The Christmas Shoppe (4 page)

“Especially when it comes to people messing up her housework,” Megan added.

“She doesn’t hold much back.” Susanna’s brow creased. “I just hope Matilda doesn’t mind a little fireworks now and then.”

“The good thing about Abuela is that once she’s blasted you, she goes right back to normal. Sometimes she even apologizes or bakes cookies.”

“I was actually trying to find Ms. Honeycutt,” he said. For some reason he was caught off guard by hearing that the ill-tempered woman in the purple bandana was Susanna’s mother-in-law. Not because the woman was rude, but because he thought he’d heard that the new city manager was single. It seemed unlikely that a single woman would bring her mother-in-law to a new town. Perhaps he’d heard wrong. For a man expected to be up on the latest news, he was sure behind the times.

“I think Matilda is upstairs,” Megan told him. “She’s setting up her apartment. It’s really cool with all these windows and everything.”

“Oh.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. “Perhaps you could give her this for me and ask her to give me a call when she has time.”

“Oh, you can go up there and talk to Matilda if you want,” Megan assured him.

“But your grandmother’s clean floors . . . I don’t think I want to upset her a second time.”

“It’s okay.” Susanna gave him a sly smile. “Stick with us and we’ll get you safely past the gatekeeper.”

Despite his misgivings, Tommy was under their spell, and he allowed these two dark-eyed females to lead him like a lamb to the slaughter, or perhaps he was headed straight into the lions’ den. Well . . . he knew that was a bit melodramatic, not to mention cliché, but it was how he felt as they entered the building.

Susanna was relieved to see that her mother-in-law was nowhere in sight as the three of them tiptoed over the still-damp wood floor, then quietly headed for the stairs. “See,” she whispered to Tommy, “that wasn’t so hard.”

“So far so good.” His smile looked a little uneasy, but at the same time it almost seemed to brighten the dimly lit stair corridor. Susanna wondered how old he was. For some reason she’d assumed he was a lot older the first time she saw him at the city hall open house last month. She knew he ran the newspaper, but something about his posture or demeanor had made her think he was more like her father’s age. Seeing him up close this morning, she thought she must’ve gotten that wrong. Maybe he really was older but was blessed with one of those timeless sorts of faces, as well as boyish charm. Anyway, she liked him. She could tell Megan did too, and that was surprising. Even more surprising was that, as she knocked on Matilda’s door, she was wondering if Tommy Thompson was married. Just the realization that her mind had gone there made her cheeks grow warm.

“Hello, Susanna.” Matilda smiled as she opened the door wide. “I thought you might drop by. And Megan too. Delightful.” Matilda eyed Tommy. “Who is this handsome stranger you’ve brought with you?”

“Don’t tell me you dragged someone up here.” Rose stepped from behind Matilda with a sponge and bucket in hand. “Don’t you people care that we have work to do here?” Rose scowled at Tommy. “Not you again!” She let loose a foul word in Spanish and Megan giggled. Susanna glanced at Tommy and hoped he wasn’t fluent in Spanish.

“I’m sorry to intrude like this,” he said quickly. “If this isn’t a good time, I’ll just be on my—”

“You got that right.” Rose shook her sponge so hard that droplets of water splashed from it. “Unless you’re here to roll up your sleeves, you can just be on your way!”

“I could lend a hand,” he offered.

“Oh, I’ll just bet you could.” Rose shook her head.

“Be nice, Abuela,” Megan scolded. “This is Tommy Thompson, and he owns the newspaper. If you’re mean to him, he might write a bad story about you in his paper.”

“No, I wouldn’t do that. I just wanted to ask Ms. Honeycutt some questions,” Tommy explained, “when she has time.”

“Perhaps this isn’t the best time,” Matilda told him. “We really do have a lot to do in order to open my shop next week.”

“So it is a shop?” Tommy asked. “What sort of shop?”

“A Christmas shop.” Matilda smiled mysteriously. “Please don’t tell anyone about it yet. I want it to be a surprise.”

“A Christmas shop will be a wonderful addition to the downtown area,” Susanna told her. She could just imagine the spacious room below them filled with all sorts of lovely Christmassy merchandise, artificial trees, strings of lights, plush toys, and the works.

“So that means you’ll carry things specifically for Christmas?” Tommy asked. “Like ornaments and such?”

Matilda tilted her head to one side. “I suppose you’ll have to wait and see about that, now won’t you?”

“That’s right,” Rose said sharply. “Don’t let the door hit you on your way out. And keep your dirty feet off of my wet floor!”

