by ID Johnson
The tree farm was about to close when he realized his cell phone was ringing. Thinking it might be his dad asking him to do one more run before he called it an evening, he pulled it out of his pocket and was surprised to see it was his boss from the firm. Wondering what he could possibly want, he pulled his glove off and answered. The conversation was brief, but by the time it was over, Josh felt sick to his stomach. He needed to see Delaney right away.
Delaney knew the bakery would be busy that day, and when she looked up at the clock to see it was almost 5:00, she couldn’t believe it. She was exhausted, but she’d seen more smiling happy faces than she could remember. A lot of the children stopped by after visiting Santa at the library, and their excitement was palpable. It was almost Christmas, and everyone was overjoyed.
She’d let Joanna and Cameron go home early to get ready for the dance, and Courtney had ended up asking off, getting Edie to cover her shift for her. When Cameron asked her for the keys to her car, Delaney had hugged him. She was pretty sure she was almost as excited as he was, though he was trying to play it cool. He promised to send her pictures the next morning, and Delaney couldn’t wait to see Joanna in the new pink dress she’d bought.
“So if Cameron has your car, how are you getting home?” Edie asked, flipping the sign on the door to “closed” and turning the lock.
“My dad is picking me up,” Delaney explained. “I’m actually kind of excited. I know it seems silly, but it’s been a long time since my dad picked me up from work.”
“Aww, how precious,” Edie gushed. Just then, they heard a knock on the back door, and Delaney realized it had to be her dad. Edie said, “Go ahead. I’ll finish up. The kitchen’s done. I’ll just need to wipe these tables and counters off.”
“Are you sure?” Delaney asked, glancing around. “You already had to come in on your day off.”
“It’s fine,” Edie assured her. “Go on.”
“Thanks,” Delaney replied, giving her friend a quick hug before she bounded off to get her coat and purse before her father froze to death. She pulled open the door to find him standing there like the freezing temperatures were no big deal at all. “Hi, Daddy,” she said, pulling the door closed behind her. “Thanks for coming to get me.”
“Hello, princess,” he said as she slipped her arm in his. “Everything all locked up?”
Delaney appreciated him looking out for her, even though it wasn’t necessary. “Edie is still here. She’ll make sure to lock the door.”
He was driving his old work truck, the one she’d be driving until she got her car back from Cameron, and she hopped up into the passenger seat, glad he’d left it running so it stayed warm. “What do you say you come home for dinner? Mom’s making her chicken and dumplings.”
There was no way Delaney would argue with that. “Sounds delicious. What about Nana?”
“I stopped by to see if she wanted to come over, but she said she had a few Christmas presents she needed to finish knitting, and she didn’t want to bring them with her because they are for us.”
Delaney smiled. Nana was no nonsense when it came to finishing her presents on time. “I see,” she said. “She knows I’m going with you then?”
“I told her you might would,” he replied, and Delaney giggled at the familiar phrase unique to her dad and his folks. He was quiet for a moment, but Delaney could tell by the way he looked at her out of the corner of his eye every once in a while there was something more he wanted to say. Finally, he said, “So… Nana says you had a date last night.”
Delaney held back a grin. She’d been thinking about Josh all day, but she wasn’t sure she was ready for her dad to see just how serious she was about him. “Yeah,” she said, with a shrug. “He’s a nice guy.”
“From Shepherdstown?” David asked, his tone light, though Delaney could tell by his eyes he was more interested than he sounded.
“Yes, but he lives in Washington.”
Her father shook his head slightly. “Oh,” he said. “That’s pretty far away.”
“I know,” she said, with a nod. “We’re taking it slow,” she assured him. She hoped that was true. Honestly, she wasn’t sure if they were taking it slowly or not. Her mind told her that was a good idea, but her heart said otherwise. She was falling for Josh pretty quickly.
“Well, I know you’re a good judge of character,” he replied. “Just be careful.”
“Dad,” Delaney said, and it was suddenly a three syllable word. “I will be.”
“I know. I know,” he said, adjusting his hat. “You’re my little girl, though. I don’t care how old you are. That last guy, well, he’s lucky I’m not a violent man.”
Delaney held back a chuckle. She knew how overprotective her dad could be. She honestly didn’t feel like there was anything for him to worry about, but she patted her dad on the shoulder as they pulled into the driveway, and she was so thankful she had two parents who absolutely loved her more than anything. Even though she was closer to thirty than she was twenty at this point, she really would always be their little girl.
Having had no time to stop to eat that day, Delaney greedily devoured two bowls of chicken and dumplings before she finally felt full and sat back in her chair, letting her bloated belly rest for a few minutes before she hopped up to help her mother with the dishes. A few minutes later, there was an unexpected knock on the door, and her father walked into the kitchen to let her know a young man was there to see her.
Delaney felt her heartbeat hasten. Who would be there to see her? If it was Josh, was everything okay? Glancing at her mom, she shrugged and dried her hands on a dish towel before she made her way into the living room.
