Sadie knew that the gifts had come from Leona’s store. She'd recognized the wrapping paper.
With a smile tugging at her cheeks, Sadie set the packages on the table and sat down. Running her fingers over the paper, she felt love swell in her heart. Certainly Leona had sent the gifts, though Sadie was sure Leona hadn’t run after knocking, but she might have sent someone.
Usually, Leona made her salves or lip balms. Perhaps she hadn’t had time to make any. But a book and one of her favorite candle scents was a perfect alternative.
As she pulled the paper from the book, she smiled down at the illustrated cover art of the romance novel. Then Sadie pulled the paper from the candle. Peppermint.
Picking up the book and the candle, she stood, and walked to her bed. Tossing the book on the bed, she set the candle on the nightstand, and pushed the small Christmas tree back. Opening the drawer of the nightstand, she took out a lighter, lit the candle, and then tucked the lighter back in the drawer and closed it.
In lieu of dinner, Sadie decided on a cup of tea and a bag of microwave popcorn.
She filled the tea kettle, set it on the stove, and turned on the burner. She pulled a bag of popcorn from the cupboard, opened the door to the microwave, and tossed it inside.
As she set the time on the microwave, she thought about the delightful turns the day had taken. Christmas Eve never held surprises for her anymore, but her day had been just that—one surprise after another.
When the kettle whistled and the microwave chimed, Sadie grinned.
She’d started her day only wanting to find Charlie to give him back the book for his grandmother. Hadn’t everything changed from that moment she ran into him on the street?
The latte at the coffee shop, meeting his grandmother, and the kiss on the street corner.
Sadie felt her cheeks heat.
The kiss on the street corner.
She blew out a hot breath and felt her grin widen.
It was out of character for her.
Sadie moved the kettle to another burner and the whistle stopped. Then she opened the microwave and pulled out the bag, careful not to burn herself. Pulling down a bowl, she filled it with popcorn, and then popped a piece in her mouth.
Charlie lived upstairs. Or he said he lived upstairs.
She took another piece of popcorn.
Of course, he didn’t enter the building when she had. So, was that all a farce?
No, she didn’t want to think that it was.
She looked back at her bed where the romance novel sat.
Those books were filled with people who met and fell in love, just as Charlie’s grandmother had said she’d done. And wasn’t Sadie a sucker for those kinds of books? Didn’t she want to believe every word of them?
Sadie took her tea mug from the drying rack at the sink and filled it with hot water. Then, she pulled out a tea bag from the small canister and dropped it inside.
Though it was dark outside, it was only seven o’clock. Sadie would sit down and read the book, enjoy her dinner, and take in the scent of the candle. Then maybe, just maybe, she’d go upstairs to apartment 3C and see who answered the door.
Charlie looked at his phone as he disconnected the call. His heart rate was at an abnormal level and his skin was clammy
His grandmother had just called him.
On his twentieth birthday she’d called him. That was the last time he’d spoken to his grandmother on the phone.
But she’d called him. She’d called him by name.
He swallowed hard.
Okay, he knew his father was with his grandmother, so he’d probably dialed the phone for her. But had she wanted to call him?
There was no doubt that during that phone call she’d known who he was. She called him by name. She’d mentioned Sadie by name.
Sadie.
Charlie let his head fall back against the cushion of the recliner. What was it about that woman from the bookstore that tied in with his Grandmother?
Oh, no, sweetheart, I gave her something better this year. I gave her you. Leona’s words rang in his head again.
Did Leona know his grandmother? Were they in this together? Was he supposed to end up with Sadie? It had to be coincidence, right?
Charlie stood from the chair and walked to his commuter bag. He needed to go down and talk to her.
As he pulled his keys from his bag, the book that his grandmother had given back to him slid out.
Charlie picked it up and looked down at the cover. He’d examined the cover before. The man with the mop of curly blond hair and the woman holding a book.
Charlie set the keys down on the table.
The pull to read the book that had been given to him to give to his grandmother, which then had his grandmother remembering him, was strong.
He looked at the clock on his microwave.
It was only seven o’clock.
The book wasn’t too thick. He wasn’t a fast reader, but maybe if he sat down and read it, he could get an idea of what had connected with his grandmother.
Were the characters inside just as they were depicted on the cover? Was the man like Charlie, and was the woman lovely, just as his grandmother had said Sadie was?
There was only one way to find out.
Charlie walked to the refrigerator, took out a soda, and walked back to the recliner with the book in his hand.
Setting the soda on the coffee table, Charlie plopped down into the chair that had once sat in his grandparents’ house, and opened the book that seemed to have changed many lives in the past day—all because Leona had put it in the wrong bag.