Project Scrooge

by A M Heath

  I watched, stuffed dog under my arm like a basketball, while Natalie pushed hangers out of her way until she pulled one out. She whirled around, holding the yellow gown out in front of her, the skirt of the dress twirling out as if she wore it.

  “Belle’s!”

  I should have guessed.

  “Isn’t this gorgeous? Do you think she’ll love it?”

  I shrugged. What did she think I knew about little girls?

  Natalie swayed, watching the dress pressed against her front. “Oh, I would have loved this as a child,” she whispered. But when she looked up, smile on her lips, my insides dipped low. She gave another little sway, one hand holding the dress in place and the other extended to me. “Wanna dance with me?”

  “No,” I said with a snort.

  She smirked. “I can be Belle, and you can be the Beast.”

  “Not happening.”

  Her face fell, and she extended the dress to me. “Fine. Here. Hold this.”

  I lifted a brow in answer.

  She took the dress back with a shrug. “Suit yourself, but if I hold it, I’ll just keep wanting to dance.”

  I chuckled and held out my hand. “Give me the dress.”

  Darting a look over her shoulder, she leaned in as she handed the dress over. “Do you know what’s going on with Hunter and Mia?”

  “Nope.”

  Her face fell. “Me neither. I’ve been meaning to catch him alone. I know Mia’s still talking to Eli, but she and Hunter seem back to normal.”

  “They’ll work it out.”

  She eyed me. “Yeah, like you and I did?”

  I leveled my gaze. The past was never far away, was it?

  Waving her hands, she rushed on, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to fight with you, it’s just that Hunter is like a little brother to me.”

  I exhaled. “If they’re back to normal, that’s a good sign, right?”

  She nodded. “I suppose so. I guess I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

  I motioned with my head to the shelves. “We better finish up. It’s been a long day.”

  “How was practice tonight?” she asked, as she turned back to the shelves.

  Just the word practice caused that fist to tighten deep inside of me, but I tried to keep my voice calm and smooth. “Fine.” And it was fine. Kelly hadn’t shown up tonight. But I hated that my time at the gym was no longer comforting.

  Natalie cast concerned eyes at me from over her shoulder, as if she had felt the uneasiness coursing through me.

  I cleared my throat. “It was fine. What do you think about a coloring book or something? Maybe … I don’t know, stickers, or ...”

  Natalie grinned, accepting my change in subject. “I saw an art kit down the other aisle. Any other great ideas in that head of yours?”

  “I don’t know about that. What about you? You’re a girl. What would you have wanted?”

  She cast brown eyes across the myriad of toys surrounding us. “All of it,” she whispered. Natalie pointed to the box on the bottom shelf. “That giant, overpriced dollhouse.” She skimmed the area with her finger. “Every beautiful, shiny toy.” She bit her lip and turned away, leaving me to study her profile and the sheen building in her eyes. “A safe home,” she added in a broken whisper.

  I took a gut punch as I watched her. My old friend, aching over the loss of family and stability that I had easily taken for granted. My hands itched to reach out to her, and I was on the verge of doing just that when she sniffled and walked away.

  It was Saturday morning, and I shrugged on my coat and headed for Granny’s door. I had a late game that night, so my day was free for whatever in the world my grandmother had planned for me. She was already standing outside with Hunter, Mia, and Natalie, everyone in coats.

  “What are we doing today?”

  “You and Natalie are going together to visit shut-ins from our church, and I’ll take Hunter and Mia with me to visit some others.”

  I hiked one of my brows and silently questioned Granny.

  “Someone has to be sure you follow through, and I promised to bring Hunter to visit Mr. Rivers.”

  I nodded my head, lips screwed together. “What, no cocoa today?”

  Granny sent me a satisfied grin, then handed me a cup. “I have salted caramel cocoa in a travel mug for you this morning.”

  “Lovely,” I said flatly, reaching for my cup, then turning to Natalie. “Ready?”

  She waved the list of handwritten addresses and names. “Yep.”

