by Susan Hatler
I knew as soon as the words left my mouth that I’d gone too far, but if I hadn’t known, the look on Adam’s face told me everything I needed to know. The light seemed to go out in his eyes and he sank back in the seat.
“That’s a low blow.”
“The truth hurts?” I said, quietly, all of the pent up feelings and rollercoaster of emotions of the past few days spilling out.
“Lots of things hurt. You dancing with cowboy Roy in there proved that. What happened there anyway? Did he say something that disappointed the perfect vision you had for his life? Did he say the wrong thing to you? Didn’t have a knife with you, so you stabbed him with your stiletto?”
I narrowed my eyes. “You noticed my shoes?”
“Seriously, Faith? That’s what you’re taking from this discussion?”
“Discussion?” I laughed, sounding like a Disney villain, my voice rising higher. “Is that what you call it? This may be what you and Tiffany call a discussion, thriving on the drama and stress, but I’d call this a full blown argument.” As I said her name, my lip automatically curled, like I had sucked on a lemon.
“What’s Tiffany got to do with anything?”
“Who cares? I’m nothing important.”
He looked at me like I’d gone crazy. “What?”
“You told her on the phone that I was nothing important. Well, thanks for that, Adam. At least now you can go back to your precious Manhattan and to the Plaza Christmas Ball with Tiffany.”
A low hanging branch we passed under chose that moment to break under the weight of the snow and dump its load onto my head. Adam’s eyes flickered and the corner of his mouth twitched. As the snow melted and dripped down my face, he looked away.
“I’m not going to the Plaza Christmas Ball with Tiffany.”
I wiped the snow away from my face, realizing too late that I was going to sport those panda eyes after all. “Sorry?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Are you?”
Totally confused, I glared at him. “Am I what?”
“Sorry.”
“I said ‘sorry’ as in ‘pardon’ because I didn’t hear what you said.”
He sighed. “I know, I was being facetious.”
We arrived back at the Silver Bells Luxury Tours store. As Adam helped me down from the sleigh, I opened my mouth to speak, to apologize for real, but Harmony’s voice interrupted me.
“Adam, there’s a call for you.” She looked at me apologetically before continuing. “It’s Tiffany. She’s been trying to reach you on your cell, but you haven’t answered.”
Adam gave me one last look before pulling open the doors and disappearing inside. As I watched him walk away from me without a backward glance, I realized that, even though he claimed to not be going to the ball with her, he’d just chosen a phone call with Tiffany over talking with me, which felt like a knife in my heart. I had survived losing two of the most important people in my life, but I wasn’t sure I could endure losing Adam. I had no choice though because he’d obviously made his decision, breaking my heart in two.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Looking at Miles the next morning, I felt the same involuntary curling of my lips that I’d had with Tiffany last night. Adam had invited Miles to Silver Bells to meet the team, but having walked in on Miles and his designers, I’d overheard them talking about taking down the Christmas decorations, as soon as he signed the paperwork.
What was the hurry? Couldn’t he leave them up through Christmas?
Miles nodded to me as I walked through the lobby. “Faith, how are you? Isn’t this exciting? Now, listen, what is it they say about team, hmm? There’s no . . .?”
“There’s no ‘I’ in team?” I said, giving him a deadpan look and reminding myself that working for Miles was my job now.
He beamed. “That’s right! But there is a ‘t’ and I’ll have mine with two sugars, thanks.”
As I walked away, I muttered under my breath, “But team rhymes with scream, and that’s what I feel like doing.”
Adam called a staff meeting and as the Silver Bells’ employees gathered I looked from one person to another and then another. I’d loved working with these people this past year. I felt bad that they had no idea their lives were about to be turned upside down.
After a short speech about the tough decision to sell—the fact that I hadn’t rolled my eyes should’ve made me a saint—he said, “Without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to Silver Bells’ new owner, Miles Wilson.”
Adam stood back to make room for Miles, who stood in front of Harmony’s desk, beaming. Not one person clapped, including me.
