Puppy Love for Christmas

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Sabrina left the last prep meeting for the Adopt-a-Thon and the auction to find Chris waiting for her at the reception desk of the Animal Sanctuary. In his hands were two cups with the distinctive design of Bake My Day. Her face lit up.

“Are those . . .” She pointed.

He lifted the cup with the red tab and examined it. “Tiffany says this is your usual.”

“Triple the amount of peppermint,” she said with a smile that turned into a wince. “I don’t think I apologized yet for what happened yesterday.”

“You couldn’t have known.” But there was a slight wince on Chris’ face as well. He handed her the cup and raised his own. “Mine’s virgin . . . I mean, it’s just hot chocolate.”

Sabrina giggled. She found that around Chris she laughed more and it had only been a day since he stopped beside her at the bookstore. It seemed longer. Maybe because her memories of Chris hadn’t stopped coming back since. It was like they returned to where they had left off before high school started. Weird. But a good weird.

She took a sip and savored the peppermint goodness. “I needed this. Thank you.”

“Tough day?”

“Just a long one.” She sighed then smiled. “We just finished up final preparations for all the events.”

The light in Chris’s eyes brightened. “Did I already tell you how amazing you are?”

“Not yet.” She took another sip. “But I’m always happy to hear it.”

“Well, you are,” he said. “And that poster is looking good, by the way. Can you send me a soft copy of it?”

“Which one?”

He pointed at the wall behind her. She looked over her shoulder. The poster featured puppies and kittens with the words “Adopt. Don’t Shop.” and a mention of the auction to be held during the Snow Ball at the Wakefield. She breathed in deeply, feeling pride spread across her chest. She was happy to be a part of bringing awareness to the cause. She’d be as happy if only one puppy was adopted that day. Of course, the goal was finding all the animals homes for the holidays.

“Not enough people know about the love a rescued pet could give. Especially special needs pets.” The wistfulness in her voice was real. “If I could save them all I would, but it’s not fair to the ones we already have at the shelter. The last thing we need is to overcrowd the animals. It’s not healthy for them.”

“What’s your goal in all of this?” Chris asked, taking a sip from his own hot cocoa.

The guilt that hit Sabrina the second she recalled his allergy and the consequences of drinking from her cup almost made her forget to respond to the question. She blinked several times and said, “I will never stop until I rescue every animal that needs rescuing. There’s always more. Too many of them end up in high-kill shelters.”

“That’s great! Not about the high-kill shelters part. Anything I can do to help, count me in.”

Something about his smile made her wonder. He seemed overly happy about her response. Usually, people were eager to help. The shelter always needed donations, but she felt awkward asking Chris for money. His parents always had stories about how successful Chris had become. Maybe she could work up the courage to ask?

“You’re help is always welcome,” she said, taken aback by his enthusiasm. “There’s never an end to the amount of work here, but I don’t want to take you away from enjoying the holidays with your parents.”

He paused as if catching himself. “I called them earlier. I think more than anything, they’re happy that I’m home. I have to admit, I miss being here.”

“There’s really no place like home.” Her blush seemed uncontrollable, making her entire face go hot. She could never imagine herself leaving Trevor.

“Hey, are you done here?” Chris asked.

“Is it dark out already?”

He chuckled. “Pretty much.”

“When you’re helping pull off two major events that happen one after the other on Christmas Eve? That’s pretty much a full-time thing. Thank goodness, we don’t have to plan the Polar Run, we just reap the benefits. What did you have in mind?”

“I was wondering if you’d like to go to the fair with me?”

She didn’t have to think about it. “Yeah. I’d love to. Just like the old days.”

It was Chris’s turn to blush an intense candy cane red.

***

Trevor’s Christmas by the Sea celebration kicked off with the Christmas fair, which opened its proverbial doors a week before Christmas day. Since the Town and Country article, the fair took on a life of its own, growing into one of the largest Christmas attractions in the eastern seaboard. At first the fair participants were Trevor locals, but as the celebration grew in popularity, it attracted merchants from all over the country. Some even travelled from as far as California, braving the cold, to put up a booth. There was an entire alley dedicated to Christmas food. There were several worth of Christmas merch. Sabrina’s favorite would have to be the game booths; all Christmas inspired, of course. Pin the hat on the Santa. Ride the reindeer—mechanical. Ring toss onto Rudolf’s antlers. And a whack-a-mole that contained mischievous elves.

