The Christmas Shoppe (10 page)

Tommy hadn’t really meant to eavesdrop on Tuesday afternoon. He simply wanted to get a quote—even just one short, succinct sentence—from Matilda Honeycutt. He wanted it before it was time to put the paper to bed. He’d gone into her shop, which appeared to be open, but not seeing her about, he’d ventured to the back room. Eventually he wandered upstairs and tapped lightly on the door to her apartment. He had to get a quote. Not just for his article or for the townsfolk, but for Matilda too. So far she had distanced herself from the fray. It seemed only fair that she should be able to have some words from her own lips printed in her defense.

Dismayed at not finding her, he’d gone back down the stairs, then stopped. He could hear what sounded like Councilman Snider loudly lambasting Matilda. Tommy remained in the shadows to listen. If nothing else, he could use this eyewitness incident to help open the eyes and hearts of the people of Parrish Springs.

“Some might think me coldhearted to come in here two days before Thanksgiving,” he told her. “But you need to hear what I have to say, Ms. Honeycutt. The sooner you understand it, the better it will be for all. I felt sorry for you to start with. I even offered to buy you out of this mess. But would you listen? No. So now I’m here to tell you that we are onto you. We know you’re practicing some kind of voodoo witchcraft in here. And whatever you’ve done to the mayor is going to bring you down. Do you hear me?”

“My hearing is fine.”

“Fine! So you need to understand that today I am offering you exactly what I offered the city when I tried to buy this building before. This is a onetime offer, do you understand that?”

“I do understand,” she said sweetly. “But do you understand?”

“Understand what?” he demanded.

“That you have come into my shop yet I do not see you doing any shopping.”

“Shopping?” he boomed. “Why in tarnation would I shop here?”

“Because I think I have what you are looking for.”

“Don’t be trying your wily ways on me, Matilda Honeycutt.”

“We are all looking for something . . . searching . . . Some of us have been searching since childhood.” Her voice had a soothing quality to it, almost hypnotic. Perhaps it was working on George as well, since he was no longer yelling. Tommy heard the shuffling of feet, almost as if someone was dancing, and he peeked out to see that they were simply walking. The councilman was following Matilda with a bewildered expression, and she continued to talk in that soothing way, saying how searching was a good thing and how people should never give up, no matter how old. “You can always find what you’re looking for,” she continued, “if you’re willing to keep looking.”

“I don’t know . . . What do you mean?” the councilman asked in a much calmer tone.

Tommy was still peeking from the shadows, suddenly feeling like a voyeur and a trespasser. He was afraid to come out and reveal himself now, worried about how bad it would look. Feeling like a kid caught in the middle of a freeze-tag game, he just stood there. Matilda and George were behind some open shelves now. All Tommy could see were parts of their backs, but he could still hear their voices.

“See up there?” Matilda was saying.

“Up where?” he asked gruffly.

“The writing . . . on the wall.”

“‘Sometimes so bright it’s hard to see, this dear gift will set you free.’” He cleared his throat loudly. “What does that mean?”

“What do you think it means?”

“I don’t know,” he snapped.

“Just relax and let it come to you. You’re an intelligent man.”

“Something bright . . .” he began slowly. “It’s hard to see . . . and it sets you free?”

A light went on in Tommy’s head.
The truth
. Those words described the truth. He was suddenly reminded of his parents. His mother would say things like, “Shine the light of truth” in order to expose something. He’d also heard his father say, “The truth sets you free.” But what did the riddle really mean? Who was it for? George Snider?

“Where did you find this?” the councilman asked in a choked-up voice. “How did you know about it?”

“You found it yourself,” she told him. “You were willing to look, and now you found what you needed. This is the gift that will set you free.”

“I don’t know,” he stammered. “What do I do with it?”

“You
know
what to do with it,” she said gently.

“What if I don’t want it?” he asked. “I don’t want it. You take it back.”

“No, no, it’s yours, George. You take it with you.”

“But I—”

“Please don’t turn down a gift, George. You might not ever get another chance. Today is here now. It’s yours for the taking. Please, just take it.”

