He let out a loud guffaw. "You might be right about that. But I knew she meant well. She wants the best for this community."
"She does." Eve was special, and I wasn't going to do anything to mess my relationship with her up.
He clasped my shoulder. "At this point, the chief job is yours to lose. Keep up the good work, and it will be yours."
"That's good to hear, sir." The way he'd phrased it was concerning. The job was mine to lose. It wasn't as reassuring as I think he meant it to be.
Sharon approached with two hot chocolates and two tickets. "Can we walk the trail now?"
Eve leaned out the ticket window. "Sofia, you want to check wrist bands and let people know how to navigate the trail?"
Sofia walked toward us with her hot chocolate cradled between her hands. "Yes."
"You just need to see that they have their wristbands, color coded for the night, and you can give them some instructions on what to expect," Eve continued.
"I can do that." Sofia nodded seriously, and then she asked Frank and Sharon, "Can I see your wristbands?"
When they showed them, she pointed, "You'll enter the path here, and walk the trail, enjoying the lights until you come out over there. You can go through the trail as many times as you'd like. Enjoy the holiday lights."
Frank inclined his head toward her. "Thank you."
"Happy holidays!" Sofia cried after them.
"That was great," I said to her.
At first, it was a slow trickle. Then it picked up. Occasionally someone mentioned that a blowup had fallen over with the wind or that the music wasn't working. I got one of the younger firefighters to walk the trail and trouble shoot any issues.
Sofia stayed by the entrance until eight, when the trail was closed for the evening.
"It seemed like a lot of people came through." We were busy but not overwhelmed.
Eve nodded as she closed the door to the shack. "I have a feeling it's going to be busier tomorrow, once everyone finds out about it."
"I'll see if a few of the firefighters can volunteer each night to help keep things running on the trail."
Eve nodded. "That would be great. I can't do the ticket window and the trail at the same time."
"I want to work the trail," Sofia said.
"You can't work every night. You have school," I reminded her.
"Since it's closed, can we go through by ourselves?" Sofia asked.
"I don't see why not," Eve said, "unless you wanted to get her to bed."
"We have a bit of time before we need to head home."
"Yes," Sofia cried, running toward the entrance to the trail.
"I'll hang up the closed sign." Eve hung it over the ticket window and then joined me by the trail.
We walked behind Sofia as she ran from one section to another, exclaiming over the characters she knew and loved. Occasionally, she paused to pose for a picture, and Eve nudged me into a few. When we reached the Grinch, I said, "We should all get into this one."
She set up the camera on a timer, so that we could all get into the picture, and we huddled close. I rested a hand on Eve's back and one on Sofia's shoulder. I felt like we were a family.
There was that niggling fear that I'd lose someone close to me again. But I enjoyed this new connection too much to distance myself from Eve.
I hoped that things would work out. That I wouldn't revert to my grumpy self or give into the worry that I was going to lose her.
