Holiday Gifts

by Elena Aitken

  * * *

  It only took a minute for him to get the audio cable out of the storage cupboard and after some more friendly banter with the young girl, they made their way down the corridor to the Mt. Rundle room where the craft night was to take place.

  “So.” Shay gave Ryan an appraising look. “Are you single?”

  “Pardon me?” He almost tripped on the carpet in the hall. “Why do you need to know that?”

  “Duh.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s kind of the question you ask when you’re interested in someone.”

  “Interested?” Interested? She was a cute kid and maybe if she was ten or fifteen years older he’d be interested. But she wasn’t. So there was no point even thinking about it. That would make him some sort of sicko and Ryan was definitely not in the business of being any kind of creeper. No. Shay definitely had the wrong idea. “You shouldn’t be interested in me. I’m way too old for you.”

  She laughed so hard that she doubled over with laughter and he had to stop and wait for her before they could continue. Shay carried on for what seemed like hours before she finally straightened herself, wiping the tears from her eyes and adjusting her hair.

  “Are you going to be okay?” Ryan had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. It wasn’t that funny.

  “I’m fine,” she managed. They started to walk again. “And for the record, you are way too old for me.” He was about to say something, but before he could, she added, “But it’s too bad really. I’m a lot of fun.” She winked. “And I’m pretty cute, too. If only there was an older version of me, right?”

  Ryan couldn’t help it. This girl had just verbalized exactly what he’d been thinking almost from the moment he’d met her. If there was an older version of her…funny, beautiful, obviously witty and smart, well…

  “Here we are.” Shay ran ahead and pushed open the door to the room. “I got a cable,” she called out. “And a man!”

  Ryan laughed and looked at his feet, shaking his head. She really was a piece of work. When he looked up again, his breath caught in his throat. The woman who looked like just that—an older version of Shay—stood at the front of the room, holding some sort of craft project in her hand. The younger girl’s words replayed like a flash through his brain. If only there was an older version of me.

  2

  The room buzzed with happy chatter and laughter and Julie allowed herself a moment to step back and take it all in. She scanned the room and the tables full of women of all ages elbow-deep in pom poms, stamps, glitter, and glue. It never failed to impress Julie how a simple craft project could bring out creativity in women and bond them together in the sharing of ideas. It was one of the reasons that she’d wanted to start her business. She’d always enjoyed arts and crafts as a child, but the older she got, being crafty became something that her friends made fun of. It wasn’t cool to like painting or gluing, or turning a rummage sale find into a piece of art. When Shay was little, she had a built-in excuse to craft again. After all, it was okay for kids.

  But as time wore on, and Shay got older, Julie just kept on going. She no longer cared what others thought of her hobbies. In fact, the more she exercised her imagination, the more her friends and neighbors wanted to take part, too. Soon, an idea was born. But it wasn’t until after she’d earned her degree in business that she realized it could actually work. And it did work.

  Julie allowed herself a moment to soak it all in. But only a moment. She needed to make her rounds and make sure everyone was progressing with the two-toned, stamped greeting card she’d laid out and demonstrated for them. Soon it would be time to move on to the next piece. The wine-deer. She was especially proud of her little reindeer made out of wine corks. It was a super cute ornament for the tree, or to tie onto a bottle of wine as the perfect hostess gift for the holidays. And judging by the crowd she had, and all the wine they’d brought with them, they were going to love it.

  “Mom, these ladies are crazy.” Shay joined her at the supply table and dumped a handful of cut pieces of card stock next to her. “They keep asking me about my boyfriend, which I don’t have,” she added quickly. “And they want to talk about sex. I’m not going to talk to them about sex.”

  Julie laughed. She was used to these gatherings. Something about the combination of groups of women fueled by creative energy and wine always brought out some raunchy conversations. She probably should have warned Shay ahead of time. “Nor should you talk about sex.” She exaggerated the word in a stage whisper the way her daughter had. “Especially if you can’t even say the word.” She couldn’t help it. She laughed again. “Why don’t you stay up here for a minute and organize this table? I’m going to do a quick check and then start the demo for the wine-deer.”

  Shay breathed a sigh of relief and scooted around the side of the table. Poor kid hadn’t known what she was signing up for when she volunteered to be Julie’s assistant in exchange for spending the holidays at the Lodge. It was good for her, though. It didn’t hurt anything for her to see how hard her mom worked, and some of the drama she had to put up with.

  Speaking of drama, she thought as she approached a table with an older woman and a much younger woman. The older woman gestured wildly with her hands and tried to explain what sounded like, oh good grief, some sort of intimate position. No wonder Shay was mortified.

  “How’s everything going over here?” Julie asked loudly, breaking into the conversation before it could get any more graphic. “Is everyone getting their craft on?”

  “Not only am I getting my craft on,” the older woman turned to look at her with a huge grin, “but I’m getting my beautiful granddaughter here to channel her inner Martha Stewart. You should see the stuff this girl is coming up with.”

