“The party will be here at my house. We have a great room around to the side there,” he pointed past the kitchen. “It should be mainly in there and in the kitchen area. You can use the living room and entryway too. My children are the main focus. They are sixteen years old, a boy and a girl. The rest of the guests will be our extended family. It should be homey and traditional with a lot of details. I don’t have a Christmas tree or any decorations so I’ll need all of that.”
“You don’t have any Christmas decorations?” I asked trying to clarify.
“No.”
This puzzled me. How could anyone who had children not have Christmas decorations at all? Certainly, he had some favorite ornaments or a stuffed snowman he put out; there had to be something.
“Do you have a color theme you’d like to use?”
“Green and red,” he said without missing a beat.
“Of course, we will incorporate the traditional Christmas colors. Is there another accent color that your family enjoys? Sometimes people like gold or silver. Other times people are bolder and like to use non-traditional color schemes.”
“Green and red are fine. You can add some silver but no gold.”
“Great, let me show you some drawings that I have and you can tell me what you like and don’t like.”
“Fine.”
I pulled out my book of Christmas party drawings that I used with my clients. It had a lot of variety in the photos and usually gave me an idea of what clients were willing to accept and not accept.
Thomas flipped through the photos and then handed the book back to me.
“Did you see anything in particular that you liked?”
“It’s all fine.”
I took a deep breath and tried to find the right words to continue this conversation. For a man who ran a billion dollar company, he wasn’t all that great at making decisions. So far all I knew was that he wanted a Christmas party with traditional colors.
“How about this one?” I opened my book to a drawing of three trees. “This represents a tree from the past, one of the present and one for the future. You could incorporate past loved ones in this and also some future plans that your children have.”
“Fine. That one.”
“Okay, and you really don’t have any ornaments or other personal items you’d like to use with this?”
“I don’t mean to be rude Ms. Normandy, but I told you I didn’t have other decorations. Please don’t waste my time by asking me repeated questions.”
This guy was a giant ass! I was sitting here smiling at him and being as nice as I could be and no matter what I did or said he just said ‘fine.’ How on earth did he expect me to actually throw a decent party for him if he didn’t participate in the planning? Guys like this drove me crazy because he wasn’t going to participate but then he’d complain about what I decided to do, I just knew it.
“Wow, okay. Is this what you’re going to be like the entire time?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
“I’m efficient.”
“That’s not the descriptive word I would use.”
“What other questions do you have?” He asked not even showing the slightest offense to my outburst toward him.
“I need to know more about you and your family. Why do you not have any Christmas items? Why do you want to throw this party? Something is off here and I’m happy to put together a party that is green and red with lots of beautiful items, but it will be a much better party if I know what’s going on here.”
“It’s a Christmas party, that’s all you really need to know,” he said and stood up. “Would you like to look at the great room that the party will be in?”
“Fine,” I replied.
Thomas walked toward the back of the house and down a hallway to what was most definitely a great-room. The room looked as long as a football field. It was decorated with a pool table, video games, and table tennis on one side. The other side of the room had a giant set of couches facing a fireplace. It resembled more of a recreation room in a dorm than a home, but I wasn’t about to bring that up.
“All of the furniture could be moved. I’m sure you can hire someone to do that if you decide. I think the Christmas trees would look best by the large windows over there.”
“Yes, I agree,” I said looking out the windows to the pool and backyard.
We didn’t have snow yet this year, but I imagined his yard would look like some sort of Christmas postcard once the snow fell.
I sensed that Thomas was right behind me. He was a few feet back but his presence was easy to notice. He was at least six feet tall, probably a little taller. His muscles were bulging out of the t-shirt he had changed into and his jeans fit him absolutely perfectly.
It was a shame that such a handsome man was such a jerk. I still couldn’t help wondering where his wife was or if he really was single. The way he was behaving I assumed he was single and that his wife had likely left him when she realized what a giant jerk he was.
“So I’d like an idea of everything you’ll be doing by Wednesday. I’ll take a look at it and sign off so you can continue with the planning,” Thomas said.
“That’s not exactly how this works,” I turned to face him. “I have a lot of parties going on the next few weeks. I’m going to have to squeeze in your planning in between other things. That’s why I’m trying to get a clear picture of what you want.”
“I’m paying you more than any of those parties. I should be your priority.”
I laughed at his brash statement. As if money was the only important thing in hiring a planner or working with them. Of course, he was paying me much more than anyone else, but I was still committed to those clients and I wasn’t about to do a terrible job for them simply because a higher paying client came along.
“Is that how your business works?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, if you sell some airplane parts to someone and then a larger company comes and asks for all your parts, do you just leave the first client in the wind and go with the bigger client?”
“No, obviously not. I take care of both clients.”
“Well,” I said and waited for him to see what I was trying to get at. We stood there in silence for a minute though and he didn’t respond. “I have obligations to my other clients to throw them amazing parties too. I’m not going to do a bad job for them simply because I was hired by you.”
