“What kind of help?” I asked.
“My job is to help people find each other or to rediscover the Christmas magic in their hearts. Much like you, Samantha.”
“Oh what? Like Santa Claus?” I laughed.
“Oh no, not like Santa.” He grinned.
“So, what do you know of Christmas magic?” I asked sarcastically, thinking about my own attitude toward the holiday.
“Christmas magic never leaves us, even when we think it’s faded away. You remember the way that you felt when your parents decorated your front yard with flamingos in the snow? That joy … it still exists within you. You just have to be willing to let it out.”
“How did you know about that?” My shoulders stiffened. He’s a stranger. There’s no way that he could know things like that about me.
“I know all kinds of things, Samantha. I know that you’ve bottled up your feelings and taken your sadness out on Christmas. But that’s not what your parents would have wanted. I think you know that.”
I was getting upset and almost frightened by his words. “What do you know about my parents?” How could he know any of this?
“Christmas is a feeling, not a thing. It can’t be hurt the way your heart is. Taking your hurt out on Christmas won’t make you feel better. But the spirit of Christmas can help you heal if you let it.”
“It’s just a holiday,” I replied.
“Now, you and I both know that’s not true.” He tilted his head knowingly and raised an eyebrow, as if he were waiting for me to agree.
“Okay, so what if it is true? That still doesn’t explain how you know so much about me.” He was right. I knew it wasn’t just a holiday, and it didn’t make me feel any better or worse to hate on Christmas. It was just a different bad feeling replacing my grief temporarily.
“You’re not hard to read, Samantha. I know you’ve suffered loss. It’s never easy to get beyond that. But what if you took that loss and honored the past by starting a new future?”
“Starting a new future?” I asked.
“I understand there’s a handsome pilot in this town?” he said, making me blush.
“I don’t even live here, Gabe. That’s absurd. It’s nothing,” I lied. It wasn’t nothing. But I didn’t live here, so how could it go anywhere anyway?
“Geography is nothing. Opportunity is everything. Don’t throw away opportunities over a desire to stay stuck in the past. It doesn’t serve you.”
“How did you know about the flamingos?” I asked, changing the subject again.
“Your sister has told that story about the flamingos. Everyone has heard it. And I’m a very good listener.” I didn’t believe him, but I let it go. My thoughts shifted back to Jason and why Gabe would even mention him.
“The pilot is just a friend. I barely know him.”
“That’s how the best relationships in the world begin.” He grinned again, and maybe it was the lights in the coffee shop, but I could’ve sworn they twinkled. “I need to be going, Samantha. I have some appointments.”
“More Christmas magic to spread around Friendship?” I teased.
“Maybe.” He winked at me.
“It was nice to talk to you today, Gabe. Please take care of yourself. It’s cold out there.”
“You’re a kind woman, Samantha. Thank you for the coffee. And tonight, remember what I said.”
With that, he bundled his coat up, grabbed his bag, and left. I watched for him out the window of the coffee shop, but I must have blinked or zoned out, because, in an instant, he was gone.
Chapter Sixteen
Jason
It was go time. Everything was in place. An all-day activity but worth every second, two hundred plastic flamingos in the middle of Massachusetts, dressed in Santa hats and lit up with floodlights, were set up in my field. Robin had brought me the hats that had filled her trunk, and Emily went through the field placing a Santa hat on every flamingo in the flock. It was incredible. The sun had just gone down, and after a check of the lights, I was ready.
