Christmas and Cleats

by Solly, Clare

  Completely shaken, Dottie trembled.

  Heather gave Dottie a warm smile, more than just the one she used for good public relations with fans. Heather took Dottie’s fear as excitement at seeing a celebrity. Although Dottie was terrified to be caught.

  Dottie spoke first then awkwardly extended her hand, “I’m Dottie, I just came over to… I…I’m Joe’s—”

  “DOTTIE! The Dottie!” Heather squealed and then hopped up and down while clapping. Then she almost tackled Dottie with a hug. “It’s so great to finally meet you! Joe often talks about his friends he grew up with here in West Hattum.”

  “East Haddam,” Joe corrected, then looked between the ladies as if he were waiting for one or both to fly off the handle at any moment.

  “Riiiight,” Heather giggled as she let go of Dottie. The woman was all bones, and Dottie felt all of them dig into her in the tight embrace from the tiny woman.

  “I was just about to go,” Dottie said. “But Joe, it’s so nice to finally meet your fiancée,” Dottie said as she started to retreat to the door.

  “Dottie don’t go—” Joe started to say. He looked like he had something he needed to tell her, his eyes pleaded.

  “Yes! You can’t go yet! We’ve just met,” echoed Heather, seeming to get Joe’s intention incorrect. “We were just about to go out to dinner, to The Queen’s… something. You should come with us!”

  “NO! I’m…” she shouted, but then tried to cover her unnecessary loudness with extreme politeness. “I need to get back to the museum. I have… things to do. For the museum.” Dottie squirmed. “Exhibits. I need to build the new exhibits. You see we’re trying to get them open soon to get more visitors. You see the museum is closing,” Dottie continued to ramble. “We don’t get as many visitors as we used to, and we need a new roof…” She looked at Joe who just beamed at her. Dottie blushed both from his look and from her incessant chatter. Then she kindly declined and shook both of their hands as she said, “But you two have a nice time. Joe, it was great to see you again, I…” Dottie had so much that she wanted to say as well, but now wasn’t the time. “I’ll see you later,” she said and without waiting for a goodbye from either of them, she walked out the door.

  As her feet crunched in the snow Dottie’s mind spun about what just happened. That kiss! And Joe liked her too. Of course, they were interrupted. Did nothing between them go smoothly? Oddly she didn’t feel upset, just confused. She was halfway up the driveway when she heard someone running after her, footsteps crunching in the snow.

  “Dottie wait! Dottie, I—” Joe shouted.

  She turned around with a blank face and looked at him. He searched her face with his eyes. Joe looked like he was ready to be slapped.

  “What’s the matter Joe?” she broke the silence. “Did I forget something?” she said as she checked her pockets.

  “I can totally explain,” Joe was panicked and started to reach out for her hands, but then looked back at the house behind him.

  “Ok…” Dottie waited.

  “She just showed up. Without warning. I couldn’t send her away. We… we’ve been broken up for a few weeks. It’s really over between us. We decided it right after I arrived here.” He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. “I don’t know if I ever really felt much for her, and I’m pretty sure for her I was just her stepping stone to the next great thing. We haven’t mentioned anything to any one because she has a big contract looming. I care about her enough that I don’t want her to lose that opportunity. And my contract is due for re-signing this year. Becoming fodder for the gossip papers might be bad for both of our careers at this moment. We both agreed that staying out of the spotlight was the best thing. We would wait until we both had our affairs in order to have our agents make a statement.” He looked at her, pleading for her understanding.

  “Ok.” Dottie said. Still with a blank face.

  “I just want you to know, I kissed you as a—wait…Ok?” Joe was trying to register her answer. “But you… Aren’t you...? Can we…?” Joe was completely thrown that she believed him, and he sputtered, “Can we talk about this later? I’m sure you have questions and I want…”

  “Sure.” she smiled and shrugged her shoulders as he was apologizing for just stepping on her shoe.

  “Sure? That’s it? You’re not going to go crazy or yell or slap me or anything?” Joe was confused.

