Wrapped Up in Christmas Joy

Which was only because she’d read his journal.

And because she felt so good inside when she was with him.

And on the occasions that he let loose and smiled…okay, so Cole was more than just her toy drive partner.

She wanted to be his friend. There was nothing wrong with wanting to be his friend. He was newish to town and needed more friends. Sophie was a good friend. Just ask anyone—well, anyone except the cat that continued to evade her attempts at friendship. But no one should ask the cat that was as elusive as Cole had been since leaving Hamilton House on Saturday night.

Shouldn’t he have at least texted to see if she’d been sore from when she’d fallen back in the snow during their snowball fight? Okay, so that was stretching it, but he could have texted to ask her that.

Or any other of a thousand things, such as why do birds sing? Why do Butterflies matchmake? Or something just as inane.

Or he could have asked her to dinner under the guise of working on the toy drive. Or not used a guise at all and just asked, telling her he wanted to spend time with her, too.

He could have done that.

“Child, you’re blushing.”

If Sophie hadn’t been, she would be after Rosie’s words. Eek. How had she gotten so lost in her thoughts under Rosie’s eagle eye?

“I’ll tell you what, Rosie. Let’s not talk about Lou, weddings, or Cole anymore today. Instead, we’ll focus on what we’re going to do to make sure this year’s toy drive is the most successful ever.”

Rosie laughed and clicked her tongue at Sophie. “Don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing here, but, yes, let’s brainstorm on ideas for the toy drive, clever girl.”

Thanksgiving Day arrived and Sophie, Isabelle, and their mother had dinner at Aunt Claudia’s. It was a huge gathering of family and friends that included Maybelle, Rosie, Sarah, Bodie, Sarah’s dad, Claudia’s kids, and her grandkids. The house was pure chaos.

Sophie loved it. The noise. The smiles. The laughter. The bickering between Maybelle, Rosie, and her aunt that was better than any comedy act. As was tradition, Ruby had cooked a big meal for her large family and would get together for a Friendsgiving with the Butterflies at a later time.

They’d just finished eating and some had started migrating from the dining room, where various tables had been set up along with the large main dining table, to the living room.

“Who’s hanging around for cards?” Aunt Claudia asked. “I picked up the neatest deck when we were in Alaska over the summer and can’t wait to break them in on a game of Nertz.” Smiling, she added, “I got a deck in Europe, too, but we broke them in over Labor Day weekend when we were at the lake cabin.”

Sophie’s aunt had spent most of her life dreaming of traveling the world, but Uncle George had been content to never step foot outside Pine Hill. In his eyes, there’d been no need. Why go somewhere else when everything and everyone they needed and loved was right there? Maybelle had lit a fire under his feet last Christmas and he and Aunt Claudia had gone on several trips that year. He must have liked them as they had more planned for the following year. Or maybe he just liked how blissfully happy they made Claudia.

“No cards for us tonight,” Sarah answered, smiling at her father. “Dad and I have our standing Thanksgiving date to put up his tree and watch a movie together. Plus, he wants to run Sunday’s sermon by me. I think his topic is on honoring your mother and father, so it wouldn’t look good if I bailed on him.”

Sarah winked and everyone chuckled. If ever a child honored her father, Sarah honored hers.

Sarah had a great dad and Sophie had a great mom.

Too bad the two had never shown the slightest interest in each other. Sarah’s dad seemed content to have loved once and Sophie’s mom had gone through too much with Sophie’s dad, apparently, to risk loving again. The two were friendly, as you’d expect from two people in the same social circle in a small town, but there had never been anything more than friendship.

Sophie glanced at where William Smith sat talking with Uncle George. Yeah, it really was too bad the two had never noticed each other romantically as she’d applaud that union.

“What about you, Bodie? You and Harry headed to William’s?” Maybelle asked, her brow quirked high as she regarded him with great affection. It had taken Maybelle awhile to warm to Bodie, but ever since she had, she’d begun treating him as a favored son.

Petting his dog, Bodie shook his head. “Not this year. Sarah and I decided Thanksgiving night was a tradition we were going to keep just between her and her dad, at least for the time being. Down the road, after the wedding, we may relook at it.”

Maybelle nodded her approval, apparently pleased that Bodie encouraged Sarah to maintain her special bond with her father.

“Besides, you’ve seen the Christmas trees at Hamilton House. I’ve done more than my share of decorating.” He sent an indulgent glance toward Sarah. “Guess I’ll be doing lots more over the years to come, though.”

Sophie needed to get with it on decorating her own tree. Isabelle and her mother enjoyed the holidays, but not like Sophie. Sophie loved Christmas: the bright lights, the music, the parties, the On-the-Square festival and parade. And the tree lighting. She liked that, too.

She was excited to put up and decorate a tree, but she just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. She’d been busy working on her latest quilt; making Petdanas as they’d seen a spike in orders, probably due to the holidays; getting things ready for her Quilts of Valor Foundation booth at the Christmas festival; and planning for the Make Your Own Christmas Stockings class she’d be teaching the following Tuesday evening. And every day for the past week, she’d been putting in extra-long hours at the shop to help others stock supplies for all of their own projects.

Tomorrow, they’d open earlier than their usual nine, having their annual The Threaded Needle Black Friday sale from eight until six, and then another big “shop local” sale on Saturday b

efore they closed at noon for the On-the-Square Christmas Festival, tree lighting, and Christmas parade later that night.