When in December (Home Haven #1)

Chapter 5

five

. . .

Poppy

“Gah!” I dropped everything in my arms, sending the old, beaten Home Haven office chair rolling away on its wheels. I pulled it back toward me before falling into it with an unattractive grunt.

Today was supposed to be great. Nothing had stood in my way.

I could do difficult things.

Until, of course, something had stood in my way, and it was far past difficult.

Right in front of me and in nothing but a towel, no less.

It was supposed to be the start of winning this promotion and becoming Poppy, senior interior designer at Home Haven. None of this was how it was supposed to go. Could it get any worse?

“Did you seriously just say gah ?” Hannah tapped her headset as she turned around toward me. She took a sip from her oversize hot-pink water jug before glancing back toward her screen again, checking the time. “Wait a second, aren’t you supposed to be still at the house right now? I thought today was your first big day.”

Not answering, I took a deep breath as I took my things out of my bag to set up on my desk in my tiny cubicle.

I needed to take a deep breath. I might need two because I had driven over three hours in less than that. I was supposed to be measuring and taking my time right now as I put together a plan to create the best project out of this assignment I possibly could.

But then I’d met the real owner of the cabin. Or rather re-met him.

Only clearly, he’d had no idea that he was re-meeting me.

The real owner of the cabin was so much worse than the possibly uptight corporate lawyer I’d thought I was going to be dealing with. The kind of person I was used to dealing with.

I put a hand to my head.

Aaron Hayes.

We were adults now anyway. I could move on from what had happened. Even if he already was looking at me like he had in high school, like I was the most repulsive human being he’d ever seen.

You know, after he got over the fact that I wasn’t a home intruder.

I wished I could say that he had gotten worse-looking in the past decade or so. But no. If anything, Aaron Hayes had gotten even handsomer than I remembered. He was tall, and his shoulders had somehow turned even broader than they had been when he was playing football, though those eyes piercing into me had felt just as heart-stopping.

Maybe it was a good thing. I didn’t look at all like the girl who had bulky braces and didn’t know how to apply even the basics of makeup anymore because, Aaron Hayes did not remember me.

How was that even possible? It didn’t even seem fair in the whole balance of the universe. Instead of the sweet boy next door, Aaron looked like a ruggedly handsome model as he’d stood in a towel and only a towel, which I couldn’t tear my eyes away from, along with his side, puckered with scars.

Hannah watched me as I chaotically confessed my traitorous eyes and even worse past—about a client.

What happened in the cubicle stayed in the cubicle.

By the time I finished, I put a hand on my warm cheek. My face had turned a bright red in frustration and embarrassment.

I probably looked like a tomato.

Or like I had two heads by the way Hannah was staring. Had I ever seen her speechless?

“Wow.”

“I know,” I whined.

“Poppy Owens is honestly admitting that she has a crush. This is a moment for the record books. Poppy Owens is having a meltdown before our usual afternoon teatime and she liked a boy.”

“What?”

“Likes? Present tense?” Hannah corrected.

I scoffed. Hannah had missed the point. That wasn’t what I had said at all.

The house was a mess! Aaron Hayes was there, looking at me like I’d committed high treason for ogling his abs!

“He was a little high school crush. Don’t look at me like that. Yes, I’ll admit it. But that was then. Nothing more.”

“Nothing?”

“Well …” I paused.

“What more, Poppy?”

“We kissed in high school. Once,” I admitted. “But he didn’t know that it was me then either.”

Or at least, I didn’t think he had.

Hannah stared at me, wide-eyed. “I think I need popcorn for this.”

I didn’t know what I’d expected, but the lack of an appropriate response was even more concerning.

“I’m just wondering how hot this guy is, quite frankly.” Hannah leaned her head against her fist, studying me. “More than a seven on a scale of one to ten, right?”

“Did you not hear anything I said?”

“Tell me. Is he hotter than Henry Cavill?” Hannah gasped as if the thought was incomprehensible, reaching up to take off her bulky blue-light glasses. “Oh my God, he is.”

I fell back into my seat. I could see this was going nowhere.

