by Lexi Ostrow
The Instructor’s Christmas Wish
By
Lexi Ostrow
Published by Hot Ink Press
This Book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
©Text Copyright 2016 Lexi Ostrow
Cover by LB Designs
Edited by CLS Editing
All rights reserved
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons, living or dead are entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Marshall. The name whispered through her mind like a prayer as she touched one of the small snowflake earrings—his Christmas gift to her last year. The year she’d gotten him nothing.
“Anna?” Kayla asked, gently placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder.
She sighed and turned to face her closest friend and one of the board members of DeMarco Communications. Kayla’s brown hair was swept to the side, exposing adorable ruby and emerald poinsettia earrings. Ones that likely cost triple what the perfect snowflakes Marshall had given her. The realization drew another dramatic sigh from her.
“I feel like Nick must have last year. I don’t want to go home for Christmas.” Anna finally said the words aloud, feeling more than a little guilty.
Kayla feigned a gasp and sat down on the black leather couch. “I thought you were like the Queen of Christmas.”
That made her chuckle. “You’re thinking of my gorgeous sister-in-law, Leena.” She smiled, thinking about the holidays and the woman who’d become close enough to be a friend. “Though, I’m probably a close second.” She sat down next to her friend and propped her head on the back of the couch. “I just know I’ve just grown up so much this year.”
“Well, if it helps, I don’t think you’ve grown up any.” Kayla’s tone was playful, her eyes smiling as she spoke.
“Best friends don’t count.”
“Well, what about important board members?”
“They also don’t count when they were appointed to take over their father’s slot.”
“Ouch!”
“Sorry.” She shrugged. “It’s just, every year, someone in my family has been moving on with their life, and I haven’t.” Because you have never gotten over Marshall. No matter how much you pretend you have.
“Well, Adam might not be your soul mate just yet, but you’ve been dating steadily for five months. That should count as forward. If you’re looking for a family, I mean. Why not bring him home for the holidays?”
That drew a long, loud groan from Anna. “Did he ask you to talk to me about it?”
Kayla merely looked at the hardwood floor.
“Ugh! I explained to him that the past two times someone has been brought home for the holidays they’ve wound up in the family!”
“Did you ever think that he might want that?” Kayla’s voice was sterner than usual, her eyes more serious. “Maybe he’s just a bit farther ahead than you. But I’ve seen you with him. You’re good together, and up until this very moment, you’ve never shown any remorse for that fact.”
She’d never told Kayla about Marshall. They’d met at Oxford, jokingly drawn into friendship by her father being on the board back in America, and she’d seen no reason to bring up a dead past. Except that, every time she went home, it wasn’t dead. It was a very much alive and thriving—one that begged for her to finish what she and Marshall had started.
“Obviously, I’ve struck a nerve,” Kayla said, pushing up off the couch. “I know when to make my exit. Just consider what I’ve said. Adam is good to you, you love him and your family would certainly approve of the tycoon.”
Anna chewed her lower lip, refraining from pointing out that her family pretty much loved everyone—including the ski instructor, slash sometimes errand boy, at their chalet. Once more, she raised a hand and gently stroked over one of the earrings.
“Thanks, Kayla. I guess I’m just in a funk.”
“Maybe you need to go out to your family’s place a bit early. Soak up some of that Christmas spirit and spend a little time by yourself.”
And finally get to talk to Marshall. Maybe we can put this to bed if we finally have closure. She sensed the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She was going to head out to the chalet a few days early.
“Kayla, you’re a genius.”
Her friend smirked and resumed walking to the door. “You remember that next time I try to vote against you in a meeting.” She tugged on the pewter knob, let herself out and closed the door behind her.
Anna snatched her cell phone from the glass coffee table and scrolled until she found the number for the pilot of their jet. Impatiently, she waited as it rang.
“Hello, Miss DeMarco. How can I help you?” Captain Tennard’s gravelly, older voice finally drifted from the phone.
“No one in my family has booked the jet for next week, have they?”
“No, they have not. Looking for a quick pre-Christmas getaway, miss?”
“Not quite,” she said, smiling. “I am, however, looking for a little extra time up at the chalet. It seems to have done the trick for my siblings. Maybe it’s my turn to find a little Christmas magic up in the mountains.”
“‘Atta girl, miss. What day are you looking to fly?”
The question caught Anna slightly off guard. She’d decided to go, sure, but she hadn’t actually thought the logistics through. Pulling the cell phone away from her ear, she quickly tapped on the Weather Channel app, bringing up the forecast for the next ten days in London. Then, she did the same for Colorado.
“We’re decidedly stormless here for some reason, but Colorado looks to have something on the books early. How about we say the twenty-second?”