The next thing Tommy heard was the sounds of steps, the front door opening and closing, and then silence. He was wishing Matilda had gone out with George, but he was pretty sure she hadn’t. He felt like a little boy who was about to get caught—how was he going to explain hiding out like this? Eavesdropping on what sounded like a very personal conversation.

He weighed his options. He could simply confess his bad manners and beg her to give him a quote. But getting her cooperation now, especially under these embarrassing circumstances, seemed highly unlikely. Or . . .

He glanced at the back door. He could make a run for it. While he didn’t like to think of himself as a coward, running did seem a good option. He could blame his childish behavior on undercover reporting. After all, paparazzi were notorious for grabbing a story then hitting the road. Not that he liked comparing himself to the bottom-feeders of journalism. And it wasn’t like he planned to write about what he’d just witnessed—he most certainly did not.

As he burst out the back door into the alley, he couldn’t help but wonder,
What just happened?

As Susanna set out her best china on the dining room table, she was trying not to let thoughts of Matilda Honeycutt spoil her Thanksgiving Day. Really, why should she concern herself with that stubborn, thickheaded woman? So what if she lost her business? If Matilda didn’t care, why should Susanna?

It was Rose’s comment that had set Susanna off. It seemed Rose had actually invited Matilda to join them for dinner today. “She flat-out refused to come,” Rose had told Susanna this morning as she was getting the turkey ready to go into the oven. “She even admitted she didn’t even have any other plans.” Rose shook her head. “I don’t understand that.”

“Maybe she’s not a social person,” Susanna said a bit sharply.

“Oh no,” Rose protested. “Matilda is social. Very social. You just don’t know her like I do.”

Susanna hadn’t questioned this. For one thing, she didn’t want to start an argument on Thanksgiving, although that seemed unlikely since her mother-in-law had been amazingly calm and controlled this week. Susanna couldn’t figure that one out. In fact, she was starting to get a little worried. She’d heard somewhere that a quick transformation in personality or temperament could be symptomatic of a brain tumor. Surely Rose didn’t have cancer?

Susanna didn’t have time to think about that today. Despite Rose’s claims that she didn’t need any help with fixing dinner for eight, Susanna insisted that she and Megan were going to help. As a result, it was like a three-ring circus in their kitchen as the three generations attempted to make pies, prepare stuffing, stir the gravy, and mash the potatoes.

“Enough!” Rose finally shouted as Susanna spilled half the gravy on the counter. Rose threw both hands in the air and looked like she was about to explode into Spanish cursing, which might’ve been a relief, considering all the other worries tumbling through Susanna’s mind. Instead Rose simply closed her eyes and took a deep breath while Megan and Susanna exchanged concerned glances.

“I’m sorry, Mija,” Rose told Susanna. “I will finish up in here. You must now go and see to your guests.”

Susanna was tempted to protest, reminding her that Alice was doing a great job of playing host to Jeremy and they were the only two here so far, but she knew better. “Okay.” She nodded as she removed her apron. “I can take a hint.”

“Gracias!”
Rose rolled her eyes as she grabbed a sponge.

Susanna was reluctant to disturb Alice and Jeremy in the family room where they were watching football and visiting. Susanna had been playing matchmaker with these two for weeks now and had in fact “accidentally” invited both of them early for this purpose. “Well, I was just officially kicked out of my own kitchen,” she told them as she joined them in front of the TV. “Who’s winning?”

Just as Jeremy was giving her the score and game update, the doorbell rang. Relieved to leave the two alone again, Susanna excused herself to answer it.

“Tommy.” She opened the door wide. “Come in!”

He had a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a bottle of red wine in the other. “Am I early?” he asked.

“Not really,” she assured him. “We’re kind of laid-back about that.”

“I thought about walking,” he said as she set his gifts down and waited for him to remove his jacket. “I only live about eight blocks from here, but it looked like it was going to rain.”

“I heard we might even see some snowflakes by the weekend.” She slipped his brown suede jacket on a hanger. Resisting the urge to take a deep sniff—it had the sweet smell of leather plus something else equally as nice—she hung the jacket in the hall closet, then turned and smiled.

“We had snow right after Thanksgiving a couple years ago,” Tommy said. “Made for an interesting Christmas parade.”

“Seems like it would be pretty.”

