Page 61 of The Christmas Keepsake
“Marry, huh? You can look at a woman and tell if she’s the marrying kind just with one look?”
“Of course,” Pop said. “The kind of woman you marry is more than beautiful. She carries herself well. With confidence and a smile that shows up in her eyes. Her focus is on others. She’s kind. Considerate. There’s a quietness about her. A subtleness that keeps most heads from turning because, if you blink, you’ll miss her.”
“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience, Pop.”
The older man in front of him chuckled. “Every man experiences that woman once in their lifetime, but only a few are smart enough toknow it when they do. The other chumps marry the wrong woman. The one who turns heads and then demands the world, and when you’re young, you think you can give her that.” Pop nodded more to himself than to Hollis. “When you get older, wiser, the young man who thought he was invincible realizes he’s only human and he doesn’t have the world to give. Just his beat-up, broken-down heart. That’s not really enough for the wrong woman. For the right woman, though, it’s everything.” Pop blew out a breath and chuckled some more. “You never realized your old grandpa here was so deep and romantic, huh?”
Hollis grinned. “Any guy who builds his life around a Christmas tree farm can’t be anything less than deep and romantic.” Pop had been married for nearly two decades before his late wife passed away a couple of years back. “Alice was a lucky woman to have a romantic for a husband.”
Pop looked out the window in his room where there was a birdfeeder set up. “I was the lucky one. Alice gave me our son, Matt. I could have been a better husband. She deserved more.”
Hollis found this interesting. “What more could she have possibly wanted?”
Pop looked at him, sadness reflecting in his eyes. “My whole heart. I gave my heart to someone else before I met Matt’s mother.”
Hollis didn’t think Pop was confused. Pop’s eyes were clear. “Who was she?”
Pop pulled in a deep breath. “I’m afraid some things should be kept quiet. For Matt’s sake, if nothing else. I loved his mother very much, but the woman I wasin lovewith was another woman. It’s not something I’m proud of nor something I could help. Once you give your heart to someone, it’s hard to get it back.”
Chapter Nineteen
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
—Scott Adams
Mallory could barely believe her eyes as she blinked away tears and scanned the barn.
It had taken all of twenty-four hours, and it now looked as if it had been made for theater. It was like a scene out of a Hallmark movie. On the outside, the barn was already painted a bright apple red, as if it were made for the holidays. It was rustic and festive at the same time, surround by trees and twinkling lights. On the inside, it was warm and cozy with plenty of seating. Hollis and the crew had built an amazing stage, and all the backdrops from the Bloom Community Theater had been transported to the barn.
It’s absolutely perfect.
Maybe it wasn’t the theater that Nan had created, but her productions couldn’t be matched or recreated, and if that was true, putting on the play at the barn was an awesome second choice.
Mallory breathed a sigh of relief. With the help of Hollis and hisconstruction crew, she felt like she could breathe again for the first time in months.
“Ho, ho, ho,” Hollis belted, coming up behind her and making a grand entrance.
Turning, she felt something warm like honey oozing through her as she met Hollis’s deep brown eyes. “This is perfect. All the cast knows their lines. Everyone has their costumes. The set is ready. You truly are Santa Claus. You literally saved Christmas.”
“See? Told you everything would work out. You should’ve trusted me.”
“Ididtrust you. Eventually.” She tore her gaze from his for a moment. Otherwise, she felt a little breathless. Now she could focus on other things that were less about survival and more about wants than needs. Like romance.
Her phone buzzed inside her pocket, and she reached for it automatically, taking a glance and not expecting that her relaxed, good mood would crumble in the blink of an eye. But it did. “Oh, no.”
“What’s wrong?” Hollis’s jolly tone turned suddenly serious. “What’s going on?”
Mallory reread the text, and then she read it again, hoping she was misunderstanding. But nope. For the third time this season, a cast member had bailed. “Miss Carson just texted. She can no longer play Mrs. Claus.” Mallory looked up at Hollis. “Mrs. Claus has half the lines. She’s one of the main characters. Aside from Santa, you, sheisthe main character.” The relaxed feeling she’d had moments before suddenly disappeared, her muscles stiffening like newly poured concrete. “This ruins everything.”
Hollis held up both hands. “Hold on, hold on. Take a breath. We can fix this,” he said. “We just need to step back for a moment and figure out how.”
Mallory shook her head. “Miss Carson has played Mrs. Claus for the past ten years.”
They were both quiet for a moment. The solution was obvious, but Mallory didn’t want to be an actor in the play. She didn’t want to perform onstage.
“You know this is an easy fix, don’t you?” Hollis said, rubbing his fingertips over his beard.
Mallory prepared to argue against what he was about to say.
