Episode 1006: Beam Me Up

There were a few customers browsing although not as many as any shop owner would like to see at the start of the holiday season. She greeted her employee at the counter, asked any of the customers if they needed help and then near the back of the store she ran into her husband. And Xavier? One of them at either side of a tall shelf hanging the garland of book covers she’d crafted the night before.

“This is unexpected,” she said which was really to say the least.

“Oh hey,” Bas said, climbing down from the step stool.

Xavier stepped down on his side, too. “Hi,” he said with a smile.

“How was Shelby’s checkup?” Sebastian asked.

“All good,” Ava said. “So you guys are working together? You’re working here Xavier? Sebastian asked you to work here with him?”

“It’s a Christmas miracle.” Xavier smirked.

Sebastian chuckled. It did not sound natural. “He stopped in for a Christmas gift and you weren’t here to hold his hand through it so I put him to work instead.”

The hold his hand bit, the way Sebastian said it, how his smile didn’t quite meet his eyes, it unsettled Ava, it underscored the warning her father had given her at Thanksgiving.

“You were a big help with that garland, Xavier. Thanks.” Sebastian held out his hand to shake Xavier’s and when Xavier proved slow in completing the handshake, Sebastian said, “sorry, man, I thought helping me out was just a nice gesture on your part. But I mean if you’re waiting for a cash reward I can do that. I get it’s the holidays, if you’re strapped, I can-”

“I’m fine. No payment necessary. I don’t need your money.”

“No offense intended,” Sebastian claimed though Ava wasn’t entirely sure and found it more than a little disconcerting. “Just looking to help out a friend if I can.” Again it sounded more like a claim than an actual truth. “But I’ll leave being a good friend to you now Ava while I go say hello to Shelby. Xavier would probably like a female opinion on what book to give to his girlfriend.”

I don’t have a girlfriend,” Xavier insisted with such an urgency that again her dad’s warning about everyone’s intentions immediately popped into her mind. Why did he feel the need to make his dating status clear?

And then Sebastian with a raised eyebrow to Ava as if to say, think about that, think about Xavier’s intentions before turning and walking away, headed to Shelby.

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” Xavier repeated as if it were of paramount importance. “I was thinking maybe a book for his sister’s gift. He knows that. I told him that.”

Episode 1007: My Favorite Things