Jake:Got it.
Is this what it felt like to have a partner? To be able to say yes to things you were invited to because someone else had your back? I craved and feared it at the same time.
Looking up at Kate and Kristine, I smiled. “Looks like I’m in.”
Hours later, I walked home, enjoying the brisk air. The downtown was decked out, ready for Christmas. Each of the acorn streetlights had greenery wrapped around the pole. White lights were strung over the courthouse square. And the dusting of snow earlier clung to the grass and plants on the courthouse lawn. Magic was in the air.
My house was maybe a five-minute walk from the bookstore. As I walked home, my breath a cloud of air in the cold evening sky, I marveled at the transformation in the space next door into the new studio.
It was in the corner location with windows from floor to ceiling from the front door to the corner, then wrapped around the side for about twenty feet. They’d put some type of vinyl over the lower three-quarters of the windows, allowing light in, but giving the yogis some privacy from folks passing by.
Some of the walls were exposed brick. Other walls had mirrors for you to watch your form in. Kristine and Kate had cleared out the space, pulling up the old carpet to find beautiful pine floors below. The lights had been low and the scent of sandalwood had come from a diffuser. It was a perfect space for them.
Maggie had bailed, making a joke about being a beached whale, but I’d been joined by Emma, Grace, Gabby from the library, Elle, and Nic. Kate and Kristine led us through a slow class, but it had been exactly what I needed. They were all headed to the brewery for dinner, but I’d declined. Sure, Jake would have likely said it was fine; however, I was ready to get home.
I thought about the sales numbers Nic and I had looked over for the past week. According to other local businesses, Thanksgiving was the start of the holiday shopping, but things really got flowing this weekend. That boded good things for us, which made me feel good. Between my new income from the apartments and the retail space, as well as the increased traffic from holiday shopping and the push I’d been doing on social media, my anxiety was easing.
Turning on to my street, I glanced at the homes lining it. In warmer weather, people often would be on their porches in the evening, calling to me as I passed. The turn in the weather put a stop to that, but the warmth coming from the lit windows filled me with peace. It was like the houses were alive with the families within.
Soon enough, I reached my block. It was strange to come home to a house that was lit up. It was silly how that made my step quicken, and a lightness filled me up. I reached the porch, then the door, opening it as I called out, “Anyone home?”
“Momma! Surprise!” Addie called, the thunder of her bare feet racing from the back of the house.
“Surprise?” I asked, coming in and kicking off my shoes. Unwinding my scarf, I hung it and my coat on the hooks by the door. “What surprise, baby?”
Jake appeared behind Addie, whose hair looked like it had been in a variety of styles today and never settled on one.
Jake looked sheepish. “Hope I’m not overstepping here, Ivy.”
I looked at him, trying to figure out what he could possibly be talking about. He gave me a nod in the direction of the dining room over his shoulder.
Addie had reached me and grabbed my hand, dragging me in that direction. “See, Momma?”
Our dining room was on the long side of the house with a huge window that faced the street. In front of that window was an absolutely gorgeous Christmas tree that certainly hadn’t been there this morning.
“Oh,” I whispered, gazing at it. “When did you, where did you…”
“Isn’t it beau-ti-ful, Momma?” Addie whispered in a reverent voice. I glanced down to see her wide eyes taking in the tree, then looking to me.
Magic.
I took it all in, a tree in my dining room, Addie to my side, Jake standing behind me, the smell of, if I wasn’t mistaken, some type of roasted meat coming from the kitchen. Was this real? Could this be my life?
Looking to Jake, I whispered, “How?”
His blue eyes softened as they met mine. “Well, I picked up Miss Addie from school today, and she was lamenting the fact that other kids were drawing their houses with Christmas trees in them, and she couldn’t yet because the bookstore was exploding with people.”
I smiled. “That makes it sound interesting. In other words, we’ve been busy.”
Jake shook his head. “Figured that, Ivy. So I asked if she wanted to go get a tree. We headed out to see Max at Highland Woods and pick one out. It was only when Drew found out what we were doing that he pointed out you might have wanted to pick up your own tree.” He looked to the tree, then back to me, giving a small shrug. “Addie said you had your decorations and lights in the basement. I was going at least get the lights on there. My mom hates doing those, but I figured if you didn’t want this, I could put it at my place. So…”
“So you got us a tree?”
“I got you a tree.”
I didn’t want to speak. It was like there was a spell woven over my house, and if I moved, if I uttered another word, everything would disappear. Addie clearly hadn’t gotten the memo.
“A tree, Momma!A tree!Can we decorate it? Can we?” She spun around the dining room table, effortlessly avoiding the tree as she spun. At the end of the table she stopped to shimmy, then continued around the other side and toward the living room.
