“Woo-hoo!” Caleb hooted as he gave her a high-five. “Our secret weapon has finally arrived.”
It wasn’t long until their team caught up. Just seconds before Nana sounded the blow-horn—according to the kitchen timer in her lap—Jackson caught a sloppy bilateral pass from Wendy and scored the winning touchdown. Caleb grabbed up Jackson and Wendy, giving them a bear hug before they were mobbed by the rest of their teammates in a victory celebration. Everyone except Crystal. She was standing on the sidelines, inspecting a broken fingernail with a furrowed brow. Wendy attempted a smile as she and Jackson passed by, but Crystal just glowered.
After football, it was time for dessert, followed by some rowdy charades. But when it started getting dusky out, and Wendy couldn’t help but notice the chill coming from Crystal’s direction, she felt it was time to go. No need to overstay their welcome. She thanked everyone and said a personal goodbye to Nana. Then Caleb walked her and Jackson out to the car. Before she got in, he handed her a couple of magazines.
“Just some old catalogues,” he explained. “In case you decide to make some beachy accessories from your shell collection. These are from last year, but the ideas are still good. And you can see, these items, when done right, can go for some pretty high prices. Not a bad way to make a living if you’re so inclined.”
“Thanks, I can’t wait to go through them.”
He slapped his forehead. “And I just remembered—I totally forgot your payment for the shells. I made you a check and left it in my woodshop.” He smiled. “Maybe you could drop by and pick it up.”
“Sure.” She nodded. “That’s fine. Will your store be open?”
“Yes. As part of the SDA, I don’t have a choice these next few days.”
“SDA?”
“Seaside Downtown Association.”
“They force you to be open?”
“Well, we all agreed to be open. You see, this weekend is Small Business Saturday.Everyone is supposed to be open. The hope is that there’ll be lots of Christmas shoppers. And then there’s the tree lighting in the town square—and all the businesses’ Christmas lights will come on too. That happens on Saturday evening at five.” He tipped his head toward Jackson. “Remind your mom to bring you. It’s pretty fun. We all sing carols and drink cocoa and eat cookies.”
“Sounds cool,” Jackson told him.
“Hey, how are you at hanging Christmas lights?” Caleb asked Jackson.
Jackson shrugged. “I don’t really know.”
“You mind being on a ladder?”
Jackson grinned. “Not at all.”
“Because I could use a hand. I still haven’t put my lights up. You interested in a paying job?”
Jackson’s eyes lit up. “Yeah, sure. That’d be great. When?”
“Well, as the town’s worst procrastinator, I don’t usually put my lights up until just moments before the town lighting. Drives my sister nuts.” He rubbed his chin. “How about three o’clock on Saturday. It shouldn’t take us much more than an hour to get ’er done.”
“Is that okay?” Jackson asked Wendy.
“That’s fine,” she told him. With that settled, they told Caleb goodbye and headed for home. As Wendy drove, she felt tired, but it was a happy sort of exhaustion. Better than she’d felt in a long time. Despite the fact that their cottage was in total disrepair and they still didn’t have a real bathroom, she felt glad to be going home. “Today was a good day,” she told Jackson as she drove down the beach road.
“It totally was,” Jackson declared. “And Thanksgiving was way better than I thought it would be. I actually like your friends, Mom. And Caleb is pretty cool.”
“They’re not exactlymyfriends,” she confessed. “I mean, other than Caleb, and I barely know him. But, really, you know all of them just as well as I do.”
“Well, they were pretty cool. Even Gerard was okay. He got a little intense, but he was nice about congratulating us when we finally won.”
“I think he was surprised.”
“But I’m not sure about that Crystal chick.”
“Oh?”
“No offense, but she didn’t seem to like you, Mom.”
Wendy told him about the incident at the shell shop. “We didn’t exactly get off on the right foot.”
