Holiday Man (17 page)

***

The Bakers were beside themselves with both delight and a hint of inebriation.

“Yoo-hoo, you two!” Darlene said enthusiastically, jogging up to Bram and Shannon in the lobby and tugging on their sleeves until they swiveled around to greet her. Darlene’s husband, Keith, was just a few steps behind, carefully balancing a tray with drinks.

Bram glanced at Shannon, who was absolutely radiant that night, clad in a dazzling silver dress that shimmered and reflected every fragment of light in the place. But she smiled at the older couple with a slightly unsettled look—a gaze filled with at least as many mixed emotions as the number of liquors used in Holiday Quinn’s signature New Year’s Eve drink recipe.

“I see you’ve made tonight’s first official batch of the Bing Crosby Cocktails,” Shannon said, nodding toward Keith’s tray, which held about a dozen martini glasses. In each there was sparkling golden liquid garnished with orange slices and a bright red cherry.

“We tasted them ‘til we were one-hundred-and-fifty percent
sure
we’d gotten the recipe right,” Keith said with a noticeable slurring of syllables. “But we wanted you two to try the first ones we’d perfected.”

“You’re both going to be so ready for this changeover at the end of next month,” Shannon said with love, admiration and a touch of sadness in her voice.

Darlene squeezed her arm. “If only we could do half as well as you,
dearie
. And you’d better not be a stranger. We expect to see you both back here.” She shot them a significant look then handed each of them a martini glass. “Drink up, lovely friends! It’s New Year’s Eve and the champagne will be flowing soon, too. Say farewell to the old year and hello to the new one.” The older lady encouraged them both to “let the celebrations begin.”

Bram had no sooner taken his first sip of the specialty cocktail when there was a loud squeal across the room, followed by an even louder shout. “YES!”

The Bakers, Shannon, Bram and, in fact, every single person milling around the lobby all turned to star at the squealer. A woman who looked to be in her mid- to late-twenties. And, right in front of her—bent down on one knee—was a man about her age, who leaped up, lifted her and spun her around.

“Whew!” he cried. “She said ‘yes,’ everybody! She’s
gonna
marry me. She’s
gonna
marry
me!”

An immediate cheer rose up and everyone clapped for the newly engaged couple. The Bakers scurried toward them to hand the joyous man and woman celebratory drinks. And Shannon studied the scene before them wistfully.

“Wow,” she said, seemingly unable to take her eyes off the young couple. “Imagine that. Beginning your life with someone.”

Bram watched her wander over to the pair to offer her congratulations as well, knowing he’d do the same in a few minutes when there were fewer people crowding around them. For the time being, though, he just thought about Shannon’s comment. Oh, yes, he
could
imagine that. For the first time in, perhaps, his entire adult life, he really
could
picture beginning it with someone—provided that someone was Shannon.

When midnight came, he was alone with her in a sea of over a hundred Holiday Quinn revelers. Waltzing face to face on the jammed dance floor, they enjoyed the last minutes of the old year before the countdown to the new one was set to begin.

“I’ve been thinking about your trip ideas,” Bram said, though it cost him something to sound so unruffled about it. “I’ve gotten the sense that you might already have some, uh, plans for after February first. And I—I don’t want to interfere with those.” He took a shaky breath. “But I do want to make sure you’re safe and able to get in touch with me or with…anyone who cares about you.” He pulled the smart phone out of his pocket that he’d snuck away from the inn to buy her yesterday. “So, I got you this.”

He explained some of the special features and ways it could prove to be a useful tool abroad. It had GPS tracking and satellite-image maps if she ever got lost or needed directions. It had a calculator for computing currency exchanges. Internet accessibility, of course, to directly check on flight times or train departures, museum openings and closings, the cost of dining or theater tickets.

“And I have a list of some of the most popular sites in Spain, Italy, Greece and throughout the Mediterranean. Places that I think are really worth a visit. Plus, I’ve also included a few spots you might want to avoid unless you’re with an experienced guide.”

He watched as she read through his lists—wide-eyed and with a sense of innocent wonder. Damn, he wanted to protect her
so
much. Not “acquire” her.
Be there
for her. But she said she wanted her freedom, and now wasn’t the right time to chain her to his side when she needed a chance to run carefree and wild, if that was what she really desired.

