Page 13 of A Christmas Bargain

Dammit. Now she’ll get it in her head to introduce me to her, whoever the hell she is.

Yet, as much as I didn’t want Stacy to try to force me back into dating, this brunette had captured my eye.

What intrigued me more, though, was how closely Naomi watched her, curious and unable to look away either.

5

CLAIRE

Iopened my eyes wide then squinted. Then again. It didn’t matter how many times I tried to make my eyes work, those tiny little letters just were not clear.

“That one’s the apple and spice,” the vendor lady told me, pointing at the jar of jam. It looked pretty, more sophisticated and artistically presented than anything I could buy in a store, even the fancier places that seemed to be at every corner in the city. Red and gold bows complemented the dark glass of the container, and the sprig of evergreen with a bell seemed like a cute touch too.

Of course, that might all be part of the gimmicky appeal. To doctor up a product to con a customer into thinking the inside might have been granted just as much care to detail and therefore be high quality. I wasn’tthatfond of jams or jellies. I certainly never took the time to stroll down crowded holiday market days. But it’d be nice to have something for my toast in the morning.

If Dad thought my best option was to look around here, in Preston, for prime real estate and save the company, then it’d make the most sense to just stay with him at his house in Macomb, the adjacent town to Preston. Unfortunately, thatwould mean adopting what was in his pantry. With his health-nut ways, I’d be struggling with a sugar withdrawal. This jelly couldlookhealthy and perhaps escape his scrutiny.

I understood curb appeal, though. I dealt with it plenty in the real estate business. Just because something looked good on the outside never implied the interior would match.

“Oh, I thought you said this was the berry one,” I replied, wishing I could just read the fine font and see the difference.

“Nope. That’s the berry. Oh! These might be up your alley too. With cinnamon.”

“Cinnamon and fruit?” I asked, scrunching my face.

“Oh, yeah. Don’t knock it ’til you try it.” She beamed, eager to make a sale, clearly.

And that was something I knew all too well. That excitement. The buildup of optimism. The confidence that a success was coming.

“Two for twenty,” she reminded me.

“Oh.” I squinted at the chalkboard sign with prices. “I thought that said two for ten.”

The lady laughed. “Lose your glasses?” she asked.

I wanted to groan.Very funny.Actually, that could’ve been really rude. I got a good vibe off her. I was great at reading people, and I could tell she wasn’t poking fun at me. Besides, I was getting so used to people commenting on my crappy eyesight that it wasn’t a shock any longer.

I wasn’t against glasses. Or contacts. I simply didn’t have the time in my schedule to handle it all. Finding a doctor. Then going through an appointment. Didn’t they make you schedule more appointments to try on glasses and contacts and?—

Too much.

First up was saving the company. Then, after the new year, I’d look for an optometrist.

“Well, that cursive penmanship is sort of tricky to follow, too,” I admitted.

The vendor nodded. “That’s what I said! My wife insists that it’s all part of the branding. All part of the image.”

“It is!” another woman piped up from further back behind the stall.

“It is pretty, but it can be difficult to read.” I smiled, not wanting to cause any issues. That horse-drawn carriage was coming by again, and I bet the people getting off the carriage would beeline to this stall.

I hadn’t been here long, forced to stop to get around the traffic for the event, but I’d been here long enough to see that many people carried bags imprinted with this jelly stand’s logo. It worked. It sold me on stopping here.

But I couldn’t linger and dawdle all day. I had a town to drive through, land to check out. All that preliminary research needed for preparing a deal.

“I’ll take these.” I held up both hands, not sure which flavor was which anymore. And I didn’t want to take the time to read the itty-bitty labels again. “Oh, heck. I’ll try the other one, with the cinnamon, too.”

She grinned, bagging up my things and taking my card. “Here,” she said as she handed me my things. “A sample on us.”

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