Page 32 of Second Chance Christmas

Ivy smiled. As a child and later on in her teenage years, her family would sign on to help with the town’s decoration. This year the running theme seemed to be reindeer. One, in particular, she would wager.

All the storefront windows featured a large silhouette of the town’s newly minted mascot. Fresh garland lined the window frames with various glittery baubles to finish off the festive touch. At night, everything would twinkle with hundreds of lights, another postcard moment.

She slowed when she spotted Dixen’s firehouse. The white building stood back from the road with a huge empty lot in the front. For ease of access with the fire engines, she surmised.

She sat up, curved her arms over the wheel, and squinted. “What is that?” She took a double glance. Off to the side of the fire station, someone with a big sense of humor rigged up a scaled fire truck as a makeshift sleigh. Complete with a fat plastic Santa in the back and a flashing red light for Rudolph’s nose in the front. It even featured eight not-so-tiny reindeer down the sides of the large toy fire truck in lieu of tires.

“Cute.” She laughed. If not a little tacky in the paint department. Someone had a good idea, but not a clue on how to use a paintbrush.

Fireman red plaid and black jeans came into view from around the back. She slowed to a crawl for a better look.

Aspen stepped out from behind the rig, every defined muscle easy to spot even from the street. He’d always loved Christmas decorations.

Thick forearms peeked out from rolled-up cuffs and she pressed the brake to enjoy how he flexed lifting a fat, plastic reindeer into place.

A loud blast of a horn brought her attention back to the road, and she realized she’d come to a complete stop outside the firehouse. “God, Ivy! What is wrong with you!” She pressed a hand to her forehead. “Get your head in the game.”

Nerves had her hands shaking like a leaf in a tornado as she turned into the grocer’s parking lot a couple of minutes later. She killed the ignition and sat there counting out each breath as she gathered her composure.

Her phone buzzed from deep in her jacket pocket and she jumped to dig it out from among the empty cookie baggie still stuffed in her pocket.

A message flashed along the top that notified her of a new email.

She nearly forgot to breathe for the next few seconds as she read over the email.

Dear Ms. Winters,

We are happy to inform you that we were very pleased with our interview yesterday afternoon. Due to the high demand in the area of Victorian home renovations and your expertise in bed and breakfasts—thank you, Gran— should you wish to work with myself and my wife in the restoration of our inn, we accept your proposed plans. Should you be willing to start the day after Christmas, we are willing to double your fee. More details to come. We have reserved a time for a follow-up call at noon your time. Talk then.

She fist-pumped the air which caused the car to rock and several people to look her way.

“Yes!” Her Facebook update wouldn’t be a lie after all. One more conversation and the job would be hers. She could already see the trimmings she wanted to add to the wraparound porch. The banisters that would need some loving from a good architect. Her brother, Colden would be perfect for the job. She really enjoyed working with him on the few occasions he could pull away from his own growing architecture business.

Having a good understanding of her profession, he completely understood her need for organization and having everything planned down to the tiniest detail. When he wasn’t busy building his skyscrapers, he liked to get out from behind mountains of blueprints and get his hands dirty with hands-on jobs like hers.

She hit reply and confirmed the time with her soon-to-be new employer and took a moment to let the possibility of her futurenotmelting into a pile of goo sink in. She just might survive after all.

A pang of something, she didn’t know what, settled over her. Unfamiliar as it was it felt like guilt or like she missed something important and couldn’t remember.

Ivy dug in her handbag for a pencil and scribbled the call into her planner and sat back. She would need to call Colden soon, too. Before he committed to another job. She hoped he didn’t mind working over New Year’s.

She peeled back the cuff of her sleeve. Eleven o’clock. Christmas tree delivery in an hour then she could deal with calling Gran again and letting her know the change of plans. She couldn’t feel guilty, but a certain weight lodged in her belly at the thought of backing out when she told Gran she would stay through Christmas. Then again, leaving the day after was not breaking her word.

Then there was Aspen. She wouldn’t let a couple of hours spent with the man dictate her emotions.

Ivy cracked her knuckles and rolled her head. “Game time. Food, more lights because she refused to untangle that blob of bulbs sitting on the front porch, stop off for the new curtains Gran had put an order in for, another few cans of paint and then back home for the trees and the call. I got this.” She fixed the rearview mirror and caught a stray hair that escaped her loose braid.

From the left, a blur of bright red and white caught her eye in the mirror. A smiling face came into focus as Ivy caught the reflection of a slightly older version of Mrs. December waving at her as she shuffled across the partially empty parking lot.

“Oh, Ivy.” Mrs. December held her door open as Ivy slipped from the warmth of the car and into the embrace of an old family friend. Mrs. December preferred to fight against her short stature with smart heels that reminded her of something Samantha from “Bewitched” wore and midnight black hair streaked with silver piled high, held only in place by at least half a pack of bobby pins and a healthy dose of hairspray. Through the opening of her coat, Ivy caught a glimpse of a wide belt cinched around her middle creating soft, feminine pleats along the bottom half of her dress.

Classy and stylish. You would never know she’d never left Dixen for the big city life.

She was the perfect balance between two eras.

Berry red lips peeled into a welcoming smile. “I hoped I would run into you today. Aspen said you would be around getting supplies.”

Ivy knew there was lesschanceand more stalking involved but only smiled. The older woman gave Ivy one final squeeze before pulling back.

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