Page 31 of Christmas Charms
“You too.” I hug her back with all my might.
Fruitcake lets out a little whine, presumably picking up on my messy emotional state. As much as it pains me to admit it, Susan and I haven’t exactly kept in touch. There have been countless times I’ve wanted to pick up the phone and call her, but after breaking her brother’s heart, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. She must have felt the same way, since I haven’t heard from her, either. Admittedly, I’ve been Facebook stalking her for a while, so I know she’s married now and has two adorable daughters—twins. But she’s probably the last person I’d have expected to find at the jewelry shop which is starting to feel like my only hope for solving the charm bracelet mystery.
“Look at you.” She pulls back, hands still on my shoulders as she sweeps me up and down with her gaze. “Classic black turtleneck, winged eyeliner and red lipstick…”
I cringe, waiting for the inevitable “big city princess” comment that’s sure to follow, but instead what she says renders me speechless.
“…Aidan was right. You look just like Audrey Hepburn.” She reaches to tuck a stray lock of hair behind my ear, and it feels like we’re back in tenth grade again.
I blink at her, struggling to absorb what she’s just told me. “He didnotsay that.”
Impossible. It’s the single best thing Aidan could say about the way I look after all this time, and he knows it. Granted, he didn’t say it to my face, but even the idea that he said it at all makes me go all aflutter. Butterflies the size of flying reindeer are swarming around my insides.
“He absolutelydidsay that.” Susan lifts a knowing brow. “He was right, by the way. You look beautiful. City life certainly agrees with you.”
I have the sudden urge to change the subject. For once, I don’t want to talk about Manhattan. “You look great, too. I can’t believe you’re a mom!”
We spend the next half hour getting caught up. Susan assures me Fruitcake is more than welcome, and he curls up in a contented ball behind the sales counter as if he belongs there while we sip hot chocolate and talk so much that my throat gets hoarse. Customers come and go, and while Susan waits on them, she lets me scroll through the camera roll on her phone so I can see all the latest pictures of her girls. The most recent ones are from their visit to Santa, and they look precious in matching red dresses with huge tartan plaid bows in their hair. I’ve never seen such an adorable pair of five-year-olds in my life.
Aidan is in a good number of the pictures too, which makes sense, obviously. Still, I’m not quite prepared for the way I go breathless when his face looks back at me from the screen. Susan’s husband, Josh, is a fireman too, so there are several photos of the two of them together—standing in front of the church steps holding firemen’s boots overflowing with dollar bills during the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Fill the Boot Drive, side-by-side at the grill for the fire department’s summer barbecue, washing the ladder truck with big, soapy sponges. Josh must have been off-duty last night when my mom and I visited the firehouse. He shows up in dozens of casual family photos with Susan and the twins, but I can’t help noticing there’s not a single shot of Aidan out of uniform.
That, plus the fact that Aidan was working an overtime shift when he rescued me from the snowbank this morning, leads me to believe he must work a lot. All the time, from the look of things.
“Does your brother own any clothes without the OLFD logo on them?” I ask when I hand the phone back to Susan.
She shakes her head. “You noticed, huh?”
“It’s kind of hard not to.”
“He loves his job.” Susan smiles, but there’s a quiet tension to the set of her mouth that makes me wonder if there’s more to the story.
I know I shouldn’t press, but I can’t help it. “That must not leave much time for a personal life.”
Susan gives me an amused once over. “Are you asking if Aidan is seeing anyone?”
“Gosh, no.” I wave a dismissive hand, and the charms on my bracelet clink together. “Well, maybe.”
She stares at me until a flush of heat crawls up my neck and settles in my cheeks. Super, my face is probably as red as a potted poinsettia.
“Fine.” I sigh. “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m asking.”
“I knew it. You went all starry-eyed as soon as I mentioned his name.” She laughs. And for the record, I didnotgo all starry-eyed. Much. “To answer your question—no, there’s no one.”
“No one at all?” Rudolph and company take flight in my tummy again, and I take a giant gulp of hot chocolate to try and quiet them down.
It doesn’t work.
“Nope.” Susan shrugs. “He dated other girls for a year or two after you first moved away, but never anyone long-term. For the past five years or so, he hasn’t dated anyone at all. Since he joined the fire department, it’s become his whole life. Sometimes I think he’d rather run into a burning building than risk his heart again.”
I lower my gaze to the marshmallows melting in my cup. As much as I’d sort of hoped Aidan was still single, this news makes my heart wrench.
“What about you?” Susan asks, voice going soft. “Anyone special?”
“No, not anymore.” I wait for the pang that hits me whenever I think about Jeremy—and Paris and the proposal that never happened—but weirdly enough, it doesn’t come. I feel…fine, really. Interesting. “I mean, there was, but not anymore.”
Susan nods, then takes a sip of hot chocolate, and before I can stop myself, I’m telling her everything that’s happened in the past week—from trying on Audrey’s necklace and the subsequent breakup with Jeremy to meeting Betty on the train, the strange appearance of Fruitcake and all the charms that seem to be coming to life. It all just comes spilling out of me. It feels so good to finally tell someone what’s been going on and to get all the craziness out in the open that I could weep with relief.
Susan’s face has gone as white as Owl Lake’s snow-covered landscape by the time I finish. Her eyes—the same beautiful blue as Aidan’s—flit toward the charms splayed out innocently on the wrist of my sweater. “Is that it? That’s the magical bracelet?”
