Chapter Text
James had insisted on driving, that was the start of their problems.
It wasn’t that he was a bad driver, he was actually a very good driver, but he was also, by nature, not the type to sit around for more than a few minutes at a time. He needed to stretch his legs and move, he needed to be doing something.
But Harry didn’t like to fly, and James had never been a fan of trains, and so he decided that he would drive from London to his parent’s home in Edinburgh. It was a seven and a half hour drive and James had regretted his decision almost immediately.
He called his mum and asked her if she was sure that she wanted to have Christmas in Edinburgh this year, if she’d prefer to have it back in London, where they also owned a townhouse and James’ flat was a quick bus ride away.
But Da’s family was coming for Christmas and for New Years and she’d already told all of them that they were going to be staying in Edinburgh for the remainder of the Christmas season.
And with seven hours and fifteen minutes left until he got to his parent’s house, he had to just suck it up and just keep going.
“Dad?” Harry spoke up from his booster seat in the back of the car and James looked in the rearview mirror. “Are we almost there?”
“Nah, buddy. Remember, I told you that this was going to be a long trip.”
“I know.” He nodded. “Is gran going to have all those tall trees in her house again?”
“Christmas trees, and I bet she’ll have at least five.” James nodded. “Your gran likes to go all out when she decorates.”
“I think they’re pretty.” The four-year-old said, looking out his window.
“Of course they are.” James grinned.
“We should have put one up at home.”
James shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe, but we’re going to be spending all of Christmas at gran and grandad’s. There’s not much point in decorating our place too.”
“It’s pretty.” Harry repeated, which was reason enough for him.
It wasn’t that James didn’t like Christmas, because he did. He liked all the decorations and the extra time he got to spend with his family. He liked the big home cooked meals and all the cookies and watching Harry’s face light up whenever he saw someone’s house decked out in lights. It was just that when they were in the city, he felt like he didn’t have time for all of that.
He worked for his father’s company as a graphic designer, and it was a major time commitment. Between his commute and his job, he spent almost twelve hours a day out of his flat. Thirty minutes in the morning to get Harry to nursery, twenty minutes back the other way to his job. He worked from eight to five, sometimes a bit later, twenty minutes back to nursery to get Harry, then they had to find something to eat and get back to their flat.
Even the weekends were busy. Harry was in a junior football league, but outside of the city because James’ best mate Sirius wanted to coach the tyke’s team and he lived out in Oxford. And that was an hour both ways. Remus normally joined them as well, Pete too most weekends, and then they would all stay in Oxford for the day, sometimes Harry and James would crash at Sirius’ and end up staying the whole weekend.
They just weren’t home enough to warrant decorating.
James needed to find a way to fix that.
Not because he really wanted to decorate his flat for Christmas, but because he hated feeling like he never had time to do anything. He didn’t want Harry to feel like he was never home except to sleep. He needed to find a better balance between work, family and having down time.
Thinking through all of this killed almost two hours which meant that he was passing by Nottingham, and then he was humming along to a Robinhood song despite the Christmas music he was playing. Harry had fallen asleep almost as soon as they’d made it out of London.
He had just rolled past a sign introducing the small town of Cokeworth, a town that he’d never heard of, when his car started making a strange sputtering noise and then started smoking and then just stopped going forward all together.
“Fucking hell,” James muttered, hitting the steering wheel with the heel of his hand and then reaching for his phone.
“Are we there yet?” Harry mumbled, rubbing at his eyes as the sudden lack of movement woke him up, or possibly it had been James shouting.
“No,” James held his phone up to the window, as a small symbol up in the corner was telling him that he had no service. “No, we’re not there.” They were about three hours from being there actually. “The car is a bit… broken.” James watched as more smoke came out from under the hood, and tried to remember the last time he’d even checked the oil.
Driving seven and a half hours to his parents’ house was just becoming more and more of a terrible idea.
The fact that he couldn’t get signal on his phone wasn’t helping either.
He opened his door and climbed out of the car, still holding his phone up in the air. But then he started to get worried that the car might catch fire or explode from whatever was causing it to smoke, so he opened Harry’s door and unbuckled him as well, taking him out of the car and walking ten or so meters away.