“Hello, everyone,” he said, sounding like a game show host. “Today is a great day for all of us, as I take over from Adam. Now, I know there have been a lot of rumors flying about, so let me set the record straight. Silver Bells won’t change in the slightest . . .” He paused, as a smattering of applause went up from a few members of staff, and Harmony looked at me quizzically. I shrugged. “No, Silver Bells will change in the mostest!”
A few jaws dropped and I sent daggers at the back of Adam’s head with my eyes.
“This little business has had its day and now it’s time for it to retire and make way for something new and exciting. Tomorrow morning, Adam will officially hand the reins over to me before flying back to New York. Then work will begin to build a Wilson luxury spa resort!” He liked his dramatic pauses, but when dead silence ensued, he frowned and carried on. “But don’t worry, there will be plenty of jobs for everyone, and more besides, and it will bring a lot more revenue to the town. So it’s a win-win. Now, are there any questions?”
Harmony raised her hand. “Are you saying that Silver Bells Luxury Tours won’t even be open through Christmas?”
Miles smiled, the way a cartoon shark smiles at its prey. “I’m saying that Silver Bells won’t even exist by Christmas. It’s time for new, bigger, and better. As a goodwill gesture, all members of staff will get to use the state of the art day spa facilities at ten percent off. Now I can’t be more generous than that, can I? Hmmm?”
Cue my internal eye roll.
With the meeting over, a low murmur of discord could be heard, as staff members whispered among themselves in obvious shock. I could see Adam and Miles deep in conversation in the corner, before Miles gestured towards the lobby and then flounced, yes flounced, towards Adam’s office. Adam raked his fingers through his hair and caught my eye, before nodding his head towards the door in a “follow me” motion. Up until our argument yesterday I’d have followed Adam to the ends of the earth, but now I wanted to run in the opposite direction. As I neared the office, I could hear raised voices.
“What is wrong with these people? I offer them jobs and all they do is moan? They should count themselves lucky when I could fire every single one of them. Seriously, Adam, I assumed you’d done the groundwork, paved the way for me to make the transition as smooth as possible.”
“Miles, if I could—”
“I guess it’s all I should expect from small town people. No imagination. No vision. All stuck in a time warp like a snowy version of Little House on the Prairie. Well, they’d better start prairie-ing that I don’t get rid of the lot of them.”
Miles paused for breath as I knocked on the door.
“Come in, Faith.” Adam didn’t meet my eye. “Close the door.”
Miles re-oxygenated and started again. “No, don’t close the door. Don’t close the door at all. Let them know how upset I am at their ingratitude. So ungrateful when there’s more than a few people working here that could do with using a health spa if you know what I mean.”
I crossed my arms. “What are you implying, exactly?”
“Let’s just say they weren’t at the back of the breakfast line.” Miles wagged a finger at me and then threw his arms up. “Now, I need to go and lie down somewhere dark.”
My jaw dropped open and silence hung in the air after Miles left. I turned to Adam in disbelief at wha
t he was leaving us with, but there really wasn’t anything more to add to what had already been said between us. He sat on the corner of his desk, a gesture already so familiar that I felt my eyes prick.
“Faith, I don’t want to go back to the city with bad blood between us.” His tone sounded sincere even though his face registered little emotion as he held a hand out. “No hard feelings?”
“Sure.” I took his outstretched hand and shook it, but any warmth that had existed between us had disappeared. This was business, and I knew it. “No hard feelings. Good luck with the partnership. Good-bye, Adam.”
I blinked the tears back as I walked down the hall, knowing I couldn’t fall apart at work even though my heart felt like a dull ache in my chest. I felt like a dead woman walking, my legs so heavy that I may as well have been shackled.
There was no way I could work for Miles, not after first having Mr. Kline as my boss and then Adam—albeit for a short time. Despite his plan to sell, Adam had thrown himself into Silver Bells, embracing every last old-fashioned tradition. He’d made work fun and Miles? Well, Miles would require an epic degree of patience as well as ignoring every obnoxious comment that came out of his mouth. Yeah, not going to happen.
