Decisively she approached the counter and ordered a plastic container of two dozen shortbread nuggets. “We can share,” she said, paying for the cookies and tucking them into a cloth shopping bag. The cashier gave her a pamphlet and put a cookie-shaped stamp on a square next to the shop name. “Get all the stamps and you can enter to win a shopping spree,” the chirpy cashier said, and Charlie called out her thanks and tucked the paper into her purse.
They stopped next door at the Shear Bliss salon, where the tree was decorated with sample bottles of hair products. Charlie was really getting into the spirit now, especially when people she recognized lifted a hand in a wave or stopped to say hello. Maybe she hadn’t realized it until lately, but she was finally starting to feel like a part of this community. But as she went outside and rejoined Dave, she held back a little too, not holding his hand or walking too closely. A part of her wanted to keep that part of her life private. She’d never much been into PDAs.
Charlie’s shopping bag was starting to fill up, with a tin of hibiscus tea from The Leaf and Grind added to her purchases as well as a box set of bubble bath and lotion from Bubbles. Dave, though, was still empty-handed. “Come on,” Charlie chided. “There must be something you need to buy. You have sisters and stuff, right? Plus you said you wanted to find something for Nora.”
He smiled down at her. “I think you’re shopping enough for the both of us.”
“Oh, this is hardly anything.” She pulled him along to the bookstore, past a sparkly artificial tree adorned with paper ornaments. On closer examination, she realized that each round ball was constructed of strips of paper … strips of book pages … overlapping each other. It was a clever idea, and she paused briefly before the tree, reaching out to touch one of the fragile balls.
“Oh, look at this one,” she said wistfully. “It’s all Shakespeare.” There were random lines from several plays, and as she turned the ornament in her fingers a line jumped out at her. Whoever loved that loved not at first sight? She couldn’t name the play, but it gave her a little shiver just the same. Of course, she and Dave weren’t in love. But still. She’d been the one to look down over the docks and get that silly swirly feeling whenever she saw him.
Dave peered over her shoulder. “I didn’t know you were a fan.”
She nodded, scanning the strips for more familiar words. “My parents used to assign reading to me. It was no big deal. I read the first one and I was hooked. Though some plays I enjoy more than others.”
“Like Romeo and Juliet?”
“Are you kidding?” She turned her head and laughed up at him. “Young love meets tragic ending. Not my favorite. But it did provide some great romantic lines.” She let the ornament fall back among the boughs and turned all the way around so that she faced him completely. “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite.”
She hadn’t meant for it to be so serious, but the way he was looking down at her made her shift and slide away toward the door. “Anyway, let’s go inside.”
The store was crammed full of people, filling the narrow aisles. “Go browse,” she instructed him, moving away. She hadn’t shopped in a while, and she knew there were several titles she was waiting to add to her shelf.
He disappeared into the nonfiction section.
It took no time at all for Charlie to pick out a couple of the latest thrillers for Lizzie for Christmas. She hadn’t mentioned it to Dave, but half the stuff she’d already bought today was for Lizzie. Buying for her parents was like buying for the people who had everything, so Charlie had already sent gift certificates for her parents to do some shopping before their holiday cruise. Other than token gifts for Robin and Josh at the clinic, she had no one else to buy for.
She found Dave in the kids section, a frown on his face. “Find anything you like?” she asked, holding her volumes in her arms.
“I don’t know what’s good. What’s popular?” His dark eyes pleaded with her for help. “I mean I’ve read to her, but I’m overwhelmed by bunnies and ducks and princesses. She’s almost three. Is that too young to really appreciate a book for Christmas?”
Charlie took pity on him. “It’s never too early for books,” she decreed.
Holding her books tightly against her chest, Charlie leaned forward and pulled a good-sized hardcover from the shelf. “I’d get her something she can have as a keepsake. When I was little, my grandmother gave me a copy of The Night Before Christmas, and I read it every Christmas Eve.” She didn’t mention that she read it alone in her room, while her parents entertained downstairs, or that it was still packed away in her things. “How about The Polar Express? The illustrations are beautiful and it’s a classic.” She handed him the book.
He ran his hand over the glossy cover. “That’s a good idea.”
“I do have them occasionally. Are you ready to go? I’d like to hit Treasures before we make our way down to the gallery.”
“Sure. I’m ready.”