Mary

Mary gave a bright smile as she handed a woman a cup full of mint hot cocoa, the steam curling up between them like a small sigh of warmth against the night air. She was relieved that the woman seemed to have no idea who she was, and never once mentioned seeing her video. Unlike many other customers that evening… which made Mary fret all the more over Ashton. Were people asking him about it too? What if this was the first he was hearing of it…from a stranger? Her stomach twisted at the thought.

As the woman walked away, Mary’s phone dinged and she worked on tapping the screen, trying to get it to work properly. It seemed to be dying a very slow death.

“Giving you some trouble?” Ashton asked as he walked up and saw her struggles.

Mary looked up at him with surprise. “The screen is being problematic.”

Ashton reached out and she handed it over. He gave a couple taps on the face and then pressed down. “It should work fine with a screen replacement.”

Mary accepted it back. “Thank you, I am terrible with this kind of stuff, ironically.”

“Ironically?” Ashton asked.

“I just use it a lot for my business…” her voice trailed off as she realized what she was about to say.  

“I am good with tech, if you need any help.” Ashton offered with a smile.

Mary nodded, the elephant in the room was suffocating her.

Elsie walked over, “that was the last customer of the night! Jack is closing the gate. How did you do?”

Mary had never been so grateful for a distraction. “Great! Sold all the cookies and most of the chocolate croissants.”

“Well, I will take whatever you have left. I have book club in the morning and it’s my turn to bring treats.” Elsie instructed.

Mary smiled and started boxing up goodies.

Jack walked up with a big grin on his face. “Great night selling trees! Ashton is a born salesman! Not sure why you went to that fancy university, you could sell Christmas trees in the middle of August!”

Ashton shook his head with good humor.

“What did you study?” Mary asked.

“Computer science, coding, tech stuff.” Ashton said.

“Ah, ‘good with tech,’ I see.” Mary teased.

 “He’s sharp as a tac!” Elsie patted her nephew on the shoulder. “He’s a tech tac.”

“Elsie,” Jack groaned.

“Do you have a tree yet, Mary?” Elsie turned on a dime.

“I have everything but the tree, and I just need to clear a spot.” Mary said.

“Well clear that spot and then pick one. Ashton will help you get it home.” Jack volunteered his nephew.

“Oh, I am sure if I get a small one I could manage.”

“A small one? How Christmasy would that be?” Jack protested. “You don’t mind helping her get a real tree do you, Ashton?”

  “Not at all.” Ashton agreed to the arrangement. “We can load it in your delivery truck.”

Mary blushed.

“Speaking of deliveries…” Jack continued, “Elsie and I want to donate some trees to the children’s hospital tomorrow night. Would you two be interested in taking the pickup truck and delivering them?”

Ashton’s eyes twinkled at the word “truck” and Mary knew she should interject before a joke was made. “I am free to do that tomorrow night.”

Ashton let the joke go and gave an agreeing nod.

“That’s settled.” Jack declared, then turned to his wife. “Let’s leave these kids alone and go count the till.” 

Elsie and Jack disappeared toward the office shed, leaving Mary and Ashton standing under the string lights. The air was crisp and quiet again, broken only by the faint hum of carols from the nearby speaker and the soft hiss of snow landing on warm cocoa lids.

Mary busied herself with wiping the counter, though it didn’t need wiping. “So,” she said finally, “computer science. That’s… very un-tree-lot of you.”

“Everyone needs a side hustle,” Ashton said, smiling as he leaned an elbow on the counter. “Coding by day, peddling pines by night.”

Mary gave a nervous laugh. “You’d better copyright that before someone puts it on a mug.”

They worked in silence for a long minute; Mary stacked cups, Ashton straightened a box that was already straight. The city around them was growing more and more quiet as people found their way home and surrounding businesses closed up. The snow thickened, muffling the world.

“So…” she tried again, not sure why she couldn’t leave well enough alone. “Busy night. Lots of cocoa. No lawsuits.”

Ashton tilted his head, feigning confusion. “Lawsuits?”

Her stomach dropped. “Oh, just kidding. Because, um… the wagon thing—”

“The wagon thing?” He raised an eyebrow.

Mary swallowed hard. “You know. Yesterday. The… uh…” She made a vague gesture like falling, instantly regretting it.

“Oh, that wagon thing.” Ashton’s grin spread slowly, eyes glinting under the lights. “Yeah, I heard there was a bit of a stir about that.”

Mary’s voice squeaked. “A stir?”

He pulled his phone from his pocket, pretending to scroll. “Might’ve even seen something about it online. Can’t imagine who’d film such chaos.”

Mary pressed her mittened hands over her face. “You saw it.”

“Hard not to,” he said, a faint blush creeping up his neck. “My mom sent it to me.”

“Your mom?”

“Yeah. She said, ‘Look, Ash, you finally met a nice girl who can sweep you off your feet.’” He ran a hand over the back of his neck, sheepish now. “So there’s that.”        

Mary groaned, laughing despite herself. “That’s terrible.”

“She’s not wrong, though,” Ashton teased.

Mary peeked at him through her fingers, half mortified, half melting. “I’m so sorry. I swear it was an accident. I was live streaming and didn’t realize…”

“I know,” he said, his tone softening. “You didn’t plan it. Besides, it’s kind of nice to be famous for something harmless. Could’ve been worse. I could have been in a video titled ‘Man spills cocoa all over himself for no good reason at all’.”

Mary let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. “You’re being really nice about this.”

He shrugged. “I figure if the universe wants to make a fool of me, I might as well enjoy the company.”

She smiled at that, a small, genuine smile that made the air between them feel a little warmer.

“Have you picked a tree yet?”

Mary straightened, right a tree! “Well…”

“Better get one picked if you want it set aside for delivery; we’ll even load it in your delivery truck free of charge!”

Mary shook her head at him, he finally got the joke in. “You’ll never let that go will you?”

“No plans to, no.” He smiled…and Mary couldn’t shake the feeling he meant it two ways.

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