The Christmas Rental

by Hendricks, Savannah

  The monitor on the kitchen island transmitted Mary Ann’s baby babbling, notifying Lorelei that her daughter was awake. Thoughts about the job interview tangled in her mind as she made her way upstairs, leaving her parents alone in the living room.

  “Hi, baby girl.” Lorelei entered the room and switched off the monitor. She lifted her out of the crib. “Did you sleep well?”

  Moving to the glider rocker, Lorelei sat down and placed Mary Ann on her knees, facing her.

  “Mommy received a phone call about an interview in Booth. What do you think about Booth?” Lorelei leaned forward and kissed her daughter on the forehead. “Mommy will go because it’s important to take every opportunity given to you. But I already feel as though my heart isn’t in it. Do you think we should tell Tyler?”

  Mary Ann squeezed her hands together, brought them to her mouth, and drooled over them.

  “Mum’s the word, I think, since everything is going well for him. I’d hate to tell him something if nothing comes of it. He needs to focus on his bookstore. Who knows, I’m probably overthinking this. Tyler and I aren’t . . . together. Although the thought of being together is a nice one.”

  She leaned back into the rocker’s padded cushion, glanced around the room, and then back at her daughter, who was still impressed with her hands.

  The desire to tell Tyler remained strong, but she pushed it aside. Christmastime was not the occasion to be worried. It was a time for miracles, love, and joy. Part of her hoped she could land the job in Booth because she didn’t know what would happen with things in Oakvale.

  “I think I should wait until I know for sure. No point in discussing what we don’t have answers to.”

  Chapter 33

  Tyler’s morning started perfectly with a warm apple nutmeg muffin and aromatic black coffee at Sharon’s Café. He lingered over the hardback copy of Main Street as Sharon poured him a to-go cup of hot cider. Once he left and headed across the street to his office, the sunshine warmed the icicles from the store’s eves. Even Cider appeared to have a spring in her step and an extra va-voom to her hind-end swish.

  Once Upon a Book didn’t open for another thirty minutes, and Tyler would take the time to prepare the offer for Sandy. After unlocking the door and turning on the lights, he took a seat in the desk chair and faced it toward his dream.

  “Can you believe it, Cider? We’re going to do it.”

  The dog stretched and took her bone in her mouth.

  “Don’t get too excited.” Tyler chuckled and took a sip of cider. “It wouldn’t have been possible without Lorelei. I might be a grown man, but parents are still parents.”

  He spun the chair around and began typing up the offer as his thoughts drifted to Lorelei. When he left, the tension was still as tight as a violin string between her and her folks. A part of him had wanted to stay in case she needed him, but he didn’t want her to feel she couldn’t be strong enough on her own. She’d stood up to them, but it hadn’t resolved any of what she needed; it seemed they may never accept their daughter’s dream. He honestly couldn’t believe how the Parkers continued not to support Lorelei. She’d accomplished plenty in her life so far. Maybe they’d come to some type of agreement last night or perhaps even this morning after a good night’s sleep. But since he hadn’t heard from her, he wasn’t convinced. She would have called, right?

  As his fingers typed numbers into the offer of purchase form, the sides of his mouth rose into a slow smile. He was about to buy Once Upon a Book. Tyler glanced behind him at the bookstore when the office phone rang.

  “McCain Rental and Real Estate,” Tyler answered.

  With each sentence from the caller, Tyler’s hand gripped the phone’s receiver tighter. As he hung up the phone, his email alerted him to a new message in his inbox. His chest tightened as he hit print on both the new document and his own. The printer spit out the pages, and he went to gather them without the pre-phone-call spring in his step.

  “Let’s go see Garrison.” Tyler hooked the leash onto Cider’s collar, and they made their way outside. “Then, we’ll stop in and see Lorelei.”

  Crossing the street, he glanced over at the doctor’s office but didn’t see her familiar sedan parked out front. A sense of worry drifted deeper over him as he opened the door to the bookstore.

  “Tyler, lovely to see you,” greeted Sandy from behind the counter. “Need your next book already?”

