Love Finds You on Christmas Morning (25 page)

“Hannah—that’s my sister,” Nikki said. “She was supposed to be there, but she got caught up on a phone conference. She had asked me to pick him up on the way to church, since he lives right down the road from here.”

“And you live around here?”

He wondered if he was sinning by omission. He had clearly seen her walk out of that mansion, and now he was pretending he’d just run into her here at the park.

“I live in that big house you saw Riley and me walk out of.” She pointed in the direction of the mansion. “Just those few blocks down.”

He didn’t realize his mouth hung open until she chuckled.

“What? Did you think I didn’t see you? It’s broad daylight, and you were parked right in front of the place. Single women have to be aware of their surroundings at all times; don’t you know that?”

He knew his face was red. Talk about busted. Still, he liked her spunk. She must have seen that in his expression.

“What?” she asked, a twinkle in her eyes as well.

“I’m just wondering when the ‘demure’ is going to kick in.”

Now
she
laughed out loud. She had one of those laughs that drew a man in. Natural, musical, and downright fetching.

She checked her watch.

“I should get back. I need to make Harvey’s dinner.”

“Harvey?” They started walking together.

“My boss. That’s his home I live in.”

“Ah. That’s not
your
home?” He felt a bit of relief that she wasn’t from an economic class so far above his own.

“Hardly!” She pointed at Riley. “This isn’t even my
dog.
I’m Harvey’s—Mr. Fennicle’s—personal chef. I’m part of his live-in staff.”

“Fascinating. I’ve never known anyone who lived with their boss. Well, my old girlfriend lived with her boss briefly after I moved out here, but that was a different situation altogether.”

He saw her eyes widen, and he nearly stumbled. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t mean to insinuate anything about you and your boss. And that was her private business too. And completely unlike her, I should add. It was, well, she went a little wild after I… Oh, never mind. Way too much information. Ignore what I said.”

She nodded once. “All right, done. I’ve been known to spill stuff I regret spilling too.”

The mansion was in sight by the time either of them spoke again. They had already passed his car, and he liked that she didn’t stop there to part from him.

She said, “And what brought you to Cary?”

“I’m an engineer. I moved out here to oversee the building of an office complex.”

“So you’re temporary here?”

“No, I’m here for good. At least that’s my plan.”

He was about to mention the new house, but he thought better of it. Not only was it not a done deal yet, but after the way he had nearly hunted her down today, he was a little uncomfortable telling her he was buying a house right down the street from her. Besides, even though they seemed to mesh well, if they didn’t hit it off long-term, it was probably best not to point out how close they would be living near each other. Better to wait until they knew each other better.

They reached the sprawling yard in front of the mansion, and she put out her hand.

“It was nice meeting you, Drew.”

He took her hand but just held it for a moment. “Yes. Do you think you’d like to get together for coffee or something tomorrow? Maybe after work? That is, do you have specific working hours, or—”

“Oh. I can’t tomorrow. I actually have a pretty full schedule right now. Harvey has some business meetings going on here, and I need to feed everyone. Maybe in a few days? The weekend?”

“Saturday? Sure. You want to give me your number?”

They pulled out their phones and exchanged numbers.

He made a point of walking away when she did, rather than standing there and watching her leave. He was in too good of a mood now and didn’t want her to see just how happy she had made him. Too obvious, and too soon.

He wanted to at least save
some
surprises for the next time they met.

Nikki wrestled with opposing emotions on Saturday morning. She busied herself by making raspberry blintzes for Harvey, but her thoughts kept bouncing between her plans to meet Drew for coffee later today and her disappointing loss of the house. She couldn’t seem to shake the latter.

“What can I help you with, Nikki?” Harvey broke into her concentration when she brought his breakfast to the dining room.

“Hmm? Oh, Harvey, I’m sorry. Am I that obvious? I thought I was more poker-faced than that.”

“I’ve never been a fan of poker.” Harvey sipped his coffee. “And I hope you feel comfortable enough here that you don’t feel the need for pretense around me. You’ve been a bit off your game the last couple of weeks.”