“Best of all,” he said, “it’s got an international phone plan, so if you
ever
need help with anything at anytime, you can reach me in an instant. I’m on speed dial, see?” He punched in a couple of digits and, immediately, his own phone in his jacket pocket began to ring. He showed it to her. “Shannon calling,” the face of his
iPhone
read, while the ringtone was a somewhat heartbreaking electronic version of “Leaving on a Jet Plane.”

He saw her swallow a few times. “Thank you,” she whispered, holding her new cell phone tightly and Bram even more so. “I promise I’ll always carry it with me.”

“Good,” he replied. “Then it’ll be kind of like me being there with you.” And though he didn’t say this aloud, to himself he added,
Keep me close to your heart, Shannon. And come back to me.

She looked like she was about to say something more, but the crowd suddenly began to chant, “Ten, nine, eight, seven…”

“Already?” Shannon asked, glancing at her watch in surprise.

Bram nodded, grabbed champagne flutes for them both from a passing waiter and joined in on the countdown.

“Six, five, four, three…”

Shannon laughed, gazed warmly at him and chimed in as well.

“Two, one. Happy New Year!”

Then, amidst the sounds of noisemakers from the crowd, they kissed—a long, deep, passionate kiss—and broke apart, breathless.

He raised his champagne flute just as “Auld Lang
Syne
” began to play and everyone else began to sing. “To the people who touched our lives in the year that past,” he said.

She raised hers, too, and added a toast of her own—one that caused a twinge of pain in the vicinity of his heart.

“And to new beginnings for all of us,” she said before clinking glasses with him and stepping back. Thus, taking her first steps of the New Year in a direction away from Bram.

***

Shannon kept the fingers of one hand wrapped about the phone Bram had given her. It was safely out of sight, in her pocket, as she officially checked him out of the inn the next morning. But it gave her comfort to touch it. Like a talisman. She didn’t want to let go of it, and she didn’t want to let go of Bram either.

“Be safe on the drive back,” she said to him, trying hard to keep from crying. The month ahead was going to be insanely busy, and she knew there would be no time for get-togethers, even if he could to slip away or meet her somewhere for a weekend. She missed him already but, given the unlikelihood of them seeing each other again anytime soon, he really was no longer hers.

“I will,” he promised. “I’ll be thinking about you.”

Then, with a final and very quick goodbye kiss, he was gone.

Shannon heard Jake exhale audibly next to her. She turned to look at him. To see if he was doing it deliberately—there was certainly no love lost between the two men.

But, no, it seemed to be an unconscious thing, much the way that Bram’s neck and shoulders always seemed to stiffen when her assistant would walk into the room.

Which was why Bram’s non-competitive behavior over the past week had perplexed her and had, ultimately, played a part in her decision to just let their relationship drift quietly away. She’d never liked it when he would fight with Jake over her for attention, but it was far more unsettling when he didn’t.

He’d just let go of her.

But, she realized suddenly—again feeling the smooth phone in her jacket pocket—it wasn’t that he didn’t care about her. He’d made that clear enough. It was because, as with any standard board game, like chess or checkers, it was actually
her move
. She just didn’t know which one to make…

Jake interrupted her thoughts. “
Wanna
grab some lunch after we’re done with the morning checkouts? I could really go for a cheeseburger. I know it’s the last thing I should have on New Year’s Day, especially after my vow not to eat so much red meat this year.” He laughed. “But a man wants what a man wants.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at her.

She smiled at him weakly in return. “I avoided New Year’s resolutions altogether this year. That’s the only way I can make it through January first without breaking any.”

The latest cluster of guests had just stepped away from the front desk, so it was only the two of them remaining in the lobby. Jake glanced around and took an obvious step toward her. “Really?” he asked. “No resolutions? No special promises?”

She shook her head.

“What about commitments?” he said. “Any of those…with, say, someone like Bram
Hartwick
?”

She shook her head again, feeling the sadness at her memories with him sweeping over her.

A grin slid over Jake’s face. “He’s a big fool, Shannon. You can do better than him. You
deserve
better. Anyone with half a brain would know never to just let you go.”

And, suddenly, Jake was right in front of her—his arms around her shoulders, his lips pressing against her cheek, then her jaw, then her neck and, finally, at the corner of her mouth. She was disoriented by it and didn’t quite know how to react for a few seconds but, eventually, she managed to step away and stutter a question. “
Wh
-What are you doing?” she asked him.