  Julie laughed and turned her attention to the younger woman’s projects. They were gorgeous. She definitely had an eye for the arts. “These cards are stunning.” Julie reached her hand out but pulled back before she touched. “May I?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Julie picked up the card and turned it over to examine it from all directions. It was beautifully crafted. Much more than a simple card, it was most definitely a work of art. “Bria, is it?” The young woman nodded. “This is gorgeous. You’re clearly very talented at this.”

  “See?” The older woman spoke up. “What did I tell ya? You’ve been wasting your talents taking pictures. This is where the money is. Am I right, Julie?”

  The woman couldn’t have been further from the truth, but her energy was infectious. “Well, I don’t know about money, but I’ll tell you what, it’s really a lot of fun. Especially when I can meet ladies like you both.” Julie scanned her memory and the mental list of names of participants. “Let me guess,” she said. “You’re Mona.”

  “The one and only.” The older woman stuck out her hand that was covered in glue and glitter. “Mona Sheridan. And this is my granddaughter Bria. She’s a famous photographer.”

  “I’m hardly famous, Grandma.”

  “Well, you might be if you let yourself go artistically. You have so much potential.” She beamed with pride the way only a grandmother could do.

  “I’m sure you have brilliant photographs,” Julie added. “In fact, I bet there’s a way you could include them in cards like this to really make a special gift.”

  Bria looked down at the card before she looked back up at Julie. “That’s a great idea.”

  “Maybe even engagement announcements?” Mona nudged her granddaughter, which earned her a look and a shake of the head before Mona turned her attention to Julie. “What about you? A pretty woman like you must be married. I’ve been trying to convince Bria here to stop fooling around with her man and get him to make an honest woman out of her. He’s a good boy, that Jax, but neither of you are getting any younger. Am I right?”

  “Grandma.” Bria shook her head but looked resigned, as if she’d heard that particular argument before. “We’re not in a rush. Why do you have to get married anyway? I think
it’s more of a commitment to stay together in an invested relationship without the formality of a ceremony. It’s unnecessary to go through the whole rigamarole.”

  “Some would say the rigamarole is the whole point, my dear.”

  Julie tried to take a step back and extricate herself from the conversation, but Mona pulled her back in. “What do you think, Julie? You have a beautiful daughter. She helped me with the glitter.” Julie scanned the table and the pile of glitter. Shay had helped, all right. “You and your husband must be so proud of her. She’s just a gem.”

  Julie smiled and nodded. “I am very proud.” She emphasized the singular. She’d only been married briefly when Shay was a baby. It was more of a marriage that they thought they should have rather than one either of them wanted. Which was evidenced by the quickie divorce they got before Shay’s third birthday. Since then, it had just been the two of them. A fact that, for the most part, Julie was happy with and wouldn’t have changed for anything. But there were some days she longed for a companion. Someone to talk about the day’s events with or curl up to at night. Someone who might show her the love that she’d been missing all those years. But it wasn’t the time to get into any of that. She shook her head and forced a smile. “It’s only the two of us,” she added, which was mostly true. After Shay’s dad, Ken, remarried three years ago, he’d become totally absorbed in his new family and hadn’t had much time at all for his first one. It was a hard lesson for Shay to learn at the tender age of thirteen, but she’d come through it okay.

  “Well, you’ve done a great job with her.” Mona patted her arm and smiled. “But tell me, what is a beautiful young woman like you doing without a man?”

  “Grandma!”

  Mona ignored her. “Not that you need a man. In fact, I’d say that no one really needs a man these days. But they’re nice to have.” She grinned. “Especially if you get the right kind. You know what I mean?”

  Without warning, the image of the customer service man, Ryan, she’d met earlier popped into her head. But that was ridiculous. He’d only come to hook up their audio, and Julie hadn’t even spent any time talking to him except for showing him what her issue was. But that didn’t mean she hadn’t noticed his eyes. His rich hazel eyes that had locked on hers before she blushed and looked away. And Julie didn’t do that. Blush. Not with a man. Especially one who had barely said two words to her. But there was definitely something about him. Maybe in a different circumstance, she might want to—

  “I think we all know what you mean, Grandma,” Bria groaned, interrupting Julie’s thoughts, which was probably for the best. No, definitely for the best. “Now let the poor woman get back to work.”

  Julie laughed, but Bria had a point. She needed to get moving on the next craft, and it was one she was excited about. “You know what? I probably should get started on the next activity. Did you both get your supplies for the wine-deer? I think this one might be my favorite ornament that I’ve ever designed.”

  “It is pretty cute, but I was looking at the sample and I can’t imagine how I’m going to put it together. Are you going to be giving us step-by-step instructions?”

  Julie assured Mona she would. After all, that’s what she was there for. She made a mental note to have Shay pop in on them to see whether they needed any extra help as she made her way to the front of the room and the microphone stand where she held her display items. She didn’t usually work with a mic, but the group was rowdy and it was definitely necessary to be heard over everyone.

  To her surprise, the group calmed down quickly and all turned their attention to Julie, who, step by step, began to demonstrate the project. An introvert by nature, she’d always assumed speaking in front of people would be her biggest hurdle to starting Crafty Creations. Maybe it was because of the subject matter or just that she was in her comfort zone, but whatever it was, Julie had never had a problem when it came to demonstrations.