“You’re a party planner,” he said in the most condescending voice I’d heard from a man in a very long time.
It took every bit of my willpower not to turn and leave that house. This wasn’t someone I wanted to work with; I didn’t even like standing and talking to him. How was it that he was willing to pay me a hundred thousand dollars for his party but also had such contempt for my job and abilities that he didn’t think it mattered if I dissed my other clients?
“Yes, I am a party planner. I’m your party planner and you paid me a lot of money to work for you but I’m not going to have you disrespecting me or my job. I’m really good at what I do and I’ll throw the best damn Christmas party you’ve ever seen, but I deserve a little respect in the process.”
“I’m sorry,” he said much quicker than I expected. “Sometimes I’m a little brash. I didn’t mean any offense by my statement.”
This was something new to me too. A high-level executive who apologized when he was rude; that caught me off guard as much as his brashness had.
“How about we start over?” I suggested and held out my hand. “I’m Nicole Normandy, people call me Niki. I’m excited to help you plan your party.”
“Thomas Hanover. I appreciate you planning my party,” he said and shook my hand.
The slightest of smiles flashed across his face as his brown eyes delved into mine. Our hands stayed locked in a handshake for a little longer than normal as I searched his dreamy face. This guy was a complicated mess and I was about to embark on a month-long party planning adventure with
him.
Chapter 5
Thomas
I was in trouble and I knew it the second she stood up for herself. This girl wasn’t a normal party planner that I could boss around; she had a spunk to her that energized me. I wasn’t so sure about her experience in planning parties though; she looked really young for the business, but at this point, I was going to have to go with the flow and see how things turned out.
“Can you give me a full tour of the home?” Niki asked.
“Why a full tour? I won’t be allowing guests in other areas of the home and you will not have to decorate any other areas.”
“I think it would help give me a better idea of the space and of your style. I promise not to touch anything,” she said with a gorgeous smile.
Her blonde hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail and she had just a touch of makeup on. Niki had the most brilliant green eyes and I found myself a little lost in them as I tried to find a good reason not to take her on a tour.
It wasn’t that I minded showing her around the house, it was that I hated how large our house was. There was no need for the three of us to live in such an enormous house, but it was the home I’d built with Rose and where we had brought the kids home from the hospital. Rose and I imagined having many more children and making our home a bit of a sanctuary for all our family and friends.
Once Rose passed away I couldn’t stand the idea of leaving the home that all our memories were in. At first, it was painful to look around the house and have reminders of Rose everywhere, but now it was more like a comfortable blanket that made me feel safe. I was pretty sure the kids wouldn’t want to move to a different house either
“Okay, I’ll give you a tour,” I reluctantly agreed.
“So you really don’t let family members roam through the house when they come to visit?” Niki asked.
“It depends on which family member, but not many of them come to visit.”
“Oh, okay,” she said softly.
Matthew insisted that Niki was the only party planner he could get on such short notice. I really needed this party to go off without a hitch and so far things with Niki didn’t seem to be going all that smoothly. I had to prove my family wrong about this year’s party. I had to show them that I could throw an amazing party and they were all wrong about me not being able to host it this year.
Since talking with my sister at my office, I’d also fielded phone calls from my mother and my brother. Each of them was nice enough on the phone but basically tried to get me to agree to let Ashley host the party. My mother even mentioned how terrible I was at buying gifts and always had my assistant purchase them. I argued that my gifts were amazing and just because I had an assistant help me purchase them it didn’t mean I wasn’t the one who told them exactly what to buy. She knew the truth though. My mother always knew the truth. I didn’t know what to buy anyone and Matthew did all the research for me.
“This area is all bedrooms. My kid's rooms are here and mine at the end of the hall. We use this one as a video gaming room and my daughter Jenna uses this one as a walk-in closet.”
“Nice, I bet she loves that. Can I take a look?”
“Sure, she takes so many Instagram pictures in there I doubt she cares if you look around. She’s always trying to show it off.”
We walked through the plethora of clothing and accessories that Jenna owned. When Niki suddenly stopped I was busy looking up at the ceiling fan and trying to remember when was the last time that I’d changed the light bulbs. Because I was so distracted I bumped right into Niki as she looked at the giant mirror.
“Oh, sorry, I can’t believe how big that mirror is. That’s really cool.”
“I call it her selfie mirror. We special ordered it to fit that wall and I installed it myself. I still worry that it might fall off the wall and crush her. But that’s just one of the many things I worry about.”
What was going on? Why was I telling this woman about the things I worried about? Not that I cared if she knew, but normally I wasn’t disclosing personal information to anyone that I was paying to do a job for me.
“I sometimes worry that air conditioners are going to fall from buildings while I’m walking in the city,” she said without missing a beat.
