The Gift of a Charm Read online

  She sighed. So much for being quicker in person …

  Still, it was all a necessary evil. Holly prayed that if – heaven forbid – she ever lost her charm bracelet, it would fall into the hands of someone who would try to return it to her.

  ‘It’s all good karma – especially at this time of year,’ she muttered to herself, taking her place at the end of the line. ‘Season of goodwill … pay it forward and all that.’

  Hearing her words, the man who was standing in front of her turned round quickly. He looked her up and down and she smiled politely at his frowning face.

  ‘Pay it forward?’ he barked. ‘I wish this line would move it forward. Bunch of holiday bullshit, can’t get anything done quickly.’ He turned back round and Holly took a deep breath.

  She plucked the charm bracelet out of her purse and studied it for what seemed to be the hundredth time since stumbling across it yesterday. She turned each of the individual charms over in her fingers and wondered if the owner of the bracelet had collected her charms with the same intention that Holly had done over the years, by associating a special moment or memory with each new addition.

  Interesting that this was the second time in her life that a mysterious bracelet had appeared out of the blue.

  She thought again about the initial appearance of her own bracelet and how she’d tried to work out the significance of that first charm, and indeed who had sent it to her.

  Lost in thought, Holly eventually looked up and was happy to see that she was next in line. However, she was not so happy to see that the angry man in front of her was now making the UPS clerk’s life hell.

  ‘What do you mean you can’t have it delivered by then? You are friggin’ UPS!’ Angry Man bellowed.

  The clerk held out her hands, looking exhausted. ‘I’m sorry, sir, we have our drivers working overtime this time of year and—’

  ‘But that’s not good enough!’ the man yelled. Holly couldn’t help but feel embarrassed for him. Someone should tell him that you always catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. She looked past the man’s shoulder as he continued his verbal abuse and tried to make eye contact with the clerk. The young woman looked dangerously close to tears.

  ‘You people are a bunch of morons! This is the last time I come here for anything. From now on it’s the other guys or nothing!’ The man threw up his arms and looked around, centring his gaze on Holly. ‘Good luck, lady. Pay it forward, my ass!’ He hurtled through the store, slamming the glass door behind him. Holly grimaced as she watched the clerk try to recompose herself. She stepped forward gingerly. While she adored this time of year, she also hated the fact that the holiday season seemed to bring out the worst in some people.

  ‘Are you OK?’ she asked kindly. ‘Maybe this weather will help cool him off.’

  ‘Thanks. It’s been a long day,’ the woman said with a shaky voice.

  ‘I’m sure it has,’ Holly soothed. ‘It’s this time of year. It brings out the beauty in some and the ugliness in others. I’ve always said that everyone should, at some point in their lives, be required to work in retail or at a restaurant. It teaches a good lesson in how you should treat others.’ She smiled warmly at the young woman, whose name tag read ‘Lila.’

  ‘Oh, how right you are,’ Lila laughed, a smile finding its way onto her face. ‘Anyway, holiday-related stress goes with the territory, and I’m fine really. Where do you work?’ she asked.

  ‘The Secret Closet, off Bleecker. It’s why I’m here, actually. I’m hoping you might be able to help me.’

  Lila nodded. ‘Sure, I know that store. I can’t afford to shop there most days, though. What can I do for you?’

  ‘Most days I can’t afford to shop there either,’ laughed Holly. She pulled out the shipping document from the box in which she had discovered the charm bracelet. ‘Well, yesterday morning we received a shipment at the store, three boxes in total. This is the reference.’ She handed the document across the counter. ‘The problem is, when we opened up one of the boxes, we found a bracelet inside a jacket that had been sent to us for resale. But there’s nothing on there about the sender.’ She pulled the charm bracelet out to show her. ‘And I know this is valuable. I’m sure someone is missing it.’

  Lila leaned in closer to take a look at the bracelet. ‘That’s really pretty, look at all those charms. Let me see what I can do. Usually we do have sender information, but it’s weird nothing was on the label.’

