Love Under the Mistletoe: A Small Town Christmas Love Story Read online

  And she realized she was in love.

  Chapter 30

  Nathan

  Nathan hadn’t had a workout like that in months. When the whistle finally blew signifying the end of their time outside, he was drenched in sweat and his legs were shaking.

  The kids seemed unfazed.

  “How do they have so much energy?” Nathan asked Holly as they followed the classroom back inside.

  “They weren’t picking each other up and swinging them in circles,” Holly reminded him. She smiled when she said it, her voice warm and soft.

  “Okay, friends. Put your coats away and we’ll head to art class.” The kids continued shouting and talking, but they did as she asked, hanging up their coats on the pegs along the far side of the classroom.

  Once the coats were put away, they formed a rough semblance of a line.

  “I’m just going to take them to art class,” Holly told him. “It’ll only take a minute.”

  “I’ll wait here. I don’t have to be back just yet.”

  A smile filled her face and then she darted around, making sure that the kids were ready. As soon as the door opened, the kids became quiet as they walked through the halls.

  Ms. Jones runs a tight ship, Nathan thought to himself. The kids obviously loved her. To be honest, he loved her too. She had the ability to make someone feel like they were special and mattered in the world. It was a gift.

  Nathan looked around the small classroom. There were about thirty small desks with tiny chairs for the tiny people to sit and learn. Holly had a regular sized government issued desk in the corner. It was stacked high with papers and projects and the flowers he’d gotten her.

  The walls were brick, but Holly had made them warm and inviting. She had posters up with book covers and funny math jokes. Lining the room were handmade snowflakes in all different shapes and designs.

  Nathan realized there were words written on each snowflake. He went over and read one.

  I wish that I didn’t have to move. I wish that Dad’s didn’t have to go to California.

  Also, I wish for a puppy that doesn't make me sneeze.

  The innocence of the wish hit him like a hard punch to the gut. He read the next snowflake.

  I wish my mom didn’t have to worry about her job. I wish that she could be happy again.

  Also, I wish for a unicorn.

  That one was marked with Molly’s name.

  I wish for world peace. I wish there were no more bad guys.

  Also, I wish for a brother.

  Nathan was starting to see the pattern. Three wishes.

  I wish my sister didn’t bite so much. I wish I had a dog.

  Also, I wish for a new sled.

  I wish my parents didn’t fight about moving. I don’t want a new house.

  Also, I don’t want socks this year.

  The more snowflakes he read, the more he saw the wishes echo one another. The kids didn’t want to move. They liked their town. They liked their homes.

  He couldn’t blame them. He liked it here too.

  I wish that Dad’s company hadn’t been bought. I wish I could buy it so we could stay here.

  Also, I wish for more Legos.

  The thought from earlier popped into his head. What if he stopped the move? What if he kept ECT here?

  Would it really be that expensive? How much would he really lose?

  And, the question that shocked him the most, did he even care that it would cost him money?

  Nathan stared at the snowflakes. He read and reread the messy handwriting. He knew what each child he’d met today wanted for Christmas or whatever holiday they celebrated at home.

  For the first time, the consequences of moving the company had faces. He wasn’t just making money. He was changing these kids’ lives. And for what?

  Money.

  Because money was what mattered.

  Nathan could hear his father voice repeat the mantra in his head. Money is what matters. Money is what matters.

  He wasn't sure that it was the only thing that mattered, though.

  He needed more information. He called Lucy.

  “What’s up boss-man?” the familiar voice asked after the first ring. “You ready to come home yet?”

  “No, actually. I want you to send me the financials on ECT.”

  “Which ones?” Lucy asked. He could hear her typing in the background.

  “All of them. I want to see if it really is the best option to move this company to California. They have a lot of things going for them here that we can’t replicate,” Nathan explained.

  “Boss, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Lucy said.

  “I didn’t ask you if it was a good idea. I’m the CEO. It’s my call.”

  Lucy was quiet for a moment on the other end of the line. “Fine. I’ll get them to you by the end of the hour.”

  And she hung up on him.

  Nathan ran his hand through his hair. Now that he’d said something out loud, he wasn’t sure if he was crazy or brilliant.

  He’d just have to check the numbers. The numbers would tell him what to do. Money was what mattered.

  “Sorry that took so long,” Holly said, coming back into the classroom. “A couple of teachers caught me in the hall. They all want to thank you for the pizza.”

  Seeing Holly made his worries grow distant. She looked beautiful. She wore dark slacks with a soft gray wool sweater. Her dirty-blonde hair hung in a messy ponytail with strands softening her face. She looked like a model.

  “You’re looking at me like you might still be hungry,” Holly teased him.

  “Maybe I’m just hot for teacher,” he replied. He took a step into her, his leg going between hers and his hands on her waist.

  She shivered with desire and looked up at him with big eyes.

  And then his phone rang, breaking the mood.

  She stepped back, her face flushed as she looked around, glancing out the open door to the empty hallway. She grinned at him, though, telling him that she’d liked it.

  “I have to go back to ECT,” he told her, putting his phone back in his pocket. “But, can I buy you dinner later?”

