Page 15 of A Curvy Wonderland

They grated on my ears like nails grated on a chalkboard. But the girl seemed so happy, singing along as they worked, that I found the music growing on me.

Once we were done shoveling the drive and sidewalk, I gave Tatum the jug of snow melt, and she sprinkled it over the cement to keep ice from forming throughout the day or overnight. Then we loaded back up in the Polaris, and I reached into the cooler in the back, getting snacks for each of them.

“Lunchables?” Lucy cried. “You're the best Eldan.” She was sitting up front this time, and she reached over wrapping her arms around me in a hug.

At first I stiffened, not sure what to do, but she was so happy that I reached out and awkwardly patted her back. “You're welcome,” I said.

While they snacked, I drove to the next house. The couple was just leaving, so Holly chatted with them for a little bit while I got the girls set up with their shovels. Once the couple left, the four of us fell into a rhythm, forming an unexpectedly productive team. It was nice to have something to do, to be able to focus on the work and how it made my muscles tired. Especially when I kept noticing things about Holly. Like how white snowflakes fell into her dark curls and then disappeared after a moment or two. Or how encouraging she was, always redirecting the girls instead of getting onto them.

This time when we were done, Lucy took a turn shaking the snow melt, and then I said, “Let's go to Scrooge’s for some lunch. It's on me this time.”

The girls were so excited, and when we walked into the diner, Scrooge called, “Same thing as yesterday?”

We all agreed and sat down at a table, warming our hands.

“Are you tired?” I asked Holly and the girls. “Or do you think we can handle another house?”

“Another house,” Tatum said.

Lucy nodded too. To be fair, the younger two didn't do as much shoveling as Holly and I did. They really spent more time playing around, so I looked at Holly to confirm, and she nodded. “I'll sleep good tonight though,” she said with a weary smile.

I nodded in agreement.

We ate, and then I paid before leaving the restaurant and going to our next house. Part of the driveway had already been shoveled, just enough to get the car in and out and a very thin path for the homeowners to walk, so we cleaned it up quickly. Then we got to the final house of the day, and an older man came outside with thermoses of hot chocolate for us to sip.

While we sipped the warm drink, he told us that he had hurt his back a number of years ago, so shoveling was really hard on him. He was so thankful for us. He even brought out a gas-powered heater so that we could warm our hands as we worked.

We were just about ready to go when he said, “Hold on, Santa told me to get you girls something.”

Tatum and Lucy's eyes lit up. “Really?” Lucy said.

Tatum said, “We are so lucky!”

I felt Holly’s curious eyes on me as the man went into his house. “Santa’s making more stops than usual this year.”

“Santa isn’t real,” I muttered.

She elbowed me in the side, tilting her head toward the girls.

I rubbed my side although it didn’t really hurt. “What? They didn’t hear.”

Before Holly could reply, the man came back with two small packages wrapped in the same bright red paper as before. The girls opened their presents, this time holding ornate, Christmas-themed picture frames.

That’s when I noticed the polaroid camera around his neck. “We should get some pictures of you to add in there!”

Holly smiled at him. “That’s such a great idea, Mr. Benson.”

He suggested that we all pose in the clear driveway, so that we could remember all of our hard work, and took several pictures so each of us could have one.

And holding the imagine in my hand, I was surprisingly grateful for it, that I would have a memory of this Christmas.

Maybe Hollywasrubbing off on me, because that night before bed, I was having a hard time thinking about anything but the picture, and how beautiful her smile looked.

9

HOLLY

So maybe I spent a little bit of extra time getting ready this morning finding my Rudolph the reindeer sweater, going to the dollar store and getting reindeer headbands for me and both of the girls, and even drawing a little reindeer makeup on my face. Of course, it had to with the comment Eldan made yesterday about Rudolph being the only non-smelly reindeer.

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