“Okaaaay.” Veronica’s voice sounded like she was conceding. “But I’m looking at his Instagram now, and it looks like he’s single. Lots of pictures with work friends and lots of solo travel pics. Holy smokes, he doesn’t have a shirt on in this one.”
“It doesn’t matter. He’s one of my renters,” I said. “I shouldn’t be invading his privacy.” As soon as I said that, my phone dinged. I pulled it off the dashboard clip and opened the text. It was a photo from Veronica. I swiped to open it and saw a photo of William Philips in a pool. My eyes nearly popped out of my head. Wow. His cut abs were glistening and his shouldersand arms looked much more muscular in this photo than they did in the business casual, three quarter polo zip-up he was wearing this morning when he moved into the house.
“Veronica,” I pleaded, leaning my head against the steering wheel. “I live with this guyandwe have to stay focused on keeping Creekstone safe from this predatory real estate development company. Not zoom in on his abs.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll stop, but just so you know, there are no photos of him with anyone who looks like they could be his boo thang. No hot girls or guys hanging onto him. So, I think he could be available. Not for you, of course, rather for some other eligible similarly-aged, hot Creekstone woman.” I could imagine Veronica’s mischievous smile as she said this.
“Ha, of course!” I chuckled and added regretfully, “I gotta run. We have our first Christmas tree competition meeting today.”
“Oh, fun! You love the tree decorating competition,” Veronica cheered into the phone.
I smiled. “Idolove the tree decorating competition. Christmas is the best time of the year, and the tree competition is particularly awesome because the whole community comes together to celebrate.”
“Bye,chica. Call me later.”
It was true. My favorite time of the year was the holidays, but this year was going to be heavy. I was throwing myself right into the community activities so I wouldn’t focus too much on missing my mom. I scooped up my plate of fresh baked cookies and headed into the library.
The Creekstone library was my favorite place in town. Ever since I was a little girl, I had spent endless hours there. As a high school student, I worked as a student volunteer. Then, in college, I worked during the summers at the library. So, when I moved home to be with my mom full-time, it was a no-brainer that Iwould go back. And, when the COVID-19 pandemic happened, the library manager called me in and told me he was going to retire, and he asked me to apply for the job.
The library was busier than usual. I immediately went to the circulation desk. As I approached, my assistant manager, Trent, was helping one of our senior patrons figure out how to put an e-book platform on her tablet.
“Good morning, Trent. Thanks for covering the desk this morning,” I said as I peeled back the festive green plastic wrap on the plate and exposed an array of Christmas cookies.
Trent picked up a large gingerbread man and waved it at me. “You’re lucky these little guys are so good! We’ve been swamped today. Must be the Christmas Tree Competition meeting.”
“Oh, speaking of!” I said, covering the cookies. “I have to run to that meeting. I’ll be back before lunch.”
I hurried to the library meeting room. The room was packed with the usual community members. I waved at a couple of folks as I slipped into the room and put the cookies on the table. As I uncovered the platter, Nick appeared next to me.
“So excited to kick off the Christmas Tree Competition,” he said with a huge smile that reminded me of a kid on Christmas morning.
“Me too!” I agreed. “I love the way the library feels with all the Christmas trees on display.”
Nick nodded excitedly and then, noticing the cookies on the plate, he said, “Oh, yes. We brought coffee.”
“We?” I said looking up to see William appearing behind Nick. William held up two containers of coffee from The Bean.
“Oh.” I tried not to sound annoyed.
“Let me go get some cups out of the break room,” Nick said, disappearing out of the room.
“William, I didn’t know you were coming.”
“Yeah, Nick invited me. He said it would be a great way to meet folks in the community. I’m excited,” William said, setting the coffee carafes down next to the cookies. He stood close as he adjusted the spouts on the cardboard coffee containers. He was so close our elbows nearly touched. I tried to ignore the little flutter in my stomach, and I tried not to picture his cut abs under his button-down shirt. Nick reappeared with the cups, and William poured himself some coffee.
“Look, this is real smalltown stuff here. Are you sure this is where you want to meet people?” I said, trying not to sound rude.
“These are the exact folks I’d like to meet,” William said with a shrug. William took a sip of his coffee. “This is why I moved here.”
“Let’s get started,” Nick said from the podium at the front of the room. I turned and took a seat in one of the rows of chairs that had been set out for the meeting. Nick tapped his cell phone, and a slideshow of photos and Christmas music began to play on the screen behind him. William took a seat next to me. My look of surprise must have registered because he looked pleased and he loudly whispered, “This is exciting.” I could smell his cologne, a musky but pleasant smell. I tried not to lean into it.
“Welcome to our annual opening meeting of the Christmas Tree Competition, one of Creekstone’s favorite traditions,” Nick said. A few old-timers in the front of the room started clapping. I smiled and began clapping as well. I looked at William, and he started clapping too.
Nick’s presentation of the rules was pretty fast, but I felt myself squirming in the seat next to William. I could smell his aftershave, and my whole body was tense trying to make sure we didn’t accidentally brush against each other. William’s thighs made the conference room chairs seem small.
Nick concluded by saying, “So, in summary, each team will come to the library after hours today to decorate their trees. After tonight, no one can change the decorations on their tree. Simple touch-ups are allowed but no major decoration changes. The trees will be on display for public voting for two weeks until Christmas. The public can donate one dollar per vote. We’ll tally the votes at the end of the two-week voting period. Then we’ll announce the winners on December twentieth. Any questions?”
Ms. Patty was in the front row and her hand shot up. A frustrated sigh escaped my mouth with a puff of air. I checked out of the corner of my eye to make sure no one saw or heard me.
