“I suppose it was after the hockey game in Duluth. Do you remember that?”
Harris’ question shocked his dad. Charles had no idea Harris had remembered that. He was old enough to remember, of course, but it was such a simple thing.
Harris’ hockey game had ended – a tough loss to a strong Hermantown team – and everybody seemed worn out and a little down. Barb had suggested they all go for hot chocolate before the trip back to the cities.
The hot chocolate they’d found was in a little hut next to a pretty ice-skating rink set up for the holidays. Charles had parked and they all looked at each other wondering if it was too much effort. But Kayla and Ashley, Harris’ sisters, had sat through endless games that weekend and were ready to do something that didn’t require more sitting. They bounded out of the car and left the others no choice but to follow.
Charles smiled at the way Harris had grumbled about having to move, his muscles exhausted.
“I think every inch of my body hurt after those games.” Harris smiled, keeping up with his fathers’ memory of the night.
“I didn’t think you’d get out, and I wouldn’t have blamed you. Played damn good that weekend,” Charles added to make sure Harris didn’t think the skating was all he remembered.
“Kayl and Ash ran right by the chocolate and asked that poor stand attendant for free skates.” Harris laughed and shook his head. “I can’t believe that kid caved.”
Charles's laugh was big at the forgotten detail. “They did that, that’s right. And,” Charles looked at Harris now, “I think you saw how much fun your sisters were having and didn’t want to take the moment away, so you joined in.”
“You heard them cracking up, nothing would have – or could have – stopped that.” Harris tried to avoid the admittance, though he had always had a soft spot for his sisters. They were always there. In the stands, on the sidelines, no matter how far they had to go – they were always there cheering him on.
“You three got that whole rink to join you in a game of skating tag. Even those little kids, they couldn’t have been over five. The parents stood on the side laughing and cheering.”
“Then we got the hot chocolate,” Harris said, thinking of how much his side had joined the rest of his aching body, only that particular pain was from laughing too much.
“Everybody sat in a big circle on the ice and drank together. What a moment.” Charles admitted, looking down and shaking his head, trying to pull every detail into his memory. Then he smiled and he saw Harris smile back and made a mental note to add this moment to his long list of favorite memories.
__
Brandon walked in when both of the men were sharing more stories from Christmases past. The way they’d stopped talking at his greeting caught him a little off guard and had him stumbling to a stop and holding a stare in their direction.
“Brandon, come on in. I wondered if I’d catch you both,” Charles said as he waved Brandon to the chair next to his own. “What do you have so far?”
Brandon looked to Harris, wondering if he should take the lead or let Harris run the recap. When Harris gave a friendly nod, Brandon smiled and began walking the two through the details of the collaboration. Charles had asked some questions but overall, they’d covered a lot of ground in the short time they’d been working this.
Charles sat and took in all of the information. The timing, he thought, would be all up to Harris. He wondered…
“I like it. Now there’s the question of timing. What are your thoughts?” Charles directed the question to Harris. He told himself he wouldn’t mind the when – as whenever it happened to be it would be great for both companies – but he’d be lying if a little part of him didn’t hope Harris would take the holidays to slow down.
Harris paused and thought on it. He thought about his schedule with Harlow, and all the things they had planned. And, of course, the actual holidays that were Christmas and the New Year.
It left him two full weeks of work in December – he was counting out the week of Christmas for any type of productive activity. Then twelve weeks would take him to the second quarter. They could do twelve weeks. It would be tough, but they could do it.
“What about Q2?” Harris asked Brandon directly, but looked to both of the men for input. If he wasn’t mistaken, Harris thought he saw a flicker of disappointment flash across his dad’s face before he lifted his eyebrows and turned to Brandon for the actual timing. Nobody had to do math when Brandon was around.
“Sixty-six working days if you don’t count the week of Christmas or New Year’s.” Brandon confirmed and went on without prompting. “We can do it in sixty if nothing goes wrong and we don’t miss a day. If Pro Feed agrees to the collaboration schedule.”
