“On Fridays, I shut the doors later than usual. With it being payday for most people, I tend to be busy all day, and last night was no exception. I worked steadily until after nine, and I was locking up when you two came running up, knocking on my door.” He raised his eyes to acknowledge Nick. “You, Sir, had a candy cane stuck in your hair, and it was such a mess, you couldn’t get it out. I was teasing you, calling you Mr. Cane. I let you in and we shaved everything off, but you managed to save part of candy cane.” The barber started chuckling through his words as he went on, “You held it out, not really paying attention to what you were doing, and that dog,” he motioned to our new buddy. “ran right over, took a giant lick of it, and stayed glued to your side.”
“You know this dog?” Nick waved toward our little friend. “Where did he come from?”
The barber gave a couple of even nods. “He’s mostly from the streets. He’s been coming around for the last couple of weeks, and sometimes when it’s cold out, I let him in to warm up. My clients enjoy seeing him here. That’s what happened last night. My client had let him in, and I had yet to turn him out. So, when he tried to go home with you, and you didn’t stop him, I just waved him on. He instantly attached to you.”
I looked back at Nick, feeling a tinge of relief. “At least we know we didn’t rob a pet store or something stupid.”
“Right,” Nick agreed, but his voice still held a worried inflection. “So, what else happened? Did we say where we got the candy cane?”
The barber pushed his bottom lip out, thinking. “Yeah, you said you grabbed it from the hardware store. You were worried about the candy cane hairdo, since you were on your way to get married—”
I stepped forward, cutting him off, “So we weren’t married yet. Was I wearing a dress?”
“No.” His head shifted slowly from one side to the other in a nod. “You were dressed like you are now.”
“Okay.” My mind raced. “So, now we know we went to the general store and got that Rudolph, then came here, got your head shaved, got a dog, and then what? Did we say where we were going?”
“You were going to get married but wanted a suit for the dog. I recommended the only clothing store that would be open that late. It’s a vintage-inspired boutique called Aubergine's. I wished you congratulations, and you all three ran out together.”
My eyes fled to Nick’s as my heart dropped what felt like a foot. As much as I’ve been dying to get married since I was a little girl,it was never supposed to happen like this!My eyes filled with tears of dread because I didn’t want confirmation that I wasted my wedding on aHolidaze. I managed a hard swallow as I dug for strength. “I guess we need to go to Aubergine's next, right?”
Nick’s eyes stayed cemented on mine as he eased off the barber chair, heading toward the door. “I think so.” A bolt of lightning zapped through me, and suddenly the only thought I had in my head was “am I looking at my husband?”
ten
Nick
“Weknockedoutthewhole haircut, and dog mystery in one stop,” I burbled as we rushed toward the clothing store, the dog still in tow even though we never invited him. “It would be nice if I could wrap this up, solve the marriage thing, and find Santa at the next stop.” I kept my gaze forward as I was now suffering from a severe case of Charlotte-centered opia. I couldn’t look her in the eye anymore. My best friend for years. I felt like such a failure because I let all this get out of control.
In my dreams, I had married Charlotte a thousand times but never like this. I had hoped to give her the wedding she had always talked about, with family, friends, and a big church ceremony. Remorse was all over her face, causing shame to pour over me, as if I had somehow taken advantage of her, which was the last thing I had ever wanted to do. My heart sank. Clearly, we took a fun joke way too far, and now Charlotte was disappointed.
How was I ever going to fix this?
Deep guilt flooded my heart, and I avoided Charlotte’s direct gaze like the plague. Not because I had lost any love for her, but I had lost respect for myself. Yet, I was determined to push forward and make everything better.
“Right in here.” Charlotte motioned to the Victorian home branded as a vintage clothing store, and my heart sank even lower.
I maintained my queasy grin, leading the way into the house that smelled rather welcoming, like warm cinnamon. A young woman with tall hair who looked like she should be working in high-end fashion and not behind the counter of a small clothing store, stood, folding a stack of sweaters. She smiled sweetly at us, did a double-take, and her eyes flashed with recognition. She dropped the sweater mid-fold. “Good morning you two! How are you?” Her voice rang with cheer, so much that you’d think we were her beloved family members.
“Good morning,” Charlotte greeted her, like we were casual shoppers bored on a Saturday. I wasn’t sure where Charlotte’s new composure came from, but if I had to guess I would say it was forced. “We were wondering if you remembered seeing us yesterday.”
“Do I remember you?” The woman’s smile stretched wide across her face, as if recalling her favorite memory. “I’ll remember you two for the rest of my life. It’s not every day I have to fit a dog for something.”
Everything about this day had felt so emotionally heavy, but the visual of us in here trying to dress a giant dog forced me to smile back at her. “I bet that was a little crazy to see.”
“I loved it.” She shook her head a little wistfully. “It was so adorable seeing you both—” Her voice dropped. “Wait, you don’t remember?”
Charlotte gently shook her head. “We are retracing our steps to see if people can fill us in, but yeah, we are both missing some of the memories about yesterday.”
“Oh, well, let’s see if I can help.” Her eyes fled to the left, as if she was thinking. “You came in and said you were getting married and needed a tux for yourself and for your best man. The dog tux was an odd request, and we settled on a bowtie. You stayed about an hour, then you were off to the chapel.” She lifted her shoulders and beamed a grin at us. “Other than dressing the dog, I don’t recall anything out of the ordinary. It was so sweet to see you both so excited and how much in love you were.”
“Love—” Charlotte choked, raising a hand to her chest, bracing herself.
Seeing Charlotte’s immediate response, noticeably upset at the store clerk thinking we were in love, punched me in the gut, and I had to suck in air to keep from wincing. Obviously, I hadn’t for a moment thought we’d married out of anything more than this weird Holidaze thing that came over us, but to hear Charlotte gasp for air at the thought of her loving me, burned like blue fire.
I’d said it before, and I would say it my whole life, but I honestly believed one of the most painful experiences one can go through is to fall in love with someone first . . . and then suffer through the wait, wondering when orifthey will ever see you. Despite my internal suffering, I placed my palm on Charlotte’s forearm, giving it a soft squeeze. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, but never lowered the palm still covering her chest. That small gesture did the most to tell what she was really feeling. I could see the reverberation in the cringe on her face. For the first time since I had fallen in love with her, I started to wonder if maybe I wasnotwaiting for her to see me.
