Читать книгу Christmas Wishes & Mistletoe Kisses - Susan Meier - Страница 16

THE next day was December twenty-second. Three days till Christmas. Customers formed a non-stop line on the tree-lined lane to Teaberry Farms, and Gwen bundled up twice that day to bring hot cocoa to grateful Drew, Max and Brody.

But on her second trip she looked up from handing Drew a cup of cocoa and saw the woman who had “won” the free tree. This time she wasn’t wearing the tattered blue coat. She wore a black leather jacket, black boots, and carried a purse Gwen knew cost over a thousand dollars.

Her mouth fell open. After waiting for Drew to finish with his customer, she caught his arm and dragged him a few feet away from the stand. “Remember the woman you said was the one-hundredth customer so you could give her a tree?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“She’s back. In line.”

Drew peered at the trail of customers. “No, she’s not.”

“Yes, she is. She’s wearing an expensive black coat and boots, and carrying a bag that costs more than I’ll make in a month when I start teaching.”

Drew glanced out at the line again. When he saw the woman Gwen referred to his eyes narrowed. “That is her.” He swung his gaze back to Gwen. “I gave a rich woman a free tree.”

Brody sidled over to them. “Maybe she just got a Christmas tree wish?”

Max growled, “Stop making fun of the legend,” before he picked up the tree Drew had just sold and headed off with Brody to secure it on top of the car of the customer.

Drew said, “So what do we do?”

“Nothing. Unless you want to charge her double for the tree she’s about to buy?”

Drew shook his head. “Nope. I was duped. My loss.”

Gwen nodded, but stood at the cash box with him and helped him collect the money for the trees as the well-dressed woman approached. When it was her turn, Gwen stopped what she was doing and watched Drew.

Instead of being angry, or even annoyed, he pretended not to know her. “Merry Christmas,” he said, the same way he had to the ten customers he’d handled before her. “That’ll be thirty dollars.”

She happily opened her wallet and handed him the money, but before he could take it she sighed. “Okay. I saw you guys pointing at me, and I’m guessing you remember me from the other day.”

Drew crossed his arms on his chest. “We do. We gave you a free tree.”

“And really impressed me.” She extended her hand across the cash counter. “I’m Jimmy Lane.”

Gwen’s mouth fell open. All this time Drew had thought he was negotiating with a cranky old man, and instead “Jimmy” was a gorgeous young woman in a sexy leather coat and boots, with blond hair that fell past her shoulders and bright blue eyes.

When neither Drew nor Gwen spoke, she laughed. “I get it,” she said, glancing from shell-shocked Drew to Gwen, then back to Drew again. “You thought you were dealing with my grandfather.”

Drew was the first to find his voice. “Yes.”

“Well, you were,” Jimmy said. “I’m his namesake and his replacement. I was the one typing the e-mails, but he had the final say on everything that went into them. He sent me here to check up on you. You passed with flying colors when you gave the woman you thought was poor a free tree. My grandfather is now convinced you’re the perfect person to own his company.” She jostled her tree in Drew’s direction. “By the way, I still want to buy this tree.”

“You already have one,” Gwen said sourly, then nearly bit her tongue, hardly believing she’d been so rude. She wasn’t angry that the woman had finagled a tree. Jimmy had had her reasons for her ruse, and she hadn’t asked Drew to give her a tree. So Gwen had no idea why she couldn’t be nice to her.

“We have a big house. We put up six trees. My grandfather can’t get enough of Christmas.”

“Sounds like my grandfather,” Drew said as he headed for the cash register. Gwen almost thought he’d give the tree to Jimmy as another gesture of good will, until she suddenly realized that this was a business transaction. Jimmy and Drew were business people. Equals. The Lanes weren’t about to give him a discount on the company he was buying from them. He wasn’t about to give them a discount on the tree they were buying from him. And Jimmy didn’t expect one. She easily opened her wallet and pulled out the cash.

