A Cranberry Inn Christmas

by Beth Ehemann

  I shrugged. “I would guess so. They probably wouldn’t have people there while they’re packing and stuff.”

  He clapped loudly. “Yes! Good! So . . . here’s my thought. What if you talk to Kacie and invite everyone up there for one last week. Me, Michelle and the kids . . . Andy, Dani and their kids . . . maybe her friend Alexa? Oooh, Darla! She hasn’t been home in a long time!”

  My wheels started turning as fast as Viper was spitting out ideas. “What if I didn’t tell Kacie and instead surprised her?”

  He sat up straight and nodded slowly, his eyes wide. “Dude. You pull this off and you’re going to get the blow job of a lifetime.”

  “But wait,” I continued, ignoring him. “We have games. How’s that gonna work?”

  His shoulders dropped and he pressed his lips together, thinking hard. “Well . . . we have to go regardless of where the girls are, right?”

  “Right.”

  “So instead of them sitting at their own houses, alone, they can just sit at the inn and hang out together, baking cookies, drinking wine and shit.” He pulled out his phone and looked ahead at the schedule. “Oh. Bro, this is perfect. We’re in Nashville on the twenty-second, St. Louis on the twenty-third, then we’re home for three days.”

  “Wow,” I peeked at the schedule over his shoulder.

  My heart pounded wildly inside my chest and my mind raced with possibilities and scenarios as to how I could actually pull this plan off. I wanted so badly to save Kacie’s perfect Christmas and, ironically, Viper’s idea might be just that . . . perfect.

  “I can’t believe you, of all people, thought of this.” I clamped my hand down hard on his shoulder and shook it.

  “I know, right? And this might just be the first plan I’ve ever thought of that has zero chance of either of us ending up in jail for the night,” he boasted. “We work well together, Murphy.”

  “That we do, Finkle. That we do.”

  “We should run for President and Vice President.”

  I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.

  “What? I’m serious. Can you even imagine how much trouble we could get into running around the White House together?” He let out a loud laugh that made his shoulders shake.

  “Viper . . .” I shook my head. “There is so much shit about you on the Internet that I don’t think they’d even let you vote, let alone run for office.”

  “Give me a break,” he rolled his eyes. “Did you see that last election? They let anyone run for President these days.”

  Practice flew by, mainly because the whole time my mind was at the inn instead of on the ice, like it should have been. Thankfully, Collins only glared a few times before I got my shit together enough to make it through practice. Once we got back to the hotel, I grabbed my phone and texted the one person I needed to make the whole plan even possible . . . Sophia.

  Hey. If Kacie is over there, do not tell her I’m texting you. If she is and you already said something, hurry up and lie. If she’s not there, forget everything I said and call me.

  Anxious as hell, I stared down at my phone, praying for it to ring. I was so excited about everything and I was dying to tell Sophia. Hopefully I hadn’t screwed myself by texting her first. Finally, my phone rang and Sophia’s number popped up.

  “Hey!” I answered excitedly.

  “Hey, yourself. Is everything okay?” Sophia asked.

  “Yes. Well, yes and no. I talked to Kacie earlier.”

  “Oh,” Sophia said. It was obvious by her tone that she knew exactly what I was talking about. “How was she?”

  “Not the worst, but definitely not great. She was crying.”

  Sophia let out a soft sigh. “She was teary-eyed when she left here too. I feel awful, and that wasn’t the way I wanted to tell her but it happened fast and I didn’t really think things through.”

  “Sophia, I don’t think it would have mattered how you told her. Kacie is more attached to that place than either of us realized and her reaction today was evidence of that. She would have been upset no matter what.”

  “You’re probably right.” She sounded sad too.

  “That’s actually why I called.” My excitement echoed off the walls of the empty hotel room. “I have an idea. Actually—I take that back—Viper had an idea.”

  “Oh boy.”

  “I know. Usually his ideas are nothing but trouble, but this time he had a winner. You know how at Thanksgiving dinner Kacie kept talking about the perfect Christmas?”