  “Nope. We can talk tomorrow or whenever,” Dottie complied chipperly and smiled genuinely.

  “Wait. What? Why do I feel like I’m missing something,” Joe stated.

  Taking a moment to look in his eyes to confirm to herself, Dottie shook her head and smiled. Reassuringly she reached out and put her hands in his. Although she was in slight disbelief, a warmth filled her. “Honestly, all you say makes sense. And you have no reason to lie. You’ve never lied to me. Kept things from me, yes. Lied, no,” he was taken aback, but she continued. “You knew she was upstairs, told me how you really felt and kissed me anyway, knowing she could be down any moment and catch us. You’re not the type of guy to do that to any woman. So…”

  He waited for her to finish, but after a few moments he prompted, “So... what?”

  “So, I choose to trust you,” Dottie was in such shock over the whole evening that she saw everything clearly. What she would do from this point forward, who was to say. But at this moment, everything was clear to her as a morning after a fresh snow. She smiled at him, and then leaned in and kissed him. Just a light kiss, but one that assured him she meant every word she just said. “Besides,” she continued, “we both know Hetty is the dramatic one.”

  They laughed and then Joe’s face turned serious and searched her eyes.

  “Oh, Dottie,” he murmured her name as a thank you. He had so much he wanted to say to her.

  “I know,” she replied to all he wasn’t saying. “We will have so much time to talk about it all and figure it all out.”

  “I should… get back inside.” he said, not letting go of her waist which he took hold of when she kissed him.

  “True,” she laughed and wrapped her arms around him, “you don’t have a coat on.”

  “Well, and a house guest,” he joked. “Sure, you don’t want to join us for dinner?”

  “Nah, I really do have things to do at the museum. You should come over tomorrow and see all of the progress. Hetty’s exhibit is mostly done, and we’re working on the yearbook exhibit. Tomorrow they’re bringing over the computer and a lot of the yearbooks.” She paused for a nervous moment before asking what she really wanted to. “And, maybe, if you’re willing, you could possibly, let us maybe photograph you and, you know… put it on social media?”

  She scrunched up her nose and looked at him questioning. He looked back and said nothing. Then a smile cracked across his face.

  “Then I will see you tomorrow,” he murmured as he touched his forehead to hers. “Good night.”

  “Good night,” Regrettably she pulled away from him, giving his hand one last squeeze before she turned and walked up the driveway.

  On her short walk back to the museum, she replayed the last thirty minutes in her head. Although many things were answered, Dottie was now even more confused.

  She loved Joe! He loved her! But Harold. New York. The museum. And Joe had a contract and move back to Los Angeles in a few weeks. Confusion echoed in her mind until she got back to the museum and locked the door after herself. “What WAS that?!” Dottie hollered her question to the empty hallway and leaned against the door, listening to the silence and waiting for an answer to come to her.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  “What was what?” Hetty hollered as she came running down the stairs.

  “You’re still here?” Dottie jumped from her leaning stance as she was startled out of her daze.

  “Of course, we’re still here,” Frank echoed. “Robert called me just after you left saying he was bringing a load of the yearbooks over. We’ve started placing them, maybe you want to
come look?”

  “Sure,” Dottie said taking off her coat and snapping back into business.

  “Wait a minute!” Hetty barred the way up the stairs, “What just happened over there?” She was concerned.

  “Well—”

  “Wait a minute, I want to hear,” hollered Don from inside the room.

  “Me too,” hollered another voice.

  “Who is up there? Oh! Hey, Robert,” Dottie’s face went red with embarrassment. There were so many people here tonight, and she probably shouldn’t tell them all. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to have everyone know the feelings, she just realized herself. Well, she resigned, this was a small community. It would be all over town, soon enough. “Why don’t you all come into the kitchen. I need a drink, and I’m sure if you’ve all been working, you could use a break.” Without waiting for anyone, she walked into the kitchen, flipped on the lights and grabbed the cocoa powder, milk and cinnamon.

