“Good evening, friends, families, and visitors,” Mayor Charles announced into the microphone, his voice ringing out in a joyous tone. He was a short man with thick glasses and hair around the edges of his head but not in the middle, though that was currently hidden under his hat. He held firmly to his fedora with one hand for fear it might blow off and leave his shiny head glistening in the lights, she had no doubt. “Welcome to the Christmas Falls Tree Lighting Ceremony!”
The crowd clapped and cheered, and Memory and Dak joined in. Lorelei jumped up and down with glee.
“Won’t you all join me in welcoming the worship leader of our own Cornerstone Baptist Church, Cindy Sheen?” Again, the crowd clapped as Cindy took the stage. Memory smiled at the familiar face of the woman who led them in singing praise songs each Sunday. She was a tiny blonde woman with a big soprano voice, and Memory felt confident Cindy would sing loudly enough to drown out any utterance that might come out of her own lips.
“Good evening, everyone!” Cindy said, loud and clear into the microphone. “Won’t you join me in singing, ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’? You all know the words, don’t you?” A chorus of confirmation let her know the majority of her audience did. She raised her hands like a conductor and began the song. Memory smiled, keeping her lips pressed tightly together.
Cindy’s beautiful voice was audible over the rest of the crowd, the microphone sending it out into the open sky, and Memory wished she could sing half as well as the woman on the stage. But since she couldn’t sing at all, she wasn’t about to try now.
Dak, on the other hand, had a beautiful voice. Once she realized it was him she was hearing, Memory turned her head and looked at him, and he glanced down at her, his eyes wide with question marks. Feeling her face light up, Memory turned back to stare at Cindy, her ear still tuned to the lovely tenor next to her.
His elbow nudged her forward slightly, and she turned to look at him again, shocked that he was prodding her to sing. Memory laughed and shook her head, and he did it again, nudging her in the back of the arm without taking his hands out of his coat pockets. “No,” she mouthed. He nodded, not missing a word of the song. “No—I told you I don’t sing.”
He shook his head and rolled his eyes at her, and Memory turned back to the stage, taking a slight step toward him as innocently as she could so that when he least expected it, she could nudge him back. She pushed a little too hard and knocked him off balance, and he had to take a few steps backward to keep from toppling over. Memory burst out laughing and covered her mouth with her hand.
“Is that funny?” he asked, his breath a warm breeze against her cheek. She didn’t dare turn her head while his lips were so close to hers for fear she’d do something to embarrass herself, but as soon as he moved away, she turned and looked at him, still grinning like a little girl, and he shook his head at her again, but he was smiling, and she had a feeling she was about to get pushed over into the snow.
Dak didn’t push her, though. He didn’t even nudge her again, which was slightly disappointing to Memory for reasons she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
When the song was over, Cindy said, “Now, let’s sing, ‘Oh, Christmas Tree.’”
“Oh, no,” Dak muttered. Memory raised an eyebrow at him, and he shrugged. “I don’t know all the words to that one.”
“What?” she asked, spinning to look at him as the others started to sing. “What do you mean? How can you not know ‘Oh, Christmas Tree’?”
“I don’t know. I know part of it. But not all of it. This is my first Christmas tree lighting.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Huh.” Memory turned back around and watched Cindy, singing with vigor as they hit the refrain. She could still hear Dak singing the “Oh, Christmas tree,” part, but not the part about the lovely branches. She tried not to snicker, thinking of the way Lorelei sang along with the radio, singing a few words and then muttering the rest. He wasn’t doing that, but it was still cute—or funny. It was funny. Not cute. She wasn’t saying he was cute....
When he leaned in close to her again and changed the words to, “Oh, Christmas tree, Oh, Christmas tree, how Memory laughs at me silently,” she burst into a fit of giggles and had to cover her mouth with both hands. He pulled away, and she fought to get herself under control by the time the song was over and everyone would hear her. Finally, Memory managed to get herself under control, just in time for Cindy to end the song and announce that Mayor Charles was coming back to introduce the speaker.
Memory stole a glimpse at Dak. His smile let her know he was pleased with himself at making her crack up so completely, even though he wasn’t looking at her. She shook her head and tried to focus on the mayor, but she was definitely distracted. One of the local pastors from a Methodist church took the mic and read a few scriptures from Luke and then wished everyone a delightful Christmas, surrounded by the ones they loved most. Memory dropped her eyes, but it wasn’t the fact that she would be missing her grandmother that made her sad. Dak had no family to share Christmas with—neither did Ellie. Her eyes went to her own family, standing in front of the stage, all smiles, happy to be together, and she considered how fortunate she’d always been to have them with her. Not everyone was so lucky. Ellie looked like one of them, though. She was even holding Anson, swaying back and forth.
Mayor Charles came back to the mic. “Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Let’s light the Christmas Falls town Christmas tree!” Everyone cheered, and he approached the giant light switch. “Five, four, three, two, one!” With a dramatic flair, the mayor flipped the switch, and the tree lit up with thousands of twinkling white lights. The crowd cheered, Memory joining in with the clapping, and then Cindy took the microphone once more to lead them all in “Deck the Halls.”
Happy to have the opportunity to hear Dak sing again, Memory kept her mouth closed, even though part of her felt like joining in. There was no point in sending him running for the hills, though, so she didn’t. But for the first time in a long time, she didn’t really care that her voice was terrible. She just felt like singing.
As soon as the song was over, families began to make their way toward the tree for pictures. Others gathered in groups to chat. She should go join her own family now and let Dak go find Jen and Chet or leave, or whatever it was he intended to do, but she didn’t want to walk away from him. Despite her inability to trust him, she couldn’t remember the last time she laughed as much in just a few short minutes as when she was standing next to him.
“Have you eaten dinner, Memory?”
She turned to look at him, taken aback. She hadn’t been expecting the question. “Uh, no.”
“Wanna head to the diner while everyone else is standing around talking?”
“Oh... uh....” Did she? She did... but at the same time, she hadn’t agreed to the lighting and dinner. She could duck out and join her family and not be upset with herself if she wanted to, couldn’t she?
“I mean... you gotta eat, right?”
“Yes,” she admitted. “It’ll be crowded.”
“Not if we hurry.” Without waiting for a definitive answer, he grabbed her hand and started walking toward the diner. Memory’s feet answered for her as she hurried her pace to keep up with his long legs.