“Rose!” Susanna frowned at her. “Really.”

Rose switched over to Spanish, going on and on about how useless men were and how the world would be better off without them and how they were always in the way and taking, taking, taking—never giving back.

Susanna pulled Megan into the apartment. “Help Abuela to tone it down,” she whispered. She nudged Tommy out the door and followed him into the corridor, then apologized. Even as she spoke, her mother-in-law’s voice could still be heard through the door. “She’s not usually that rude,” Susanna said. “I hope you can forgive her.”

“It’s all right,” he told her. “I get the sense that she’s very protective of you and Megan. Maybe Matilda too.”

“That’s probably true.” Susanna stepped away from the door, trying to distance herself from the tantrum that continued to rage in Matilda’s apartment. “I, uh, I hope you don’t speak Spanish.”

“I took a few years of it.”

“Oh.” She grimaced. “Did you understand much of that?”

He gave a crooked smile. “Enough to know I should watch my step.”

“Well, I apologize for subjecting you to that. I should’ve known better. Please forgive me.”

“Forgiven.” He tipped his head politely. “If you’ll excuse me, I should be on my way.”

She told him goodbye, then opened the door to the apartment and quietly slipped back inside. Rose seemed to have calmed down a little and was now putting her energies to good use as she vigorously scrubbed the windowsill. Her back was to Susanna now, but that wouldn’t last long.

It hadn’t been Susanna’s plan to spend her holiday doing housework. She had simply stopped by because Megan asked to check on things, but Susanna knew if she lingered, she would have the option of either being yelled at or being put to work—or both.

She tiptoed over to where Matilda was showing Megan something in the kitchen, then quietly told her daughter that she was going to leave. “You can come with me or stay here with Abuela,” she whispered. “If you stay here, you better plan to work.”

Megan’s brow creased like she was trying to decide.

“How are your artistic abilities?” Matilda asked Megan.

“Megan is a good artist,” Susanna said.

“And with a paintbrush?”

“I love to paint.” Megan nodded.

Matilda smiled. “I thought so.” She turned back to Susanna. “If it’s all right with you, I’d like to hire Megan to do a little painting for me downstairs.”

“It’s fine with me,” Susanna assured her. “If Megan is interested.”

“Absolutely.” Megan beamed. Susanna wasn’t sure if she was excited about the prospects of painting or earning money. Maybe it was both.

“Great.” Susanna pushed a strand of overgrown bangs away from Megan’s face. “Try not to get too messy. Those aren’t exactly painting clothes.”

“Oh, I’ll give her something to wear,” Matilda assured her.

“Fine. I’ll be in town doing a couple errands, but I have my cell phone. Then I’ll be at home if you get done and need a ride.”

“Or I can ride with Abuela.”

Susanna glanced nervously to where Rose was now eyeing her, almost as if she were ready to let loose with another tongue lashing. “I better scoot.”

“That’s right,” Rose said. “If you’re not here to work, you’re not here at all.”

“Have fun,” Susanna called as she hurried out. As she went down the stairwell, she felt relieved to escape but also a little disappointed to be without Megan’s company. She had really hoped they’d have a mother-daughter day, but Megan had seemed so happy to stay and help. Why spoil her fun?

Downstairs, Susanna noticed that the lights were on in the back room. Being frugal by nature, she went to turn them off, but when she saw a lot of boxes stacked back there, curiosity got the best of her. Was this some of the Christmas merchandise for the shop? She peeked inside a box that was open and was surprised to see what looked like the remainders of a garage sale carelessly heaped together. She’d heard the strange rumors that Matilda had all kinds of junk hoarded in her car and hotel room, but she hadn’t taken them too seriously.

Susanna peeked in another open box. Same thing. Dusty, old, useless-looking items.

Certainly this wasn’t what Matilda intended to sell in her shop. If so, what about the city’s business ordinances? A special permit was required to open a secondhand store in Parrish Springs. What would Councilman Snider say and do if it turned out that Matilda Honeycutt planned to open a shoddy little thrift store in the middle of downtown? One thing for sure—he’d probably blame Susanna. But if it was a secondhand store, why would Matilda claim it was a Christmas shop? Susanna hadn’t seen a single Christmas item in either of the boxes.

It wasn’t that Susanna was opposed to thrift stores in general, she just hated to see Matilda getting into hot water over a permit and zoning issue. She was tempted to head over to city hall, do some research, and see if there was an easy way to smooth this thing over for Matilda. Check into a special permit. A temporary exception. Although she wasn’t even sure Matilda truly planned to open a secondhand store. Susanna hated to jump the gun on that. It would be embarrassing to get the permit process going and discover that Matilda was actually opening a Christmas shop.

