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“Leave my bows alone!”
“A little possessive, are we?” Sarah murmured.
“You would be, too, if you’d spent twenty minutes making each of those velvet bows.”
“I could have done it in ten.”
“Next year, I’ll let you.” Then, as if she was bored with the subject, Mary said, “I understand Noelle’s in town.”
“Yes, and I’d appreciate if you’d keep your son away from her.”
“My son!” Mary cried. “You don’t need to worry about that. Thom learned his lesson as far as your daughter’s concerned a long time ago.”
“On the contrary, I believe your son broke my daughter’s heart.”
“Ladies!” Melody came out from behind the counter, shaking her head. “I thought we were discussing ways you two can work together to fill those Christmas baskets.”
“I don’t think I can work with her,” Mary said, crossing her arms. She presented Sarah with a view of her back.
“Then divide the list,” Melody suggested. “One of you can shop for the gifts and the other can buy the groceries. Arrange a day to meet and assemble the baskets, and then you’ll be done with it.”
Sarah didn’t know why she hadn’t thought of that earlier. It made perfect sense and would allow them to maintain a healthy distance from each other.
“Divide the list,” Mary instructed with a dramatic wave of her hand.
“By all means, divide the list,” Sarah said and mimicked Mary’s gesture.
“All right,” Melody said. She went back to her office, with the two women following, and slipped the list into the photocopier. The phone rang again, and she answered it, holding the receiver between her shoulder and ear. Melody retrieved the original and the copy, reached for the scissors and cut both lists in two. Still talking, she dropped the papers, then picked them up and handed half of the original list to Mary and half to Sarah. The copies of each woman’s list went into a file on her desk.
Sarah glanced over her list and tucked it inside her purse. “When do you suggest we meet to assemble the baskets?”
“The twenty-third before noon. That way, we’ll be able to drop them off at the Salvation Army in plenty of time. They’ll distribute the baskets on Christmas Eve.”
“Fine.” That settled, Sarah charged out the door without a backward glance. This wasn’t the best solution, but it was manageable. She’d do her share of the work, and she wasn’t about to let anyone suggest otherwise.
“This is so cool,” Carley said as they left the mall late Thursday afternoon, their arms loaded with bags and packages. Noelle smiled fondly at her youngest sister. That summer, Carley had spent two weeks with her in Texas while their parents were on a cruise. She’d matured noticeably in the six months since then.
“Mom’s not selling much real estate anymore,” her sister told her as they climbed into the car. “I think she’s bored with it, but she won’t admit it.”
“Really?”
“She’s totally involved in Kristen’s wedding. It’s all she thinks about. She’s read a whole bunch of books and magazine articles and has everything set in her mind. Just the other day, she said that what this town really needs is a wedding planner.”
“And you think Mom would enjoy that?”
“Are you kidding?” Carley said. “She’d love it.”
Their mother was extremely sociable, which was one of the reasons she was such a successful real estate agent, Noelle mused. Sarah knew nearly everyone in town and had wonderful connections. Perhaps Carley was right.
“The Admiral really hasn’t changed,” Noelle murmured. She’d spent a lot of time at the old downtown theater, back in high school. It was there, in the balcony, that Thom had first kissed her. To this day—as much as she wanted to forget it—she remembered the thrill of that kiss.
The Admiral was a classic theater built sixty years earlier. The screen was huge and the second-floor balcony held the plush loge seats—always Noelle’s favorite place to sit.
They purchased the tickets, a large bucket of popcorn and drinks.
“Do you want to go up to the balcony?” Carley asked.
“Where else would we sit?” Noelle was already halfway up the winding staircase that led to the second floor. She went straight to the front row and plopped down on a cushioned seat. Carley plopped down beside her. The main feature was a Christmas release, an animated film starring the voices of Billy Crystal and Nathan Lane.
“I’m not a kid anymore, but I’m glad you wanted to see this movie, too,” her sister confided.
Noelle placed the bucket of popcorn between them. “Thanks for giving me the excuse.” She leaned forward and looked at the audience below. The theater was only half-full and she wondered if she’d recognize anyone.
