by Holly Rayner
“What kind of favor do you need?”
“I’d really like to help you enjoy the season this year, if you’ll just give me a chance. Maybe I could have you for a day, the way you did me today?”
I was tempted to laugh. Instead of angering me like it would if someone else harassed me about Christmas, she amused me. I decided that one day couldn’t hurt anything. I didn’t have to enjoy it after all. I doubted that I’d enjoy any of it except for spending the day with this beautiful creature that I didn’t understand at all, but couldn’t get enough of. That was the bottom line here. I wanted to see her again.
“How about next Saturday?” I asked her. She looked surprised that I accepted.
“You’re on. You are going to so love Christmas when I’m done with you,” she said with a smile.
I chuckled and said, “Don’t get your hopes up Robyn. Good night.”
“Good night Aaron,” she said, “Thank you.” I watched the limousine until it was out of sight. I missed her already.
ROBYN
I went into work on Monday morning still feeling the glow of the weekend. I hadn’t been able to think about much other than Aaron all weekend. I had already started planning our activities for the following Saturday. I just knew if I could get him to experience a few traditional Christmas time events and have fun while he was doing it, he would change his outlook on Christmas. We lived in the Christmas capitol of the world. The whole of Manhattan was lit during the month of December while we waited for the day to come. It was a travesty for him to miss out on that. I tried to convince myself that taking him out on Saturday was a charitable thing to do, but the truth was, I really couldn’t wait to see him again either.
I had a meeting with Max when I got in and when he asked me how my weekend went I said, “It was good, quiet.” That wasn’t a lie. After Friday night I hadn’t gone out again, and I had had a good one. I baked cookies and made Christmas ornaments and yes… I know I’m a dork, but I watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” three times and cried every time. I cried sometimes because the ending of the movie made me so incredibly happy and sometimes because the memories of watching it with my mom when I was a little girl. Those were happy tears too, happy memories.
Mostly, I didn’t want to complicate whatever this thing was between Aaron and I. I worked with some amazing, smart, professional people. One might be surprised at how fast a rumor can spread amongst them. I wasn’t delusional enough to believe that news I’d gone on a date with the CEO would be something even the people I was closest to would be willing to keep to themselves, so I kept it to myself.
Monday was as usual, a busy day. It was over before I knew it and as I was wrapping up and getting ready to go home I reached to turn off my computer. On impulse, I typed Aaron’s name into the company directory. There were job titles and short bios and a small photo of each of us in the company directory. Once I’d typed in Aaron’s name, I was looking at his face. He was more perfect in person, but since I wasn’t going to see him until Saturday the little photo would do. I wondered what kind of Monday he had and before I even realized what I was doing I started composing an email.
Hi Aaron! I just wanted to say I am looking forward to Saturday. I hope your Monday went well and don’t forget to ring at least one bell today. I hit send. While I was waiting to make sure it had gone through, I packed up some pamphlets I was going to take home. I was working on a new marketing campaign for the company and was using the old pamphlets to help design a new one. I got them packed into my bag and reached up to switch the computer off again. I saw that Aaron had responded to my email already and I was surprised. I wasn’t surprised at what he had written.
Why would I ring a bell?
Because every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings. I was trying to sneak Christmas in on him a little at a time. He didn’t respond to that, but I’d gotten it into his head. I switched off the computer and left for the night.
AARON
I had been sitting at my desk going over some reports Janice brought in when my computer made the little noise it makes when I have new email. Not intending to read it unless it looked like it was something of earth-shattering importance; I looked up at the screen. I was surprised to see the email was from Robyn. I sat there for a few seconds wondering if I wanted to open it or not. Finally curiosity got the better of me and I did. She was wishing me a good day and telling me to ring bells. I had no idea why she wanted me to ring bells, so I asked her why. Several more seconds later I got another email that said,
“Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.” I completely forgot about the work in front of me and I stared at the screen. I still didn’t get it. I decided to forget about it and re-focus on my work. That lasted less than five minutes before I was looking at the computer again. Finally, I cut and pasted the sentence into my browser and came back with about a bazillion hits. It was a quote from a Christmas movie. The movie was called “It’s a Wonderful Life” and it had been made in 1946. I stared at it for a minute and a vague memory came back to me. My mother…who loved Christmas, singing in the kitchen…my father who also loved Christmas hanging up the lights and me, sitting on the couch eating homemade chocolate chip cookies and watching a black and white movie that for some reason made my mother cry. For over twenty years I’d done my best to stuff those memories down deep. My parents were long gone and no amount of thinking about them would bring them back. I’d decided long ago that if it wasn’t helping, it was hindering. It was keeping me from moving on. I let it go and now this woman who I’m completely infatuated with wants to put it back in front of me and make me re-live it.