“I love this fair,” Sabrina said as she took a deep breath. The air definitely had bite to it, but still no sign of snow. “It never gets old.”

“Everyone loves this fair.” Chris tossed his empty cup into one of the many trash bins strategically placed along the fair grounds. “I think there’s something wrong with you if you don’t.”

“You’re right about that.” She finished off her own cup and tossed it in with Chris’s. “But there’s really something about Christmas.”

“Like how everything about it is out to kill you?”

“Huh?” Sabrina gave him side eye. “Care to explain?”

“Let’s see, there’s the proliferation of peppermint.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s only you.”

He gestured to the booth selling different designs of mistletoe. “That can actually kill you.”

“Everyone knows that. You’re supposed to kiss under the mistletoe, not consume it.”

“And the stress? Has anyone ever thought about that? Finding the perfect gift can kill. There have been studies.”

“Have there? Maybe you’re being a Grinch about this whole thing.”

“Woah!” He raised both hands. “Low blow, Ms. Fairbanks.”

“It sounds to me that you’re not really in the Christmas spirit with all this death talk, Mr. Wakefield.”

Chris shuddered. “Please don’t call me that. Mr. Wakefield is my father.”

“Fair point.” They wondered onto the food alley. “Here’s one thing that won’t kill you and is totally a Christmas thing.”

“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. The stories I can tell you about injuries involving open flames.”

But from the way Chris spoke, it had been clear he was joking. He pulled out his wallet and paid for a bag and handed it to her. Sabrina embraced the still warm paper bag. It crunched beneath her arms.

“Isn’t this nice?” she asked, a silly grin on her face.

“Are you going to share those nuts or do I have to buy a bag for myself?”

She handed over the bag and allowed him to pick up one nut. She did the same and, using two fingers, squeezed until the brown outer shell cracked open. Then she popped the nut into her mouth and savored its velvety, milky taste. It was Christmas in a nut.

“Why did it take you this long before coming home?” she asked as they wondered to a stall selling warm apple cyder. “I mean doesn’t your company allow vacations?”

“Of course, it does.”

“Then why didn’t you use them?” Sabrina had been meaning to ask since they’d run into each other. If it weren’t for the ill-fated allergic reaction she would have done so on the way to the Animal Sanctuary.

He looked up at the night sky and sighed. “It’s not that I was avoiding going home.”

“It sure seemed like it.”

In Trevor, kids who went off to college or elsewhere always came home for the holidays. Family first, always. For a kid not to come home? It was an offense to the entire town.

“Well I wasn’t.” His eyebrows came together.

“Look, I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m genuinely curious.”

“It’s different when you’re like me.”

“Like what?” She popped another nut into her mouth and chewed contently, dropping the discarded shell into the bag. No littering allowed.

“Like someone who skips a couple of grades and graduates high school early.”

“Ah.”

“There was so much to learn. Leaving seemed like I would be wasting time. And I have that scholarship to maintain. Then after a graduated, I had so much work to do. Starting a company isn’t easy.”

“Seeing family is never a waste of time.”

“Not when your parents are always away on business.” He dropped his head. “I figured they would understand.”

Sabrina paused and hugged him from the side. She had forgotten Chris’s situation. His parents loved him to bits. But they loved their jobs too. It often left Chris lonely. She knew from personal experience, having had to cheer him up on more than one occasion.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to pry, but they aren’t your only family, remember? You have an entire hotel waiting for you to come home.”

“I know. My reality is just a little different than everyone else’s in this town. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t miss spending Christmas by the Sea every year that I didn’t come home.”

She really believed that. Chris had science in the brain but he participated in town events as much as anyone.

“Now it’s my turn,” he challenged as they moved on to the merchant booths.