  “I’d like that,” she told him. She did one more glance at the door before going up on her toes and kissing him on the mouth. Her tongue touched his for the briefest of moments before she pulled back and smiled at him.

  “I’ll see you at five, Ms. Jones.” His whole body tingled from her kiss.

  It was going to be a rough couple of hours to get through with that sexy of a kiss on his mind. But, he glanced back to see her eyes on him, it would be worth the wait.

  Chapter 31

  Merryweather

  This was her favorite part of the magic. This was the part that was effortless. It was also the most dangerous part of love magic.

  This was where it was easy to become complacent. To lose focus. Things were easy, but that didn't mean they were set in stone.

  Merryweather knew this. She needed to stay vigilant if she was going to make this love story work, because somehow, she knew that it was never as easy as it should be.

  Chapter 32

  Nathan

  Someone was knocking on his door.

  Holly had already left for the morning. She wore jeans and a dark green sweater with a sparkly reindeer on it. She looked hot, even if the sweater was ridiculous. But then, Nathan suspected he would find anything Holly wore to be attractive.

  He opened the door expecting to see Hal or maybe someone from the hotel. Instead, it was Lucy.

  She stood, looked annoyed as hell in a dark red pencil skirt and matching jacket. Her jet black hair was pulled back and away from her face. Her dark gray eyes were focused directly on him.

  Despite being her boss, when she looked at him like that, he didn’t feel like he was the one in control.

  “Hey Boss. Surprise.”

  “Lucy, it’s good to see you. Come on in.” Nathan held the door open for her. He was glad he was dresse
d and the living room of the hotel suite was cleaned up.

  Lucy looked around and sniffed. “This is where you’re staying?”

  Nathan looked around. He’d gotten used to the small room. It wasn’t nearly as nice as his house or the Ritz, but it was comfortable for what he needed. Plus, Gregory said the staff was amazing and were doing everything he asked.

  The entire town seemed to be full of helpful, welcoming people. The woman at the front desk always greeted him with a smile. The coffee-stand lady gave him extra coffee for free. He was beginning to feel like he belonged here.

  “What are you doing here, Lucy?” Nathan asked. He leaned against the wall, his arms crossed.

  “I’m here to help,” she replied. “You said you’re thinking of canceling the move, so I came out to assist. Since I’ve been the one setting everything up, I’ll know what to do.”

  Her words chafed him a little bit. He should have been the one setting everything up, but he’d handed it off to Lucy because it was the part of the job he didn’t like. It was his own fault that things were the way they were.

  “Thanks for coming to help, Lucy,” Nathan said, softening his tone. Lucy wasn’t the enemy here. If anything, she would know what to do. She was an asset. That’s why he hired her in the first place.

  “I’m here to make Paradigm money,” she said with a smile. “If that means I come out to middle of nowhere to do it, I do.”

  “Are you staying at this hotel?” Nathan asked.

  “God, no.” Lucy made a sour face. “I found a hotel downtown. There’s no way I would stay in a place like this. No offense, Nathan, but this is Podunk.”

  Nathan looked at her very sleek and very expensive designer suit. It clashed with the carpet and walls of the hotel. This was a nice hotel by most people’s standards, but it wasn’t exactly billionaire level quality.

  “I’ll tell Hal to get the car,” Nathan said. He punched the code into his phone and messaged Hal. Then, he put his jacket on as he left the room, heading across the hallway. He would meet Hal in the lobby.

  The soft clink of silverware and soft breakfast chatter drifted in from the restaurant attached to the lobby. Nathan thought about picking up a cup of coffee, but the coffee at the Elements would be better. He could wait. Lucy followed him down and they headed out to the car.

  Hal had the sleek SUV ready in the entrance. Nathan held the door open for Lucy to slide in across the leather seats. He followed her into the warm cabin of the car and Hal pulled the car away from the curb.

  Lucy pulled out her tablet, put on her glasses, and began going over his schedule for the day. Nathan could feel his enthusiasm for the day fading away. There were so many meetings. There was no way for him to escape off to the R&D area and tinker with a computer again.

  “You okay?” Lucy asked, peeking at him from over her stylish frames.

  “I’m fine,” he lied. He felt irritable and grumpy. The past few days, he’d felt free. With Lucy here, he could feel his job trapping him again. He didn’t want to go to meetings. He had an idea on how to upgrade the laptop in the R&D department

  Lucy frowned. She tapped on her tablet and her frown deepened.

  “What?” Nathan asked her.

  Lucy paused. “I thought telling you your money might cheer you up.” She twisted her mouth. “But you’re not going to like it today.”

  “How bad is it?”

  “Just a little,” she said. “And it’s just due to some stocks. Market fluctuation. It’ll be fine.”

  “Which stocks?”

  Lucy’s mouth thinned. “Paradigm’s. News of RentTech’s issues got out,” she explained. “Investors are wary, especially with the holidays and the recent of acquisitions of two more similar companies.”

  “How much?”

  Lucy wavered, checking the balance on the pad again. “Thirty mil.”

