Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 80969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
“Oh. Right.” My heart dips. I bite my lower lip to stop it from turning down.
He sighs again. “I don’t do friends, Carrie.” His voice is lower now. “But, if I did, then you’d be the closest thing I have to one.”
“Oh,” I say again, brightening up. I’m biting back a smile now. Because, for River, I’d say that’s as good as an admission that we are friends that I’m going to get.
I step into the kitchen and put the kettle on. While I wait for it to boil, I let Buddy outside to take a leak and watch him from the deck.
I call Buddy back in when the kettle boils, and he trots off into the living room. I make River’s coffee and my tea and carry them back through.
I put his on the coffee table—the part that isn’t covered in Christmas tree branches.
And I sit down on the floor, Buddy at my feet, and start unwrapping the protective paper and bubble wrap from the ornaments. Then, I get the lights out of the box, untangling them, ready for hanging.
Then, River’s done trimming the tree. I help him gather up the trimmed branches and take them to the trash can outside.
We walk back in. He picks up his coffee, draining the cup. Puts it down and walks to the front door.
Guess he’s leaving.
I follow him to the door.
“Thanks for everything today,” I tell him. “I really appreciate it. I owe you big time.”
“You don’t owe me a thing, Red.” And he’s walking away, toward his house.
“Bye,” I call after him.
The only response I receive is a lift of his hand.
That is progress in itself. Normally, he’d just ignore me completely.
I shut the door and go back inside. I bend down to pick the lights up from beside the box when something catches my eye on the inside of it. Something that wasn’t there earlier.
The glass train.
I kneel beside the box. I reach inside and carefully pick it up. It’s so beautiful. Even more so than I realized.
My eyes move to the front door River just left through.
Did he …
Surely not …
But it wasn’t there before.
I know it wasn’t. I unwrapped every single one of those ornaments.
And I definitely didn’t buy it. And there’s no way it could’ve gotten in there by accident.
I gently place the train back in the box and get to my feet.
“Be back in a minute, Bud.” I pat him on the head before leaving my house.
I walk quickly over to River’s house and ring the bell.
He swings open the door a few seconds later. I notice he hasn’t even had a chance to take off his shoes.
Something catches me in this moment. I don’t quite know what it is exactly. Maybe his kindness. Or the good heart he hides. Whatever it is, it takes my words right along with it.
“Carrie, what’s up? Is the baby okay?” Worried eyes flick to my stomach and back up to my face.
“The baby’s fine,” I reassure him. “Just … the train … from the store … the one I liked. It’s in the box with the other ornaments, and it wasn’t there before.”
His face stays impassive. “Are you sure it wasn’t there before?”
“Yes. I unwrapped each and every one of those ornaments, and it definitely wasn’t there.”
“Maybe you overlooked it.”
“Even if I did, I didn’t buy it. And there is no way it got in there by accident. Unless it came to life and choo-chooed its way into my box.”
“Choo-chooed?” he echoes.
I can tell he’s fighting a smile.
I glare at him. “Yes. Choo-chooed.”
“You do realize that it’s your shoe size that’s six and not your age.”
“Har-fudging-har.”
Also, he remembered what size shoe I wear. That does surprise me. I didn’t think he’d care to remember such a minute detail about me.
“Maybe Ellie gave it to you,” he says.
“Why would she?”
“Because she’s a good person. And you bought a tree from her and a shitload of tree decorations. Maybe it was a free gift.”
It’s my turn to lift a brow. “A fifty-dollar free gift?”
He folds his arms over his chest and lifts those big shoulders of his in a shrug. “She’s a generous woman.”
Mirroring him, I cross my arms over my own chest. “Even if it was a free gift … it would be weird that, out of all the ornaments hanging in that window, she would pick out the one I loved most to give to me as a free gift—which she didn’t tell me about. That’d be one heck of a coincidence, don’t you think?”
His lips purse. “Sure. But coincidences happen every day.”
“Yeah … you’re right. I should probably call Ellie up and check with her though and also thank her.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“Why?” I’m fighting a smile.
His shoulders lift. “Well, it might embarrass her.”
“Why?”
“Because she clearly gave you a gift and didn’t want you to know it was from her.”