“What are we doing, daddy?” Harry asked, watching James walk around in circles with his phone in the air.
“I’m trying to get my phone to work.” James answered, only half listening as he stared at the no signal symbol.
“Your phone is broken too?” Harry’s eyes were wide, and he looked up and down the empty road. He was only four, but he was starting to piece together the situation that they’d found themselves in. “Are we lost?”
James dropped his arm back to his side and looked down at Harry. “No, we’re not lost,” He tried to sound reassuring. “We’re just going to have to go for a bit of a walk. Until my phone starts working again.” He reached down and Harry grabbed his hand. “You don’t mind walking in the snow, do you?” And James knew that it was dangerous to ask Harry when he didn’t actually have a choice in the matter. James couldn’t leave him in the car alone, and they couldn’t stay here for who knows how long. They’d already been there for about ten minutes, and no one had driven past them going either direction.
“I’ve got my boots on.” Harry shrugged, looking down at his bright red and yellow snow boots.
“That is a good thing.” James nodded, looking down at his own trainers. At least Harry’s feet would stay warm and dry. He made sure the car was locked and then tucked the keys into his podcket.
“And we’ve got coats on.” Harry grinned. “Are we going to walk to Gran and Grandad’s?”
“No.” James shook his head, chuckling slightly as he started them in the direction of town.
They had been walking for almost fifteen minutes when a truck came up behind them and stopped on the road next to them. James squeezed Harry’s hand and stepped a bit further off the road.
“You folks look like you’re in need of a lift,” The man in the truck said. James looked him and his vehicle over. He had a few pine trees tied up in the bed of his truck. The car looked older, the man as well, friendly and honest. “I take it that was your car back there,” He didn’t wait for an answer before he reached over and pushed the door open.
“Yeah,” Harry nodded. “Our car and daddy’s phone are broken. Are those Christmas trees in your truck?”
The man smiled at Harry, “They sure are. I’m taking them back to town. Two for the inn and two for the diner.”
“My gran has five Christmas trees,” Harry said, holding up one of his hands to show the man how many five was. “Are you putting any of those trees in your house?”
“No, my house already has a Christmas tree.”
“Do you get cell service out here?” James interrupted, holding up his phone. “I’ve been trying to call someone for help, but I can’t seem to find a spot with good service.”
“Oh no, it’s this damn stretch of road.” The man waved a hand as though he was personally offended that the road had inconvenienced James. “You should get service once we’re back in town. Come on, I’ll take you. I can get Reggie to come get your car as well. You run out of gas?”
James didn’t know anything about cars. “I don’t think they start smoking when they run out of gas.” He stepped toward the car and then Harry was climbing into the seat.
“Probably not,” The man laughed. James closed the door once he was seated and then the man was reaching around Harry. “I’m David, by the way. David Evans, it’s nice to meet you.”
“James Potter.” He gripped the man’s hand. “This is my son, Harry.”
“Course he is,” David smiled. “He looks just like you. Just the two of you out here?”
“Yes,” James nodded, wondering if David was wondering if Harry had a mother or if his question went no deeper than wanting to make sure that he wasn’t leaving anyone else out in the cold wilderness that was the outskirts of Cokeworth. James didn’t ask for clarification and gave no further explanation.
They went down the road a ways, Harry going on about how he couldn’t wait until they got to grans because Sirius promised they would go sledding and then the town was upon them. It was one of those small towns that just appeared out of nowhere. One second, they were in the middle of the woods, nothing on either side of the road, and then boom, there it was.
It wasn’t much. There was the inn and the diner that David had mentioned, what appeared to be a post office, the police station, a library and a gas station. He was sure there was a fire station somewhere around, and a school, but David was pulling into the diner lot and so James didn’t have a chance to spot them.
“Wow,” Harry said, his little eyebrows disappeared beneath his fringe as he looked over all the Christmas decorations that the town had out. “Does Santa Claus live here?” He asked, looking back over at David as the older man put the car in park.
David chuckled, “You know, I used to think that same thing when I was a boy. But no, Santa lives up at the North Pole, remember?”