I was torn between being grateful to her for treating me like a human and easing my loneliness, and being angry that she wouldn’t let this Christmas thing go. I had to wonder what she had in store for me on Saturday as her hired hand.
I didn’t finish up my work that night until after seven. I called Jeffrey and told him I’d be down soon. I packed up my things and rode the quiet, lonely elevator down to the lobby from the tenth floor. When the doors opened I found myself thinking of Robyn again and the first time I’d seen her in the elevator. I didn’t know her name and we had never spoken a word, but even then I’d felt a connection. As I crossed the lobby I saw Jeffrey waiting by the car. He stepped over and opened the door for me.
“Hello sir, how was your Monday?”
“Hello Jeffrey. It was busy, as usual. How was yours?”
“Busy as well sir,” he said. I started to get in the car and suddenly I completely lost my mind. That’s how I like to think of it anyways. I saw one of those Salvation Army buckets outside the lobby window and currently unmanned. The bell they rang all day was sitting on top of it and without giving myself time to think about it I picked it up and rang it.
I sat it back down and stepping in front of a confused Jeffrey, I slid past him and waited for him to close the door before I smiled.
The rest of the week passed quickly and every evening about the same time I found an email waiting in my inbox from Robyn. They were short and simple, but they made me feel like someone was thinking about Aaron Winters the man and not just the business guy or the boss or the paycheck. They were nice and it made me feel good to read them. She made me smile from six floors down.
CHAPTER SIX
~
AARON
I received a text message from Robyn on Saturday morning that told me to meet her in Central Park near the coffee cart in front of the ice-skating pond and to dress casually. I put on a pair of jeans that were like brand new because I rarely got out of my suit long enough to wear them. I wore a long-sleeved t-shirt underneath a thick, gray sweater. I grabbed my jacket and my keys on the way out. Every step of the way I was wondering what she had in store for me and I traveled to our rendezvous spot with a mixture of dread and anticipation.
I walked about half a mile from where I’d parked my car before I saw her. She was standing near the coffee cart wearing blu
e jeans and a pink sweater. Even from where I stood, I could see how pretty she was. She had braided her long hair into two braids that hung down past her shoulders and she had on a pink knit beret that matched her sweater. She was sipping a cup of something hot; the steam was evident in the cool morning air. She was looking around, waiting for me and for the first time in probably a decade, I felt the flutter of nerves in my belly. I hated being out of my comfort zone and this was the first time in years that I’d allowed myself to leave it full-bore. I almost bailed, but Robyn suddenly spotted me and waved. She was smiling, as usual, and her face was flushed with color from the cool morning air. God, she was beautiful. We walked towards each other until we met just along the fence around the little man-made ice-skating pond that was surrounded by little decorated Christmas trees and had a little house off to the side for when Santa visited.
“Hey there,” she said, coming closer.
“Hey.”
“Are you ready to do my bidding for a day?”
“What does your “bidding” entail?” I asked her.
“We are going to spend the day doing all things Christmassy,” she said. I felt the trepidation in my stomach begin to spread across the excitement, swallowing it whole and leaving me only with the dread.
“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” I said.
“Why?” she asked. “You obviously already re-arranged your schedule so you could be here. Don’t back out now, please.”
I realized something new right then, when I looked into her eyes I could hardly remember the word, “No.” I usually didn’t do anyone else’s bidding unless it was beneficial to me. This was not going to be beneficial but I still couldn’t turn her down.
“Okay,” I said, “What’s first?” I was sorry I’d asked.
“Ice-skating,” she said with what I’d only have to describe as an evil grin.
“Oh no… I don’t think so.” I said it steadily without a trace of the anxiety I was feeling coming through.
“Did I say no when you sent me an elf costume to wear? Did I balk at wearing it to the office even?”
I’d never been ice-skating in my life. I looked over towards the pond at the people sailing across the ice and a few of them making their way across like a newborn deer and I knew which one I was going to look like. This is why I hadn’t felt anxiety in years. I didn’t set myself to do things that would make me look like a fool… ever.
“I don’t know how,” I said at last. I hadn’t wanted to admit that, but maybe it would make her change her mind.
“I’ll teach you,” she said. Then as if that had settled it she asked me, “What size skates do you need?”
“Robyn, really…”
“Come on Aaron, live a little. I’m not asking you to risk your life. I think you’ll like it, but if you don’t at least you tried it and you know for sure, right?”
