A December to Remember: a Holiday Romance Anthology

by Howe, Olivia

  “Everyone is in here,” my guide said, pointing to a large set of double doors set off the foyer.

  I nodded, realizing I hadn’t said anything to him so far.

  “So, you’re Sadie Roberts, right?” he asked as he placed my wrapped gift on a large decorated table in the foyer next to a large pile of other beautifully packaged boxes.

  Swallowing hard, wishing my nerves would just calm, I said, “Yep, that’s me.”

  “Alpha Phi?” he asked.

  I nodded. “That’s why I’m here.”

  “Well I’m Finn Banks, and this is my house. And by house, I mean my mother and father’s, like, where I grew up. Not my frat house, which is where I live now. Phi Beta Sigma, by the way.”

  “Nice to meet you,” I replied, trying to remain calm but biting back a smile at his nervous chatter. This guy was so cute, and he seemed nice, too.

  I’d certainly had my share of not-so-nice frat guys. Like the last asshole I said yes to going out with. I pushed that jerk from my brain and smiled at Finn.

  He pulled both doors open to reveal a roomful of music, people, lights, and food. The room appeared to be a drawing or living room of some sort. Dark woodwork in ornate, swirly patterns made up the crown molding and multiple pieces of red velvet furniture had been set to the sides of the room to accommodate the party. As we entered, a few people turned to look, but then went back to their food, their conversations, and their drinks without interest.

  “Finn!” a pretty woman in her 40s called, waving a manicured hand in the air. Her shoes looked like they cost more than my car. And they probably had.

  He turned to me and smiled. “Gotta go. Enjoy the party, Sadie.”

  I nodded, twisting my hands in front of me and trying to smile. I didn’t know exactly why I was here. I had a small idea, but the invitation was a vague one. A distinguished get-together for recipients of this award I wasn’t sure I even wanted, and most certainly didn’t deserve.

  Furiously scanning the room for even one familiar face, I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when my gaze landed on someone. But that relief was quickly replaced by a cross between anger and embarrassment. It was him, the bastard who had made me feel like the lowest of life forms this past summer.

  Landon’s face registered the same expression as mine as our eyes locked, but he recovered quicker, his mortified and angry expression only lasting a few brief seconds until it turned smug. He smiled at me. The jerk actually smiled at me. It wasn’t friendly, nor was it welcoming. It was rude, condescending, and so… Landon.

  I felt like flipping him off until I realized where I was. Some fancy, distinguished party at the extravagant home of an Alpha Pi alumni who had generously offered her posh home for the ceremony for the award I was supposed to receive. They said I could bring a “plus one.” Why didn’t I bring a plus one? I should have brought Bethany. She could have been my date. Then people would have thought we were an item, that we were lesbians.

  But who cares what people think?

  Landon’s gaze locked with mine until I looked away. He won. He won the staring contest, and I hated him. All dirty blonde waves of shiny hair and lime green eyes that shouldn’t even be allowed as eye color. They’re like, not real.

  I wandered over to the food table, grabbing a plate and piling it with veggies, crackers, cheese, and mini quiches, hoping food would smash the nerves having a party in my stomach, and if that didn’t work, I planned to drown out them out with booze.

  My plate piled high, I shoveled a cracker topped with a piece of cheese in my mouth, my eyes scanning the room for the bar, when a voice whispered against my neck.

  “Having fun?”

  I turned around to see Finn standing there, his hands linked behind his back, a smile on his lips, mischief dancing in his warm brown eyes.

  I swallowed the very dry snack and plastered on a smile of my own. “Yes, I am.”

  Lie.

  He smiled genuinely. “That’s great. My mom was happy you came. She was a member of your sorority when she was in college.”

  Noooo, really? I wanted to snark out.

  What is wrong with me?

  Stupid asshole Landon had put me in a bad mood. Why was he here anyway?

  “I figured,” I replied politely. “So, um, who gets invited to these things? There’s so many people here. Are they all alumni?”

  My question had an ulterior motive: I wanted to know why, on God’s green earth, Landon Foster was here.