I stared up toward the ceiling. “Different kind of hot.”

His body was … and his arms … God, his arms.

Stop. This was a client I was thinking about!

I was being terribly unprofessional.

He might have been Aaron Hayes who had made me feel awful and caused a minor break in my extremely fragile sixteen-year-old heart, seeking validation, but he was my client now.

“Today really couldn’t have gone worse, could it?” I asked.

“To be honest, Pops, I’m just impressed you made the drive alone. Give yourself some credit,” suggested Hannah. “Your first day didn’t go so great. You still have your notes of what you need to do on the admin side for the rest of the day, right? It doesn’t sound so bad. He’s probably embarrassed. I’m sure you think it’s a hundred times worse since you’ve been spiraling the entire way back.”

“You’re probably right.”

“I usually am.”

“But …”

If all went well, it would be a few weeks, and then I would never have to look at the man I’d made a complete fool of myself in front of again. And hopefully, he wouldn’t tell Sarah Hayes-Preston that I had made a fool of myself either and fire me.

“You just—you wouldn’t believe this guy, Hannah. Beyond the whole …”

“Crush you have on him?”

“ Decorating? They pay you to do that? ” I openly mocked, quoting his words that had sent a flash of red-hot anger through me. “Now, I’m also going to have to deal with him for the next month.”

“Gah,” Hannah said, dragging out the word in understanding. “Never mind. Keep ranting if you need to. I have a call coming in. Hold on a second.

“Home Haven Holiday Hotline, this is Hannah. No, no, no. Ma’am, when I said take out your turkey to defrost, I didn’t mean to defrost it in the oven. There’s a setting to defrost in the oven? The microwave. Ah, I see. No, don’t panic. Let’s remain calm. It’s all right. I mean, most people like the leftovers better anyway. Our goal now is to make sure it gets in the oven to cook.”

Another ring startled me as I turned toward my monitor. I looked back at Hannah. She looked at me with wide eyes, shaking her head. It wasn’t her phone.

I shifted through my bag until I found my own. I stared at the lit-up screen filled with numbers before I finally had enough sense to answer. “Hello?”

Hannah was still staring at me while her call went on in the background. She cocked her head to the side, as if waiting for me to continue. Apparently, I needed to work on my phone-answering skills.

Home Haven, this is Poppy . I wasn’t sure I could pull it off.

Carefully, I got up and headed outside the cubicle. A few others were in the office today. The sound of the copier whirred, and a hum of voices remained minimal enough that I tried to keep my voice down.

“Hi there. Is this Poppy Owens?”

I cleared my throat, trying to sound professional. “This is she.”

“This is Sarah, about the house.”

“Yes!” I nodded into the phone immediately. Of course it was. I needed to put her number into my phone permanently. I added it to my mental to-do list once I got off the phone, switching from my minor meltdown back into business. “It’s good to hear from you. How are you?”

“I’m fine. Thanks for asking,” she said before pausing. “How are you?”

“Me?” I asked before I could stop myself. Quickly, I cleared my throat. “I’m perfectly well, thanks. It was a pleasure to finally see the house and meet the homeowner on-site today.”

“Uh-huh,” Sarah intoned as if she didn’t believe me.

My forehead creased as she murmured to someone in the background. A few eyes in the office glanced toward me, but only for a second before returning to whatever else they were working on.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it out to the house for your start date today. I made all the preparations and plans to be there, but unfortunately, things got a bit out of hand at work,” said Sarah.

“Completely okay. I understand. That’s why I am here. It’s expected that these things happen, especially around the holiday.”

“And the house?”

“The cabin is really lovely.” I mentioned, “I’ll admit that I expected some of the larger renovations to be further along. A few of the rooms have not been finished yet by our renovation team.”

Another thing to add to my to-do list.

“Will this push back our finish date?”

No. It wouldn’t. Couldn’t. “It will all be taken care of.”

“I love to hear that.”

I could hear her smile over the phone. It should’ve relieved me. Instead, it made my heart race.

“I’m sure seeing my brother there, however, was more than just another surprise.”