“This could be the North Pole,” Harry said, looking to James now for confirmation.
“I suppose, but I think this place is called, Cokeworth. Not the North Pole.” He opened his door and helped Harry out of the truck. “Thanks again for the ride into town.” James said, walking around the truck to shake David’s hand. “I should be able to get ahold of someone now that I’ve got a signal.”
“Oh, you go ahead and call whoever you were on your way to see, but don’t worry about your car. I told you, I’m going to get Reggie on it for you. He owes me a favor anyway. Would you mind helping me with these trees though? Rosie said she wanted two in the diner.”
“Dad, look!” Harry pointed across the street at a shop that James hadn’t noticed before. “A chocolate shop! We have to go there! For Uncle Remus! I didn’t get him anything yet!”
“Hold on, Harry, let’s help, Mr. Evans first.” James reached into the back of the truck and helped lift one of the trees out.
“You should go to the shop though,” David said as they carried the tree up to the door. “My daughter owns it, and she makes the best chocolate you’ll ever have.” James smiled and nodded, not quite sure that the best chocolate in the world resided in Cokeworth, England, but not wanting to say anything like that to the man who was going out of his way to help him.
They went back for the second tree and then David waved them inside. “Rosie?” He called out as the bell rung over their heads. The inside of the diner was even more decorated than the street. Garland, elves, baubles, holly, and snow globes were covering every available surface. Something smelled delicious as well.
“Daddy, I’m hungry.” Harry said, tugging on James’ sleeve.
“We’ll get you something, bud,” James assured him, running his hand through Harry’s hair.
“David, is that you?” A woman in an apron walked out from behind the counter and smiled at him. “I was starting to think you’d gotten lost in the woods.”
“I got your trees for you, and a couple of travelers too. You want to fix them some hot chocolate?”
“Of course! What happened?” She asked, looking at James now with wide eyes.
“Car troubles. Lucky David happened upon us, or Harry and I would have had quite the hike into town.”
“Yes, well that is lucky.” She looked over her shoulder. “Emmaline! Two hot chocolates please!”
David leaned over the counter and Rosie gave him a quick kiss. “I’m going to call Reggie for them, and then I’ll set up your trees.”
“Thank you, love. Lily said she’ll be over after closing to help.”
“Can’t keep that girl away from a Christmas tree in need of decorating.”
“No you can’t,” Rosie agreed. Then she looked at James and Harry again. “Well go and take a seat, warm up! I’m sure you’ve had a long afternoon. Where were you coming in from?” She ushered them over to a small table that had a snowman in the middle of it.
James took a seat after helping Harry into his chair, and then smiled at Rosie. “I was trying to get to Edinburg from London. My plan to drive has failed spectacularly.”
“Edinburgh?” She covered her heart with her hand. “And why would you want to do that? Why didn’t you take the train? Or fly?”
“I don’t like flying.” Harry said quickly. “The last time we were on an airplane, it kept shaking in the air and I thought we were going to fall out.” He shook his head. “Uncle Sirius said that that hardly ever happens, but still, it could happen.”
“That doesn’t happen.” James shook his head. “But that is a good answer to why we didn’t fly.” James smiled at Rosie again. She looked just as kind as her husband did. “Can we have a menu?” He asked. “We haven’t eaten anything since we left London.”
“Of course!” She spun around and reached behind the counter. “I can’t imagine how frustrated you must be right now. Car troubles just in time for the holidays.” She shook her head.
Rosie was friendly and soon Emmeline had brought out their hot chocolate. It was nice here, there were definitely worse places to break down.
David came back and told them that Reggie was heading out now to get their car and bring it to his shop.
They were halfway through their meal when Rosie smiled at the doorway. The bell jingled cheerfully as James turned his head to see who she was looking at, and he was momentarily floored by the smiling girl who walked into the diner.
Could you have deja vu about a person that you’d never met before? That’s what he felt like was happening just then. He was one hundred percent sure that he’d never seen this woman before in his life, but there was something about her that was familiar.
She had brilliant red hair tucked into a cream-colored scarf, bright green eyes that were made more brilliant by flushed cheeks and a perfectly pointy, breathtaking smile that made something in his chest warm and constrict and jolt all at once.