Josh was standing by the door, still wearing his work coat. He was smiling, but he had a concerned look on his face, and Delaney was immediately worried that something had happened to one of his parents or another family member. “Josh? Is everything okay?” she asked as she approached him.
“Everything is fine,” he assured her. “I just needed to talk to you. Nana said I could find you here. I hope I’m not imposing.”
“No, we’ve just finished dinner,” she said.
“Would you like some chicken and dumplings?” her mother asked, and Delaney turned to see her parents had followed her.
Josh declined politely, and Delaney said, “Josh, this is my mom, Maggie, and my dad, David.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Josh said, shaking their hands in turn.
“Let me get my coat and we can go for a walk,” Delaney said, clearly seeing that whatever Josh had to say to her, it was important and needed to be said in private.
As she slipped her coat on, her mother warned, “Be careful, honey. It might be slick out.”
Delaney didn’t reply, and Josh held the door open for her as she stepped out onto the porch.
It was dark. The porch light was on, but other than that, only the moon and stars lit the path that led around toward the barn. Delaney started slowly walking that direction, not quite sure where to go, and Josh walked alongside her. “What’s going on?” she asked, afraid to hear the answer. Surely, he wouldn’t have driven all the way over here to tell her he didn’t want to see her anymore when they’d had such a good time the night before.
Josh took a deep breath and let it out, an icy fog forming in front of his mouth. “I got a phone call from my boss today,” he explained. “I wanted to tell you in person, and I wanted to tell you now.” He was slowly shaking his head. “I’m sorry for barging in on you. I guess it could’ve waited, but, I felt like you need to know what’s going on.”
Delaney turned to look at him, her steps becoming even slower as she did so. “What is going on?” she asked.
There was another deep sigh. “The company wants to run an update to the software while everyone is away for the holidays. They’ve been talking about updating the system for some time, but they’ve been putting it off because everyone uses the program that needs to be updated in order to do their jobs.
We’re a headhunting company, specializing in lobbyist and political jobs. This is the best time of year to let everyone take a week off so that the programs can be updated without interrupting anyone’s work.”
Delaney was confused. “So… if everyone is getting the week off, why is that a problem?”
“Because that means I have to go in to update all of the software,” he explained. “No one else will be there, except for me and my team.”
She suddenly understood. “So everyone else gets the week off, but you have to work.”
“Exactly,” he replied.
“Even though you already asked off?” she said, the injustice hitting her right in the gut.
“Yes,” he confirmed with a nod. “My boss apologized and said I could take a different week off once everything was up and running, but that likely won’t be until late January, maybe February.”
Delaney stopped walking and turned to face him. “That really stinks, Josh. What does that mean, then? When do you have to leave?”
He kicked at the snow on the ground with the toe of his boot. “The update has to start on Christmas Eve in order to be finished running by the time everyone comes back on January fifth.”
Her eyes widened. “It takes that long?”
“Yes,” he assured her. “It has to be run in phases, and there are a lot of computers that will need updating. Even though there are two other people on my team, it’ll take us the entire time, probably working late, to get it done. I’ll give the other guys the day off on Christmas Day because one has little kids and the other is practically a kid herself, but that will make it just that much harder to get it done on time.”
Delaney couldn’t believe her ears. Here she was, thinking this would be her best Christmas yet. She’d spend Christmas Eve with Josh at the festival and then see him again on Christmas Day. They’d likely see each other several more times before he had to go back, maybe even spend New Year’s Eve together, and now it was gone, all gone. Shaking her head, she asked, “What did your parents say?”
“They didn’t like it, of course,” he admitted. “But they understand. They know how important it is that I do my job well.”
She could understand that, she really could, but the idea of not spending the holidays with him brought tears to her eyes. Slowly, she asked, “And what… what if you decided not to go back? What if you decided to stay at the farm and take over like your dad asked?”
He let out a heavy sigh and tipped his head to the side before he said, “Delaney, even if I did decide to do that, I can’t just tell my boss no and never come back. What kind of a person would that make me? It would be awfully irresponsible.”
“So what?” she asked, hardly believing it was her own voice. “They could find someone else to do it. They’d figure it out. Is it really complicated or something?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. But Delaney, it’s my job. Believe me, I really wish I were able to stay here with you, go to the Christmas Festival with you, like we talked about, but… I can’t just walk away from my life in Washington.”
Delaney wanted to argue with him, to tell him of course he could—that if he were falling for her the same way she was falling for him, there would be no question. But she didn’t say any of those things. Instead, she said the responsible thing, the words that would protect her heart the most. “Okay, Josh,” she said, quietly, realizing he must not quite be exactly who she thought he was after all. “Thank you for letting me know.” She turned on her heels and began to walk back toward the house, wiping the tears from her cheeks as she did so.
Josh caught her arm. “Delaney, please, don’t,” he said, though she continued to walk, despite him tugging her backward a few times and then releasing her. “I would stay if I could.”
“No, I understand,” she said. “They need you. They are important, and they need you.”