  Finn gave me a heart-stopping smile, as if he was proud he knew the answer. “No, it’s just alumni and their families.”

  I nodded. “Oh, okay. Because I see some other frat guys here.”

  Finn’s dark eyebrows dipped together as he scanned the room, then back to me. Lifting his shoulder in a shrug, he smiled again. “Well, if they are, that means their mom or someone in their family is or was in your sorority.”

  Freakin’ great.

  “May I have your attention please?”

  I looked up as I saw Finn’s pretty mother delicately tapping a spoon against her champagne flute. All eyes moved to her.

  Her hair was a mix of blonde and brown stripes and she had it pulled back tight into a small bun. The diamond necklace around her neck glittered under the antique chandelier above her. “It’s time for the best part of the night – the awards!” she beamed.

  The nerves revived their party and cheered along with everyone else in the room.

  Finn was still standing by me, for whatever reason. I slid my gaze to Landon, who was looking at the hostess. He glanced at me and grinned, then back to her. I resisted the urge to shake my head him.

  “First, we begin with academics,” she began, reading from a piece of paper. “The recipient of this award has maintained a 4.2 grade point average since her first induction into the sorority. She volunteers her time at the local shelters during the holidays, and at camps for disadvantaged youths in the summer months. Her mother and aunt were both members of this sorority at other colleges.” She paused, waiting for the applause to dissipate. Smiling, she continued, “This recipient is majoring in business with a minor in computer science. Please help me congratulate Sadie Roberts, this year’s Alpha Pi Platinum Girl Award!”

  Cheers and claps erupted through the room and my face burned hot, flushing with embarrassment. I hated being the center of attention, like completely hated it. I would rather stick a red-hot poker into my eye.

  I swallowed hard and walked toward the front of the room with as much confidence as I could muster. I stepped onto the makeshift stage, trying to keep my smile in place.

  Finn’s mother handed me a heavy, awkward triangle-shaped award the color of silver. At the bottom was a placard with my name and the year engraved in it. It was pretty in its own way, but I wondered where in the hell it would fit in my tiny college dorm room.

  Everyone stared expectantly at me, and I was confused, until I realized with pure mortification that they were waiting for me to speak. To make a speech of some sort. I was swallowed down the bile that had suddenly raced up my esophagus, trying to beat the cheese and crackers in some sort of sick race to embarrass the crap out of me.

  Everyone in the room looked at me in their fancy party clothes, with their expensive manicures and up-dos. Everyone. Finn was smiling at me encouragingly. Landon was sneering at me as one of his buddies elbowed his ribs.

  I definitely could not flop now, so I pulled what little amount of courage I had out of my ass, tried to remember anything at all from my Public Speaking class, and then I smiled.

  Taking a deep breath, I began, “Thank you for this. I’m extremely honored to have been nominated, let alone receive this award. I promise I’ll do my best and make the Alpha Phi House proud by living up to everything this prestigious award means.” I lifted my award in the air and smiled, while everyone clapped and cheered.

  Where the heck did that BS just come from? I laughed to myself.
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  Finn’s mother, whose name I should really learn, shook my hand with a smile and I quickly slunk off stage and headed straight for the bar. No, I’m not 21 yet (eight more months to go!) but I really felt like a glass of champagne might loosen me up. Turns out, I didn’t even need to find the bar, as a waiter holding a tray of champagne flutes passed by me and I snatched one off, slamming it back in one gulp.

  “I believe you’re supposed to sip champagne, not chug it,” said a cocky voice behind me. I tried to hide the shivers his voice had ignited.

  I turned around, setting my heavy award on a nearby table that was decorated with silver picture frames of various people. “Landon,” was all I could think to say.

  “Do you want another?” he asked me, pointing at my drink.

  I looked at him incredulously. I wanted to ask why he was being so nice to me when Finn walked over.

  “Congratulations, Sadie. Well deserved, it sounds like,” he said, shaking my hand, his warm brown eyes flirting with mine.

  Landon snorted like he thought something was funny and walked off with a beer bottle in his hand.

