by Natalie Ann
She was happy to hear her father say that. “You’re taking over part of my job. The funny thing is, I thought the same thing.”
“Family comes first. The business second. But you know the business is always on our minds and if we can make this into a family day and help the business then we all make out in the end.”
“Family is always first,” she agreed. “Brendan is a good guy.”
“He is,” her father said, looking her in the eye. “I guess I should have talked to you about this more. Are you happy?”
“It’s only been a few weeks.”
“That didn’t answer my question. You’ve been down this road before with Jack. You thought you were happy then too.”
“Don’t ruin my day by bringing up that jerk’s name. I’m over him.”
“I know you’re over him, but are you over what happened?”
She had to be. She told herself she was enough times. Even if that was what caused her to hold back so much with Brendan. “Life happens to the best of us. I learned my lesson.”
“Just don’t let it come between you and Brendan.”
“It’s only been a few weeks,” she repeated. “We aren’t nearly at any stage where our past is going to come between us. I’m just hoping things don’t fizzle out after next weekend when the drive is done.”
“It won’t,” her father said. “Trust me.”
“I guess I need to learn to trust someone.”
22
So Different
Brendan had guessed the toy drive was going to be massive this year. The biggest ever. But this had far exceeded his expectations.
He didn’t know if it was the atmosphere of the location or the hard work of everyone involved. Probably a little of both.
It didn’t matter what the reason was, he’d collected forty percent more toys than his biggest year ever. He had thousands of toys to hand out and not just little ones that cost a few dollars, but more than ever that were over three digits.
The generosity of the community, his employees, and the Lanes hadn’t shocked him. It’d touched him.
And tonight was the night he got to give back to some of those people.
He’d always held the after party at the toy drive location. This year, instead of something fancy, he was going old world charm like he’d been doing all along.
No dresses and champagne. No band or DJ. No waiters with stiff ties and women wearing heels while they walked around with sparkling jewelry blinding everyone in sight.
Tonight it was in the greenhouse with white lights and Christmas music being pumped through speakers. Snowflake decorations were hanging from the ceiling. Two more tents were set up outside with heaters and the same decorations.
One of the bigger tents would hold everyone for his speech, but a smaller tent and the greenhouse would provide space for everyone to mingle, to eat, to talk, and to have a good time.
Multiple charities were on hand that would receive the gifts. Three of the hospitals always had staff and some higher-ups ready to celebrate. Many looked forward to this event and he hoped they weren’t disappointed it wasn’t the flashy party he’d done in the past.
Most of his staff that had put in time on the event were here and all had thanked him time and again for not making them dress up. He didn’t think it was that big of a deal, but found many just wanted to have a good time without feeling uncomfortable.
Kat had assured him that when the invitations went out she was very clear on how the night would go so that everyone was aware it wasn’t like anything he’d done in the past.
Part of him wanted to see Holly in a dress or even a skirt. Nice pants and a silk top. But the other part of him wanted her to be just like the woman he was falling in love with. One that was so different than those he’d dated in the past.
“This is amazing,” Holly said, coming in after the farm closed for the night.
Kat had workers here all day getting this event ready. Now there were two hours before guests were due to arrive. The food would be coming soon, all stuff that could be carried around on plates from stations. Plenty of tables and chairs were set for people to sit and relax, but food would be spread between all three locations.
“It is. Kat is good at these things.”
“Your mother is too,” Holly said.
“She’s big on organizing parties and get-togethers. She isn’t one for fancy gatherings. That is more Kat’s style, but my mother was all over this this year.”
“I’ve heard how it’s so much different than the ones you’ve had in the past. I’ve even seen pictures of previous years. Why so different?”
“Everything about this year was different and a huge success. I wasn’t about to change what has worked so well. My staff are thrilled on top of it.”
“Why?”
“You’ve been to my office. You see how we dress. No one likes putting on a tie or heels. Half the time they are barefoot and throwing Frisbees in the office.”
“I meant to ask you about that.”
“About what?”
“The Frisbees and the trophies. What is that about? Why are there so many Frisbees on the walls and smack talk about it?”
“Ever hear of Ultimate Frisbee?”
She burst out laughing. “No. That’s a thing?”
“Sometimes I wonder what world you are in for your age.”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “That’s mean.”
“You talk about PacMan and you don’t know about Ultimate Frisbee.”
“I guess I’ve got a sheltered life.”
“You are far from sheltered. Let’s just say Ultimate Frisbee is the new rage. My staff aren’t into the big name sports. Most of them never played a sport a day in school.”
“I could tell. Not to be mean, but they looked it.”
“Is that a crack at geeks, nerds, and bookworms? I hate to remind you that you’re a bean counter by your own admission.”