  I gestured with my head for her to lead on.

  “Oh,” Granny said, causing us to turn back to her. “If you’re hungry, grab lunch. We’ll meet back here for pizza around five.”

  We nodded and turned back for my car. “I’m surprised we’re not taking gift baskets or something.”

  Natalie shot me a toothy smile. “We are. Your car was unlocked, so your grandmother had Hunter and Mia load up this morning.”

  I nodded and chuckled. “Now that sounds more like it.”

  Natalie took a sip and gasped. “This cocoa is divine.”

  I eyed her from the side.

  She waved encouragingly. “Seriously. Try it.”

  I brought the cup close, sniffing it, and watched her with narrowed eyes.

  She giggled. “You’re being silly. I wouldn’t lie to you.”

  Her words struck me. I had heard them from her before … and she had been telling the truth after all. But I didn’t want to think about how I chose to trust my lying, cheating fiancée instead of my best friend or how that one careless, blindsided act had helped to sever a lifelong friendship in two. Her comment had nothing to do with our relationship, only the cocoa. I threw caution to the wind and took a sip, a sweet, bold flavor flowing over my tongue.

  I stared at Natalie.

  She grinned from ear to ear. “You like it, don’t you?”

  I took another drink. “It’s better than the dark chocolate.”

  We both got inside the car.

  “You didn’t like that one? I loved it.”

  I shook my head. “You’re forgetting, you actually like dark chocolate. I never have.”

  She giggled, light and sweet. “What can I say, I like bitter things.”

  I watched her but said nothing. The only bitter thing I could think of besides chocolate was me, and I think we both knew it. But I didn’t want to address her remark, so I put the car into reverse and backed out of the driveway. “Where are we headed first?”

  “Mr. and Mrs. Israel.”

  I knew where Lucy and Arnold lived, so I didn’t ask for an address.

  “Are you enjoying yourself?”

  “Are you referring to this morning and the cocoa or to the last two weeks?”

  “These last two weeks,” she asked, turning toward me in her seat.

  “It’s not been that bad, I suppose.”

  Feeling her long-held study, I cut my eyes over at her, catching the hiked-brow grin she gave me.

  “What?”

  “So, what has been your least favorite so far?”

  I wanted to say spending every one of these days with her, but I decided to play nice. Despite what everyone around me seemed to think, I still knew how to be nice when I wanted to. I finally shrugged. “I don’t know about least favorite, but I like the things we’ve been doing this week best.”

  “Oh?”

  So far that week, we had decorated the cookies, then delivered them the following day. We shopped for underprivileged children the next day, wrapped the gifts the day after, and would be delivering those gifts tomorrow. And in between all of that, we spent a couple hours one night addressing Christmas cards for soldiers overseas. “You know, I’m not the Scrooge everyone thinks I am.”

  “Prove it,” she said in a friendly tone.

  I didn’t take my eyes off the road to answer flatly, “I believe that’s what I am doing.”

  From the corner of my eye, I saw her shoulders sinking and h
er grin sliding off her face. “I’m not sure that you are.”

  I came to a stop sign and checked my review mirror. Finding no one around, I paused there, foot on the brake, and set my hands in my lap, turning to face her. “And just what is that supposed to mean?”

  “You aren’t smiling, Sanford,” she whispered. “You’re going through the motions, sure, but are they reaching any deeper inside of you? You don’t seem any happier.”

  Just then someone pulled up behind me, so I drove away, dropping the irritating conversation.

  Moments later, we were ushered into the elderly couple’s living room. Everything was perfectly in place. Even the dust was in submission, which is more than I could say for my own home. Mr. Israel closed the door behind us.

  I sat the packed gift bag on the coffee table and greeted Mrs. Israel, who sat on a rocker, her lower half wrapped up in a patchwork quilt. Mr. Israel took his recliner beside his wife, leaving me and Natalie to sit on the couch together.

  “It is so kind of y’all to think of us.”

  It was on the tip of my tongue to let him know that it was my grandmother who remembered, but that sounded mighty rude, so I took the credit and tried my hand at small talk.