“It’s my second resolution of the New Year. To win you over once and for all.” He paused, took a deep breath and added, “I’m crazy about you, Shannon. Don’t tell me you don’t know that.
Everybody
here knows it. And you’ll see. With a little time and distance from this place, everything will look clearer to you. You have choices. Where you
wanna
live. What kind of work you
wanna
do. Who you
wanna
date…”

He gazed deep into her eyes—very seriously, she noticed, for the first time in a long time. She could feel his intensity and his utter sincerity. He wasn’t joking around in the least.

She swallowed. She didn’t want to hurt him, but she had to say something. “Jake, look—”

“No,” he blurted. “Please don’t. Don’t say anything now, not if you can’t say yes to me. Okay? We’ve got time together planned. Take it.
Please
take it. I’m going to Europe in a couple of weeks, and I’ll be there to meet you whenever you arrive. The closing date for the sale of the inn is the morning of February first—and you were planning to fly to Spain on the second. I’ll be at the airport in Madrid waiting for you, Shannon. If, after even one week, you don’t
love
it and love being with
me
, then tell me and I won’t stop you from leaving. I promise.”

Too many people making promises to her today, she thought, but she held her tongue and let Jake finish.

“You can travel alone after that,” he said. “Or take a train to somewhere else with a hot Spaniard. Or fly back home…whatever you want. Just give it a chance.” His green eyes pleaded with her.

And because she didn’t have Bram beside her to remind her heart of how passion felt, because he’d let her go…just as she’d asked him to…and because all of the changes in her life had left her feeling unmoored, with no direction, no compass, no sense of where she belonged in this incredibly huge world—or with whom—she said, “Okay, Jake. I’ll give it a chance.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Valentine’s Day…Again

The grounds of the Alhambra were gorgeous.

Even in early February, the Andalusia region of southern Spain was temperate and beautiful, and this famous, decorative palace of the Moors was especially so.

Shannon admired the architecture of the buildings, the stunning arches and intricate detailing. She breathed in the fresh air and delighted in the natural loveliness of the gardens. And she felt the late afternoon Granada sunshine warming her skin. A winter’s day that was fifty degrees! Hard to imagine
that
happening too often in Wisconsin.

Such a different climate. So much ancient history. A completely unique cultural experience and, yet…yet, she was the
same
Shannon Quinn. No matter how far from home she’d traveled, she couldn’t seem to leave herself or her memories behind.

She’d brushed off the post-holiday blues by keeping energetically busy with the sale of the inn to the Bakers, but then she’d come to Spain.

Jake, true to his word, was waiting for her. And, well, even when the two of them went sightseeing until they’d nearly dropped from exhaustion, she wasn’t able to escape her thoughts and emotions indefinitely. Something would unexpectedly remind her of Holiday Quinn or her favorite guests or her friend Margaret…or Bram.

It was nine o’clock in the morning back in the Midwest. What was everyone back there doing right now?

About a half hour into the palace tour, Shannon couldn’t rein in her curiosity any longer. She slipped away from the group and from Jake’s watchful eye, and she punched in a series of numbers on her phone.

“Yes?” Margaret Ashland’s distinctive voice said from some 4,200 miles away.

“Miss me yet?” Shannon asked.

The older woman chuckled. “It’s great to hear from you, honeybunch! What do you think of sunny Spain?”

Shannon raved about the country for several minutes while her mentor listened with attentive silence and a handful of encouraging comments.

Then Margaret, who was never one to avoid the heart of an issue, said, “And how is it being abroad on this grand adventure with Jake?”

Shannon paused. She’d never been quite as straightforward as her friend, but she could no longer disguise the truth. “Jake’s not the problem, Margaret.”

To his credit, Jake—though flirtatious as ever—had been a gentleman the entire time they’d been together. He let her set the pace of their friendship, which was still platonic, at least from her point of view, and he didn’t once push her into anything more.

She
was the one who was struggling.

In spite of herself, she missed huge chunks of her old life. She missed the routines she’d lived with for years. She missed the natural beauty of her home state. And she missed Bram. She tried to explain all of this to Margaret.

