Page 18 of A Christmas Spark
“I’m sure it’s going to be amazing.” Vanessa glanced at the pile of boxes in his arms, a touch concernedly. “Should I help you get those to the register?You’redefinitely a little overloaded.” She pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.
“Enough electrician jokes, young lady.” Henry chuckled. “But I suppose I could use a helping hand. Just to get all this to the checkout counter.”
“Happy to.” Vanessa took several of the boxes out of his arms, carrying them to the checkout counter along with Henry. She set them all down, seeing the lady behind the checkout counter raise her eyebrows at the sight of Henry.
“Henry Cline,” she said with a laugh. “This is your second trip today! Whatareyou going to do with all of these lights?”
“Just you wait and see.” Henry grinned, and Vanessa shook her head.
“Secondtrip? This is going to be impressive.”
While Henry joked with the sales associate and finished his purchase, Vanessa went back to do the rest of her shopping. She found the perfect ribbon for her gifts, a spool of wide, dark green velvet edged with gold trim, and she couldn’t help picking up one of the rolls of wrapping paper—a matte-finish paper made to look like wood trim. It even had texture to it, and she thought it would go perfectly with the ribbon.
The rest of her shopping list was easy to track down too. She found several strings of Christmas lights for her apartment windows—nothing compared to Henry’s haul, but still plenty tolight up the space—and ornaments for her tree. There was a lovely sleeve of small ball ornaments in red and silver and green with reindeer etched on them, as well as larger ball ornaments in gold and blue. She picked up a few additional kitschy ornaments as well—a ceramic apple pie, a little nutcracker, and a blown-glass goat, as well as a gorgeous, delicate glass snowflake that would catch the twinkling lights on the tree perfectly. On her way to the checkout counter with her purchases, she couldn’t help picking up a package of gift tags as well, with beautifully painted watercolor winter scenes on them.
To her surprise, Cindy was at the counter, arranging a display of handmade, Christmas-scented soaps while she waited for customers. “Hey there,” she greeted Vanessa as she walked up, and Vanessa gave a small wave, putting her armful of purchases down.
“Giving the other girl a break?” Vanessa asked, and Cindy nodded, setting the last stack of peppermint soaps down.
“We’re a little shorthanded today, and she was an hour past her lunch break. It’s beensobusy today. I thought I’d step in and let her get away to grab a bite to eat.” Cindy reached for the boxes of lights as she started to ring up Vanessa’s purchases. “Did you find everything you needed?”
“I think so. Even one or two that I didn’t,” Vanessa joked, as she reached into her purse to find her wallet.
“Oh, you can always find things like that here.” Cindy grinned, reaching out to point at another display at the end of the counter. “We got a new gift display in yesterday, matter of fact. All quirky, creative things—good for stocking stuffers or those people that are tough to buy for. You should check it out.”
Curious, Vanessa looked at the wooden shelf display as Cindy rang up her items. “These are all really cool,” she murmured. There were hand-carved small wooden brain-teaser puzzles, a set of mugs that displayed Christmas trees when hot liquidwas poured into them, and some gadgets that she wasn’t immediately sure what they did.
She peered at one item in particular—a small device that had multiple pieces that reminded her of watch dials. It had a bit of an old-fashioned watch look to it, with the gears visible and the entire thing done in wood and aged brass.
“What is this?” Vanessa picked it up, turning it this way and that. “It looks interesting.”
Cindy grinned. “It’s a multi-timer. It’s great for cooks. You can set each timer independently, and use it to keep track of different dishes all at once. See how the dials are in a square and then two in the center? You can set one for each burner you’re using, and then use the center ones for dishes in the oven. We figured it would be great for the holidays—think of all the different things you have to keep track of!”
Vanessa peered at the gadget a little more closely. It was perfect for sitting on the kitchen counter—wide and sturdy, and would be almost an art piece as well as something useful. She couldn’t help but think of Jackson immediately.
For as long as they’d been dating, every time she’d gone over to his house and he’d cooked her a meal or come over to cook at hers, she’d watched him orchestrate dinners with timers set on the stove and on his phone, as well as an egg timer he kept in a drawer at his house. Every time, he’d complain that he needed more timers, that he should bring one home from the diner, or grab a couple more egg timers the next time he was at the store.
It would be perfect for him.
“If you’re looking for a special someone who has a knack for cooking—” Cindy winked at her. “It would be the perfect gift. Just saying.”
Vanessa groaned inwardly. Itwasthe perfect gift. She could just picture how his face would light up on Christmas Day when he unwrapped it. She glanced at the price tag. It wasn’t all thatexpensive either. Less than she would have planned to spend on Jackson if they were doing Christmas gifts.
But they weren’t. She bit her lip. They’d agreed not to do gifts for each other, and she couldn’t just do it anyway. As excited as Jackson would be about the timer, he’d feel badly about not getting her a gift, then. She didn’t want to spoil their holiday by making him feel bad.
Reluctantly, she set the timer back on the shelf. “Itisperfect,” she said. “But Jackson and I agreed not to do gifts this year. We thought it would be better to just focus on spending the holiday together, rather than worrying about finding the perfect present.”
The irony being, of course, that I found the perfect present without trying,she thought.
“That’s so sweet.” Cindy beamed, packing up the last of Vanessa’s purchases in a red and green reusable Christmas shopping bag. “I love seeing people focus on the real point of the holiday—time together. That’s the most important thing of all. Also,” she leaned in, smiling conspiratorially at Vanessa. “I think it would be hard for you to ever give him a better Christmas gift than you moving here last year. Poor Jackson was lonely for so long—the whole town has talked about how lucky he is to have you now. We’re all so happy that you make such a wonderful couple.”
“No pressure, right?” Vanessa laughed. “He makes me very happy. I’m glad that we’re doing so well.” She felt her cheeks heat just a little at the idea of the town gossiping about her and Jackson, but she also liked the idea that everyone else felt as happy about her relationship as she did. She was still getting used to the partial lack of privacy in a small town like Fir Tree Grove, where everyone knew so much about each other’s business, but she also appreciated how invested everyone wasin each other’s lives and happiness. “We’re taking it slow,” she added. “But we are really happy.”
“Well I hope you both have a very merry Christmas,” Cindy said, printing out Vanessa’s receipt and handing her the shopping bag. “You have a good day.”
“Merry Christmas to you too.” Vanessa took the bag, flashing Cindy a smile before heading on her way, back to The Toy Chest for the rest of her shift.
She couldn’t help thinking about the timer as she walked back. It really would be the perfect gift for Jackson. But she did her best to put it out of her head.
