The Christmas Gift. Darlene Gardner

exchanged a guilty look, and Krista felt about ten years old. She giggled again. Her mother looked more stern.

      “Let’s do ‘Angels We Have Heard on High,’” Grandma Novak suggested.

      Krista caught Alex’s eye and placed a shushing finger to her lips. “Not as loud this time. It’s okay to hear the angels, but not you,” she whispered.

      “Smart aleck,” he said without heat.

      With Krista’s mother directing frequent warning glances in their direction, Krista got through the carol without laughing. It helped that Alex took her advice and turned down the volume.

      While the couple thanked them, Krista grabbed Alex’s hand. “Let’s get out of here before my mom has a chance to scold us. I know the way to the next house.”

      Krista wasn’t so much afraid of her mother as she was eager for an adventure. Caroling had never been so much fun. “Faster,” she said over her shoulder, smiling at Alex.

      He smiled back. He wore gloves and a brown winter jacket made of a fabric that retained heat. He was hatless, his thick black hair rustled by the wind. With his skin ruddy from the cold, he looked vital and alive.

      For the hundredth time that day, Krista thought about what the blonde had said at the Christmas shop. Was it really possible that Krista had broken Alex’s heart? She couldn’t put much credence to it. Their relationship, however intense, had been too brief. Neither could she get the possibility out of her mind.

      “Krista! Alex! Wait!”

      They’d barely made it twenty yards down the sidewalk before Krista’s mother hailed them. She was securely wrapped in order to fend off the cold, with only her face showing through an ice-blue scarf. “What got into you two back there? The seniors want to hear you sing, not laugh.”

      Krista remembered the delight in Mr. Dombrowski’s eyes when his gaze met hers. “I think Mr. Dombrowski liked it.”

      “Only after you started to behave,” Krista’s mother said. “I know you haven’t been home in a long time, Krista, but you know how important this program is to your grandmother.”

      Krista did know. Grandma had come up with the idea years ago to deliver holiday care baskets accompanied by Christmas carols to the elderly and shut-ins of the community. Grandma got lists of names and addresses of the willing from area senior centers and assigned caroling teams routes, with most of the stops within walking distance. This year, the Novaks’ group had five destinations.

      “We’ll be good from now on.” Krista caught Alex’s eye and waggled her brows. “Won’t we, Alex?”

      He did a nice job keeping a straight face. “We will.”

      “You have to hold up your end of the bargain, too, Mom,” Krista said. “One house and then you go home.”

      Her mom had only struck the deal after the Novaks threatened en masse to call off the caroling.

      “I know your tricks, Krista Novak.” Her mother wagged a finger. “You’re trying to deflect attention from yourself. If you think that will work, you—”

      “Look, there’s Rayna,” Krista interrupted, nodding toward her sister, who was walking toward them with the rest of the group. “Didn’t you say she was bringing her boyfriend, Mom?”

      “Why, yes. Trey’s supposed to be with her.” Her mother’s forehead creased. “I’ll go find out what happened.”

      She left Alex and Krista and headed for Rayna.

      “Nice misdirection,” Alex said.

      “Thank you.” Krista executed a little bow. “I learned that from my Grandma. Anytime Mom says something Grandma doesn’t like, Grandma changes the subject. That’s probably how she’s been able to live under the same roof with my mom all these years.”

      “I think it’s because Grandma Novak doesn’t take herself too seriously.” Alex had resumed walking toward the next house on their list, and Krista fell into step beside him. “She keeps things in the house light.”

      “You mean because my dad’s in a wheelchair?” Krista couldn’t hold back the question, both wanting to hear how her father was coping eight and a half years after the accident and not wanting to know. Except couldn’t she make an educated guess? Her father had been mostly sequestered in the office by himself since she arrived. That didn’t paint a picture of a well-adjusted man.

      “Well, yeah,” he said, “but not only because your dad’s paralyzed. Rayna’s twenty-one going on thirty-one, and your parents…how can I say this…? They like to agree to disagree.”

      Krista couldn’t have summed up her family more succinctly than that, especially Rayna. She didn’t know her sister well enough to make an astute observation.

      “Diplomatically put,” she said.

      “Eleanor and Joe don’t put anything diplomatically,” Alex said with a grin. “Used to freak me out until I caught on that was the way they interacted.”

      It had taken Krista most of her childhood to reach that realization. “You know my family awfully well.”

      “That happens when you live next door,” he said.

      Even though he openly disapproved of her own dealings with her family, Krista couldn’t pass up this chance to find out more about her sister’s life. She already knew Rayna had five months of school left. It was the personal stuff that interested Krista more.

      “Do you know what the deal is with Rayna’s boyfriend?” she asked. “Any guess why he didn’t show tonight?”

      “Trey? It’s hard to sum him up. He’s a bit of a free spirit.”

      “So he’s irresponsible?” Krista asked.

      “More like irrepressible. It’s impossible not to like the guy. If there’s a good time to be had, Trey will find it,” Alex said. “But he’s not the caroling type.”

      “Neither are you,” Krista pointed out.

      “Hey, I come every year,” he said.

      “Do you always sing so loud?”

      “Pretty much. I fake confidence.” He laughed. “That’s what us guys do when we’re in over our heads.”

      “Good thing I’m here to keep you in line,” Krista said.

      “Oh, yeah. I just love having a woman around who’s blunt enough to tell me I sound like I’m dying.”

      “Not dying—wounded,” Krista said. “The wounded have greater lung capacity.”

      He threw back his head and let out another deep chuckle. Krista joined in. They’d laughed a lot in the past, too, including over the spilled poinsettias. She found it attractive that he didn’t take himself too seriously.

      Grandma Novak caught up to them on the sidewalk with Charlie Crosby next to her. “We’re sticking with you two. You’re having more fun than everyone else.”

      “It does the heart good to see a young couple enjoying each other,” Charlie remarked.

      Krista shook her head. “We’re not a couple.”

      “Really?” Charlie wore a long black coat with a top hat that might have looked foolish on anyone else. On Charlie, it looked dignified. “You’ve never been a couple?”

      Krista exchanged a look with Alex, silently requesting help in how to handle the situation. He shrugged.

      “Aha! I saw that look!” Grandma cried. “I knew something went on between you after the poinsettias dropped!”

      “It was a long time ago, Grandma.” To Charlie, she clarified, “Eight years.”

      Charlie tipped his top hat.