“Dad,” Harry tugged at his sleeve again. “She looks like Christmas.”
James smiled at him and nodded. “She does, doesn’t she?” He looked back over at the girl, who turned out to be David and Rosie’s daughter. She was talking to them about closing up her shop and decorating trees as she unbuttoned her coat and hung it up on a coat hook near the door. She pulled her scarf off and her curls bounced into place. She was wearing a oversized, deep green jumper, embellished with little snowmen and snowflakes.
She was gorgeous, and James found it hard to take his eyes off of her.
“I know where the decorations are, mum,” Lily was saying, he was pretty sure that her name was Lily anyway, that’s what David had said. “I’ll run and get them. You just get the trees in the stands, alright, Dad?”
David chuckled. “Use the step stool,” He called after her.
“I’m not that short!” She called back, already in the back of the diner.
“See dad,” Harry was looking at the trees. “They have two Christmas trees, and no one even lives here. We should have had one at our house.”
James took another sip from his mug and nodded. “I know. But Gran is going to have hers-”
“I know, but they’ll already be decorated. I’ve never decorated a tree before.” James narrowed his brow, ready to contradict his son, but he couldn’t. How could that be true? How had James let four years go by without getting a tree for the two of them?
“You’ve never decorated a tree?” Lily was walking back out into the room, her arms loaded up with four boxes stacked precariously on top of one another.
“Lily!” Rosie chided, but she couldn’t come and help since she was holding the tree for David as he tightened the tree stand.
James stood up and took the top box off the stack and set it on an empty table. “I know you had that under control, but just to give your mum peace of mind,” He smiled and shrugged a shoulder and then grabbed another box and set it down, just to be safe.
“Thank you,” She nodded, but then her attention went back to Harry. “Never?”
“Never, ever.” Harry repeated, the same serious tone that Lily was using.
“That’s tragic.” She looked at James again. “Do you two celebrate Christmas?” She asked, her voice slightly quieter now.
“Yeah, my mum just does the decorating before we get to her house.”
“We could have one at our house though!” Harry repeated for the third time that day.
“We could.” James nodded, because, what else was he going to say. “Or I could tell gran to stop having all the fun without us.”
“Or,” Lily set the other box of decorations down on the table and rested her hand on her hip. “You could help me decorate these trees.”
There was a beat of silence and then Harry jumped out of his chair, “Really!?” James started laughing at how excited he seemed, and Lily beamed down at him.
“Oh, yes. Especially if you’re this excited about it.” She reached into the box and pulled out a string of lights. “The first step to decorating a tree is putting on the lights. This is the tricky part, so I think I could use your help.”
James smiled at her, and she smiled back. “I’m going to step out and make a call, so no one starts to wonder what happened to us.” He said, pulling out his phone. “I’ll be back in just a moment.”
She nodded, “Don’t worry. I think he’s completely occupied for the time being.” She handed Harry a string of lights for him to work on untangling and James walked for the door.
“You’re stuck where?” His mum didn’t sound too worried, more like she was on the verge of telling him that she knew that he should have taken the train.
“Cokeworth.” James shrugged, though he knew that she couldn’t see him. “I’ve never heard of it either. It’s past Nottingham a ways. It’s a pretty quaint town. You’d like their Christmas spirit. Harry is helping the people who own the diner set up some Christmas trees as we speak. Can you believe that he’s never done that before?”
“Of course he has,” Euphemia protested, but then she clicked her tongue. “Though I suppose I set them all up before you two get up here, don’t I? Why didn’t you say anything before?”
“I only just realized! Now I feel bad for not having a tree back at the flat.”
“But you’re never there for Christmas.” His mother tried to placate him. “I’ll undecorate one of the trees for us to do together when you two get up here. When do you think that will be?”
James shrugged again before he could catch himself. “I still have to talk to the mechanic, he hasn’t gotten back with my car yet. I’ll call you again when I know more.”
“Alright,” His mum sighed, “Well go back into the diner and get me some pictures of my grandson decorating his first Christmas tree, please.”
