Christmas Comes to Main Street (6 page)

Catching Kara's eye, Rosemary held up a finger and quickly ended the conversation before making a beeline for Kara's stand. Kara blew out a breath. Oh, boy.

“You haven't set up yet?” her mother remarked, staring quizzically at the table.

“I just got here,” Kara said. She checked her watch. She wasn't even late.

“But most of the other stands are already set up. Why didn't you come earlier?” Rosemary's ruby-painted lips were pinched, her blue eyes bright with expectation.

Kara counted to three. There was no use losing her temper. She'd just make a scene. Besides, this was nothing new.

“I had to work.” Kara sighed. “A few customers lingered.”
And I'm not even late
, she said firmly to herself.
I have plenty of time to set up.

Rosemary just shrugged, her eyes widening slightly. “Well, what are you offering?”

At this, Kara perked up. She popped the lid on a few boxes, feeling proud as she did so. Rosemary leaned forward with interest and then, pulling back, said, “That's all? I would have thought you'd be offering twice as much. If not more!”

Kara swallowed back her anger, but she could feel a heat rising in her cheeks. “I didn't want to let anything go to waste. Besides, it's my first time selling anything here. I don't know what to expect.”

“Well, hopefully you'll do well.” Rosemary gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, and with a tight smile, she was off.

“
Hopefully
I'll do well?” Kara repeated once she was out of earshot. She turned to inspect her cookies, wondering what her mother saw that she did not. They were all perfectly baked and decorated. Each uniform in size.

“You know what she meant,” Molly said, coming to stand close. “She doesn't like that phrase ‘break a leg,' so she comes up with alternatives.”

Kara slanted her sister a glance that showed she didn't agree. “More like she's being cautiously optimistic about my potential.”
More like she doesn't believe I can be successful.

“She's just concerned,” Molly said, setting a gentle hand on Kara's back.

“Maybe,” Kara said, biting her lip. She couldn't even look at her sister, or she feared she would burst into tears. She felt rattled and out of sorts. She'd been so confident about her selection tonight, and now…

Kara let out a shaky breath as she began setting up her table. Molly had offered to help, and Kara now wasn't sure how she'd ever thought she could have transported the items herself. While her kits were carefully packaged, her constructed gingerbread houses needed special care. She tentatively lifted her favorite from its box and examined it from all sides, making sure none of her decorations had fallen off.

Satisfied that everything was intact, she set it at the front of the table. “We'll put the cookies on this tiered tray,” she instructed Molly. “The rest can stay in the boxes until I need to restock.”
If
she needed to restock. The bazaar was busy—busier than she'd even thought it would be—but that didn't mean people would be running over to buy up her goods. The gingerbread houses were really for decoration, but as for the cookies—whatever she didn't sell tonight would be donated to the Forest Ridge Hope Center, where she and her family helped organize a food drive each holiday season. At least then she would know her efforts had not been in vain.

“Did you say Ivy has a stand here tonight?” Molly set the individually wrapped snowflake cookies on the top tier of the tray. With their glistening sugar and festive shape, they certainly were the prettiest of the offerings.

Kara nodded. “I saw her when we came in. She's near the front of the room, near the big Christmas tree.”

“I've been meaning to congratulate her on her engagement to Brett,” Molly said, referring to their cousin. “Everyone's getting married it seems!”

Kara looked up from unpacking a box and stared at Molly until her sister's smile slipped a bit. “Not everyone,” she grumbled, reaching for another handful of wrapped cookies.

“Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. It's just, well… Your time will come!” Molly's grin was as enthusiastic as her tone, but her words were empty. It was the condolence she'd heard too often these days when friend after friend, or now, sister, announced their upcoming nuptials, and Kara didn't even have a boyfriend in sight. Heck, she didn't even have a date for New Year's Eve.

“Will it?” She wasn't so sure. The local dating pool was limited, and it had been ages since she'd even had a dinner invitation. She'd spent years waiting for that spark, and no one had ever come along and made her feel it. Except Nate. Nate with his glossy good looks and shiny degree and endless unsolicited advice. No use falling for him in the romantic sense, despite that perfect grin and those classic good looks.

