“People fight over who gets those little things. You couldn’t pay me to try to make one of those look festive.”
“The Charlie Brown tree will forever be a favorite.”
“With the one heavy ornament bending the top all the way over,” he teased.
“Yep. I once put one ornament on a peace lily in my office. I guess that was pretty much the same idea.”
“I don’t think I want to know that about you. That seems borderline grinchy,” he said.
“Me? No way.”
“Have you ever participated in a Christmas festival back in Richmond?”
She shook her head. “Well, not exactly, but that doesn’t make me a grinch.”
“Scrooge?” He raised his shoulders and gave her one of those are-you-sure looks.
“No. I’m not,” she tried to convince him. “In Richmond, we have a grand holiday light display at the gardens. Christmas lights never get old. I go every year. I usually get invited to join friends to see their kids in the Christmas pageant. The singing is horrible, and the instrument-playing even worse, but seeing the kids up there giving it their all… It’s so cute. I cry. Every single time, I cry. They are so precious.”
“You like kids?” he asked.
“I do.” The thought of not having children still made her stomach sink. She eyed him as if wondering if that was the answer he was looking for.
“Never had any?”
“No,” she said, avoiding the why. “How about you?”
“I’ve never been married. I’m old-fashioned. I want to get married first, then start a family. I like having a plan. So, the short answer is no. I’ve never had any children. Not yet.”
“But you want them?”
“Definitely,” he said, but he must’ve sensed the shift in her mood, because he leaned in, and for some reason she felt like she could share this with him. Something she never spoke about, but…
“It’s funny how people who don’t want children get pregnantall the time. And then those of us who want them… we’re not always blessed.”
“That’s true.”
“I was married. My husband and I both wanted children, but we never could get pregnant. We divorced, and less than a year later he remarried, to a woman he’d gotten pregnant.” She shrugged. “I’m happy for him. He’ll be a wonderful father.”
“That stings.”
“He swore us not having children had nothing to do with him leaving, but I’m not so sure. I don’t know why we couldn’t get pregnant. Everything medically seemed fine. Anyway, that’s too much information. I’m sorry.” She wrung her hands.What am I doing?“I’m sorry. I never talk about this.”
He touched her arm. “No. It’s fine. I’m glad you felt like you could share that.”
“So, I do what I can for the kids my friends have. If that’s all I’m ever meant to have, then I’ll be the best bonus aunt I can be. I get a lot of satisfaction in knowing I help parents find the perfect home in the good school districts for their families. It’s not the same, but it helps.”
“Natalie had told me about your success in real estate. That’s really cool. She said you’re married to your work.”
Sheila laughed. “Yeah, pretty much. Only better than my marriage experience.”
“I hear ya. People say I’m a workaholic, but it’s not the work, it’s the people involved and my little piece of the bigger community picture that makes it so special.”
“I get it.”
“We’re a lot alike in that respect it seems. I satisfy that missingpiece of not having a wife and kids… yet… with my work with the junior firefighters. I offer safety discussions at the schools. They always invite me to the plays and Christmas pageant. I get it about the crying. It’s hard not to get emotional about the performance of a child. So unfiltered. Usually something funny happens.”
“Right?”