“Right,” James nodded. “Will do. Talk to you soon.”
“I love you, James.”
“Love you too.”
When he stepped back in the shop, Harry was laughing loudly at something that Lily must have said. His little face was red, and he was wrapped in Christmas lights. Not purposefully, just in the sense that someone had handed a four-year-old a tangled string of lights to work through, and it was now wrapped around his arms and legs.
James turned the camera on his phone and snapped a few photos for his mum.
“What’s going on in here?” He asked, walking back over to his table, and finding a plate of cookies on it now.
“Daddy, I’m all tangled up!” Harry laughed. “Lily said that I’m the Christmas tree now!” He laughed again and James smiled at him. It was nice to see his son laugh like this. The two of them had fun together, but with how busy they’d been, this was the longest time that James had spent with Harry uninterrupted and conscious. It was nice. Perhaps they should go back to quiet Sundays. Sirius, Remus and Peter could come out to London if they wanted to see Harry and James.
“Well you look like a Christmas tree,” Lily said, seated at the table next to James’, unraveling her own strand of lights. “We’ll just plug you in and leave you out for Santa to put presents under.”
Harry’s eyes got wide. “Do you think he would? If I pretended to be a tree, do you think I’d get to see him?”
Lily chuckled, “You know the rules. He’s sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake… he’d know if you were trying to pull something over on him like that.”
Harry nodded. “You’re right, I forgot about that.” Then he chuckled again. “But I still think it’d be fun.”
“Why don’t you come over here and let me help you with that,” James motioned for Harry to walk toward him. “Slowly, though it’s wrapped around your leg,” Harry made exaggerated slow movements and James reached out to tickle his sides.
Harry picked out a cookie while James unwrapped the lights from around his limbs.
“There goes your car!” David called out, pointing out the front window. James turned around to see a bright red truck towing his car behind it down main street.
“Our car looks like it’s getting a piggyback ride.” Harry giggled, reaching for a second cookie. James thought about telling him one was enough, but then he just picked one up for himself. These were unusual circumstances, the boy could have two cookies.
“It does look like that,” James agreed, “Should I head over there and talk to Reggie?” He asked David.
“Oh no, it’s cold and you’re not really dressed for the weather. Reggie will call me in a few minutes and then I’ll drive you over there.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that. It’s right down the street, I can walk.”
“I’ve got to go that way anyway. Drop these trees off at the inn.”
“Well alright.”
“Dad, can I stay here? I haven’t even got to put on any order-mints yet,” He had frosting on his lip and James smiled as he reached out and swiped it away.
“I don’t know how long it’s going to take to get this all sorted out, kid, and I can’t ask-”
“You don’t need to ask!” Rose interrupted. “He’s more than welcomed to stay here and decorate with us until you get everything sorted!”
James looked between Lily and Rose, who were both smiling widely. “Are you sure?”
“Positive!” Rose beamed.
“I did tell him that he could help me,” Lily shrugged.
He looked back at Harry, who was looking far too hopeful and happy for James to say ‘no.’ He laughed and nodded his head, “Alright. Then I’ll go with David and be back in a bit, alright?”
“Okay!”
“Three days!” James’ hand jumped up to his hair as he looked at Reggie, the mechanic. “What do you mean that it’s going to take three days to get it fixed!”
“Well,” Reggie shrugged a shoulder. “We’re not a big town, sir. We don’t have a lot of parts on hand for just every car that rolls through here.”
“Well is there a band-aide fix?” He asked, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Someway for you to get it running well enough for me to get to my parents?”
“Nothing that won’t cause you more trouble in the future, and nothing that will guarantee that you and your boy get there without another incident.”
“Good thing we’re headed to the inn next,” David had his arms crossed over his chest and was leaning against the car that had failed James.
“I guess so,” James sighed, shaking his head and looking down at his shoes. He could call and ask his dad to come and pick him up, and his father would do it, but that was a lot of driving for his aging father.
He could call Sirius and nag him into doing it, but that Sirius was a terrible driver and the thought of him driving three hours to come and get them, terrified James.
Remus wasn’t even in the country till next week, so he was out of the question.
