With that, he spun around and got back in his car.
James came back down. “It’s getting too dark to put everything up,” he said. “But I think we got far enough that it looks pretty decent, even if it’s not quite done.”
I smiled and went over to the light timer by the porch, flipping it on. The basic lines were in place, strands of colored lights that traveled up and down the eaves and upper windows. We could tackle the lower windows, porch, and door tomorrow.
“What was that about, with Coach?” James asked.
“No big deal. He was on his way back into town and stopped by to check in on me.”
“Nice of him.”
It was nice of him. He was nice. And the friends who had texted me yesterday and today to remind me they could be called on any time to talk or hang out were also nice. Work friends. Friends I still had from childhood. People who worried about me because they’d seen me nurse my mom. Or break up with Kasen. I appreciated them all. But for now, I just wanted to enjoy my little holiday bubble with James.
We’d barely begun tackling the next load of tableware when the doorbell rang.
Opening the door, I found Mrs. Allen staring back at me. Her gaze went immediately to my palm tree—I’d turned the light show off—and she hummed approvingly.
“Mrs. Allen. This is a surprise.” I felt mildly annoyed at yet another intrusion into my day with James, but I also loved this woman like family. I stepped back to invite her inside.
Oscar stayed curled up in a ball on the carpet. Mrs. Allen was old news to him. But Bambi came over to sniff out the new arrival. She patted the overeager labradoodle on his rump, and he wagged his tail excitedly as she continued into the house.
“Marley, when are you ever going to call me Eliza?”
“Probably never. Sorry.” I smiled at her as we repeated the conversation we’d had many times.
She gave me an arch look as she glanced over to James in my kitchen, switching the load in the dishwasher.
I tried not to roll my eyes. “James is here to help me with my Christmas decorating. We just finished putting up lights outside.”
“Finished?” James challenged, walking into the living room and giving Mrs. Allen a wave. “There are at least four more bins to go through in the garage.” He placed the back of his hand against his forehead in mock distress.
“I meant finished for today, smarty-pants.” I flicked my thumb and index finger against his chest. Turning to Mrs. Allen, I whispered conspiratorially, “I’ve been waiting for the right time to ask James to come back and help me again tomorrow. There’s still a lot to do.”
“I’m in,” James said, pumping his fist. “Assuming my knees hold up. And you have to promise to wear another one of those sweaters.”
Mrs. Allen chuckled as James excused himself to use the restroom.
“He’s a charmer, that one.” She grinned. “I like this development,” she continued, hitching her neck in the direction James had gone. “I like this a whole lot.”
“Don’t get all excited. We’re just friends.”
“Sure.”
“Good grief. Have you been talking to Coach?”
“He might have texted me ten minutes ago to say that there was something interesting going on at your place. Which might have sped up the timeline of this visit. But honestly, I was planning to come see you anyway.”
“That sounds serious. Is everything okay?”
“Actually, no. I wanted to talk to you about this after the meeting on Wednesday, but then you walked out into the parking lot with Mr. Wymack, and I didn’t want to interrupt your time with him—”
“We’re just friends!”
“Of course. Anyway, this might concern him, too.”
“What do you mean? Something at work?”
“Yep. I’ve heard that the emergency budget approval we got to expand the faculty is being re-considered by the district. We’ve had some students leave mid-year, so the enrollment numbers we relied on to get the money didn’t hold.”