“Sure it will. Look at me and Todd. A year ago I thought I'd never see him again, and now we're engaged.” Molly blinked rapidly, then let her eyes fall to her ring finger. That thing really was blinding.

“Imagine that.” Kara pressed her lips together. Still, her sister's situation was proof that anything was possible. She'd remember that on the days she felt pessimistic about the future of her love life. “For now, though, I'm too busy for a boyfriend. The bakery takes up enough of my time. I don't see how I could juggle a relationship and a new business.” But it would be nice to have someone special in her life, like the men all her friends had found. Especially during the holidays. It seemed like everyone was walking hand in hand now or shopping for something for their special someone.

She pushed away the pang of self-pity. She was getting sentimental when what she really needed to get was focused.

“Tell Ivy I said hello,” she said to Molly as she set the last gingerbread kit on the table. “And while you're walking around, see if you come up with any good ideas for what we should buy Mom for Christmas.”

Molly's face blanched. “Do I have to?”

Kara had to laugh. It was a running joke in the family that their mother had returned nearly every gift she'd ever been given. Notoriously difficult to shop for, she'd returned clothes and jewelry, let gift cards go unused, and claimed to have everything she really needed while sitting on the edge of the love seat in high expectation as her adult children handed over their gifts, the store receipts always slyly tucked under the tissue paper.

“It was much easier when we were younger. She was perfectly happy with a homemade ornament or card.” Kara smiled wistfully.

“That's because Dad took over the real gift giving,” Molly said, her mouth pulling into a frown. “She even returned the candle I got her last year. Who doesn't like a candle? I guess it wasn't her favorite scent.” Molly leaned forward, lowering her voice. “And in my bedroom closet I found a stash of bracelets Luke and Grace got her for Mother's Day last year. Knowing Luke, he hadn't included the receipt.”

“She doesn't like bracelets,” Kara said knowingly. Rosemary had slipped and announced that over Thanksgiving. Grace had looked a little startled at that fact.

“Are you really going to make me be the one to pick something out?” Molly tipped her head, frowning. “Why don't we just offer to give her… a hug?”

Kara burst out laughing. “Now that's a gift she would have to keep. Why don't you get her an ornament? Something
Nutcracker
themed. She'd have to love that.”

Molly lifted one eyebrow. “Would she?”

Kara waved her sister off. “Go. Have fun.”

She watched as her sister disappeared into the gathering crowd and folded her hands in her lap. And waited. Her heart was beating a little faster, and even her posture felt more stiff and alert than usual. A woman holding a toddler was walking toward the stand. Her eyes caught Kara's briefly, and Kara gave a small smile, waiting in growing anticipation for the woman to come over and ask about the items. Instead, she just walked by, stopping to look at the fudge instead.

Kara felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment. She tried to look busy by rearranging the wrapped cookies on the tiered tray, even though Molly had already done a perfect job of displaying them.

Finally, after what felt like hours but had probably been only a few minutes, one of the women in her mother's book club stopped in front of the table. “Look at these gingerbread houses! And these cookies!” Mrs. Nealon picked up one of the plastic-wrapped snowflake cookies and admired it. “I'll take six of these if you have enough.”

Kara beamed but adjusted her expression to not reflect her overt joy. “Absolutely.” She took six from the tray and placed them in one of the small shopping bags she'd ordered especially for the holiday season, with her logo printed against a peppermint-striped background.

Mrs. Nealon handed over the money. “It's so good to see you're still making cookies.”

Kara tried her best to keep her expression neutral as she made the change and handed it over. Covering her hurt with a laugh, she said casually, “Oh, but I just opened the bakery, Mrs. Nealon.”

“Yes, but…” Mrs. Nealon raised her eyebrows, giving Kara a knowing look. She accepted her bag and gave Kara's hand a little pat. “Well, keep up the good work, honey. I'll be sure to send all my friends over to your stand.”