“The problem,” Shannon said, “is that I
know
I should be here. I have so much to learn, and a trip like this was always my dream! How can I possibly go back home until I’ve seen something of the world? Gained some knowledge and wisdom? Experienced everything I imagined?”

“Honey, world travel can certainly give you many of those things, but there’s more than one way to ‘take a trip,’ you know.” Margaret paused. “Education is a true odyssey of the mind. And love—well, love is a journey that never ends. It sets you on a path that never stops twisting and turning. Don’t underestimate the power of those types of experiences either.”

Her friend was right, as she had been so many times. Shannon knew it and thanked her. Then, after they’d said goodbye, Shannon stood near one of the walls and admired the garden flowers until, inevitably, Jake found her there.

He nudged her arm. “Saw you talking on the phone.”

She nodded. “Yeah. Jake, I’m sorry. It’s really not you. I’m just—”

“In love with someone else,” he finished for her.

She nodded again.

He winced and swallowed a few times. “Well, damn,” he murmured. “I thought I might be able to change your mind, you know? But, hey, at least I tried. And you were worth giving it a shot, babe.”

Then he draped his arm around her and pointed to one of the Spanish tour guides—a shapely brunette dressed in a slinky black miniskirt with a smile as bright as the Granada sun.

“That’s Juliana,” he said. “She invited me out to a tapas bar tonight. Guess I can tell her yes now, huh?”

Shannon kissed him lightly on the cheek. “You may be an insatiable flirt but, deep down, you’re a really good guy,
Jakey
.” She paused until he chuckled, even though the laughter didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Don’t keep the pretty lady waiting…and good luck. With everything.”

He winked at her. “Yeah, you, too.”

When he finally strode away, she clicked over to the Internet. Sure, it’d taken a month since New Year’s, plus a full week into her trip, but she’d finally figured out what she wanted to do, and she had a few important details to look up online.

***

Bram was freezing his ass off in a corporate board meeting in Minneapolis when they finally got to take ten minutes off for a coffee break. He needed it—the heat of the mug for his chilled fingers as much as the caffeine boost for his tired brain. Sitting motionless for so long, even while listening to his own shareholders praise the growth of his company, still wasn’t helping his circulation any.

It’d been a year since last Valentine’s Day. A year since he’d met Shannon. And far too damn long since he’d seen or spoken with her.

He poured himself a big cup of coffee and stared with irritation at the cutesy heart-shaped cookies his secretary Miranda had ordered for the meeting. They reminded him too much of Holiday Quinn, the Queen of Hearts Singles’ Dance and Shannon in that lovely cream-colored evening gown with the gold straps…

Depressing as hell to still miss her so much. He should’ve been able to get over it. To move on.
She
clearly had. She was in Spain with The Prick. But, mad as he was at Jake, he was much angrier with himself. He’d let her go…and her assistant was smart enough to keep her by his side. Bram couldn’t fault the guy for that.

He sighed, thinking of the text she’d sent him just a few days ago with a picture of the Alhambra Palace attached. Yeah,
a text
. Not a phone call or even an e-mail. So impersonal. It had him wishing for the olden days when people sent each other snail-mail postcards from their vacations.

Miranda saw him wandering around the office and shot him a concerned look. “Are you feeling well, Mr.
Hartwick
?” she asked.

He shrugged. “It’s cold.”

“It’s February in Minnesota.” She smiled. “What were you expecting?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” He’d given strict orders to the maintenance staff to keep the building temps as warm as possible, but the winter chill had a way of seeping in no matter what.

Bram glanced out the window and noticed it was snowing. Terrific. On top of everything else, his commute home would be punitive.

“Roads are going to be treacherous in a few hours,” he told his secretary. “Maybe we should close early today. Give everyone a chance to get to their houses safely.”

Miranda glanced at the clock and worried her bottom lip. “Hmm,” she said.

“What, you’ve got a problem with that? Think the shareholders will disapprove?”

She shook her head. “Not precisely,” she murmured, a noncommittal response that left him confused.

He was puzzling over how to respond to this when Miranda’s desk phone suddenly rang.

“Excuse me for a moment, Mr.
Hartwick
.”

He watched her take the call, chuckle into the receiver and instruct the person on the other end of the line to come up to the fifth floor.

“I’ll meet you by the elevators,” he heard her say.