She gasped before she caught herself. “Have I? You should have said something earlier! Have the meals—”

He put up his hand to stop her. “I don’t mean your work, dear.” He leaned back where he sat at the head of the table and gently patted his stomach. “Do I look as if I haven’t been eating well?”

Nikki laughed. If there was one thing Harvey was
not,
it was portly. He was actually very slim and seemed in fine health, especially for an eighty-eight-year-old man.

“No,” he said, “I mean your—your…” He put up his palms, waiting for the right words to fall. “You usually give me a harder time than you’ve been doing lately. You’re being far too nice. Almost polite. And that tells me there’s something wrong.”

Nikki rested her hand on her hip and smiled. “Harvey, you’re the most unusual boss.”

“Thank you. I aim to be. Now come and tell me what’s wrong.” He patted the table, and she sat down adjacent to him.

“Well, there are two things, really.”

“Two men?”

“No, not two men! There’s more going on in my life than romance, you know.”

“I’d say everything
but.”

She straightened, her eyes wide. “What do you mean?”

“You don’t get out enough. Even Laura seems to go out on dates occasionally, and she has far less
joie de vivre
than you do.”

Laura. Harvey’s all-business personal assistant. Wow. She had less joie de vivre than a post. Harvey’s comparison rankled Nikki.

“It just so happens that
one
of my issues
does
involve a man.”

“Ah!”

“And it’s
good.”

“What is, dear?”

“Uh, the issue. I mean, I have a date with him later this afternoon, actually. After you leave for your…whatever. And I’m looking forward to it.”

“So what’s the issue?”

“No issue, really. I’m happy about that. So happy that I’ve been preoccupied lately. In a good way.”

“Wonderful!”

“But that might be part of what you’ve noticed. Maybe I’ve been off my game because I’m thinking about him. Drew.”

“Well, that’s fine. And if things work out with this Drew fellow, I’d like you to feel free to have him come around so I can meet him. I already know he has excellent taste.”

Sometimes Harvey reminded her of her grandfather. She smiled. “Thanks. I’ll do that.”

“And now the second thing? I gather it’s the one that’s put that frown on your face the last few weeks.”

Nikki sighed. “You remember when you hired me and I told you I wanted to eventually put an offer on the house my great-grandparents built?”

“Yes. Lots of good family memories, you said. Such an admirable goal for a young person. While others are out buying fancy sports cars and throwing money away on technological fads, you’re trying to preserve the best from your past. I like that.”

She laughed. “Thanks. But I
do
have an iPhone, you know. And my BMW isn’t exactly an economy car.”

“Yes, but I’m sure that’s only because I pay you so exorbitantly. If I didn’t, you’d still be focusing on that house at the cost of those amenities. Am I right?”

“I
would
have been. But that’s all over now. Someone got in there and made an offer on the house before I was able to.”

Harvey had a forkful of raspberry blintz at the ready, but he set the fork back down. “I thought you told me the market was dead on the place. Am I remembering wrong?”

“No, you’re right. No offers at all, as far as I know. And the house has been on the market for more than a year. But someone showed up out of the blue, with the full asking price. Just like that.” She snapped her fingers. “Gone.”

He studied her for a moment before he picked up his napkin and wiped his hands, as if he were ready to leave his breakfast and take action. “Let me make some phone calls—”

“Oh, Harvey, I don’t think so. I really appreciate it, but the contract was put on the house weeks ago. My Realtor would have called me in a flash if the house became available again. For all I know, they’ve already closed the sale.”

“Well, maybe not. I’m not saying I would do anything unethical, but if there were the slightest chance of having the contract fall through, maybe I could influence—”

“No. Thanks. Just thinking about doing something like that gives me an upset stomach. I don’t think God would want me to get the house that way. I need to trust that there’s a reason I didn’t get the house. Maybe I’m putting too much store in an earthly thing.”

“But that’s just it, dear. You were putting store in those memories, not the house, per se. Right?”

She didn’t even have to think hard about the answer, so she had a pretty good idea where it came from. “I can still have the memories, Harvey. I think I have to let my desire for the house go.”

