A Mountain Springs Christmas

Chapter 7

seven

NOELLE

Noelle sat down at her desk at work, and before she got started on the day’s work, she pulled out her tin of cards from Gran-gran and started shuffling through them. When she came across the scene painted of the two of them making a snow creation in Downtown Park, she smiled and put it back in the tin. A little acknowledgment of having finished that part of what Gran-gran had wanted her to do.

Then she came across one of them decorating the boxcars for the gingerbread train. That one made her insides smile, too, just thinking about the look on Jack’s face as he had moved in close to wipe the frosting off her cheek and the feeling—almost an electricity—that passed between them. Seeing him help Aiden was so sweet, too. She couldn’t believe that she had worked with this man for a year and a half and hadn’t had a clue about who he really was.

And now that she had caught a glimpse of it, she could feel herself falling for him. Which wasn’t a good idea at all . But still, she’d take that smile he gave her as they saw Aiden’s face at seeing the train go around the Christmas village any day. All day, any day.

“Look at you being all smiley,” Bridget said, and Noelle jumped, not even realizing that her coworker was at her desk, let alone watching her. “Dish. Tell me what’s new in your life.”

Noelle immediately thought of Jack, but she wasn’t about to say anything about him to Bridget. Instead, she said, “I don’t know. I guess it’s just because I’m finding the Christmas spirit again after losing it a year ago.”

“Aww! That’s so sweet! Do you know who else is finding their Christmas spirit as well?"

“Who?”

“Our boss.”

Noelle’s eyebrows rose, and she glanced toward the hall that held Jack’s office.

“Do you remember what a Grinch he was last year?” Bridget asked. “The biggest Grinch you’ve ever known, right? He always wants to work more at Christmas and gets even more surly whenever he sees Christmas decorations on people’s desks and stuff like that.”

“Oh.” Noelle glanced back toward Jack’s office. “I had just assumed that he had something hard going on in his life last year.”

Bridget shook her head. “This is my third Christmas here—he’s like that every year.”

Lennox must’ve been listening in as he was typing something into his computer because then he swiveled his chair around their direction and said, “I can confirm that it’s an every year thing. I don’t know what’s changed in his life, but I was the first person here this morning, and I actually heard him whistling a Christmas tune.”

“No way,” Noelle said.

Lennox shrugged. “I’m not even kidding you. But I know you won’t fully believe it until you’ve checked it out for yourself.”

She really did want to experience it because it made her insides flutter, just thinking that she maybe had something to do with it. The fact that he was changing his opinions about Christmas enough that other people were noticing was kind of a big deal. And, okay, her insides fluttered just thinking about Jack himself. So she grabbed her notebook and stood up.

She walked to just outside his office, still out of sight but close enough to hear if he was whistling. He wasn’t; he was on the phone with someone, saying, “No, I haven’t even had a chance to shop yet. This is our busy season, and I’ve been spending any extra time with Rachel and Aiden.” There was a pause for a moment, then he said. “I know. I don’t know why I’m procrastinating.”

Now she just felt like an eavesdropper, so she turned to go back to her desk, but then just as quickly did a u-turn and headed to his open doorway.

He saw her and held up one finger, letting her know to stay and wait. Which she did while also scrambling to come up with a question to ask him to justify standing in his doorway with her notebook. She probably should’ve thought of that before leaving her desk.

He finished the call and then hung up. Then his eyes met hers, and he said, “Good morning. Did you need to talk to me?” His professional mask was back up. It had been almost jarring yesterday morning, after spending Monday evening with the real Jack, but today it just felt normal.

“Yes, I was looking at the info sheet for the Samurai blenders at Copperstone’s but didn’t see where it’s going to be advertised.”

“Oh. I apologize for missing that." He glanced at a paper on his desk. “Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google Ads.”

She nodded, wishing that she’d thought about grabbing a pen, too, so the notebook in her hands would actually have a use. She drummed her fingers on the back of the notebook, trying to decide if she wanted to ask him or not. Then she took a step forward.

“Did I hear you say that you haven’t done your shopping yet?”

Shopping was one of the activity cards that Gran-gran had painted. She’d had such a fun time decorating the gingerbread trains with him, so why not do the shopping one with him, too? She was just so drawn to him. Being around him had awakened feelings for him that she hadn’t known she had, and she was curious about just how strong those feelings were. And she really wanted to see more of what he was like outside of the office.

He nodded.

“Do you want to go shopping with me today? Maybe it won’t seem like such a hurdle if we do it together.”

It felt weird asking him that in the office since it was such a professional space, not a personal one. And this felt like a very personal ask. But they’d had so many personal moments over the past week that it also felt okay. Like she was asking him as a friend, not as an employee.