  I blinked in disbelief at him as he walked away.

  “Just ignore him, he’s a jerk,” Finn said, angling his head at Landon’s retreating figure, a look of disdain coloring his handsome features.

  “Yeah, I know,” I said dryly.

  “You know him?” Finn asked casually, but I could tell he was more than interested in the answer.

  I shook my head while sipping another glass of champagne. “No. Yes. Well, not really. I met him last summer at a beach volleyball tournament. He’s nobody.”

  Finn smiled, that dimple puncturing his left cheek. “You got that right.”

  “You know him?” I asked.

  Just then, Finn’s mother came over and shook my hand, her soft, warm hands wrapping around mine. “You really deserved that award, Sadie.” She pierced me with a stare, her brown eyes so similar to her son’s.

  I nodded. “Thank you, Mrs., uh…” I felt so stupid for not knowing her name.

  “Banks. But you can call me Michelle, please,” she said, not seeming to be offended at all.

  “Well thank you, Mrs. Banks, er, I mean, Michelle.”

  She smiled and walked off, leaving Finn and me alone in the massive room once again.

  “So what are you doing for winter break?” he asked, a clear glass of what looked like cola and probably something else in his hand, the ice clinking gently as he stared at me.

  “Well, you know, this and that. Probably catch up on a few books I have been wanting to read, and some Christmas shopping.”

  I cringed at my lame answer. I’m such a loser!

  Finn swallowed back his drink. “Well, why don’t you pack up a few of those books and come to my parents’ lodge up in Tahoe? Unless you have Christmas plans…”

  My eyes bulged wide, but I tried to recover. “Oh, I couldn’t do that. I’m sure your family wants a nice holiday alone.” It was stupid, but it was all I had.

  He shook his head and chuckled. “Nah, there’s always a big crowd up there every year. We ski, we snowboard, we do… lots of stuff. You should come. You could invite your family, if you want. We have lots of room.”

  I thought of my mother, who was off with whichever boyfriend she had this month, and my older sister, Lilly, whose Army husband had just moved her to Germany for the next three years. Then I thought of my dad, who I barely knew. Smiling, I shrugged, and said, “Ya know, that sounds kind of fun.”

  Chapter 2

  My hands shook a little as I carefully folded clothes into my hot pink 4-roller suitcase. I bit my lip as I wondered if I had packed appropriately. I’d lived in California my entire life and had only seen snow a handful of times. Tahoe was the mecca of snow sports and skiing, and I figured I should probably try to wrangle up a snow jacket of some sort for this trip. I hoped Finn and his family didn’t expect me to ski. I certainly couldn’t afford the equipment and lift fees.

  “You don’t even know this guy, what are you doing?” Bethany asked me from her bed. Her words came out mumbled through the carrots dipped in ranch she was munching on. I tried not to laugh at her Minions pajamas as she sat there, cross-legged on her bright purple bedspread that matched the streak of color blazing through her light brown hair.

  Ignoring her stupid question, I replied, “Why aren’t you packing?”

  She snorted and pointed a carrot stick at me. “Well, because, you don’t know this guy, or his family, that’s why.”

  I rolled my eyes. “So what are you going to do, just sit around the dorms doing laundry and watching TV while I’m gone?”

  Bethany’s entire family lived back East, in Upstate New York, and she wasn’t flying home for the holidays to see them. I was surprised they hadn’t offered her a ticket, but she didn’t seem very concerned about it, and I didn’t ask.

  She lifted a shoulder and let it fall, licking the ranch from her carrot. “Yeah, I guess.”

  I sighed. “Please come to Tahoe with me. I beg you. They said I could bring a plus-one. Please be my plus-one? I don’t want you to sit around these dorms all month. I want some fun. We don’t get very much fun.”

  Her pretty mouth twisted into a grin, her blue eyes sparkling in mischief. “You had some fun last summer, as I can recall.”

  I turned around and pointed at her with a pair of red lace panties that still had the tags on them. “Hey. I was trying to sow my wild oats, or whatever they say I’m supposed to do while I’m in college. I went on a few dates, and they were either jerks or total drags.”

