Page 20 of Jingle Bell Jilt
“Do you collect snow globes?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “No. But my mom does. She would love this.” She picks it up and looks at the price, then sets it back down.
“Aren’t you going to get it?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. She would freak if she knew I spent that much on a snow globe. And maybe there will be one at Disney or Universal that she will like more.”
I guffaw. “And you think that one is expensive?”
She grins back at me. “I know. I will likely pay more for one there, but—” She moves to a different aisle—one filled with ornaments. “This is what I collect.” Her hand hovers just above them as she looks at each one.
“You collect Christmas Tree ornaments?” I should duh myself. Sometimes I’m not the best conversationalist. “Anything special?”
“I buy them when I travel so that when I decorate my tree, I can relive the memories of wherever the ornament is from.”
I guess that’s kind of cool. It’s better than buying souvenirs that just sit on a shelf and collect dust.
She picks one up that has a palm tree with Christmas lights on it. It says, ‘Christmas in Orlando’. “I think I’ll get this one.”
“You’ll probably find one at Disney or Universal.” I don’t want her to forget about that and then have buyer’s remorse.
“I know. I want to get one from each of those places, too.”
I look at it over her shoulder. “It’s cute, but I think you can do better.”
“What?” She looks it over, squinting like I must see something that she doesn’t.
“It’s just a little cutesy, isn’t it? You seem like a more traditional, sophisticated kind of tree decorator.”
She laughs. “Oh, what gave you that idea? My dollar store buys?”
I stare at her. I have no idea why I think that about her. Is it from something Nathan said? “I don’t know. It’s just the vibe I get from you.”
“What if I’m both? I do work with middle-grade kids. Maybe cutesy is more me than I’m vibing.”
I nod. I bet she’s a really fun teacher. “I can see that,” I take the ornament and dangle it in front of my face. “Actually, you seem like a two-tree kind of person. A fun one and the formal one that kids aren’t allowed to touch.”
She blushes and I figure I’ve hit the nail on the head. We’re kind of alike in that way. I’ll be a two-tree person once I have kids. One that the kids decorate with salt dough ornaments and decorations they make at school. And a pretty and perfectly decorated tree that lives in the living room. The room where only guests are allowed. That’s what my mother did.
“I think I’ll just take this one,” she says. “I can look for fancy ones at Disney.”
We walk down the aisle toward the register, and I stop dead in my tracks as an angel tree topper catches my gaze. I pick it up with shaky hands and break out in a cold sweat.
She stands next to me and looks over my arm. “That’s really pretty. Maybe we should buy a Christmas tree?”
I shake my head. “No. It’s probably not worth it.” I’m still staring at the angel in my hands, unable to put it down or pull my eyes away. “We had an angel just like this one for the top of our tree when I was growing up. It was my mom’s favorite part of decorating. Only she was too short to ever reach the top and was too afraid of heights to climb the ladder to do it. So she would always make a game out of it and the winner got to put the angel on top. My brother, sister, and I always battled for first place.”
“That’s such a sweet memory. Are you sad you’re missing it this year?” She moves in closer, and I can smell her lotion again.
“No. We don’t do that anymore.”
“What?” I flinch because her voice is louder than I expected. “Why not? It’s so perfect.”
I lick my lips, hating that I ever saw this angel and even more that I brought up this story.
She puts her hand on my arm. “Evan, are you okay?”
I nod, even though I’m really not. How had I thought I could carry on with Christmas as usual? “My mom died three days before Christmas two years ago. She was sick for a while before it happened. But it was a really busy time for me at work so I couldn’t take off the time to be with her. And then it was too late. Her funeral was Christmas Eve.”
