Christmas Yearnings by Ev Bishop

Author:Ev Bishop [Bishop, Ev]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781772650662
Publisher: Winding Path Books
Published: 2021-11-24T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 9

The heavy snows of the past few days had finally eased, giving the snow removal guys a chance to get caught up, and Marilyn practically skipped to work along the highway’s freshly scraped shoulder and then the equally well-groomed side road. Beneath the streetlights and the full moon in the clear black sky, the quiet night-world of snow glowed so brightly it was like surreal daylight. Millie, equally cheery, pranced beside her, big fluffy tail swooshing back and forth comically.

In just a couple more hours, it would officially be December nineteenth, which meant there were only six more sleeps until Christmas. That wasn’t what had Marilyn excited, though. It was just . . . life as of late. So many nice little recent surprises! After her breakfast outing with Jamie earlier in day—and then taking the dogs out together for a brisk walk when he dropped her home—Marilyn had slept for a solid five hours and then gotten most of the last picture for Stevie’s gift finished up. She had a new friend! And—biggest miracle of all—she had a babysitting date with little Joe!

As Millie turned her adorable requisite pre-sleep circles in the shed, something completely foreign and new struck Marilyn out of the blue. Her shift hadn’t even started—but she already couldn’t wait for it to be over. She had other things in her life to do now. Imagine that!

The night went quickly, with lots of customers as Christmas parties and seasonal work events were in full swing and hours filled with drinking and partying demanded follow-up snacks and coffee.

Jamie, apparently able to sleep again himself—or for most of the night anyway—showed up around five-thirty. She served him coffee, but didn’t get a chance for much small talk, except to ask if he’d still be there when she got off.

He looked surprised. “Of course. I only crawled out of bed so I’d get to see you.”

“My coffee’s insulted.”

He laughed.

It felt like she’d barely had time to stock up the stacks of to-go cups and bowls when Lorraine and Kelly, the morning staff, trickled in. Lorraine caught Marilyn’s glance at the big wall clock and grinned. “You’re right. We’re early.”

“Why?”

Emmanuel appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. “Impromptu staff party, pimentón.”

“So, wait, everyone else is coming in now too?” It didn’t make any sense. How come no one had told her? Even Alfie had been close-lipped, and it wasn’t like him to keep a secret. “I’m confused. Does this mean you aren’t going to close the shop for a day in the new year for a staff event then, like usual?”

Lorraine and Kelly looked on the verge of laughter. Alfie slouched past Emmanuel and stood behind the counter. “I told you she’d be suspicious.”

“Yes,” Emmanuel said, sounding mournful. “She never expects happy surprises. Only bad.”

“Okay, that is not true. Or not strictly true, anyway.”

Emmanuel arched his eyebrows in exaggerated skepticism, and everybody laughed, including Marilyn.

“I’ve had a lot of happy surprises this week, I’ll have you know,” she insisted—and then the possible meaning of his words hit her.

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