A Cherry Cola Christmas by Ashton Lee

in cash from her purse and placed the bills atop the considerable paperwork scattered around Maura Beth’s desk.
    â€œThere!” she exclaimed, gesturing emphatically toward the money. “Take it off my hands!”
    Maura Beth’s eyes widened. “What’s this?”
    â€œIt’s the money I stole from The Twinkle.”
    â€œ You stole?”
    â€œYes, I was the one who did it. My conscience, well, it wouldn’t let me keep it no longer. Not with everybody all over town keepin’ an eye out the way they’ve been. And that’s the reason there hasn’t been more stealin’. I’ve learned my lesson, and I’ve gotta give the money back now.”
    â€œLet’s both sit,” Maura Beth said, looking incredulous. She said nothing more at first, trying to take it all in. “First, let me understand this. You’re telling me that you sneaked in and out of The Twinkle and stole those tips from Lalie Bevins? You—my loyal, trustworthy, churchgoing Emma Frost—you actually did that? Excuse me if I find that close to being absurd.”
    Emma’s head was bowed, and she began tearing up. “I know it’s hard to believe, but I did it. And even though I’ll be givin’ it back, I know I’ll be punished for it when the time comes for me to meet my Maker. But . . . I was hopin’ maybe you could help me out, Miz Maura Beth—you bein’ such good friends with Miz Periwinkle and all. Maybe if you could return it for me and ask her to keep the police out of it and not press charges? I know what I did was wrong, but I just cain’t be away from my Leonard now. I cain’t go to jail. He’d be lost without me, and I don’t wanna put it all on my Cissy or some sitter, neither. I have to do my part at home.”
    â€œBut why on earth would you do something like that, Emma? I still can’t believe what you’re telling me.”
    Emma continued to avert her eyes as the tears began to stream down her face. “I know it’s hard for you to believe. I thought it would come in handy to help pay for a sitter for Leonard if we needed us one down the line. It happened on my lunch hour that day, and I walked down to The Twinkle with my heart set on some vegetable soup or maybe just one a’ Miz Periwinkle’s salads, and then I saw the money on the tables just lyin’ around. There was nobody in the dining room, so I just snatched it up real quick and put it in my purse and walked as fast as I could back to the library. My heart was beatin’ a mile a minute. Of course, since I didn’t eat my lunch, my stomach growled all the rest of my shift that day. Served me right.”
    An alarm had gone off in Maura Beth’s head and wouldn’t stop scrambling her brains with all the noise it was making. Something seemed completely out of kilter. “But why didn’t you say anything to me about this when I first got back from my honeymoon? We had that long talk about Leonard and how worried you were about his possible Alzheimer’s diagnosis. You let your hair down that day, and I was happy to listen to your concerns. It seems to me you could have reached out and asked for my help back then. Why did you wait all this time?”
    â€œThe guilt—it got to me. With the sheriff and everybody so concerned and upset about everything, I just couldn’t keep it bottled up no longer. Please—could you explain everything to Miz Periwinkle and keep me outta trouble? Maybe she could find it in her heart to forgive me—with Christmas comin’ up and all.”
    Maura Beth was beginning to feel a headache creeping up on her. She wasn’t an expert in such matters, but she even wondered if she had now become an accessory to a crime after the fact. Stealing tips seemed more like a misdemeanor, of course, but in any case, where did she go from here? “I’m going to have to think it over,