Stocking Stuffers: A Santa’s Coming Short Story

by Olivia Hawthorne

  Stocking Stuffers

  A Santa’s Coming Short Story

  Olivia Hawthorne

  Contents

  BLURB

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Santa’s Coming Short Stories

  Sneak Peaks

  Also by Olivia Hawthorne

  About the Author

  Copyright © Stocking Stuffers, a Santa’s Coming Short Story 2018

  by Olivia Hawthorne

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

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  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  BLURB

  Millie Malone: I wasn’t looking forward to the holidays, the first Christmas alone.

  I was not in the Christmas spirit, and thought nothing could make it worse until the Murphy twins walked through my door.

  Hot, arrogant, and extreme douche bags who had been nothing but jerks to me back in the day, I couldn’t handle their cocky attitudes as they flashed their cash around and acted like they owned the place.

  The had learned once that they couldn’t have me.

  But this time around things would be different.

  I thought I’d wake up Christmas morning with an empty stocking, but it turned out to be double stuffed.

  Chapter One

  “Order up!”

  George’s voice rang across the small diner and he slammed his hand down on the bell a few times to emphasize his urgency.

  “I heard you the first twenty times, George,” I said and rolled my eyes. “Seriously, I’m right here.”

  “You never know, you might be reading one of your romance books or something,” he said with a grin.

  I picked up the plate piled high with fries and our house special, the Roadside Burger, and grinned back. “You never know, I might fire your ass one of these days. I am your boss, after all.”

  George chuckled and went back to the grill as I walked Lenny’s burger out to him.

  There were exactly three customers in the diner that afternoon, all regulars and all people I’d known since I was a little girl.

  “Here you go, Lenny,” I said, setting the dish in front of the old timer. He looked up and me and smiled.

  “You got any plans for Christmas this year, Millie?”

  “Not a damned thing,” I replied.

  “It must be hard, your first holiday without your dad.”

  “Yup. I suppose it is,” I said and forced a smile before I asked if he needed anything else.

  He didn’t, so I headed back to my spot behind the counter where I could pretend to polish the cutlery and ignore the creeping sadness that threatened to take over if I let it.

  I was all alone in the world, that was the fact of the matter. My mom had passed when I was a teenager, and my dad had been my only relative.

  We lived in a small mountain town, Rocky Lodge, and I barely had any friends left, seeings how things were shutting down left right and center around here as everybody left for the city and better jobs.

  I felt like a hold out, and it hadn’t bothered me as long as I’d had Pop in the picture, but he’d slipping on the ice in the late spring and hadn’t quite recovered from the head injury he’d sustained.

  A week later, he’d had a stroke in the hospital and I was officially alone.

  I didn’t know where to go or what to do with my life, so I’d rented out his house to a nice family I knew, kept his diner and kept working here as usual.

  I had my own little log house down by the river, and life wasn’t that bad actually.

  But the holidays were hard. Damn, they really got me.

  We used to be a thriving resort town with an Olympic level ski hill, but in the economic collapse it had gone under and the entire town had just folded up, one shop at a time.

  I made a decent enough living as the only diner in town, and Roadside was a landmark. The occasional tourist we did get around here always had to check it out. It had been in business in the same little location for forty years now, opened by my mom and dad long before I was even a spark in his eye.

  “You know Anna said you could have dinner with us,” George said. He’d been cooking at Roadside since the first day and I felt proud that I was still able to keep him employed. I didn’t know what he and his wife would do without me.

  “That’s okay, George. You’ve got your kids and grandkids coming up from the city. I wouldn’t want to impose.”

  Translation: I didn’t think I could handle seeing them enjoying their family time together and might end up bawling like an idiot at Christmas dinner, missing my dad.

  “You’re being silly, of course you wouldn’t be imposing. You’re like family to us, you know.”

  “I know, thank you,” I said. But ‘like family’ wasn’t family, so I knew I wouldn’t go. “I’m going to open the restaurant I actually, have dinner for anyone in town who doesn’t have somebody.”

  George’s eyes lit up. “That’s a nice thought, Mills. Maybe I’ll pop in and help out.”

  He used the nickname my dad always used, and it hurt. Only a few people in the world had ever called me that, and now they were all gone.

  “Never you mind, George,” I replied with another forced grin. “You’ve got family depending on your turkey carving skills, I’ll be able to handle the three or four people who show up.”

  George didn’t reply, he ducked out of sight and came back with yet another Roadhouse burger and fries.

  What can I say? It was our most popular item from a menu consisting mostly of burgers and fries and good, old fashioned breakfasts.

  I set the next plate in front of Mickie, an older woman who was new to town.