“Thanks,” Kara said weakly. She fell back against her chair and stared at her cookies. She'd sell every last one of them tonight. She'd make sure of it.

Nate knew he was in trouble the second his aunt mentioned the words
Holiday Bazaar
. But even hours of dread couldn't have prepared him for Briar Creek's annual event. Everyone in town must have gathered in the large meeting room in the basement of the town's library, which was covered from floor to ceiling with decorations, giving it the feel of an old-fashioned market, complete with vendors.

Nate stopped at the hot chocolate stand and pulled out his wallet. He handed a steaming mug to Maggie, who was almost too distracted to accept it.

“Now remember, the good stuff goes fast, and Kathleen and Rosemary will no doubt be on the prowl. I don't want them knowing my theme, not yet anyway.”

“Aunt Maggie, I thought these women were your friends.” Nate took a sip of his drink, already feeling the itch to leave. There were too many people crowded into one place, and while he was used to sharing space, having grown up in the city, the underlying theme of the event bothered him. Holiday music blared from speakers, and everyone was wearing red and gold and green. The air even smelled like cinnamon.

“Well, of course they're my friends. My
dear
friends!” his aunt huffed, and her flashing earrings seemed to blink in double time. Tonight's pair were in the shape of Christmas lights. One red. The other green. Nate wasn't sure if they'd each been part of a set or if this was intentional. He wasn't going to ask.

“Then why the secrets? It's all in good fun, right?”

Maggie's nostrils seemed to flare slightly as she inched toward him, lowering her voice. “It is most certainly not all in good fun. Not when cold hard cash is on the line, not to mention that write-up in the travel magazine. Do you realize what that could do for my business?”

“Seems to me that regardless of who wins, you win. The article will ultimately feature Briar Creek, and if it draws tourists, they'll have to stay at the inn.”

This was little consolation to his aunt. “The bottom line is that I want to give it my all. Now, do you have the list?”

Nate reached into his coat pocket and took out the folded sheet of paper. “It's all right here.” All twelve items.

“Good, then you'll know what to look for. Let's tackle the drummers drumming first. That is, if Rosemary hasn't already bought up all the nutcrackers,” she added. Some, she'd been sure to tell Nate on their hasty walk to the library, carried drums. They'd do. In a pinch.

“Tell you what,” Nate said, tearing the list in half. “Let's tag team. That way we don't risk everything being bought before we get to it.”

His aunt's eyes gleamed. “Good thinking. I'll start at the back of the room; you take the front.” She snatched the ripped paper from his hand and hurried away, her stride sharp with purpose.

Nate tossed his hot chocolate cup in a nearby trash can and skimmed his list with a groan. When she'd said she wanted to enter the decorating contest, he'd assumed she'd meant some lights, not a bona fide production. And here he'd been worried about being bored…

He could almost smile at the thought, but the holiday smells and cheerful banter that melted into the sounds of the carols set him on edge. He felt out of place, not just because he was surrounded by couples and groups of people who knew each other well but because they were all here for one collective reason. Because they loved Christmas.

And he just wanted to avoid it.

Nate ground down on his teeth and studied the list again. It was different now, he reminded himself. At this very moment, his parents were on a cruise, probably enjoying some moonlit stroll along the deck, the sea air in their face, while he… he was stuck in Christmas land.

The first item on his list were turtle doves. Should be easy enough, he thought as he joined the crowd. He walked past quilts and knitted stockings until he came to the ornament section. His aunt had it in her mind that the tree in the lobby should be decorated with an item for each day of the song. He found his half—or close enough. The French hens were more like chickens, but he was pretty certain he wouldn't do better.

He was just getting ready to find his aunt, show her what he'd found, and with any luck, get the hell out of here, when he spotted Kara one row back, sitting behind a stand, her chin cupped in her hand. There was a sadness in her face that troubled him, reminding him of all those days he'd spent in the school cafeteria alone, unhappy, hoping someone would come along. He shifted to the left, vying for a better look as a family crossed in front of his view.