Page 20 of Wrap Me Up

“How was the ornament workshop?” Dylan asks.

“You totally gave him the idea. And I love you for it. We actually made ornaments for each other. I haven’t looked at mine. One sec.” I push to my feet and rush back to my apartment to grab it. Clutching the box to my chest, I race back to my friends and show them his work. The ornament I gave him, I wrapped the box in tulle and called it a day. Noel has beautiful precise folds in the silver paper making a criss-cross pattern. “I almost don’t want to ruin it.”

Snow takes the package from my hand and squints, looking at it from every angle. “I approve.” He hands it over to Dylan, who nods.

“Okay, let’s do this.” I take the box back and pull the silver ribbon, causing the wrapping paper to fall away. I shimmy the top off and suck in a breath. “Oh,” I whisper and hold the round ornament up. Noel painted a snowy scene on the glass. It’s the gumdrop and candy cane lined path from the apartments. The bushy evergreens sparkle with silver glitter. There are even tiny elves walking the path and I can tell exactly which elf he meant each one to be. Right down to a pair of tiny elves holding hands that can only be the two of us.

“Beautiful!” Snow says.

“I knew Noel was talented, but I had no idea about this,” I say. Gently, I place the ornament back into the box. I don’t want to put the lid back on, but I want it protected. So back into the dark it goes, and I put it in the drawer of my worktable for extra protection.

“What does your ornament for him look like?” Dylan says.

I shrug. “Not this pretty. I painted a cute little plate of cookies and a glass of milk as a nod to the North Pole’s history. He loves learning our history, and I thought it’d be fitting.”

“Love it,” Snow says. “Whats’ the plan for more gifts?”

“I have a few ideas up my sleeves.” I slump against my table and thread my fingers through my hair. “Okay, actually, that’s a lie. I have no idea.”

“What about…” Snow scrunches his nose. “Dunno. I don’t really know him all that much, to be honest. What does he like?”

“Gift wrapping, history, cooking, baking. Oh! We didn’t eat dessert last night.” I wonder what it was.

“Sounds like he owes you something sweet,” Dylan says.

“Or. Hear me out. I make something sweet and take it to him.” I’m not one to cook much, so something easy would be best. “Oh, like chocolate-covered strawberries.”

“Love it!” Snow says. “So romantic. You can feed them to each other, then—”

I groan. “You’re spelling out my entire plan now. I wanna use my imagination for something.”

We grin at each other, and the door to the workshop opens, revealing Snickerdoodle.

“Am I missing something?” She cocks a brow as she stomps on the doormat to release the snow on her boots. She hangs her peacoat on the hook on the wall.

“I’ll fill you in on everything when everyone’s here.” That way, I won’t have to say everything repeatedly, just twice.

“Sounds perfect.” Snickerdoodle joins us and Dylan passes her a to-go cup. It’s probably cold by now, but she still moans into the cup. “Thanks. Needed that. The kids were up all night coughing and—”

“If you need to stay home,” I start, but she waves my concerns away.

“They’re fine. Just exhausted after staying up all night. We can’t afford not to have all hands on deck right now.”

“We can figure it out, Snicks. If you need to be at home, it’s okay.”

She shakes her head. “Truthfully, I needed to get away. They’ll be good in no time. Cranberry is watching them right now since he called in to work. Fruitcake isn’t happy about it, but it is what it is.”

I scowl at the mention of Fruitcake. “Fruitcake was bad-mouthing Snow and Dylan this morning. He needs to watch himself.”

Snickerdoodle squeezes my shoulder. “He’s trying. He’s a lot more mellow than he used to be. Trust me.”

Snow frowns. “I’ve noticed he’s nicer, but has to catch himself from falling into old patterns. When I visit the reindeer, it’s still a little tense.” Dylan kisses the top of his head.

“I have to agree. Fruitcake is doing better,” Dylan says.

“Okay, well, I’ll just have to believe you for now,” I mumble.

The rest of my crew files in and I shoo my besties from the studio so we can get to work for the day.

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