17. Samantha
17
SAMANTHA
S am stole a glance at her little sister as they wandered down Ambler Avenue half an hour later.
The sky was gray and a frigid breeze lifted their hair and slid icy fingers under their scarves. But Amelia was practically floating down the street, with a smile that said she might be the happiest kid in the world.
Sam’s heart was full, knowing that Amelia had faced something that scared her today and come out of the situation knowing she had the support and understanding of every child in her class.
I’m probably floating down the street myself.
“Is that it?” Amelia asked, pointing at the window of the hardware store, which had an odd assortment of offerings on display along with boughs of pine with white paint sprayed lightly on top to look like snow.
“It sure is,” Sam said.
She pushed open the door and headed inside, where they were greeted by a swirl of warm air and the sweet fragrance of wood chips as well as the light oily scent she associated with her grandfather’s garage.
“Oh, look at these,” Amelia said, admiring a display of tiny flashlights in bright colors.
“Hey there,” a man said, coming around from behind the counter. “How can I help you?”
He wore a pair of denim overalls with a patch that said Michael , and a friendly smile.
“We want to get Christmas lights , ” Amelia said excitedly, immediately forgetting the flashlights.
“Oh, wow,” Michael said with an expression of genuine sadness. “I’m sorry, little lady, but you’re a bit late to the game. I don’t order too many, and they’re all gone now.”
“Do you have any outside decorations at all?” Sam asked hopefully.
“I don’t,” Michael replied, shaking his head. “I sure wish I did.”
“Wolf and Ezra’s house will be the only one without any lights,” Amelia said sadly.
“Wolf Cassidy?” Michael asked.
Amelia nodded.
Michael got a thoughtful expression on his face, and rubbed his belly.
“Tell you what,” he told them after a moment. “I set aside a few packs of plain white lights to do my garage and never got around to it. They might still be in my truck. Hang on a sec.”
Amelia looked to Sam in excitement.
“We’ll see,” Sam told her warningly. For all they knew, those lights were in Michael’s garage back home, waiting to be hung.
“Cross your fingers,” Amelia whispered encouragingly, holding up her own little hand to show her.
Sam smiled and crossed her fingers to satisfy her sister. But she also said a silent prayer that Amelia would be able to go through with the good deed that had so captured her heart and her imagination.
“Look at that,” Michael said with a big smile as he strode back in, holding out three packs of lights to Sam.
Amelia began hopping up and down in place like she was going to explode with joy.
“They’re perfect,” Sam told Michael. “We’ll take them.”
“They’re going to be so surprised,” Amelia squeaked. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
“You’re very welcome,” Michael said with a warm smile. “Now, you’ll need a good extension cord too, so you can plug them in safely.”
He pulled an outdoor extension cord down from one of the upper shelves and put it in a bag.
Sam handed over the lights so he could put them in too. She knew that this probably wasn’t going to be cheap, especially with that nice cord. But some things were worth paying for, and doing something nice for Wolf that also made Amelia happy and encouraged her instinct to think of others was worth it. Sam could always economize on something else this month.
She pulled her wallet out of her purse and headed to the register.
But Michael just chuckled.
“On the house,” he told her, holding out the bag.
“Oh, we couldn’t,” she told him.
“You’re doing a lot of good around here,” he said gruffly. “Wish there’d been an organization like yours when I came home.”
The big man looked away immediately, but not before she caught a glimpse of the sadness in his eyes.
Sam suddenly realized what he must mean, and her heart ached. Michael seemed to be about the right age to have served at a time when the troops suffered mightily, and were so often denied the respect and compassion they deserved when they came home again.
“Thank you,” she told him. “For your service, and for your gift today.”
“Merry Christmas,” he told her warmly, then turned to Amelia. “And you have fun decorating, young lady.”
“Thank you,” Amelia said politely, making her sister proud. “Merry Christmas to you too.”
They headed outside with their bag. It was even colder now, but Sam’s heart was warm and her mind was busy wondering if the foundation might be able to do more for the veterans who had already been home for decades.
“That was so cool, Sam,” Amelia said.
Sam took a second to indulge in the fact that she didn’t even know which cool thing her sister was referring to—the gift of lights from the hardware store, or her class presentation and the kids’ reactions afterward.
“The kids really listened to me,” Amelia went on dreamily. “And not even one person said it was weird.”
“You did a very good job explaining,” Sam told her. “You made it interesting, so they wanted to know more.”
Amelia smiled at her sister’s praise.
“It was your idea, Sam,” Amelia said, suddenly stopping in her tracks.
“Hey,” Sam said, placing a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “ You made the decision about what to do. And then you did it . And you did it well.”
“And wait until Wolf and Ezra see these lights,” Amelia squealed, hopping up and down a little. “Will we have time to get them all up before they get home?”
“I’m not sure about that,” Sam admitted.
She felt a little bad about the fact that she knew he would be gone at all. She’d heard at work that Wolf was going to be helping out with something today, so she figured they had time to put up lights if they did it quickly. But she honestly had no idea what time he would be coming back home.
“Well, we’ll go as fast as we can,” Amelia decided. “And if they come home before we’re done, they’ll still be surprised.”
“Definitely,” Sam told her. “This was a really nice idea, Amelia.”
Amelia’s little chest puffed up with pride again, and Sam let herself feel good for a moment about everything that was happening in their lives.
She might still have an achy feeling in her chest about Wolf, but things were just fine as they were—better than fine.
And even though it seemed greedy to hope for anything more, a small part of her just wouldn’t let go of the memory of that almost-kiss.