“Fair point. So your staff throw a Frisbee around at work?”
“They’ve got teams. It’s a sport. I mean it can be intense between them. It can be physical for some people if you look it up online. You don’t see that with my staff. But they have fun and blow off steam.”
“I guess I’ve been schooled in a lot of things since I’ve met you.”
“You have been.” He dropped his arm around her shoulder. “Are you okay with that?”
“I am. I better go home and shower and change quick before we come back here.”
“Since you live closer than me, do you mind if I join you? I need to shower and change as I’ve been moving stuff around for a few hours too.”
She hesitated and he was trying not to be hurt over it. That she was still insecure about him seeing where she lived. She hadn’t asked him there once and he hoped this was a good way to see her home.
“I suppose. Just don’t have any high hopes.”
“It’s just a house, Holly.”
“You’re right, it is. Are you ready to go now? I’ll drive.”
“Let me get my bag out of my car. I’ll meet you at your car in a minute.”
He jogged to his SUV, got his bag and jogged to where Holly was parked in the employee section. There was no way he was wasting time for fear she’d pull away without him after having second thoughts.
It was only ten minutes to her house. He didn’t know what the big deal was. It was an older quaint neighborhood where most houses were decorated for the holidays.
Holly pulled into the driveway of a dark blue craftsman-style house similar to those around her. Sure it was small, but it was nicely maintained.
She got out and went to the front door and he could hear the barking. “How come you never bring Reese on Saturdays?”
When the door opened, Reese came charging first for Holly, then for him. “Because I’m not in the office much and there are too many people. He’s used to being home on the weekends. I sneak away to let him out in the middle of the day. I’ll just l
et him out again before we go.”
“You’re coming back to my place tonight, right?”
“If you want me to,” she said.
“I do. We’ll come back and get Reese and I can leave my stuff here for now.”
“You can help yourself to anything while I shower and change. My bathroom isn’t big enough for two like yours, so we’ll have to do it separately.”
“That’s fine,” he said as he watched her go down the hall to her room. He walked into the kitchen and found Reese’s food and fed him, then gave him fresh water.
He wasn’t sure what Holly’s problem with her house was. It had the same charm as the farm. Dark wood that had more character than his house. Old scarred hardwood floors with throw rugs on them. He’d bet the stories those floors could tell would be plentiful.
There was nothing at all to be embarrassed about. This was a great house. A super place to live. He would have loved this as a kid when he walked down the hall and the floors creaked. He went to see her room.
It was small, just had a double bed in it, but it was painted a soft green color, off white curtains on the windows and a tan and green bedspread. She was a neat person but her house had a lot more warmth to it than his did.
He was comfortable in his large home, but here he felt at peace.
Holly had been nervous bringing Brendan to her house and then told herself there was no reason to be. It’s not like she could change where she lived and she was proud of what she had.
After a lot of thought, she realized that she’d put a ton of blood, sweat, and tears into her little two-bedroom home to make it hers.
She’d never have what he did and there was no reason to compare the two.
“Are you all better now that I saw your place?” he asked her on the drive back.
“Yeah. It was silly, I know. I shouldn’t have been self-conscious over it. Or what your thoughts of my place were.”
“No, you shouldn’t have been. Is that your first place?”
“Yes. I lived at home a few years after college so I could put money away and buy my own place. I just thought throwing money away on rent was such a waste.”
“My first place was a dump. I’ve never worked for anyone. I was trying to pull money together from investors for the business. I was living with some of the guys who are my employees now. There were four of us in a three-bedroom house.”
“So who had to share a room?” she asked, stunned to hear his confession.
“No one. One of the guys slept on a pullout sofa in the basement where we worked on things half the time.”
“So you’ve never had a job before?” she asked.
“I have. I just meant as an adult. I did freelance work out of college. I was making money, but not a ton. I didn’t go into an office, didn’t put on a tie. Didn’t even get dressed in more than sweats half the time.”
She turned to look at him and started to laugh. He was wearing designer jeans, nice shoes, and a button-down plaid shirt. His clothing was going to fit in with many there tonight though she’d bet they’d cost four times as much.
“This is a step up for you then.”
“It is. The bottom line is…I’m not sure how many times I have to tell you that you and I come from the same background. I haven’t let money change who I am and you shouldn’t look at me like it did.”
His words hit home on more than one level. “Do I insult you when I make comments like that?”
“I think you insult yourself more than me.”
“You’re probably right.”
The rest of the drive back to the farm was done in silence. When they got there, food was set up and her family and his were standing together talking. “It seems our parents get along pretty well.”
“They do,” she admitted. Her mother and Brendan’s mom always seemed to have their heads together. “I guess I was putting up walls when no one else was.”
“Glad you could see that. We talked about flaws before, remember that?”