A trashcan that normally sat by the copier had apparently been knocked over during Miles’s epic flounce. I stopped to pick it up. As I straightened the lid, something inside caught my eye. Mrs. Kline’s mistletoe had been scrunched up and thrown away, the berries folded in on themselves, and the leaves crinkled and creased.
Adam. Tears stung my eyes as the thought went through my head that Adam had thrown it away. But in my heart I knew he wasn’t a mean or angry person. The more likely scenario was that Miles’s crew had started their demolition of Christmas decorations, even before he’d signed on the dotted line. Scary preview of what work would be like.
I pulled open the door to the lobby and entered to a barrage of questions being pelted at me. Harmony rushed to the front of the line, tears running down her face, a box of tissues in her hand. She offered one to me, but I shook my head, determined not to give Miles the satisfaction. I made a mental note to ask Harmony where she bought her makeup—no panda eyes for her!
I felt a rush of air as the bathroom door opened behind me, and Miles came up and stopped beside me. Harmony hurried to hand him a tissue, but, realizing he was the enemy, snatched it back again and turned on her heel, stalking away.
“What a drama queen. Seriously, people,” he said, raising his voice. “It’s. Just. A. Small. Change. Get a grip. Shape up or ship out.”
I decided then and there that I’d rather ship out. Maybe that was what I should do. I couldn’t work under Miles, could I? Maybe I needed to give my notice as soon as Bernice confirmed I could start at It’s All Downhill From Here. But how would I ever say good-bye to Silver Bells?
Chapter Twenty-Four
I arrived home to my apartment, with an aching heart and terrible worry about quitting Silver Bells, or the soon-to-be reinvented version of the business. I wanted to crawl into bed, but then I thought about what Ms. King would say. She’d tell me if I couldn’t make sense of something then I should do something that made sense to me.
Yep, there was only one thing that would cheer me up and that would be baking Christmas tree cookies like my mom and I used to make. I gathered the ingredients and set to work. As darkness fell, I lit candles, which cast a comforting glow in the kitchen. I didn’t need much light because I could make these cookies blindfolded.
As I creamed the butter and sugar together, I gazed out of the window at the falling snow. It was a magical scene, one I would normally rejoice in. But after today’s meeting with Adam and Miles, torrential rain and thunder would’ve better suited my mood.
Rap-rap-rap!
My heart stopped at the sound of the knocking and my head whipped toward the front door. My first thought was Adam. Talk about denial. More likely it was a salesperson despite my “No Soliciting, thank you” sign I’d bought online and put up outside my door. Sigh.
Rap-rap-rap!
I was going to ignore the knock at the door, but when it came a second time, I figured it was time to tell the solicitor to open the eyeballs and read the sign and stop disturbing me at home. I set down the wooden spoon and wiped my hands on a towel. I really wasn’t in the mood for talking, but I took a deep breath so I could be patient since I wanted world peace and all.
“I bought the sign for a reason . . .” My voice trailed off as I pulled the door open all the way, a blast of icy wind swirling around my ankles as I did. My eyes bulged as I stared into almond-brown eyes that looked exactly like my own (well, with a few added laugh lines). “Mom! What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in Florida.”
“Oh, good. You’re alive,” Mom said, as she kissed me on the cheek, snowflakes in her hair like confetti on a bride. “I wouldn’t have guessed it considering you can’t be bothered to call your own mother back.”
“I’m so sorry, Mom,” I said, cringing. “I’ve been meaning to . . .”
Mom looked at me, her left eyebrow raised. “Well, I’ve watched enough CSI to know that the first place you look for a missing person is the last place they were seen. I assumed that would be here.”
I put my hand over my mouth. “I can’t believe you just got on a plane and came to Montana. It’s been hectic here. I meant to call you back and then, well, you know.” I took her coat and then pointed to the kitchen, following her in.