“You’re important, too,” he reminded her. This time, he pulled on her hard enough to make her stop, and she did turn to face him. “Delaney, please believe me when I tell you no one is more important to me than you are. I just… this is something I have to do.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. She wanted to believe him, but she’d been told she was important before. She’d been told she was significant. She’d even been told she was loved. None of it was true before, so why would it be now? “Josh, I understand the importance of keeping your word and following through with your responsibilities. You told your boss you’d be there, and now you are obligated to do so. I get it. I just hope… someday… instead of being told I’m important, someone will step up and show me that I am.”
Delaney pulled away from him again and finished crossing to the porch. She knew he was behind her, but he didn’t say anything else. When she reached the porch, he said, “Delaney… I’ll call you later, okay? I know we can work this out.”
Before she turned to face him, she thought about how wondrous the night before had been and how she’d spent all day dreaming of a life with this man. Was she overreacting? Should she give him a chance to prove how much he cared for her even though he had to go? At that moment, she wasn’t sure, but she did know she was not in the state of mind to make a rational decision. Without turning to face him, she called over her shoulder, “Fine. Merry Christmas.” Then, she bounded up the stairs and into her parents’ house, slamming the door behind her.
The next day at church, the pastor’s message had been all about the gift of Christmas and how each of us has an opportunity to be a gift to someone else, not only this time of year but every single day of the year. The message was wonderful and well-delivered, the songs had been divinely sung, and Delaney usually would have left with a skip in her step, revived and ready to go out into the world and be the light of Christ. But she’d spent most of the service thinking about Josh, even though she tried to focus on the sermon, and by the time she left, her heart was aching more than it had been when she walked in. She just couldn’t understand why God would let this happen to her again when she’d tried so hard to live a godly existence.
Delaney had gone to church her whole life and understood it wasn’t a trade-off; God didn’t do favors for His people because they did what He said. Yet, she felt like she’d spent the last six months praying for a good man to come her way and that God had finally answered that prayer, only now to have that man decide she wasn’t as important as he’d led her to believe.
Nana had reminded her the night before, as Delaney cried on her shoulder, “Sometimes God puts a little trial and tribulation in our lives so we can see His gifts a little more clearly.” She’d urged Delaney not to give up on Josh, to give him a chance to get things sorted out at home and then see if he was really the one for her. She knew her Nana’s words were wise, and she’d be smart to take them to heart. But right now, she felt betrayed, and even though logically speaking, it made sense that Josh would want to return to his job and tie up loose ends there, she’d already planned her Christmas with him. The thought of anything less than all of him made her heart ache.
That afternoon, she sat in her bedroom with her laptop open, trying to concentrate on her weekly earnings, but she was struggling to stay focused. Her phone vibrated on the nightstand next to her, and she was thankful to have a distraction from her distraction. Though she didn’t recognize the number, she answered it anyway and was surprised to hear Lydia’s voice on the other end.
“Hi, Delaney. I hope you don’t mind me calling. I just wanted to tell you thank you so much for the cocoa. It’s been such a big hit! I’m hoping we have enough left to last us through the rest of the afternoon,” she said, her tone as chipper as Delaney remembered it.
“That’s good,” Delaney replied. “I’m glad everyone likes it. Do you need me to bring you some more?” She was hopeful the answer would be no. She couldn’t imagine driving over to Taylor Tree Farm under the current circumstances.
“Thanks for offering, but the village will be closing for the season in a few hours.
Sometimes we open on Christmas Eve, but this year we are just about out of trees, so this will be the end of the year for us.”
“Oh,” Delaney said. “Well, congratulations on selling out.”
“Yes, thank you,” Lydia responded. “It’s definitely been a good year. I was hoping that we could work together next year right from the very beginning. I know how much people love your cocoa, and I’d love to give them yet another incentive to visit Taylor Tree Farm.”
The idea of working with Lydia next Christmas reminded Delaney of what Josh had said about making A Christmas Carol a tradition, and the hole in the pit of her stomach began to ache even more. Still, she managed to say, “That would be nice.”
“Oh, good,” Lydia gushed. “I was hoping you might stop by soon so that I can pay you for the cocoa.”
“You don’t need to pay me anything…”
“Of course I do,” Lydia cut her off. “We’ll gladly pay you whatever you would normally charge for that much cocoa.”
Delaney wasn’t even certain how she might calculate that since she didn’t usually sell it in powder. “I… I’m not sure how much it would be,” she admitted. “I’ll have to look into it.”
“Okay, dear. Whenever you know, just get me an invoice. We would love to have you over for dinner before Josh goes back to the city.”
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Delaney wondered if he’d even spoken to his mom about their conversation the day before. Rather than get into all that now, she said, “I’ll probably be pretty busy at the bakery this week.”
“Oh, I hope you can come over. He’ll be leaving Wednesday. Maybe you could stop by Tuesday afternoon? Tuesdays are usually pretty slow, aren’t they?”
Everything she said made perfect sense, and yet the idea of sitting around the dining room table with the Taylor family knowing Josh would be gone soon seemed like an impossibility. “Maybe,” she finally said. “I’ll… talk to Josh about it.”