It was like she and Drew were on the same page.

Gwen’s eyes narrowed. They were on the same page. About the same age. Raised in luxury. Groomed to take over the family holdings. Smart, educated, attractive.

She glanced down at her worn parka and boots. How the devil had she ever thought Drew might want her?

As Drew made change, Jimmy glanced around. “You know, I’m sort of sorry I won’t be coming back. This place is gorgeous.”

“Thanks.”

“So where is your real home?”

“North Carolina.”

“My family has a beach house in Charleston.” She smiled. “Maybe we could get together some time?”

Drew inclined his head. “Why? Does your conglomerate have other companies you’re looking to sell?”

Jimmy smiled at Max as he hoisted the tree to take it to her SUV. “Thanks.”

But the smile she gave to Drew when she faced him again had nothing to do with business. “Yes, we do have other companies we could sell, but I also make a wicked lasagna and have a wine collection that will knock your socks off.”

Gwen’s breath shivered in her chest. Jimmy had blatantly flirted with Drew in front of Gwen. Why? Because Gwen was an employee. A servant. Jimmy had dismissed her as being unimportant.

Gwen had to fight the anger that welled up inside of her. Mostly because she didn’t know who she was angry with. Jimmy for dismissing her? Drew for being the perfect match for Jimmy? Or herself for being an idiot, thinking she was made for somebody like Drew?

She turned in the snow and headed back into the house. The sound of Claire crying or even awakening hadn’t come through the baby monitor, but right now Gwen needed to see her baby to feel loved, wanted. She slipped off her boots by the kitchen door and headed for the maid’s quarters.

She shook her head. She was even staying in the maid’s quarters. Like the servant she was. Yet she’d fallen in love with a man who didn’t want her. Hell, he’d even told her that.

Seeing that Claire was still sound asleep, she headed out of the room to make dinner just as Drew stepped inside. Before Gwen could slip out of his way he caught her around the waist and danced her around the room.

“She approved our last version of the agreement.”

Gwen pulled herself out of his arms. “Well, she did say her grandfather had already called you the perfect person to buy his company.”

“I know! Isn’t it fantastic? Honestly, I think I got one of Max’s Christmas tree miracles.”

Avoiding his gaze, she puttered around her bedroom, feeling odd that he felt at ease being in her sleeping quarters until she realized that to him this wasn’t a bedroom. It was the maid’s quarters.

“Don’t you feel like celebrating?”

She tried to smile, but couldn’t. Fact upon fact bombarded her. What right did she have to celebrate Drew’s purchase of a business? In just a few minutes in Jimmy’s company Gwen had easily seen Jimmy was the kind of woman Drew belonged with. Even if he got carried away in the enthusiasm of the moment, told Gwen he loved her, asked her to marry him, they didn’t belong together. He’d been right all along.

Tears stung her eyes. Stupidly, she’d fallen in love with a man who wouldn’t ever love her.

She swallowed and turned away. “You know what? I just realized that with the agreement for the purchase finalized my work is done.”

“Yeah. So now we celebrate.” He tried to catch her, probably to turn her to face him, but she skittered away.

“It’s three days till Christmas, Drew. I’ve been almost living here for weeks now. My house isn’t cleaned for the holiday, or decorated.”

He stepped back. “What?”

She pressed her hand to her chest. “I need to go home.”

“Oh.”

“It’s Claire’s first Christmas. She loves your tree, but I’d like to give her one of my own.”

Watching Gwen’s little red car disappear down the country road, Drew swallowed the lump in his throat. This was for the best. They weren’t right for each other. No matter how much it hurt to see her drive away, he had to let her go.

With another six hours of selling trees to get through, he took his position at the cash register and lost himself in the crush of Christmas tree customers. Once word had circulated that the farm was open, people had come from miles around to get their trees. Most older customers had a story about a miracle that had happened in their lives after buying one of their trees. Drew shook his head sadly. He’d thought getting Jimmy Lane’s company was his miracle, but now that Gwen was gone he had to admit the purchase of one more company for an already burgeoning conglomerate felt empty. Hollow.

