Chapter Three

Molly

Molly was making her last rounds through Christmas Wishes, wanting the store to be perfect for the day's opening. She'd finally gotten the trees the way she wanted and they'd sold twice as fast. The Kerstmans had been gone for a few days, and to Mrs. Kerstman’s surprise, the place hadn’t burned down without her there. In fact, Christmas Wishes was flowing better than ever with Molly’s expert guidance keeping the shop up and running. With a free reign, Molly was selling more trees and ornaments than ever.

“Christmas ornaments unboxed?” Liam asked.

Making rounds beside her was seven year old Liam Miller, Christmas Wishes' Head Elf in Training. Liam was one of Molly’s second grade students. She watched him over the holiday season as a favor to his parents, but secretly she loved having him there to help her with the store.

“Check,” she replied, fixing a loose ornament on the shelf.

Liam marked the list on his clipboard and grinned up at her

“Rudolph and the reindeer?”

“Check.”

“Snowflakes?”

“Check.”

“Cookies and milk?”

“Chec—” Molly cut off her own sentence as she stared down at an empty cookie platter. “Wait. No check.” Molly held the empty platter out towards Liam. “Liam, did you eat all of these cookies?”

“No way. I’d get so sick.” Liam imitated a queasy expression before pushing the platter back towards Molly. “Maybe Hannah didn’t make any this year?”

Molly frowned as she thought about her best friend forgetting to bring the shop’s signature cookie platter. She'd never forgotten before. Hannah Johnson was the town’s resident baker and owned her own shop just a few doors down.

“Hannah wouldn’t forget. She might be a little late, but she’d never—”

“I’m so sorry! I almost forgot!” a voice said from outside. Hannah burst through the doors of Christmas Wishes as she raced to lay down her boxes of fresh baked, chocolate chip cookies on the counter. “There was such a rush at Sweetness & Light. I got sidetracked crafting a gingerbread house for Ms. Vincent’s church recital and—”

“Don't worry about it,” Molly assured her. “I'm just glad you're here.”

Hannah smiled and let out a sigh of relief before opening one of the boxes. “I got these done just in time. Careful! They’re still super hot.” Hannah directed her words towards Liam, whose hand was already dipping into the box.

“Thank you so much, Hannah,” Molly said, moving to give her friend a hug. “I know how busy you get this time of year.”

“Anything for Molly Carmichael,” Hannah replied with a grin. “My favorite elf in the whole wide world.”

“Hey!” Liam interjected, even though his words came out mumbled through his cookie bites.

“Oh, that’s right. Sorry, Molly. Liam is my favorite elf in the whole wide world.” Hannah bent to give Liam a napkin from her jacket pocket. “But you’re definitely a close second.”

“I’ll take it. He's a cuter elf than I am, anyway,” said Molly. She chuckled as she also took a cookie into her hands. “Speaking of you baking cookies, how’d that competition thing go? The one where they made you send in that submission tape?”

“Oh, gosh. I’ve been so busy I totally forgot to tell you all about it,” Hannah replied with wide eyes. She grinned at her friend. “I won first place. You’re looking at BakeTown’s Baker of The Year.”

Molly almost dropped her cookie on the ground, but Liam was quick to catch it.

“Hannah! That’s amazing.” Molly couldn’t stop herself from letting out a loud squeal of delight as she jumped up and down in place. “You’re going to be on the front of a magazine! Sweetness & Light is going to be on TV!”

“It’s amazing, alright. Amazingly stressful,” Hannah said with a groan. “I think I bit off more than I can chew, Molly. What if I’m not ready for all of this?”

“Hannah Johnson, if there’s one thing I know about you, it’s that you can literally do anything. I’m pretty sure you could actually fly if you wanted to,” Molly told her. She gave her friend a warm, genuine smile. “And if you ever need a helping hand in the kitchen, I’ll be right there.”

“You? Molly Carmichael? A helping hand in the kitchen?” Hannah's eyebrow raised skeptically.

“Hey! I could’ve been BakeTown’s second pick, you never know.”

“BakeTown’s second pick? Okay, first of all, you didn’t enter the competition.” Hannah said, ticking off one finger and then another.“And second of all, the last time you tried to help me bake, you lit the cake on fire. You you ended up burning off half your hair. You had to wear a hat for weeks.”

“It was not that bad,” Molly insisted. “And besides, that was back in middle school! I’ve gotten a lot better since then.”

“Right.” Hannah rolled her eyes but smiled at her friend. “But, thank you for the offer. And don’t be surprised if I do actually take you up on it. If I keep getting orders like this, I’m going to need as many hands as I can possibly get.”

“I can help, too, Hannah! My mom lets me watch the oven sometimes,” Liam offered. He reached for another cookie.

“Thank you, Liam. That’s very sweet of you,” Hannah said with a smile before she gasped and headed straight for the door. “The oven! Oh my gosh! The oven! I’ll be back later, Molly! I need to check on a few caramel cakes!”

