Finding Christmas (Blue Harbor Book 7)

by Olivia Miles

  “You have the children’s choir now. That’s good, right?”

  She narrowed her eyes on him. “Not good enough. Not that I support cutting any arts programs, but may I ask, why music?” When he didn’t immediately respond, she pulled in a breath. “Did the fact that each year the pageant was the same have anything to do with it? What was the word you used again? Oh, that’s right, stale. Funny that I tend to use the word tradition in its place.”

  “I’m sorry that you’re so upset.”

  “Darn straight I’m upset!” She took a calming breath, then lowered her voice. “But this happens to be one of my favorite Christmas events of the year and I don’t intend to let you spoil it for me too.” She blinked rapidly at the candy, knowing her hands were shaking too hard to sort any of it right now.

  His expression softened. “I didn’t mean any harm. Actually, I was trying to catch up with you last night at the town meeting.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. Maybe he’d had a change of heart! She smiled up at him, feeling like a heel for giving him such a hard time. Maybe he’d advocate for the department. He of all people had the power, certainly, even if he was just temporary. Without Suzanne, he was her only hope.

  Hope. Mr. Pritchard’s kind face came to her mind. There was always hope at Christmas.

  “Oh?” She held her breath, hoping that he would tell her what she wanted to hear.

  “I was very impressed with your performance at the tree lighting ceremony.”

  She waited to see if there was more, but from the heavy pause, she was disappointed to realize that there wasn’t.

  “Flattery won’t make me forgive you if that’s what you’re hoping.”

  She turned back to the plastic bowls and began filling one with colorful sprinkles, only spilling a few.

  “I wasn’t trying to flatter you.” His mouth quirked into a little smile when she slanted him a glance. “That seems to be your territory.”

  Her eyes narrowed on him but darn it if she didn’t feel her cheeks flame. So he had heard her conversation with the girls on Friday night, and it didn’t appear that anything she might say could get her out of this jam. Besides, she couldn’t even think of a plausible explanation. She’d admitted he was good looking, nothing more. She’d also clarified that he was a first-class Scrooge, something that he was confirming with each passing second.

  “I try to see the good in people,” she said with a lift of her chin. “And as I could find nothing redeeming about your character, I had to settle on your looks.”

  “Oh, is that what it was?” His eyes gleamed as Jenna’s cheeks flamed.

  “I think we should get back to discussing the music department.”

  “I’m afraid there isn’t much more to say on the matter. There is only so much funding.”

  “In case you haven’t noticed, everyone in town is fighting to protect the arts by pulling together for the library. Why not music?” But therein lied the answer. There was only so much money, only so many donations. And the townspeople had found their cause.

  Tears threatened to fall but she pushed them back, straightening her shoulders. It wasn’t even her department. She had her own business giving piano lessons. But that music department was a part of her past and a part of who she was today.

  “I understand that you’re disappointed about the pageant. If it makes you feel better, the kids are having fun with the class party idea,” Travis said. “Mr. Pritchard is using it as an opportunity to introduce different music styles, and the gym teacher is helping them with some dance routines. We have some country music, some techno—”

  “Techno?” She gaped at him. “Techno Christmas music?”

  Travis shrugged. “Why not?”

  “Because…because…” Because of so many things! She stared at him, eyes blazing, and then tossed up her hands. “We need more marshmallows!”

  She marched over to the boxes of unopened supplies stacked against the wall, nearly colliding with dear old Mabel Gibney’s wheelchair.

  “Mrs. Gibney! I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there!” She smiled at the woman and shook her head at her behavior. Few people in town loved Christmas more than Mrs. Gibney, and she always came out for each town event, even as the years made it more difficult for her.

  “It’s perfectly fine, dear. You seemed to be in a real rush. Running to meet someone?” Her eyes twinkled.

  More like running from someone, Jenna thought. But, seeing no need to bog the poor woman down with all her complaints or troubles, she kept the conversation light. It was Christmas after all, and the gingerbread event was special for most members of the town, especially Mrs. Gibney, who still managed to expertly tile a candy roof, despite arthritis in her hands.