Okay, a friend with maybe some very more-than-friends feelings going on.

He studied her for such a long moment, though, that she worried she shouldn’t have asked. The tightening of his jaw she saw probably meant that he was annoyed.

But then he gave a curt nod. “Okay.”

“Okay? Really? All right. Um, does right after work sound good? Then I won’t have to drive all the way back to Mountain Springs first.”

“Right after work is good.”

She might have been reading more into his expression than she should, but when he said that, his eyes sparked with something and the corner of his mouth tugged up just the smallest amount. The two together gave her the impression that, regardless of his apparent quest to remain impassive, he was actually happy about going with her.

She smiled all the way back to her desk. She was going to go shopping with Jack. Just the two of them. She pulled out her cards from Gran-gran and leaned the shopping one against her monitor.

And then she wondered for probably the fiftieth time since Monday how it had been for him to walk into her parents’ house and see her big, noisy but loving family. What had he thought of it? Had he liked it or wanted to run far from it?

“What happened in there?”

Noelle jerked out of her thoughts at Bridget’s question. She’d been lost in her own thoughts so much that she hadn’t been paying attention to the fact that there were others around her, and she was apparently broadcasting her feelings all across her face. She needed to stop thinking about Jack at work!

Thankfully, she remembered what she had gone to his office for before she’d gotten distracted with asking him to go shopping. She cleared her throat. “Well, there was no whistling, but I did hear him talking about Christmas shopping, and he didn’t sound totally upset about it.”

Bridget raised an eyebrow. “I’m impressed. I wonder what made the Grinch change his ways.”

Lennox set a stack of papers on Bridget’s desk and put a hand up to his mouth and stage-whispered, “Maybe it is a who , not a what .”

Bridget gave Noelle a look of curiosity so strong she was sure she would suggest they investigate. So Noelle gave the most disinterested shrug she could manage while having Jack on the brain and turned back to her work, trying desperately not to show all over her face her hope that maybe it was actually because of her.

Noelle sat on a bench in the main hallway of the mall, glancing down the short hallway that led to the front doors, sipping the last of the cup of wassail she’d gotten from the kiosk next to her. She hadn’t planned to get one, but she’d arrived early, and the smells of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and apple cider that had filled the air had just been too much to resist. Even though it was a scent and a taste and a tradition that would forever be inextricably tied to Gran-gran and made a fresh wave of loss wash over her.

She let herself feel the feeling. To let herself miss Gran-gran. But she didn’t allow herself to think about her—she wasn’t about to start bawling in the middle of the mall, right before her boss met up with her.

She tossed the empty cup into the garbage receptacle just as Jack walked through the front doors. He was still wearing his slacks and light blue button-down, but he’d lost the jacket and tie and had the first couple of buttons unbuttoned. She tried not to stare, but good golly, how had she managed to work with this man for a year and a half without having even a tiny crush? Maybe it was because now that she knew more about who he was and had seen a bit of his heart, he was even more good-looking.

And that smile he gave when his eyes met hers had her knees buckling. It was just a slight one tugging at his lips, but his eyes smiled, too, and it told her that he was glad to see her, even if it was in a mall at Christmastime.

“Hi,” she breathed as he neared. Then, realizing how breathy the word had come out, cleared her throat. “Are you ready to tackle this?”

He took a deep breath and looked out at the copious Christmas decorations surrounding them. Towering Christmas trees filled the open area, with giant nutcrackers standing at attention around them. Archways of lights and garlands led into the hallways in all three directions. Reindeer were grazing in fields of puffy cotton snow. Every pillar was wrapped like a giant candy cane, and every kiosk was transformed to look like it belonged at the North Pole.

“I’m pretty sure that if we handled getting the ad campaign for Lelepali Luminaries up and running, we can handle this.”

Noelle laughed. That campaign had nearly killed them all before they made it to the end. She didn’t think he entirely believed that they’d make it to the end of this, but she’d get him there. “Who do you need to buy for?”

“I’ve already ordered something for the employees, so just Rachel and Aiden and a couple of friends. And Rachel asked me to pick up some things for her.”

“Do you know what you want to get any of them?”

He shook his head. “Rachel gave me her shopping list, but for the gifts I need to get, no.”

“Well, I have some ideas for Rachel. There’s a store that’ll be perfect down this way.” As they walked down the giant candy cane- and garland-lined hallways, she couldn’t stop thinking about his list. It was such a small group of people to shop for. Her own list was wonderfully, ridiculously, overwhelmingly long. Then she realized something about his list that he hadn’t mentioned. “No gifts for parents?”

“No. They passed away.”