“Oh, my goodness,” she whispered. This couldn’t be happening! Thom Sutton sat almost directly below her. If that wasn’t bad enough, a blonde sat in the seat beside him and—to Noelle’s disgust—had her hands all over him.
“What?” Carley demanded.
“It’s Thom.” Heaven help her, Noelle couldn’t keep from watching. The blonde’s hand lingered at the base of his neck; she was stroking his hair with all the tenderness of a longtime lover.
“Not Thom Sutton? The son of the enemy?” Carley asked.
Noelle nodded. Sad and shocking though it was, he obviously still had the power to hurt her. No, not hurt her—infuriate her!
Carley reached for a kernel of popcorn and tossed it down.
Noelle gasped, grabbing her sister’s hand. The last thing she wanted was to call attention to the balcony. “Don’t do that!”
“Why not? He jilted you and now he’s here with another woman.” She hurled another kernel in his direction.
Noelle glanced down and saw the blonde nibbling on his earlobe. That did it. She scooped out a handful of popcorn and threw it over the balcony railing. Noelle and her sister leaned back and smothered their giggles. A few minutes later, unable to resist, Noelle looked down again.
“Oh, no,” Carley muttered under her breath as she sent a fresh shower of popcorn over the edge. She jerked back instantly.
“What?” Noelle asked.
“I think we’re in trouble. He just turned around and looked up here and I don’t think he’s pleased.”
Fine, the management could throw her out of the theater if he complained. Noelle didn’t care.
“I want to know about you and him,” Carley said. “I wasn’t even born when his mom and our mom had their big fight.”
Noelle was reluctant to describe all this old history, but she supposed her sister had a right to know. “Well, Mom had just started selling real estate and was making new friends. She claims Mary was jealous of those friends, especially one whose name was Cheryl. Cheryl had been working at the agency for a while and was kind of showing Mom the ropes. She was holding an open house and wanted something elegant to set off the dining room. Mom knew that Mary had this exquisite silver tea service—the perfect thing. But Mom also knew that if she asked Mary to lend it to Cheryl, Mrs. Sutton would turn her down. Instead, Mom asked to borrow it for herself, which was a fib.”
Carley frowned. “So that’s why Mrs. Sutton blamed Mom? Because Mom lied—I mean fibbed—and then the expensive silver tea service got stolen? Oh, I bet Mom was just sick about it.”
“She felt awful. According to Mrs. Sutton, the tea service had belonged to her grandmother and was a family heirloom. It was irreplaceable.”
“What did Mom do?”
“She called the police and offered a reward for its return, but the tea service didn’t turn up. She went to every antique store in the area, looking for something similar. Finally there was nothing more she could do. She tried to repair the damage to the friendship, but Mrs. Sutton was angry—and really, you can’t blame her. She was hurt because Mom had misled her. They got into this big argument about it and everything escalated from there. Mrs. Sutton did some petty things and Mom retaliated. Next thing you know, a grudge developed that’s gone on to this day.”
“Retaliated?” Carley asked. “How?”
“When it became clear that Mrs. Sutton wasn’t going to forgive and forget, Mom tried another tactic. She thought she’d be funny.” Noelle smiled at the memory. “Mrs. Sutton got her hair cut, and Mom sent her flowers and a sympathy card. Then Mrs. Sutton ordered pizza with double anchovies and had it delivered to Mom. You know how Mom hates anchovies—and furthermore she had to pay for it.” She shook her head. “It’s sad, isn’t it? That a good friendship should fall apart for such a silly reason.”
“Yeah,” Carley agreed. “They acted pretty childish.”
“And my relationship with Thom was one of the casualties.”
“When did you fall in love with him?” Carley wanted to know.
“We became good friends when we were kids. For a long time, our families got along really well. We often went on picnics and outings together. Thom and I were the closest in age, and we were constant companions—until the argument.”
“What happened after the argument?”
“Mrs. Sutton sent Thom and his older sister to a private school, and I didn’t see him again for about six years. He came back to public school when we were sophomores. We didn’t have a lot in common anymore and hardly had anything to do with each other until we both were assigned to the same English class in our senior year.”
“That was when you fell in love?” Carley’s voice rose wistfully.
Noelle nodded, and the familiar pain tightened her stomach. “Apparently I fell harder than Thom.”
