sandwiches on toasted herb bread made her stomach rumble.
Loudly.
She laughed as a customer gave her a curious glance, and then added another ornament to their basket. It was one of Cora’s favorites, and new this season. A frosted icicle that was part of her “White Christmas” tree, where everything was snowy and sparkly.
And magical.
Speaking of, she looked at the snow globe on the counter as she came back around to the main room to help ring up the last of the customers. Would her Christmas wish be coming true this year? She hadn’t seen Phil or his daughter yesterday or today, but then she supposed that there wouldn’t really be much reason for them to come back to the store, would there?
Besides, if they were staying in town, she would eventually run into them. There were only so many places to go, especially in the wintertime when the ferry stopped running out to Evening Island and the lakefront lost its usual traffic.
Cora finished with the remaining customers, sent Natalie home to spend time with her daughter, and then locked up with a tired sigh. She flicked off the lights, leaving only the strands of Christmas lights on, which, considering how many trees and how many lights she had, still made the store feel quite bright.
She paused in the kitchen at the back of the building only long enough to steal one remaining cut-out cookie she had tucked away for herself, and then dashed up the back stairs to her living quarters to get her warmest coat, hat, and gloves. She knew that most people would think she was crazy, walking all the way to her father’s house when she had a perfectly functioning car. But she’d been cooped up all day, and she loved the smell of the air in the winter. The bite of the snow. The freshness of pine. And she loved seeing their small, lakeside community veiled by the blanket of glistening snowfall.
With her scarf pulled tight, she let herself out the back door and came around to the Main Street. The tree lot was conveniently located just beside her store, a happy coincidence that she had certainly taken into consideration when she’d first opened her store, even if she didn’t really have any other options. Main Street was small, but packed with small businesses, and those shop owners who retired liked to pass their legacy down to grandkids, or sometimes, in the case of Cora, to those who would carry things on out of good old-fashioned nostalgia.
The house that Cora had rented out was actually once a primary residence for a sweet couple who moved out to a smaller cottage on the lake. Over the years they rented out the house on Main Street, even considered turning it into a small inn at one point, or so rumor had it. But Cora knew that it was meant to be a holiday shop just as much as she knew that she was meant to run it. And when the lease became available five years ago, she’d jumped at the chance.
“Hey there, Bart!” she called out to the man in the wooly jacket and sensible hat. His gloves were even no-nonsense, fit for a northern Michigan winter and long days spent grabbing trees by the trunk and securing them with twine to car roofs.
He gave her a wave. “Good weekend?”
She knew what he meant by that. He meant good sales. They’d had plenty of chats over the years about how difficult it could be to survive in such a seasonally driven business.
“It’s the start of Christmas! It couldn’t be better!” She paused long enough to feel the wind slice through her coat. “I hope my sisters picked a good one this year.”
“I think it was Candy that did the picking,” Bart replied with a knowing grin.
Cora felt her eyes hood. So there it was. Another change. Another break in tradition.
She could only hope that her sisters guided Candy in the right direction. Still, she braced herself for what might be standing in the big bay window of her childhood Victorian home. She supposed she should just be happy that, seeing as it was a fresh tree, it wouldn’t be pink.
Not that she had a problem with pink trees. She had one in her store, after all.
Still, she felt her spirits slag a bit, and she raised her hand halfheartedly in good-bye, when someone else raised their hand in hello.
She froze, the coldness no longer bothering her, or the