Page 19 of Sleighing You
I remembered seeing them in the store today, too. All four of them were there shopping for sweaters around the same time I saw Ed there. “Mary Lou is beautiful. Does she have a sweet tooth like you?”
He huffed and slumped deeper into his chair. “How the hell would I know?”
I shrugged. “I thought you two might be friends.”
“We were. Long ago. But not for a long while. Not since she got married forty-some years ago.”
“She still married?”
“Nope.” Ed shook his head, but gave no more explanation than that.
I scanned the table in front of them and saw a half-eaten pizza, a beer, and a couple glasses of wine. So, she seems to enjoy a nice drink… at least she drinkswine. Which wasn’t the same as hard alcohol, but those cocktails Nick made went down easily. Like candy.
“Okay, Ed. I’ll see you tomorrow at the shop?”
“Yeah. Tell Avery I want gingerbread cookies again. She makes the best ones in town.”
I glanced over at our table, where Avery was watching us closely. I stood, taking my beer with me and stopping Nick as I walked by him. “You finish those drinks already?” he asked.
“Nah, I’m still working on this IPA. It’s delicious though. I’ll have to get a growler before I head back to Boston.” I paused, lowering my voice. Even though I thought I was far enough from Ed that he couldn’t hear me, I didn’t want him intervening and stomping out of the bar before I could set things in motion. He seemed like the kind of prickly old man who might do just that. “Hey… I was hoping you could send a tiramisu and one of your candy cane martinis over to Mary Lou over there… from Ed.”
Nick’s eyes lowered as he shifted his gaze from me to where Ed was sitting with his hands still wrapped around the mug of hot chocolate. “Ed’sgoing to pay for that? Half the time, that guy leaves without paying for his single hot chocolate. I don’t make a big deal out of it. Those hot chocolate packs only cost me a few cents. But the principal—”
“Nope,” I said, “I want you to put it on my tab. But tell her it’s from Ed.”
“Here for a day and you’re already meddling in people’s affairs? You fit right in here in Maple Grove.”
I shook my head. “He just seems… lonely. Does Ed not have a lot of money?”
“Oh, he gets by,” Nick said. “But he’s not swimming in it… on social security and all. He tried to apply for a few jobs around town a while ago, but he couldn’t handle the physical demands of a lot of them. Retail jobs require employees to lift inventory and open crates. Servers are on their feet all day. I think he gave up trying a while ago.”
Hm. If he wasn’t so damn cranky, he could make a cute Santa. Then again, my Dad was so hellbent on keeping that role in the family… perhaps I could find another role for Ed here at StoryBook. There was something about him. Maybe it was how lonely he appeared. Or maybe it was the fact that I could see myself reflected in him. CouldIbe Ed in a few decades? I had to admit… I already had the grumpy, loner personality.
I walked back to Avery and took my seat across from her.
“You’re just in time,” she whispered. “They’re about to announce the winners of the business owners’ category.”
I opened my mouth to correct her that she did not, in fact, own StoryBook Christmas, but for once, I snapped it shut without saying a word.
“Now,” Mayor Dyker said, “I first have to give the unfortunate news of revealing the disqualified folks. To start off, and I think this comes as a surprise to no one, Nick from Nick’s Pizzeria… you’ve been disqualified. Yes, I judged you in your sweater earlier today, but since then, you have removed it… as you do every year.”
Nick took a bow as everyone else around us chuckled and clapped for him, Mayor Dyker included. “You are nothing if not consistent, Nick!”
“StoryBook Christmas, you were in our top three for final contestants. Your cute take on Cindy Lou Who and the Grinch were just the right amount of creative and, well, hideous.”
Avery gave out a shrill squeal and launched to her feet in an adorably juvenile display of excitement.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Mayor Dyker said, holding up his hand. “Someone reported you…” He paused and his eyes flicked to me briefly. “for removing your sweater before coming here today. While you were in our top three, I’m sorry, StoryBook Christmas… we have to disqualify you.”
“What!?” Avery cried. “That’s not possible. We—we wore our sweaters all day, right Chris?”
I nodded. “I wore this stupid thing everywhere—even though it was hot as he—” I paused, looking around at all the ankle-biter kiddos running around, and quickly shifted my vulgar language. “Er,heck.”
Mayor Dyker sighed, and with a nod of his head, sent a younger blonde woman over to us while he continued on with his speech. The woman, his assistant, maybe… brought her phone over to Avery and showed her an image on the screen. “Sorry,” she whispered. “Someone emailed this in an hour ago.”
Avery blinked, looking at the screen. “You took your sweater off,” she whispered, glancing up at me.
I shook my head. “What? What are you talking about? I kept this stupid thing on all day until I got in my car and went home.”