“Oh, well, it’s all right. I mean, I did walk in, unannounced to him,” I told her, explaining the situation in case he exaggerated the situation. I wanted to be calm and professional. I did nothing wrong. “Though I did knock first.”

“Don’t apologize. I apologize for him. I didn’t believe it when he said he was already living there, especially considering how the house isn’t …”

“Completely livable?”

“Exactly.”

I wanted to laugh at the huff in her voice. Oddly enough, along with my frustration towards Aaron, I was also disappointed in how today panned out. With the house, sure. But also with our interaction. Despite knowing how he’d acted when we were kids and how he’d acted today. I’d forgotten that Aaron had such kind eyes, even when they were staring you down.

They were wasted on him.

I kept my voice bright and upbeat so the conversation didn’t sour. “I don’t want you to worry. That’s my job. Everything’s going to come together. I’m sure that if Mr. Hayes is living there now, perhaps he would like some input on the direction we are going.”

“Don’t worry about any of that. I’m calling for one other reason. Or two, technically.” Sarah stopped me before I could ramble on.

“Yes?” I was pretty sure I’d squeaked.

“You have one hundred percent creative freedom on this project,” Sarah informed me.

“Wait … what?”

“The plans you’ve sent and already written up look amazing. Honestly, they’re above and beyond what I expected of the place, knowing what condition it was in. Feel free to do whatever else you need to make the home a cozy, holiday space. I need it to be.”

Free rein. My heart might’ve stuttered in my chest.

“I understand.”

“I hope so. We need it to be the best Christmas possible. Extend the budget another ten if you need to. If you need more for the day-of planning, let me know, but as of now, my family and I will be there promptly on Christmas Eve.”

“I understand,” I repeated.

“Good. Because I’m sure you’re already getting the feeling that this job, so long as my brother is around, is going to come with a few obstacles. I have entire faith in you from our correspondence.”

“Thank you.”

“I want to warn you again. Right now, Aaron is … he recently returned from deployment in the military. He’s still finding himself back home. I hate to tell you to be patient with him. Maybe it’s the sister coming out in me as I say this.”

She continued, “I understand it’s a big job, especially since I want to make sure you don’t take whatever that lunk living there makes you deal with to heart. Aaron can be an ass on a good day, let alone when he’s been grieving.”

Grieving?

It didn’t seem like it was right to offer Sarah my condolences.

Luckily, I didn’t have to as she rattled off some more information, along with, “You have my permission to be just as stubborn and frustrating to him if you need to.”

“I—”

“You understand?”

“Yes,” I said after a minute. “I understand. But I’m sure that won’t be necessary. You want this holiday to be perfect. That’s why I’m here. Everything will come together as you envision, Ms. Hayes-Preston.”

“Thank you. Have a great day, Poppy.”

“You too.”

I wasn’t sure I was able to move. I let my phone hand at my side.

One of the online magazine writers at their desk paused their typing. He raised an eyebrow. “You okay over there, Poppy?”

Hastily, I nodded. “Yes. Thanks. Need a minute.”

He looked bored and unconvinced. However, he turned back to his screen, letting his fingers jump over the keyboard.

Hannah watched me as she finished her conversation on her headset, though it didn’t sound like it was still the woman with her rubbery microwave turkey.

My phone pinged with a text.

Michelle: I got a message from the Hayes-Preston home.

Three dots came across my screen as she typed.

Michelle: She’s very impressed with your designs and with you for taking on the extra work she is asking in stride. Please let me know if you need any help at all or if there are any obstacles. We’re here to help however you may need.

Me: Thank you. I’m excited about the project already. I will let you know if anything comes up, but enjoy your holiday. I have everything in hand.

Michelle: I’m so excited to hear this for you, Poppy. I know you won’t let us down.

I reread the message. I wasn’t going to let Michelle or Sarah down. I wasn’t going to let myself down.

I was ready for this.

I took a deep breath before I realized Hannah was staring at me.

“What was that?” I asked.

Hannah cupped her hand over her microphone and turned back to me. “I’m just surprised you’re holding it together this well.”

Honestly, so was I.