Bram winced inwardly. Sounded like another delivery had just arrived. More
Lathericious
samples to sort through. More documents to sign. More of some kind of work he’d need to do before he could finally leave the office for the day and lick his wounds in private. He turned to walk back to the boardroom.

“Mr.
Hartwick
?” Miranda said.

He looked at her, waiting.

“Yes.” She nodded. “I definitely think you should suggest an early departure to the shareholders.” She gazed out the window with an amused expression. “Right
now
would be the best time, if you want my honest opinion.”

He stared at her with a niggle of suspicion. “What’s going on?”

But no sooner had the words left his mouth than the elevator in the hallway, just out of sight, dinged loudly, and his secretary dashed away from him.

“Hold that thought,” she called over her shoulder.

“Miranda—” he began, but his secretary had already disappeared.

He returned to the boardroom and dismissed his associates. A few lingered to chat with him so, maybe, another fifteen minutes had gone by before Miranda came bursting into the room with an impatient expression on her face.

“You’re needed at once in your office, Mr.
Hartwick
,” she informed him sternly. “It’s important.”

This was wholly uncharacteristic behavior for his secretary. This sternness. This impatience. The last time she’d acted remotely like this it’d been on the eve of his company’s anniversary, about five years ago, when his brothers surprised him with a little party at the office. They’d gotten his secretary in on their plans so she could help set it up.

Miranda wasn’t someone accustomed to keeping secrets.

He trailed after her, squinting his eyes at her fast-moving form and about to ask her yet again what the hell was going on. But she swung open the door to his private office…and the words froze on his tongue.

“Bram,” Shannon said. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

His mind was, perhaps, not functioning as efficiently as it should have been. It was as if the icy conditions on the roadways outside had extended their hazardousness into the pathways of his brain. Everything was moving perplexingly slow, and his thoughts were skidding perilously around inside his head with little control.

He got only as far as forming the word “Shannon” with his lips, but his shock at seeing her just standing there kept him from believing the messages his eyes were sending. He was incapable of speech.

Shannon, however, wasn’t nearly as tongue-tied. She raced up to him, flung her arms around him and whispered, “It’s
so
good to see you.”

He buried his face in the softness of her hair and neck, clinging to her as tightly as he could without cutting off her circulation.

Miranda cleared her throat. “Well, Mr.
Hartwick
, I’ll be heading out now. Bad driving weather and all.” There was relief in her voice and enough warmth to melt half the snow that had fallen that day in the Twin Cities. “Ms. Quinn, it was a pleasure meeting you.”

“You, too,” Shannon said with sincerity. “Thank you so much.”

Then his secretary was gone.

He was holding the woman he loved.

And they were alone.

“You’re
here
,” he said finally. “
Why
are you here? Not that I want you to leave,” he added quickly, “but I thought you were somewhere in the middle of the Iberian Peninsula.”

She pulled back just far enough to gaze deep into his eyes. “I was. But I missed you. And when I talked to Margaret, she reminded me that there was more than one kind of journey… I
do
want to travel the world, Bram, but I also want to learn a little more about the places I’m visiting and about a whole bunch of other subjects I’ve never had a chance to study or experience. It’s time for me to continue my education, and I hear there are a few good colleges in the area.”

She smiled and flashed a University of Minnesota course catalog at him. “You’ll have to tell me, though, if I should check out the dorm situation or if, perhaps, some alternate housing might be arranged.”

Bram stared at her, not sure he could trust his ears. All of his senses were wacked. “Wait, you want to move to Minneapolis?”

She shook her head and, immediately, his heart plummeted to his toes.

“Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Manhattan, Mozambique. The location is irrelevant, Bram. What I want is to be where
you
are. I want to take life’s greatest journey of all—the grand adventure of love—with you. And, if we’re lucky, if we find it’s the right path for us, then, maybe, we can continue journeying onward. To see if it leads to a life together.” She paused and looked at him with an equal mix of apprehension and hope. “Is that something you might want, too?”

“Oh, Shannon,” he murmured and, once again, he was rendered speechless for a few moments. “Yes. A thousand times, yes. Whether or not we ever go back to our favorite inn, being with you would make
every day
feel like a holiday.”

Then, before she could get away or change her mind, he locked his office door, snapped shut the window blinds and showed her with every part of his body, mind and soul just how much he loved being her valentine.