Harris’ excitement was growing as they discussed the details. He could feel the energy pulse through his body, and nodded his head.
“Yes,” Harris said, first to himself, then to the others. “Yes, let’s do it. Dad, any objections? Aside from making sure I’m home for Christmas?”
Charles let out a breathy laugh at his son’s exuberance. He might as well accept and be glad that Harris liked the family business. It could have been worse.
“Okay, let’s go for it. Let me know what you need from me in the meantime.”
The three men stood up smiling. Harris and Brandon’s smiles were big, boyish, and giddy at the new challenge they were about to take on – with only opportunity laying before them. And Charles, though slightly less so as he tried to hide a wish his son would slow down, joined in. Then they all shook hands at their new venture and went on with their days.
Charles paused once in the doorway to look back at the two younger men who were already hovering over Brandon’s laptop.
Though he wouldn’t wish for his and their families’ lives to have been any different, he wished just a little that his son would know their world wouldn’t stop turning if he let a little Christmas magic of his own come over him. He wished Harris would slow down just as the year did when winter fell upon it.
He might just see there was a little more wonder out in the world with family and friends than in here working toward a number.
When he heard the men laugh, Charles smiled and closed the door behind him. He walked back to his office to call Barb and tell her he loved her and wish her a Merry Christmas, like he’d done as a young man when he’d been trying to woo her over a holiday of their own.
CHAPTER 16
Lisa and Ryan watched Harlow practically burn streaks into her office rug with the pacing she’d been doing. She was going to contemplate the pros and cons of inviting Harris to the hockey event Friday right through her floor.
“It’s in two days,” Harlow started again and turned at the end of a pacing line, “that’s not enough notice to give somebody for something like this. And,” she added, making another turn and rounding her eyes with the words, “it’s an event like this.”
Lisa smirked toward Ryan, who was getting far too much enjoyment out of his boss’s anxiety over the man that was quickly becoming a regular mention in her friend’s casual conversations.
“Can you explain to me a little bit more what exactly ‘event like this’ means and why it’s important here?” Lisa asked through a yawn, “Sorry, not you. You’re not boring. Baby. It’s the baby.”
Harlow nodded her understanding in passing. “Public. Very public. Lots of people, people he’ll meet, they’ll wonder…”
“Wonder about what exactly?”
This question managed to stop Harlow. When she looked up her face brightened like a lightbulb. A realization had come to her.
“Lisa. Exactly, exactly.”
“Sorry, now you lost me,” Lisa said, shaking her head and looking to Ryan to see if he was following along. When Ryan shook his head, they started absently in Harlow’s direction and waited.
“You guys, wonder about what? Exactly! What? Because there is no what. Don’t you see? I can’t believe I even worked myself up so much. It won’t
matter because we – Harris and I – aren’t anything.”
Harlow held her hands out to indicate there was nothing in them, using charades to aid in her determination. “Nothing at all. He’s just a simple Christmas wish deliverer and I am a gracious wish accepter. Nothing more, nothing less. Besides, it’s a holiday charity event, it’s super Christmassy. It makes total sense that this would be something he would tag along to.”
Harlow placed her hands on her hips to watch the understanding slowly come to Lisa and Ryan’s faces. Their disbelieving nods were in slow motion, but gaining strength the longer she stared – and the more narrow Harlow made her eyes.
“Yes,” Ryan said when he looked at Lisa, who had clearly not been trying to indicate there was nothing going on between the two seemingly perfect pair, “you’re exactly right.” Ryan confirmed shooting Lisa a look that said help me out a little here. “So, just go ahead and call him, tell him you have a great charity event at the rink Friday and you think he’d enjoy it. You could even say ‘it might be fun.’”
The cheesy smile Ryan gave was missed by Harlow but didn’t slip past Lisa as she caught on to what he was doing.