  “Hot cocoa, huh? This must be serious,” Hetty spoke somberly, looking over the island as Dottie grabbed a pot and measuring cups. Hetty started to get cups out as Dottie prepared the drink. Turning from the stove, she saw that everyone had assembled.

  Putting her hands on the island and taking a stance and making a serious face Dottie began. “You all have to promise you won’t say anything about this. Including Harold stopping by and the cookies. The mystery of the Christmas tree in the ballroom, and anything I'm about to tell you. Just until I’ve got it all figured out.”

  “But—” Frank said.

  “I don’t care if Murray doesn’t know. I’m well aware that you can’t keep a secret to save your soul, but careers are at stake. And maybe the fate of this museum. Got it?” After meeting everyone's eye as they individually nodded. Satisfied, Dottie took a deep breath and continued. “Joe is in love with me.” And she smiled the biggest smile.

  Echoes of “I knew it,” and “Yes!” and “Told you,” were a cacophony in the room.

  “Do you want to hear what happened or not?” Dottie hollered over them.

  “We do!” exclaimed Don, who Dottie thought was the least interested in her life, until now. But it made sense, being Hetty’s husband that he would be invested.

  “Well…” Dottie continued to regale her friends with the story as she passed out hot chocolate. “At first I walked in and was really angry at him. But then he looked at me and…” She told them how she was so touched by his gesture of decorating the tree that she couldn’t stay mad. She blushed when she revealed that Joe kissed her. And was even more embarrassed when they were interrupted by Heather his fiancée, who is actually no longer engaged to him.

  “I guess she is visiting him to work out the details of their breakup. Apparently, Joe’s contract is in negotiations and Heather is up for something big in New York. She was out this way and came up to see the town,” Dottie said. “You know I’ve read in books and seen movies where this moment happens, and the gal gets all upset. But it was funny, when the moment was happening, I just knew that it all didn’t matter.” She turned to Hetty and said, “It was like when we made those forts when we were kids with the sofa cushions and blankets. It felt cozy and safe inside, no matter how precarious it looked from the outside,” Dottie remarked. She mentioned how they invited her to dinner, but she declined, because she wanted to finish at the museum. Then she smiled slowly and blushed. “And he followed me out and kissed me again in the driveway.” She looked around at her silent friends. They were all looking at her with hopeful faces that were swept away in her romantic tale. Even Don had become a little misty eyed and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

  “I can’t believe you were so rational,” Hetty remarked. “Especially since you were about to tear someone’s head off when you left here.”

  “True, I was irrational. But you were acting sketchy,” Dottie motioned to Hetty, “and Harold here only moments before, it was just…too much. Throw in all of these feelings I’ve had forever for Joe that I’ve ignored. I don’t know anyone who would have been rational.”

  “Speaking of which, what are you going to do about Harold?” Don asked, as he leaned in on the island. He was definitely the one most engaged in the whole saga.

  “Harold. Oh no! What am I going to do?” she looked up at her friends with pleading eyes and put her hands on her cheeks.

  “Well, you can’t stay with him,” Don argued. “You have to be with Joe.”

  “Yeah, but he’s going to go back to Los Angeles, so either way Dottie is leaving town if she does go with Joe,” Frank theorized.

  “Then you still have the problem of the museum,” Robert reminded. “Who will take care of it? With these new exhibits, I bet you’ll get more foot traffic, at least for a little while.”

  “Yeah, but with the cookie money, Dottie will be able to save the museum, and probably can pay someone to run it, at least a few days a week,” Hetty suggested. “She can come back and check in on it, won’t ya, honey?”

  “Ugh, the cookie money. If I break up with Harold before the deal goes through, then we won’t get the money to save the museum,” Dottie felt trapped. “But not breaking up with him later only to get the money makes me feel dishonest.” She continued, “Plus this was a big deal for him. It helped him solidify the job, he said.” Dottie put her head in her hands.

  “I still vote for Joe,” Don chimed in.