  And by new, I mean she’d moved in about a year ago but I still hadn’t had a chance to sit down and really get to know her.

  “Did I hear you say you’re doing a Christmas Day dinner?” she asked.

  “I was thinking about it,” I replied.

  “Oh good, I don’t really have anywhere to go. Count me in. Do you need somebody to bake some pies? I’m real good at it, my dear departed husband always said mine were the best.”

  “Oh that would be fantastic,” I said with a smile, but again it felt tight and forced.

  I just couldn’t get into the Christmas spirit no matter how hard I tried or how kind people were around me.

  The little bell above the door jingled merrily and I turned around to greet my new customers.

  And found myself staring right into the gorgeous, twin, smug faces of Sterling and Logan Murphy.

  They barely looked at me, they were deep in conversation as they walked past the front counter to a booth at the end of the restaurant.

  They might not have noticed me, but I couldn’t help it…I noticed them.

  The Murphy twins had always been my secret crush when we were teenagers, their parents had owned a huge chalet at the ski hill and I’d worked there at the time.

  I had grown up on the hill, spending time between the diner and as a ski instructor, happily giving lessons when I wasn’t waiting tables.

  At first it seemed like the Murphy twins and I would get along, we were friends and spent time on the hill racing and having a good time.

  But something had happened around age fifteen, that winter they’d developed int
o the tall, gorgeous Greek gods who knew they were smoking hot and began to act like it.

  I had been left behind, me who was tall and a tomboy and ungraceful. They’d been surrounded by flocks of gorgeous girls and even women old enough to be our mothers…and the Murphy twins had eaten it all up.

  The attention had gone to their heads, and they’d become mean after a while, condescending and rude when they’d seen me working here in the diner.

  “Silly Milly,” they’d called me because back then I was flipping burgers with George just to keep up with the supply of the busy restaurant.

  Then out of the blue when we were all about eighteen, after a drunken Christmas party at the ski lodge…we’d kissed.

  And by we, I mean all of us, I’d kissed each of the hot brothers, one after the other until my head felt as if it was going to float away.

  But I’d been drunk and they’d walked me home, and when I’d woken up in the morning I’d been so horrified that I’d done such a dirty thing that I hadn’t been able to even talk to them after that.

  And of course shorty after, the hill had shut down and I’d lost contact with them long ago.

  I cringed and wished I had enough money to hire a waitress, somebody I could send their way so I didn’t have to face them.

  I didn’t know why they were back in town, the best thing to come of the ski hill going under had been the Murphy twins disappearing from my life, taking the memory my humiliating behavior with them.

  But I was the only one on shift to handle the front of the diner, so I grabbed a couple menus and tensed up as I headed over to their table, bracing myself to deal with their arrogance and listen to their cocky banter.

  It wouldn’t be so difficult if they weren’t still so absolutely stunning.

  And it wouldn’t be so awful if I didn’t feel a thousand butterflies in my stomach at the sight of them.

  After all this time, and all their rude behavior and my shocking desires, I still wanted the Murphy twins.

  And I hated myself a little because of it.

  Chapter Two

  “Can I get you something to drink?” I asked as I slapped the menus on the table.

  They didn’t look up from where they were hunched over papers and what appeared to be architectural drawings. “I’ll have a coffee,” Sterling said.

  “I’ll take one too,” Logan added.

  I could still tell them apart even after all this time.

  I exhaled as I walked away, relief flooding through my body and I sauntered back behind the counter to get their coffees.

  I started to pour the steaming, hot liquid into white ceramic mugs when George popped his head out the kitchen window.

  “Looks like I won’t need to cook anything, they think you’re on the menu,” he chuckled.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, embarrassment flaming in my cheeks.

  “They’ve been watching you since you left their table. They’re looking at you like you’re a juicy steak on legs,” he laughed.

  “Whatever, George. Just worry about your grill,” I replied and rolled my eyes. He was constantly trying to set me up with somebody, he hated that I was alone in the world and thought I should settle down and start a family.

  I thought he should butt out, but I knew he meant well.

  His laughter followed me back to the table where I set the mugs down in front of the twins and I reached into my apron pocket and pulled out my notebook.

  I flipped it open and looked down at the two of them. They were carefully studying their menus and I took the opportunity to let my eyes flow across their faces, marveling that even after all this time, they were still as unbelievable attractive as ever.

  Logan was the older twin by seven minutes, I remembered that oddly enough. His blonde hair was longer, slightly shaggy, and he had kind of a snowboarder look. He could board down any mountain and nobody would blink twice.

  Sterling was younger, but he was all business. His hair was the same color, but shorn on the sides and slightly longer on top.