Harlow’s finger bounced up and down at his logic and she ended with an unmoving point in his direction. “You know, yes, I think I’ll do just that.”
She whirled around her desk and pulled out her cell phone and scrolled to: Harris Christmas Extraordinaire, then clicked his name with her thumb.
“Harris, hi, it’s Harlow.” Harlow said and smiled to Lisa and Ryan as she heard his response. Then she mouthed he knew it was me.
Lisa pinched her lips together to hide the humor behind them that was trying to escape, and heard Ryan whisper to her, “She knows he can see who’s calling, right?”
“Let’s just let it be,” Lisa said, tapping Ryan’s shoulder, encouraging him to drop it and let Harlow have her moment.
“It’s a charity event and I thought you might like it,” Harlow continued her conversation. “You would? Oh, that’s great!” Harlow did a little dance in the room and wasn’t ashamed. Besides, she would have done the same had it been anybody else on the call, or so she told herself.
“I’m excited. Sure, my house at four-thirty?” Harlow said, then stopped and held her breath. “Okay, yes, sounds great. See you then.” Harlow listened to Harris’ sign off and lost the little color her porcelain skin had and her mouth gaped open.
Lisa stood first but Ryan beat her in their movement toward Harlow. They’d seen her change in an instant.
“Harlow, are you okay, what happened?” Ryan asked, genuine concern wrenched out with his words.
“He said, ‘it’s a date’ then hung up.” Harlow said with a hint of fear in her own words.
Ryan barely held in a snort and Lisa craned her neck so Harlow couldn’t see her silent laughter. Lisa rubbed Harlow’s back and said, “Oh, I’m sure he didn’t mean it. You two will still go as friends. It’s just a figure of speech. Don’t worry about it at all.”
Harlow straightened and grabbed the mug from her desk and left the two in the office alone.
“It’s totally a date.” Ryan said.
“Yes, but she doesn’t have to know that.”
CHAPTER 17
The clothes that were piled in the middle of Harlow’s bed looked like a mountain she could have skied down. Every outfit she tried on became a fresh snowfall to the top helping it grow.
Casual. People would be casual there, she thought. But she needed to look cute. But she also didn’t need to look cute. No, she thought, she wanted to look cute – for herself. Or, that’s what she decided to tell herself.
Harlow marched to the side of the mound where she’d tossed the discarded sweaters, pulled out a camel colored turtleneck sweater, and held it up. She took a turn on a point and decidedly marched right to the leopard booties with a nice sturdy heel. Then raised her head high and picked up the black skinny jeans – the same jeans she’d had on two pairs ago and had decided against.
Warm and cute, and the ankle boots were just a bit sexy.
“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Harlow asked herself when she changed and turned herself in front of the intricate, antique floor mirror.
When she turned back to look at the mountain she sighed and thought, okay, maybe just a little hard. Then she started laying shirts and jeans flat, one on top of the other so she could easily slide the hangers in and haul them back into her closet.
Just as she was putting the last of the jeans away Harlow’s phone began to ring and the sound of Jingle Bells filled the room.
“Hello,” Harlow smiled and sang into the phone after accepting the call.
“Hi, are you ready for your casual night out?” Lisa asked with a baby offering cooing noises in the background.
Harlow’s heart fluttered at the sound and went mushy on the inside. She had almost missed the way Lisa had described the night she was about to go on, but caught it and loved her more for it.
“Yes,” she said proudly, looking at her now-clean room and the outfit she hadn’t wavered from once. Okay, maybe once, but hadn’t changed out of when the act of putting the clothes away forced her to go through her entire closet for a second time. “I am ready, looking super wintery, and I am going to be nothing but relaxed and excited. Because,” Harlow took each step down the stairs deliberately as if she were making a point, “this is just a friendly and fun night out.”
Harlow slipped off a step as she tried to quickly halt herself when she saw Harris’ SUV pull into the curve of her driveway.