  She started typing on her computer, entering the UPS tracking reference to pull up the file. She pressed ‘Enter’ on her keyboard, and a moment later a crease appeared on her forehead. ‘Huh,’ she said. ‘That’s odd.’

  Holly cocked her head. ‘Is there a problem?’

  ‘I’m not sure really,’ Lila said, frowning. Then she shook her head. ‘See, there is a tracking number associated with the shipment that came to us, but here’s the problem. We reuse tracking numbers, especially this time of year. So there is no information about origination for the other tracking number associated with the boxes, because Corporate already put the tracking number back into the system. When I run that number, the one that is associated with it being delivered here, it shows that there is a package currently using it, and it’s in transit … to Boise, Idaho.’

  Holly made a face. ‘So you can’t tell me where our delivery came from?’

  Lila shook her head. ‘I’m sorry. It’s our policy to reuse these tracking numbers … the older tracking information might be saved, but I have to call Corporate. Problem is, I’m on my own today so it might be a while.’ She looked at the long line behind Holly.

  ‘Of course, I understand.’ Holly reached back into her handbag. ‘Here’s my card. If you do find anything out, I can be reached at those numbers.’

  ‘Thanks. I’ll do that. It’s not a problem at all.’ Lila smiled. ‘It’s nice that you are trying to find out who that bracelet belongs to. Many people might not bother. Good to know there are still nice people out there.’

  ‘Thank you, but it’s the least I can do.’ Holly picked up the charm bracelet and looked at it again. ‘I know it has lived a good life. I just need to help it find its way home.’ Smiling at Lila, she placed it solemnly in an inner pocket of her handbag. ‘Thanks again.’

  ‘You’re welcome. And I’ll be in touch as soon as I can.’

  ‘Great,’ Holly said as she turned to leave. She’d taken a couple of steps towards the door when Lila called out to her. The customer who had been behind her in line had already moved to where she had stood just seconds before.

  ‘Oh … miss?’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Well, it’s just that, this might sound silly, but my mom always told me that if you lose something, you should retrace your steps … try and remember what you had been doing before you realised you were missing it. Maybe that’s what you should do.’

  ‘But I’m not lost,’ Holly replied, puzzled. ‘The bracelet is.’

  Lila smiled. ‘I know, but maybe if you worked out where it’s been, you might learn where it’s supposed to be. Just a thought.’

  Holly felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

  The girl was right.

  She thought about the individual charms on her own bracelet. Each one had a story behind it, and held special significance. Maybe if she learned more about the charms on the other bracelet and what they signified, it would help lead her to the person who had lost it.

  After all, Holly thought, looking again at her beloved bracelet, the charms on this illustrated a direct path through her life, didn’t they?

  City University of New York, Manhattan, 1997

  ‘I honestly don’t know how I am ever going to get all of this done. Seriously, Warner is such a creep, it’s like he gets a kick out of punishing his students,’ whined Holly as she ran her hands through her frizzy auburn hair. ‘And this hair, I need to do something about it.’

  She looked at the books spread out around her on the li
brary table, a veritable Mount Everest of college textbooks, and sighed. ‘Above all, I need to get a life.’

  Her roommate, Laura, looked up from her own stack of work and smiled. ‘I concur.’

  They both laughed. ‘Maybe that will happen after this semester. This psych class is killing me.’

  Laura pushed her books away. ‘I don’t see why you are taking it, anyway. Isn’t it unrelated to your major?’

  ‘You mean, how does psychology relate to fashion merchandising?’ Holly replied. She shrugged. ‘My adviser says it should be valuable, especially when determining customer purchasing habits. Still, maybe I should have gone into an easier major … like physics or microbiology.’

  Laura groaned. ‘Look at us, in the college library on a Friday night in one of the coolest cities in the world. Our life is passing us by. I mean, when did anything exciting ever happen in a library?’

