A Little Merry (Small Town Lovers #9)

Merry 1

When I was an adorable, rebellious teen, I was obsessed with Gilmore Girls on Netflix. I must have watched all seven seasons over and over again until I could quote from the episodes. “Reality has absolutely no place in our world,” a quote by Lorelai being my very favorite.

My mom hated that quote. I used it whenever I wanted to counter her, which had happened almost daily.

Not so much anymore. Not since she married Tom Jennings and moved to Kentucky. We still chat on the phone, but only once a month now, if that.

I loved the whole feel of the show: the characters, the events, the relationships, the fast dialogue, but my very favorite, most obsessed with feature about the show was the small town of Stars Hallow. I promised myself that when I grew up, I would find my version of Stars Hallow that I saw up close in a painting when I was about ten… and move there. I even lit candles for that wish and chanted, and manifested it over and over again, until I truly believed it would happen.

Unfortunately, about three months ago, I got sidetracked with a marriage I regretted within the first few hours and ended up getting annulment papers drawn up. The entire affair turned out to be incredibly complicated, so on the eve of my twenty-seventh birthday, I moved here to Cricket, California, from Omaha, Nebraska, a town where I never truly fit in, nor did I ever want to fit in. It just wasn’t me.

Cricket… now that was a town I could settle into, and could grow to love. A town where I could build a family, start my own business, have my dreams fulfilled… and I could wish upon a star in that town, and have my wish come true… I just knew it!

My actual move began twelve days ago when I started my drive across the country in my six-year-old Subaru Crosstrek that was packed tight with boxes, with an extra storage pod strapped to the top. Despite some minor road closures and a bad night’s sleep in a shady motel, I made it. And eight days ago, I emptied my first box in my lovely new apartment.

However, even though there were a myriad of charming people strolling along the sidewalks, working in the charming shops, or walking around the beautifully decorated town square where several Christmas events that I’d participated in had already taken place, I still hadn’t made any real friends, which I knew would come.

Waiting for anything wasn’t something I enjoyed doing.

Sigh.

Regardless, I loved beginnings of all kinds: a new day, a new book, and in this case, a new town. I even loved the fact that it had started snowing.

“I smell snow,” I said aloud, quoting Lorelai Gilmore.

No way could I stay locked inside my new apartment when my very first snowfall had begun over my new favorite small town. I had no choice but to step outside and catch a snowflake on my tongue and make my Christmas wish… which I knew would come true this time.

I grabbed my coat, hat, and gloves and scurried out my door, down the stairs and out onto the main street that ran through town. As I strolled down Moon Street, admiring all the twinkling lights in the shop windows, and swirled around the street lights and trees, twinkling in the town square with the extra-large gazebo and all the festive, decorated trees, I noticed a large silver star atop the tallest tree.

I headed straight for it, as if it were calling me.

As I took my first step into the beautifully ornate town square, my phone rang out with the first notes of Jingle Bells , reminding me of this magical moment.

I’d set the clock to chime at twelve midnight, exactly the time to make my wish. I truly believed this year, in this town, on this cold, snowy night, while I was completely alone, standing in the middle of my Stars Hallow recreation, my wish would at last be granted.

I closed my eyes, crossed my fingers, including my thumbs, stood on my toes, opened my mouth, stuck out my tongue, and spun around like Grandma Merry, my namesake, had instructed me to do when I was twelve years old. She’d given me a tiny golden elf pendant that I still wore around my neck on a golden chain every December. She’d given it to me a week before her spirit transitioned up to heaven.

We were alone in her colorful bedroom when she whispered the secret Christmas wish instructions and told me to only share them with my own grandchild when she or he was twelve years old.

When she first told me, I thought she was silly and never really followed all of her instructions, so none of my wishes came true. Well, maybe portions of them did but not the total wish. Not my true heart’s desire.

Tonight was different.

Tonight, I believed my wish would be granted. I was sure of it.

Everything had lined up.

Everything was right, down to the monster snowflakes that had just begun to fall.

An absolute sign.

She also told me the date had to be 12/12. The time had to be twelve midnight. I had to be surrounded by at least twelve Christmas trees, which I knew was true… there were exactly twelve trees… and I had to be lucky enough to catch a twelve-point snowflake on my tongue.

The real magic came when I found the biggest star to wish on, another of her instructions. Tonight, it wouldn’t be a star in the sky. I couldn’t see any with all the snow clouds. Tonight, that biggest star sat atop the tallest tree in the square.

I sucked in a deep breath and said, “Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may. I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.” I kept my eyes closed and kept twirling, even though it was making me dizzy. “I wish for a best friend, a special friend, a truly loyal friend who will help me meet a fun, adorable guy who likes to make yummy goodies and drinks. He’s around my age. A guy who’s colorfully artistic. A guy who’s strong and a bit of a bad boy, just to keep me on my game. I wish that we fall in crazy, stupid love and live happily ever after right here in this lovely small town. And all this starts soon… and everything moves fast. I’ve been waiting long enough for this wish to come true.”

