Chapter 2
Kerri hummed a Christmas tune as she parked behind her sister’s cabin and turned off the engine. Several months ago, Charli had asked if Kerri would help plan a Christmas Eve morning wedding for a friend named Merri. Kerri had spent many hours on the phone with Merri’s mom, Roseanne, talking about the wedding. It made her wish she was getting married. Unfortunately, unlike her sister, Kerri was painfully single.
She lifted the box of electric candles from the front seat and opened her car door, bracing herself against the frigid winter air. It took only a moment to let herself inside the cabin, which felt just about as cold as it did outside. There was a gas generator, but it was only running at the bare minimum to keep the water pipes from freezing. After setting the candles down on a work table at the back door, she hurried out to her car and retrieved a gas can, which she used to add more fuel to the generator. Her sister had hired a local company to keep an eye on the cabin for her, and they tended the yard and ensured the generator wouldn’t run out of gas. Kerri wasn’t sure why Charli hadn’t just sold the cabin, because she’d moved away with her husband and their daughter and only came back to visit on Christmas Eve.
She carried in her bags and turned on the lights. The whole place needed a good dusting, which was why Kerri had decided to show up three days early. No bride wanted to get married with dust bunnies as her Maids of Honor.
After starting a fire in the beautiful brick fireplace, Kerri finished bringing in the rest of the decorations and food. Merri and Kerri had Skyped a few times, and she’d asked Kerri to keep things simple. There were only seventeen people attending the wedding, including Kerri, so it was a small, intimate affair. Someday, Kerri hoped to have a similar type of wedding with the man of her dreams. She just hoped that he’d show up sooner rather than later. She felt like her life was passing before her eyes, even though she knew it really wasn’t. It just felt like that sometimes.
Turning in a slow circle in the center of the family room, she decided to move the furniture first, and then she’d clean. With nothing to distract her, she knew she’d be able to finish in no time.
* * *
Six hours later, when all the family room furniture was in the spare bedroom that had once belonged to her niece, Hope, she surveyed the freshly scrubbed hardwood floor and wiped her brow. Her cell phone rang, and she tugged it from her pocket.
“Hi, Roseanne. How are you?”
“I’m well. I just checked with the florist, and everything is all set for pickup tomorrow afternoon. We should be there by seven a.m. on Friday. Merri wants the ceremony to start at eight thirty.”
“It’ll be beautiful. I got here earlier today and just finished cleaning. I’m going to grab a bite to eat and start decorating.”
“I appreciate you doing so much! I wish we could be there now to help.”
“I don’t mind a bit.”
“Call me if you need anything.”
“Will do. Have a safe trip.”
After hanging up, Kerri rinsed off the cleaning tools and hung them in the laundry room, and then she made something to eat. Although she could cook many wonderful and amazing dishes thanks to her culinary degree, she often preferred the simplest of foods for herself. Like a good old-fashioned peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwich, with the crusts cut off.
Her mother had often made the sandwich for her, letting their family dog, Baxter, eat the crusts. Kerri and Charli were teenagers when their parents died in a car accident; the girls had gone to live with their aunt, who had gladly taken them in and loved them dearly. She had passed away several years ago, leaving a large sum of money for the girls to split. Charli had bought the cabin so she could focus on her romance writing, and Kerri had opted to go to culinary school. Kerri and Charli had always been close, and even though they Skyped once a week, Kerri had been feeling less and less connected to Charli ever since she and her family moved to Canada for Arian’s job. Kerri supposed she was feeling like her sister was moving on with her life, while she was spinning her wheels. With her schooling complete, she could find the perfect job somewhere, and then she could maybe get started on the next chapter of her life – having a family of her own.
* * *
The night before Christmas Eve, which she supposed she would call Christmas Eve Eve, Kerri tossed and turned in bed. She didn’t know why she couldn’t get to sleep, but no matter how often she changed positions, adjusted the blankets, or ordered herself to go to sleep, it eluded her. It wasn’t because she had tasks to do for the wedding – everything was ready. All the food was prepared for the brunch, the family room was decorated, there was plenty of wood for the fireplace, and she’d even taken a broom to the front porch to sweep off the freshly fallen snow.
Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was nearly dawn. She couldn’t believe that she spent most of the night not sleeping. But there wasn’t time for any sleep now. Charli had told her that they’d arrive after dawn, the women first and then the men so the bride and groom didn’t catch sight of each other before their nuptials. In two hours, the house would start to fill up.
“Maybe I can sleep later,” she said, sitting up and stretching out the kink in her neck. “Have to be in bed early tonight in case Santa shows up.”
Chuckling to herself, she got out of bed and then smoothed the handmade quilt on top that had been their aunt’s. After starting the coffee pot in the kitchen, she showered and then dried her long, dark hair. Glancing at herself in the mirror, she thought about how similar she and Charli looked, from their hair color to their petite build. But where they differed was in the eyes – Charli’s were brown and Kerri’s were green. When her hair and makeup were done, she slipped on a robe and fixed a light breakfast for herself of cereal and toast, and then she cleaned up the kitchen. Afterward, she loaded up the wood in the fireplace and set it ablaze, then went to get dressed.
After slipping into her sleeveless, forest green dress that flared at the hips and flattered her curvy figure, she added a string of her aunt’s pearls and put on enough makeup to cover the dark circles under her eyes. After checking her reflection in the mirror, she cleaned up the bathroom and then went to turn on all the electric candles in the family room, which flickered on every surface.
The room looked beautiful. Folding chairs, decorated with white lace and red ribbons, lined both sides of an aisle runner of white fabric. A live Christmas tree sat next to the fireplace, decorated with red ribbons, strings of crystals and pearls, and glittering snowflakes, complete with a beautiful gold angel on top.
She tilted her head as she stared at the mantel. She’d arranged several candles on the stretch of polished wood, but it felt incomplete. Checking her watch, she saw she had a half hour until dawn, which was plenty of time to cut a few pine boughs and decorate the mantel. The additional greenery was just what the room needed to look perfect.
Stuffing her feet into her boots, she wrapped up in her long winter coat and scarf, and donned her gloves. She found a limb cutter in the laundry room with the other outdoor tools and stepped onto the back porch. The sun had not yet risen, but after flicking on the porch light and grabbing a flashlight from a hook at the door, she knew she’d be fine. It wasn’t like anything dangerous was in the woods.
She was pretty sure.
Stepping off the porch before she decided it was a bad idea, she let the flashlight beam bob ahead of her as she moved into the woods. She looked for a pine tree with low branches that were thin enough so she could cut the boughs easily.
Whistling “Santa Baby,” she looked up and saw a bright star in the dark sky just above where she stood. “A Christmas star? Cool.” Closing her eyes, she made a wish. If she were smart, she would have wished for the perfect job, but the romantic in her decided to wish that Santa would bring her Mr. Right.
“If only Santa brought people, I’d be in heaven,” she said with a chuckle, returning her attention to the woods.