“Pizza?” she squeaked before bouncing on her toes.
Damn, kid. Now she’d said it, pizza sounded so good, but with no power it wasn’t on the menu, not tonight anyway.
“I was thinking of a PB&J,” I countered, trying to make it sound appetizing.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a PB&J, but it would be as good as anything else.
“Can I have a glass of milk with it?” Noelle’s big, hopeful eyes pinned me, and I knew even if it meant I had to go find a cow and milk it myself, she was getting what she asked for.
“Did you want to wait here, and I’ll go get what we need?” I suggested not wanting to take Noelle upstairs and risk Holly waking up and finding us gone.
“Sure,” Noelle agreed.
“Why don’t you pack up your toys so we have some room? Then after dinner, we can play a game,” I offered.
“A game?”
“Do you know how to play Monopoly?” I asked, hoping I hadn’t thrown the old board game out.
“What’s Monopoly?” Noelle asked, and I smirked. This was going to be like taking candy from a baby.
“You’ll see. Clean up your things and let your mom sleep …”
“But what if she wants a PB&J, too?”
She was a thoughtful kid, I had to give her that.
“If your mom wants one, when she wakes up, we can make her one,” I suggested, and Noelle seemed to accept my answer as she turned around and started collecting her toys.
I quickly tossed another log on the fire, listening to it cackle before shrugging on my jacket and stomping up the stairs.
I pushed open the door and stepped into the frigid apartment. Damn, it was cold in there. Even if the power came back soon, we wouldn’t be moving back here tonight. I’d rather spend another sleepless night on an air mattress and be warm than have a proper bed and freeze.
Taking advantage of the moment up there alone, I walked over to the window and stared out at the town below. I’d lived there forever, and I never looked. I should. Even shrouded in darkness, Evergreen Lake was something to behold. Spinning around, I stopped and stared at my living area. The scent of fresh pine still lingered in my apartment, and rather than having the urge to remove any speck of Christmas spirit and throw it through the plate glass window, I straightened a strand of tinsel hanging in the window.
I found a forgotten ornament on the floor. I picked it up and ran my fingers over it, remembering what Christmas was like before. Before they’d been ruined. Before I’d lost who I was. I used to love Christmas. And I loved being a part of the town. I used to help cut down trees and deliver them to the elderly, watching as their smiles lit up the room. I used to dress as Kris Kringle, complete with fluffy, white beard and Ho! Ho! Ho! and enjoy the holidays. It was why the sleigh had been in my workshop that day. I was helping fix it. I needed to get it back together before Christmas was ruined and the kids of Evergreen Lake started to worry about presents not being delivered.
I sighed heavily as I discovered the box of ornaments stashed in the corner, unopened. I’d let Holly and Noelle do whatever they want, yet this battered box remained taped closed.
I’ll never know what possessed me to open it, but a moment later, without giving another thought, I peeled the tape backand froze. There, wrapped in bubble wrap was a tiny little sleigh. It was one that Shayna had given me our first Christmas together.
“I got you something,” Shayna announced as she pranced into the workshop.
I don't know how many times I’d told her, but the workshop was not a place for her to be bouncing around in those ridiculously high heels she loved so much. It was dangerous. She could trip over anything, and the hard concrete floor was unforgiving. I’d slipped and landed on my ass enough times to be able to guarantee that.
I slid out from under the car I was working on and wiped my hands on the rag hanging out of my pocket. Not that it helped. The life of a grease monkey. It didn’t matter how many times you washed your hands, they were permanently stained, and getting grease from under your nails, impossible. Using the bumper, I pulled myself up, cursing the ache in my back as I stretched.
“Hi,” I said, leaning in to kiss her only for her to step backward.
“You’re all dirty.” She giggled, and there was nothing I could do but shake my head. What did she expect coming in here at two on a Wednesday afternoon.
Shayna handed me the box tied with a pink silk ribbon. It was delicate and pretty, and something I should not be handling.
I handed it back to her. “You open it. Like you said, I’m filthy.”
“Okay,” she replied, tugging on the end of the ribbon and sliding it off, letting it fall to the floor.
Without a word, I bent down and picked it up, scrunching it in my fist.
