Familiar faces smiled and waved to each other as they made their way between the beautiful offerings, and between songs the whole space was filled with the hum of conversation.
Mae had grabbed her hand the moment they arrived, and she tugged at Hailey now.
“Can we have hot chocolate?” she asked excitedly.
Hailey looked to Ransom, who nodded.
“Yes, of course we can,” Hailey told her. “Shall we get in line now?”
“Yes,” Mae said.
The four of them headed over to a stand where two older ladies were taking donations, pouring hot chocolate from a massive urn, and chatting up a storm with all their customers.
“It can’t be,” Hailey breathed.
“Betty Ann Eustace and Ginny Davies,” Ransom said, nodding.
“But they look just the same,” she said, shaking her head.
“Betty Ann told my mom that staying busy keeps her young,” Ransom laughed.
“I guess it does,” Hailey said thoughtfully.
The two of them had been older ladies back when she was a little girl, and along with their friend, Shirley, they seemed to be the driving force behind just about all the big events in town, and never too proud to roll up their sleeves either.
“Oh, would you look who’s here,” Ginny said warmly when they reached the front of the line.
“Good afternoon, Mae and Travis,” Betty Ann said with a big smile for the kids. “Can we get you some hot chocolate?”
“Yes, please,” Mae said politely while her brother nodded.
“And what about you two—my goodness,” Betty Ann exclaimed. “There’s a pair I haven’t seen in a long time.”
“Hi, Mrs. Eustace and Mrs. Davis,” Hailey said, feeling happy that they still knew her. “It’s wonderful to see you.”
“I didn’t like what happened to you on that television show one little bit,” Betty Ann leaned in to say.
“That Dr. Silverman was sweet on you,” Ginny put in. “I just can’t imagine what they’ll do without you.”
“I guess we’ll find out tomorrow night,” Hailey said, thinking to herself that it was kind of odd that she was only going to learn about the show’s plot along with everyone else now.
“Oh, I won’t be bothering with it anymore,” Betty Ann sniffed. “You don’t support a show that does away with your favorite character.”
Hailey couldn’t help smiling. She highly doubted that BeeBee Evans was the favorite character of anyone who didn’t know Hailey personally. But it was lovely to see the ladies in her hometown were still loyal to her.
“Can we go see the train now?” Mae asked when they each had a paper cup of hot chocolate.
“Of course,” Ransom told her, putting an extra bill in the donation tin after paying for their snack.
They headed through the happy crowd, past the little stage where the band was playing Christmas songs, to the train set that took up the center of the market.
Children crowded around, watching it move gracefully along the big track.
“Travis,”a happy little voice called out.
Travis turned, and his face lit up.
“Nick,”he yelled back, weaving through the crowd to get to the other boy.