It looked as though he and Harry would just have to settle in for a few days.
“Alright,” He looked up, “I suppose if that’s how it’s got to be, then that’s how it’s got to be.”
Reggie nodded, “I’m sorry that I can’t do more. I’ll keep you updated.”
“Thank you,” James grinned, got his and Harry’s bags out of the trunk and then walked out of the shop with David.
“I can promise you that you’ll have a good time here in Cokeworth.” David smiled. “We’re pretty good at Christmas here.”
James smiled at him as he tossed the bags in the back of the car. “I’m sure you’re right.” Though he wasn’t sure, being stranded in the middle of nowhere didn’t sound like fun when he should be at his parents’ house.
But there was nothing he could do.
That didn’t make things any better, but he was going to have to just accept it.
It was getting dark by the time that James and David made it back to the diner. Through the window, he could see the Christmas trees were lit and decorated completely, and Lily was sitting across from Harry at one of the tables eating bowls of something probably warm. James hadn’t eaten enough earlier, and his stomach growled. The rest of the tables were empty, and the chairs were turned upside down on top of the tables.
Rose came out the door once David had parked the car. “I’m sorry to hear about your car,” She said, touching his arm after he’d climbed out of the truck. “I’m sure you had people to get to.”
“We’ll still get to them, just a few days later than we thought,” James smiled. “Thank you both for being so helpful.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it, son!” David smiled.
“I left you some food, it should still be warm,” Rose stepped toward the truck and James stepped back. “David and I are off to the bowling alley. It’s bingo night!”
“Oh! Well good luck then!”
“Thanks!” She grinned and climbed into the truck. “Lily will lock up when you and Harry have finished. Take your time!”
James waved as they drove off and then he turned back toward the diner, letting his grumbling stomach lead the way.
The bell rang over his head when he pushed the door open, and Harry’s little head whipped around in his direction “Daddy! Look what I did!” He climbed down from his chair and ran at James.
“I saw from the street, Harry! They look so good!”
Harry wrapped his arms around James’ middle and looked up at him with his bright green eyes. “I know! Lily told me that I was a natural.”
“Well clearly, look at those trees.”
Harry grinned, “Lily and Ms. Rosie helped too. They’re really good at decorating.”
“You’ve got food over here from my mother,” Lily pointed at a third bowl on the table. “We just sat down, so it’s still warm.”
“Your parents have been too helpful,” James grinned, but then he patted Harry’s back, “Let’s eat, kid. I’m starving.”
James took the seat between Lily and Harry, where his bowl had been placed and wasted no time digging into the meal. He peeked a few more looks at Lily, because he couldn’t really help himself, but for the most part, he paid perfect attention to the story that Harry had launched into about the Christmas parade that Rosie had told him about.
“How about we eat a bit more,” James nodded at Harry’s bowl and Harry nodded and took a bite.
“So, what’s the verdict?” Lily asked, once Harry was forced to stop talking for a minute. “Mum said that you got a room at the inn?”
“Yeah,” James nodded. “Looks like we might be here for a few days. They had to order the part that our car needs.”
“So we’ll be here for the parade?” Harry asked quickly, before spooning more food into his mouth.
James chuckled. “When is the parade?” He asked Lily.
“Thursday. So I think you’ll end up missing it.”
“But we could stay for it!” Harry spooned more food into his mouth.
“I don’t know Harry, we have a lot of people at Gran’s house who really want to see us.”
“But a Christmas parade! Lily said that Santa comes!”
James sighed and ran a hand through his hair again. It was probably sticking straight up in the air at this point, but it was a tick that he’d never been able to break. “We’ll see,” He said because he didn't want to argue with his four-year-old. “Now finish up so we can head back to the inn.” He didn’t add that Lily probably didn’t want to stick around the diner any longer than she had too.
“I am getting tired,” Harry nodded and then dug into his meal in earnest.
“Sorry about that,” Lily said quietly. “We shouldn’t have gotten him so excited.”
“Oh, it’s fine.” James shook his head. “Besides, I’m pretty sure he gets excited about everything.” Harry grinned at him and James laughed.