  Garrison trotted over, and Cider wagged her tail with delight.

  He held up the papers in his hand. “I’m here with an offer on the store.”

  Sandy’s mouth nearly fell into her teacup. “What? Oh my! Oh, Tyler!” She hopped off the high stool and hurried toward Tyler, wrapping him up in a hug. “You did it. How did it go with your folks?”

  “Not so fast. I just received a phone call from another real estate agent.”

  Sandy’s arms fell to her sides. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m here to present my offer and an offer from another buyer.”

  “Of course, we'll go with your offer, Tyler.” Sandy held her hand out for the paperwork. “That’s not even a question.”

  “They're offering over your asking price.” He swallowed and swore he could hear it echoing on the bookstore’s speakers between lines of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

  “Why would they do that?” Sandy took the paperwork in her hand.

  Tyler shrugged his shoulders as doubt rushed through his upper body and down to his fingertips.

  “You know I hate reading contracts, so tell me what I need to know.” Sandy fanned the papers in her hand.

  “My offer is at your asking price, but I can’t do any more than that. I did add a bonus of a thirty percent discount for you and Ted on all future purchases from the bookstore. Their offer is ten thousand over asking.” He glanced back at the store’s front window, Lorelei was still at the edge of his mind. Tyler needed all the hope he could gather, and Lorelei made him more hopeful whenever he was with her.

  The bookstore’s bell dinged, and Tyler turned around. “Jodi, good morning,” he said.

  “Good morning to you, too.” Jodi removed her gloves.

  “Lorelei hasn’t made it in yet?” He glanced out the bookstore window.

  “She’ll be in after her interview. I thought you would have known?” Jodi bit her lip, but it was too late—the cat was out of the bag.

  Tyler’s heart raced. “Interview? What interview?”

  “I probably shouldn’t say.” Jodi avoided eye contact. “Okay, alright. She has an interview in Booth at a doctor’s office.”

  “Did her parents make her? How’d they get something set up so quickly? I don’t understand. She didn’t tell me she had an interview.”

  “I’m not sure. All I know is she said she would be in later today. Tyler,”—Jodi tilted her head—“I don’t want her to leave. I want Lorelei and Mary Ann to stay. But can we blame her for going to the interview in Booth? I mean, I heard her parents aren’t in favor of her choice, and it’s better than heading back to the city. Or maybe she’ll try to live here while she works in Booth.”

  “Did she tell you she wanted to live in Booth?” Tyler leaned on the nearby counter containing the register and checkout display.

  How quickly his day had gone from joyful to gloomy. Why hadn’t she told him? Maybe that was the only compromise her parents allowed. He rubbed his fingers across this brow as though trying to summon a genie from a lantern. The thoughts of their near kiss sank into his mind, making him doubt where they might have been heading. Maybe he’d read everything wrong this entire December.

  Shaking his head, he stepped forward.

  “I’m sure there’s a reason she didn’t tell you,” Jodi offered, trying to sound cheerful. “Do you want me to have her call you when she gets in?”

  “No, thank you.” Tyler patted his leg and called for Cider. The clouds shifted, blocking the sunlight that came streaming through the bookstore’s windows.
r />   “Sandy, take the other buyer’s offer.” He clipped on the dog’s leash but remained hunched over, the weight of sadness and confusion swirling around him like a snowstorm.

  “Tyler?” Sandy’s hands rested on top of the two offers.

  “I can’t believe how I got everything so wrong. Take the other offer.”

  “Tyler, wait,” Sandy huffed.

  He waved her off as he passed Jodi and exited the bookstore. Tyler silently scolded himself with each step through the snow. Thankfully, he’d saved the travel brochures. Unfortunately, Oakvale was the last place he wanted to be.

  Entering his office, he removed Cider’s leash, then grabbed a bowling ball and shoes off the rack, and clicked on the lane lights. Once he’d switched his shoes, he took to the lane and heaved the ball down it like a frustrated teenager. The ball nearly bounced over into the other lane but eventually knocked over four pins on the far right. By the time the ball came up the return, Tyler was pacing.

