Blessings of the Season (3 page)

G
oodwin's closing?
Ten minutes later, Addie stood on the corner at the end of the block clutching a Goodwin's Department Store gift certificate that might not be any good a month from now. Mrs. Goodwin had given it to her as an apology.

Please, God.
She sent up a quick, heartfelt prayer.
Don't let this happen. If they close, I don't know what I'll do.

Even if they
didn't
close, Addie didn't know what she would do. She had no plans for the rest of the day or, now, the rest of her life. Just a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach about how her mother would react when she came home from her own job tonight to find Addie sitting gloomily in their darkened, silent house. She rubbed her temple. If only she
could
sit in a darkened, silent house.

Not possible. Not this time of year. From the weeks before Christmas until the day after New Year's, the McCoys' rectangular box of a tract house was anything
but dark or silent. Thousands of twinkling lights set to flash in time with a blaring assortment of Christmas music hung from every tree and eave. A manger scene lined in rope lights behind a nine-figurine blow-mold lighted Nativity took center stage. Dotting the lawn were giant inflatable characters and painted wooden cutouts flooded by spotlights. And on the roof an animated Santa that turned, waved and bellowed “Ho ho ho,” all of it plugged into a computer-regulated timer set to start up a half hour before dusk.

Every year her mother added something new to the chaos. And every year Addie dreamed of the day she would move out and celebrate the season in peace.

“Not this year,” she muttered, staring at the gift certificate. But her sadness was less for herself than for Star City losing the store that had meant so much to so many. And what about the Goodwins? What would they do?

“We'll pay you!” Mrs. Goodwin's voice carried the whole half a block from the front door of the old department store.

Addie spun around to see Nate Browder politely holding one of the twin front doors open for Maimie while she stubbornly stood holding open the other one.

“No.” He let his door fall shut. Slipping on a pair of black sunglasses, the sunlight glinting off the gold highlights in his wavy brown hair, Jesse's manny took long, purposeful strides in Addie's direction, though he did not seem to see her. “I can't reorganize everything because your son failed to make adequate arrangements for Jesse.”

“Flights can be rescheduled, Mr. Browder. We will
cover the costs and throw in a bonus.” Maimie kept pace with him step for step. “You took this job. You are the boy's caregiver.”

“I took a temporary job to get the boy to Star City. He's here. My work is done. It was nice meeting you, but I have to go.” He pointed in Addie's direction.

She looked away quickly and began to press the walk button frantically, hoping they'd think she had simply been standing there waiting to cross the street.

“I'm parked on the next block, to protect your family's privacy,” he said. “I
had
hoped to bring Jesse in and get out without drawing too much attention.”

If he meant that as a hint that she should probably retreat, Maimie did not take it. “And I had hoped you'd bring Jesse in and stick around to take care of him without drawing too much attention.”

Addie glanced around. On a warmer day in better times there would have been a dozen folks standing nearby riveted to the goings-on. Today the only witnesses were Addie and a few shopkeepers with their noses practically pressed against their own glass doors. Still, she felt bad for Mrs. Goodwin.

“Doc and I are trying to keep a business afloat here, Mr. Browder. We have limited time to devote to a child. Whereas you…” She reached for his arm to hold him in place.

Just then the small redheaded boy clutching a plastic superhero figurine in one hand came outside to stand and watch Doc take the See Santa Here poster out of the front window.

“You can't just walk out on him now.” She shifted her
stance to make sure both she and Nate had a good look at the heart-wrenching sight. “Not at Christmas.”

Nate stopped and looked back over his shoulder.

“Stay.” Addie whispered the choice she wanted him to make. Not for herself, of course. It was the choice anybody would have wanted him to make, looking at that kid and knowing the Goodwins were in a fix.

He shook his head and began walking toward the corner again. “Jesse is
your
grandson, Mrs. Goodwin.”

“Stepgrandson,” she corrected him, following again. “Actually, technically, my
ex
-stepgrandson.”

Addie gasped at that news, then realized they now knew that she'd been eavesdropping. Though, in her defense, most people would not have considered listening when two people were shouting at each other as they walked down the street eavesdropping.

Nate gave her a wink that made her feel excited and self-conscious at the same time. Maybe it was a good thing he was leaving, she decided. Enduring her mother's high-profile version of Christmas cheer would be hard enough without trying to hide her interest in a man who had no intention of hanging around.

He kept moving as he spoke over his shoulder to the woman dogging his heels. “It doesn't matter what you call him, Mrs. Goodwin. He's still your son's legal responsibility.”

“But my son doesn't really know this child.”

The light changed. Nate hesitated a moment, looked as if he wanted to say something more, then held up his hands in surrender and headed toward his car.

It wasn't what Addie had expected. Of course, she
didn't have any business expecting anything at all of the man, but she had hoped he would change his mind. She guessed Star City and a kid with nobody else to count on couldn't hold a candle to his big plans.

“Besides, my son isn't even in town,” Maimie called after Nate before turning to Addie. “He's off on his honeymoon, for his second marriage.”

This is the place where you step up and volunteer to take care of Jesse
, Addie told herself. Only she knew that the Goodwins would never allow her to do it. She had a marketing degree and a mom that didn't know the meaning of the word discreet. Not exactly the kind of person you wanted handling this kind of delicate family situation.

Unless you were totally desperate.

