An Old Fashioned Christmas by Kathryn Kaleigh

Author:Kathryn Kaleigh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: KST Publishing

24

WESLEY

I’d heard the expression buying out the store, but I’d never seen anyone actually do it until I saw the taxi’s trunk crammed full of bags of decorations.

Daniel and Jenna had bought more decorations than they could possibly need.

Isabella stood, her hands on her hips, watching Daniel and me unload the airplane, moving everything to the rental car. They were standing close enough that I caught most of their conversation.

“How many trees do you have to decorate?” she asked.

“Just one,” Jenna said. She stood sipping a milk shake.

Isabella turned to her sister-in-law. “So what are you going to do with the rest of all this?”

Jenna shrugged. “We’ll just donate it.”

“I see,” Isabella said, noncommittally.

“Are you flying back to Houston tonight?” Jenna asked.

“I don’t know yet,” Isabella said. “I don’t think there are any rooms in Whiskey Springs.”

“You could stay with us,” Jenna said, “but we’re in my parents’ house right now.”

“I know,” I said. “I’ll figure something out.”

“You can always crash on the couch.”

“Thanks,” Isabella said. “But I think I’ll just fly back to Denver and get a room.”

It was almost four o’clock.

The Fleming family had an odd sense of time. Jenna and Daniel had about one hour to get to the town’s high school gym and get a tree decorated.

Isabella was talking about flying to Denver to spend the night because there weren’t any rooms in Whiskey Springs. I suppose that meant she would get up in the morning and fly back to Whiskey Springs. To me, that sounded not only exorbitant, but also like a huge waste of time.

I’d already decided that she could take my room. I just wasn’t going to offer it in front of her brother. It seemed disrespectful.

I hoped she would take it. The problem was then I would have no place to sleep. It was easier for me, though. I could sleep downstairs in the saloon. On the floor, if need be.

By the time we got back to the high school gym and carted everything inside, the place was crawling with people of all ages. Children racing around, squealing with delight when they caught sight of Santa walking around, trailed by a following of elves handing out little gift bags. Older couples, wandering about admiring the different Christmas trees—twelve of them scattered around the gym.

Walking through the gym was like walking through a sparkly, twinkling Christmas forest.

I wondered how much work must have gone into all this.

Whiskey Springs truly was synonymous with Christmas. I’d heard people say that, but now that I was seeing all this, I actually believed it.

Most everyone else seemed to already have their trees decorated or else they were finishing up. It was going to be interesting to see Jenna and Daniel decorate a tree in less than one hour.

“Come with me?” Isabella said. “Let’s get some hot chocolate.”

“Of course.”

We made our way across the floor to an old-fashioned cart with an old-fashioned sign identifying it as Smedley’s Ice Cream Shop. There was only one girl behind the counter and she was slammed.

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