  Holly raised an amused eyebrow. ‘I’m sure that some of the world’s great thinkers would argue with you on that.’

  ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. What I mean is, when was the last time you met a cool guy at a library?’

  Holly looked at a guy sitting several seats down from them, poring over a chemistry textbook. He met her gaze, then shushed them and scowled.

  Laura flipped her hair, rolled her eyes and gave him the finger. ‘See my point?’

  Holly shook her head. ‘OK, what do you have in mind?’

  ‘Ah,’ Laura replied, jumping up and down in her seat. ‘I thought you would never ask. There’s actually this party tonight, at the Kappa house. I know a guy in my feminist theory class, he asked me to come along.’

  Holly rolled her eyes. ‘A frat party? I thought you said something about meeting cool guys? And you met him in a feminist theory class? What – does he think that it’s a good place to pick up chicks?’

  Laura swatted the air. ‘Whatever, it’s just for fun. Plus he is kind of cute. Come with me. Pleeaaassseee…?’

  Holly considered her friend for a moment and looked at the alternative, her books and the shusher, who had just stood up from his seat – probably to report them to the head librarian. He was wasting his time – Holly knew Inga, the librarian, wouldn’t entertain his complaints. A kind, friendly woman who knew Holly and Laura well, Inga Laurila was well used to student shenanigans.

  It was true, though; Holly kind of did need a night out. And she supposed a frat party was better than nothing.

  ‘What the hell…?’ she conceded. ‘But I have to go change and put some makeup on. I can’t go anywhere looking like this.’

  ‘Oh? I didn’t think you cared about what some frat boys thought of you.’

  ‘I don’t, but it’s Manhattan. And here, standards are necessary.’

  As they left the library, Inga smiled and called out in her native Boston accent, ‘Leaving so soon?’

  ‘A different kind of research!’ Laura called back, winking at Holly. ‘See you tomorrow.’

  A little later, the two girls rushed through the doorway of their dorm building, eager to get changed and ready for their impulsive night out.

  Just as they were pushing through the heavy metal door that led to the stairway, their resident adviser called out to Holly from the lobby.

  She turned round. ‘Hi, Kirsten. What’s up?’

  Kirsten rummaged around underneath the front desk. ‘Glad I caught you. There was a delivery for you earlier.’

  ‘A delivery?’ Holly repeated, eyebrows raised. She took the package from Kirsten, eyeing it suspiciously. Then, noticing that there was no return address on the packaging, she felt her fingers tremble.

  This was the second time a package with no return address had been delivered to her. The first time was the day she’d been sent her bracelet and the hourglass charm from her dad. But that had been over two years ago.

  And, more to the point, her dad was long since cold in the ground.

  ‘Holly, come on, hurry up,’ Laura said, tapping her elbow.

  Holly snapped out of her reverie. ‘Sure, sorry.’ She began to follow her roommate up the stairs, her feet on autopilot. She continued to stare at the package in her hand, wondering what it was and who it had come from.

  When they reached their room, Laura immediately hustled about, shuffling through drawers and plunging into her closet.

  Holly, however, sat down at a small table and turned the box-shaped parcel over and over in her hands.

  Her fingers shook as she found scissors to cut through the packaging tape and reveal the contents.

  When she did, her stomach did an almighty flip-flop.

  Inside was a lilac box adorned with white satin ribbon. While it was a little smaller, it was exactly the same type of box as the one before that had contained her charm bracelet.

  Laura finally took note of Holly’s mood. ‘Hey, is everything OK? What is that? You’re staring at it like it holds a bomb. Who’s it from?’

  Holly’s voice trembled. ‘That’s just it, I don’t know.’

  ‘What do you mean, you don’t know?’

  Taking a deep breath, Holly launched into the story of the charm bracelet that had mysteriously arrived on the day of her father’s funeral, and her conclusion that it had come from him.

  ‘But you never knew for sure that your dad was the one who sent it?’ Laura asked when Holly finished her story.

