by Elle Rush
“I guess that’s settled then.”
“Kris, dear, don’t worry. It’ll be fine. It’ll be better than fine, it’ll be fantastic!” Vivian promised. “Excuse me for a moment, Rudy. I’ll run into the office to find a pen so I can get these signed right away.”
She disappeared, Marie was still in the back, and all of a sudden, he was alone with Kris. “I’m sorry. I had no idea any of this was going on.”
“Me, neither. I’m sorry, too. I know it wasn’t your fault. I didn’t expect this at all. She wasn’t supposed to come back till the new year.”
He heard the worry return to her voice. “Trust her to know how much she can do,” he said. “I don’t think she wants to relapse any more than you do.”
“I know.” But she didn’t sound convinced.
Rudy handed her the flowers. They weren’t much, but they were all he had. “I’ll let you two talk.” He’d intended to ask Kris out on their third date while he was there, kind of a double celebration, but now she had more important things on her mind.
For her, he’d wait.
Interlude
North Pole Unlimited Headquarters,
December, Manitoba
“Last week, we finalized the participants of the “12 Sales of Christmas” campaign,” Nick Klassen announced at the staff meeting. The boardroom table was crowded with laptops and plates of sandwiches since they were gathered over their lunch hours.
The closer they got to Christmas, the more often the meetings. They also ran shorter; nobody could afford to be out of their office for long. “We’ll be announcing them on the website soon, but Ginger is giving us a sneak peek at the new promotional material.” Nick rose to his full height and reached behind his chair to turn out the light. The television on the wall sprang to life, and the North Pole Unlimited website appeared.
A tall redhead stood. “This will be going live tomorrow and will run for two weeks until the sales start. I want to thank everyone involved in getting this year’s participants signed to the campaign. We have a terrific line-up, and they are all past catalogue favourites. We think our customers will love the variety.” She raised a remote control. “Now let’s get on with the show.”
A pop-up window appeared in the middle of the screen. A familiar melody played faintly in the background. Digital snowflakes fluttered across the screen, turning into text that read, “For the 1st Sale of Christmas, my true love gave to me: A Dozen Chocolate Meringues from Totally Iced Bakery. Limited Quantities.” More images flashed, displaying other products that would be available. At the bottom of it all, a small “Order Here” button flashed in the corner.
“I thought Totally Iced hadn’t signed with us.” Jilly’s brown eyes glowered with suspicion.
“It’s real. Apparently, Rudy is very convincing. He and John talked Vivian Singleton into it. John also added a signing bonus nobody could refuse,” Nick said. He had authorized it, if only to arrange a Christmas present for Jilly.
“How limited of a sales run?” she asked.
Ginger handled that question. “I don’t have the numbers on hand. The amounts vary by product. I think Totally Iced promised us four hundred units,” she said.
“Will you excuse me for a minute?” Jilly asked. She left the room without waiting for a reply.
“I thought she’d be pleased. She’s been calling me every day about Totally Iced,” Graham said. The man mopped his face with a handkerchief. “I owe John and Rudy a thank-you. Maybe fruit-baskets. Your executive assistant was getting a little intense about those chocolate meringues.”
Jilly returned ten minutes later, full of smiles and utterly agreeable. She didn’t even complain when a last-minute glitch left her in charge of updating payroll.
On the way out of the meeting, Nick fell into step beside her. When she followed him into his office, and the stuffed bass with the motion sensor on the wall greeted them, he let his curiosity show. “What was that about?”
“What?”
He swore she did it on purpose to drive him crazy. “You disappeared halfway through the meeting,” Nick specified, running his fingers through his blond hair.
“I had to do a couple things.”
“In the middle of the meeting?”
“They were important.”
He sighed. “Do you want to elaborate?”
“Not really.”
She’d definitely learned her evasion tactics from her former boss, his grandmother. “Elaborate,” he ordered.
“I ordered a fruit basket for John as a thank you for getting Totally Iced back on board.”
