“You’re welcome,” Molly replied with giddy excitement. She frowned for a second. “But who’s supposed to be Santa Claus? I mean, I guess I could try to see if Grant’s free. He might be too big for the suit, but we could make it work...”
“Oh, our son could handle that, no problem,” Mrs. Kerstman told her. “He may not want to, but if he tries to give you any grief about it, tell him that he’s breaking his mother’s heart and putting Christmas Wishes in a bad light with its customers.”
“I get it. Appeal to his business sense,” Molly replied with a laugh.
“How’s he been, anyway? Besides being too preoccupied to call his family,” Mrs. Kerstman asked. “Did he meet a cute girl in town or something?”
Molly ignored Mrs. Kerstman’s question about Nicholas meeting a cute girl in town.
“I’m sure Nicholas can handle the Santa thing. I’ll make sure he goes over the script a few hundred times, just in case,” she said, hoping Mrs. Kerstman would ask again. She quickly changed the subject. “I can’t wait to see you guys when you get back. Will you still be making The-Night-Before-The-Night-Before Christmas dinner like usual? For Christmas Eve Eve?”
“Yes, of course! And this year, I’ll make it with that gravy recipe Hannah left me last Christmas,” Mrs. Kerstman said, forgetting the girl question. “We’ve really got to appreciate Hannah while we still have her. I bet she’ll be a world-famous baker someday soon.”
“I bet so, too.” Molly took in a shallow sigh, as she thought about a life without her best friend just a few doors away. She cleared her throat. “I’ll see you guys when you get back into town. Tell my dad and Mr. Kerstman I said hi!”
“I will. See you soon, Molly!” And with that, Mrs. Kerstman hung up the phone, ending the conversation.
Molly stared at the phone in her hands for a moment, thoughts swirling around like blizzarding snow.
Her mind went to Nicholas Kerstman, and how much of a fight he’d put up over being forced into something as ridiculous as playing Santa Claus in the parade.
And Molly couldn’t help but smile as she imagined their future, playful argument, which would end with Nicholas acquiescing and pulling on Santa’s familiar black boots. She smiled even harder when she thought about how irritated he’d be at the prospect of having to chew through several candy canes as the kids in town usually offered Santa a treat while they sat on his lap.
Oh no.
Her smile left. Was she smiling at the mere thought of Nicholas Kerstman?
Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.
She winced. She liked him so much. So very much.
How was it even possible that she liked him so much? How had this happened? What in the world was she thinking?
Molly exhaled slowly, forcing herself to calm down before heading off to bed. She knew that she’d need a good eight hours of sleep if she was going to be filling in for Mrs. Claus in the morning.
And she knew that staying up for even another minute wasn’t going to do a bit of good when it came to sorting out her feelings for Nicholas Kerstman.
Chapter 17
Nicholas
Nicholas waited in front of Christmas Wishes feeling a bit unsettled about the shop being closed and so quiet.
In such a short time, he’d come to know the shop as a place of light and laughter. Molly and Liam were usually blasting Christmas music through the shop’s speakers and laughing between themselves as they hung more and more ornaments on the display trees in the window. Having the windows dark and without music felt very strange.
He leaned against the storefront, holding a freshly brewed Americano in one hand, and a sugary iced cinnamon roll in the other.
He’d stopped by one of the town’s food trucks on the way over, wanting to ensure that Molly would have something to eat for breakfast. He’d noticed that on some days she’d get so busy with working the register, or wrapping another gift, or trying to sort through pounds of gold tinsel, that she wouldn’t always take time to think about herself in the process.
Nicholas stilled as he looked down at the pastry in his hand.
What was this?
What was he doing?
He wasn’t being logical at all.
Last night Molly Carmichael had made her choice obvious. If it was ever going to come down to choosing between him or Christmas Wishes, Molly would choose the latter without a second thought.