Chapter 5 #2
“Hold still.” Ryan told her, tearing a bandage from its paper wrapping with his teeth. “You’ll need one for each knuckle.” He was winding the third bandage around her middle finger when Sarah's mother spun in from the front.
“Oh my goodness.” Stopping in her tracks, Lila gave them a look. Jolted, Ryan dropped Sarah’s hand.
“Mom, look at how careless I am.” Sarah wiggled her fingers while Ryan closed the metal box with a snap. “What is it?”
“Oh, nothing,” Lila said in a high, sing-song voice. The bell jingled in the shop and she dashed back to the front.
Ryan didn’t want Sarah’s mom to be getting any ideas, not that he wasn’t beginning to have plenty of his own. “Why don’t you measure and I’ll grate?”
“Think you can handle it?” Sarah flexed her fingers.
“Of course I can.” Ryan picked up a lemon. How hard could this be?
He laid into it. Hard. The darn lemon wouldn’t budge. It was stuck.
“You're not digging to China.” Sarah laughed after he’d finally gouged a chunk out of the lemon. How was she getting those itty bitty peels? “Ease up.”
That wasn’t easy for him but it worked. Pretty soon he had the light strokes down.
In his mind he was skimming Sarah’s soft skin.
Barely touching it while he hummed along to “I’ll be Home for Christmas.
” While he grated, Sarah cut and squeezed the lemons.
“Do you think the lemon bars will sell out like the thimbles?” he asked.
“They might, if my mother visits the library again.” Lowering her voice, Sarah said, “I wonder how serious this thing is with the librarian.”
He couldn’t help but smile. “How long has she been alone?”
“Almost ten years now.” Sarah’s voice held a wistful note. Was she thinking of her own situation?
“Sounds like it’s high time, right? I mean, for your mother.”
“Time for what?” She stared at him blankly.
Head down, he kept scraping. “It must get lonely for her, Sarah.”
She didn’t say anything for the longest time. “Yes, very lonely,” she finally whispered.
Her words opened up a whole world of hurt. He set down the grater and wiped his hands on a towel. “This will get better, Sarah. With time.”
“Isn’t it awful?” She lifted eyes filled with tears. “But I don’t want to forget him.”
“You never will.” He thought about his brother every day. Every time Ryan hit a pothole along Red Arrow, Jamie came to mind. They used to alert each other with a text. “You don’t forget people who’ve been so important in your life. But I guess, like your mom, you move on. You have to.”
Eyes red, Sarah crinkled her apron in her bandaged fingers.
He wanted to comfort her.
Don’t even think about it.
Instead, he picked up the grater. Pulling a tissue from her apron, she dabbed at her nose. “Guess we’d better get busy. I want to bake a new batch of thimbles too.”
“Again?” The thought of separating eggs again made him drop the grater.
“Rinse that off before you use it again,” Sarah told him in a crisp tone.
“Sure thing, boss lady.”
“Puh-lease.” Her laughter followed him to the sink. For the next two hours they turned out cookies and pastries. Then it was time for him to head to the garage.
He was putting on his coat when she said. “Are you coming to the Holiday Walk this Saturday?”
“Yeah. I told Cole I’d step in for him as Santa this year.” Ryan tried to inject some enthusiasm into his voice. He wasn’t looking forward to it.
“You’ll make a great Santa.”
“I couldn’t say no. He’s so busy with the new baby and all.”
“Being Santa will get you into the holiday spirit.”
“Ho, ho, ho.” He felt as grim as that sounded. “You always see the bright side, Sarah.”
“I try.” She trailed him to the door, as if she was sorry to see him go.
When he cracked open the door, the cold blast of air made Sarah shiver. “Get inside. You’ll freeze.”
She waved good-bye and closed the door. Ryan climbed in the truck.
Giving a lazy groan, the engine didn’t want to turn over.
But on the third try, it started. He bumped over some icy patches in the alley and finally made it out to the street.
But all the way up Red Arrow Highway, the warmth of the bakery stayed with him.
Working together felt good. There was nothing phony about Sarah and he liked that.
Then he hit a pothole. Got that, Jamie? Help me out here.
Maybe being with his sister-in-law was getting way too comfortable.
Nathan and Justin were giddy with excitement Saturday morning. Sarah suspected they’d been sneaking cookies from the store. More than once lately she’d found crumbs under their pillows. Maybe Mom was the culprit. Sometimes she felt that her mother tried to fill the loss of their dad with sweets.