“That’s only one thing.”
Jilly groaned. “Fine. If you must know, I called the I.T. Department and had them add my Totally Iced order before the sale was advertised to the public.”
“Was that necessary?”
“You obviously haven’t had their chocolate meringues,” she said haughtily. “I’m just glad they’re back before I had to do something really drastic.”
It took Nick a few seconds to fully process her last comment. After working with her for three years, he knew he had to carefully consider every word out of her mouth. “Did you already do something mildly drastic?”
She patted his arm. It would have comforted him, if he didn’t feel her shaking with restrained laughter at the same time. “Nothing they can prove in court. Completely unrelatedly, don’t worry if any odd invoices come in over the next couple weeks. I’ll take care of them.”
It was like she enjoyed torturing him. “That does not reassure me, Jilly.”
Chapter 9
Rudy
An “all clear” message waited for him back at his office. Vivian Singleton had called to let him know the contract was signed and ready to be picked up at his convenience, and that production was immediately. Rudy decided to give them at least a day to ensure she and Kris had things under control before he showed his face again.
Tucker had been his normal, efficient self while he was out, clearing Rudy’s calendar until an eleven o’clock conference call. As if it knew he had a minute to himself, his phone rang.
“Rudy? It’s Jennifer Chang. Can you talk for a minute? This is too involved to do over texts,” she said in a rush.
Jennifer never sounded frazzled. Her cool head was the reason the Christmas party board was as organized as it was. “Of course.”
“I got a series of requests from Cynthia for payments for a variety of entertainment expenses for the party. I’m sending you copies.”
“Okay.” He didn’t hear a problem so far. If Cynthia needed supplies for her events, she should be reimbursed.
“No, not okay. Can you see them?”
“One second. Let me open the email.”
“Can you believe this? We have a four-piece string quartet, an interior decorating firm, and a petting zoo. A freaking petting zoo, Rudy. What was she thinking?”
He burst out laughing and was met with silence at the other end of the line. Then Jennifer started laughing too. “I know, right?” she continued. “Cynthia insists she has your support with this, and with Warren gone, a majority is three people. I wanted to confirm these ideas were a hard no from you.”
“No, double no, and probably still no. Although I’d consider the petting zoo if I knew more about it and if it wasn’t in December in Calgary.”
She laughed again. “I’ll let her know her requests were declined. If you get an irate call from Cynthia, you’ll know why. Have fun!”
It didn’t take long. Cynthia leapt right into complaining. “I thought, with our history, we’d be on the same team, Rudy. I’m trying to elevate this party, but you’re all working against me. Do you know how lucky we’d be to sign the Chamber String Quartet? The two weddings I did in the fall raved about them.”
He thought about reminding her that their history consisted of a single date, but he didn’t want to have that conversation any more than he wanted to have their current one. “Cynthia, it’s a party for children.
We don’t need musicians. We’re already having a Santa Sing-along.”
He heard her huff into the receiver. “And what was wrong with the decorator?”
“Why would we need one? We’re in the community centre.”
“Rudy, Clarice and Tim are the premier designers in the city. They’re offering a dozen themed Christmas trees to decorate the room.”
Those didn’t sound terrible. Ornament- and tinsel-laden trees sounded a lot prettier than garland taped to walls and snowflakes hung from the ceiling. “How much was that?”
“Only a hundred dollars a tree.”
“No. That’s a huge chunk of the budget for some sparkle.”
“Are you saying kids don’t like sparkles?”
He should have stayed at Totally Iced and immersed himself in the family drama there. “Kids love sparkles, but not at the cost of half the gift budget. What about the petting zoo?”
“Children like animals. Not that I’d get anywhere near the mangy beasts. But they’re expecting their deposit today, and I don’t have time to cancel it.”
Of course, she didn’t. “I’ll take care of it,” Rudy said. He’d do anything to end this conversation.
