She led the way while Dave wheeled the cart behind them. Before long they found themselves in the middle of a Christmas wonderland, full of lights and tinsel and ornaments that sparkled. Charlie ignored the crush of people and simply enjoyed the bright colors. Truthfully, she loved the idea of Christmas. Maybe growing up she hadn’t had the warm, intimate, down-home family holiday that she saw on all those Christmas specials, but she still liked the schmaltz. It had been better too, when she’d started visiting Lizzie at the holidays. Her family really knew how to do it up right.
She turned around to say something to Dave and burst out laughing. He’d put a Santa hat on his head, one of the plushier ones with the big white pom-pom on the end. With his dark eyes and slight shadow of stubble, he looked both adorable and mischievous and very, very dangerous to her willpower.
“Very nice,” she complimented.
He held out his hand. In it was a green-striped hat with white fluff around the edge. “Here. You can be my elf,” he suggested.
She put it on her head and felt ridiculous. They were actually in the middle of a department store wearing the childish things and while she tugged hers off, Dave left his on. He grabbed her discarded hat and tossed it into the cart. “You never know,” he said, wheeling along the aisle.
She wasn’t sure what she’d never know, but she followed him anyway, marveling at how he just took things in stride. He was perfectly okay being silly, wasn’t afraid to look a little foolish. Not so damn serious all the time …
She stopped in the middle of the aisle as what she’d just thought truly sank in. She’d been describing herself, hadn’t she? Was she really that uptight and boring? She didn’t try to be.
Dave stopped to pick out a tree stand and she caught up to him, reached into the cart, and took out the hat. When he turned around, she had it on with the peak of it flopped over at a jaunty angle, the tiny bell at the end making a faint tinkling noise.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Trying to remove the stick from my butt,” she replied. “Is it working?”
He burst out laughing so suddenly that she couldn’t help but grin. The smile was wiped clean off her face though as he took a step forward and planted a smacking kiss on her lips. “I dunno,” he answered. “But it’s a good start.” He let his fingers graze the top of Daniel’s head in a little caress before stepping back.
They moved along the aisle and then Charlie asked the question that had been on her mind for quite some time. “Do I really have a stick up my bum? Am I really that boring?”
Dave had his hand on a soft, velvety tree skirt, but he put it back on the shelf and faced her. “What? No! What made you ask that? You are not boring. You’re smart and you have a great sense of humor—when you let it out to play. Listen,” he said, coming forward so he was only a few inches away from her. She looked up at him and saw he was dead serious. “I like that you’re focused and driven. I like that you’re smart and you’re quick in a tight spot, like you were the first night with the baby. There’s nothing wrong with you, Charlie. I think once you figure that out, you’ll loosen up more and worry about things less.”
Her throat had tightened painfully during that little speech. His insight was so bang on she didn’t quite know how to respond.
“Now,” he commanded, “help me decide on this thing. This red fuzzy stuff or the green shiny stuff?”
Charlie huffed out a little laugh at his descriptors for velour and sateen, and put her hand on the red. As they continued through the section, picking up strings of lights and packs of ornaments, Charlie realized that she could really get to like Dave. A lot. So much that it was starting to get harder to remember why she was so opposed to being with him in the first place.
*
By the time they started the downhill slope into Jewell Cove, Charlie was asleep. Dave looked over at her and felt a warm sort of protectiveness steal over him. She’d definitely enchanted him in the store today, wearing the goofy elf hat right up to the cash register, where she’d taken it off so that the cashier could ring it in. He liked that she had a bit of a silly side and that she’d felt safe enough with him to let it show, even for just a little while. Truth was, there wasn’t much he didn’t like about Charlene Yang and that was equally pleasant and disconcerting. Pleasant because he liked being with her. She made him smile, laugh. Made him think and didn’t let him off the hook easily. But it scared him a bit too, because he’d enjoyed kissing her a lot.
She woke as they rolled to a stop just before the service station. “Oh my gosh! I slept the whole way back!”
He nodded. “You must have had a long week. I didn’t want to wake you.”
She pointed to the station. “Well, pull in. We haven’t bought trees yet. They’re still open.”