The second they closed that night, as Max waved goodbye to go home, and Brody happily turned off the lights strung across the outbuildings and lit the cheery colored bulbs lighting the fir trees around the mansion, Drew’s heart sank. It was the first night since they’d been here that Gwen wouldn’t be there. There’d be no dinner. No gingerbread. No muffins. No warmth. No joy.

He followed Brody into the house, not saying a word when his son announced he was running upstairs for his shower.

Twenty minutes later, when Brody returned to the kitchen, his flushed cheeks made his bright blue eyes seem even brighter. Drew hadn’t ever seen his son this youthfully excited over a holiday. Though he’d like to take the credit, he couldn’t. Gwen had decorated the house. Gwen had made the place smell like heaven. Gwen had even given him the advice he’d needed to make Brody happy.

“Where is everybody?”

Drew pulled in a breath. “Gwen has gone home.”

It hurt to even say the words, so he turned back to the stove, his grim mood becoming downright sour.

“What do you mean, she’s gone home? They’re staying here.”

The grilled cheese sandwiches Drew was cooking to go with the canned vegetable soup heating on the pot beside the grill weren’t very appetizing, especially compared to the wonderful meals Gwen had prepared for them, but they were warm and filling, and after all the work he’d done that day, Brody should be hungry enough to be grateful for it—not taking Drew to task for something that was none of his business.

“Son, the deal is done now, and Gwen needed to get herself ready for Christmas. I’m sure her sister will get time off for the holiday, and Gwen wants to spend time with her twin—her family.”

Brody unexpectedly caught his dad’s upper arm and spun him away from the stove. His eyes sparked with anger. His breaths came in short puffs. “She was with family. Us!”

Surprised by the strength Brody had acquired working only a few short weeks, Drew nonetheless didn’t back down. “No. She wasn’t. We’re not her family.”

Brody held his ground, too. “Yes, we are.”

Suddenly tired, Drew faced the stove, snapped off the now bubbling soup and flipped the cheese sandwiches. “Brody, we came here for a month. I’d like to come back every Christmas, to open the tree farm, but Gwen McKenzie is a young woman who is just starting her life—”

“Is that what this is all about?” Brody asked, his voice dripping with so much surprise that Drew peered over his shoulder.

“What?”

“You’re afraid.”

“I’m not afraid,” Drew blustered, annoyed because Gwen had suggested the same thing.

“Sure you are. You like Gwen, but you’re afraid of getting married.”

Drew’s jaw dropped. “Brody, this is none of your business!”

“It is! Dad, just because your marriage to Mom didn’t work out that doesn’t mean you should stop trying!”

“I didn’t stop trying.”

“Really? Then why do you hardly even date?”

“I date.”

“Okay, then why haven’t you married any of those women?”

“Because we didn’t click.”

“You clicked with Gwen. I saw it. Yet I’ll bet you never even kissed her.”

Drew’s face heated. He couldn’t believe he was having this conversation, and prayed he could figure out a way to get out of it.

“You did kiss her! You do like her! You do click with her but you’re afraid.”

“Brody, I’m so much older than she is!”

“That’s an excuse. Come on, Dad. If you’re going to let her leave, at least be honest with yourself about why.”

With that Brody grabbed a sandwich and left the kitchen. Drew sat at the table and ran his hand down his face. One month ago he’d been a lonely single guy who could do what he wanted. Now he had custody of a sixteen-year-old who didn’t hesitate to interfere in his life and his broken heart.

He stopped.

He did have a broken heart. A seriously broken heart. And Gwen did, too. One word from him—or maybe three words from him—could fix both their hearts, yet he couldn’t say them.

He ran his hand down his face again. Was Brody right? Was Gwen right? Was he simply afraid?