Noelle carefully glanced down again. Talking about Thom and her romance—especially while she was sitting in this theater—brought up memories she’d prefer to forget. Why wouldn’t the stupid movie start? It was two minutes past the scheduled time.
The boy who’d rung up the popcorn order marched down the side aisle toward Noelle and Carley. He wore a bored but determined look. “There’s been a complaint from the people down below about you throwing popcorn,” he said accusingly.
Noelle could feel the heat build up in her cheeks. “I’m sorry—that was, uh, an accident.”
The kid’s expression said he’d heard it all before. “Make sure it doesn’t happen again, okay?”
“It won’t,” Noelle promised him.
“Sorry,” Carley said in a small voice as the boy left.
“It was my fault. I encouraged you.”
“But I started it.”
“You think you’re the one who invented throwing popcorn? Hey, I’ve got fifteen years on you.”
“I want to fall in love one day, too,” Carley said, leaning back in her seat, which rocked slightly.
“You will,” Noelle said, hoping her sister had better luck in that department than she’d had.
The lights dimmed then and with a grand, sweeping motion the huge velvet curtains hanging over the screen slowly parted. Soon, they were watching previews for upcoming features. Noelle absently nibbled on popcorn and let her mind wander.
Thom had changed if the blonde down below was the type of woman he found attractive. That shouldn’t surprise her, though. Time changed a lot of things in life. Some days, when she felt lonely and especially sorry for herself, she tried to imagine what would’ve happened if she had married Thom all those years ago. Getting married that young rarely worked out. They might’ve been divorced, she might’ve ended up a single mother, she might never have completed her education…. All kinds of difficult outcomes were possible. In all honesty, she told herself, it was for the best that they hadn’t run off together.
Carley slid forward and peeked over the railing. Almost immediately she flopped back. “You wouldn’t believe what they’re doing now.”
“Probably not.”
“They’re—”
Noelle gripped her sister’s elbow. “I don’t want to know.”
Carley’s eyes were huge. “You don’t want me to tell you?”
“No.”
Her sister stared at her in utter amazement. “You really don’t care?”
Noelle shook her head. That wasn’t the whole truth—or even part of it. But she didn’t want to know if Thom had his arm around the blonde or if he was kissing her—or anything else. It was a lot less painful to keep her head buried in a popcorn bucket. Forget Weight Watchers. Sometimes fat grams were the only source of comfort.
“Are you going to confront him after the movie?” Carley asked excitedly.
Noelle snickered. “Hardly.”
“Why not?”
“Just watch the movie,” she advised.
Carley settled in her seat and and began to rock back and forth. Another time, the action might have annoyed Noelle, but just then she found it oddly comforting. She wanted a special someone to put his arm around her and gently rock her. To create a private world for the two of them, the way Thom had once done in this very theater, on this very balcony. He’d kissed her here and claimed her heart. It’d been a pivotal moment in their fledgling romance. From that point onward, they knew—or at least Noelle had known. She was in love and willing to make whatever sacrifices love demanded.
All too soon, the feature had ended and the lights came back on. “That was great,” Carley announced.
Caught up in wistful memories, Noelle got to her feet, gathering her coat and purse. She took pains not to glance below, although her curiosity was almost overwhelming.
“We meet again,” an all-too-familiar voice said from behind her.
“Thom?” She turned to see him two rows back, with a four-or five-year-old boy at his side.
Noelle’s reaction was instantaneous. She looked below and discovered the blonde beauty with her male friend, who just happened not to be Thom Sutton. “I thought—”
“You’re Thom?” Carley asked, glowering with righteous indignation.
“Don’t tell me you’re Carley,” he returned, ignoring the girl’s outrage. “My goodness, you’ve grown into a regular beauty.”
Carley’s anger died a quick death. “Do you really think so?”
“I sure do. Oh, this is my nephew Cameron.”
“Hello, Cameron,” Noelle said. “Did you enjoy the movie?”
The boy nodded. “Yeah, but the best part was when the man came up and told you not to throw any more popcorn. Uncle Thom said you got in trouble.” The kid sounded far too smug for Noelle’s liking.
So Thom had heard and seen the whole thing.
Oh, great.