“Fine. Since you and Jennifer vetoed all my ideas, I’ll have to find something new. Again.”
“Cynthia, you know we’d all be happy to help you.”
“I’m perfectly capable of selecting entertainment. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get back to work.”
Rudy searched the petting zoo website in hopes there was a way to cancel a booking online. He got as far as the homepage before an ad caught his eye. “That can’t be right,” he said to himself before he read it again. It didn’t change. “Rent a Rudolph for Christmas.”
Having reindeer at the party would be cool. It would be like Santa’s sleigh was parked right outside. The kids would get a kick out of it. So would he.
A few clicks and a phone call later, he was back on the phone with Jennifer. The petting zoo Cynthia had found was willing to rent them two reindeer—with antlers—for an hour. They’d construct a temporary stall in the community centre parking lot and provide food and clean-up.
It wasn’t a done deal by any means, but the online photos charmed Rudy so much, he told Jennifer he was willing to pay for it out of his own pocket. He needed Dasher and Dancer at the party, now that he knew it was an option. Jennifer okayed his proposal, and he called Kris to tell her about the party’s latest additions to the guest list, but she distracted him.
“This North Pole Unlimited thing with Aunt Vivian is settled. If it works out like she’s planned, it won’t impact my work schedule at all. I don’t know what you had in mind, but I might be able to do our third date this weekend, if you’re still interested.”
The good news just kept coming. “I am. Does Friday night work for you?” He knew exactly what he wanted to do.
Chapter 10
Kris
Vivian Singleton had a lot of sayings like, “when in doubt, open a new package of baking powder” and “always add more chocolate chips.” Kris’s favourite was, “those cookies won’t bake themselves.”
Her aunt and her two new helpers were working on the meringues, and Kris and Marie had to make everything else to keep the bakery’s shelves stocked and orders filled.
Kris didn’t mind the work. The hard part was knowing she’d be too busy to keep an eye on Vivian. It was terrific that her aunt was well enough to return to work; Kris knew how much she missed the bakery. Not just the baking, but the camaraderie and the clients. But Vivian was coming back to a load of stress and hard work—even if it was only half time. As much as she loved her job, Kris didn’t want her to suffer a setback.
A smaller part of her acknowledged that she had proprietary feelings over a shop that wasn’t hers. She wanted AuntVivian to check with her before making big decisions for the bakery. Her aunt may own it, but Kris had been running it for months. She needed to get that under control. But her aunt was right. Contracts were her decision, and Kris would have to go along with whatever she decided.
Ordering the meringue ingredients was the easy part. The previous afternoon, right after Vivian dropped her NPU contract bomb, Kris had contacted her supplier and requested enough supplies to make four hundred dozen cookies. She tried to wrap her head around the idea of four thousand, eight hundred chocolate meringues, but her brain couldn’t handle it.
Marie froze at the news. “How many? We don’t have to make them, do we?” she repeated more than once.
“Nope, it will all fall on Aunt Vivian and her two new assistants,” Kris assured her. “Let’s make some space for them.” The trio would be working from open to close on the specialty treats. It was easier to give them a dedicated work area and ovens than compete for counter space. She and Marie spent an extra hour organizing the already crowded kitchen and finagled a compromised which would leave both teams slightly squished but able to work.
The day after that, the bakery was fuller than it had ever been. At seven o’clock sharp, Vivian introduced her two new assistants. “Kris, Marie, I’d like you to meet Pat One and Pat Two. They’re both from the culinary arts program at the college.”
Pat One introduced herself as Patricia Brown. She looked much younger than Kris remembered being when she was in college. Everything about the woman was overpoweringly vanilla. Her hair was back but styled to a point where a hair net would barely contain it. Her flawless make-up would run the second she got near a hot oven, and her clothes were perfectly correct but looked like they came from a boutique. She was dressed for a photo shoot of a bakery, not for actually doing any labour in one.
