Page 16 of The Bookworm Who Stole Christmas
I’ve never opened and closed something as fast as I did when a picture of Santa Claus appeared on my computer screen. Sudden flashbacks of my childhood caused my breath to catch and my footing to stumble.
Luckily, the doorbell chiming pulls me out of my reminiscing. I move around the counter to begin wiping the shelves and checking for dust mites. No matter how manytimes I clean, I always freak out that the books are going to get destroyed.
“Maddie, you here?” someone calls.
“Just coming,” I holler back.
Walking through the book stacks, I find Amelia standing by the door, bundled up in a thick coat, scarf, hat, and snow boots. I can barely see her under all her clothing.
“Hey, what can I do for you?” I ask, smiling.
“The Christmas lights are being turned on tonight, and I thought you’d like to go?”
“Amelia,” I groan, drawing her name out.
Her bright blue eyes plead with me as she clasps her hands in front of her face. “Pleeeeease? It’ll be a lot of fun.”
“You know I don’t do Christmas, kid. Don’t make me,” I beg.
Her face falls, and I feel like the world's worst person. This kid knows where to hit me. When did I start going soft? Oh yeah, when I met her and Parker.
“Okay, fine,” I huff, throwing my hands in the air. “But I don’t do crowds, so there better not be a lot of people there.”
“Well, the whole town’s kinda gonna be there, so it might be busy,” I go to interrupt, but she rushes to add, “but we can stand back away from the crowds. There’s a really good spot just past the bakery where you can see everything but won’t be in the thick of it.” She grins from ear to ear, and I’m done for.
“Fine,” I grumble, “but I want it put on record that I’m not happy about this.”
“Yay!” Amelia jumps up and down on the balls of her feet. “It’s gonna be great. You’ll love it.”
“Debatable.”
“Okay, well, I’ll leave you to it. I’ve got schoolwork to do, but I’ll stop by later and grab you.”
She turns to leave, but I stop her. “Amelia?”
“Yeah?” She whips round, still smiling broadly.
“Want a weekend job?”
After talking to Parker about wanting some extra help, there was only one person who sprang to mind that I’d be comfortable having in the store working with me.
Her eyes light up, and she gives me a wide, toothy grin. “Really?”
“Yeah, we need to talk to your dad and make sure he’s okay with it, and you need to keep on top of your schoolwork, but… yeah.” I shrug.
Amelia takes a running jump, engulfing me in a hug. I’m shocked to say the least; I can’t remember the last time I was touched that wasn’t out of anger. I awkwardly give her a pat on the back, not knowing how to handle the situation.
She pulls back, tears in her eyes. “I won’t let you down.”
“I know you won’t.”
Amelia met me at the store just before closing, talking a mile a minute about all of the books she’s read and ones she can’t wait to recommend to customers. I nod my head, smiling at her enthusiasm as she keeps going.
Thankfully, the snow’s stopped falling for now. The plows have been out on the streets clearing the roads, but it’s still slippery as hell. The number of times I’ve nearly fallen flat on my ass from black ice is too many to count.
The town’s busy with the comings and goings of people, but luckily, it’s not busy enough tocause me to freak out. Not being a people person, large crowds cause anxiety, but so far, so good.
Amelia stops outside a video game store. It’s so small you wouldn’t know it was there unless you were looking for it.
