Page 22 of Merry with a Captain

A countdown began, she and Fletch joined in, and when the tree lights turned on, it exploded into myriad of colors and sparkles, enough to almost hurt the eyes. Everyone gasped.

"Oh my, it’s beautiful and so much prettier. They must've had lights hidden in the branches. It’s spectacular."

"There's your answer?" Fletch said. “I bet you can see the tree for miles. It's actually a good idea to put it there so anyone living aboard their boats could see it too."

"Can you see your boat from here?" Robyn asked

“No, unfortunately. But we might be able to see her from your hotel room."

“How about we check when we go back,” she suggested.

"We should, maybe she'll have her lights on to make it easier to see her in the dark.”

They were quiet for a few minutes, listening to the speeches on stage from the mayor, the Christmas Market manager, and a few other people. Soon the crowd began to dissipate.

“Do you feel like walking around the market again?" Fletch asked her.

“Yes, I'd like to see if there's anything I can pick up for my family.” She decided she was going to ask him to come with her to Vermont. Hopefully he'd say yes.

The crowd was thick, and they wandered between all the people, stopping at most of the booths. By the time they finished, they had an armload of gifts and wrapping paper and headed back to her room.

"Now to wrap everything up, with Christmas music and eggnog." Robyn was beginning to feel very Christmassy, and spending the time with Fletch made it even more perfect.

"That's not something I've ever done," he told her.

"Oh Fletch, that is so sad! Well, you know what, we’ll create a new tradition tonight for you. I've always loved wrapping and making the presents pretty. Usually I try and have a theme each year.”

"A theme for wrapping the presents?" He stood aside while the concierge opened the door to the hotel for them and followed her through. "Thank you,” he said.

"Merry Christmas, sir.”

“Merry Christmas.”

The lobby was busy as they walked to the elevator.

“Yes, I choose colors, and images, like whether it's going to be poinsettias, snow, rustic, etc. Then I make sure I wrap everything up around that theme. But today, I suppose the theme will be crafty since most of the items we got are crafts, and even handmade wrapping paper, with twine. I even got some brown paper to wrap some things into. I’ve always wanted to do that. So I guess rustically crafty is my theme this year." She laughed and liked that Fletch chuckled along with her. Robyn sighed, feeling wonderful about everything.

"I'm looking forward to this new adventure with you,” he told her.

“Me too.”

He pushed the elevator button with his elbow, and a few moments later, they were in her room, putting all of the packages on the bed.

"Okay, so now I'm gonna call for some room service so that we can get our Christmas goodies, and let's find some Christmas music. You can do that, okay?” Robyn handed him the remote and then called down to order.

Soon Christmas music filled the hotel room, and room service had brought up a nicely decorated rolling table full of Christmas treats and eggnog. Robyn had re-organized the desk, which thankfully was bigger than usual, so they could use it as a wrapping table.

"Not bad,” she said with her hands on her hips. "Not as much room as the old trestle table in my parents’ house, but this will do. Oh! Let's see if we can see your boat out there before we settle into wrapping.”

“All right, let's see. I think we'll have to turn the lights off in the room for better visibility." He did and led her to the window. “Ah, just as I thought. She is lit up for Christmas."

"Where?" Robyn searched the docks but wasn’t sure what to look for.

"Right there." He pointed and she followed the direction of his finger to a large white ship, well past the docks and out on its own in the bay. It was lit up with Christmas lights as well as just above the waterline, illuminating the water around the boat.

"Holy shit, that is huge." She looked at him, surprised and saw the pride on his face when he glanced at her. “You captain that massive vessel? It's not at all what I expected."

"What did you expect?" he asked, humor in his voice.

---