“Lisa!” Harlow whispered. “He’s here!”
Lisa’s smile reached through the phone as she said, “You’ll have a blast. And I’ll let you go so you can say hi and get on your way.”
“No, wait,” Harlow whispered again.
“Why are you whispering?” Lisa asked, still amused.
“I’m spying on him from the fourth floor. He just pulled in.” She gasped and forgot her need for quiet, “He’s getting out. Oh, gosh dang it!” Harlow stomped her foot on the marble step, causing an echo from her chunky heel.
“What? What is it?” Lisa asked.
“He looks so cute. No,” she corrected, “he looks handsome today. No, no, no. He’s not supposed to look handsome tonight.”
“I would ask what he’s wearing but I fear that would only make it worse for you. Instead I’ll try logic.” Lisa paused and made sure she had full attention. “Do you think there’s any possibility that he looks handsome tonight, because, well, he is in fact…handsome?”
“Hmm.” Harlow considered the question. “On any other day I’d give you that one. But today he has on a black sweater with super cute jeans, so no, not at all. Tonight, he’s super handsome. You know people with blonde hair look good in black. Like the kind of good that looks better than everybody else? It’s a thing.”
“Then here’s what I think,” Lisa started, “I think you know that you are just as good looking as he is. So rather than worry about how great looking he is, when you’re out there tonight just know that everybody is going to wonder who that beautiful woman is who’s with him.”
“I can be beautiful today,” Harlow said, agreeing with Lisa. Or, trying to convince her mind to stop spinning at the sight of Harris because it was making her dizzy and letting the rotation reach her belly.
“Yes. You are beautiful. Every single day,” Lisa added, “but especially today. And I should remind you, you are also fun, witty, and charismatic – all of which add to your beauty.”
“Lisa,” Harlow said, firm and resounding, “you’re right. And, I’m going to holly the jolly right out of this holiday charity night.”
“That’s my girl.”
“Okay, he’s at the door, I’ll talk to you tomorrow and let you know how it went.”
“Sounds good, have a great time.”
“Thanks, talk to you later.”
As soon as the friends hung up, the doorbell rang.
__
The charity event was sporty and masculine, and Christmassy and wonderful. The perfect combination of casual and classy – the environment was casual, the cause was more than classy.
All of the funds raised that evening were going to the Children’s Hospital – every last penny. Even the work Ryan had done putting the entire event together with his team was pro bono. Harlow had seen to that detail, but agreed to give Ryan all of the resources he’d need to pull off an event like this. And, as Harlow turned circles in the middle of the rink, she saw that he did.
Pride, Harlow decided, was what was coursing through her. And, she added to herself, all of the cheerful beauty of the holiday that surrounded her. And maybe a little bit of hope.
She and Harris had met some of the kids that were patients at the hospital shortly after they’d arrived, and each one of them had stolen their hearts.
So now, she hoped. She hoped with everything inside of her that this night would help with the care they needed, and would give them a Christmas like every other happy child would have that year.
“Your company put all of this together?” Harris asked as they stood back-to-back looking around at the winter spectacle.
“Ryan did this. Ryan and his team. They nailed it,” Harlow admitted leaning her head back slightly to talk over her shoulder. “He needs a raise,” she acknowledged, knowing Ryan had surpassed her expectations and deserved serious recognition.
“I don’t know much about event planning but I’d say ‘nailed it’ could possibly be an understatement.” Harris looked up and watched the trees on every level light up to the beat of the Christmas music.
“You nailed it.” Harlow grinned.
__
Harlow had seen Ryan in passing a couple times and noted he seemed to have everything under control. She also noted that Harris had known and introduced her to just as many people as she had to him.
She’d overheard him talking about everything from pee wee hockey to high school grudge matches. It was a side of him she found fun, exciting, and just the right amount of competitive. The amount that made him not only handsome, but sexy. Even though she didn’t care about that or think about it while with a friend on a casual night out.
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