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“Um…” Young Nick looked away, not wanting to disappoint the choir director but knowing that he was going to because there was no way that he was going to participate in the church pageant. That was for girls. He felt that way until he looked up at the front of the church and he saw the cutest eight-year-old girl that he’d ever seen. She was standing next to the cradle holding a doll baby that he realized was supposed to be the baby Jesus. He wondered who the girl was, as he’d never seen her before. The choir director noticed Young Nick’s gaze.
“That’s Ivy Green. She’s new in town. She’s playing Mary.” The choir director realized that Young Nick was smitten, and she added, “So come on now, Joseph. Let’s start the rehearsal.”
Young Nick felt like a lamb being brought to slaughter as he obediently followed the choir director to the front of the church. He stopped in front of Ivy, who quickly introduced herself.
“Hi, I’m Ivy. I just moved here. My dad got a tenure-track job at Hobart and William Smith.”
Young Ivy was the most talkative girl that Young Nick had ever met. He felt shy around her.
“Hi, I’m Nick.”
“Nice to meet you, Nick.” Young Ivy grinned at him. Her smile lit up her entire face.
Off to the side, watching the scene play out, Ivy noticed how Young Nick melted when Young Ivy smiled. She noticed how he looked when she was around.
“Are you playing Joseph?” Young Ivy asked.
The choir director looked at him hopefully. “Uh, yeah,” Young Nick blurted out. “I’m Joseph.”
“Good, then why don’t you hold baby Jesus,” Young Ivy said as she thrust the doll baby into his arms.
Young Nick was dumbfounded. If he had been told that he was going to be stuck holding a girl’s doll baby at the front of the church, he would never have believed it. But there he was, holding a doll. And there she was, the cutest girl he’d ever seen. Even her name was cute:Ivy.
They are so cute,Ivy said to herself as she watched it all play out.
“It is cute,” Young Ivy said, shocking her. What was she doing by her side? Another young Ivy who now looked like she did was on the set. But this one was a little older.
“That’s me. I’m twelve.”
“You’re thirteen. You and Nick hit puberty.” The thirteen-year-old Nick was now holding thirteen-year-old Ivy’s hand as they got dressed in their robes for the pageant.
“I’m holding his hand. In church! I’m thirteen,” Ivy said.
“Not for long.” The snow swirled. The scene changed. She was now looking at sixteen-year-old Ivy and sixteen-year-old Nick, who were dressed in their robes of Mary and Joseph again.
“When we have a kid,” sixteen-year-old Ivy teased, “it better not be an immaculate conception.”
The Young Ivy said, “He really gets all wacky around you. I can see why. You’re a tease.”
“I’m sixteen!”
“Not anymore.” The snow swirled. Ivy dreamed she was floating in the snow. The Young Ivy brought her to the train station. Ivy walked out of the snow, hopped onboard.
Young Ivy was sitting next to her on the train. No one else was on it. They were moving. “I hope I remember all this when I wake up. Where are we going?”
“Destination: Christmas Present—I mean Christmas in July.” Ivy looked out the window. Snow was swirling. It was too hard to see. But then the train stopped, and the snow parted like a curtain. They were now in the Shepherd Winery. Ivy watched as she saw Nick for the first time in five years, the first time since they had broken up.
“I didn’t stare at him like that.”
“Yes, you did.”
The snow swirled—now Ivy was watching the night of the forlorn Christmas Karaoke. Nick was carrying her away, to the lake house. She was watching him put her to bed, cover her and kiss her on the head.
“He kissed me. I don’t remember him kissing me.”
“That’s because you were wasted. I’m amazed you remember anything from that night,” Young Ivy said.
“Promise me when you get to my age, don’t drink too much.”