  “Yeah,” Sophia said with a sigh. “Little chance of that happening now.”

  “Maybe not. So Viper suggested we have all of our friends to the inn to stay for a few days, or a week—whatever—kind of as one last hurrah at the inn type of thing . . . mixed with Christmas.”

  “Oh, wow. That’s an amazing idea. Viper thought of that?”

  “Yep.”

  “That’s even more shocking.” She laughed.

  “And listen . . . I know it’ll be hard with you trying to pack up and then us bringing people there, but if it helps, I’ll hire a whole crew to come in the week after everyone leaves and pack everything for you.”

  “That’s sweet of you, Brody, but it shouldn’t be a problem. The guest rooms are pretty simple as it is, so it should be easy. I’m in. I’m totally in. We’ll even decorate and put the trees up right before, just to add another layer to the surprise!”

  “Sophia . . . I don’t know what we’d do without you. You’re the best.”

  “I am the best,” she teased playfully. “Remember that when you shop for my Christmas present.”

  I tossed my keys on my desk and stretched my arms high in the air. It had already been a chaotic morning at the office and it didn’t appear my afternoon was going to be any calmer.

  “Andy?” Dani stared down at a paper in her hand as she walked into my office. “I need you to look at something for me.”

  My eyes drifted down her body, admiring every sexy inch of her before I lifted them back to her face. “I’ll look at anything you ask me to.”

  “It’s this—” she froze and narrowed her dark eyes, glaring at me when she realized what I’d said. “Are you ever not horny?”

  “When you’re around? No.” I answered honestly.

  “Well, calm your boner for a minute, okay? I want your opinion on this offer from Under Armor.” She walked over and set the papers on my desk.

  “What is this?” I leaned over the papers and scanned them quickly.

  “It’s a shoe offer for Kyle Keegan from Under Armor. They want to offer him his own cleat line, and it looks like a sound deal, but I just wanted you to take a peek real quick.”

  I raised my eyebrows and stood up straight. “Wow! This is impressive.”

  “Thanks.” She shot me a bashful grin. “That kid’s turning out to be a pretty big deal.”

  “Well, he’s a talented kid.” I sat down in my desk chair and crossed my arms over my chest. “Plus, he’s got an amazing agent in his corner.”

  “I’ve got a pretty amazing agent in my corner too.” Her shy smile returned. Dani was a spitfire . . . a confident, badass of a woman who didn’t play coy often, but when she did, I found her even more irresistible than usual.

  “Would you two cool it for like five minutes?” A loud voice boomed.

  Both of our heads snapped toward the door.

  “Hey! What are you doing here?” I walked toward a grinning Brody standing in my doorway.

  “I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by and say hi. Plus, I have to talk to you about something,” he answered, shaking my hand back. He walked over and gave Dani a quick hug. “Good to see you too, Dani.”

  “Hey, Brody,” she said as she hugged him back. “Alright, well, one of us needs to get some work done around here, so I’ll let you two chat while I—”

  “Actually wait—” Brody interrupted, “—what I have to ask him involves you too.”

  “Oh,” she sounded surprised. “Okay.”r />
  He walked across the room and plopped down on the couch in the corner, propping his feet up on the coffee table. “So long story short, we found out the other day that Sophia is selling the inn.”

  My head jerked back a little. “The inn? You’re kidding me.”

  He shook his head, “Unfortunately, I’m not kidding.”

  “Wow. How is Kacie doing with that?” I asked as Dani walked over and lifted her butt onto the corner of my desk.

  Brody shrugged. “She was really sad when she found out, and she still is, but I think she’s making peace with it a little bit. It was just really bad timing because she’s going through this weird thing about her getting older and the girls getting older so she was hell bent on having the perfect Christmas . . . then she got this news.”

  “Yikes. That is bad timing,” Dani said.

  “Tell me about it,” Brody said sarcastically. “So, anyway, here’s where you guys come in. Viper had this idea—”

  “Oh, shit,” I said as I held my hand up, stopping him. “If it was Viper’s idea, I don’t want to hear it.”