“I’ll be waiting at the airport at nine am.”
“Thank you, Tennard. I look forward to it.”
Ending the call, she pulled open her text messages and scrolled through the list until she found Leena’s name.
I’m heading up to the chalet a few days early. I need some alone time, and I can’t think of a better place than Christmas central. Sorry I won’t fly out with you and Jake this year.
Sending the text, she put the phone back on the table and stood. Going to the chalet was either going to be very smart or extremely stupid. “It all depends on how efficiently you and Marshall are able to put the past to bed.”
Gently dabbing the white linen napkin at the corner of her mouth, she tried not to sound exasperated. “Adam, we’ve discussed this multiple times. I don’t think it’s a good time for you to come to the chalet. We’re still new, and while I am in no way trying to run away from what we have, we’re just not holidays with the parents ready.”
His brown eyes shifted into the most adorable puppy-dog look she’d ever se
en from him. Adam wasn’t one to be easily affected by things, but he really did seem upset that he couldn’t attend the holidays with her. A small tug on her heart almost had her inviting him up for their New Year’s Eve bash. Almost.
“I don’t see it as a huge commitment. I see it as getting to spend my girlfriend’s favorite holiday with her.” He set his napkin down on the table and reached for her hand, rubbing his thumb affectionately over the center. “You talk about Christmas as if it can solve anything and everything. I want to see you enjoy that.”
She felt a childish flush rising up to her cheeks. “It’s not that I’m a little girl when it comes to Christmas. It just seems to have fixed so much for my family. My mother met Peter shortly before Christmas, and they’ve been happily married for almost ten years. My siblings seem to have found their happiness during the holidays as well.”
Adam interrupted. “Which is why I think me going with you would be a wonderful holiday season. We’re so good together, and having some of that Christmas magic you believe in around us would just make us even better.”
One, two, three, she thought silently to push off the rising anger. She was used to Adam interrupting—likely the lawyer in him was used to getting to speak when he felt he had a case to. It was the way he made her feel like she was some five-year-old waiting for Santa that upset her.
“First of all, I know it’s not real magic. It’s just the happiness people exert during the holidays. Second, as I’ve told you before, Christmas seems to have meaning in my family in terms of relationships. I love you, Adam, and I love us together. But, in my mind, it’s just too big of a commitment. I need you to understand and accept that— No. I need you to respect that if we’re going to continue. I won’t be with someone who tries to railroad me.” She kept her voice low so as not to disturb the other occupants in Petrus.
She watched as Adam’s face remained impassive. While she would never admit it aloud, it was one of the things she hated about him. He had a sickening ability to control all his emotions, including the ability to over emote and win over a jury. Sure, Tasha could do it as well, thanks to being an actress, but Anna never saw her do it off the screen. Adam did it all the time.
It felt like an eternity passed before he let go of her hand and sat back in his chair, sadness flickering across his face.
“I understand. Sorry if litigator Adam was being pushy. I try to keep him locked away.” He flashed her the same dashing smile he’d given her the day they’d bumped into each other on the train. The one that had gotten her to agree to a date with him.
“I’m sorry too. It’s not that I want to keep you at arm’s length. I just don’t want either of us to give my family the impression we are moving faster than we are.”
That’s only part of it, and you know it. You’re not ready for Marshall to possibly see you with someone else, and you’re not ready to really commit to Adam until you get the closure you want with Marshall.
“I understand. I won’t lie and say I’m not disappointed, but there will be more Christmases to come. In the meantime,” he reached under the table and brought up a small, narrow box wrapped in metallic red paper. “Since I won’t see you on Christmas.”
The small gift brought a smile to her face, and she reached into her evening bag, procuring a similar sized box wrapped also in metallic green.
“I suppose we are like-minded after all.” Exchanging her box for his, she ripped into the paper. She’d never been one to open gifts slowly.
“Oh, Adam,” she gasped as she pulled the beautiful locket from the box. She’d been expecting a bracelet due to its shape.
Instead, she held a platinum, heart-shaped locket that was encrusted with diamonds.
Gently placing her fingers against the seam, she opened it. The inside sparkled, even without the diamonds, and a tiny photo of her and Adam on their first date sat on the right side.
She was immediately heartbroken. There was an attractive, caring and well-to-do man before her, and she was too focused on her past to fully embrace what she had in the present.
“It’s beautiful,” she said, and she meant it.
He smiled up at her. “I’m glad you enjoy it. These onyx batman cuffs are perfect.” He leaned up and over a little, dropping a kiss on her lips. “I can’t think of a better set to wear when I’m playing super hero in the court room.”
It was quite possibly the only time she’d ever heard Adam joke about his work. She had so much more to learn about him, but maybe next Christmas he would be joining her on her trip home.
