“Sorry about that.”
“Hey, what can you do? I hear it’s very common in babies and toddlers.”
“For sure,” Hannah said.
“I know it’s a lot to ask, but can you work basically all day today? I hate to mess up any Friday plans you might have had, but no one else can come in.”
“No worries. I can stay until the Coopersville Coven is done with the events room tonight.”
Zaina’s sigh was loud in Hannah’s ear. “Thank you. You don’t know how much of a relief that is.”
“Happy to help. You just take care of Lily.”
“Thanks again, Hannah.”
Hannah was so busy for most of the day that she didn’t even have time to check for any missed calls from Kate. When theday finally ended, she locked the store and drove home. As soon as she opened the door to her apartment, Smoky rushed out, mewing around her as she walked in. She toed off her shoes and went straight to the cupboard that held Smoky’s food. She opened a can and popped it into Smoky’s Christmas-themed bowl. Once Smoky was eating his dinner, Hannah took off her coat and changed into her pajamas.
Since she wasn’t very hungry, she popped a bag of popcorn and sat on her bed to watch another Christmas movie. She didn’t care that they were usually shot in the summer but made to look like it was winter. She didn’t care that they almost never had the original versions of her favorite Christmas songs in the background. What she did care about was how no matter how lost the lead woman was at the beginning of the film, by the end of the ninety-minute movie, the heroine would have found a home. Hannah bit her lip. That’s all she’d wanted when she’d been sleeping in her car in the back parking lot of St. Stanislaus Hospital. Her first friend and her hero had been Zaina. And now, a mere two years later, she was so close to having her own community. And more than that, did she have a girlfriend now?
Hannah hugged one of her Santa throw pillows. She let herself fantasize about Kate asking her to come to her family’s Thanksgiving. It sounded so much better than the overcooked, dry turkey accompanied by booze-soaked parents that was her only experience of a family Thanksgiving. What would she wear? Maybe a khaki skirt. Her phone was on the charger, and it started to vibrate. Hannah rolled over and saw Kate’s smiling face on her screen. Zings of electricity zipped through her as she answered her phone.
“Hi there!”
“Hey, gorgeous. I saw your text earlier, but things were crazy. What’s up?”
Hannah paused her movie. Maybe by the end of this phone call, she’d have plans for next Thursday.
“I was thinking about how you need to make bank during the Mistletoe Market to buy the building. And I figured you need something that’s like a service. Something that is basically all profit. And I thought about how we do all sorts of classes at New Age Stones and Witch Crafts.”
“You think I should do a class? Like dog training or something?”
“No, that would take too long to start up, and I don’t know—do you have a dog training background?”
“I sure don’t,” Kate acknowledged.
Smoky hopped into Hannah’s lap, and she began petting him.
“I don’t know if you noticed when you were here, but I love Christmas.”
“The fact that you have a Charlie Brown Christmas shower curtain and three Christmas trees in a studio apartment kind of gave it away.”
“In my defense, only one of the three trees is a full-sized tree.”
“I’ll give you that; so what’s the plan?”
“Pictures with the Grinch!” she said, grinning.
“What with the who?” Kate sputtered.
“You heard me. Pictures with the Grinch! All you need is a one-time costume and photo printer purchase. Then, photo paper and color ink. The total cost per picture is under three dollars. You can offer the pictures for twenty dollars for one sheet or two sheets for thirty. People will totally pay that.”
“Oh my God, Hannah, you are a genius! I wish I were there so I could kiss you!”
Hannah felt the very familiar heat of her blush. “It’s not a big deal.”
“It’s huge! I know that will work if I can get people to schedule appointments.”
“Make flyers for around town and put them on all your social media. I’ll even do a post or more than one post on my tarot reader account. Once you have the costume, you have to do a live stream on the store’s account.”
