the wreaths and hung them around the store, then got the stepladder and started hanging ornaments from wide red ribbon at different lengths in the front display windows. Daisy had always used shimmery metallic ribbon, but this would be festive and eye-catching, and hopefully tickle a few memories in the townsfolk that used to frequent the store.
She hung fifteen in each window, for no specific reason except that it was her favorite number, then stepped down from the ladder to see how it looked. She turned to the girls. “What do you think?”
Hannah and Michelle both nodded their approval as they continued to unpack and arrange items. “I like it,” Hannah said.
“It reminds me of what Daisy used to put up in the windows.”
“Yes!” Lisa was so excited. “That’s exactly what I was going for. That’s how I remembered it too. Not exactly, but similar.”
Lisa walked outside. The windows still looked a little bare. Probably because there wasn’t that much going on inside. The display needed a little something more.
She walked back inside, got paper and scissors, and started cutting out snowflakes. Some even looked a little like daisies. With a dozen different ones in front of her—all different sizes—she finally pulled five aside. She took a thin piece of cardboard from the bottom of one of the empty boxes and traced the snowflake patterns on the cardboard, then cut them out. Some large and some small. With the flocking in hand, she carefully spritzed the templates against the glass, leaving the cutest white snowy snowflake pattern behind. Fifteen minutes later she had a Christmas tree made of snow-flocked, daisy-shaped snowflakes in each of the front windows.
Michelle came around the corner. “Lisa, you are amazing. It’s hard to believe this is the same place we were standing in just a few days ago.”
“I can’t imagine what the real stores look like after you work your magic,” Hannah said.
“Thanks.” She picked up a crate of decorations and carried them to the counter. “If I had time, I would have staged the whole store,” Lisa said. “Put real product on the shelves, made it seem like an actual functioning store.”
“Everything out front is done.” Kevin walked in with Thomas and David right behind him.
“Fabulous.” Lisa spun around to David. “How’s it look?”
“Like Santa’s elves came and did the job themselves.”
“That’s really good,” Lisa said. She’d just finished lining up old pop bottles and collectibles inside the apothecary they’d painted with a fresh coat of white paint. “Kevin, could you hang some lights around this to make it more of a focal point?”
“I can do that.”
The shelves were beginning to look better. Some of the things were random, like someone’s old wedding bouquet and even some bottles that looked far from collectible, but at least they looked uniform and gave the shelf a sense of fullness.
“Oh!” Lisa spun around toward Hannah. “Do you have that pine spray stuff I gave you?”
“Yes. Right here.” Hannah started spritzing it into the air.
The bells on the front door jingled against the glass. Ezra walked in with a woman wearing a white cashmere coat and carrying a designer bag. She looked so polished. Lisa almost hated for her to walk through the store, lest she get dirty.
“Hi,” the woman said. “Don’t mind us. We’re just stopping in.”
“Hello, everyone.” Ezra looked like a scared rabbit. “This is—”
“Nancy Redinger.” The woman looked at the place with not so much disdain as concern. “It’s so good to meet you.”
Ezra motioned behind Nancy, mouthing, “Buyer.”
“Oh! Hi! Nice to meet you.” Lisa stepped over and shook the woman’s hand. “You’re…just a bit early.”
Michelle and Hannah quickly swept a box of decorations under the counter and smiled.
“Yes, and I’m sorry about that, but I wanted to make this decision before first quarter,” Nancy explained. “New year, new decisions. You know how it is.”
“Right, well—” Lisa started.
A myriad of yesses came from the group with nervous laughter. None of them had ever been in that position, but everyone was rolling with the flow.
Nancy knocked on the counter. “Solid. I like it. Sturdy frame.”
Ezra knocked on the counter behind her.
“Center of town location.” She glanced around the space. “Mmm. Fresh pine smell,” she said with a smile.
Hannah hid the spray bottle behind her back. Lisa gave Ezra a wink. That pine scent had been just in the nick of time.
“We should get out of your way,” Lisa said. “Let you take a look and—”
“I’ll just be a few minutes. I usually get a sense of these things right away,” Nancy said.
Lisa wasn’t sure if that was good or bad, but she grabbed her coat, and the others grabbed theirs and raced for the door, too. Just as Lisa was opening it, Nancy climbed the stairs to the back of the store. Ezra turned and gave them a thumbs up.