Just not this year. This year, she had a man to see about a long overdue past.
Dragging the larger than life Spruce behind him, Marshall was shocked to see the lights completely off in the DeMarco chalet. For the past two years, they’d been arriving earlier and earlier.
“You can’t be shocked. You purposefully found the tree earlier so you could skip out on dealing with another Anna sighting.”
An Anna sighting. That’s how he’d been referring to the few glimpses of her he got every year during the holidays. Whether it was a quick glance as he walked by on Thanksgiving, dropped off a gift at Christmas or just saw her around the small town, it was always few and always quick. Had she not spent a few days actually talking to him last spring season, he would have thought Anna was avoiding him, even after all these years.
Digging in his pocket for the key, he slipped it into the lock and pushed the door open. Without a nasty blizzard, there was no need to rush the tree in and out. It was strange, it was December twentieth, and the snow was barely ankle high. They’d had plenty of calls for snow, but the white stuff just wasn’t cooperating and falling, which made his job as ski and snowboarding instructor damn near impossible. Sure, the slopes had enough of the white stuff, but without snow falling, it wasn’t replenished. Even the resort could only make so much fake snow so quickly before it ran out of cash and time.
No snowfall also meant less of a chance he would bump into Anna because he wouldn’t be working outside the lodge.
“Too bad it’s supposed to dump sooner rather than later.” He loved the snow, and he loved the holidays, but something about this year just felt terrible already. He’d lost his wife three months before Christmas a decade ago, and while that always weighed on him during the holidays, there was something heavier feeling about this Christmas. Something he couldn’t put his finger on, but he was certain it had to do with Anna DeMarco and his ever annoying habit of continuing to be in love with her.
Shaking the blues off, he picked up the tree from its base with little effort and raised it just high enough off the floor that he wouldn’t scratch the delicate Italian marble or drop more than a few pine needles on the lush tan carpet. Everything looked as perfect as every other year.
The mantel held a stunning glass menorah, one that he’d seen sparkling against the Christmas Tree lights every year since he could remember. Despite Hanukkah being over for the year, the menorah sat in its special place, a stunning piece that showcased all that represented the DeMarco’s in his mind — elegance, beautiful people, sparkling personalities and very untouchable for someone like him.
“Can you blame them? They came home to you sleeping with their daughter. Of course you’re untouchable,” Marshall grumbled as he set the tree down just to the right of the ornate white fireplace, backing it up against the same window it had always sat in front of.
“Nothing changes for them. It’s as if they’re the perfect Hallmark card family every single year.” Fluffing up the pine needles as he always did, he couldn’t help looking around.
The tree wouldn’t be decorated until Christmas Eve. A tradition he’d taken part in many times over the years until he and Anna had gone separate ways after college. Until then, it would stand unadorned, with its majestic height a sight to see in itself. Though the tree was bare, the rest of the chalet was decorated to the nines.
Pots of poinsettias in varying sizes and hues of red sat perfectly sp
read throughout. Some sat in groups of three, like near the entryway, and others stood solo atop a table as a centerpiece. Sterling silver candleholders sitting on the windowsill held candles the colors of the holiday. The same accessory and colored candles sat on the pony wall separating the hall from dining area and likely in places he could not see. Decorative ornaments, the large ones from silly home décor stores, were strategically placed around the house as well.
Though Marshall could only see the entryway, living room and dining area, he knew from experience the decorations would touch every inch of the home. No trimming was too small, not even the crystal dreidel’s he knew sat on the kitchen counter. The DeMarco home was perfect, and as soon as he dropped off the supplies for their Christmas dinner on the twenty-third, it would be ready for their festivities.
“Festivities that do not include you. Don’t linger. She’s not going to mysteriously show up if she isn’t here.”
Despite having dropped the tree off a few days earlier than usual to avoid Anna, he had been secretly hoping she would be there. The past two years, DeMarco siblings had come early, and he’d just assumed Anna might this year. He’d wanted to talk to her alone before the holidays.
Eight years of pining after a woman who had clearly moved on meant one thing. Well, two things if counting him as a wuss could be considered one. He wanted closure. After the gift he’d given her last year, he’d hoped she would have been open to at least trying to rekindle what they’d had. Instead, he’d caught her wearing the earrings and utterly ignoring him. But it was the fact that she’d worn the damn things that had given him so much delusional hope and was still giving him hope that she hadn’t found someone else and was as romantically involved with someone as her siblings were with their significant others.
Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out the folded white square and nearly crushed it in his grip as nerves struck him. Something about Anna made him feel like a nervous teenager and setting down a letter asking her to meet him that her whole family would likely see was suddenly not the best idea.