  She shook her head, feeling very uncertain now. ‘I just assumed it was something he’d arranged before his death.’

  ‘Like a message from beyond the grave? Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean to sound insensitive.’

  But Laura was right. That was exactly what Holly had assumed at the time. ‘But this one couldn’t possibly be from Dad.’

  ‘Well then, what about your mum?’

  Holly shook her head determinedly. ‘Not a chance. Me and my mother … well, you know we’re not exactly best buddies.’

  ‘Are you absolutely sure it was from your dad, though? You said that your parents were pretty well known in Queens. Maybe it was someone who read the obituary and wanted to connect?’

  Wanted to connect … Holly looked at her, wondering if she might be right. Her thoughts galloped. ‘But then … why would they be sending me another box, and why now?’

  Laura moved closer to peer over her shoulder. ‘Maybe what’s inside might give you the answer to that?’ she suggested.

  Opening the box, Holly revealed a small silver charm displayed on a piece of purple satin. She gently lifted it out, taking in every detail.

  ‘It is another charm,’ Laura stated. ‘But what…?’

  ‘It’s a book, an open book,’ Holly confirmed. ‘And look, there’s an engraving on it.’

  The wise man reads both books and life itself. Lin Yutang

  ‘What do you think it means?’ she asked quietly, more to herself than to Laura.

  ‘I have no idea.’ She glanced surreptitiously at her watch, as if suddenly recalling they had things to do. Then she grinned. ‘Maybe it means that you should get dressed so that we can go to this party to experience some college life?’

  Holly rolled her eyes, amused by her friend’s short attention span.

  It was true, her academic life as of late could use some balance, but there was something else too, an expression that was coming back to her, as she tried to recall something that her father had told her when she was young and just learning to read.

  That books should provide for learning, but that they should also provide for enjoyment.

  When was the last time that she had actually picked up a book to read just for the sake of reading? When was the last time that she had cracked open Gone with the Wind, or Pride and Prejudice, or any one of her other favourite books? There had been a time when all of those novels had been her best friends, when they had been a part of her soul and much more than just a hobby.

  She smiled at the memory, suddenly feeling comforted by it. She wasn’t sure how he’d done it, but clearly her dad had somehow arranged to have this o
ne sent too. But yet, how could he have known she’d end up going to college here, or where her dorm was, or—

  ‘How would the person who sent you that know that you have been spending all your time in the library?’ Laura, who had already gone on to change into a mini-skirt and a halterneck top, returned to where Holly was sitting.

  Holly’s mind was reeling as she thought the very same thing.

  ‘I’m not sure. Clearly someone has been keeping an eye on me.’

  Laura’s eyes widened. ‘You mean like a stalker? Eww, that’s creepy.’

  But for some reason, Holly knew it wasn’t quite like that.

  ‘No, not like a stalker. More like … a fairy godmother.’ She smiled at the idea of someone watching over her, sending her encouraging messages and providing guidance on how to live her life.

  A new thought was playing at the edges of her mind, but one that she couldn’t quite yet process.

  She looked back down at the new charm. The idea made sense, and it certainly fed Holly’s imagination. She liked the idea of someone on the periphery thinking about her, giving her a small push in the right direction.

  ‘You know I’m adopted, don’t you?’ she said to Laura, almost reluctant to share her thoughts out loud.

  Her friend’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, so you’re thinking…?’

  In all honesty, Holly wasn’t sure what to think. But there was no denying it was nice to think that somebody was looking out for her.

  So maybe she should do justice to her mysterious benefactor, whomever it might be. After all, without her love of reading, Holly might not have the ability to dream and imagine and wonder about the charm that she now held in her hands.

  Mind made up, she decided that, tomorrow, she would pick up a book, one of her old friends, just to read for fun.

  But tonight, tonight, she would go to this party with Laura, and keep an open mind. A recognition of sorts, of what the charm might be trying to tell her.

  After all, her future could be likened to an open book and, Holly thought, surely the best part of life was enjoying writing your own story?