Lisa, Kevin, Hannah, Michelle, and David all dashed across the street to the Kringle Kitchen.
“All of you together at once?” Carol asked. “What a nice surprise.” She motioned them to the large table near the front window.
“The buyer came early.” Lisa put her coat on the back of a chair and sat down facing Daisy’s Country Store. Kevin sat down next to her.
“Oh dear. I bet that shook Ezra up. He hates surprises,” Carol said. “I’ll get hot chocolate and cookies. Stand by.”
Michelle and Thomas sat on the other side of Lisa. Carol and Joe came back to the table with six cups of hot chocolate and a plate of cookies.
“So she seemed impressed?” Carol asked.
“I wish I’d had more time. She seemed to like it.” Lisa leaned forward. “Look. I see them. It looks like she’s still deciding. Can anyone read lips?”
Everyone shook their heads.
Nancy and Ezra walked out of the store still talking. They looked up, as if talking about the outside of the building, then Ezra pulled out a clipboard to explain something. Thank goodness Kevin had fixed the sign. It looked a lot better. Lisa nudged Kevin. “She has to see the potential, right?”
“The place is all potential,” he said.
Lisa’s jaw dropped as if insulted.
“I’m kidding.” He nudged her back. “We did great.”
Lisa reached over and grabbed Kevin’s hand—and then realized what she’d done.
He looked down, then gave her hand a squeeze.
Her insides whirled at his touch. Did he feel that too? Chalking it up to a job well done and nothing more, she let go and put her hands under her chin.
“This is so exciting.” Carol placed the carafe of hot chocolate on the table. “Nobody can replace Daisy, but—”
“But it’d be nice to bump into each other in the store again,” Michelle finished the thought.
“Yes,” Carol said dreamily. Joe hugged her shoulder.
“Anything would be better than it becoming a parking lot or something too big and bulky that changes the town forever,” Joe said. “It’s like that letter said: “What Christmas used to be.”
Kevin’s brows pulled together. He looked over his shoulder to Joe who was standing behind him. “What letter?”
Oh, dear. Lisa looked over at Kevin.
Michelle spoke up. “Lisa was moving the mailbox, and she found—”
“Yeah, and I was going to mention this to you before.” Oh, how she wished she already had. Lisa took the letter from her pocket, and then handed it to Kevin. “I kept wanting to mention this to you, but I found your letter.”
“My letter?” He took it from her and unfolded it.
“I assumed that it was from when you were a kid.” She watched him begin to read it. His hands shook slightly.
“Oh,” Carol said with excitement. “Here comes Ezra.”
Lisa stood, rubbing her hands together and hoping for good news.
Ezra came in and stopped in the center of the Kringle Kitchen. His jaw tight, he dropped his hands to his sides. “Unfortunately, she’s not going to put in an offer.”
Lisa’s heart sank.
“Did she say why?” Michelle asked.
Ezra shook his head. “She said she loved the store. It just wasn’t right for her.”
She’d let him down. If I’d only had more time. It was such a wonderful place; how had Nancy Redinger not felt it? Joe and Carol swapped a worried glance.
Sounding as chipper as she could, Lisa said, “But. You still have another buyer, right?”
Kevin stood, still clutching the letter as he read and reread it.
“I’m afraid the other one dropped out. It’s just too close to Christmas.” Ezra looked crestfallen.
Lisa ached for Ezra, but then Kevin got up to leave. He looked stunned as he reread the letter again over near the Christmas tree.
Her troubled heart twinged. She should’ve told Kevin about the letter as soon as they’d found it. Now it seemed like she’d been holding out on him. She felt like she’d just exposed his most personal secrets.
She walked over next to Kevin wishing for the right words. She sure had made a mess of things. With Daisy’s and now Kevin. “I was waiting for the right time to ask you about it.”
“No, I understand,” Kevin said. “This is…thank you for this.”
“You’re welcome.” But those words didn’t seem nearly enough.
He handed the letter back to her, then pulled on his coat. “I…umm…excuse me.”
Kevin left, and Lisa stood there clinging to the letter as he drove off.
A dark heaviness came over her. The disappointment in Ezra and Kevin’s faces today was almost too much to bear. And she was responsible for both.
She should’ve never come back.