  He was dressed in business casual, he wouldn’t be out of place in the city in an office tower somewhere and he stood out a little bit in our small town.

  I mean, they both did.

  And damn, they shared the same brilliant, deep blue eyes, strong jawlines and full, sensual lips.

  It was crazy though, I’d never been more attracted to one of them over the other and that had always left me with a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach.

  I stared long enough that it became awkward, and I realized I was lurking more than being a waitress.

  “Do you see anything you like?” I blurted and hated the way my voice sounded the moment the words spilled off my tongue.

  I sounded desperate.

  Eager.

  Not at all like the self-possessed, independent woman that had been fine without a boyfriend for the last few years.

  Who had been fine without them for so long now.

  Logan replied first, he dropped the menu to the table top, looked me up and down and said, “I definitely do, Millie. How are you doing?”

  Sterling shot me a sexy smirk and said, “I haven’t seen anything I liked for years, but now I do.”

  I sputtered and gripped my notepad, held my pencil in my trembling hand and said, “Hey guys. I meant on the menu. What do you want to eat?”

  Oh god, that sounded weird too. Horny. Desperate.

  Like I was offering myself up for them to feast on.

  And that image shot through my mind like lightning striking my frontal lobe, the visual of them taking turns going down on me, devouring me.

  “Well, since I can’t get what I really want to eat,” Sterling said and raised a single brow. “I’ll have the Roadhouse burger with fries. Extra fries.”

  I didn’t know how I was keeping myself together, my face burned red hot with embarrassment at all the heated sexual innuendos I had inadvertently gotten myself in the middle of.

  “And you? Are you ready to order?” I asked Logan.

  “Oh yeah, I know exactly what I want,” he said with deliberate cheekiness. “Same as my brother.”

  Then he looked me up and down, licked his lips and winked. “Exactly the same.”

  I didn’t need to write anything in my notepad, but I pretended to scribble something just to look away from the two of them. I said, “Sounds good, I’ll be back soon with your burgers.”

  I turned on my heel and walked away, but I couldn’t help myself. I put a little extra wiggle in my hips and swayed them in a sexy manner because I could practically feel the weight of their eyes on me.

  Had they just been flirting with me? The arrogant, rich Murphy twins flirting with little old boring me?

  I shook my head, sure I was imagining their reaction or over playing it in my head.

  But when I got behind the counter to put their order in to George, he grinned and said, “You’re in a whole heap of trouble with those two young men, Mills. A whole heap of trouble.”

  I ignored him but was pleased as a pig in a poke that he’d seen their flirtations too.

  It hadn’t been in my head.

  But what did it mean?

  I obviously couldn’t do anything but fantasize about having fun with them, I didn’t know why they were in town, how long they were here for, or even what the heck I’d do with them if I had a chance.

  But glancing back towards their table and catching them both watching me with heated gazes, I couldn’t help but wish for just the chance to find out what one did with two incredibly handsome men.

  Even just for a short time.

  Just one night.

  Chapter Three

  It turned out that Santa didn’t get me my Christmas wish because after they ate, we exchanged small talk and they left the restaurant with no chance of me getting my night with them.

  And let’s be real here, what the hell would I have done even if I’d gotten a night?

  I waited until the last customer
left and George offered to clean up for me. I headed to the bank to do the money deposit and then climbed into my big truck and headed home.

  I loved this time of year, that was the ridiculous thing. The weather was exactly what I liked, the crisp air and sound of snow crunching under my feet. The lights on people’s houses and the excitement of children as they ran around town talking about Santa Claus and eating candy canes.

  And I wasn’t a monster, I did love Christmas dinner. I loved cooking it and I loved eating…and all the treats, oh my god, I had a sweet tooth and good genetics that kept me lean, so this was my total sugar binge season.

  As long as I reined it all in by the new year, I didn’t gain too much weight.

  Besides, what did it matter anyways? It’s not like anybody would be looking at my body any time soon.

  I switched on the lights in my front room and shivered in the cold, so I threw some kindling into the fireplace and got a fire going to warm myself up.

  As odd as it sounded, and I didn’t know if it was simply because it was the first Christmas without anybody…or if it was because I’d run into my old teenage crushes, the Murphy twins…but I felt lonely.

  I was so alone.

  I poured myself a glass of wine and curled up on my big leather couch and took a deep breath.

  Outside in the illumination of my porch light, big white flakes began to fall and I wondered if I’d ever love Christmas again.

  “The strongest coffee you’ve got,” Sterling said first thing the next morning.

  I had just flicked on the, “Open” sign when they came strolling in like they owned the place.