  Brody laughed and rolled his eyes. “Believe it or not, he actually did good this time. He suggested I surprise Kacie with one last little party at the inn. Everyone brings their family and comes up for a few days and we do the whole friend Christmas thing. What do you think?”

  I looked from Brody to Dani, who bit her lip and nodded at me excitedly.

  “First of all, I think that our little Viper is growing up too fast, and second of all . . . we’re totally in.”

  A huge grin broke out across Brody’s face. “Awesome. We don’t have exact dates yet, but I’m planning all that with Sophia right now, so I’ll get back to you on it, if that’s okay, but we’re thinking a few days before Christmas to a few days after.”

  The phone on my desk rang out and I pushed the button, “Yes, Ellie.”

  “Sorry to bug you all, but Ms. Douglas’ one o’clock is here.”

  “Oh, shit!” Dani hopped off my desk as she glanced down at her watch. “I totally forgot I had an appointment.” She gave us both a quick wave and hurried out of the room.

  “So wait—this all sounds great, but don’t you and Viper have this little thing called hockey to worry about?” I linked my fingers together behind my head as I leaned back in my chair.

  Brody grabbed the baseball off my coffee table and began flipping it up in the air. “We do, but the schedule totally works in our favor. We have two games a couple days before the Christmas break, and then we have the day after Christmas off too.”

  I pulled my bottom lip up a bit and nodded. “That does work out nicely. So you guys go do your thing and I’ll hang back at the inn.”

  “Fuck that,” Brody stopped flipping the ball and shook his head. “You’re coming with us.”

  “On the road?”

  “Yeah! Why not?”

  I stared up at the ceiling as I tilted my head back and forth. “That could work. You’ll have to get me the dates as soon as you can so I can have Ellie move things around and clear my schedule .”

  “Will do,” Brody nodded. “Speaking of schedules . . . when is your wedding going on the calendar?”

  I took a deep breath and puffed out my cheeks, exhaling slowly. “Who knows. We’re both so damn busy, and the thought of shutting everything down for a week so we can get married and take a honeymoon is just . . . crazy.”

  “You guys should just go to Vegas like Viper and Michelle did.”

  “I thought about that but she’s never been married before, so I want to do whatever she wants to do.”

  Brody arched an eyebrow, “Ya know . . . if you say the word, I’m sure Viper would get ordained on the Internet and marry you two in a heartbeat while you’re up at the inn for Christmas.”

  As ridiculous as that sounded, it also sounded like a lot of fun. “That would be awesome, but I would never be able to keep a straight face with Viper acting all official. And like I said . . . it all comes down to what Dani wants. We’ve been so busy that we haven’t talked about it much, but I think she kinda wants the white dress, flowers, the whole big thing and I have to give that to her. She deserves it.”

  “She does,” he nodded in agreement. “With all she went through with Blaire, and then, of course, putting up with your ass every single day, that girl deserves a dream wedding.”

  “We were actually thinking maybe next summer when the kids are off school so we could take them on our honeymoon with us.”

  Brody’s eyes zoned in on mine as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and locking his hands in front of him. “Wait a minute . . . you’re taking your kids on your honeymoon? Uh . . . I think you’ve forgotten what’s supposed to happen on a honeymoon, bro.”

  I let out a laugh. “I know it’s not ideal, but I feel bad asking Gloria to keep them for an entire week, and their mother is in prison, remember? We’ll see what happens.”

  “Screw that,” Brody waved his hand. “You let Uncle Brody and Auntie Kacie watch them. Bring them up to our house and we can swim and hang out the whole week.”

  “Yeah, cause that’s what you need at your house,” I teased, throwing a pen across the room at him. “More kids.”

  December was whipping by faster than I wanted it to. Not only was our hockey schedule crazy, we were playing well. Like . . . really, really well, which only made Coach Collins want to practice more. In fact, we’d never had a better start to a season than we had the last two months. The locker room was buzzing with reporters, press conferences were taking longer, and we were being asked to do more signing engagements. While all of that was awesome and a total blessing, I still had a bunch of stuff going on at home too.

