“I bet you will, Eve. Just flash those dimples because they’ve gotten us out of a few tight spots.”
When she walks back to her office, I touch my cheeks, wondering when my dimples ever do anything, but the thought vanishes when my phone starts to ring.
“Good afternoon, this—”
“When I said today, Eve, I meant now.”
“On my way.” This time I’m the one to hang up on him. I really shouldn't have, but I can claim it was an accident. It’s probably not a good idea to provoke him, but I have to say it felt pretty good.
I jump up from my seat and grab my bag and notepad to take with me. I’ll save Christmas, not just for Dasher Sleigh, but for us too.
Chapter 2
Dasher
“Sir, we can have these taken down in one hour,” my assistant Tori says as he clicks on his iPad.
“It took them all day to do this. Do you really think I’m going to just let them rip the lights down and re-do it?” I try to keep the anger in my voice in check, but it’s been a long day, and this is the proverbial straw on my camel’s back.
“The party isn’t until this weekend.” He keeps clicking, and I want to rip the device out of his hand and launch it into the fountain.
This estate has been in my family for generations, and although it looks ostentatious, it’s home. I rode my bike without training wheels for the first time in this driveway. I broke my arm when I was seven swinging on the tree by the garden. I snuck out of my bedroom on the second floor and stole my dad’s car when I was sixteen. This place has my favorite memories, but it’s been a long time since I made a new one that wasn’t painful.
My sister had her wedding here, and although she was happy that day, I knew it was a mistake. Her husband Paul was a pompous asshat and was only with her for the money. We all saw it from the beginning, but I think she was so desperate to get married and start a family she said yes to the first man to ask.
Last year I finally got sick of his shit and hired a detective to dig up dirt. I tried to be respectful because he was my sister's husband, but I’d had enough. I could feel how slimy he was, and I refused to let my niece Rae be raised by a man who was rotten inside. I found out all I could about what Paul was doing behind her back, and when I spoke to Jillian, she wasn’t at all surprised.
It took a lot of lawyers, but she left him, and I paid him to sign over his rights to Rae. I never told Jillian how much money he asked for, I just wrote a check. But I know that I would have given my last dime to cut them free, and he didn’t care. Last I heard his boat sank in the Caribbean and they’re still searching for the remains.
My sister is two years older than me, but I’ve always been the one to take care of things. It’s why we live here now as a family raising Rae at the estate. Our father died the year after Rae was born, and our mother lived for a year after. They were older when they had kids and lived a long and beautiful life together. I just wish they could have seen what an incredible young woman Rae is becoming.
“What time is it?” I ask while I pace.
“Five,” Tori answers, and I curse.
Just then a silver sedan pulls up at the end of the driveway behind all of the work trucks. It’s not Jillian and Rae because they would be driven to the front, although they’re due home any second.
There’s a spotlight shining in my eyes, so I can’t see who gets out and walks closer, but I’m hoping it's the person who ordered these lights so I can finally yell at someone.
This is the first Christmas Rae and Jillian will have at the estate, and I want everything to be perfect. I even went and hired a company that specializes in holiday decorations and parties just so that I could make this an event for them. I’ve invited half the city to be here this weekend to celebrate, and now the first thing they see when they pull up will be this catastrophe.
“Why don’t you let me speak to them—” Tori offers, but I hold up a hand, cutting him off.
“Of all the things that could go wrong,” I begin speaking as the person walks closer. I still can’t make out who they are, but I see a light-up Christmas sweater through the haze, and I’m even angrier because of it. “This is absolutely the most ridiculous thing, and I swear if I had time to fire you and hire someone else, I would.” My voice is sharp and rings in the silence of the night even as the people continue to work on the house.
I blink as a young woman steps in front of the spotlight and finally I can make out the person I’m speaking to.
“Mr. Sleigh, I presume?” She smiles as she holds out her hand, and I’m momentarily struck by her appearance.
Her dark curly hair is piled up in two buns, and she’s got on reindeer antlers, along with her light-up sweater that has two gingerbread people kissing. What strikes me the most is that even with her glasses on, I can see her big brown eyes are…happy.
I clear my throat and blink again as I take her hand and quickly let it go. She must have just put her sweater on because her touch felt like static electricity.
“Yes,” I hiss, leaning into my anger and waving a hand to the house. “And you must be Eve.”
The way she nods and still smiles at me rakes down my back. Why is she in such a good mood? When we spoke on the phone earlier, I pictured an old lady. Not that she sounded old, she just sounded like someone that read bedtime stories to children. I liked hearing the warmth in her voice, but as soon as I hung up, my agitation came back with a vengeance. The closer we get to Jillian and Rae’s arrival, the angrier I get.
“I am, and I’m here to help.”
“Great. Then can you tell me, Eve, who's the idiot that signed off on pink Christmas lights?” I jab a finger toward the estate that looks like Barbie threw up on it.
“Oh,” she says, smiling brightly as if just now noticing. “That would be you.”
“Excuse me?” I say, and Tori makes a choked noise from behind me.
“I said that would be you, Mr. Sleigh.” She bites her bottom lip and tucks her chin as if she’s trying to hide a smile.
She holds out an iPad similar to Tori’s, and I see the contract I’d barely glanced over. At the bottom just above my signature, the preference for lights is filled in as pink.
“I even personally called to confirm the color last week with your assistant.”
I turn around to glare at Tori, who is fighting a smile of his own. When I narrow my eyes at him, he just shrugs. “I asked you and you said that whatever you had was fine.” He sighs like he knew this would happen.
“I’ll deal with you later,” I say to him,, and he turns for the house.
“I’m going to check on dinner,” he says, and I clench my fist.
“Now that we’ve established who's responsible for this, let’s see what our options are,” Eve says from behind me, and I close my eyes.
When I turn to face her, she’s smiling just as brightly, and it’s innocent and sweet. I try to take a breath to calm myself down, but now I’m even more irritated, only this time at myself.
“You realize the party is this weekend.” I look at her blankly, and she nods. “On Christmas,” I confirm, and she nods again. How is she not the least bit fazed by my panic? In a way it’s calming me. and I don’t like it. I want to be angry.