“Yeah, he was pretty excited about my shop as well.” Lily grinned.
“Well it’s a chocolate shop,” James nodded. “When did you open it?”
Lily leaned back in her chair and looked across the diner, in the direction of her shop. She could probably see it through the window. “A few years now. I’ve always liked baking, and baking candies especially. So I opened the shop.”
James shifted in his chair. “Do you mind if I ask you something?”
Lily laughed. “Most of my sales are from my online shop, if that was your question. The shop is more of a novelty really, and a place for me to actually make the candies and other sweets.”
James nodded. “I suppose you would need a commercial kitchen. Though it’s a shop too?”
“Yes, and the townspeople are very nice about making sure to come in for every special occasion. Though like most sweet shops, I do the best at Christmas and Valentines.”
“What’s the name?” He asked, finishing off his meal and then pushing the bowl toward the middle of the table. It had been good, and he owed Rose another thank you.
“Sweet Tooth Confections.” Lily grinned. “I’ve had that name picked out since I was nine.” She laughed and James thought it sounded like bells. “It felt like a dream come true once I’d finally waded through all the paperwork and got the doors open.” She looked across the street again and James smiled at the content look that settled over her face. How nice it must be to have an actualized childhood dream.
James had always known what he was going to do, it was always the plan to work for his father. It was cliche, he knew that, but he had always been fine with it. Not excited, but it wasn’t as though he’d dreaded it either.
Harry leaned against James’ arm, finished with his food. James knew he had to be tired, but he needed to finish his meal before they headed back to the inn.
“He’s a sweet kid,” Lily said, looking down at Harry. James glanced down as well, seeing that his son’s eyes had fallen shut.
“Yeah, he’s great.” James took another bite. “I don’t know what I’d do without him.”
“Where are you two headed?”
“My parent’s house. We always spend Christmas there. A couple weeks, lots of home cooked meals and biscuits and he gets lots of time with his grandparents.”
“That sounds like a lot of fun family time,” She smiles. “If I didn’t live a stones throw from my family, that’s how I’d like to spend Christmas.”
“Yeah, it’s great. My mates join us for the season as well. They dote on Harry more than I do sometimes.” He looked down at him again. “He might get too spoiled during Christmas time. But I think I do well not to spoil him too much the rest of the year.”
“Spoiling kids with love, good food, and biscuits, is the way you’re supposed to spoil them,” Lily grinned, leaning back in her chair and tilting her head to the side, her hair falling over her shoulder. The colorful Christmas lights were bouncing off her hair and the result was mesmerizing.
James took another bite and then nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.” It was just easy to feel like he was doing everything wrong when it came to Harry. He definitely wasn’t on his own, he had his parents and his friends to help him out, but he was the one calling all the shots, so when he did mess up, it fell squarely on his shoulders.
“You two should stop by my shop tomorrow,” She leaned forward, resting her forearms on the edge of the table. “Harry said something about you two needing to get some chocolate for an uncle?”
James nodded, “Yeah, Remus. He’s been in a love affair with chocolate for his entire life.”
“Remus and I have that in common,” She chuckled. “If you’re going to be stuck in town for the next few days, we can make sure you two have fun.”
“I don’t want to put anyone out anymore than we have. Your parents have been far too kind.” He repeated, shaking his head.
“It’s what they do,” Lily shrugged.
James finished off his dinner and looked down at his sleeping son. Harry had always been able to fall asleep pretty much anywhere, which was useful, but probably a side effect of not being home very often. He raked his free hand through his hair and then looked back at Lily, “We’ll definitely come and check out your shop tomorrow. And if anyone is in need of help decorating anymore trees, we’ll have to find them. I still can’t believe he’s never done that before.”
Lily shrugged, “Christmas looks different for everyone. There’s no wrong way to celebrate. Sorry if I made you feel bad earlier, he just looked so excited to help.”
“You didn’t make me feel bad,” James assured her, shaking his head. “I’m just… This whole ordeal is making me think through a few things that I had been trying not to think through.”
Lily nodded. “Being forced to slow down will do that.” She started stacking all the bowls inside one another. “I’m going to wash these real quick and then I’ll walk you out.”
