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“I bet that didn’t sit well,” Bodie mused.
“You’d win that bet. Although she’s refused to settle down since her last husband died, Lou is special to Rosie.”
“Nice enough fellow,” Bodie agreed.
Sarah knew Bodie stopped by the diner early most mornings. Even if he hadn’t told her, the Butterflies kept her posted about his comings and goings around town.
She thought they’d quit following him eventually, but they refused to quit dropping his name every chance they got.
“Maybelle should be this way in a bit,” Claudia added, letting Sarah know the woman had been following the conversation after all. “She’s having coffee with your father and that sweet couple from over on Bell Street while entertaining herself by watching Rosie hem and haw over Lou.”
Sarah could see it unfolding exactly that way. Her father would be discussing the weather or his upcoming Sunday sermon with the couple. Pretending to listen, Maybelle would be calmly sipping her coffee while enjoying the show—because if Alberta was making moves on Lou, Rosie would be fit to be tied.
Another customer arrived and Sarah waited on the woman, smiling and selling her five ornaments. While she wrapped them in tissue paper, she chatted with the woman and watched Bodie squat to pet Harry from her peripheral vision.
“Sarah, I hate to leave you alone, but would you be okay for a few minutes if I go to watch my granddaughter in the Little Miss Pine Hill Christmas pageant? I totally forgot about it when I signed up for this time frame.”
“I’ll help in the booth while you’re gone.”
Both Sarah and Claudia looked at Bodie in surprise. The customer Sarah was waiting on did, too.
“Thank you,” Claudia told him, looking pleased. “I’ll be back as quickly as I can.” She paused. “Actually, if those judges have eyes and a brain, I may be a while as I won’t be back here as long as my sweet girl is still in the running.”
“We’ll be fine,” Sarah assured her, bagging up the five ornaments and handing them to her customer. Another two had stepped up and were looking at ornaments.
While they were looking, Sarah motioned for Bodie and Harry to come around the table. Apparently remembering his spot from earlier, Harry went back to lie beneath the table, but kept his head up to take in what they were doing.
“I’ll walk you through checking out this dear lady,” she told Bodie, but as Bodie stepped up to help another couple who wanted to purchase several of the ornaments from the pegboard, she realized instruction wasn’t necessary.
Bodie paid attention to details. He’d watched her and Claudia wait on a few customers and no doubt could write a textbook on the dos and don’ts of ornament selling by this point.
For the next hour and a half, they sold ornaments nonstop as more and more people arrived at the festival.
“She won!” Claudia beamed as she returned to the booth, her cheeks rosy and her eyes full of pride. “Annabelle is Little Miss Pine Hill Christmas.”
“That’s awesome,” Sarah said, giving Claudia a high-five as the woman joined them behind the checkout table.
“Congrats,” Bodie added.
“It was only fitting. All the girls were wonderful, but my Annabelle outshined them,” Claudia assured in her most proud grandmother tone. Bodie and Sarah exchanged a look, smiling.
“She takes after her grandma that way,” Sarah said, earning a happy grin from Claudia.
A half-dozen new customers arrived, entering the booth to check out the ornaments displayed on the pegboards and to congratulate Claudia on her granddaughter’s success.
“Phew, you can tell it’s getting close to time for the parade,” Claudia observed as she smiled at a woman purchasing a snowflake.
“Most definitely,” Sarah agreed, eyeing the building crowd prior to greeting a precious girl who had been in her Sunday school class the previous summer and who held three ornaments. “Hi, Chevell, did you find everything you needed?”
The girl nodded, then said quite loudly, “I’m buying these for my teacher.” Then, she leaned forward and whispered, “Really, they’re for my mom, but I don’t want her to know.”
Chevell’s mom looked amused and indulgent, holding her young son and watching over Chevell while she shopped.
While Sarah wrapped the ornaments, Bodie collected the girl’s money and gave her change.
“Thanks for your business, Chevell.” Sarah winked at her. “I hope your teacher loves her gift.”
The little cutie grinned, then winked back before rejoining her mother. Chevell held up her paper bag to her mother, then turned and waved goodbye at Sarah and Bodie.