  “I’m so confused,” he said to Cider. “I thought she and I had . . . something. I thought she wanted to live here. I mean, yesterday she told her parents exactly what she wanted. She wanted to be here in Oakvale. Maybe after more discussion with her parents, she decided we don’t have enough to offer her. Maybe we’re not a good enough place to raise Mary Ann.”

  He took the ball and chucked it down the lane, scoring a spare. Pausing, Tyler observed the bowling alley and office around him, full of Christmas decorations. It was a time for hope, joy, and laughter, family and friends. But right now, Christmas didn’t seem like any of those things to him.

  Chapter 34

  With her emotions more mixed than a bag of various greens, Lorelei parked her sedan in front of the Norths’ place and shut off the engine. Mary Ann had spent the day with her parents.

  “Do I accept the job they offered in Booth?” she asked the empty air around her. “If only I could talk to my uncle.”

  After the interview, she’d returned to the office and saw three eagerly waiting patients. There was a three-year-old by the name of Mike with a crayon in his ear; Linda, who had a bug bite in the shape of a T-Rex; and Patty, who’d slightly burned her hand on her oven.

  Lorelei had zero time to discuss anything with Jodi since she had to hurry off to babysit the twins and after spending five minutes trying to get her car started. Lorelei wanted to talk to Tyler about the interview, but by the time she left the office, the only lights on at the bowling alley were Christmas ones. His life moved forward, after all. She assumed he was probably over at Once Upon a Book going over the offer details, but Lorelei hadn’t spotted his truck anywhere in town.

  “If I take the job in Booth, I can have the smallish-town life and make my parents happy . . . ish.” She stared at the sedan’s ceiling and noticed something for the first time—a coffee stain in the shape of a star on top of a Christmas tree. Lorelei squinted and refocused her eyes on the stain. She couldn’t remember seeing it there before.

  “If I was to wish upon it, what would I wish for?” Lorelei continued to stare at it. “I would wish for my life, and my daughter’s, to be here in Oakvale—no commuting to Booth—and for my uncle to retire and turn the practice over to me.” As the words left her lips, she glanced out the front windshield as the snow started to fall.

  Lorelei willed herself out of the sedan and reluctantly entered the only-for-the-month-of-December Uncle's home to face her parents.

  “Did you hear back on the interview, Lor?” her mom called out before she put her purse on the entryway table.

  “Yes,” she answered, pausing, “they called about two hours ago and offered me the position.”

  “Congratulations,” John announced from the kitchen, where he wiped his hands on a towel. “Let’s go out and celebrate. How about that pizza place? Maybe we can bring a nice bottle of wine?”

  “First, you know it drives me crazy when you bring your own wine into a restaurant.”

  “We pay the corkage fee,” John reminded her.

  Mary Ann babbled on a blanket in the living room.

  “To me, it seems like you’re putting down the restaurant’s wine selection. Second, I have yet to accept the offer.” Lorelei went over and kissed her daughter’s forehead.

  “Why not?” Joanne asked.

  “Because, Mom, I’m doing what’s best for Mary Ann and me.”

  “But we discussed this last night,” Joanne whimpered as her brow creased.

  Lorelei removed her jacket, tossed it over the back of the couch, and plugged in the living room Christmas tree lights. The instant the glow of lights came on, she felt a smidge of joyfulness amid her gloomy emotions.

  “Yes, Mom, we did.” Lorelei ran her finger over the ornament Tyler had gifted Mary Ann. She had yet to fill it with a photo. “You and Dad decided what to compromise on. But I’m not happy with it. I went to the interview because you’ve raised me never to disregard an opportunity. However, that doesn’t mean I agreed.”

  “Lor, Oakvale is simply too small a town. You can’t grow here.” John entered the living room. “How about you plan to retire here instead?”

  Lorelei’s hands dropped, and she cupped them around her waist. “Retire? I have at least forty years to go on that one. And I can most certainly grow here. I’ll have time to grow my family.”