“Eleven and a half,” I said. I suppose she was right. I might come off the ice with a bruised ego, but I’d live. I did always think it looked like fun. I reached for my wallet but Robyn was having none of it.
“Huh uh, I’m the boss today, I’m buying.”
That confused me more than the ice-skating. I always bought no matter where I went or who I was with.
“I really don’t mind…”
“Listen, I don’t care if you are one of the richest men in the world. This entire day is my treat, okay? Stop resisting everything, you’ll never have any fun if you don’t relax.”
This was all so strange to me. For years now, when I took a woman out I made the plans and I paid for it all. I’ve never even had a woman offer to decide what we should do or where we should go, much less take out her wallet. I knew I was defeated.
“I’ll try.” I intended to try, but I definitely couldn’t make her any promises.
She grinned and said, “That’s the spirit!” Everything she did was with such passion. I was realizing that it was hard not to get caught up in it, even for me. Her energy was all positive and it just drew me in. I watched her go and get our skates and pay for our passes. She smiled at every person she passed and they all smiled back. It would be impossible not to. Her smile was infectious. I was quickly discovering that her attitude was too.
She came back with the skates and we sat down on the bench next to the ice-rink. While I changed out of my shoes and into the skates I watched the people on the ice falling and laughing. I saw the couples holding hands and the parents chasing their children. I knew Robyn was right, I did things that made me comfortable and that mostly made me happy, but I really didn’t know how to do things that were purely for fun.
“Ready?” she asked with a smile.
“As I’ll ever be, I suppose,” I told her. She giggled, like a schoolgirl and stood up. Then she reached out for me and my adventures on the ice began.
Robyn, it turned out was a fabulous ice-skater. She turned around backwards, facing me and took both of my hands. As soon as she pulled me onto the ice I felt like the world was falling out from under me. I was concentrating hard, trying to pretend like I did this all the time when all I could think about was that if I fell; I was going to take her down with me. I pictured myself, crushing this delicate girl and being unable to get enough traction to get back up. The thought of it mortified me. I watched a couple skate by holding hands and looking happy. I wanted to trip them. I kept looking down at my feet, willing them to get some traction and begging them to keep me upright.
“Look at my face,” she said. I glanced up and then back down. She laughed. It was hard for me to get used to being laughed at. People may want to laugh at me sometimes, but they don’t. Everyone wants to be best friends with a billionaire so they agree with everything I do and say. As much as Robyn’s attitude towards me surprised me, I appreciated it, a lot.
“Don’t watch your feet. It’s like striking the keys on a keyboard. The more you watch them, the more they’re going to mess up. Look at my face and look around at the beautifully decorated trees. Let your feet do the work. It’s just like walking, one foot in front of the other. If you ignore them, they’ll figure it out on their own.”
I glanced back up at her again and felt myself stumble. She moved her body slightly and said,
“See, it’s okay, I’ve got you.”
“Right,” I said. “I outweigh you by at least a hundred pounds. What happens if I fall? You’re going to go down with me. What if I crush you?”
She smiled and said, “If we fall, we get back up and hopefully we laugh about it. I know I will, and you should try it as well as opposed to that furrowed brow look you’ve got going on there. Besides, you’re not going to crush me. You worry too much.”
It took at least ten minutes, but we made it one whole round around the pond. I had to admit that I did feel a little tingle of accomplishment. It was nothing to brag about, but it was a start. I felt good right up until the point that Robyn said, “Okay, I think you’re ready.”
“Ready for what?” I asked, sheer terror gripping at my heart. Was she going to let go of me?
“I’m going to let go of one of your hands and turn around and skate next to you, okay?”
“Sure, I’ve made one round, I’m an expert now.”
“Sarcasm,” she said. “I love it.” I loved the way her face was flushed from the cold and her blue eyes sparkled out from underneath the pink knit hat she wore.
She let go of my left hand and I watched her feet glide backwards until she was facing forward and right next to me. She made it look so easy. I couldn’t really see myself, but I was sure I made it look ridiculous. I wondered if she was reading my mind somehow because right then she said, “Stop worrying about how you look and relax. Who cares what any of these people think? Chin up, chest out, head held high, and most importantly of all, smile. Have fun!” Easy for her to say, I thought, but I tried. I forced myself to stop looking down at my feet. I stopped looking at the others as they gracefully passed by too. I looked straight ahead and gripped Robyn’
s hand like a lifeline. Before I knew it, we’d gone another lap around. On the next lap, Robyn began singing along with the Christmas song playing in the background. She knew every word and she had a beautiful voice. I was enjoying the serenade so much that I hardly even registered the next lap.