Read Blessings of the Season for Free Online Page B

light switches and flipped them on. Bright light flooded the whole floor—not that they could easily have found anything light or no light.
    â€œDoc Goodwin does not want to close this store.” In an instant Nate summed up what Addie had suspected since she saw all the stuff stored in this building.
    She forged ahead, working her way through the stacks of boxes and store counters and display units still positioned where they had been placed many years ago. “Unfortunately, I don’t think his son wants to take responsibility for it.”
    â€œOr anything,” Nate muttered as he followed close behind her.
    â€œYou’re worried about Jesse.” She had almost reached the front of the store. She began to work her way toward a stash of tall, flat cardboard boxes marked Christmas and Goodlife that were propped against the brown paper covering the front window.
    â€œHe’s a great kid who hasn’t gotten a lot of greatbreaks in life.” Nate reached the boxes, and seeming to know she wanted to get a peek inside them, he began moving away the things hemming them in. “I wish I could do more for him. Even the school they have him in is struggling.”
    â€œI know. My church sponsors it. I recommended it to the Goodwins because I knew there were so many good people trying to make it work.” She, too, began to move objects, starting with a stack of plastic chairs, which she had to remove one by one. “But enrollment is down, and some of the teachers and administrators are talking about having to find other jobs.”
    â€œThe place I’m interviewing in L.A. has so much money coming in, and yet apparently they are always holding fundraisers and raking in more.” He paused with the last box still in his hands and asked, “You don’t think we can talk Maimie into putting a donation box up in the store, do you?”
    Before Addie could comment on that, she had set aside the last chair and turned to find him freeing the tall box.
    â€œWhat exactly are we looking for here?” he asked.
    â€œI’m not too picky. I’ve already seen some items I think we can haul over to set the fifties mood in the windows. But I’d love to find promo items with that classic retro style or—”
    â€œOr the biggest relic of all, a happy nuclear family?”
    She twisted in the spot where she stood and looked at all the stuff around them and laughed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an actual family living in all this, totally untouched by time.”
    â€œWell, it’s not an actual family, but say hello to ourcounterparts.” He came to her side, plopped his arm around her shoulder and turned her toward the box he had just opened.
    There stood a life-sized photographic cardboard cutout of a mom, dad, kid and dog frozen in time circa 1959. The father wore a green sweater over a white shirt and rust-colored tie. The mother had her requisite high heels and pearls, naturally, but she also had a perfect figure and wore a holiday hostess apron over her perfectly fitting dress.
    â€œThe little boy could be Jesse,” Nate observed. “Or Opie from The Andy Griffith Show .”
    â€œNo, definitely Jesse,” Addie said as the image tugged at her heartstrings. She was finding it hard to catch her breath standing there and with Nate’s arm around her staring at the family she and Nate were expected to portray. “We aren’t really the spitting images of the couple, though, huh?”
    â€œIt’s not exactly like looking in a mirror.” He laughed, then let go of her. “Or like looking at any family Christmas I have ever been a part of.”
    â€œWe always had a big celebration at Christmas,” she said. “Even the year my dad was dying.”
    He stopped midreach in his efforts to get the sign free and looked at her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
    â€œIt’s okay. I was young, but