“I was lucky to get here at all,” Mom said, her eyes taking in the flour-covered table and the mixing bowl. “They closed the airport just after we landed due to weather, which I can’t blame them. I was at the beach in Florida all day yesterday. So, this? Not exactly my favorite weather. But, I figured a crisis was going on here so I couldn’t stay away. And looks like I was right.”
I put the kettle on and took out two coffee mugs. “What do you mean?”
“Christmas tree cookies? Candlelight? This is exactly what I used to do for you when you were a little girl, and something had upset you.” She waited, the kettle coming to a boil, which was the only sound for a few moments. I poured hot water through the coffee grounds and into the mugs, and added a splash of milk for Mom and cream and sugar for myself.
I sat down, placing the two steaming mugs on the table, and watched as Mom picked up the wooden spoon and continued creaming the butter and sugar together. She worked in silence for a couple minutes and then finally gave me a look. “Are you going tell me? Or make me guess?”
“It’s work,” I said, wishing it was only work that was the problem. I dipped my finger into the bowl with the cookie batter and then licked it off. Some traditions were good forever. “They’re closing Silver Bells down and building some flashy spa resort. The contracts are being signed tomorrow, and then that’s it, no more Silver Bells Luxury Tours.”
“Is that such a bad thing?” Mom asked.
“Yes!” I replied, more emphatically than I’d intended. Why did I expect my mom to understand? It was Ms. King who had always seemed to get my problems.
Mom reached across the table and stroked my cheek. “You’re so pale, darling. Perhaps this is for the best? You could come back to Florida with me, get some sunshine, soak in some Vitamin D. Your stepfather and I would love to have you staying with us until you got settled.” She took a sip of her coffee. “I’ve been so worried about you, Faith. When you didn’t call back I had to come out and see for myself that you were okay, and it’s a good thing I did because you’re clearly not.”
I sighed. “Mom, it’s because of you and Charles that I stayed away, but now that I’ve returned I only want to live here. Now don’t look at me like that.” I held Mom’s hand across the table. “Not you two personally, but the divorce. I know I was an adult, but there is something about your parents divorcing that makes you feel like a kid again, and I honestly didn’t know how to handle it. I love you and Dad equally, and I felt like I was being torn in two. Coming home was the
best thing I could have done, because it helped me stop avoiding all of the conflicting feelings I had until I was strong enough to accept the split.”
Mom looked at the table. “And yet, here you are, making Christmas tree cookies.”
“I’ve been happy here, Mom. When I came back, Ms. King took me under her wing. In a way, she was a mother figure to me.”
“But you already have—”
“Don’t say it.” I paused, my eyes filling up. “I know I already have a mom, but you’re busy dealing with your own stuff, and she was a safe haven for me. And then she introduced me to Larry Kline.”
Mom sniffed. “And I suppose he was a father figure to you?”
I sighed. “It’s not like that, Mom. He gave me a job at Silver Bells, and that’s what got me through Ms. King’s death. I was devastated when she died. She was the kindest, most vibrant woman I had ever met. Don’t get jealous, you always said the same thing.”
Mom opened her mouth to speak, but seemed to think better of it and closed it again.
“And things were awful after she passed away. Mr. Kline taught me how to run Silver Bells, he taught me everything there was to know about it, about Christmas, and now he’s gone and they’re going to turn the best place ever into a spa!” I rubbed my forehead, thinking the work problem was bad enough but I’d also lost Adam. The first guy I’d connected with so deeply. My heart squeezed.
Mom wrinkled her nose. “Well, a spa isn’t a bad thing. I love spas.”
I rolled my eyes. “Mom, the nearest I ever come to a spa is when I open the dishwasher. I believe in feeding the soul, not pampering the body.”
“Can’t you do both?” She laughed, holding her mug in her palms. “Did I ever tell you why we named you Faith? It’s because we had tried and tried to get pregnant and the longer it went on the more upset I got. But Dad never gave up, and he told me I just had to have faith. And then I did have Faith. You.”
“I remember that story,” I said, smiling. “But it’s always nice to hear again.”