  “I’m glad I saw you, though, Jenna,” Mrs. Gibney said firmly.

  From behind the table, Jenna heard Travis clear his throat. Mrs. Gibney frowned deeply at him and then smiled up at Jenna.

  “I don’t think I could have enjoyed your performance Friday more. You have such a gift!”

  Sometimes, a moment like this was all that was needed to remind her to keep going. It wasn’t the flattery—no, it was the fact that she’d made a difference to someone, even for one night or a single moment.

  “I’m glad you enjoyed it, Mrs. Gibney. I’m afraid that not everyone appreciates our Christmas festivities, and it means a lot that you do.”

  Mrs. Gibney looked at her sharply. “What do you mean?”

  “Unfortunately, the school pageant has been canceled this year.” Jenna shrugged at the woman’s confused expressions and explained, “The board feels budget cuts are necessary.”

  “Well.” Mrs. Gibney pinched her lips. “That is a shame indeed, but I will be looking most forward to your carols this year. You will still do that?”

  “Of course,” Jenna reassured her. “Can I get you some gumdrops?” She knew from years past that Mrs. Gibney was a fan of classic colors, and the green and red candies did tend to go quickly.

  “Don’t let me keep you from where you’re going,” Mrs. Gibney assured her with a gentle pat on the hand. “My grandson can help me just fine.”

  Jenna frowned at her. “Grandson?” And then, with knowing dread, she turned to see Travis grinning back at her.

  Jenna swallowed hard. “This is your...” She couldn’t finish that thought. Couldn’t make sense of it.

  “My grandson. He’s finally come to have a nice long visit with me.” Mrs. Gibney waggled her eyebrows and whispered, “Handsome, isn’t he? Single, too, in case you were wondering.”

  Jenna wasn’t, but she was too polite to crush the old woman’s pride. She gave a withering smile and said, “I need to check on my, um, cousins.”

  With that, she strode with firm determination into the kitchen where she knew that the only people who would be back there at this time would be Amelia or Maddie.

  She found them huddled over a square of gingerbread. Unlike the other participants, their house was not a simple box, but rather a Victorian-style home, complete with a porch.

  Mrs. Gibney was Travis’s grandmother! How was that even possible?

  “I swear, if this wasn’t for the library and helping out Helena, I would get my coat and leave right now!”

  “What’s going on?” Amelia looked at her in alarm, her piping bag still in her hand.

  “It seems that Candy has moved on to my love life.” Jenna fished a gumdrop from a candy bowl and popped it into her mouth. “She stuck me at the supply table with our new principal!”

  Maddie chuckled. “It was bound to happen. And once she’s through with you, one of the Clark girls will be next.”

  Jenna had to agree there. The Clarks, being related to her mother, were not an extension of her father’s family, but that didn’t stop Candy from treating them as if they were.

  “I need a good look at this man.” Amelia walked over to the door and glanced through the circular window at the top. “He is cute!” Amelia whispered, and then, s
eeing Jenna’s expression, gave an apologetic grin. “Maddie told me about Friday night.”

  “Then you also know that he canceled the holiday pageant and, if he has it his way, will also eliminate the entire music program!”

  She knew she sounded like she was in denial, but she wasn’t willing to believe that the music department could be cut until she heard it directly from Suzanne.

  “Why is he talking to Mabel Gibney?” Maddie asked, turning from the window.

  “That’s what I was about to tell you. She’s his grandmother!”

  Both cousins stared at her in disbelief, but it was Amelia who spoke first. “I seem to remember that she had a grandson visit her in the summer a few times. We were just kids, caught up in our fun, so I didn’t pay it much attention.”

  “Her daughter never visited though,” Maddie remarked. “I remember hearing that she passed away a couple of years back.”

  Jenna frowned at this. “That’s sad.” Very sad. But not enough to make her give the man a pass.