  “My love, no one here is voting for Harold,” Hetty frankly replied to her husband. Turning to the group she threw her hands in the air and clarified, “Not that I’m saying anyone is against him. He’s a nice person… at times. But he tries. He’s just not right for Dottie.”

  There was a hubbub of agreement in the kitchen. It was weird for Dottie to have all of these people chatting about her relationship, but at the same time it was nice to have a community to talk all of this out with. Or what are they calling it these days she thought to herself, a hive mind?

  “You don’t need Harold’s cookie venture. I agree that it’s the wrong reason to stay with anyone. Plus, if you’re that worried about it, Joe has money,” Robert stated. “Why not ask him for help for the museum?”

  “I’m sure Joe would help. He is very generous. I know he bought a lot of your cookies and gave them away,” Frank added as they all looked at Dottie.

  Her head was still buried in her hands and so she spoke muffled, “I already told him I didn’t want his money for the museum.”

  “Yeah, but that was before you knew he had feelings for you. It's different now. I’m sure you can take it back,” Don said.

  “That is exactly why she can’t ask,” Hetty reiterated Dottie’s sentiment. “If she goes back now asking for the money again, as in ‘Sorry Joe, I was wrong. Now that you’ve professed that you love me, can I have your money for my failing museum?’ It just wouldn’t be right. And it puts a damper on the mystique out of their newly budding romance,” Hetty said.

  A cell phone rang. They all checked their pockets except Dottie. Somehow, she knew that her bliss wouldn’t last long. She also somehow knew exactly who was calling. After the second ring she announced to the room, “It’s Harold.” She didn’t have a special ring for him, she just… knew. On the third ring she took it out of her pocket and answered downtrodden, “Hello Harold. Yes…. Wait. Before you…, Harold!” she was almost shouting now.

  “We should go,” Frank whispered as he shooed everyone out of the kitchen.

  Hetty held her hand up making a phone gesture and mouthing, “Call me later.”

  Dottie nodded and then hung her head hearing his voice through the phone. She squared her shoulders and said into the phone while sighing, “Harold, I need to tell you something…”

  * * *

  The call lasted only four minutes. Four minutes to undo everything Dottie had thought mattered for years. Things she thought mattered until a few weeks ago. The only romantic relationship she’d ever had. Their plan of moving to New York. But now she knew those weren’t her goals anymore
. Hope for the museum died midway through the call. Harold said he would discuss the deal with the partners, but he wasn’t sure that they would see Dottie as a good risk, if she wasn’t moving to the city to be readily available for consultations. She wasn’t sure if it was a retaliation or if he just realized it wasn’t a good idea. Dottie hoped Harold wasn’t vindictive enough to just pull the rug out from under her. At the same time, she understood and was a little glad.

  No cookie deal meant that it would be a clean break between them and they both could go on with their lives. She would just have to wait and see. When Dottie finally hung up the phone, she felt drained. She wanted quiet comfort.

  Joe’s face flashed into her mind. He was the only thing keeping her sane at the moment. Dottie wanted to call him, to go cuddle in his arms, but he was out with Heather. Hetty had texted saying mentioning that they were at the diner, and invited Dottie to stop by when she got done on her call, but Dottie wasn’t in the mood for people at the moment. She definitely wasn’t in the mood for explaining anything that happened to anyone, not even to Hetty or Joe.

  Instead she went upstairs, taking solace in her beloved museum. As she walked through the hallway, she found herself petting the walls as she went. “Old girl, you’ve been good to me. I’ll be sad when we end as well.”

  When she got to the yearbook exhibit room, she was stunned. “Wow,’ she gasped out loud.

  They had lined the bookshelves with the yearbooks. Every other book was open to a different page. The alternating books had the cover showing. At the ends, five to ten were shelved so they could be taken off the shelves and looked through. On the alternating wall, somehow Frank had mounted frames with hinges on the walls, so they turned like oversized pages. Robert had also texted her when he left mentioning that the school was printing large poster sized reproductions of several momentous pages from the yearbooks for those hanging frames. It would truly be like a giant yearbook that visitors could flip through.