Holly Lane (27 page)

Ten minutes later, he pulled into the gravel parking lot, much of it covered with a thin layer of packed snow. The simple one-story building sat outside town and looked surprisingly inviting with Christmas lights in the window and a blanket of snow dripping from the roof to form a few icicles on one side.

The parking lot was moderately full and when Adam stepped inside, he found several tables taken and a few people at the bar. Springsteen’s “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” played on the jukebox near the door. And unfortunately, though he spotted plenty of people he knew in passing, he saw no one at the Dew Drop tonight who he’d generally sit and drink a beer with or shoot the bull.

Okay, so much for socializing. Still, lifting a hand to return a couple of waves from guys he knew as customers of Becker Landscaping, he eased onto a bar stool—then found himself taking in the shiny red garland lining the mirror behind the bar. It seemed familiar for some reason.

And then he realized why. It was the same as in his dream, the dream he’d had of his friends talking him down here at the Dew Drop. The same, even though he hadn’t been in the place since before Thanksgiving. Okay, that was officially weird. But he quickly decided not to ponder that too hard or he might start feeling like he had in that
last
dream a little while ago, like he was losing it. When, in fact, his goal was to finally start getting it back.

“What’ll ya have, darlin’?” Anita Garey asked him. As usual, the lady bar owner sported a tight top that showed off her shape, this one green and sparkly—for the holidays, he guessed. She was a flashy sort of woman, not the norm for Destiny, but folks here had taken a liking to her since her arrival a couple of years ago—and especially since she’d started dating Police Chief Tolliver—and Adam was among them.

“Bud Light,” he told her.

Reaching under the bar, Anita grabbed a bottle, smoothly removed the top, and placed it before him. “Cheer up,” she said. “It’s almost Christmas.”

Damn, that was how ingrained his mood had apparently become—he was clearly wearing it on his face without even knowing it. “I’m trying,” he told her honestly. “That’s why I’m here. Thought it would do me some good to get out, be around people.” Then he met her gaze. “I haven’t had the best December.”

“I’ve heard,” she said.

He sat up a little straighter. “You have?”

The lady barkeep just shrugged. “Well, I’ve heard you, uh, haven’t been yourself lately. Something about your little boys being away for the holiday?”

And then—damn. He remembered. He remembered the hush-hush secret he’d heard: that Anita Garey had once had a little boy herself, and that he’d been abducted by her ex-husband over twenty years ago.

And he thought about the years of pain she’d endured if it were true.

And the words Sue Ann had once imparted about his boys, that night at the cabin—
At least you know they’re coming back—
echoed through him in a whole new way, like the resonating clang of a bell.

God, he’d been selfish. And small. And sure, his Grinchiness had extended beyond just missing the twins—it was about divorce and the state of his life in general, and then it had become about Sue Ann, too—but still . . . Sue Ann was so right. His boys would be home soon. His life would be back to normal. And yeah, not having
her
in his life was kind of killing him now that he realized how badly he wanted her there—but when he thought of what the woman standing behind the bar had suffered, was still suffering, it just put everything in a new perspective.

“Um, yeah,” he finally said, but felt almost ashamed to have griped about that when Anita’s little boy hadn’t
ever
come home. “And . . . some other stuff, too. But I’m realizing that I need to count my blessings and snap out of it, you know?”

Anita nodded knowingly. “Me, I find that life is about ninety percent attitude. You just gotta keep your head held high and focus on the positive.”

“You’re right,” Adam said, admiring her more than he could fathom. “You’re absolutely right.” If he ever lost his boys . . . God, he couldn’t even imagine it. But something that felt a little miraculous to him had just happened. In that moment when he’d remembered Anita’s son, he’d really snapped out of his mood. That last dream had started it, for sure. But this . . . this went beyond that. His kids would be home soon. And until then, they were both healthy, and safe, and happy, and with people he trusted. Not everybody had that. Anita didn’t have that. The realization of just how fortunate he was, in so many ways . . . well, it suddenly felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off his shoulders, once and for all.

Anita crossed her arms over her ample chest. “
That
was easy. Usually takes me a little longer to talk somebody out of their troubles.”

“Well,” Adam told her, suddenly feeling a lot more like himself—like he’d been with Sue Ann at times recently, like the guy people knew and liked—“I guess I was on the verge. And I just needed to take that last step.”

When the bar’s front door opened again, Adam looked up to see Mike and Logan walk in. As they shook off the cold and Mike unzipped his jacket, they both caught sight of him—and merely lifted their hands in casual waves, then took a couple of stools at the end of the bar, nowhere near him.

He started to feel pissed—but then he remembered. “I still have one problem, though,” he said, switching his focus back to Anita. “I’ve been treating people like crap. I mean, look—my friends walk in here and don’t even want to talk to me.”

Again, Anita just shrugged. “So make it up to them.”

“How?”

She just gave her head a saucy tilt and told him, “Guys are easy, darlin’—send ’em a couple of beers. It’s how men kiss and make up.”

“Huh,” he said. Then, “All right. Two Bud Lights for my buddies.”

A few minutes later, Anita delivered the beers, and Mike and Logan lifted them in his direction. In response, he picked up his half-empty bottle and joined them at the end of the bar.

“Thanks for the beer, dude,” Logan said.

“Consider it a peace offering,” he replied.

Mike angled a glance his way. “This mean you’re back to normal?”

He could only shrug. “Trying to be.”

Mike narrowed his gaze on Adam then, to ask, “So what’s been your problem lately anyway?”

He could have dished up a few different answers. But for some reason he decided to go with the most recent. “Woman troubles.”

