After they finished the call, she stood still for a moment.How did she feel?Vindicated?Most definitely.Happy?She wasn’t so sure.
But did she want to go back to a place that was so quick to believe the worst in her after she’d worked there for seven years?Not really.But it was a good paying job?Could she afford to just throw it away?
Chapter Twenty-Five
Thelittleswereadorable.
Wednesday evening, the Christmas play went off with only a few hitches, which was to be expected when the stars were all under the age of twelve.But they were able to cope with all of the forgotten lines and wardrobe mishaps.
It had been quite a week so far.On Monday morning, she’d heard from her old boss.As Melissa suspected, she was issued an apology and offered the promotion with a large bump in pay.It was everything she could have asked for—but instead of giving her boss an immediate answer, she’d asked to be able to consider the offer and give her answer after Christmas.Her boss understood and said it would be fine.
She still didn’t know what to do about the job.It wasn’t like she had a lot of options.Right now, she either stayed on at Jingle Bell Books or she returned to her former employer.The logical thing would be to return to the city, but it rubbed her the wrong way how they’d turned on her so quickly.How would she ever feel comfortable working there again?She’d pushed those worries to the back of her mind.She would deal with her employment later.
Instead, she let herself be happy for Justin.She’d finished reading Justin’s revised manuscript that morning.He’d made the changes she’d suggested, and she thought the book was a lot stronger.And she might have taken the liberty of sending it to a friend, who was a literary agent.She didn’t mention it to Justin in case nothing came of it.She didn’t want him to be disappointed, because he had too much talent to give up on his publishing journey.
And now, she stood backstage next to Justin as they watched the littles on stage in their cute costumes.The play was over, and now they were singing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”The children’s voices sounded adorable.
In that moment, she thought about having a baby of her own.Tick-tock.With her thirtieth birthday on the horizon, her biological clock was starting to pester her.She told her hormones to hush up.She had plenty of time before she had to worry about any of that.
When the curtain fell, Felicity clapped madly for the littles, who had done such a great job.She’d never seen anything so cute.Next to her Justin clapped, perhaps not with as much vigor as she did.
The curtain rose again, and the principal stepped onto the stage.He thanked Merry Kringle, who organized the whole event, as well as the other people who had helped behind the scenes, including her.Then the principal thanked the littles, who all took one big bow.
When the curtain once more fell, there was pandemonium as the littles raced backstage.It appeared it was a race to see who could get out of their costume the fastest.Felicity knew of no reason for the rush, but the kids seemed determined to leave her with a pile of balled-up costumes to sort through.Some of the senior high kids gave her a hand, and they made short work of folding and putting the costumes away to be used another year.
“Ms.Wright?”one of the teenagers said.
Felicity looked at her and smiled.“I told you to call me Felicity.”
The girl shrugged.“Okay.But I think Mr.Bishop wants you.”
Felicity glanced past the girl to see Justin standing in the doorway of the dressing room.She held up her finger for him to wait.She finished putting away the last of the costumes and then shrugged on her coat.It had certainly been a wonderful evening.
She grabbed her purse and turned to the teenagers.“Thank you all for your assistance.I really appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome,” they said in unison, making her smile even more.
Instead of the teenagers rushing out of the room to go do whatever young people did these days, they just stood there with smiles on each of their faces.Felicity had a feeling they were up to something, but she had absolutely no idea what it might be.But she wasn’t worried.Whatever it was wouldn’t be that bad because the kids around town were a good lot.
She wished them a merry Christmas and then turned toward Justin.This week he’d been quieter than normal.She supposed he was just tired between his day job and taking care of the final arrangements for the play tonight.But now that it was over, she hoped he’d relax and be his fun self again.
She came to a stop next to him.“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“No problem.I don’t have anywhere to go.What about you?”
“I just have a few presents to wrap.I keep putting it off, and Christmas will be here before I’m ready for it.”
He nodded in understanding.“Are you ready to go?”
“You can’t go yet,” a teenage boy said.
Felicity sent Justin a puzzled look.He shrugged, not seeming to know what the problem was.
And then she noticed the kids gathered around.They pointed to something above their heads.Felicity looked up.There in the doorway someone had hung some mistletoe.It hadn’t been there earlier.She was certain of it.
“Kiss!Kiss!Kiss!”the kids cheered.
Heat rushed to Felicity’s cheeks.Not sure what to say or do, she looked at Justin, who had a smile on his face.Why was he smiling?Surely, he wasn’t going to…
