Christmas Wishes

“So, if you had fun...” Molly coughed, as if she was clearing her throat. “Then one might say that Christmas could be fun, too?”

Nicholas shook his head. “I’m not sure how that follows, Ms. Molly.”

Molly leaned away from the counter, her fist now resting underneath her chin. “You don’t think we had fun because it was Christmastime?”

“I think we had fun because—”

Because we were together.

Nicho

las caught the rest of his sentence before it made its way out of his mouth. Luckily, before he had to finish the sentence, another customer arrived at the counter.

Molly quickly checked out the customer, as they seemed to be in a rush themselves with a tired toddler cradled in their arms. He secretly timed her and found she did it in less than a minute. He chuckled softly. She could go quickly when she wanted to.

When Molly turned back towards Nicholas, it seemed as if she’d forgotten all about their previous conversation. “What are you doing for lunch today? Salad on salad?”

“No, I don’t have any salad-related plans,” Nicholas informed her with an eye roll. “Why do you ask?”

“Would you want to come with me to help Liam practice for the kids’ recital?” Molly asked. She gave him a hopeful smile that quickly faded. “He’s pretty much my star singer. But he’s got awful stage fright. He likes you. I'm thinking maybe having you there will give him some confidence.”

A small burst of pride filled his chest and Nicholas wanted to laugh. He was proud that a seven year old liked him. Still, it felt good.

“Sure. I’ll come with you,” Nicholas told her. “If Liam’s okay with it, of course.”

Molly then brought her hands to her mouth, imitating the shape of a megaphone. “Liam!”

“Yeah?” Liam called back from across the store where he was sorting through various shades of tinsel.

“Can Mr. Kerstman come practice with us at lunch?” Molly yelled.

“Okay!” Liam called back again, wrapping a few lines of tinsel around his head as a colorful, makeshift crown.

“You heard the king,” Molly said with a grin to Nicholas. Her shoulders seemed less slumped now. “I'm going to go help with that tinsel.”

“See you at lunch,” Nicholas said with a nod. He looked away from her, pretending to concentrate on the register in front of him and not on her hips as she walked away.

Deep down, Nicholas already knew that he wouldn’t be able to focus on that register for his life.

He ended up checking his watch several times throughout the morning, impatiently awaiting his scheduled lunch break. He kept glancing to the back, wishing there were less customers so that he could help sort tinsel too.

And he tried to ignore the fact that the idea of tinsel sounded better than making money.

Chapter 13

Molly

How to get kids to like math: Make it seem worthwhile.

“Sing out, Liam. From the diaphragm,” Molly reminded the boy as she played rising notes on the piano in the elementary school’s rehearsal room. She stopped playing and looked at him. “I feel like we’re losing you in the third verse.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Liam apologized with a groan. He brought the music sheet closer to him. “I just forgot what comes next after ‘truly He taught us to love one another...’”

“It’s okay, Liam. Take your time with it. You can even bring the music sheet up with you, if you want,” Molly said with a smile. “And if anyone says anything about it, you tell them that Ms. Carmichael said it was okay.”

“Okay.” Liam nodded, still unsure. “Can we do it again?”

Molly nodded and began to play the notes once more. All of her concentration remained on the keys in front of her. She was trying very hard not to think about Nicholas sitting next to her on the bench.