That was nothing compared to the problems Kris had with Pat Two. He was ready to work and wore a ready, welcoming smile. But Kris froze at his introduction. “Hi, I’m Pat Quinn. I think you know my sister, Cynthia.”
It took her a moment to break through the shock. Without knowing a single other thing about the young man, Kris was prepared to dislike him. Kris stared at Pat Two. She didn’t see any resemblance to her nemesis on the Christmas party committee. She shook his outstretched hand. “Hi, yes, I know Cynthia. Welcome to Totally Iced. I’ll let you get baking.”
In between batches of sugar cookies, Kris watched her aunt organize Pat One and Pat Two and demonstrate the chocolate meringue recipe. Pat Two, Patrick, asked a lot of questions. Pat One looked bored at Vivian’s insistence they follow the “easy” recipe to the letter.
“Trust her to know her limits,” Kris whispered to herself, echoing Rudy’s advice. Hovering over her aunt out of concern would not only undermine her in front of the new employees, but was also guaranteed to annoy Aunt Vivian. Kris kept her eyes on her own work.
At noon, when Kris was about to remind her aunt that part-time meant just that, Vivian approached her. “Can you believe that we’re ready to start packing already?”
“You are?” It might only be the first batch out of dozens, but it was a start that gave Kris hope.
“Yes, isn’t that fantastic? Thank goodness I forgot to cancel the order with the Christmas shipping supplies. Where did you put them all?”
“In the storage room.”
“Excellent. I’ll call in the Pats to help me get them out and organized.”
As soon as her aunt was out of sight, Marie whacked her in the arm. “Are you crazy?”
Kris rubbed her biceps where the wooden spoon had left a greasy imprint. “What now?”
“You can’t let Vivian into the storage room, or did you forget what we hid at the bottom of the pile?”
It took Kris a minute to remember. “We can’t let her go in there!” She raced out of the kitchen. “Aunt Vivian, don’t you dare lift any of those boxes. I’ll get them for you!”
The next day got off to a rough start for Vivian and Pat Two when Pat One was an hour late. “I overslept,” was her only excuse.
Kris was on her way to the storage room for another container of molasses when she stopped beside the mi
xer. “Stop,” she told Pat One before the young woman hit the power button.
“What’s wrong over there?” her aunt asked.
“Small mistake. Pat One added two tablespoons of cream of tartar instead of two teaspoons.” It was easy enough to do. Kris had made the same mistake on countless recipes.
“No, I didn’t,” Pat One protested.
“It’s okay, everyone does it. At least we caught it before you added the sugar.” The egg whites would be a loss, but it was better than losing both eggs and sugar.
“I didn’t make a mistake!”
When Vivian came over, Kris stepped aside. This was her aunt’s team; she could deal with it. Kris already had gingerbread on her mind. Now, with the thought of all those egg whites, she began thinking of recipes that used a lot of yolks.
Kris ignored the grumbling as Pat One poured the mixture in the trash, washed the bowl, and began measuring again. Before she knew it, it was noon and her aunt was heading out. “Please keep an eye on the Pats. They have another batch to go this afternoon, and then they’ll be packaging for the rest of the day. Right on schedule.”
Kris walked her to the office to get her coat. “I was concerned when North Pole Unlimited didn’t renew their order after the last holiday season,” her aunt continued. “It’s good to know it was an oversight and not a quality control issue. I hope next year we’ll be back in the regular catalogue, but even this one-day sale will keep us fresh in their customers’ minds. It’s substantial work, but the payoff is worth it.”
“If the way they chased you down for the contract is any indication, you have nothing to worry about next year.” Not that she would be around to see it. She’d agreed to stay on until her aunt was back on her feet, and Vivian hadn’t asked her to stay longer. At first, Kris didn’t mind the temporary gig. Now, she regretted not insisting on being permanent, or at least long-term, from the beginning. Calgary was growing on her in numerous ways, from the job to the landscape to her social life. Especially when it came to her social life.