Eight

Garrett

After Steve went to work, I stayed and watched for a few minutes while the line grew even longer. There were three other elves working today, all of them looked like they’d just gotten out of high school. But each one seemed so happy to be there. I wasn’t sure how long Steve would survive all this happiness and holiday cheer.

I left then and walked around looking at more of the shops I hadn’t visited yesterday and even walked around in Penny’s, which I hadn’t done in years. After finding a few gifts, I went to Macy’s and bought Dad the cologne he loved but wore far too much of. But that was just him, and the day he stopped wearing it I knew I’d miss it.

One of the stores I passed was full to the brim of Christmas ornaments. I stepped inside and walked around tree after tree. Each was decorated with a different theme making it easier to find what I was looking for. One tree was full of Star Trek, complete with nearly every spaceship that had been on the show, while another was superheroes, and another still was all animated characters.

There were so many to choose from and it was fun just looking at all the different ornaments. Then I found one that was perfect. I looked at it for a full minute before choosing a few more and taking them over to the counter to pay.

“Good morning, getting ready to put up your tree?” the woman at the counter asked as she wrapped each ornament before carefully setting them into a paper bag.

“We usually wait until after Thanksgiving, but it wouldn’t take much to change my mind and make me start it now,” I said and tapped my card to pay.

“Oh, I know exactly what you mean. My kids always want to put it up right after Halloween but that’s just too early for me. After Thanksgiving is perfect, but if you have an artificial tree, you can put that thing up anytime you want,” she said and handed me my bag. “Thank you, and good luck with the tree.”

I walked out of the store and realized I’d spent far longer wandering around than I thought I had, and if I didn’t get a move on, I’d be late for work. I hurried past the line to where the elves were directing people along to the front where they’d meet Santa and get their picture taken. Standing next to Santa was Steve, but if I didn’t know it was him, I might not have recognized him. He smiled and not the fake smile he’d been forcing when he worked yesterday. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was actually enjoying himself today.

He looked up then and met my eyes, and his smile only grew wider. He pointed me out to the little boy he was speaking to and they both waved at me. It was one of the cutest things I’d ever seen, and I wanted to never forget the happiness reflected back at me from him. He stepped closer to where I stood, and I wanted to kiss him so badly right then I could practically feel the press of his lips against mine. “Hey,” I said and ignored how rough my voice sounded.

“Hey, are you leaving now?” he asked.

“Yeah, I need to get to work. You look like you’re having fun,” I said, unable to ignore it.

“I am, and—oh actually I need to go. Call me later,” he said as he hurried back to where he’d been and shuffled a few people around to put them back in the order they’d been in when he’d walked away. I stood and watched him a moment more before waking toward the exit because if I didn’t leave I really would be late.