  Half an hour later, Mr. Israel was leading us to the door. He clapped us both on our shoulders at the same time. “It blesses my heart to see a young couple out doing this sort of thing, when you could just be enjoying each other instead.”

  Natalie and I whipped our heads to the side and stared wide-eyed at each other.

  Mr. Israel paused. “Oh, did I … speak out of turn?” His gaze flipped back and forth between the two of us.

  I cleared my throat. “We aren’t a couple. But I’m glad to know you enjoyed our visit. Thanks for having us.”

  Natalie relaxed, as did Mr. Israel.

  I allowed Natalie to exit before me.

  Just as I was crossing the threshold, Mr. Israel called me back. I pivoted. “Yes, sir?”

  The older man’s grin widened as he gave a pointed look to Natalie, then back at me. “If you change your mind, be sure to come back and tell us. We’d love to hear the good news.”

  I froze, then recovered, but I could only offer a nod. I watched Natalie through the windshield as I walked back to the car. She was already consulting our list and punching in the address on her phone.

  My heart cinched in my chest. We used to be such a great team together. But that was a lifetime ago. And as for dating, that had never crossed my mind.

  Natalie:

  We made three other stops before our hunger called us to take a lunch break.

  “Does anything sound good?” Sanford asked me.

  “We’re closer to Leaville than Garland. I’m always hearing great things about The Pantry. Why don’t we stop there?”

  Sanford shrugged. “Fine by me.” He turned the car around and headed to the small town square that sat twenty minutes west of Garland. We had to park on the edge of the parking lot, half on the grass and half on the faded pavement, behind several other cars.

  Sanford eyed the full lot. “Let’s hope they have more tables than parking spaces.”

  I shut the door and hastened to his side.

  I stepped behind him as we walked past their miniature Christmas trees and under the garland archway, all of it lit up for the season. “It’s beautiful,” I whispered to myself.

  Or so I had thought. Sanford looked at me from over his shoulder, an amused smirk on his face.

  “What? You don’t find it charming?”

  He lifted his brow.

  “Don’t tell me you’re about to go all Scrooge on me again.”

  He stopped and pivoted to me, questioning me with a tilt of his head and the lift of both brows that time.

  “I’m gonna have to tell your grandmother if you pitch a fit, kick a tree over, and scream ‘bah humbug.’”

  He chuckled, and I joined him. With a motion of his head, he invited me to continue. “Come along, … you rat.”

  I snort-laughed and followed him inside.

  The moment I walked in, the stuffy diner air, scented with today’s special and the season’s best spices, swallowed me whole. While the stifling heat was something that took a moment to get accustomed to, the food smelled delicious.

  I scanned the crowd, recognizing some of the faces. Only two booths and a scattered three seats at the counter remained open. I touched Sanford’s arm. “Should we just order a sandwich to go?”

  He gave a slow nod, his eyes still scanning the room. “Yeah, that’d be a good idea.”

  We peered at the menus and placed our orders at the counter, then found a place to wait against the wall.

  I was about to pull out my cell phone when bells started ringing. First one bell, then the entire room erupted.

  Sanford and I frantically searched around for an explanation, but everywhere we looked there were smiling faces and the ecstatic ringing of bells.

  The owner, Carl Gilman, with his Santa-suit apron stretched across his jolly middle, clapped his hands from his side of the counter. “We have another pair for the mistletoe!”

  The peeling of bells turned to cheers and applause, but, again, Sanford and I searched the diner for an explanation … and a mistletoe.

  Then at once, we stopped, looked at each other, and tilted our heads to the ceiling above us. Oh dear.

  The blood drained from my face, and my heart sped up.

  “Kiss her! Kiss her!” came the chant, started by the owner himself.

  I licked my lips, swallowed hard, and stared back at Sanford, whose face echoed the panic I felt on my own face.

  Sanford scratched his jaw under one ear. “I thought they only did this in cheesy movies.”

  “So did I.”