  Amelia tipped her head. “I know it’s disappointing to you that the pageant was canceled, but think of all the time you have to devote to the fundraising efforts. And you have the children’s choir now! Maybe it was a blessing in disguise.”

  “I know,” Jenna said, “but he doesn’t know that. And he didn’t care that he took away something special from me or that…” Shoot. She could feel the tears burn in the back of her eyes and she blinked quickly, hoping to push them back in their place.

  “Something tells me that this is about more than the school pageant,” Maddie said softly.

  Jenna sniffed, happy that she’d managed to stop her tears before they fell. This was supposed to be a happy day. She would not let that man ruin it for her. “Sometimes I wonder what might have happened if I’d gotten into that music academy.” She gave a nonchalant shrug but her heart felt heavy. It wasn’t just about wondering what path her life might have taken, it was a bigger question, one that made her wonder not what if but why? Why hadn’t she been good enough?

  “There wouldn’t be a Christmas choir, or all these kids learning piano,” Amelia said frankly. She measured out a cup of flour and began sifting it into a large bowl. “Would it make you feel better if I assigned someone else to dish out the candy? You could oversee the auction sign-up sheets instead?”

  Jenna nodded. “Thank you.”

  Amelia gave her a wink of camaraderie. “You’re an important part of this community, Jenna. Don’t lose sight of that over one outsider.”

  Jenna swallowed hard, knowing that her cousin was right. Travis was an outsider. He was temporary. And soon, he would be gone.

  Chapter Six

  Normally Jenna gave her students an extra few minutes if she didn’t have another lesson directly afterward, but today, she was eager for little Owen to finish his last attempt of “Three Blind Mice.” She eyed the clock that was discreetly placed on top of her piano, next to the photo of her with her parents and sisters taken next to the lake one summer.

  A knock on the door signaled that Owen’s mother had arrived, and Jenna helped him quickly collect his lesson book as she walked him into the hallway.

  “Hello!” Jenna was always happy to see Tina Jacobs. She’d been a friend of Gabby’s in school, and a frequent visitor at their home growing up, too. “He did wonderful today.”

  Tina’s reaction was not the smile that Jenna had been expecting. “Owen is so crushed not to be able to dress up as a toy soldier this year! And we’re all so disappointed we won’t be able to enjoy your beautiful music at the pageant this year.”

  Ah. So word was spreading.

  “A class song just isn’t the same,” Tina continued.

  Especially not when you took a dance club take on classic carols, Jenna thought.

  “We don’t even get costumes, just a Santa hat!” Owen complained as his mother helped him into his coat. “And we don’t get to hold one of those battery-operated candles for the final song, either!”

  Jenna and Tina exchanged an amused smile. “Well, I’m sure it will be special in its own way.” She wasn’t sure of that at all, but she wanted Owen to enjoy himself, all the same. “I’m not sure if you’ve heard that some of the children will be performing at the Winter Carnival?”

  Tina looked surprised at this news. “No! Is it too late to sign up?”

  Jenna smiled warmly. “Never too late. I’m planning to send out a rehearsal schedule by tomorrow morning. As they say, the show must go on!”

  Tina looked visibly relieved. “Oh, I’m so happy to hear this. What’s Christmas without a pageant?”

  “My thoughts exactly.” Jenna ruffled Owen’s hair. “Now don’t forget to practice the song on page ten and pay attention to your fingering. We’ll work on it again next week.”

  “Yes, Miss Jenna,” he said before giving her a big toothless smile. “We’re going to decorate our tree tonight!”

  “And I’m going to go pick one out!”

  Tina reached for the door handle and ushered her son into the stairwell. “You’d better hurry. I drove by the lot on my way here and it looked a little picked over.”

  Just as Jenna had feared. She closed the door behind the Jacobs family and quickly put on her coat and boots.

  Bart’s tree lot was not far on foot, and despite the chilly wind, by the time she made it to the end of Main Street, she was practically out of breath from speed-walking the short distance. She sighed in relief when she saw that while the lot was certainly not full of the larger spruces and Douglas firs that might work in her parents’ home, many smaller trees would be the perfect size for her apartment.

