“Mom is so cold all the time, I think this is perfect,” Charlotte said as she placed the items on the counter. “They feel really nice.”

“I think your mom will love these, too. Would you like for me to wrap them, or would you prefer to do that yourself?” Lauren asked, not wanting to assume too much.

“If you could wrap them in pretty paper, I’ll pay extra. Mom loves unwrapping, and, well, we don’t really have any fancy paper at home.”

“This is what we have,” Lauren said, motioning for the girls to follow her to the wrapping area in a small alcove off the office. She’d set up the special wrapping area when she’d returned to Fallen Springs, and was thinking of hiring someone to do the wrapping when they were busy. So far, that someone had turned out to be her, and she found that she actually enjoyed the task.

“Wow, this is awesome,” said the one girl whose name she didn’t yet know. “I’m Kiley,” she added, apparently reading Lauren’s mind.

“Nice to meet you, Kiley. I’m Lauren. Sorry for not introducing myself before.”

“Your parents own the store, right?” Charlotte asked.

“They do, and I work here.” She was really getting a kick out of this trio.

“Before I pick out the wrapping paper, I better make sure I have enough money to pay for this,” Charlotte said. “I didn’t see a price tag.”

Lacey caught Lauren’s eye.

“I’d like to give this to you to give to your mother as a Christmas gift. If you don’t mind. My mother made that last year, and I fell in love with it, but she insisted I bring it to the store to sell. Now I think it’s found the perfect home, if you’ll accept my offer,” Lauren said, again, with tears in her eyes, though this time she didn’t bother trying to hold them back.

“Wow,” Kiley said.

Silvery tears shimmered down Charlotte’s face. “I don’t know what to say.”

Lacey spoke for her friend. “Say ‘yes’ and ‘thank you very much.’ ”

They all laughed, and Lauren couldn’t believe how good she felt, how wonderful it was to give rather than receive. She knew this was not the way to run a business, but at the moment, it was how she chose to operate. “Then let’s get these wrapped so you can get them to your mom as soon as possible. What paper would you like?” Lauren asked.

“The gold, the one with the shimmery stuff, if that’s okay. And maybe a matching ribbon?”

“Absolutely, and a bow, too?” Lauren asked as she began the task of carefully boxing the scarf and afghan. She added silver tissue paper, then sealed it with the store’s logo seal, a sparkly silver snowflake. She wrapped the heavy, gold, shimmery paper around the box, careful to make sure each corner was precisely folded, a perfect crease. When she finished, she added gold ribbon and a glittery-golden bow. She tucked a blank name tag beneath the ribbon. “Give this to your mom, Charlotte, and tell her I said ‘Merry Christmas.’ ”