“YES! TOTALLY!” I agreed.
“It sounds like your intercom is buzzing,” Niki said and we both closed our eye to listen. “Why don’t you have staff? This is a really big house to be running out to the gate all the time.”
“I have someone to cleans for us and someone who does the grounds work. That’s all I need. Normally we don’t have visitors or if we do it’s someone who has a key.”
The damn intercom in the house hardly worked at all. There were only four speakers and if I was upstairs only one in my bedroom. Normally, it didn’t matter. All of my family and the people I trusted had a key and the code to get to the house. We didn’t get unsolicited people trying to buzz in so I was a little concerned about who was at the gate.
After running down to my bedroom I saw that it was Matthew buzzing at the gate. First of all, Matthew did not leave the city unless there was an emergency. Second of all, he was adamant about taking his weekends off. Then thirdly, I had set my phone down somewhere and didn’t know where it was so Matthew had likely been trying to reach me.
“Matthew, what are you doing here?” I asked through the intercom.
“Buzz me in. I need to show you something.”
Luckily the buzzer worked from my room and I heard the gate start to open. I still had no idea how he had managed to get all the way out to my house.
“Matthew is here. It might be an emergency with my company.”
“I’m here too,” I heard Samantha say from the stairs. “Oh, hello, you have a girl up here. Well, well, well, I’m sorry for barging in.”
“Samantha, this is Niki. She’s going to be planning my Christmas party. Niki this is a family friend Samantha. The kids call her Aunt Samantha.”
“So you’re throwing the Christmas party in your bedroom?” Samantha asked eyeing me and Niki closely. “Seems like a fun party. Is everyone going to be invited or just the two of you?”
“It’s nice to meet you, Samantha,” Niki said and stuck her hand out to shake hands. “I asked Thomas to show me around so I could get a better feel of his sense of style. We were actually lost in Jenna’s closet when Matthew buzzed in.”
She was good. Niki didn’t let Samantha throw her off at all. Actually, Niki took control of the situation rather quickly and was kind with her response. I was impressed.
The three of us went back downstairs and were greeted by Matthew as he entered the house. He was frazzled and looked as if he had run all the way to my house from Manhattan. His hair was sweaty and flying all over the place. He was wearing sweatpants and tennis shoes, which I’d never seen him in before since he always wore business clothing to work.
“What’s going on?”
“The Japan deal is falling apart. I sent you a million messages, tried calling you and even send you a video. Where’s your phone?”
“Calm down. It’s not falling apart. They just need a little babysitting. Let’s go talk about it for a minute in the kitchen. I’ll make everyone some breakfast.”
“Actually, I should get going. I had a late night,” Niki interrupted as we walked to the kitchen.
“No, no, please stay. I’ll finish your tour in an hour or so. Have some breakfast with us,” I offered.
Niki closed her eyes and there was a long delay before she opened them again. She looked exhausted. I probably hadn’t helped things with the attitude I had when she first arrived.
“I really do need to get some sleep.”
“Come back tomorrow for breakfast. The kids will be home and it will be good for you to meet them.”
“Okay,” she said without arguing. “I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“Perfect, let me walk you out.”
“I’m sorry. I was out all night last night be
cause I planned to meet you Sunday. Please accept my apology.”
“No need to apologize. I remember what it was like to have a fun night on the town. It’s been a few years for me though, but I remember. Thank you for coming all the way out here. Would you mind leaving that drawing book with me and I’ll look it over again with Samantha? She’s a great help around here and I think she understands my taste.”
“Of course, here you go.”
I walked Niki back out to her car and told her I would open the gate for her so she could get out. We shook hands and then she took off down the driveway. I could only hope that she was awake enough to make it back into the city.
The second I made it back into the house both Samantha and Matthew were ready to pounce on me.
“So you’re hiring beautiful twenty-year-olds to plan your Christmas party now. That’s interesting. I would have gone with someone a little more qualified, but she looks like she has plenty of assets.”
“Matthew hired her,” I pointed to him.
“There were no party planners available on such short notice. In my defense, I also had no idea what she looked like until after I booked her. She was the only one that was nice to me on the phone and she had the dates open.”
“She’s stunning,” Samantha said. “You’re going to have to take her on a date when this party is over.”
“Samantha, that’s not how things work. I’m paying her to plan a party. I can’t ask her out after she’s worked for me for a month. That’s not actually ethical, is it?”
“It’s fine. She’s not a regular employee,” Matthew said.
For the rest of the morning, Matthew and I put out fires with the Japan deal while Samantha made herself at home as usual. She was Rose’s best friend and had practically lived at our home after Rose passed away.
Samantha was the reason I didn’t hire a nanny or need a bunch of staff around the house. She was always willing to help, even though she was now married and had her own child to look after. She was a great woman and the closest thing to a mother that the kids had since Rose passed away.
Mine on Christmas Page 5
