Christmas in Evergreen Tidings of Joy - Nancy Naigle Page 0,44

so good together. If she found herself standing in front of a man who looked into her eyes the way Elliott looked into Hannah’s, she wouldn’t ignore it for even a second. Her mind drifted, her heart doing a grand jeté as she imagined herself in that situation.

Elliott cleared his throat. “After this, do you want to come over to the shop? Megan said she could help us get the snow globe glass done.”

Hannah’s long lashes lifted. “Oh, yeah. Count me in.”

Katie watched the two of them, wishing Elliott would be brave enough to reach down and take Hannah’s hand in his. For a moment, she thought he might, but Michelle, dressed in a pretty cashmere coat, chose that second to get things going, and the Evergreenians broke into applause for her.

“All right. Good morning, everyone,” Michelle said. “Thanks for coming out to see what is in our second box.”

Ezra leaned over to Katie. “She’s doing an excellent job of Mayor-ing, don’t you think?”

Katie noticed David smiling as he overheard Ezra’s compliment. “Like she was born for it,” Katie answered. Unable to keep her focus on the advent calendar, she snuck a glance over to where she’d seen Ben standing. He was looking right at her too. She made eye contact with a sheepish and apologetic smile. Ben acknowledged her, but only with a half smile back. It was more of a polite smile, not playful like when he’d seen her yesterday morning. Her heart sank, regretting the misunderstanding and missing the fun he’d added to her time here.

Michelle had everyone else’s attention. “Now, I know it will be tough to choose who gets to open these boxes every day, but I have a plan for that.”

Ezra folded his arms across his chest. It appeared difficult for him to let go of some of these activities. “Voting system. That’s what I’d do.”

Michelle lifted a stovepipe hat into the air.

Ezra looked baffled.

“Nan has been kind enough to lend us this beautiful hat. The last original from the Evergreen Hat Factory. It seems quite fitting for such a historical moment as this. After all, how often does a town uncover a fifty-year-old time capsule?” She placed the tall hat on her head, then curtseyed. “So if you’re interested in participating, write your name down on a slip of paper and drop it into the hat sometime today. Every morning, we’ll meet here, and I’ll draw a different name from it.” She took off the hat and set it aside. “For now, I think we can all agree that the second box should be opened by the two people who kept the secret the longest. Nick and Nan.”

By the applause, it seemed everyone in the crowd agreed.

The two guilty secret-keepers joined Michelle in front of the time capsule. Nan placed a gentle hand on Nick’s Christmas tree tie. Applause rose, and Ben ran over to help them. He climbed the ladder all the way to the top to reach the box with the big red number two painted on it for them.

Steadying himself by the frame, Ben carefully slid the box open and reached inside. He withdrew another red envelope and displayed it to everyone, the number two on the front in gold. Like a playful elf standing up on that ladder with his scarf hanging around his neck and that sprightly grin, he seemed to enjoy adding a little dramatic suspense to the process. He bent down, handing the envelope over to Nick and Nan. “Here you go. Number two.”

Nan didn’t waste a second. She ripped opened the envelope and pulled out the letter. “Ah, I remember this one.” She read, “Dear Evergreen, usually by this time of year, the pond has frozen over and it’s time for skating. We know there won’t be enough for everyone, but may you all enjoy the skating. Inside this box are some Evergreen scarves to keep you all warm. Love, Mike and Marsha Strall.”

Ben tossed a stack of scarves tied in a red ribbon down from the ladder, then modeled a long hand-knitted one. “There’s a pair of skates in here too.”

Michelle interjected. “The Stralls owned the sporting goods store, but they’ve moved to Ohio.”

Nan glanced up as she took the stack of scarves from Ben and began lifting the corner of each one, admiring the stack. “Yes. That was before you could buy everything online. They had all of their things made here locally.”

A man stepped forward from the crowd and raised his hand.