  When I wasn’t at the rink, I was doing what I could to help Kacie with her idea of the perfect Christmas. We were baking cookies, taking the girls to lunch with Santa, and wrapping dozens of presents once they finally fell asleep. Add to that, secretly plotting with all of our friends behind Kacie’s back to make sure every piece of my surprise puzzle fit together just right, and I was exhausted. Keeping secrets from your super inquisitive wife was a full-time job. But . . . we were almost there. We were only a few days away from the big reveal, and I could not wait to see the look on her face when she stepped into the family room at Sophia’s and saw that it was full of her friends. The only thing that excited me more was getting to tell her that they were all staying for the next week, including Christmas day.

  My phone rang from my back pocket and I pulled it out, smiling to myself when Kacie’s cute face filled the screen. “Hey, hotness,” I answered.

  “Hi.” She let out a heavy, dramatic sigh.

  “What’s wrong?” I laughed. “You sound tired.”

  “I feel tired.”

  “What did you guys end up doing yesterday?” I asked as I hung my duffel bag on the metal hook inside the Blackhawks locker room. Kacie had been spending every free minute over at her mom’s house the last few weeks trying to get everything ready for her big move.

  “I sanded and stained an old dresser that mom had in storage, helped Fred put a small fence up around the garden to keep the animals out, and painted half of the kitchen cabinets.”

  I set the phone down and quickly pulled my t-shirt over my head. “You did all that yesterday?” I asked when I picked it back up.

  “Yep. And there’s still so much more to do today.”

  “Well, I can’t wait to see it . . . and I can’t wait to see you.”

  “I can’t wait to see you too. Sometimes I kinda wish you had the type of job where you could call in sick and play hooky for a day or two.”

  I let out another quick laugh. “You’d rather I be a plumber or something?”

  “A plumber could be fun.” Her voice lowered, “Imagine all the fun games we could play. I could be the lonely housewife and you could be the hot, strapping young plumber who comes to the house to rod my pipes . . .”

  “Kacie—”

 
“It could be really, really wet under my sink and you’d have to climb under there and see what’s causing all that wetness . . .”

  “Seriously—”

  “And while you’re laying on your back, I would stand over the top of you, hike my robe up and—”

  “Kacie!” I interrupted. “Holy shit. I’m about to go out on the ice for practice and now my dick is hard.”

  “Sorry,” she apologized unconvincingly with a giggle.

  “I’m pretty sure you’re not.”

  “You’re right. I’m not. I’m tired and horny and I want you here,” she pouted. As bad as I felt that she was so stressed and worn out it was playing perfectly into my plan, and I could barely contain my smile.

  I cleared my throat to pull myself together. “So here’s what I’m thinking . . . I get home late Friday night, right?”

  “Yeah,” she said sadly.

  “Well, we have an off day on Saturday. Let’s get up early, take the girls to your mom’s and spend the whole day together. We can go out to lunch, finish grabbing the last-minute stocking stuff for the girls, and maybe sneak in a quickie in the backseat of the car at the mall?”

  Her soft but hearty laugh filled my ear. “Always the romantic, aren’t you?”

  “Okay, fine. We can skip lunch.”

  “You’re adorable . . . and that sounds like a lot of fun. Let me talk to mom and get back to you, though. I have to make sure she doesn’t already have plans.”

  “I already talked to her.”

  “You did?” her voice rose in surprise.

  Not exactly, but she knows I have to get you out of the house on Saturday, so this works.

  “Yep,” I fibbed proudly.

  “Brody Michael Murphy, you’re the cutest.”

  “Is that a yes?”

  “It’s a date.”

  I sent Sophia a quick text to let her know the plan, and the countdown to Kacie’s surprise officially began.

  The girls were just getting into bed as I got home Friday night. I read Emma a few books, rocked Grace until her head fell heavy against my chest, and stopped by Lucy and Piper’s room once I heard Kacie turn the shower on in the master bathroom.