Chapter 28: Chapter 28

“Is he interested in me?” she muttered to herself, unlocking the door and turning to wave at him before ducking inside and locking the door behind her, not wanting to turn the lights on and potentially attract people who might assume she was open. “No, he can’t be,” she whispered aloud as she headed to the back. “Why would he be? He’s just a nice guy. A very attractive, funny, intelligent, extremely wealthy, nice guy. Not that the money matters—because it doesn’t.” After all, if he got all of that money from taking advantage of families like the ones who owned those homes he was looking at, then that would just be wrong, and she wouldn’t want to be associated with it at all.

She had a feeling that wasn’t the case, though. It sounded like both of his parents were successful in their fields, and perhaps they had also come from money. She couldn’t imagine what that would be like—not that she’d ever wanted for anything. But her dad had a middle-class job, and her mother had been an artist before she passed away. The heart condition that eventually took her life during Memory’s birth limited what Ann could do. Memory’s upbringing had been modest at best. Her grandparents had scraped pennies together to buy their house and to maintain it. They’d come across it at a good time when prices were low and wages were high. If that hadn’t been the case, they never would’ve been able to afford such a large house.

Memory tried to stop thinking about money as she opened up the desk drawer in the back of the store where she kept her purse. Her grandmother’s journal was sitting underneath her bag, the red cardinals reminding her of the birds she’d seen at the house the other day. She picked it up but didn’t open it. It had been a few months since she’d come across it in her grandma’s things, and she intended to read through it, thinking perhaps there’d be mention of the life insurance policy. She’d also thought reading her grandma’s thoughts might make it seem like she was here. But she’d put it off, and then, she’d met Ellie, and there’d been no need to seek her grandmother out, because it seemed like, whenever Ellie was around—somehow Helen was, too. Memory dropped the journal into her bag, picked her lunch box up off the desk, and headed to the back door.

Her car keys in her hand, she locked the back door behind her, wishing she had one of those fancy remote starts like Dak. Car lights at the end of the alley caught her attention. He was there, waiting for her, making sure she was safe. She shook her head, but she really wasn’t surprised. He raised a hand at her, and she waved back before heading over to her car.

The engine fired up despite the cold weather. Memory gave it a minute, letting it thaw a little before she flicked her wipers on to move the fresh snow off of the windshield, glad there was just a thin layer of frost, which she could see through. In a minute, the defrost would melt that away, too. Buckled in, she shifted into reverse, and Dak waved at her one more time as he pulled away, headed toward the inn.

At home, her dad was asleep in front of the TV, a black and white Christmas movie playing. She grabbed the throw blanket off of the chair and draped it over him, careful not to disturb him, and then headed upstairs. She’d need to text her sister in the morning and make sure she could borrow those dogs, but for now, Memory thought she’d take advantage of having everything caught up at the shop, and the fact that she didn’t even have to be at work until 10:00 for once, to take a long, relaxing bubble bath.

She went into the bathroom and turned the water on then went back and fished her phone out of her coat pocket, thinking it would be nice to listen to some spa music. She was surprised to see she had a text. “Thanks again for standing next to me at the Christmas tree lighting.”

Memory giggled, hoping it wasn’t so loud it disturbed her dad. She glanced into the living room. By the faint glow of the Christmas tree lights, she could tell he hadn’t shifted. “Thank you for talking me into it,” she replied. “See you tomorrow.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

With a smile on her face so broad she hardly recognized herself in the bathroom mirror, Memory turned on her music and set her phone down, glad to finally have something to smile about again.

***

Sleeping in proved harder than Memory had expected. She was up before 8:00, showered, dressed, and puttering around the house, wondering what to do with herself. Going to the shop early wasn’t really an option. Ellie had already sent a text that morning that said she’d better not dare show up before 10:00. After texting her sister and requesting five plush dogs for the snowman project, Memory settled down to watch a Christmas movie she hadn’t seen for a few years before she headed to the shop.

Ellie had everything under control, despite the fact that there were plenty of customers inside when Memory came in. All of the shelves were stocked, the store was clean, and somehow, everyone she asked had already been helped with finding what they were looking for, even though Ellie was behind the cash register. Not only was the large table gone, so was another piece of furniture—a bookcase that had been in the corner for as long as Memory could remember.

“Ellie,” she said between customers. “How’s it going?”

“Oh, Memory! How are you dear? It’s so nice to see you. Did you enjoy your time off?”

“Yes, I did, thank you. You’ve been busy. Did you sell that bookcase?”

“I sure did, dear. That man who bought the table wanted it, too. Isn’t that nice?” She tittered and turned back to the couple on the other side of the counter to ring them up.

Memory shook her head, unable to believe Ellie had managed to unload two pieces that had taken up a lot of floor space and cost plenty of money when they were initially purchased years ago. It would be nice to have those off of the books.

The next few hours went by quickly as she helped several customers pick out gifts for loved ones and took a turn on the cash register while Ellie ate her lunch. Her phone was in her pocket, and she checked it periodically, not wanting to admit to herself that she was hoping Dak would text her, but as each hour passed, and he hadn’t sent a single message, she started to feel silly. But, why had he asked for her number if he didn’t intend to use it to check in about the contest?