“I don’t like the sound of that, but fair is fair. Hit me with it.” Sabrina took a deep breath, preparing herself for whatever it was Chris wanted to ask her. She was an open book.

“What happened to Troy?”

“Wow!” She pretended to double over. “You’re not pulling any punches. Right for the solar plexus.”

“What? You asked your question and I answered it. Now I asked mine.”

“Can I run away from this one?”

“The Sabrina I know doesn’t run away from anything.”

The truth of his statement was in Chris’s eyes. In the way he looked at her. If there was anyone in town who knew her best it would have to be him.

“A simpler question for 500, Alex,” she said, still trying to avoid answering.

He shook his head. “Nope.”

“Do we really have to?”

He nodded. And from the looks of it, he wasn’t letting this one go. It wasn’t like he couldn’t find out from just about anyone in town. Might as well have the news come from the horse’s mouth.

She huffed and spoke fast, like ripping off a unicorn-designed Band-Aid. “He got a job in Arizona. Naturally, he wanted me to come with him. I told him that my life is in Trevor. I had just taken over the Animal Sanctuary. I wasn’t about to give that up. So, he left and I stayed.”

“The jerk.”

And Chris meant what he said too based on the way his mouth tightened.

“I appreciate the anger on my behalf but I think it was for the best.”

“You two were together most of high school and afterwards.”

The shrug was fast and shallow. “He wasn’t willing to do the long-distance thing. He said we would only be delaying the inevitable.”

“That doesn’t make him less of a jerk in my book.”

“What would you have done?”

“I would have at least tried.”

Something in Sabrina appreciated the sincerity in what Chris said. He would have definitely tried. He wasn’t one to quit. But, as far as she knew, he wasn’t in a position to make that call.

“It hurt when Troy and I broke up,” she admitted for the first time since it had happened over a year ago. “But it’s not like I’m not entitled to move on with my life. I’m thinking about getting a place of my own and expanding the shelter. If I really sit and think about it, Troy did us both a favor by ending things.”

Chris was silent for the longest time as they made their way toward the center of the fair. It was almost time for the lighting of the lobster crate tree. It was a Trevor tradition. Instead of a regular tree, local fishermen donated their lobster traps to form a giant tree. The office of the mayor decorated the tree and at the beginning of the fair it was lit. Already a crowd gathered in anticipation of the lighting.

“What about you?” Sabrina asked when the silence stretched too long.

“What about me?” He studied her.

In that moment, it was like she was looking at a different Chris. He still had all the familiar parts to him. His eyes. Glasses. The way he parted his hair. But there was also something different about him. Something she hadn’t noticed until that moment.

“Is there a girlfriend waiting in the wings somewhere? A fellow tech genius perhaps?”

For the first time that night, Chris threw back his head and laughed. She had wanted to ask what had been so funny, but the mayor took his place behind the podium. All attention was on the lighting.

After a short speech, mostly about how unseasonably late the snow had been that year, the mayor ushered a group of kids from the local grade school all dressed in red toward the lever in front of the tower of crates. Someone started a countdown. Chris and Sabrina joined in with the same enthusiasm as someone watching the ball drop in Time’s Square on New Year’s Eve.

When they reached five, Sabrina felt something on her free hand. She looked down. It was Chris’s hand holding hers. What an odd sensation, she thought to herself. They had held hands as kids, but this was different. His fingers were long and slender, engulfing her bare hand. She would have had mittens on, but the night air didn’t call for them. Maybe that was a good thing.

So engrossed was she with how natural it felt to be holding Chris’s hand that she completely missed the lighting of the tree. The brightness made her blink. It wasn’t enough to distract her from watching the clasped hands as if they would disappear at any second.

“Sabrina?” a male voice called.

At first, she thought it was Chris trying to catch her attention. He was still gazing at the now lit lobster trap tree.

“Hey, Sabrina,” the same male voice spoke again.

Sabrina looked over her shoulder to find another all too familiar figure standing right behind her. Without thinking, she pulled her hand out of Chris’s hold and turned to face the new comer. Chris did the same.

His name fell out of Sabrina’s lips like it had many times before, “Troy?”