“You’d think so. But it was a little rough on the marching band when it turned into slippery slush. And you had to feel for those scantily clad majorettes.”

She laughed. “Yes, they’d probably need their long johns.”

She led him into the family room and introduced him to Alice and Jeremy. Sensing Tommy’s eyes on her and feeling inexplicably uncomfortable, she decided to excuse herself to the kitchen.

“Can I help in there?” Tommy offered. “You wouldn’t know it to look at me, but I’m actually a pretty good cook. Comes with being a bachelor so long.”

Susanna wasn’t so sure. “Well, I guess we could see if Rose needs help.”

“Rose . . .” Tommy looked a little uncomfortable. Almost as if he’d forgotten all about her cantankerous mother-in-law.

“She’s actually not been herself lately,” she explained as she led him toward the kitchen. “As in, she’s been unexplainably congenial.”

“Congenial?” He looked skeptical. “Interesting.”

“Hey, Rose, do you remember Tommy Thompson?” Susanna said as she returned to the kitchen. She was curious as to how well Rose would control herself now. Her first encounter with Tommy had been nasty, and several times Rose had freely expressed her opinion on the newspaperman.

Rose started to scowl, then gave a crooked smile. “You’re the rascal who tromped on my clean floors,” she said.

“I still feel badly for that. Maybe I can make up for it by offering my help in here.”

She looked doubtful. “I never met a man who was worth two cents in the kitchen.”

“Tommy claims he’s a good cook,” Susanna said a bit skeptically.

Rose laughed. “That’s something I’d have to see to believe!”

“Give him a chance, Abuela,” Megan urged her.

Just then the doorbell rang again. Feeling guilty for abandoning Tommy, Susanna went off to welcome Margot and Rick. Both were in their thirties and from accounting. This time there was no matchmaking involved since she knew Rick was a confirmed bachelor and Margot had a fiancé serving overseas. Still, it had always been Susanna’s habit to reach out to other singles during the holidays no matter where she worked, and here in Parrish Springs it was no different.

She lingered in the family room, visiting with the others and replenishing the appetizers. Finally, worried that Rose’s unexpected calm might have worn thin by now, she ventured back into the kitchen just in time to see Tommy removing the turkey from the oven.

“At least he’s strong,” Rose told her. “Now we’ll see if he can cut a turkey.”

“Not until it’s rested for ten minutes,” he said as he removed his paisley oven mitts. “If you’d like, I could remove the dressing for you.”

Rose looked surprised. “Maybe he does know his way around a kitchen.”

Megan giggled.

“My mother, God bless her, taught me how to cook and clean and do laundry when I was just a kid.”

“Really?” Megan looked impressed. “Abuela hardly lets me do anything.”

“What are you saying, Mija?” Rose frowned. “You clean your own room. You help in the kitchen.”

“But I don’t know how to do laundry, and I’ve never cooked anything without your help.”

Rose waved her hand. “Don’t be in such a hurry, Mija. Patience, patience.”

Susanna studied her mother-in-law closely. She had never heard her say anything like that before, and she wanted to question it. But she knew now was not the time.

Before long, they were all seated at the dining room table with Susanna on one end and Rose on the other. “Are you going to ask the blessing, Mom?” Megan asked.

“Yes.” Susanna smiled. “Unless someone else wants to.”

Since there were no other offers, Susanna bowed her head and asked the Thanksgiving blessing. As usual, she prayed specifically for each one at her table, asking God to richly bless them during the holidays.

“Thanks,” Alice told Susanna. “That was very cool.”

They all visited congenially as the food was passed around. Rose continued to be on her best behavior. While that was a relief on one level, it was also deeply disturbing. Susanna knew that once her guests were gone and Megan was occupied with the computer or TV, she might need to question Rose about this personality change.

Before long, and to Susanna’s dismay, the conversation got stuck on Matilda Honeycutt and the Christmas Shoppe. “My sister was in there this week,” Rick was saying, “and she said something very strange happened to her.”

“Strange?” Susanna asked. “How so?”

“She wouldn’t give me the specifics,” he explained, “but she actually used the words ‘life changing.’ Can you imagine?”

“Life changing?” Alice frowned as she helped herself to cranberry sauce. “Matilda’s a nice enough person, but I don’t get how she could change a life.”