Both guys balked, clearly surprised since they didn’t know he was seeing anyone, and Logan said, “What woman?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try us,” Mike said, and Adam instantly decided he’d picked the wrong problem to share. Because, yeah, there wouldn’t be any crime in telling them about his involvement with Sue Ann, but she’d probably feel funny about it—even if he knew he could trust these guys not to say anything. And he’d always been the type to keep romantic difficulties to himself anyway—it just seemed private.

So he finally said, “Nah—let’s talk about something else. You guys ready for Christmas?”

T
he next day was the last day the landscape supply was open before the holiday, and since the following day was Christmas Eve, Adam planned on closing early. Besides the fact that customers were few—only the occasional person who needed a last minute wreath or greenery for a mantelpiece—he figured Chuck wouldn’t mind having an extra half day to himself. Unlike Adam, Chuck had a big family to spend time with over the holidays—and in fact, his older brother was on leave from the Marines and had gotten in to town just a couple of days ago. But Adam was truly no longer bitter about his own holidays—he was glad Chuck would enjoy his Christmas; he deserved it.

So when Chuck came into the office around noon after sweeping the parking lot, and asked, “Mind if I take my lunch now?” Adam said, “Sure, and in fact, take the rest of the day off.”

In response, Chuck’s eyebrows shot up. “Really?”

“Really. Go spend the afternoon with your brother.”

“Um, okay—and thanks,” he said, face red from the cold.

Adam then reached into a drawer at the desk he sat behind and pulled out an envelope, which he held out to Chuck.

“What’s this?” Chuck said cautiously as he drew it, almost hesitantly, from Adam’s hand.

Adam gave his head a slight shake. “Nothing big. Just a little . . . Christmas bonus, guess you might call it.” The truth was, he had never given a Christmas bonus in the past because business was lean through the winter months and it hadn’t seemed prudent. This year would be just as lean, but he needed to show his employees that he appreciated them, especially after this past month.

Adam hadn’t necessarily intended for him to open the envelope right now, but Chuck tore into it anyway, then pulled out a hundred-dollar gift card for the large grocery store in Crestview. His jaw dropped. “Wow, Adam. That’s . . . generous.”

Maybe. Kind of. But he knew Chuck still lived at home and that his family had suffered from the hard economic times of the past few years. And he wanted to ensure that Chuck’s mom could make a nice Christmas dinner for them all. So he just said, “You’re a hard worker. You always show up on time. You never complain. So just want to show my appreciation.”

Chuck’s mouth remained open in surprise, but now it was probably because Adam hadn’t been this nice to him in a while. “Well, um, thanks.”

Just then, Tyler Fleet walked into the office. He was off today, but Adam had called him that morning and asked him to stop by. “Hey,” Tyler said, lifting his hand in a wave.

“Hey—thanks for coming on short notice,” Adam told him, then dipped into the same desk drawer to extract another envelope. “Christmas bonus,” he said, passing it to him.

“Really? Wow, cool,” Tyler said, also ripping right into his. Inside were two tickets to an upcoming Xavier University basketball game. The school was a couple hours’ drive away, but Adam happened to know Tyler was a fan of the team that consistently made it into the NCAA tournament. He also knew Tyler had never been to one of their games. “Holy crap,” he said when he saw them. “This is freaking awesome.”

Adam just shrugged. It had been easy enough to get his hands on the tickets, and . . . “Well, I know I haven’t been the easiest guy to have as a boss lately. Truth is, I’ve been taking my personal problems out on you guys—and lots of other people, too—and that sucks. So I hope maybe this’ll do something to make up for it and show you both that I’m glad to have such good workers.”

“Um . . . hell yeah,” Tyler said, still clearly excited over the basketball tickets.

And Chuck said, “Could happen to anybody, man,” then held up the gift card. “This’ll make my mom real happy. In fact, maybe my brother and me’ll go get a big turkey to surprise her with.”

After Chuck and Tyler left his office a few minutes later, Adam got up and turned the lock on the building’s front door, as well as flipping the
OPEN
sign in the window to
CLOSED.
And it was quiet again. And he was alone again. And the overcast day outside—damn, looked like it might snow some more—left the office dimly lit.

But to his surprise, Adam didn’t feel that same sense of loneliness he’d suffered so much lately. Funny—seemed like doing something for somebody else, and mending some fences, had truly kept his mood changed for the better. Apparently, focusing on others instead of only on himself was good for him. And he was pretty sure he used to know that, but he guessed he’d needed a reminder.

When his cell phone buzzed in the pocket of his Levi’s, he reached to pull it out. A quick glance revealed it was the number of the condo where the boys and their grandparents were staying in Colorado—and when he answered, he heard Sheila’s father on the other end.

“Wanted to let you know we’ve had a change of plans,” his ex-father-in-law said.

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Looks like we’re coming home a little early. As in tomorrow.”

Tomorrow? Tomorrow was Christmas Eve. “Really?” Adam said, trying not to sound too excited—at least not just yet.

“Yep. Turns out the boys are missing you and their mom awful bad. I think they really want to have Christmas at home. We probably should have thought of that when we planned all this, but it’s easy to forget how it feels to be seven.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Adam said, his heart pinching up to hear that his kids missed him, too, even enough to end their trip early. “I’m sorry it’s probably causing you a headache or two, but I can’t lie—I’ll be real glad to have ’em home for Christmas myself.”

“Can’t blame ya for that,” the older man said.

And as Adam pushed the disconnect button a minute later, he leaned back in his desk chair and let a big smile spread across his face. His boys were coming home for Christmas. It felt sort of like God giving him a reward for making things right with the people in his life. But maybe it was just . . . things falling into place, things beginning to straighten themselves out here and going the way they should.

Of course, there was still one part of his life that hadn’t straightened itself out. And maybe he should just keep right on leaving Sue Ann well enough alone since he’d let her down. But on the other hand . . . well, he definitely had some amends to make with her, too.