Now Harvey sighed. “All right. If you say so.” He picked his fork up again. “But you let me know if there’s any way I can help out. I want you to get back to harassing me again.”

She mustered a smile for him. “Fine. Eat those blintzes, for goodness’ sakes. I slaved for hours, and you’ve let them get cold. How’s that?”

He considered her remark before giving a brief shrug. “It’s a start.”

Harvey’s concern and offer of help hadn’t come as a surprise to Nikki. That all fit his personality perfectly. Still, he had perked up her attitude considerably. That—coupled with the anticipation of her coffee date with Drew—had her in good spirits that afternoon when she headed out of work. She was a little early, but that just helped her to feel relaxed about the date. She tended to stress when she ran behind schedule.

She took one last check of herself in her car’s rearview mirror before she headed toward Ashworth’s Drug Store. She had suggested to Drew that they meet at the old-fashioned soda fountain in the shop rather than at one of the trendy coffee bars in town.

“The place has been here all my life,” she’d told him on the phone earlier that week. “I think you’ll get a bigger kick out of Ashworth’s than one of the modern coffee bars. It’s a little like a scene from
It’s a Wonderful Life.”

That had been a test, of course, whether Drew knew it or not.

“Oh, yeah! Where Jimmy Stewart worked as a kid.”

Ah, well done. Sounded as if he liked old movies, as she did. “Exactly. You’ll see what I mean. And if you’re nice, I might even treat you to a hot dog.”

“Please.
Don’t insult my sense of chivalry.” He spoke with mock indignation and bluster. “If any hot-dog buying goes on today, I’ll be doing it, young lady. And I’ll hear no more about it.”

So Nikki drove away from Harvey’s thinking of nothing but seeing Drew and getting to know him better. Still, she never drove past Grampa and Granny’s house—as she would always think of it—without giving it a wistful glance.

And this time she saw several men walking into the house. Without a second thought, she pulled over onto the other side of the road. They had left the front door open, as if they planned to walk right back out again, but no one exited while she watched. They had been dressed casually, in jeans and T-shirts. Could someone actually be moving in already? It had only been…what, four weeks? Five? She couldn’t remember when Estelle had dropped the bomb about her losing her house to that…that house swiper.

Her house. Ugh. She simply couldn’t shake that proprietary feeling. She clearly needed to pray about that.

And she would. But not just now. Right now she was dying to see who the usurper was. She shut off her car and stepped out before she could change her mind. In fact, the closer she got to the front door, the more steam she seemed to build up and the more aggressive she felt toward whoever had ruined her well-laid plans.

An older, wiry, leather-skinned man wearing a ball cap stepped out of the house just as she walked up the porch steps. She hesitated, midstep.

The man tipped the brim of his cap at her and gave her a friendly smile. “Afternoon.”

“Oh. Yes. Good afternoon. Are you the, uh, person buying this house?”

He cocked his thumb over his shoulder. “Nope. You’ll find him inside.” He pulled a pack of cigarettes from the rolled-up sleeve of his T-shirt.

“Thanks.” She stepped to the front door and experienced such an emotional rush of memories that she literally had to stop moving. It used to be so natural, entering this home without knocking. Knowing her great-grandparents would welcome her anytime. Now she was about to barge in on someone else’s property. Or what would soon be someone else’s property. She couldn’t stand it. Maybe she should just leave. The last thing she wanted to do was become a crying, slobbering mess in front of some stranger who was clueless about her connection with the house.

She heard voices, although she couldn’t hear what they were saying. It sounded as if they were back in the kitchen. Her kitchen.

Ugh. She had to do it. She tapped on the frame of the front door, still uneasy about walking in. “Uh, hello?”

No answer. Not even a pause in the discussion back there. She knocked more loudly and spoke up.

“Hello? May I—?”

“Just go on back there, miss.”

Nikki turned and looked at the fellow on the porch. She wanted to tell him to stop flicking his ashes on the porch. But it wasn’t her porch.

He lifted his chin to point at the inside of the house. “They can’t hear you. But go on back. They won’t bite.”