Rashid shook his head. “I’m taller than them, but notthattall. More like…” His brow furrowed as he did the math. “More like nineteen of me. Should we go up a level so we can see the whole thing at once?”
One of the girls nodded, while the other clutched her sister’s hand.
On the escalator up, Ruby leaned into Rashid.
“Which is which?”
He leaned in to answer her. So close she could smell his cologne. It was a different scent than last time, and the clean scent gave her goose bumps. “Noor has her hair down today,” Rashid said.
“Does your sister style their hair differently so people can tell them apart?” She knew they weren’t identical twins, but other than their hair texture, they looked pretty much the same to Ruby.
Rashid’s brow furrowed at that. “I did their hair today, and I let them choose their hairstyles.”
Oh. She didn’t know why she assumed their mother would be the one to get them ready. Was that assumption sexist? Buthe was only their uncle. Maybe she would have assumed differently if he was their father?
When they got to the third floor, they walked to a railing overlooking the central court. Even though they were on the third floor, they were only about halfway up the tree. It washuge.
“Where do they put this thing the other ten months of the year?” Rashid asked.
“I assume in a storage space? It probably disassembles.”
He frowned. “That seems like a giant waste of space. And money.”
“Nonsense. It’s beautiful,” Ruby said. “I love all the crystals dancing. They’re real Swarovski, you know.”
He said nothing. But he didn’t have to. The disapproval was all over Dr. Rash’s face. She hoped the twins hadn’t heard his bah-humbug comment.
Suddenly, loud music started playing in the mall. Louder than the normal background music. It literally made Ruby jump.
“What the…” Rashid said. “That’s way too noisy.” He turned to find where the classical music was coming from.
“Rashid Uncle, look!” the ponytailed twin said, pointing at the tree.
Synced to the music, a light show started on the tree. First the ornaments started changing colors, then the whole tree turned blue and glittering snowflakes started falling down it. Soon, twirly red ribbons cascaded from the top. Ruby had no idea if this was a projection on the tree, or the lights on the tree were changing to make all the images appear, or if it was literalmagic… but it wasspectacular, the crescendoing symphony and the enormous, multistory tree in the middle of a mall showing this mesmerizing light show. Ruby had no idea this was going to happen, but she was so glad she was here to see it.
Rashid was probably hating it, though. But when she looked at his face, that’s not the expression she saw. He was entranced. His features had softened, his eyes focused, and his lips were slightly parted. He looked… gorgeous. The sight of his face in complete wonder was even more mesmerizing than the light show. He must have noticed Ruby staring, because he smiled awkwardly, rubbing his neck. He didn’t look like he’d shaved this morning, as there was a hint of stubble there, but his skin still looked soft and clear. “Okay, that’s pretty cool,” he said quietly.
Ruby grinned widely. Even if the rest of the day was a bust, she’d succeeded in showing Dr. Rash a bit of holiday magic.
After the light show, the four of them went to the bookstore on the third floor. Rashid let the girls pick a book from one of the tables in the children’s section. Ruby couldn’t help but notice his irritation when they both picked out Christmas picture books—one of them about Santa’s workshop, and the other about a little girl helping her mother decorate for Christmas. He also told the girls they could get outfits for their American Girl dolls.
While the girls were looking at the doll clothes, Ruby leaned into Rashid. “Why do they have American Girls? They’re British Canadian.”
He shrugged. “I bought them each the Indian doll when it came out. All their other dolls were white.” He frowned. “Iswear, their father’s parents gave them blond dolls on purpose. Their grandmother actually said that it was too bad their skin tone is more like their mother’s than their father’s.”
Ruby frowned. “Ugh.” She hated that their father’s family didn’t love everything about these two girls—including their light brown skin and dark hair. “I hope they never said that to the girls’ faces.”
He shrugged. But now Ruby kind of understood why he was resentful that the girls still wanted to celebrate Christmas.
After they picked identical green velvet dresses for their dolls, Rashid paid for it all, and they walked over to the Hudson’s Bay to see their windows.
This store had done over-the-top Christmas windows for as long as Ruby could remember. Her mother used to bring her to see them every year, and Ruby had always found them magical. There were six windows in all, and the diorama in each one told a story. This year, it was a re-creation of Santa’s workshop, which made Noor, the twin who’d picked the Santa’s workshop book, squeal with joy. “It’s like my book!” she said. “Look, Tara, they’re making elephants!”
Ruby could tell that these windows were a bigger hit than the tree for the girls. They excitedly pointed out all the small details to each other, like the little mouse family eating a meal together in a hole in the wall, and the robot assembling more robots. Rashid didn’t seem as enthralled as he had for the tree light show, though.
Ruby crouched to talk to the girls. “Hey, doesn’t that doll look like your American doll?”
“AmericanGirldoll,” Tara corrected. “Not American doll.”
