Sleigh Bell Dreams (Mistletoe Meadows Sweet Christmas #1)

Chapter 24

“Oh, Terry! Terry!”

Terry had come to dread that voice. She put a smile on her face as she walked out of the church and turned to see Mrs. Tucker. “Yes?”

“Terry, you are doing a fantastic job with the social media posts on our town account. I could not be happier,” she said, putting a hand on Terry’s arm and making her feel like she was a teenager again, instead of in her early thirties.

“Thank you, Mrs. Tucker. It’s been fun.” Except the pictures. She was terrible at taking pictures.

“Those ones that you use pictures on get a lot of likes and comments.” Mrs. Tucker wrinkled up her nose and muttered under her breath, “No matter how terrible the pictures are, it seems.” She gave her head a little shake, and her eyes brightened again. “We’ve gotten a lot of new followers, and we have tourists who are interested in our town because of you.” Mrs. Tucker’s voice was a little singsongy, which Terry took to mean that she was happy, very happy, with her.

“And because you’ve done such a good job with that, I have another big favor to ask of you,” she said in such a way that Terry was pretty sure she was supposed to be honored, but she held her breath. The more honored she was supposed to be probably meant the more terrible the job was. But she would withhold judgment.

“I want to know if you and Judd Landis will man the hot chocolate competition booth after you drive the wagon in the town Christmas parade on Thursday.”

“Wow. That’s kind of short notice, isn’t it?”

“You’re right. Usually I have this planned way back in September, but my husband and I took an anniversary trip to Hawaii, and then we ended up going to Iceland to visit family I never knew I had. It has been a crazy fall, but I’m back, and I’m trying to get things organized for Christmas, because that is our jam around here.”

“We celebrate Christmas year-round, because of the town name and everything,” Terry said, which was true. A lot of stores kept their decorations up year-round or changed them out every month to a different Christmas scene. She lost track of the number of businesses that had twelve different decorations sets, one for each month.

“You’re right. Good point. But we’re going to jump into this Christmas, and that will be a great springboard for the next year. I did leave my things in the hands of people that I thought were very capable, but you know the old saying, ‘if you want something done right, do it yourself.’” She smiled, like life was a trial, but she was going to power through.

Terry kind of felt like it was probably her turn to pat Mrs. Tucker’s arm, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. She would feel like an eighth grader patting the principal’s arm after a scolding.

“All right, I’m going to put you down on my list,” she said, getting her clipboard up and writing her name down. “Do you think you can talk to Judd for me?” she asked, like getting Judd in was as big of a deal. “I just figured since the two of you are sharing a duplex, it would be easy for you to plan. I know you’re busy as a doctor and all, but he should have plenty of time. As I understand, he doesn’t do that much. But at least he’s not a drain on society, so I’m not going to complain, although he could go out and get a real job, which wouldn’t be a bad idea for him. But who am I to say?” Mrs. Tucker said, obviously feeling like she was the person to say, and to her surprise, Terry found herself getting offended.

“Judd does a lot of things that he doesn’t get credit for. He helps a lot of people. And he notices things. Like my nephew, he let him help blow the leaves in the yard.”

“Any man would do that,” Mrs. Tucker said, in a tone that made Terry feel like she was about two years old. “That’s normal. I’m talking about actual work. Jobs. He needs a job, but we don’t have to stand here in the churchyard and argue about it. But God does say that a man should provide. And I would not consider him husband material for anyone, because he obviously is incapable of providing for anyone aside from himself. And I wouldn’t trust him if he said he was going to get a job because in the time that I’ve known him here in Mistletoe Meadows, he’s never lifted a finger.”

“You only moved in fifteen years ago, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but that’s plenty of time to observe a person and know about him.”

It almost felt like Mrs. Tucker hadn’t felt like Judd was worth getting to know. But she heard from other people that his parents never hung out in town. And they really didn’t know anything about them. And Judd of course never said.

Terry bit her tongue to keep from arguing and insulting Mrs. Tucker. “All right, so I’m supposed to man the hot chocolate competition booth with Judd, after we take the horse-drawn wagon in the parade. Is that right?”

“That’s correct. And don’t forget, people love it when you throw candy. Although, as a doctor, I guess you could throw apples, except everyone knows they keep doctors away. I don’t know, something healthy. Broccoli. Throw broccoli.”

Mrs. Tucker waved and hurried away, and left Terry staring at her back. Broccoli?

Yes, it probably was good for a person, but even she knew that no one was going to want to pick broccoli up off the street and eat it. Not even her.

And she was supposed to ask Judd. Well, she would wait until after their Sunday lunch. Judd was with the wagon and horses currently, and he would have to come back and take care of those before he could make it out to the McBride home.

She finished walking down the steps, stopping to chat with a few friends and neighbors, before she went and grabbed the casserole she was taking to her mother’s house. She was hoping that Isadora had been able to make it there. Her mom had been talking to her, saying that she didn’t mind if Isadora moved back, and Gilbert had even talked to her, from what Terry understood. Telling her that his kids would love to have their cousins to play with for a bit.

The last time Terry had talked to Isadora, she hadn’t wanted to admit that she was a failure—her words—and come crawling back with her tail between her legs, living with her mom.

She had been so adamant that she was doing the right thing by going with her husband, and she figured that her mom wouldn’t be happy to have her divorced and living in her home after so blatantly flaunting what her mom had begged her not to do.

But Terry had assured her that their mom loved her and was only warning her, and the fact that Isadora didn’t heed the warning was painful for their mom, but she of course still loved her and would happily take her in. Terry knew that to be a fact. Maybe it was because she had been away for so long, but she saw her mom through new eyes. Maybe through adult eyes, she wasn’t sure.