  He peered down at me, still not looking all that convinced.

  I shrugged. “For old time’s sake?”

  He snorted. “Our friendship never included kisses, Natalie.”

  “True. But you don’t want to be seen as a Scrooge,” I finished with a pointed look.

  He grunted before he leaned down and kissed my cheek. The tantalizing scent of his cologne that I had caught traces of earlier swarmed around me.

  A flutter started in the pit of my stomach. That was the closest we’d been in years. But it wasn’t enough for the crazed crowd at the diner that day.

  “Boooo! Boooo!” this from several patrons around the diner.

  “We want a real kiss,” a man said, sitting at a table with his wife and two children.

  Easy for him to say.

  My face heated, and I stole a glance at Sanford.

  “That’s no way to kiss your woman,” an older man mumbled from the table closest to us.

  “She’s not my woman,” Sanford muttered back.

  “The two of you seeing someone else?” Carl asked, brows scrunched down in confusion.

  We gave jerky shakes of our heads.

  “Y’all kin to each other?” the old man’s wife asked in a warbled voice.

  “No,” I answered with another shake.

  “Then whatcha waiting on?” Carl boomed. “Lay one on her!”

  I met Sanford’s uneasy gaze, my face hot enough to bake cookies on.

  “This is ridiculous,” he hissed.

  Disheartened and more than ready to flee the diner, I turned my head away. The sooner they called my number, the sooner I could leave. In fact, leaving without my meal sounded just as good.

  Sanford grabbed my arm and spun me back to him. I gasped, but it was trapped in my throat as he cupped both sides of my face and pulled me to himself, kissing me dead on the lips.

  My heart stilled in my chest. My eyes fluttered open, but our lips stayed pressed against one another.

  There was a look in his eyes that I couldn’t interpret, but his lips shifted, and he kissed me again.

  I closed my eyes again, my heart now beating in my throat, while the electrifying heat flowed through my limbs.

  His hands on my
face softened but didn’t let go.

  I laid both hands on his chest as he shifted his lips again, giving me a third kiss. And this time, he eased away.

  I rocked back on the heels of my feet, my eyes still locked onto his just like our lips had been only seconds earlier. Only then did the diner noise come back into focus, and our jeering crowd was now cheering.

  Sanford turned away, and I followed suit, and there we waited in silence.

  In a moment none too soon, our food was ready, and we were being ushered to the counter.

  “Great show, you two,” Carl boomed when we reached him.

  A teenage waitress, Abby-Joy, stood beside the owner and smiled from ear to ear. “The two of you are so cute together.”

  Carl handed up a drink tray with four drinks on it instead of the two we’d ordered. “I threw in a couple cups of cocoa for being such good sports.”

  Sanford eyed the cups and snorted.

  “Thank you,” I mumbled.

  Abby-Joy slid a paper across the countertop at us. “We just need the both of you to sign this, giving us permission to post the picture of y’all on our wall.”

  Sanford and I glued in on the Polaroid shot she waved in her hand.

  The girl pointed to another wall, where snapshots similar to ours were taped.

  Before I could answer or take the pen in hand, Sanford snatched the picture from her grasp. He gave her a large, but rather cold, smile. “Thank you. I’ll take this.” He spun around, grasping the bag of to-go boxes off the counter. Striding to the door, he called over his shoulder, “Let’s go, Natalie.”

  My mouth dropped, and I eyed both of the stunned workers at the counter. I gave them a sheepish smile, mumbled my thank you, took the drinks, and fled the diner.

  I rushed out to the car, where Sanford was already getting inside.

  I slipped in and closed the door, both of us sitting in uneasy silence.

  Sanford huffed. “That was so awkward.”

  I nodded. It was awkward, but it was also nice and surprising. Imagining what it would be like to kiss someone you love wasn’t anything close to getting to experience it. That kiss, while tame, was sweet and filled my heart with hope.

  He shook his head, his face filling with disgust. Sanford turned to me. “That was the most distasteful thing I’ve ever done.”