Molly and Liam both waved their goodbyes to Hannah while they both finished off their respective cookies.

“You want to do one last check before we open for the day?” Molly asked Liam, glancing around the shop. “Just to make sure we didn’t miss anything.”

“Yeah, one last check,” Liam said with a nod, moving towards the back of the store. “I’ll go check on the tinsel again!”

“You got it, buddy.” Molly clicked her tongue as she headed for the various light displays in the store’s windows. Her phone rang from her skirt pocket.

She glanced down at her caller ID, and then smiled to herself when Mr. Kerstman’s name came across the screen. “Hey, Santa Claus! How’s Florida? How’s the sand?”

“Beautiful and even more beautiful,” Mr. Kerstman replied. “And how’s the shop? How’s the snow?”

“We got another inch yesterday and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas,” Molly replied cheerfully. She narrowed her eyes at the phone. “But you didn't call me to ask about the snow. Did Mrs. Claus put you up to calling me? Do you have me on speaker?”

“Yes, darling, you’re on speaker. But he called you all on his own!” Mrs. Kerstman yelled across the phone. “I promise!”

Molly shook her head and tried not to laugh. They'd barely managed to get off the plane before calling two days ago. Since then, they'd called at least twice a day just to check in. Today was the earliest they'd called yet.

“I just wanted to give you a heads up about our son, Nicholas,” Mr. Kerstman said, clearing his throat. “He might be coming into town soon. Maybe not. He was just asking so many questions about the store. I suspect he’s interested in visiting.”

“Ooh, the mysterious Nicholas Kerstman finally comes to town,” Molly said. “It’s no problem at all, Mr. Kerstman. I’ll make sure your son enjoys his stay. Did you want me to fix up your house for him?”

“The house is already fixed. I always fix the house before leaving. It’s simply correct etiquette,” Mrs. Kerstman’s told her.

“I doubt he’ll be staying at our little house, anyway. Too much Christmas for him there, but I did want to, well, warn you.” Mr. Kerstman’s voice now took on an ominous air. “You’re so sweet, Molly. And our Nicholas, well, he’s a bit of a hmm...How would you describe our Nicholas, Suzanne?”

“He’s not a complete Scrooge, but he’s pretty close,” Mrs. Kerstman said. “He hates Christmas.”

“Your son hates Christmas?” Molly couldn’t hide her confusion. The Kerstmans were the most Christmas-loving people she knew. “How is that even possible?”

“Oh, he doesn’t hate-hate Christmas. Nicholas just isn’t the kind of person who appreciates the sentimental bits of the holiday season. He’s always been more of a facts and figures type.” Mr. Kerstman paused before he blew out a heavy breath. “Always sticks to his books and business, that one. Never has any time for wasting time.”

“He’s just like you, Howard, when you were younger. I always said he gets it from you.”

“Don't worry about it. I think I’ll be able to handle him.” Molly looked over at the lights in the display window, seeing customers start to gather outside. “Besides, he can’t be as difficult as a class full of sulking second graders on a test day.”

“You’re right. Nicholas can’t be as difficult. Because he’s much worse.” Mr. Kerstman snorted with a laugh after his own joke. “But if anyone can put the Christmas spirit into that boy, it’s you, Molly. I swear, if you can’t do it, no one can.”

“If you can’t do it, I give up,” Mrs. Kerstman agreed.

Molly smiled at the compliment. Christmas was definitely her thing.

“Alright, Mr. and Mrs. Kerstman. I have to go. It's time to open up shop,” Molly said. “Tell my parents I said hi! I’ll be sure to let you know if I see your son. Or if I don’t see your son. Whichever. Whatever.”

“We’ll talk to you later, Molly!”

Molly hung up the phone and stuffed it back into her skirt pocket. While she continued making her way through her opening checklist, she found herself thinking about the mysterious Nicholas Kerstman.

She’d always known that Mr. and Mrs. Kerstman had an older son, but she’d never seen him in town.

Not even once.

She’d heard his voice on the phone when Mrs. Kerstman took personal calls in the break room, so she was fairly sure the man did actually exist. From what Molly could gather, Mrs. Kerstman was always ecstatic to hear from her son, as if she didn’t get a chance to talk with him so often.

That made Molly think that Nicholas must be a very, very busy man.

Which meant that even if he did make it out to visit Christmas Wishes, he wouldn’t stay for long, and for the most part, he’d stay out of Molly’s hair.

Good, Molly thought. I certainly don't need a Christmas hater around.

Molly couldn’t imagine herself having the time for Nicholas Kerstman. Between managing Christmas Wishes, running the children’s choir, and helping Hannah with anything she might need for her shop, Molly’s holiday calendar was filled to its maximum capacity.

And so, Molly decided, right then and there, that she wouldn’t have any time for Nicholas Kerstman.

No time at all.