Mindi
I’d taken Sarah over to Bluebird Books for Iris’s reading program earlier this morning and then realized I had forgotten the box of decorations I’d pulled up from the basement last night for the community center sitting on the kitchen table, so I’d had to come back home.
I waved to the boys who were manning my tree lot this year as I pulled out of the driveway for the second time this morning.
If it hadn’t been for Connor and Gabe talking with their farmhands, I’d never have found their kids.
The four boys I’d hired to look after everything had been doing a wonderful job.
People were getting their trees and it had freed me up to be present while the kids at the community center got to decorate the gazebo in the center of the park.
Once back at the community center, I carried a pile of boxes up from the basement and into the gymnasium, where Peggy and Ethan were working away, sorting things out. “I think these are the last boxes,” I said, placing them down on one table.
“Wonderful,” Peggy said, grabbing one off the top. “Hopefully, the spare Christmas lights are inside here.”
“If they aren’t in one of those, then I think we may have run out. I can always text Brooke and have her grab some before she and Tristan come over.”
“No need, I found them,” Ethan said, holding up the spare bulbs he’d found inside the tote he’d been emptying.
“Perfect, I’ll be back in a moment. I’m just going to grab the tape from my office along with the plan we have designed for the gazebo,” I said, flying out of the gymnasium door and down the hall.
Ethan and Peggy had come over early, since the flower shop was closed today, and had helped me get some things out and organized before the kids arrived.
Trinity and Thomas would be here any minute, and Brooke and Tristan had decided they’d join us as well, allowing Melinda to run The Crispy Biscuit for the day.
I glanced at my watch, seeing that most of the kids would be here to help shortly, and we wanted to be ready for them.
I dug through my top desk drawer, grabbed the tape, and then took off back toward the gym. I let out a scream as I rounded the corner and ran right into someone.
“Oh gosh, Mindi, are you alright?” I heard a familiar voice say, and felt hands grab my upper arms.
It took me a minute to get myself together, and then I looked up into Noah’s blue eyes.
“Sorry about that. I wasn’t expecting you to come bolting out of that door.”
“I wasn’t expecting anyone to be in the hallway.” I giggled, brushing my hair back out of my face.
“Ethan told me you guys were decorating the gazebo in the park today and told me I should stop by. Hope that is okay.”
“Of course,” I said, smiling. “Come on.”
We were just about down the hall to the gymnasium door when the front doors opened and a group of kids came running in.
“Hey, everyone,” I called, smiling.
“Hey, Mindi!” one boy called out first, followed by the rest of the kids.
“Head on into the gym.” I smiled, watching as they dumped their coats onto the floor as usual.
Just as the last two ran by Noah and me, the front door opened again, and I saw Sarah come inside, Iris glued to her side, tears streaming down her face. I turned to Noah.
“Can you give me a few minutes? That is Sarah, who’s staying with me, the one who lost her parents,” I whispered.
“Of course, I’ll head on into the gym and see what I can help with,” he said with a wink.
I made my way down the hall toward Sarah, and Iris and smiled softly. “How are you doing?” I questioned, looking up at Iris.
Iris shook her head while I kneeled down so I was eye-level with Sarah. Almost immediately, she wrapped her arms around my neck, hugging me tight.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I whispered, hugging her back.
I was at a loss for how to respond to her; I did not know how to help at this point. Mostly, she had dealt with everything well; it was just in the last couple of days that she’d cried more often than not.
“We thought we’d come and see if perhaps there was something Sarah could help with today,” Iris said.
“I think we could find something,” I said, walking her down to the gymnasium door and grabbing Peggy right away.
Once Sarah was working away with Peggy, I turned to see Iris standing beside me.
“What happened?” I questioned.
“Sarah just broke down in tears,” Iris whispered. “She just wanted to come here.”
I looked over at Sarah, her face expressionless, which made me wonder if she had finally realized the holidays were here and that after the holidays she’d be moving, which possibly could have compounded the effects of losing her parents.
It was then that Sarah left Peggy and came running over to me, wrapping her arms around my waist.
“Did you want to help me with putting together and decorating two trees for the gazebo?” I questioned.
Sarah said nothing; she just stood there hugging me tighter. I looked at Iris with concern.
“What about helping me get the lights ready to put up? We are going with the suggestion you gave me the other night. Red and green this year, which means we need to make sure the colors alternate properly,” I said, thinking that may make her smile, only once again, there wasn’t anything.
“What about the garland?” I asked. “Gracie is coming over shortly to help. Did you want to help us with that? We really could use the help; the boys around the center don’t want to do the silly girl things.” I winked, hoping to get at least a glimmer of a smile from her.
Defeat filled me as she once again just stared at me.
“What about helping me decorate some cookies?” I heard Noah ask behind me.
I turned and met his gaze, catching a wink from him.
“Brooke and Tristan brought over all the cookies, icing and decorations for us to use. We can make them as silly or as serious as you’d like, with fun sayings, or even some funny faces, even sad faces, because sometimes people are sad at Christmas.
Then tomorrow night, once the music starts, Brooke and Tristan will hand out hot chocolate and cider, and we can be in charge of handing out the cookies. ”
I looked down at Sarah and then back to Noah. I couldn’t help but wonder what he was up to when I heard Sarah speak for the first time.
“Can we make sad snowmen and happy snowmen?” she asked quietly.
“Absolutely we can,” he answered.
Sarah looked up at Iris and me and slowly let go of my waist and went over to Noah, who kneeled down so he could meet her eye to eye.
They shared some words quietly between them, and then he stood up and took her hand in his and together they headed into the gymnasium, over to the cookie decorating table.
I turned to Iris, not really knowing what to say about what we’d just witnessed, but whatever it was, I hoped it was going to be good for Sarah.
“Oh, I was thinking if Sarah wanted to come over and spend the night next weekend, just let us know. Gracie and she have been talking about a sleepover.”
“Thanks, Iris,” I said, walking her over to the door. “I’ll talk with her tonight and let you know.”
“Wonderful. I’ll see you soon with the boys and Gracie.”
“Sounds good.”
When I walked into the gymnasium, everyone was already hard at work getting decorations together and ready to put up.
Christmas music was playing, some kids were singing, while others focused on the task at hand.
It was then I glanced over to see Noah and Sarah hard at work decorating the cookies Brooke had brought over.
To my surprise, Sarah was talking Noah’s ear off, and when he looked up and over at me, he winked.
Whatever he’d done, whatever he’d said, he was getting her to talk, which was what she needed the most, and for that alone, I was grateful to him.