  “Once you have the main cork in your hand.” She held the piece aloft. “Take the smaller one—it’s already been cut down to size—and put a little drop from your glue gun on it like so.” With her headpiece microphone on, Julie easily demonstrated what she was talking about. She waited a beat while everyone in the room moved through the step, and after a quick scan to see that almost everyone was ready, she continued. “Next you’ll have to find the pieces that will act as the legs.” She bent her head to look through her own supplies as she spoke. “They should be the same—” The words died on her lips when she looked up and toward the back of the room where the door had just opened, and a man with the most intense pair of hazel eyes watched her with a grin on his face, leaving her oddly, and most disconcertingly, speechless.

  * * *

  Ryan hadn’t meant to interrupt her demonstration. In fact, he hadn’t really meant to go back to the Crafty Creations night at all. It’s not as if he was interested in Christmas crafts. Or crafts of any kind, really. But he was interested in the woman leading the workshop. Very interested.

  After fixing her audio cable earlier in the evening, he’d tried to think of a reason to stay and maybe chat with her a little more, but she was clearly busy and definitely stressed. He’d found some cables along the back of the room that were in desperate need of tidying so no one tripped or hurt themselves, and busied himself with that as long as he could. It was a safety hazard, after all, and he couldn’t in good conscience leave knowing that there was the potential of a hazard in the room. Really, he was just doing his job.

  But he couldn’t make a full night of that simple task and eventually he’d had to excuse himself, but not before Shay had issued him an invitation to come back to check out the event. An offer he readily accepted, especially considering he should really be sure that the audio was working for them.

  It was.

  He’d tried to be quiet and not interrupt her, but it didn’t seem to matter. Her eyes locked on his and she stumbled her words, blushing the way she had earlier. It was cute. No. It was kind of sexy.

  She was sexy. In a totally adorable way.

  Her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, but a few strands had escaped and trailed into her face. She wore simple jeans with a blue t-shirt with the words Crafty Creations stretched across her chest in a way that invited him to look more than once. She was the picture of simplicity, but even from their brief encounter, Ryan could tell Julie was one woman who was anything but simple.

  She recovered from her slip-up and continued with her demonstration of what looked to be an animal made out of wine corks. He stood, riveted, his attention focused totally on her and what she was doing, so he didn’t notice when Shay slipped up next to him.

  “You wanna make one?”

  “What?” He turned to the girl.

  “Do you want to make one?” She spoke slowly and dangled a cork deer in his face.

  “No.” He shook his head. “I’m good.”

  “We have extra supplies.”

  “Honestly. I’m not good at crafts. It’s not really my thing.”

  “It could be.”

  “But it’s not.”

  “Look.” She smacked his arm. “I think you should make one. If you need extra help, I know how to get you some.” She rolled her eyes in a not so subtle gesture toward her mother. He laughed at her perceptiveness, and it was definitely hard to argue with.

  “Okay,” he agreed. “Why not?”

  “Exactly, right?”

  Shay led him to an empty table near the front with some extra supplies. Julie had finished her demonstration and started to walk around the room, looking at what everyone had created. He couldn’t help but notice that she took her time to come around to where he stood. It was fine; he would wait.

  “Coming to check up on me?” She winked at him as she approached his table. It was a move so unexpected based on the quick observations he’d made from her that it took him a moment to think of something to say in response.

  “It’s not a check-up,” he said somewhat l
amely. “But more of a…how’s it going?”

  “Oh.” She chuckled a bit. “So a check-up?”

  “He came to do a craft, Mom.” Shay jumped in and he said a silent thank-you to the girl. He wasn’t normally so tongue-tied around women. Although he didn’t normally run across such beautiful and interesting women at the Lodge. That probably had something to do with it. Whatever. He had to shake it off.

  “A craft?” She looked dubiously at him and tilted her head. “You?”

  “Men don’t do crafts?”

  “No,” she said slowly. “Men do crafts. Just not men like you.”

  “Men like me?” He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. It didn’t matter that she was exactly right. Men like him, whatever that meant, didn’t do crafts. “What does that mean exactly?”

  Julie picked up a cork and rolled it through her fingers. “I guess it doesn’t mean anything. Except, you just don’t seem like you have a lot of experience with this type of thing.”

  “Of course I do.” He reached down to the table of supplies and grabbed the first thing that he saw, which happened to be a glue gun. “I may not look like it, but I definitely know my way around a glue gun.” He held it up, put his finger on the trigger and pulled, resulting in a hot stream of glue to ooze out the nozzle and down the body of the gun. Ryan pulled his fingers away and dropped the gun only moments before getting burned.

  “Sure you do.” She laughed, a sound that made his near-burn experience totally worth it. “I never considered it before, but maybe I should have crafting newbies sign a waiver before getting started. You may have just given me a perfect idea.” He laughed along with her, determined more than ever to show her he could put together the ornament just as well as everyone else in the room. “If you insist on trying it, go ahead. Shay can show you the steps.”

  “Oh no, I—”

  “I thought maybe—”

  Ryan and Shay both spoke at the same time, causing both of them to chuckle, and Julie to give them a suspicious eye. “What?”