Page 3 of Christmas By The Book

I glanced over to the box of decorations on the side, the ones that I had laid out in preparation for decorating the place tomorrow. I rose to my feet and began to go through it, trying to put myself in the Christmas spirit.

I pulled out my favorite piece—a wooden music box with a carved Christmas angel on top that danced a slow circle while the box played “Silent Night.” The tune was a little mournful, but beautiful, in its own way. It had been my grandmother’s favorite, and I had taken it on as my own after she had passed. I could still remember her sitting in her chair, smiling after she had cranked it up, letting the soft music fill the room as snow fell outside.

I picked at the little compartment beneath the angel’s feet, frowning as I tried to pull it open. I couldn’t count how many times I had tried to do this over the years, and I had never figured out what was actually going on in there. I supposed it was meant to open, but it had been jammed for as long as my grandmother had had it.

I was going to take it into the store this year, I decided. I spent more time there than I did at home these days anyway, and I might as well enjoy it—enjoy having it close, and let the customers see it, too. It would be like my grandmother was there, at least in spirit.

Even if I wasn’t sure how much longer I would be able to keep the store open in her memory.

I pushed that thought to the side quickly. No. I needed to stop letting myself get all caught up in the stress and doubt. It was nearly Christmas. I could deal with all the hard stuff on the other side of the festive season, but for now, I wanted to just relax.

Mia kept me distracted once she had been fed, curling up on my lap and resting her head on my thigh as I flicked through my latest read, a little ghost story that was keeping me occupied on these dark evenings. I’d meant to read it for Halloween, but I had been so busy, I hadn’t had time. What mattered was that I was catching up on it now, right?

I snuggled down in bed that evening, Mia padding on the covers beside me before she curled on in a ball and pressed herself against me. See? It was all going to be all right. I just needed to relax, focus on getting some good rest, and then I could get the place all set up for Christmas, starting from tomorrow.

I woke early the next morning, and packed everything up into boxes as Mia wound in and out of my feet. That cat, honestly, she was going to make me fall one of these days. Not that it was particularly difficult to do that. I was always tripping over my own feet, especially when I was around someone else. It was like so much of my energy went on socializing, that I couldn’t remember how to keep my legs underneath me.

The bookstore was just around the corner from my grandma’s house, and I carried the boxes the few streets to the Bookshelf. It was already starting to get really cold in the mornings, but they were clear and crisp, too—I liked that. And the quiet, before everyone else had started to get on with their days, that was something I really savored. Not that life was exactly hectic right now, with the way things had been going at the bookstore, but still.

Haley was in later that day, and, though I had promised I wouldn’t decorate without her, I figured I could at least lay out the few decorations I had brought from home. Amongst my grandmother’s favorites was a small, model Christmas village carved out of wood, the paint starting to chip off some of the characters and models, but I still loved it. I cleared a space in one of the front windows, making space for everything to lay out, and set to work putting it all together.

The little village was adorable, and I couldn’t help but smile as I put it all in its rightful place; I tugged on the little fabric scarves of the children, making sure they were sitting right, and balanced them atop a little pile of books with their sled to make it look as though they were in the midst of careening down.

But the main event, for sure, was going to be the Christmas tree that I put up in the back of the store. My grandma had had the same giant artificial tree for as long as I could remember; told me it was a waste to get a real tree over and over again, and that I was better off just going for something that could be packed away into a box at the end of every Christmas season. Well, that, and it didn’t shed needles everywhere, which had to count for something.

I unfurled the branches from where it had been neatly tucked away into its ancient storage box the year before, humming to myself as I set to work. I could get Haley to decorate most of the tree, but I wanted to at least get the star on top. When the star was placed on the highest branch, I felt as though I could really begin the season properly, and heaven only knew how much I needed that right now. A little burst of Christmas cheer might bring a few more people into the store, and I had to hope it was bustling to make up the rest of the profit margins we hadn’t exactly been meeting recently.

I set the tree up, and carefully pulled the little stepladder from the back office to climb it. I knew I should have waited until there was someone else around to keep an eye on me as I did this, but right now, I just wanted to get it done. That was my problem, when I got it in my mind that I was going to do something, there wasn’t a thing on this earth that would have been able to stop me.

With the little plastic star, shimmery with chipped glitter, in one hand, I scaled the ladder, reaching across to plant it on the highest branch. But I couldn’t quite reach from here... I just needed to get a little closer. Maybe if I shuffled the ladder round a little...

I jumped a couple of times, trying to move the ladder slightly, hoping it would have enough give to let me reach the far side of the tree. With the star still grasped in my hand, I lifted myself on to one tiptoe, leaning across it, stretching as far as I could.

Which was, of course, the exact moment when I heard the bell above the door chime. A customer!

“I’ll be right with you!” I called to whoever had just walked in. I couldn’t see them past the tree. I just needed to inch a little closer, and then I—

“Oh!” I exclaimed, as I lost my balance. The star fell from my hand as I tumbled off the stepladder, and I braced myself, squeezing my eyes shut and lifting my arms to try and stop the fall from hitting me too hard.

But, instead of the uneven wooden floorboards that ran along the length of the shop, I found myself lying in a pair of strong arms.

Chapter Three

Jorja

MORE IMPORTANTLY, I was staring up at a pair of the most striking blue eyes I had ever seen. The face around them was creased in concern, but all I could focus on were the silver flecks in his cerulean-blue gaze. My lips parted for a moment, adrenaline still coursing through me after the fall, and it took me a moment to realize what I was doing.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I blurted out, as I sprang out of his grasp and planted my feet on the floor. I felt my cheeks burning hotly. What the heck had I been thinking? If this guy hadn’t been there to catch me, I could have ended up seriously hurt, and for what? For the sake of putting a star on top of a tree?

“Are you all right?” The man who had caught me asked me, concern in his voice.

I glanced up at him again. The rest of him was just as gorgeous as those eyes, a crop of dark, chocolate-brown hair framing his face, and strong, broad shoulders beneath the heavy winter jacket he wore. I nodded at once, scrabbling around to pick up the star where I knew I must have dropped it.

“I’m fine,” I assured him. “Sorry about that. I was just trying to—”

“Put the star on top of the tree,” he finished up for me, grinning slightly. “That’s the most important part, after all.”

“Right,” I replied. There was something about the way he was looking at me that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I drew my gaze away from him quickly, trying to pull myself together. I needed to stop getting so flustered! I planted the star on the counter, and headed behind the till, putting a protective barrier between myself and this man.