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Ruby turns to the room and claps her hands together. “Good morning!” she says cheerily, turning on her First Lady charm like a switch has been flipped. “Welcome to Santa’s holiday workshop!” The children stop mid-activity and their ears perk up. “We have lots of activities to do today, but we need everyone to stop what they’re doing right now, and put all ten fingers in the air.” Ruby puts her own hands up to show them what she wants. “Now wiggle your fingers like you’re sending little sparkles of magic into the universe.” She moves her fingers and, shockingly, the room goes quiet as all the children do the same. “There we go. Now, let’s have everyone who has magic in their fingertips put their hands into their laps.” Ruby drops her own hands and laces them together. “Hold the magic in tightly, just like this, and turn up your ears so you can hear all the instructions.”
Fifty little faces are looking at Ruby expectantly as she explains the cookie station, the crafts, the singalong section near the Christmas tree, and the story time spot, where books will be read in thirty minutes. Athena watches in awe as every child listens.
“Now,” Ruby says. “I’m going to walk around and tap you on top of your headvery gentlywith my magic hands, and if I do, I want you to go to the cookie station.” She walks around the store, sweeping between tables in her long, swishy skirt, laying her palm gently on little heads. She repeats the process for each of the other stations and lets them know that she’ll set a timer to go off when it’s time to move to the story time spot. “And…GO!” Ruby shouts with a huge grin, clapping her hands together as the kids spring into joyful action.
“Mom.” Athena is shocked. “How did you get them all to listen to you?”
“The same way I got the President of the United States to listen to me,” Ruby says, smiling softly as she watches the children engaged in merry play and chatter. “I spoke plainly, kept a smile on my face, and laid out exactly what I needed to have happen. You’d be amazed how well the same tactics work with both men and children.” She winks at the girls before sweeping away again, bending over to admire the kids’ work as she walks through the store.
“She’s something else,” Elijah says with awe, setting his books on the counter. “Can I pay for these later?”
“Yeah, sure.” Athena feels like a total idiot. She set up a whole event to impress this man, but now she’s standing behind the counter with her hands behind her back while her mother saves the day.
“What do you say we get the singalong going?” Elijah motions to the tree where a few kids are sitting on the ground, waiting.
Harlow gives Athena a light shove and waves her off with an encouraging look.
“Hi, guys,” Elijah says, sitting on the stool and looking down at the kids. It’s funny to see a man of his size talking to tiny kids, and Athena is instantly charmed. “What do you think about starting with ‘Frosty the Snowman’?”
There are eight kids sitting there, and they all shout for Frosty.
“Whooooa.” Elijah laughs. “Okay, I guess you guys know that one.” He picks up the guitar that Athena has brought and left sitting by the tree. Playing guitar is one of Harlow’s many picked-up-and-quickly-forgotten pursuits, and she was totally fine with letting Athena bring the instrument to the bookstore, though Athena didn’t have a solid plan for who would play it. Until now.
Elijah glances at Athena, who is sitting on the floor behind the children. She can tell that he’s asking for her permission to tune the guitar, so she nods.
“Let’s see here,” he says, picking at the strings and tuning as he goes. He strums it a few times and then launches into an acoustic version of “Frosty the Snowman.”
From here, it all goes smoothly—or as smoothly as it possibly can with a roomful of unchaperoned children, a pile of cookies and sugary toppings, and full access to glitter and glue—and Athena can’t wipe the smile off her face as she runs the vacuum after the kids are gone. There’s a lull in foot traffic once all the parents have retrieved their munchkins, paid for various children’s books, stocking stuffers, and last minute gifts for family, and Ruby seems happy with the uptick in sales. All in all, Athena is feeling pleased with herself.
Elijah taps her on the shoulder and she turns off the vacuum. “Hey, where should I put all of this?” He’s holding up a giant trash bag filled with frosting-covered paper towels, plastic knives, half-eaten cookies, and other craft leftovers.
“By the door is great, thank you.” Athena points at a spot by the front counter. “I’ll take it all out to the dumpster here in a minute. I really appreciate you helping me clean up,” she says, looking at him as she tugs at the vacuum’s cord unnecessarily. “And for doing the singalong, making the cookies—everything.”
Elijah looks amused. “Hey, it was no problem. I’m just here, hanging out for the holidays. My mom is taking care of my dad, and I basically cook for them and make sure they don’t kill each other.”
Athena laughs, surprised. “Is it that bad?”
“Nah,” he says, smiling indulgently. “I’m joking. They don’t really fight too much, as far as divorced people go. But they do act like siblings sometimes and I have to referee. And keep them fed so no one gets grumpy.”
“Well, thank you for taking time away from that to be here.”
Elijah sets the trash bag by the door, making sure that the red plastic string is secured so that it’s tied off. “I know it’s like forty-eight hours until we all start doing turkey and wine and Christmas crackers—“
“Christmas crackers?” Athena frowns.
“You know, the little things where you pull both ends and then it makes a loudcrack?” He pretends to tug at both ends of an object to show her, then waves a hand. “I’ll bring you one. I know it’s an English thing, not an American one, but you should definitely add it to your family dinner.” He puts his hands into the pockets of his cargo pants and smiles at her disarmingly. “Anyhow, I thought maybe—if you aren’t busy doing holiday stuff at home—you might feel like a walk this evening? We could have a drink at that bar across the street,” he says, tipping his head in the direction of The Frog’s Grog, “or at the restaurant down the road.”
Athena is honestly a little stunned—had she actually pulled off this eventandscored a date with Elijah Hartley? She tries not to nod excitedly like a bobblehead doll and instead plays it cool.
“Yeah, that could be fun,” she says, tucking her chestnut-colored hair behind her ears. “I could do that. What time?”
“How about six? I can meet you here in front of the shop.” Elijah points to the sidewalk outside Marooned With a Book.
Athena looks at the clock on the computer. Six is perfect. That gives her time to go home and change out of her frosting-covered sweater and actually get ready.
“I’ll be here,” she says with a huge smile.
Elijah tips his head at her as he ducks out the door, the sleigh bells tinkling behind him.