“Unfortunately, if Matilda doesn’t make some changes in her own life, she’s going to be out of business soon.” Susanna instantly wished she hadn’t said that.

“Susanna tried to talk sense into her about the zoning and permit issues,” Alice told them. “Matilda refused to listen.”

“Does she think she’s above the law?” Margot asked as she ladled out some gravy.

“I heard the mayor has taken her side.” Rick buttered his roll. “Maybe he’ll work up some kind of exception for her.”

“I don’t see how, outside of changing the laws,” Alice said, “and that can’t be done without a referendum.”

“Councilman Snider and the merchants group will fight it all the way,” Susanna said. “Just like they did Monday night.”

“We’re going to have a nasty little battle on our hands.” Alice reached for the salt. “Just what we need at Christmastime. So much for peace and goodwill.”

“I don’t like playing the heavy,” Susanna said, “but I’m inclined to agree with the downtown merchants on this one. If Matilda refuses to cooperate with the city ordinances, I don’t see any alternative. She’s going to have to close her doors. The sooner the better.”

As they continued kicking around this idea, Susanna couldn’t help but notice there were two people staying out of the conversation. One, not surprisingly, was Rose. She did consider Matilda to be a friend. The other one was Tommy. A couple times he looked like he was about to say something and then stopped.

After everyone was sufficiently stuffed, they agreed to take a break before dessert. Susanna told everyone to make themselves comfortable, so some trickled off to the ball game and some to the library. When Rose finally shooed Susanna out of the kitchen, she decided to look for Tommy. She found him by himself in the library, looking at her bookshelves.

“See anything you like?” she asked as she joined him.

He smiled. “They say you can tell a lot about a person by their collection of books.”

“What does this tell you?”

“You have a variety of interests.” He pointed to a row of biographies. “You like reality and historical figures.” He nodded to her section of cozy mysteries. “And you like a good escape.”

She chuckled. “I wonder what I’d find on your bookshelf.”

He seemed to ponder this. “Travel books. Science and technology. Thrillers.”

She nodded. “I see.”

They chatted lightly for a bit, and then their conversation grew more serious. “It sounds like you’re taking a hard stance on Matilda these days,” Tommy said quietly.

“I don’t know what else to do,” she told him. “She put up a roadblock when I tried to help her.”

“I know . . . but maybe you should go about it differently.”

“Differently?” She studied him. “You mean I should cater to Matilda? Don’t forget that I happen to run the city, Tommy. I can’t exactly go around giving in to the strange whims of some eccentric entrepreneur, can I?”

“I’m not saying give in, Susanna. I’m just saying maybe you should give her a second chance before you decide to drive her out of town on her broomstick.”

“I never said I would do that!”

“Not in those words,” he said quickly. “That sounds more like Councilman Snider. But if you’re aligning yourself with him, well, it’s possible that his words could be confused for yours.”

“What are you saying?” she demanded.

“Just that . . . well, you’re new in town. Why not walk softly?”

“And carry a big stick?” she shot back.

He laughed, although his eyes looked serious. “No, that’s not what I meant. I just meant don’t be in such a rush to shut down something you don’t fully understand.”

“Are you telling me how to do my job?”

He held up both hands. “No, of course not. I was simply advising you. As a friend. I’m sorry if I—”

“I seriously doubt that you comprehend what a tightrope walk this has already been for me. No matter what I do, I am the bad guy.” Frustration was bubbling up in her. “It almost makes me feel like this whole thing was a setup. Like Matilda moved here just to stir things up, create chaos, divide the city, and get me into trouble.”

“You give Matilda credit for a lot.”

“I’m just saying that’s how I feel, Tommy. She’s not helping matters either. She could cooperate with me a little. She could let me help her. Instead she wants to play games.” Susanna clenched her fists. “Well, maybe it’s time to play hardball with that woman.”

He blinked. “Hardball?”

“Well, think about it. The Christmas parade is tomorrow. Shoppers will be out and about. Law-abiding merchants will be trying to make a living. Why should I allow one spoiler to sit in the middle of everything, spreading her toxic discontent and division? Like Alice said, she’s stealing our Christmas cheer, and it’s just not fair.”