Before James could protest, she was gone. She didn’t need to walk them out, though maybe she wanted to so that she wasn’t left her alone. It didn’t seem like the kind of town where you had to be cautious about that sort of thing, but he did like to think that he was offering her some kind of help after all that she and her family had done for him and Harry today.
He pulled out his wallet and made sure to put more than enough on the table to cover dinner and their lunch from earlier. They probably wouldn’t see it until tomorrow when they opened, but James had the feeling that they wouldn’t let him pay any other way.
James carefully stood up, scooping Harry into his arms in the process. The little boy clung to him in his sleep, resting his chin on James’ shoulder. Harry was rather small for his age, carrying him to the inn wouldn’t be a problem.
He met Lily by the front door a moment later, and she smiled at him before pushing the door open for the two of them to walk through. She locked up behind them and then they started down to the sidewalk toward the Inn.
The entire town was decorated, just as festively as the diner had been. Lights adorn every storefront, garland was wrapped around every lamppost, it looked as though they might have gotten lost inside of a snow globe.
“I told my dad that I would walk back with you two,” Lily said, her breath coming out in a cloud as she leaned out to push the crosswalk button. There hadn’t been a lot of cars earlier, but there was a fair bit of traffic now. “Bingo,” Lily explained his unasked question. “It’s the thing to do on Sundays.”
“I appreciate you walking us,”
“Really you’re walking me,” She confirmed what he’d thought earlier. “Dad said that he’d come back and pick me up when you two were done eating, but I promised not to walk alone.”
James nodded, “Well then, I’m happy to be walking you. Least I could do, really.”
Lily smiled up at him. “Least you could do,” She nodded, the light turned, and they started across the street. “It was a right pain hanging out with your adorable child for the thirty minutes that you were gone.”
James chuckled and Harry jostled against his chest, snuggling closer. James rubbed his hand up and down Harry’s back. “Right. Well still, I feel like it’s important to note how horribly today could have gone. And instead, it wasn’t horrible at all. Harry had a lot of fun today. So much fun that he fell asleep early! He hardly ever does that.”
“Glad we could help out with that,” Lily had her hands stuffed into the pockets of her coat and a knit hat pulled down over her ears. Her cheeks were rosy and round, her smile soft and warm, her chin tucked safely into her scarf and James was hit with the sense that she was familiar again.
“Have we met before?” He asked, shifting Harry in his arms again. Harry let out a heavy sigh as his little hand gripped James’ coat collar.
“You and me?” Lily raised her brow, her chin popping out from her scarf. “No, I don’t think so.” She tilted her head and looked up at him, inspecting him. “No, I’m quite sure that we’ve never met before.”
“Right,” He nodded and then looked back up the street. The Inn was in sight now. “There’s just something about you,” He shook his head. “Sorry, where am I walking you?”
Lily was quiet for a minute and James felt as though he might have shoved his foot in his mouth. He shouldn’t have said anything, he had known that he had never met her before. He didn’t know why he felt like he’d seen her before, but he would have remembered meeting her. He would have remembered the feeling of her smile directed at him if nothing else.
Though he was quite sure that he would have remembered everything else too.
“I’m going to bingo,” She nodded a small bowling alley that was maybe half a block from the inn. “I told you, it’s the place to be.”
James chuckled and rubbed his hand up and down Harry’s back again. “Well, I’m sorry that we kept you for as long as we did.”
“No need for that,” Lily waved her hand. “Only the old people show up for the first round.” She took a deep breath through her nose and looked toward the bowling alley. “Don’t tell my parents that I told you that though.”
He laughed again, he felt like he was laughing a lot around her. “I think I can keep that secret. I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”
“Of course! My shop opens at nine!”
“Good luck! I hope you win!”
Lily smiled at him, showing all her teeth this time and James’ heart felt like it sputtered in his chest. “I better! It’s not good for town moral when I lose.” Then she waved and turned to head to the bowling alley.
James wanted to follow her, he felt like his heart was trying to tug him in that direction, but Harry nuzzled against James’ neck and James started up the steps of the inn.
He’d get to see her tomorrow.