18. Hernan

Chapter 18

Hernan

The day of the festival was finally here, and it started dark and far too early in the morning for my liking. Unlike me, Merry was up and ready to go before I’d even had my first sip of coffee. He was excited for the day—and I was too—but I would have been a little more excited with a couple more hours of sleep snuggled into his side.

I’d set up my booth the night before and was all ready to go on that front. I had a lot more items this year, thanks to Merry. Partly because he helped me far more than he needed to—this was my job, not his—but mostly because he gave me so much inspiration that I was creating like I hadn’t in years. I wasn’t struggling to find a design; instead, my struggles were in how to get all of my ideas into my work in the time I had. It was a Christmas-tastic problem to have.

“Here you go.” Merry kissed my cheek and handed me a travel mug.

“Let me guess—hot cocoa?”

“Peppermint mocha. That way you can scent me all day long, even when we are in our own booths.”

I’d told him that he scented like peppermint mocha in passing. It was sweet that he remembered and even sweeter that he wanted to ensure I couldn’t forget about him. Not that there was ever a chance of that.

As soon as we arrived, the usual chaos of the event began. Both of us went around helping everyone get themselves straightened out. By the time we officially launched, everything was ready. I could see the snow globe station from my spot at the booth, and as great as it was, it wasn’t nearly as wonderful as hearing the laughter and giggles from people working on their projects.

As I had in most years, I sold a ton. But for the first time, that wasn’t my focus. Sure, the money was great, but so was simply being here, surrounded by the Christmas spirit like this.

Around lunchtime, one of the festival’s “elves” came to relieve me so I could take a break, eat, and walk around. It was nice having volunteers doing this for us. It had been Merry’s idea. In years past, if you didn’t arrange for someone to watch your booth, you didn’t even get a pee break.

I gave them a quick rundown of what needed to be done and my pricing, then headed over to the snow globe station. Someone was already there, talking to Merry about his break. I’d been hoping we had the same one, but with so many people, the odds hadn’t been on our sides. My guess was that odds had nothing to do with it and Merry scheduled it that way.

When he saw me, his face lit up with a smile, and he ran around the table to hug me. “I made so many snow globes!” He then listed off all the elves he’d made them for. It reminded me how hard this must’ve been for him, being so far from his friends and family.

“I’m sure they’ll love them.” I intertwined our fingers as we started to walk around the festival.

We stopped at different booths, picking up some nice felt hats to keep us warm. They looked a little elfish, which made us both smile. We also stocked up on cookies, which were nearly sold out. They’d started with double the amount we had the year before, so it was great to see how well they’d been received. And of course, we got handmade cat toys for Holly. The little fur ball deserved to be spoiled, even if she was starting to get a bit more rambunctious.

“Hungry?” I gave his hand a squeeze.

“Very.”

We grabbed some lunch—the “North Pole Special.” It was really just a sandwich cut out to look like a snow globe, because themes matter, and a fruit salad where the fruit was cut using tiny Christmas cookie cutters. The food itself was boring, but the presentation made it well worth it, and besides, the proceeds of lunch all went to the community center. It was worth triple the price, given all the good it was going to do.

“Tell me about your day so far. I want to hear about all the snow globes.”

There was nothing quite as wonderful as listening to Merry’s excitement, especially over something like the snow globes. He told me about the different themes people used, the designs, and how much they touched people’s hearts.

I’d like to think my work would touch hearts on Christmas morning, and they probably would, but Merry got to see so much of the joy of his projects in real-time, even before the creations reached their rightful owners.

“We’re so lucky you’re here this year.” As the words left my mouth, I flinched, realizing they might have sounded colder than I intended. “I mean—I’m so lucky.” I reached across the table and placed my hand over his.

“I’m the lucky one.”

“I heard it’s snowing outside. Want to run out and catch snowflakes on our tongues?”

“Yeah!” he said.

We brought our tray to the counter and ran out hand in hand like little kids, not even bothering to grab our coats. It didn’t matter, we weren’t going to be out long. Sure enough, there were huge snowflakes falling, and we caught them on our tongues, twirling around in the snow.

Of course, his tasted better than mine, obviously, so I had to sample it for myself—with a kiss. Flirting and kissing in the snow, I couldn’t help but wish the Santa at the festival was one of the real Santas. If he were, I’d ask him to keep Merry here forever.

Because as much as I knew we were meant to stay together—I felt it in my gut—having Santa in control of things I couldn’t, made me a little wary. If he decided to take Merry back, I didn’t know how I’d get back to him... but I would. There would be no stopping me. He was mine.