  She laughed. “That’s right! One week you’d have a date with a nerdy guy, who you thought you’d be suddenly miraculously attracted to, and the next you’d be on a date with some asshole jock who only wanted one thing.”

  “Or didn’t even show up…” I murmured under my breath.

  Bethany’s eyes got big, and I watched as she leaned over to her nightstand and grabbed a claw clip, twisting her light brown hair up into a messy twist behind her head. “That’s right! That one guy who stood you up.” I measured her with a warning stare before she continued. “Sorry. What was his name again?”

  “Landon,” I groaned.

  She giggled. “Oh yeah, Laaaandon. The guy had like four classes with you, didn’t he?”

  I nodded, continuing to pack. “Yeah. Don’t get me started.”

  “Did you ever ask him why he stood you up?” she asked, digging the last of the ranch out of the plastic cup and licking her fingers.

  I stared at her frozen in horror. “What? No way. What should I have said? ‘Hey, why did you stand me up?’. Hell no. Screw that.”

  “You should have. You could have totally embarrassed him in class, asking him why he asks girls out on dates and doesn’t bother to show up.”

  I sniffed. “No way. He probably would have told me it was because I was too ugly for his little black book of dates, and that he must have been drunk or high when he asked me out.”

  She blinked at me a few times, then shook her head. “You have a seriously overactive imagination. That so wouldn’t have happened.”

  I stomped my bare foot on the cheap carpeting of the dorm room. “I do not! I am just not big on getting embarrassed in front of a hot guy.”

  Bethany sighed. “You’re not lying. That Landon is pretty damn hot. I’ve got him in Spanish class.”

  I gasped. “You have him in one of your classes and you didn’t tell me?”

  She giggled. “Yeah, so? I can tell you that I didn’t really put two and two together ‘til just now. I’d seen him in there, and I knew he looked familiar, but I didn’t place it until just now. Landon isn’t a very common name. Combined with that sexy shit he’s giving off, I just now figured it out.”

  I scowled at her, narrowing my eyes.

  Putting up her hands in defense, she said, “If it makes you feel any better, he’s not very smart. He can’t
even ask where the bathroom is in Spanish. He better not go traveling abroad. He’d piss his pants and embarrass himself because he won’t be able to ask where the damn baño is at.”

  I bit back a laugh. “He’s a guy, he’ll just whip it out and pee anywhere.”

  She made a face. “That’s gross.”

  When my little suitcase was as full as it could be, I sat on it and zipped it shut. Bethany watched me curiously.

  “Just come with me. Please?” I gave her my best puppy-dog eyes.

  She chewed her lip in contemplation, staring at my hot-pink suitcase, then at me. “You really think spending the holidays in Tahoe is a good idea?”

  I grinned, ripping my shirt off over my head and tossing it on the floor. In only my bra, while rummaging through my dresser drawer, I snarked, “No, I don’t think it’s a good idea. I think it’s a horrible idea, which will only lead to skiing, snowboarding, drinking, getting high, debauchery, and probably some making out, or even…” I gasped, my hand over my bare chest covering my heart, a whisper in my voice, “some wild sex.”

  Lifting a pale eyebrow at me, she smirked. “When do we leave?”

  Finn’s directions had been perfect. I found the cabin – well, it was more like a custom-built mansion – right on the edge of Lake Tahoe in under three hours. After a few hairpin turns along a mountain road, I pulled up to the large, lighted home in my little black Volkswagen Jetta.

  The circular drive was lined with perfectly placed cobblestones, illuminated by the multiple coach lights on the beige stucco exterior, with scattered pine trees and other landscaping. Sparkling white lights were placed symmetrically along the roof and down the sides, and a few littered the trees outside. It was breathtaking.

  Parking on the street, Bethany and I retrieved our suitcases from the trunk and made our way toward the massive dark maple front door. I rang the lighted bell and waited anxiously for someone to greet us. I glanced at my best friend, giving her a nervous smile. The air was much cooler and crisper than in Sacramento, where the college was.