The Librarians And the Advent List

Dec 14

Jacob woke to the smell of coffee. That's when he remembered that he was still on Cassandra's couch. A pillow was under his head and his blanket was draped around him. Cassandra was in her kitchen, mixing something in a bowl.

He took a deep breath and got up. It was going to be awkward, but they'd been sick and fallen asleep during a movie marathon. Nothing really to be ashamed of. He got up and walked into the kitchen.

"Morning," he said softly.

She smiled at him. "Morning! I uh, woke up around 2am and went to bed. I hope the couch was comfortable enough, I didn't want you to drive that late."

He smiled back. She was refusing to make this awkward so he followed her lead. "I woke up sometime before that, not sure when though there was a movie on the tv. I didn't feel like driving and I didn't want to wake up, so I just went back to sleep. How are you feelin'?"

"Better actually. You?"

"I am too. Must have been all that orange juice and herbal tea."

Cassandra giggled, between them they must have drank both bottles of orange juice in the house, the one she'd started with and the one he brought. "Well Jenkins swears by those remedies. Especially that tea, at least that tasted good unlike some of his concoctions."

"Are you makin' waffles?" he asked as he noticed the waffle iron was plugged in.

"Yep, gingerbread. Want one?"

"You don't have to ask twice." Stone reached above her to get a mug, deciding to humor her and taking one of the reindeer ones that were in front. "So what is on our agenda today?"

"Well, I'm feeling better but I don't think I'm quite up for most of the things left on my list. So I was thinking of just addressing Christmas cards and wrapping presents."

"Oh," Jacob looked a little downcast.

"Well don't you have presents to wrap?"

"I haven't gotten you or Baird presents yet. But I have stuff for Jones, Flynn and Jenkins. And my nieces and nephew. I planned on mailing them. And I do have a small handful of people I send cards to. So I guess I can bring what I have over here."

"That's the spirit! We'll have a party." Cassandra giggled. "Um with herbal tea and uh well I have clementines. But first, waffles!"

Later that afternoon he was once again marveling at how Cassandra could make anything festive. He was feeling a bit down when he thought about the presents he hadn't bought, not sure of their welcome back home. They'd accept gifts for the kids, but he wasn't sure about the rest. But Cassandra's enthusiasm and Christmas spirit won him over again. Wrapping was always a tedious job, but she made it fun with Christmas music on the stereo and her fussing over the packages to make them just so.

He knew what he was buying Baird, he just had to get over and buy it. But he'd been puzzling over what to get Cassandra. He still was, but now he was trying to figure out the right gift to express just how much he appreciated what she'd done for him.