“Give it a little push,” he said.
She gently nudged the tree and it stayed secure. “Hurray!”
“Any adjustments I need to make?”
She took a step back. “Nope, looks good.”
He rose to his feet and looked in the cardboard box. “We need something to cut the twine.”
Penny gestured to Holly, who was ringing up another customer. “I’ll ask.” She made her way to the counter, where her friend, without missing a beat, reached under the counter and handed her a pair of scissors.
“Thanks.”
“You guys are doing great,” Holly said. “I’ll join in a bit.”
Penny returned to the tree and handed Daniel the scissors. “The honor is yours.”
With a smile, he quickly cut through the twine. The tree seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as its branches opened.
“Hmm,” Penny said. “Some of these branches need adjusting.”
As she moved branches to cover gaps, Holly joined them, carrying three mugs.
“What’s this?” Daniel asked.
“Hot chocolate,” Holly said, handing each of them a mug. “To fortify you for the work ahead.”
“Thank you.”
Penny brought her mug to her lips and breathed in the heavenly aroma. “Your cafe has the best smells.”
Holly smiled and gestured to the tree. “You picked well. The tree fits perfectly.”
Eva piped up. “Mrs. North, the hot chocolate isawesome.”
“Thank you, Eva. But remember, we talked about this. You need to start calling me Holly. You aren’t a kid anymore.”
“Okay,Holly,” the girl replied, then let out a laugh. “I’m sorry, but calling you Holly sounds kind of … weird? I’ve always thought of you as being so much —”
And in that moment, almost as if a dash of maturity had arrived just in time, Eva froze. The word she was about to say — “older” —didn’t actually leave her lips. Instead, she stammered, “What I mean is, what I meant to say is, I’ve always been a kid and you’ve been a grownup, and now….”
“It’s okay, Eva,” Holly said. “I get it.”
Daniel spoke up. “Here’s an interesting factoid about age. The number of years separating us will never change, but percentage-wise, the age gap between us is always getting smaller. On the day you’re born, a twenty-year-old is 7,300times older than you. When you turn ten, that same person — now thirty — is just three times older than you. When you’re sixty, the eighty-year-old is only one third older.”
Eva was listening intently. “So every day, I become more like you.”
“It happens fast.”
Eva’s phone buzzed. She looked at it and frowned. “Oh, hey. I have to leave for a bit. I’m using my mom’s car and she needs me to drive her to the community center.”
“That’s fine,” Daniel said. “No worries.”
“But it’s not fine. You can’t decorate the tree without me filming it.”
“I have a suggestion,” Holly said.
All eyes swung to her.