  “Hey, Bart!” She stopped at the trailer trimmed in colored lights where her longtime friend was drinking something steaming from a thermos. From the smell of it, coffee. Bart might sell Christmas trees, but he wasn’t exactly a peppermint hot chocolate kind of guy. “I’m glad to see you saved a few trees for me.”

  “What’s Christmas without a tree?” He grinned. “Besides, I’m sure that if I did sell out, your cousin next door would have been sure to find a fake tree for you somewhere in her shop.”

  “Oh, no. I want the real thing. The smell. The needles. Just no squirrels hiding in the branches,” she warned.

  Bart laughed. “Now that would be a first. But if you’re looking for one, now’s the time to buy. They went fast this year. I’ll probably still have a few of the outliers through Christmas Eve. There’s always somebody who waits until the last minute.”

  “Well, I’ll go look around,” Jenna said, noticing that another car had just pulled up.

  With a smile, she walked through the snow-covered aisles of the tree lot, stopping every few feet to admire a tree and check the tag. Bart had draped lights from metal poles all around the square of space, and music filtered in from speakers near his hut. She hummed along to one of her favorite carols as she bent to smell a fresh pine. It was the smell of winter. Better: the smell of Christmas.

  Nothing could ruin her mood tonight.

  Except…

  Oh, no. Jenna rounded the bend into the next aisle and directly into the path of Travis Dunne.

  “This seems to be a pattern,” he said with a good-natured grin and one that Jenna didn’t match.

  “Most people do buy Christmas trees during December, and Bart’s is the only place to buy them around here. Though I have to admit I’m surprised to see you buying a tree, given your lack of enthusiasm for traditions.”

  His expression didn’t waver. And he didn’t explain himself either. Instead, he said, “And I would have thought someone as passionate about Christmas traditions as you are would have had their tree decorated by the day after Thanksgiving.”

  Jenna inched her nose higher and said, “Believe it or not, there are many people in town who actually want my services this time of year.”

  The playful smile dropped from Travis’s mouth. “I’m sure there do, and it’s probably going to be our loss.”

/>   She eyed him carefully, unsure if that was regret she heard in his tone or just a desire to call a truce. Either way, she decided that one was in order. Travis Dunne may have insulted her and rejected her, but she’d bounced back before and she was doing it again.

  She reached out to check the needles of a small blue spruce, her personal favorite, and, deeming it healthy enough to last through to New Year’s when she planned to take it down, slipped a “sold” tag over the branch to claim it as her own.

  “I’m afraid that one’s already spoken for,” said Bart, coming up the aisle.

  “Oh? I didn’t see a tag.” Jenna searched the branches, wondering if she’d missed something.

  “I’m afraid this gentleman here has already paid for it. He was just waiting for me to tie it to his car.” Bart gave her the slightest hint of a smile to show what he thought of Travis not taking on that task himself.

  Jenna gave him a similar look, one that said “city boy.” They all knew the type—Cora had settled down with one—people who came from the big city, looking for an escape or a change of pace. Some couldn’t wait to get back to the crowds and noise, and others found that this pace of life was more to their liking.

  It was clear to Jenna that Travis didn’t fall into that bucket.

  “Please, let Jenna have it,” Travis said, raising a hand.

  Bart glanced from Jenna to Travis. “I have a few like this but a foot taller.”

  “No, no.” Jenna was shaking her head frantically. The last thing she needed was for Travis to think he’d wiped the slate clean with a good gesture. Besides, several other small trees would fit in her tight living room.

  None, however, were her favorite spruces.

  “I insist.” Travis looked at her frankly. “My grandmother will probably want something a bit bigger anyway, and…it’s the least I can do.” His gaze was so soft that Jenna felt herself waver, against her better judgment.

  “Well, thank you,” she said gruffly. But there was no way she’d let him pay for it. “I’ll settle up my bill at the counter. I’ll probably need a delivery service for this too, Bart.”