“Yeah. So good of you to put that out there and throw it in my face,” she said, laughing.
“I don’t know about you, but I need a beer and some food.”
“I think I could use the same thing.”
And an hour later when Brendan stood on the makeshift stage and gave his speech, thanking everyone for their support, especially his parents, then turning his head and pulling her on stage, she wasn’t sure what to say.
Her feet felt like the mafia placed her in cement to drop her into a body of water, but she made her way forward just the same.
Brendan put his arm around her shoulder, then said, “A big thank you to Holly Lane. She put up with me this whole time and many of you know how demanding I can be when I want perfection. But she and her family have been the best. Why don’t you all come on up?”
Holly watched as her mother, father, grandmother, and brother all came up to stand next to Brendan’s family. Pictures were being taken and the news was there again. She should feel out of place, but with Brendan’s arm around her waist holding her close, she felt like she actually belonged where she was.
“Family,” Brendan said. “That’s what it’s all about. From my family, the Lane family, and my work family. All those families that helped out to make this the biggest and best toy drive ever. I can’t thank you enough.”
She placed her head against his chest, looked up into his eyes and thought for a brief moment, she saw a touch of the love that she’d been feeling for him.
23
The Lucky Ones
The following Monday, Holly met up with Brendan to deliver toys to Albany Med. Though it wasn’t in Saratoga County, it housed the biggest pediatric unit in all of the Capital Region. He’d already delivered toys to both Saratoga and Glens Falls hospitals on Sunday after she’d left for the day.
She’d wanted to go with him, but it was still busy at the tree farm with less than a week to go before Christmas and they were down a few staff because of the flu going around.
“A delivery truck and some staff delivered the toys an hour ago and put them up in the pediatric unit. We are just going there to hand them out.”
“It sounds like fun,” she said.
“It is. It can be a little sad too. Not all these kids are financially in need. Though some of them are. It’s more about giving them a holiday that they won’t get like a normal kid this year.”
“Did you spend any holidays in the hospital?” she asked.
“No. I was lucky that way. I didn’t spend a lot of time in the hospital, but I was home a lot. I didn’t get to live the normal teen life I would have liked.”
“You get to live your life any way you want now.”
“I do,” he said, threading their fingers together. “I’m one of the lucky ones.”
She truly believed he felt that way. The only sign she’d ever seen of his disease was the scar on his chest and the medical dog tag he wore on his neck that said blood thinners.
“I’m starting to think I’m one of the lucky ones too,” she said, smiling at him. She wanted to tell him how she felt about him so badly but just couldn’t get the words past her throat half the time.
There was a part of her that thought he felt the same way, but then why wasn’t he saying it either?
It was too soon, she knew. She had to stop focusing on it. Maybe being caught up in the emotions of the holidays and the giving was making her feel this way.
But by the time they left the hospital over an hour later, she knew beyond a doubt she was in love with the man who had a Santa hat on his head while he laughed and joked with the kids.
Then he handed out gifts. He colored with younger ones. He played video games with the older kids. Games he brought over with a few more systems and TVs.
He’d even set them up for the kids with the hospital’s permission.
She’d seen his name on the wall as a donor of the game room and felt a huge amount of pride in the fact that Brendan was her boyfrien
d and just hoped that one day she’d be able to give back as much as he did.
To care as much as him.
For now, she was just glad she got to know him, got to spend time with him, and got to experience something she’d never thought of doing before.
“You’re okay with us not spending the morning together? Or even the whole day? Any part of the day with our families together?” Brendan asked her Christmas morning on the phone.
“It’s fine. We haven’t dated that long and we both have families and traditions. Enjoy your time with them and I’ll do the same with mine. We’ll see each other later.”
He’d wanted to ask her to spend Christmas morning with his family for brunch. Have her spend the night last night, open gifts together this morning. But she worked yesterday, and as she said, they both had family traditions.
Christmas morning was at his parents’ house bright and early. His mother would cook brunch and he’d be gone by noon. Kat was single and usually was over the holidays. Same with him.
It was time the four of them spent together. If his grandparents were in town, they’d be there too, but now they were snowbirds living it up in Florida thanks to the townhouse he’d bought for them.
Holly’s Christmas was spent at her grandmother’s. They had an early dinner around one and she’d be home by no later than three, she’d said.
But rather than go home, she was coming to his house and they were going to exchange gifts.
He’d struggled on what to get her. They’d known each other since early November. Been dating less than six weeks...and that was if he counted their first dinner together where he blew her off for ten days after.
He was counting it in his mind. The longer the better.
But they weren’t at any stage where he felt he could spoil her like he wanted to.
She’d be uncomfortable with it, he was sure. The last thing he wanted to do was cause a fight.