He laughed and laughed. “Oh, you’re funny. Come through here; can I make you coffee before the rush? I left Merry and Bright at home again today because I’m expecting this morning to be super busy—well, I hope it will be—and it wouldn’t be fair to the boys. And then this evening is the light festival, which I’m super excited for, so I won’t be home until later. But I’ll be home all day with them tomorrow to make up for it, to give them lots of cuddles and playtime.”
I followed him through to the storeroom. There wereboxes of books, newly arrived, which would need to be inventoried and cataloged.Which I should start on immediately...
“Evie will be here soon. She’s working this morning, helping out as well,” he said. “She’s been a godsend this week, actually. And I got her a little Christmas gift.” He nodded to a gift bag on the desk. “Oh,” he said, his perfect smile aimed at me. “Your poem this morning was lovely,” he said.
“It wasn’t the one I wanted to send,” I admitted. “But it was Christmas Eve, so...”
“Which one did you want to send me today?”
I shook my head. There was no way I was saying it out loud. “One I’ve now saved for another day.”
He laughed. “That’s fair. I know I keep going on about them, but I don’t expect you to do daily poems forever, I mean, that would be a lot. And it’s unreasonable. If you want to pare it down to once every other day or once a week, I’ll understand.”
I shrugged. “Would you mind if I wanted to send you one every day forever?”
He grinned, eyes sparkling. “Oh, I wouldn’t mind at all,” he murmured. “I’m really glad you’re here today.”
That weird, burning lump in my chest was back. “I am glad I’m here also.”
Just then, someone came through the door, bell chiming above them. Winter gave my arm a quick brush as he went to greet them. “Good morning, Evie,” he said.
“Morning!” she replied. She came into the storeroom to hang her coat up. “Oh, Deacon. Good morning and merry Christmas Eve!”
She was so bubbly and loud. Normally I would avoid such types, but it suited her, and I almost envied hercarefree energy. “Morning, and merry Christmas Eve to you also.”
She grinned as the doorbell chimed again, then she was gone to greet them. “Merry Christmas Eve,” she said brightly.
Winter came in, smiling, collected a pile of books with a customer’s name on a Post-it note, and disappeared into the store. He was busy, non-stop, and always smiling.
I listened to Winter talk to the customer about the books they’d requested. I loved how passionate he was, how perfect he was. I listened as Evie hummed what I thought was the Smurf song as she worked.
I stood there for a second, so unbelievably happy, unrecognizably happy, taking it all in for just a moment. Then I got to work.
“So doyou want your gift tonight or tomorrow?” Winter asked. We were closing up the store. It was dark outside now. Main Street was closed off in preparation for the light festival, people busy setting up stalls and making the whole town look more Christmassy than it did before.
It would be an understatement to say I was excited for the light festival. It would be my first time attending with a boyfriend. It would be my first time going to a public event as part of a couple.
I was nervous, but mostly excited.
His question surprised me, because I hadn’t even thought of that. “Will I see you tomorrow?”
He pulled the blind down on the front door. “Well, yes. If that’s okay? I can come over, or you can come to my place if you want. It’ll just be me and Ro, and Merry and Bright, of course. Do your folks do anything special?”
“Dad and I will go to the clinic in the morning. We have two admitted patients who will need tending, twice tomorrow at least.”
“Oh no! Are they okay?”
“They will be,” I replied.
“I guess I never thought there’d be animals hospitalized over the holidays. Of course there would be.” He frowned. “Those poor little things.”
“They don’t know it’s Christmas. Though my mom made them little stockings to hang on the front of their cages.”
He smiled then, his eyes glinting. “Cute.” He handed me my coat and pulled his own on, then his beanie and gloves. “So, gifts tomorrow then.”
I nodded. “It’ll be Christmas Day, after all.”
“Ro and I always have a quiet day on Christmas. We do a big lunch, then we usually watch sappy Christmas movies all afternoon. It’s quiet and lovely.”
