Page 27 of A Christmas Spark
“Who you’re supposed to be picking up in an hour.” Vanessa glanced at the snowman-shaped clock on the wall. “I was going to lock up when I was done with the gifts, remember?”
“Oh, I’ll be done in a minute.” Mabel tugged at the corner of a garland that she was attempting to tie around the broken bracket, and Vanessa frowned.
“I really don’t think that?—”
Mabel shot her a look, and Vanessa shrugged, turning her attention to the next gift that needed to be wrapped—a racehorse figurine, requested to be wrapped in silver paper with blue glitter ribbon.
“Have you picked out Jackson’s Christmas gift yet?” Mabel asked, glancing over her shoulder as she discarded the garland and reached down into a box at her feet. “If you need some suggestions?—”
“We’re actually not doing gifts this year.” Vanessa bit her lip, reaching for a rectangle of silver paper. “He suggested that maybe we just focus on time together this season as our gift, and not give ourselves the pressure of getting it right on our first anniversary.” She let out a sigh, and Mabel paused, turning to look at her granddaughter more fully.
“Well, that sounds nice,” she mused. “But it looks like you aren’t all that happy about it.”
“I was,” Vanessa admitted. “At first, it sounded really sweet. And I liked the idea of taking the pressure off. Gifts aren’t really my love language, and I would rather have a holiday full of happiness and memories than either of us be stressed out over buying just the right thing, or disappointed because we got it wrong.”
“But…” Mabel prompted, her expression knowing.
Vanessa let out another sigh, folding a corner of wrapping paper over with slightly more force than necessary. “But I keep seeing things that would be perfect for him. Like this ‘Overload of Christmas Spirit’ t-shirt, and a multi-timer cooking gadget that would have been perfect for him. It kind of made me wish that we’d just agreed to do small gifts, instead of no gifts.
Mabel laughed, pulling a string of Christmas lights out of the box at her feet.
Mabel laughed, the sound warm and rich like hot chocolate. “Well, it’s a good sign that you’re seeing things he’d like. Mencan be so difficult to buy gifts for. It means you’ve gotten to know Jackson well.”
Vanessa felt a dreamy smile spread across her face. She pressed her lips together, momentarily lost in thought over the past year of getting to know Jackson. She should have known he was the one, she thought, as soon as he’d offered her endless coffee and then procured a special eggnog creamer just for her. He was still always thoughtful like that, bringing her coffee and coming up with special dates for them, cooking meals for her and just generally spoiling her in a way that she’d never imagined a boyfriend would.
“Things are going so well,” she said, her cheeks flushing a little as she heard the way she sounded—like a teenager with a crush instead of a grown woman. She couldn’t help it though. Shedidhave a crush on Jackson, still, after a year of dating. She hoped it never went away. “Honestly, I want to show him how much I love him any way that I can. I keep trying to think up special ways we can spend the holiday together, dates we can go on before Christmas, all of that. But it feels odd not to get him anything. I mean—I understand why we made the agreement,” she added. “And the spirit of it is perfect for this time of year. I love that we made that decision… just not how many perfect things I’ve found for him since we agreed.”
“I can see how that’s difficult,” Mabel sympathized. “But it seems like it’s important to Jackson to focus on time together, instead of material things. I’m sure he’d rather the two of you focus on what you agreed on, and show that you can keep your end of a deal in a partnership, rather than having a gift, no matter how perfect or thoughtful or special.”
“Of course,” Vanessa agreed quickly, taping down the last of the silver paper and reaching for the blue glitter ribbon. “And I respect the agreement we made. It’s just one Christmas, after all. There’ll be plenty more for fun, meaningful gifts.”
Even as she said it, though, Vanessa couldn’t help thinking about what she’d found the day before when she’d stopped in at Cheerful Chapters on her lunch break, looking for a new thriller that she’d wanted to read. Of course, the bookseller had just gotten in a special edition collection of a mystery series that she remembered Jackson reminiscing to her one night about reading as a child. They were young adult books about a teenage detective and his loyal dog, and Jackson had said he’d been obsessed with them as a boy. Vanessa could just imagine how thrilled he’d be to open those on Christmas morning, and own a special, limited copy of the series.
Pushing the thought aside, Vanessa glanced up to see Mabel threading a string of multicolored Christmas lights through the brackets of the shelf, winding them multiple times around the broken one to try to hold it in place. Even with that, the intricate pattern that she was weaving around the shelf seemed to have no real logical purpose whatsoever.
“Well?” Mabel turned to look at her granddaughter as she finished looping the lights once more. “Look at my masterpiece!” She stepped down from the short ladder, standing back to admire her handiwork. The shelf now glowed with festive colors, the lights wound tightly around the wood and metal fixtures. “What do you think?”
Vanessa pressed her lips together, trying desperately not to laugh. “It’s certainly… festive,” she managed. “But are you sure it’s going to hold all those dolls? The Christmas lights seem more decorative than structural. And I’m not even sure they’re going to sit right on the shelf with all those lights strung around and across it.”
“These aren’t just any Christmas lights,” Mabel explained, patting the shelf with confidence. “They’re the heavy-duty outdoor kind. Strong as rope! Plus, they add a certain charm, don’t you think? The children will love it.”
Vanessa couldn’t argue with that logic—at least not the part about children loving it. The shelf did look magical, like something out of a storybook. “Just promise me you won’t overload it,” she said, reaching for another gift to wrap.
“It’ll hold just fine,” Mabel insisted. “And it’s much more festive than those boring brackets that George would have used.”
Vanessa couldn’t help but smile at her grandmother’s confidence, even if she didn’t share it. Mabel always did things in unconventional ways, though, and it usually worked out.Usuallybeing the operative term.
“Speaking of George,” Vanessa said, returning to her gift-wrapping station, “it was awfully nice of him to agree to watch Rascal. I can only imagine what the little terror is getting up to over there.”
“He wanted to spend more time with the kitten and he knows it,” Mabel insisted. “He just couldn’t admit it, the old grumpy-pants. Having something small and fluffy around will be good for him.”
“Of course,” Vanessa agreed, a small, amused smile still on her face. “I think he did it more for you though. I think he saw how attached you are to Rascal already, and wanted to help.” She paused, seeing her grandmother gearing up for an argument. “You don’t see the way he looks at you when he thinks no one is watching,” she added. “It’s sweet. Jackson thinks there’s something there too.”
“Oh, hush,” Mabel said, rolling her eyes, although Vanessa thought she caught the smallest hint of a smile on her face too. “The whole town has thought there’s ‘something there’ for years. We’re just co-parenting a kitten, that’s all.”
“Mm-hm,” Vanessa hummed skeptically as she tied a bow on the present in front of her. “And I suppose that’s why you’ve been humming Christmas carols all day? Because of the kitten?”
“It’s my Christmas spirit,” Mabel said firmly. “Which is at its height right now, with the season going so well.”