“We’re locking up at 2:00 sharp, right, dear?” Ellie said loudly enough for all of the remaining customers to hear as Memory brought a box out of the stock room.

“Yes. We have to be sure to get to the snowman building competition on time. I’m sure everyone will want to come and watch us!” She smiled at the shoppers, hoping to encourage them to pick out their items and check out so that she could head over to the park across town in time. Years ago, the snowman build was held in the park on the square, but now, there were so many participants, there simply wasn’t enough room. So the town had moved the location to a larger park across town, near the lake where the Christmas skating party would be held the weekend before Christmas. That was one event Memory always sat out. She’d go and watch her family and friends, but she’d given up on learning to ice skate when she was fifteen and had had one too many wipeouts at the mall.

Her phone chimed startling her, and Memory almost dropped the dolly she was pulling across the floor. Carefully, she set it down so that none of the fragile ornaments she was planning to stock ended up broken and pulled her phone out of her apron.

“Hey—you’re going to love what I got our snowman to wear! And I took care of the hat, too. See you in a bit?”

Memory’s heart raced and her cheeks flushed just from seeing his name on his phone. She knew she was being ridiculous, but she couldn’t help her reaction. She answered, “Great. Can’t wait to see it. Yes, we’ll lock up here at 2:00, so I’ll be there around 2:30.”

“Awesome—see you then.”

Memory debated whether or not she should say something back, but everything she considered typing sounded silly. “Yep, see you in a while.” Nope. “Looking forward to it.” Too needy. “You betcha.” What was she, eighty-five years old? Rather than risk sounding like an idiot, she dropped her phone back in her pocket and finished what she was doing.

At 2:00, Ellie ushered the last customer out of the store and flipped the lock and the sign. She rubbed her hands together, her red hair bouncing as she bounced up and down on her toes. “Are you ready, dear?”

Laughing, Memory asked, “Why are you so excited?”

“I can’t wait to see all of the snowmen,” Ellie said with a shrug, as if that justified her giddiness.

Memory tilted her head slightly and looked at her out of the corner of her eye but didn’t otherwise question her. “Can I give you a lift to the park?”

“That would be lovely, dear. Let me get my coat and bag.”

Needing to do the same, Memory followed her to the back room, double checking she’d turned all of the lights off and everything was locked up. She went to the back and pulled on her coat and all the other items she’d need to keep herself warm during the competition. Grabbing her handbag out of the drawer where she kept it, she pulled her keys out. She’d already put the snowman building kit in her car earlier so she wouldn’t accidentally leave it behind.

“Your sister sure is excited about this competition,” Ellie said, heading out the back door.

Memory walked out, noting it wasn’t as chilly as it had been when she’d come in earlier that day, but it was still cold enough that the snow should pack nicely. She locked the back door and then walked over to unlock the passenger side of her car for Ellie. “Yeah, Kirsten is competitive about everything.”

“And you’re not?” Ellie chuckled, climbing in as Memory went around and got in on the other side.

“Not usually,” she said, wondering why Ellie thought otherwise. She dropped her bag in the back seat, hoping Kirsten didn’t “accidentally” forget to bring the plush dogs in order to sabotage her. She didn’t think that her sister would stoop that low, but then, what Ellie had said was true. Kirsten did like to win, and the grand prize was a trophy with a snowman on top, an item Kirsten would love to show off on her mantel.

Memory clicked her seatbelt, started the car, and backed out of the parking spot as Ellie explained her thinking. “Well, you sure seem to want to be right when it comes to Dak. I hope you spent enough time with him yesterday to see he’s not the sort of person you initially thought he was.”

Looking both ways before she pulled out of the alley, Memory concentrated on the road for a few moments until she was out of the downtown area to a side street where there was less traffic before she let her mind consider Ellie’s observation. “I think I know him better now,” she said. “I still don’t know for sure that he’s as philanthropic as you seem to think he is. But I’m willing to give him a chance.”

“Good. He’s a nice man, Memory. He obviously likes you.”

Memory raised an eyebrow and stared at her for just a second before returning her eyes to the road. “He doesn’t know me.”

“Doesn’t he, though? He seems to know you pretty well.”

“We’ve only spoken to each other a couple of times, Ellie.”

“It doesn’t take long for a person to get to know someone else, so long as they’re being honest about who they are.”

She had a point. Memory certainly felt like she knew Ellie already, and it hadn’t even been a week since the woman had come into her store and introduced herself. Maybe she knew Dak better than she thought she did—he did seem to know Memory better than she was willing to admit.

Getting all the way across town didn’t take more than a few minutes, but the parking lot was already starting to fill up, and it took Memory a minute to find a spot. “I’m used to having Grandma’s disability parking placard,” she mumbled as she pulled into a spot at the very end of the row. “But neither one of us needs that.” She pulled the keys out of the ignition and dropped them into her pocket as Ellie agreed that she wouldn’t be needing one of those any time soon.

“I feel like I should be carrying something more than this kit.” Memory got out of the car, checking she had her phone. “But I guess Dak and Kirsten have everything else I need.”

“And your sister has everything I need, too,” Ellie said with a giggle. “I can’t wait to see that Anson. He sure is a little monkey.”