  Outwardly, Nathan didn’t change his expression. Outwardly, he simply nodded, his face unreadable and expressionless.

  Inwardly, he cringed. Could nothing go right with RentTech? It wasn't even his responsibility anymore and it still haunted him. And thirty million dollars down? He felt like he’d been slapped. Granted, he’d lost that much and more on bad stock market days, but it never felt good. It didn’t give him the thrill that seeing it up did. Losing money always put him in a bad mood.

  He turned and stared out the window at the gray landscape. It matched his mood. Meetings all day with no reprieve. It was going to be a long day.

  They drove in silence the rest of the way to the ECT campus.

  Hal stopped the car and hurried around, opening the door for Nathan to get out. The cold wind bit at Nathan’s nose and ears. He only had a suit jacket on for the short walk from the car to the building. He helped Lucy out of the car, and together they hustled into the warmth of the building.

  “Ugh. I don’t like the cold,” Lucy announced once they were inside. “Give me that California sun every day of the week.” She shivered and rubbed her arms. “I can’t believe you willingly go out in snow.”

  Nathan chuckled. “It’s fun once you get used to it.”

  Lucy made a face and shivered again. “No, thank you.”

  She looked around the lobby of the building. Lucy looked out of place here. Here dark red clothes contrasted sharply with the pale blues and light colors of the office. Her sharp elegant look was jarring against the comfortable calming tone of the office.

  “Your first meeting is in the Elbert Room,” Lucy said, reading off her tablet. “You ready?”

  Nathan sighed. He looked wistfully toward the R&D department, but knew that he couldn’t go there today. He couldn’t play with the laptop. He couldn’t install the new driver he wanted to test. He couldn’t play with a RAM configuration that was teasing his brain with possibilities.

  No. He had to go to endless meetings.

  He sighed again, resigning himself to his fate. At least the view out the windows was better here.

  The meetings dragged all day.

  They were tedious.

  They were boring.

  It was awful.

  This was the part of the job that he loathed, yet it seemed to be the part that took up most of his time. He had to placate different groups. There were conference calls and egos to be soothed. He had to come up with solutions for problems that didn’t even exist yet.

  There were some upsides to the meetings today. He learned about how well this office worked here. His plan to keep ECT in Colorado, rather than moving it and the employees to California was sounding better and better.

  There were families here. There were mentorships and history. The company thrived here. Plus, he got to meet some of the new graduates from the computer science program at the local college. They were good. They were really good, and since they weren’t from Silicon Valley, they weren’t nearly as expensive.

  The more meetings he went to, the more convinced he became that the move to California was a bad idea. He knew that the company had already invested money in the move, but he could eat that cost. It would still be cheaper than packing up everything.

  Unfortunately, Lucy disagreed.

  The two of them sat at lunch. Everyone else sat apart, as if they had some contagious disease. He sat and ate his turkey sandwich, trying not to count the hours until dinner. Dinner was with Holly and would be his bright spot for the entire day.

  Lucy reached across the table and took one of his chips. He glared at her, but she just smiled at him, popping the chip into her mouth.

  “You doing okay?” she asked him, swiping another chip from his plate.

  “I will be if you stop stealing my food,” he replied, playfully moving his plate away from her. She grinned, trying again. This time he blocked her with his fork.

  “There, there’s that smile,” she said, pointing to his face. “I haven’t seen it all day.”

  Nathan rolled his eyes, but pushed his plate toward her. “Have as many chips as you want.”


  She grinned at him. “Thanks.” She reached across and took two this time. “So, I wanted to talk to you about moving ECT to California.”

  “I don’t think we should do it,” he told her. “This place is good for the company. If we move them, we risk losing what made them a good acquisition in the first place.”

  Lucy crunched thoughtfully for a moment. “And your decision has nothing to do with a pretty blonde that happens to live just down the road?”

  “No.”

  Lucy raised her eyebrows and reached for another chip. “I think you need to reevaluate that statement.”

  “There is a woman that I find attractive in this town. Does that mean that I would risk an entire business on my lust? No. I think ECT should stay in Devonsville because it’s the best place for ECT.”

  Lucy sighed and pushed away her own plate. “I was afraid of this,” she said, shaking her head. “You aren’t thinking this through. Yes, this place is great. There are some perks here. But they aren’t good enough to stop the move.”

  Nathan crossed his arms and looked at Lucy. “Why?”

  “The tax break. Moving a small business gets us a lot of great tax opportunities. We’re talking millions. And, it’s good for our image,” Lucy explained. “I can give you the exact numbers if you want, but the money making move is to go to California.”

  Nathan shook his head. “Short term, maybe,” he conceded. “But, long term, staying here is the better option. Yes, we won’t make as much money this year, but the potential for more profit is here.”

  “Nathan, I’m not going to argue this with you.” Lucy carefully stacked up her empty plates. “I’m telling you that you’re blinded by this girl and the novelty of this town. I’m not trying to be mean.”

  “I know, Lucy.” Nathan sighed. He still felt in his bones that his was the right decision. He knew it just like he knew how to reprogram a buggy device. It felt right. It made sense to him.