Chapter 7 #2
Volunteers walk around handing each scavenger hunt team a list of participating stores: Baker From Another Mother, Sip and Repeat—our downtown coffee shop, the Five & Dime, Sweetwater Creamery, Simply Thrifted, Waterford Interiors, Makers Co-Op, Waterford Library Annex, and a store I’d never considered stepping foot in before yesterday, Pampered Paws.
On the other side of the sheet is a list of items we need to hunt for throughout these shops. The first team to return with the most items within the hour wins a lunch out at Judy’s Diner.
Tori and I take off at the sound of the cap gun. We have sixty minutes to run through town to any of the stores, collecting twenty items in total.
“Three minutes an item!” I shout to her through the crowd of stampeding competitors.
“We’ve got this,” she says, sprinting ahead of me.
“That’s not including time between shops!” I pseudo-complain.
“We just have to come back with more than any other team!” Tori reminds me.
We start at the bakery. A crowd is there, shouting out items and asking Sydney and Emberleigh if they have anything on the list.
I spy something flashy at the far end of the glass display case, toward the back of the shop.
I run down, grab a silver star off the countertop, hold it up and say, “Got ours, Tori!”
She whoops and throws her fist in the air. “See ya!” she shouts to the other people in the shop. “Wouldn’t wanna be ya!”
On her way out the door, she waves and blows kisses to everyone.
We run on to the next few shops, finding things like elf hats in the thrift store and a Christmas pet treat at Pampered Paws. We keep making the rounds. We’ve got seven minutes until the buzzer rings in town square. Teams who aren’t back before the buzzer are disqualified.
I hold the door open to Makers Co-Op. We’ve found eleven items. I don’t know if we’re close to being in the top teams. We have to find a hand-knit Christmas scarf, and this seems to be the most likely place.
“Do you have a scarf?” Tori asks the elderly woman behind the counter. “Knit? A Christmas scarf?”
“All the scarves are up there in that bin,” the woman tells us, pointing to a bin at the front of the store, situated under a hanging shelf full of handmade ornaments.
Tori darts toward the bin, but she stops short and stares at the shelf.
“Oh,” she says, placing her hand to her heart. “That’s beautiful.”
A wooden ornament of a mother holding her child sits in the center of the shelf. The grain of the wood is evident and yet the carving manages to convey the love and connection between the two figures.
“Scarf,” I say, breaking the moment, and regretting it as soon as I do.
“Right!” Tori says. She starts rifling through the bin and I dig in with her.
Our hands bump and she glances over at me. We’re bent at our waists, arms extended, heads turned, and her face is right there, her warm eyes looking into mine.
I like her.
I knew she didn’t bother me.
I even found her intriguing.
But this? I never anticipated these feelings. I actually planned against them.
“Scarf,” she says softly, swallowing and looking down at the nest of scarves.
“Right. Scarf,” I echo, fishing around, looking at her, not down at whatever my hands are touching.
I need a moment to process my sudden awakening. It’s so unexpected. And yet, I should have seen it coming.
Tori swivels her head and glances over at me. “Gage. What’s wrong with you? Keep hunting!”
“Yes. Yeah. Right. I’m looking.”
I turn my head to look down into the bin. My hand is touching a red and green scarf.
“Got it!” I say, handing it to Tori to put in the bag we were given for our items.
“Let’s go!” she shouts.
I take one last glance at that wood carving on the shelf and then I follow her out of the shop.
We run toward the town square. I reach my hand out for the bag of our treasures from the hunt. Tori smiles at me, extends the bag, and we keep running. We’re both out of breath when we reach the lawn surrounding the gazebo.
Some people are already here. Others are streaming in—some running, some walking as if they’ve got all day.
The buzzer sounds not even a minute later.
Mitch walks up to us. “Hey, that was fun, right?”
“So much fun!” Tori says enthusiastically.
“It was,” I admit, studying her.
How did she pass under my radar for so long? And when did my blinders lift?
“I found a few things for my secret Santa recipient,” Mitch says. “Maybe that’s one of you.”
“I doubt it,” I say, even though I’m not sure whether he’s my Santa. I know he’s not Tori’s.
“Hey, Mitch!” Carson shouts.
Mitch turns and walks over toward Carson and Alyssa.
Tori looks at me and asks, “Who did you get for your secret Santa?”
“It wouldn’t be a secret if I told you,” I say with a smile.
I feel the smile. It’s not just on my face. It’s this warmth that’s spreading through me because of her.
“True. I just thought you might tell me anyway.”
“Who’d you get?” I ask.
She gives me a sassy little look. It’s playful and open, and best of all, it feels like a confirmation that she enjoys my company.
“I’m pretty sure I can’t tell you,” she says. Then she adds, “I hope my person likes surprises.”
“Same,” I say, “I mean. You know. That’s the point of the whole thing.”
She smiles at me and it’s a smile that says she sees through my deflection. She sees me. And she’s not booking the next charter flight out of here.