  “What about vacationing here?” Joanne offered.

  Lorelei continued to stare at the Christmas tree with delight, despite the frustration going on around her. The scent of fresh fir danced in her nose, and she smiled at the memory of cutting it down with Tyler. She sighed, went to the light switch by the French doors, and flipped on the backyard display. It didn’t matter how many times she gazed out at it, every time felt like the first.

  “Miracles happen still, right? Especially during Christmastime.” Instantly she covered her mouth. Lorelei had not meant to say it aloud. Or maybe a part of her had. She turned around to face her parents, who both sat on the edge of the couch. Mary Ann rolled over and crawled to her board book laying at the edge of her baby blanket.

  “Is that a rhetorical question?” her mom asked, tilting her head.

  “It’s not. It’s not a question at all. I’m here in Oakvale. I’m not taking the job in Booth. I’m sorry if that upsets you, but I love this town. I like the residents and Tyler, and so does Mary Ann. I’ll find a way to make it work. You can disagree all you want, and I know you’re disappointed, but I still want you to know that you’re always welcome to visit. So it’s final: I’m not staying in Minneapolis, and I’m not moving to Booth.”

  John and Joanne sat there, lips in straight lines.

  Finally, John stood up. “I guess there’s nothing else to say then. We disagree with you, but we accept it.”

  “John?” her mom squawked. “We do not accept it. She hasn't even spoken with your sister and Chris about him retiring.”

  He looked back at his wife. “I don’t want us to end up like the Noblins and their son. Do you know how many family outings and birthdays the Noblins have missed with their son and grandchildren?” John sat back down next to Joanne. “It’s not perfect, but nothing in life can be.”

  “But—” Joanne started.

  “Mom, why did you want me to be a doctor? Why did you and Dad support my career?” Lorelei picked up her daughter’s board book and used it to keep her hands busy.

  “Well, because it’s what you wanted, and we loved how big you dreamed.” The hope appeared to drain from Joanne’s face.

  “And now my dream is to switch focuses. I’m still a doctor, I’m still helping others, but I get to be so much more than a ten-minute doctor. In the hospital, I see dozens of strangers every day. I don’t find out what happens with them and their illnesses. I don’t learn about their families or interact with them on a personal level.”

  A smile formed on Joanne’s face as though she thought about the relevance of what her daughter described. “I guess I’ve never thought about it that way. It probably makes y
ou a better doctor when you know more about them.”

  Lorelei sat upon the edge of the couch and faced them. “Mom, I’m happy here. Honestly happy. And I’m not at the hospital. I’m exhausted."

  Joanne wiped a tear from her eye. Lorelei reached over to her and set her hand on her arm.

  “Mom, I have a daughter now, and I don’t want you to think that I don’t value your opinion, but sometimes you have to let hope step in and take control.”

  Joanne moved her hands, placed them overtop her daughter’s, and gently nodded with a weak smile. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, Mom.”

  Lorelei pulled her cell phone from her pocket and brought up Tyler’s number. Watching Mary Ann crawl close to her, Tyler’s voice mail clicked on, and she hung up.

  “I’d rather tell him in person that I’m staying. It seems impersonal to leave something important on a voice mail.”

  “I agree,” John said.

  “Yes, and I’m sure he has good news to share with me. I bet he and Sandy have been hashing out the details of his newly acquired bookstore.” Lorelei went to the kitchen and prepared a bottle for Mary Ann.

  “I can’t believe you’re not able to reach the Norths.” Joanne glanced at John.

  “I wish Candace and I had a better relationship, but there was such an age gap between us that we didn’t have a normal brother-sister relationship.” John looked at the photo of the four of them on the mantel. “She’d moved out and left for college while I was still in elementary school. I was her annoying younger brother. I should’ve done better to keep in touch with her, and taking her up on visits.”

  Lorelei sighed, testing the formula temperature on her wrist. “You can always start, Dad. I’ll be living here, and you’ll be coming to visit. It seems like the perfect time to make it happen.”