All the while, I held my head back and kept imagining that twelve-point snowflake falling right into my mouth. I felt the snowflakes falling on my face, so I was totally hopeful.

I slowly spun and spun, whispering my wish over and over again, not willing to give up. Not willing to stop until I dropped from complete dizziness.

Then it happened.

I felt a cool snowflake melt on my tongue.

The sensation caused me to pop open my eyes and stop spinning. I saw hundreds of snowflakes as they fell from the heavens, and as I finally looked around the square, I hoped that I’d see my beloved or my new best friend walking towards me, but aside from the spinning world around me, everything seemed to be the same.

I was alone, standing in the center of the town square in my lovely new town while snow stuck to the ground, turning everything into a winter wonderland.

When I gazed up at the silver twinkling star shining on top of the tallest tree, it seemed brighter and kept getting brighter, until the star exploded, and all the twinkling lights went out.

It scared me.

I yelped and because of my dizziness, when I tried to run away from the exploding star, I ran right into someone or something, and I went down, hard.

Suddenly, all I could see were dancing sugarplums floating all around me.

“Are you okay?” the voice said several times. It sounded like it was coming from inside a long train tunnel. I couldn’t tell whether it was a man’s voice or a woman’s. Either way, I knew I had to answer, but I was busy watching those sugarplums dancing in my head, so I merely nodded.

Or I thought I did.

“Are you okay, my darling? Open your sweet eyes and let me know, or I’m calling the local doc to come check on you. She won’t like having to get out here in the middle of a snowy night if there’s nothing wrong with you.”

I knew I couldn’t allow that to happen. It wouldn’t be the way to make friends with the local doctor if she were angry with me.

“No. No. I’m fine,” I finally managed to tell the voice. “I’m great. It’s a big, fat, happy sunshine day for me,” I told her, quoting Luke Danes.

All I wanted to do was quote Gilmore Girls, like I was part of the show.

What the hell?

I finally opened my eyes and stared up at an older woman with curly red hair that surrounded her smiling face like a wreath. She had stardust in her hair that kept falling on me, or was it the snow? I couldn’t tell.

“Can you sit up, darling?” she asked, her voice sounding way too high-pitched for a grown woman.

“I think so,” I said and proceeded to do just that without any problem. “I ran into something when the lights went out.”

“That was me, and the lights are back on now. Just an itsy-bitsy glitch of some kind. It happens sometimes. I think there must’ve been a short in that star on top of the tree. I told them not to use it, but does anybody ever listen to me? Noooo. They think they know better than me, which is impossible, but that’s a story for another book.”

I continued to gaze at this curious woman who had appeared out of nowhere.

Sure enough, the twinkling lights were back on, even the star seemed okay—a little crooked but still intact.

I stared at her for a moment longer and realized she wore earrings that looked like old-fashioned Christmas tree lights. They lit up, and she wore a matching necklace that did the same. Her coat was bright green, and I saw red and white stripes on her turtleneck sweater. Her gloves were the same color red as her lipstick and her ridiculous red knit hat with the pure-white fuzzy ball stuck on top. She seemed to love Christmas as much as I did. I wanted to ask her where she bought her earrings and necklace and those gloves, but I knew this wasn’t the time for shopping advice.

“Who are you?” I asked, wanting to know the name of the person who had rescued me.

“Noelle Kringle. I live in your building.”

“You do?”

“I most certainly do. Now, let’s get you back home where you can have some hot cocoa and get warm. You’re cold as a snowball in an ice storm.”

“But I don’t have any cocoa.”

“No worries. I’ve got plenty. And marshmallows. Do you like marshmallows in your cocoa, or are you a candy cane fan?”

I hadn’t really thought about it until that moment.

“I like marshmallows. The tiny ones,” I told her, envisioning them floating on the top of my warm cup, looking all melty and luscious. “They seem friendlier.”

“And that’s what we all need. Friends,” she said, grinning as I stood next to her and realized she couldn’t have been even five feet tall. Just a tiny little thing but full of spunky fire. “Now, let’s get you home.”

“You really don’t have to… I mean, I’m fine if you have somewhere else you need to be,” I said, thinking I’d done enough already to derail her night.

“Sweetheart, it’s past midnight, and it’s snowing. Where on earth do you think I should be besides right here with you, heading back home?”

I slipped my arm through hers, and we headed to our apartments over Laughing Goat coffee shop directly across the street.

We walked arm in arm and at one point, I think we skipped. She made me feel like a kid again, filled with Christmas possibilities.

Once we arrived at our building, she punched in the code on the keypad, the door buzzed for us to open it, and we dashed inside and up the stairs, excited about our hot chocolate. She dropped me off at my door and said, “You go on inside and get comfy. I’ll be right back with the cocoa and marshmallows.”

“You’ve really done more than enough,” I told her.

“Oh sweetie, we’re just getting started,” she said and took off for her apartment down the hallway.