Susanna remembered there would be no one at city hall today anyway. The place would be locked up. Even though Susanna had a set of keys and could get into her own office during off hours, it would require the use of the security code, and the last time she’d attempted that—on the Sunday after her first week on the job—she’d managed to get the police and fire departments into an uproar. What a way to meet the locals! The incident later appeared in the Police Reports section of the newspaper as a tongue-in-cheek account of the new city manager waking up Parrish Springs early on Sunday morning. She wondered if Tommy wrote the Police Reports section. It was usually quite witty and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny.

No, she decided as she finally turned off the lights in the back room, she was going to stick with her plan—this was supposed to be her holiday! With or without Megan, she planned to enjoy this time off.

Carefully crossing the freshly scrubbed floor, which was almost dry, Susanna let herself out of the building. Unsure of what to do next, she stood for a long moment, gazing up and down Main Street as if she expected one of the businesses to lure her in. Finally she looked across the street to the newspaper office. Tommy had seemed quite eager to do an interview with her, but would it be pushy to go over there uninvited and expect him to make time for her? Probably so. It might also seem a bit desperate, like she was pursuing him. And since when did Susanna Elton pursue men? If anything, she was usually holding them back at arm’s length. Plus, for all she knew, Tommy Thompson was happily married with four kids and a dog at home.

Putting him out of her mind, she stopped by Cards-n-Stuff and browsed a bit. Next she popped into the florist shop and bought a mixed bouquet of fall-colored flowers. Rose thought purchased blooms were a waste of money, but Susanna liked supporting the local businesses. Then she stopped by the Shoe Inn to see if the Cole Haan pumps she’d ordered two weeks ago were in yet.

“I’m so glad you stopped in,” Lauren exclaimed. Lauren owned the store and made customer service her top priority. “They arrived with the late UPS yesterday. I left a message at your office, but I suspected you’d already gone home.”

Susanna tried on the pumps, which were gorgeous, and walked around the shop to make sure they were as comfortable as they were attractive. “I love them,” she finally proclaimed.

“They look stunning on you.” Lauren smiled.

As Susanna was paying for them, Lauren asked about the new business in the Barton Building. “It’s not shoes, is it?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Susanna put her debit card back in her wallet.

“Do you know what it is?”

Susanna wasn’t sure what to say. Proclaiming it a Christmas shop might be premature. Especially after seeing those boxes of junk in the back room.

“Would you even say if you knew?” Lauren’s brows lifted.

“I think Matilda is trying to keep it under wraps for now. Maybe she’ll have a grand opening when the time comes. One thing I can assure you is that she is hard at work on it. I know she wants the shop opened up in time for Christmas traffic.”

“Cindy at the Clothes Horse is worried it’s going to be another clothing store. We really don’t need another one, you know.”

“I don’t think Cindy needs to be worried either.”

Lauren grinned as she handed Susanna the receipt. “Judging by Matilda Honeycutt’s interesting wardrobe, I think you’re probably right.” She chuckled. “The Cut-n-Curl probably doesn’t need to be too concerned either.”

Susanna smiled politely. “No, I expect not.”

“Sorry,” Lauren said. “I didn’t mean to sound so catty. You should hear the talk around town.”

“I do hear it,” Susanna said. “Bits and pieces anyway. Maybe I’m just not used to small towns yet, but some of it seems a little mean-spirited to me. Matilda is a very sweet person.”

Lauren leaned forward, lowering her voice since another customer was just coming in. “How well do you really know her?”

Susanna considered this. “Not that well, I suppose, but I do like her. My mother-in-law is working for her.”

“
That’s
your mother-in-law?”

Susanna tried not to look too alarmed. “Rose Elton is my mother-in-law. Have you met her?”

“In a way.” Lauren looked uncomfortable.

“Rose has a bit of a temper.”

“A bit.” Lauren put the shoe box in a bag.

“Did you have a run-in with her already?”

Lauren smiled stiffly. “Actually, my husband did.” She quietly told Susanna about how Rose had come in a couple days ago. “She wanted a cheap pair of shoes, you know, to work in and get dirty and toss out.” Lauren glanced around to see if anyone was listening. “Well, you know we don’t carry that sort of thing in here. Larry tried to explain that to her and—oh my. Do you want to hear more?”

“That’s okay,” Susanna said quickly. “I can imagine. My mother-in-law can be very opinionated about what she considers overpriced merchandise.”