The memories came flooding back to her as she walked into her apartment’s kitchen.
Memories of Nicholas Kerstman offering to carry her through the streets, as if he were a superhero ripped straight from the comic-books.
She smiled at the thought of Nicholas with an over-sized letter “N” written across the chest of some hokey costume while she began to pour herself a glass of water from her fridge.
Her eyes then went towards the clock in her kitchen, watching the green numbers change: 12:35 to 12:36 PM
Panic flickered through her until she remembered she still had time. She hadn't slept through everything.
She still had time before she was supposed to meet Liam for their plans. She would meet Nicholas this evening and present her reasons to keep the store. She had time. She hadn't missed anything other than Nicholas carrying her home.
Still, she still felt frustrated at sleeping away so much of the day. There was still so much she wanted to get done before Christmas day. She went to her her closet and settled on a lime green dress with brightly colored ornaments painted all over the fabric. She called it her Christmas Tree Dress.
It was one of her favorite outfits to wear on Christmas Eve, as it was so over-the-top-festive that no one could deny the joyous holiday that was right around the corner. That, and it made her curves look really good. The dress had an amazing cut.
After a quick hop into the shower to remove the cake batter from her hair, a fast ironing of her dress, and taking at least thirty minutes to style her hair with mistletoe just in case she ran across Nicholas, Molly was ready to face the day.
Or rather, to face the afternoon.
She headed out her apartment door and then down the street, quickly making her way to the center of the town square. She soon spotted Liam waiting for her arrival.
“Ms. Carmichael!” Liam called, running to greet Molly with a firm hug. “I thought you weren’t coming this year.”
“You thought I wasn’t coming?” Molly checked her watch. “Liam, I’m not even a little late!”
“Yeah, but you usually come a lot earlier.” Liam informed her, pulling away from Molly. “What happened? Did you get lost or something?”
“Sort of...” Molly thought back on her late-night-trial-and-error-baking in Hannah’s kitchen. “Are you ready to do our annual house hunting?”
“Yeah!” Liam responded, taking his usual place beside Molly. “I brought a paper and pen and everything!”
“Good,” Molly said with a nod. “Hopefully, we won’t lose track of our points like we did last year.”
“We didn’t lose track of our points,” Liam replied with a giggle. “You just didn’t want to lose! I saw you throw the notebook away in the trash!”
“I have nooooo idea what you’re talking about, Liam,” Molly said with as much innocence in her voice as she could muster. “The notebook totally fell out of my hands. The trashcan just happened to catch it.”
“Uh-huh.” Liam snorted with a laugh and adjusted his winter hat. “This time, I’m keeping track of the points.”
“Fine.” Molly feigned a scoff as they continued to walk away from the downtown and towards the houses nearby. It was time to start their holiday game of looking at houses and earning points for the decorations.
Last year, Molly had created the House Hunting tradition with all the rules in just a few minutes. She’d gotten a desperate call from Liam’s parents asking if she’d be available to look
after him on Christmas Eve, at least until dinnertime. Liam’s parents were freelance accountants whose services always seemed to be in high demand around this time of year. Molly figured that it was because people wanted to balance their Christmas budget, not wanting to overspend too much on the holiday.
Liam’s parents being busy meant that they needed total silence in their household around the Christmas season, which worked out just fine when Liam spent his days at the shop with Molly.
However, on Christmas Eve, the shop was closed, which meant that Liam would’ve been stuck at home for an entire day with two, overworked parents cooped up inside with him.
Neither Liam or his parents were too fond of that scenario, and thus the House Hunting game was born. It was a way for Molly to hang out with Liam outside of the shop, and today she was grateful for the opportunity to be outside. She felt like she hadn’t spent as much time with Liam this Christmas season, with all of her attention going towards Nicholas.
She mentally kicked herself for even thinking about Nicholas right now. She needed to focus on Liam.
“Ms. Carmichael, can I ask you a question?” Liam asked softly. He dug a toe into a mound of snow and looked up at her. “Or is it private stuff?”
“I won’t know if it’s private stuff until you ask me the question,” Molly replied with a grin. “You can ask me anything, Liam. You know that.”
“Are you and Mr. Nicholas getting married?”