Christmas at Fireside Cabins - Jenny Hale Page 0,17
couple of gifts too,” Piper suggested. “I can make her some soaps. I have all my essential oils with me.”
“That’s so kind of you,” Lila said, the Christmas spirit filling her.
“Let’s decide on our wines and while we try them out, we can brainstorm ideas for what to do for Eleanor,” Edie said. “I vote the Honeypot Vine as our first one. Can’t go wrong with a dessert wine.”
Lila grinned. “I second that!”
They ordered a bottle to share, and Lila sat back with her glass, feeling content. There was something about helping Eleanor that made her feel like there was a bigger reason they hadn’t demanded their money back and left. The only other time she felt this way was when she was helping children, because helping people was what made her come alive. Every day around her shifts at work, she met with disadvantaged kids through a program in Nashville. Sometimes she took them shopping for things they needed; other times, she helped with their homework.
Her favorite memory was from last year, when she took a little girl Christmas shopping for her mother. The child had met Lila for math tutoring, but she’d broken down into tears, unable to focus, telling Lila that it was just her and her mother, and there were three gifts under the tree—her mother’s entire savings—all of the presents with the little girl’s name on them.
“My mom works so hard and she isn’t going to get anything,” the girl, Amber, had said through her sobs.
They stopped what they were doing, went down the street to a gift shop in town, and Lila told Amber to choose any three presents she wanted to give to her mother. The store wrapped them up for her and Lila had charged them on her credit card, and even though the prices were more than she would’ve spent herself, she never wavered from her excited smile for Amber.
Later, Amber’s mom sent Lila a thank-you letter through the volunteer program, telling her how it had been the best Christmas she’d ever had, the first time in fifteen years she’d gotten a gift.
Lila had felt whole, like she was doing what she was put on earth to do. Helping Eleanor felt like that too.
She sat back and took a long sip of her wine, the sweet nectar with notes of orange blossom and wildflower honey coating her tongue and making her feel really festive. Christmas was bittersweet for her, but like the wine, the sweetness outshone the rest today.
“My name’s Rex, and I’m here to be your personal rodeo cowboy tour guide,” a four-foot-nothing young boy about five years old said in a thick southern accent, as he stood in front of the women with his hands on his Wrangler jeans-clad hips, his miniature cowboy boots covered in dust.
They all looked at each other, biting back their smiles. Lila had to, otherwise she’d gush all over this freckle-cheeked creature of pure cuteness.
“The first thing ya gotta do is grab ’em by the reins,” Rex said. “They know it’s comin’, so it ain’t a big surprise and they’ll be happy about it.” He took the reins of a copper-colored horse and clicked his tongue to get the horse to step over toward him, which it did, only causing the women to grin more over the little boy. “Now, I’ve already gotten this here girl saddled up. I need to fix a few things on my saddle somethin’ bad, but I don’t have the tools. Y’all got a good one, so don’t worry.”
Rex dragged an overturned wooden crate to the side of the horse. “The next thing ya gotta do to make sure you have a good ride is mount the right way. I’ma show you how, just as soon as I get each one of y’all your horses.”
He headed over to a snow-white horse saddled up and ready to go. Rex clicked his tongue again and walked it over to them. “Who wants to ride Phantom? Before ya answer, I’ll tell ya a secret about her.”
“Oh my gosh, he’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” Piper whispered to Lila.
“All right,” he carried on, “here’s the thing about Phantom. She’s a little older and she’s decided she’s gonna take her sweet time, so if you want to go slow, she’s your girl. Who wants her?”
All four of their hands shot in the air.
“Well, nah, I reckon you’re gonna have to take turns if y’all want her.” He turned to the horse. “Hear that,