“Fine.” The first whisperer nodded towards the back of the school building. “Everything’s set up back there. Electrical grids. Lights. Have at it. Good luck.”
“Thanks, gentlemen,” Nicholas said before he made his way to the back of the school building.
* * *
Nicholas spotted the problem from a few feet away.
There was a string of lights placed along the ground, leftovers that either wouldn’t or couldn’t fit around the tree.
He assumed that the tree hadn’t been measured before the lights had been purchased, leading to this problematic situation. Lights shouldn't be on the ground.
Always measure the tree.
Nicholas smiled to himself as he could hear the repeated advice from his aunt playing in his head. A memory of his aunt came to mind, one of her holding an elongated ruler in front of their Christmas tree, insisting that the tree was seven-foot-one when Nicholas wouldn’t budge on it being seven-feet, exact.
The memory faded away as Nicholas got closer to the lights, bending down towards the ground to get his hands on the problem. It only took him a few moments to readjust the bulbs that had been dragging along the concrete. Several bulbs were loose, and since these were cheap lights, the rest of the string wouldn't light up without them. There was nothing wrong with the electrical grid or the setup. Just a couple of loose bulbs.
After Nicholas moved his hand away from the final bulb, the Christmas tree came to life.
He could hear the crowd roar with excitement and applause, and they still seemed just as excited by the time he’d made his way back to the front of the school building.
“Hey! Where were you? You missed the big moment,” Molly said, pouting as he came back to her. “Liam got so excited I thought he might burst.”
“And what about you? Did you enjoy the lights, too?” he asked, looking over at Molly, whose attention had now shifted back to the Christmas tree.
“100%,” she told him. Her eyes sparkled with lights and her smile lit up the night brighter than the tree.
Nicholas’ heart skipped a beat in his chest. He felt lighter than he had in weeks. He chose to ignore the feeling as he steered the conversation elsewhere. “So, Ms. Molly, you’re Head Elf, and a part-time babysitter?”
“Oh, no, I’m not a babysitter. I mean, I don’t get paid for it or anything. I just keep an eye out for Liam,” she said. “His parents get pretty busy around this time of year, so I just help them out by watching him, and letting him help out at the shop.”
“And they don’t pay you at all?” he asked. “Have they ever offered to?”
“Not everything is about money,” she said with a grin. “There are some things better than money, you know.”
“That is unproven, untested and untrue,” he replied. He smiled at the end of it, though. “But I’ll let it stand.”
“Thank you for letting me have my opinion.” Molly rolled her eyes at him, but kept smiling. “That’s very nice of you.”
“You’re welcome.” Nicholas chuckled, feeling lighter as he looked back at the lights. He could see the two whisperers smiling and pointing to the tree. A small child hugged one of them. “And maybe we can finish going over those financials tomorrow.”
Chapter 7
Molly
Molly stood in front of her dishes in the sink, wearing her pajamas and tapping her toes in time with a Christmas playlist blared over her headphones.
She often found that she did some of her best thinking while not thinking at all. The more she used her mental energy on another task, the more her thoughts flowed right through her.
And cleaning dishes seemed like a great way not to think about the Nicholas Kerstman problem.
She didn't want to think about what would happen to the store. She could feel it in her bones that the store wouldn't be Christmas Wishes without the Kerstmans running it. The town definitely wouldn't be the same Christmas-loving town without it.
She'd seen another store in town get sold the way Nicholas had explained. It had been a small hardware store that started doing well enough to attract attention from one of the big chains. Things had been fine for the first year or so, but then things changed. The employees weren't as well-trained. The quality of product went down. Local community events stopped happening. Before long, the local hardware store was just a front for the big-box store the town had tried to prevent.
It went out of business two years later because no one in town would shop there.
That was the last thing Molly wanted for Christmas Wishes. It wasn't even officially her store, or even her job there that motivated her. She didn't work there for the money. She worked there because she loved the place. The store was such an integral part of her traditions, as well as the traditions of the town. If the store changed, so would everything she loved about Christmas.