Chapter 12
ANIKA FELT LIKE EVERY CHILDHOOD memory of the night before Christmas, stomach churning with anticipation. But Santa didn’t have anything to do with her jitters, a certain carpenter with strong hands and a kind smile had her spinning around her apartment primping like it was the first day of high school all over.
She curled her hair and clipped it back so it hung loose over her shoulders. Kenworth’s gave the employees a discount and she had found a blue rayon blouse on the clearance rack for only three dollars and fifty cents. With the extra money from the soda fountain, she’d gone ahead and splurged considering it her Christmas gift to herself. It hung nicely over her blue jeans and she practiced smiling to see if some of her worry lines would decrease. She smoothed her finge
