ol

or in a restaurant or sitting in the car next to me at the stoplights, I wondered if it was him. I found myself on two occasions wearing th

o were in the same boat as me. The fire alarm was unexpected, to say the least, but being pu

ool kids thinking they were being funny. But because of them or whoever it was, I didn't know his face. I couldn't trust anything I remembered about the color of

the house today or get yours

tough-love type, th

have not been mopi

lanced at her watch. "Eight-twelve?" She stared at me in disbelie

played it through three times.

sisted. "I just don't

f person that doesn't have plans at any point du

awings and filled up my days in fifteen minute time slots. She snatched the book off the table be

his, you should be reading to ki

od from the couch and grabbed my journal out of her hand. "Yes, I know. I've been

't do every single thing on that list, that leads me to b

e was right. It was silly to let some velvet-dressed mystery man ruin my Christmas

Girl, let's go out. Let's meet up with G and do all these things on your list! Christmas is yo

forgotten that I could count on her for things like this. I swiveled around and surp

ut she smiled at me with a mischievous grin. "Besides," she

he window and I

I yelled. "

e Mountain needed to do was hit the first of December before she pulled out the big guns. Ther

here at three o'clock sharp this afternoon, or maybe ten after on account of t

. But not anymore. I was going to get my act together tod

to work. No, first, I

he swing of things. I was grateful Abigail had lovingly dragged me out of the house that morning and barely got me to the bookstore on time. Once I ar

es I had skipped over the last couple of days. The next thin

ke a lot of the commercial stores. Heading up to Thanksgiving, you would see evidence here and there of winter themes, but aside from the Santa Claus Ball

ging up Christmas ornaments and lights. Sometimes I wondered if I didn't actually enjoy this mor

e park where Abigail and Gretchen would meet me, along with

decorations out of one of the city vans. Seeing all the colorful ornaments made me even more excited

ringing the lights showed up so we could string those on first. Next, we worked on sorting out the parts for the animated Santa's sleigh

gail told me. "You know how she gets

the laborer type, but for the last couple of years, Abigail and I had dragged

ve and charismatic guy who led me to believe he was a bit of a ladies' man. When he cau

teers. "I thought he would be here thirty minutes

three years now. Last year we even did it by ourselves. So don't assume that just because we'

rd to tell exactly what he was think

correctly about me at least," she sai

p. "Andi, are you upsetting one of these ladies already

s under that sheep-skin lined jacket. He had light, sandy brown hair that was long enough to curl up slightly on the

ned the focus to his friend. "Dude, you we

son calle

say anything e

name's Patrick. I'm excited to work with all of you, and you'll be happy t

ric

ring as he turned around to grab the big bundle of lights from the back of his truck. She elbow

bout? I straightened up my coat and pulled

hand?" I

offered help. But he just smiled an

le Patrick easily grabbed all the rest, hi

ur name?"

throat on the way, my name had c

lly

odd

He was going to have to stop doing that.

now half of it. "Actually, my

chuckle. "Well, that

l that to all of the high schoolers who alw

that. They've got the whole hormonal thing on top of the pee

ead, but I'm over it now," I told him. I didn't want

on a little tarp near the bas

What? You were a perfect, straight-A, All-State athlet

and hearty, and it made me lose my train of though

d my eyes

at the canned food drive. People praised him for winning our class a p

remembered I'd just met this man moments ago. "

d smile. "I deserved it. Maybe now's the t

to return to the group. By now, we'd dropp

ickly catching up to me and walking by my side. "Usually Andrew h

ck. He was lighthearted and kind. He was clever and patient. We didn't get to talk as much because he had to help with the sleigh assembly fi

y-side stringing the lights on some of the trees, just as he'd promised

tle sad that he wasn't the guy I was looking for. But

d beautiful. The whole volunteer group found ourselves standing around chatting until Andrew said something catty

ck declared he and I and Abigail as champions. As we cleaned up and things started to die down, I

t him, touching his a

arming and handsome. It was too bad,

still had my my