But sugar wouldn’t do it. And it wouldn’t help Nathan behave. Friday he’d brought home a note from his teacher. Nathan had shoved some other boy over something, and Sarah had to call Monday.
But she wouldn’t think about that now. On Saturdays, she worked out front while the boys played quietly in the back.
But today Santa was arriving at noon. As usual, Sarah was running late.
Maisy Bows had come in, breathless because she was having a children’s party after the Holiday Walk and needed cookies.
The platter took a little time, so now Sarah had to rush.
“Come on, boys.” She helped them zip up their jackets. “You don’t want to miss Santa.”
“I’m trying to remember my list,” Justin said so seriously that she had to smile. Finally, they were both dressed in jackets, hats, warm scarves and mittens.
Out in the shop, her mother was ringing up customers.
Sarah would have to check to make sure the coffee dispenser was full.
The pot of coffee she kept in a corner near the window was free for anyone but she charged for the espresso drinks.
Mom always encouraged shoppers to take the free coffee.
“That crazy machine with all the levers was your father’s idea. ”
Word was that a national coffee company was sizing up Gull Harbor, with the intention of opening a shop. Sarah didn’t like to think about it.
This would be a big day for the shop. The Holiday Walk drew folks from the nearby towns. Ryan had helped her stock the display case. They’d been busy since they opened at eight.
“Be back soon,” she mouthed to her mother over the head of Lisa McGill, who was choosing pastries for her next ladies club meeting.
Outside, the sidewalk was packed. Children clung to their parents’ hands or huddled in their arms. The crowd peered down the street, hoping that Santa would appear soon. Usually six boys from the high school dressed as Santa’s reindeer to pull the sleigh.
People greeted her as Sarah led Nathan and Justin through the crowd, but she was on a mission.
The line for Santa formed early. Christmas carols poured from the speakers placed along the street.
Impatient, the boys tugged her along. She hoped she could get back to the shop soon to help her mother.
With such cold weather, people might want gingerbread or eggnog coffee and that would throw Lila into a tizzy.
“Sarah! Over here!” Phoebe waved and Sarah steered the boys in her direction.
“How do you like your mother’s hair?” Phoebe bubbled. “I forgot to ask you at book club.”
“She looks so different,” Sarah admitted. “Younger. You’re a miracle worker.”
“I thought she needed something. You know, since she has that new guy and everything.”
“She told you about him?” The shock must have shown on her face.
“Oh, dear. Me and my big mouth. I didn’t know it was a secret.” Phoebe’s face flushed darker than her red hair. “She didn’t tell you about the new guy at the library?”
“Oh, him. Sure.” Her suspicions growing, she waved a casual good-bye. “Gotta run, Phoebe. Have to line up for Santa.”
Sarah’s head whirled as she led the boys through the crowd.
She felt hurt. Mom was holding out on her.
Finally they joined the other parents at the end of the street where Santa’s chair was set up.
A brisk wind from the lake lifted her hair and waves battered the ice floes along the shore.
But at least the sun was shining brightly, reflecting off mounds of snow.
Kate Campbell and her husband Cole approached with baby Quinn bundled on Cole’s back. “Look at you! Quinn’s first Christmas.” She gave Kate a quick hug. Cole’s daughter Natalie was with them, cooing over her baby brother. They made a perfect family.
“Maybe I’ll ask Santa for a baby, Mom,” Justin said when Kate and Cole turned to talk to some of their neighbors.
“Justin, that’s stupid,” Nathan threw his little brother a sharp look.
“Now that’s not nice, Nathan,” Sarah said. “We all have our own Christmas wishes.”
Nathan pressed his lips together. But when she turned to scan the street for Santa, she heard him whisper, “That’s not what we need, Justin.”
In the distance came the faint sound of jingle bells. A hearty “Ho, ho, ho” fell over the crowd with welcoming cheer.
“It’s Santa, Mommy.” Justin jumped up and down. His older brother watched the sleigh approach, a determined look in his eye.
Sarah sure hoped they didn’t recognize Ryan’s voice.
Perched high in the sleigh, Ryan felt like an imposter.
He was also having the time of his life.
The pine branches tucked in the sleigh sent out an intoxicating smell.
Happy faces turned up toward him and excitement filled the air.
Right in the center stood Sarah with Nathan and Justin.
How he wanted to make their Christmas something special.
Last night in his barren apartment he’d practiced dropping his voice so the two boys wouldn’t know he was Santa.