Page 97 of Deck the Fire Halls

“No clue.”

He grumbled. “Handmade. I could have killed Hamish when he said that.”

“To be fair, I don’t think Hamish expected Hamish to say that either.”

He snorted. “True. But we’re running out of days.”

“Yeah, I planned on using my week without Soren to get it done.”

“You make it sound like he’s going off to war.”

I barely refrained from wailing. “I know! It’s pitiful. I’m pitiful.”

Gunter clapped my shoulder. “He lives next door to you, and he works across the road from you. Put dirty little notes in his mailbox or something. So at the end of the week, he’ll be banging on your door.”

The more I thought about that, the more I had to suppress a smile. “That’s... that’s actually a really good idea.”

Just then the door pushed open and the first of the kids came in. Jeez, I didn’t realize the time. “Wow, school’s out already.”

“Hey Mister Z,” Evie said to Gunter, the first through the door.

Gunter straightened up all his papers and stood. “Hey Evie.” As the others filed in, he gave me an awkward smile, then said, “Hey, I have a question,” he began. “It’s just something we were thinking about. But you guys have, what, a year left of school?”

They mostly nodded.

“And you’ll be looking at colleges or even just moving to get out of town, right?”

They mostly nodded again.

“Well, you’re gonna be looking for work and whatnot, so what if we set up a coffee machine in here andget you all experts so you can walk into any coffee shop in any city and say yes, you have experience.”

They looked among themselves and it was Evie who answered. “Uh, yeah. That sounds cool.” She looked around. “In here?”

“Well, maybe. We don’t know. To begin with. But there’s an empty store next door, and maybe we could get a proper café set up, with tables. Make it a cool hangout for teenagers, but also staffed by you guys too. That way you get experience across the board. Then you could apply for jobs in retail, at the cinemas, but there’s a coffee shop on almost every corner and it’s a good place to start.”

They were clearly excited about it, and Gunter put his hands up. “Wait up. We’re just in the discussing stages, and if it can happen at all, it’s a long way off. It might not be up and running before you guys are gone, which would be a shame. But we can at least get the machine in here so you guys can learn that before you go. Proper training, with certificates and everything.”

Well, if this was a test group, the response was positive. It just made me more determined to make it into a reality.

I helped Gunter out for a short while, but the last thing a bunch of kids wanted was another adult hanging around, even in the office. I waved them goodbye, donned my coat, gloves, and beanie, and made my way up onto Main Street.

The old-fashioned awnings with Christmas decorations, the small Christmas trees along the shop walls, the snow-covered mountain backdrop... it looked surreal.

The way people smiled and said hello to me... it felt surreal too.

Maybe it was my good mood or the clean fresh air, but with my newfound inspiration for making little notes for Soren—and after a trip to the Home Mart—I needed to go to the hardware store.

I hadn’t been inside the store so I was excited, hoping to see Ren and Hamish in their natural habitat.

The doorbell chimed above my head, the smell of sawdust and lacquer hitting me as soon as I walked in. It reminded me of something likeThe Waltons, just more modern, obviously.

Ren was behind the counter, and he grinned when he saw me. He was cute as hell, wearing his plaid shirt and apron. “Hello there,” he said. “Is there something I can help you with, or are you here to see Hamish?”

“Well, both,” I said. “I need some supplies for this homemade gift thing I’ve been roped into.”

He put his hands up in surrender. “I know nothing, and I cannot be held accountable for my husband’s actions.”

Hamish appeared from an office. “He also can’t testify against me in a court of law, so.” Then he shrugged. “Did I hear you needed supplies?”

---