Page 50 of The Christmas Keepsake
Maddie:Very! Not just for people in wheelchairs. Renee wants to welcome all abilities. Even yours.
That text was followed by a winking emoji that made Mallory laugh.
A knock on the front entrance door got Mallory’s attention.
Mallory:The inspector’s here. Gotta go. Be safe!
Mallory headed toward the main entrance and opened the door to a large man in a pale blue uniform shirt tucked into a pair of dark rinse jeans.
“Hello, ma’am. I’m Jimmy Benson with the county inspection department.”
Mallory put out her hand for the man to shake. “Hi, I’m Mallory Blue.” She gestured behind her. “Please, come inside.”
Mallory suddenly felt nervous, even though she didn’t think she had any reason to be. “Um, how long will this take?” Because there were rehearsals this evening. The rumor mill was already active in Bloom, but Mallory didn’t want to feed it.
“Not too long. Unless of course there’s something wrong,” Jimmy said. “More than an hour is never a good sign.”
“Oh. Okay.” Mallory nodded. “Well, don’t let me bother you. If you need something, let me know.”
“You’re selling this place, huh?” Jimmy’s gaze ping-ponged around the front entrance area. “That’s a shame. I used to come to the theater with my nanny when I was a kid. She loved theater. Used to sing Broadway songs to me as I was falling asleep.”
Mallory smiled politely. “That’s nice.”
“Yeah.” Jimmy hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his jeans. “All right. Well, I’ll find you when I’m done.”
“Great.” Mallory pointed at the office. “I’ll be right in there.”
“Sure thing.”
As Jimmy went forward with his work, Mallory returned to Nan’s office, where there were several boxes of stuff packed up and sealed with masking tape. On the top of the boxes, in black Sharpie marker, she’d writtenSTUFF TO KEEP. So far, there was more to keep than give away. She couldn’t keep it all though. In fact, at some point, she’d have to open those sealed boxes and get rid of at least half. Maddie already said she didn’t want it. Maddie liked to say that she lived in the moment and holding on to sentimental things kept a person in the past.
Maybe there was truth to that.
Plopping into Nan’s leather chair, Mallory released a soft sigh. Then she startled at the sound of a tap on the office door.
“Knock, knock,” a woman’s voice said.
Mallory turned toward the voice. “Savannah. How did you get in?”
Savannah crinkled her brow in response. “The door, just like anyone else.”
Savannah didn’t need permission to come inside, of course. She was welcome anytime.
“I didn’t know I’d be seeing you today.”
“Well, I was just out and about and thought I’d see if you needed a hand.” Savannah glanced around the small office space. “What canI do?”
“Sit and keep me company. And convince me that I don’t need to keep all of Nan’s belongings.” Because Nan had never been a hoarder. If she’d kept these things, it meant they were important to her. But Mallory didn’t recognize half of them.
“I can definitely keep you company.” Savannah sat right down on the floor and picked up a small frame made from Popsicle sticks. “Keep, trash, or giveaway?” Savannah asked, holding it up. Without waiting for Mallory’s response, she decided, “I vote keep. It’s sentimental.”
“That’s the problem. Everything is sentimental.” Mallory tipped her head at the frame. “Toss.” She swiped the Popsicle frame fromSavannah’s hand and dropped it in the trash pile. Then Mallory reached for a homemade card that she had made for Nan when she was in second or third grade. “This whole drawer is full of things that Maddie or I made for Nan.”
“Aw. That’s sweet.” Savannah tilted her head to one side. “It shows how much she loved you.”
“I know. My grandparents must have loved us to put up with some of the things we put them through.” Mostly Maddie, who had been the wilder, more irresponsible of the two. The ying to Mallory’s yang.
“We can’t just trash all these treasures. They’re memories,” Savannah said wistfully.
