Page 3 of Mistletoe Dreams
The warm glow from Henderson's candy shop made her smile, and her heart warmed as she watched a lady wearing a hairnet seem to teach a young girl how to pull candy as they smiled and laughed together. A man, handsome and wearing an apron, lifted a brow at their antics, watching as he dumped something into a mixer, and the whole family just seemed so cozy and happy and represented everything that was missing in Hannah's life.
Deliberately. She'd made deliberate choices, knowing that she was going to miss out on some things because she wanted other things. Unfortunately, those other things had been yanked away from her, and she was left with nothing.
Should she have made different decisions?
She drove by the church, noting the well-used parking lot and a couple of teenagers shooting hoops in the deepening twilight.
Eventually, she made it to the grocery store and pulled into the parking lot, which was almost deserted. She had forgotten thatthings closed down early in small towns. Hopefully she'd be able to grab at least enough groceries for her to be able to feed herself tonight before the place shut down entirely.
Making a mental note to do her shopping earlier in the day, she got out and began walking toward the store.
"You must be new in town," an older lady spoke, startling Hannah out of her thoughts.
"I am. I start my job at the clinic on Monday morning."
"Then you must be Hannah Reynolds. I remember you visiting your grandmother as a child. My daughter, Terry Landis, is the doctor at the clinic."
"Oh my goodness. It's a small world. I just got done talking to Terry a few minutes ago, and I got all the way home before I realized I should've made a stop at the grocery store."
"I'm eating at my daughter-in-law's house, or I would invite you over for supper." The woman stopped for a moment and then laughed. "I didn't introduce myself. I'm Marjorie McBride."
"I remember you. Your children are about the same age as I am, and yeah, I played with Terry when I was here over the summers."
"I'm so glad you're back," Marjorie said warmly, and Hannah had no doubt that she meant it. She felt like the woman truly remembered and was happy to see her, even if she did look tired and worn and perhaps was also in a bit of pain, to Hannah's medically trained eye.
"You know, you could come anyway. There's always room at our table for one more."
"Oh, I couldn't impose like that." Maybe if it had been Marjorie's house and not her daughter-in-law's, Hannah would've said yes. After all, she didn't relish going back to the house and eating by herself. She had never been much of an introvert. She loved spending time with people, and maybe that was part of the reason that she had wanted to be part of a big city hospital. There was always busyness and things to do.
"If you change your mind, I could give you the address so you canjust stick it in your GPS." Marjorie started to pull her phone out of her purse.
"I couldn't impose like that, and plus, I'm a little bit tired. I've been traveling and then going over some things with Terry at the clinic."
"Of course. I'm always exhausted after driving for any distance too." Marjorie seemed to understand, or maybe she just wanted to ease Hannah's guilt at saying no.
"I'll take a rain check," Hannah said, hoping that Marjorie would invite her some other time.
"Of course. As I recall, you and your gram ate at our house multiple times when you were visiting."
"We did. I'd kind of forgotten about that until just now."
There were a lot of things that she'd forgotten about. Penny candy at Henderson's candy store, the Christmas festival that always seemed larger than life, and... Ben Tucker. Oh goodness, she'd totally forgotten about him and the massive crush she'd had on him every summer she'd gone to visit. Every summer she thought maybe that would be the summer he would notice her, but it had never happened.
Goodness, she'd forgotten about that.
Marjorie chatted a bit about how the kids had grown and a few things that had changed in the town, and then she said, "I'm sorry, but I really should run. They're going to be holding supper on me. Are you sure you don't want to come?"
"Not this time, but please ask again. I definitely want to get involved in the town."
"I understand," Marjorie said, patting her arm with her calloused fingers, which had obviously seen a good deal of work over her lifetime. "If you need any help settling in, be sure to let me know."
"I will," Hannah said, feeling almost as though Marjorie was taking care of her as she would take care of one of her own.
It was a good feeling. It also meant something to her that Marjorie and her gram had been friends.
Some of the jittery feeling in her stomach settled down. With talking to Terry Landis face-to-face, knowing that the doctor that she was going to be working with was a kind and decent person, and also having Marjorie reach out to her, she felt like maybe she had some friends in this town, and things wouldn't be as bad as what she had been afraid of.
Although there was still a part of her that just wanted to hide from humanity for a while and lick her wounds.
