He shook his head as he nudged them carefully toward her with the toe of his boot. Almost as if he couldn’t bear touching them with his hands for any longer than he had to. “No. They’ve been in my attic for years. You might as well use them.”
“What about your tree?”
“I don’t get a tree. Don’t decorate, either. I thought I made that clear already.”
He did. “I heard from Addy and some of the regulars at the coffeehouse that everyone in Hamlet celebrates Christmas. It’s like the Church here. Doesn’t matter what religion you are, you’re welcome. Just like Christmas. Religious or agnostic, celebrating faith or just family and friends… everyone here goes all in for Christmas.”
“Yeah. Everyone but me.”
“But—”
“The ornaments are yours, Gloria. The tree stand, too. You can keep them when the holiday is over.”
And that was the end of that.
After Franklin made his escape, she sat in front of her naked tree, holding one of the shiny, red ornaments in her hand. She held it by the hook, letting it turn to and fro, the light bouncing off of the metallic sheen.
So he wasn’t going to tell her why he was so against celebrating the holiday? That was fine. He didn’t have to. But that didn’t mean she was going to leave him to be a lonely hermit with no holiday spirit.
Not while she was around.
It started as a joke.
At least, Franklin hoped it was a joke.
Maybe he shouldn’t have belittled her snowman last week. It just… it had been such a surprise to see his lovely new neighbor outside, playing with the snow with an innocence he hadn’t experienced in a long time. Even Bailey would’ve rolled her eyes if he suggested she go outside and build a snowman. But Gloria did it with a gorgeous smile, her cute little nose red from the chill, her big blue eyes wide with excitement.
She nearly knocked the breath out of his lungs. But it was a snowman wearing a Santa hat. The reminder that another year had slipped by, that it was Christmas again, had hit him dead in the chest. He folded in on himself, letting his bad memories color another interaction with her.
He didn’t mean to be such a jerk. Part of Franklin wished he could have met Patti Hammond’s great-niece any other time of the year. Summer? Summer would’ve been good. He didn’t have any bad feelings during the summer.
But, no, it had to be Christmas. When Franklin was more of an ass than usual, and just the idea of decorating a tree had his mood turning sour.
She didn’t understand. She couldn't. Franklin knew that. She’d barely been in Hamlet for six weeks. There were locals in town who had lived in Hamlet their whole life who had no idea why Franklin was the way he was.
Bailey knew. His dad. Poor Vanessa, who was a great stepmom to an ungrateful teen who wanted to turn his back on the world. She knew.
Gloria… didn’t. And, if Franklin had it his way, she never would.
Fifteen years. Fifteen Christmases.
It still hurt.
What made it worse? Since Gloria didn’t have any idea why he couldn’t find any holiday cheer this time of year, she kept on coming up with ways to share it with him.
He had to think it was a joke, how far she was willing to go to bring the holidays to Franklin, because he wasn’t ready to accept what it might mean if she wasn’t joking.
It all started with the Frosty the Snowman toy. He knew immediately when he saw it sitting on the rocking chair why she bought it. The reindeer was next. The candy canes. The wooden soldiers and the wreath.
He didn’t ask himself why he kept her trinkets. Most likely that was because he already knew the answer to that question.
Franklin thought when he gave Gloria back the garland, that was the end of that.
He was wrong.
It had been a long day at the shop. Now, Phil Granger had a car. Franklin knew he did because he performed a tune-up on it regularly. But, as the self-proclaimed postm
aster for the Hamlet division of the postal service, he used a repurposed golf cart to go around and deliver the mail to the locals. It didn’t matter how many times Franklin told Phil to use his car when there was still snow on the ground, the older man always took out the golf cart.