“Oh.” The words felt like a stab. Why had she brought it up when he hadn’t mentioned them? “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“It’s fine. It was a long time ago. They were in a car together when they got in a terrible crash.”

“Was it at Christmastime?” She wondered if that was why he seemed to really dislike the season.

He shook his head. “Summertime.” She didn’t think he would say anything more—and she definitely wasn’t going to ask—but after a long pause, he spoke again. “My parents didn’t get along great, so they seldom went places together. But they had gone to an outdoor concert and crashed on the way home. I was fifteen, and Rachel was eighteen. She had just graduated from high school, and the courts allowed her to be my guardian. So for a long time, it was just Rachel and me. Until Aiden came along, of course.”

Noelle stopped outside of the store she had been leading them to. “And Aiden’s father?”

“He’s never been in the picture.”

She nodded. She’d guessed that had been the case. As they walked inside, she said, “My Aunt Sharon went through chemotherapy a few years ago. I remember that she was really grateful to have a silk sleep mask that she could use during treatments. Oh, like those over there.

“And if you want to get her some fuzzy socks or a really soft blanket, this would be a good store for that. Maybe even an electric blanket. And there’s a great store just a little further down where they have some moisturizers to die for. My aunt had complained about dry skin a lot. And lip balm. Some comfy sweats. Maybe some ginger candies for nausea—I bet we could find some in a candy store or something. Oh! A HEPA air purifier might be good, too.” She paused. “What?”

He was giving her a strange look that she couldn’t quite interpret. She liked what it did to the corners of his mouth and the brightness of his eyes. Even the slight tilt to his head. But had no idea what it was.

He lifted one shoulder in a shrug but kept those bright eyes on her. “You’re really good at this.”

She might have blushed. But she hated blushing, so she waved off his comment, commanding her body to do the same, and said, “You haven’t seen anything yet. Wait until you witness my ability to find the exact clothing size needed when there doesn’t appear to be any. It’s legendary.”

It wasn’t legendary—it just happened sometimes. Why did she say that? She was probably going to get a chance to back up her words with action on this shopping trip, and it was going to be embarrassing when she failed.

He selected a sleep mask and an unbelievably soft electric blanket that would make even the most workaholic insomniac snuggle up and fall right asleep. As they were in line to pay, he said, “Tell me about your grandma. You said she was the most important person to you? And the reason why you took the job to help Aiden?”

All the feelings of loss that she’d been suppressing while being in this mall at Christmastime came rushing back to her at once. She knew she had to get a handle on them quickly or she’d be a sobbing mess. That was very much not how she wanted this shopping trip to go.

She swallowed hard. And then, instead of focusing on how much she missed her right now, she focused on the great memories they had together.

“Gran-gran was ... my person. The one who got me. You met my three older sisters—Becca, Hope, and Julianne—at my parents. They’re each just under a year and a half apart in age, but because of when their birthdays fell, they’re only a year apart in school. Which meant that they went through a lot of the same milestones very close to the same time. Sports, dance lessons, starting to date, school dances, getting driver’s licenses, deciding on a college, and all those kinds of things. They just took a lot of attention, and all three of them needed a lot of it at the same time.

“I am three years younger than them, and Katie is three years younger than me. She got a lot of attention from my parents, too, just by being the youngest. And I was kind of ... forgotten. Not purposely,” she quickly added. “My family isn’t like that. I just kind of got lost in the middle of it all.”

Jack nodded, his face looking thoughtful, but he stayed quiet, waiting for her to continue. But then it was their turn at the register, so she held off on her story until the items were paid for, in a bag, and they were heading out of that shop and onto the next one.

“Gran-gran was a middle child, too, and she knew entirely too well what that felt like. She always made me feel not forgotten. Important. But not only that, we just got along really well. Like from the moment I was born. She always used to say that we’d been best friends in heaven and that I sure took my sweet time coming to earth so she could get her BFF back.”

Jack chuckled. It was a good sound. And it made her realize how good it was for her to talk about all of this. As much as she thought that doing things like this that she used to only do with Gran-gran would be painful, doing them with Jack was actually helping her heart. Like it was nourishing it and allowing it to heal.

“She loved Christmas more than anything, so of course, I did, too. And we did a lot of Christmas traditions together. The cards I got from her were the things we used to do together, painted by her. I still have no idea how they showed up on my doorstep, but I know that she wanted me to continue doing them.”

“Well,” Jack said, giving a nod to what they were doing together, “I am very grateful that your gran-gran sent them to you.” The look on his face was sweet and playful but also had something more, hiding just below the surface. A longing, maybe?

Whatever it was, it was beautiful and made her stomach flutter.