“Excuse me, Mrs. Goodwin. I couldn't help overhearing about your son and Jesse and Nate having plans and—”

“Plans? Don't tell me about plans, young lady.” The older woman shut her eyes and bowed her head. “When I was your age, Addie, and Doc was probably not much older than Mr. Browder there, we had such grand plans. They certainly didn't involve a twice-married son finding himself responsible for a stranger's child.”

“Lots of people thrive in blended families, Mrs. Goodwin,” she said, trying to accentuate the positive.

“Oh, Addie, dear. That's sweet, but clearly you can see the Goodwin family is less blended than just plain mixed-up.” She gave Addie a pat on the shoulder.

Nate started the engine of his rental car.

“It's just not the same world it was when we opened the doors of Goodwin's fifty years ago.” Mrs. Goodwin
looked in Nate's direction, her face pinched with worry. “You could count on people then, and people, at least the ones in and around Star City, could count on Goodwin's.”

“I know that was true in our family,” she assured the older woman. With that she put her back to Nate. Any moment she'd hear him roar off, which was for the best, of course. Why would she want a guy like that to stick around, anyway? A guy who would leave an adorable kid and a kindly and stressed-out set of grandparents in the lurch, and at Christmas?

“You know, my parents swore we'd never make a go of the store, but Doc and I understood what families needed.” Mrs. Goodwin had gone all gooey and sentimental as she stood back and gazed lovingly as Doc came outside to collect Jesse. “It was just a matter of showing them how good a Goodwin's life could be.”

Addie watched as the old man in his dark brown business suit offered his hand to the little boy in brand-new dark blue jeans. “Good at Goodwin's…Didn't that used to be the marketing slogan?”

“You
have
done your research.” Mrs. Goodwin smiled. “Come see how good a Goodwin's life can be. Not only was it our motto, but our very first Christmas ever, it was the basis for a publicity stunt that had the Goodwin name on every tongue in Tennessee.”

“Whatever that is, maybe you should try it again!”
And maybe you should hire a girl with a brand-new marketing degree who clearly does her research and desperately needs a job
.

Addie paused for a moment to listen. The engine of
the lone running car parked on the next block was still purring in the quiet of the late November morning. She tried to ignore that and what it could mean.

In front of Goodwin's, Jesse rejected his ex-step-grandfather's hand but in a split second had lowered the wheels on his shoes, then nabbed the tail of the old man's suit jacket. Jesse went gliding along behind him, laughing as Doc pretended to try to shake him off.

A big marketing ploy. Not even knowing what it might be, she knew she was so much better suited to that than to playing nanny to a little boy.

Addie presented herself with cool but forceful enthusiasm and said, “I'd love to help you re-create that first publicity stunt, Mrs. Goodwin. You said if you could think of anything you could hire me for, you'd do it. This seems like a win-win situation for us both. You take a chance at stirring up big sales numbers for Goodwin's this season, and I get a chance to prove myself to you, or to whoever I send my resume to if Goodwin's doesn't…need me come the first of the year.”

Maimie stood back and gave Addie a long, slow, squinty-eyed going-over.

Addie tried to look professional, fearing that in her old-fashioned outfit she might actually seem plain and unimaginative instead. Maybe she would have been wiser to offer to take care of Jesse. Though looking at the boy playing with Doc, she wondered if they would actually have a need for a full-time nanny. Even if they did, that would only be until their son returned from his honeymoon.

“I can do this, Mrs. Goodwin. I know I can.” In that
moment, she became aware that the car's engine had stopped. Or perhaps while Addie had been making her big pitch Nate had merely driven off. Not that it mattered, of course. Jesse would be fine without him, and it wasn't like Addie needed him for anything. She had a plan, and that plan was back on track. “Just tell me what I need to do.”

Maimie smiled slowly. “It's not what you need to
do
but what you need to have that would be the problem, my dear.”

“I have the degree. I have the energy. I've done the research on the entire history of Goodwin's. What else could I possibly need?”

“A husband. Or at the very least a man to play the role. Nothing long-term, just someone to act as your counterpart for one or two weeks.”

“Wait a minute!” She tried to make sense of that statement. She played what she had just learned against all the newspaper clippings and local stories about the old store. Addie's face went hot as it dawned on her what the older woman was talking about. “You don't mean…Mrs. Goodwin, the first publicity stunt wasn't the year you had a couple living in the front window of the store using only things for sale at Goodwin's for the two weeks before Christmas?”

“Twelve days,” she corrected.

“I'd be happy to do the behind-the-scenes work for that, but I don't think…” She could hardly breathe. Her whole life she'd longed to disappear and just be one of the crowd. Her stomach churned. “Mrs. Goodwin, I
can't
put myself on display like that.”

“Then I can't give you a job, dear.” The woman reached out, took her hand and gave it a pat. “I can't pay for you to run the promotion and someone else to man it. Sometimes you have to be willing to stand up and let the world know what you believe in.”

Despite the warmth of the sunshine reflecting off the sidewalks and large plate-glass windows, a chill snaked down Addie's spine. This was it. She had always wanted to work at Goodwin's, and now not only was she being offered a chance, but if she didn't pitch in and do her part, there might not be a Goodwin's to work at ever again. “I guess I could do it, but I wouldn't have the first idea where to find a husband, not even a fake one.”

“Okay. I'll stay. One, two days tops, more if I have to, but not longer than a week. I absolutely have to be gone by Christmas Eve,” Nate shouted as he crossed the street toward them. “But the second you find someone else who can take my place, I am outta here.”

“Good to hear it, Mr. Browder.” Mrs. Goodwin gave Addie's hand a conspiratory squeeze. “This may just be the answer to all our problems.”