Christmas Ever After

by Karen Schaler

  Maryanne smiled and looked pleased. “That’s why I always sent you an extra-large box. I knew you’d share.”

  “Only with my favorite people,” Caylee said with a teasing twinkle in her eye. “But seriously, the cookies and the letters from home mean more than you know.” She turned to Luke. “And thank you for all the updates on what’s happening here at the lodge. I can’t wait to hear more about this Christmas Camp!”

  When Caylee gave Riley a curious look, Luke looked apologetic. “I am so sorry,” he said, looking right at Riley. “Riley, please forgive me for being so rude. I just haven’t seen Caylee in more than a year, and . . .”

  Riley smiled back. “Please, don’t apologize. I completely understand.” She walked over to Caylee and offered her hand to shake.

  “I’m Riley,” she said to Caylee. “Thank you so much for your service.”

  Caylee smiled back at Riley, but instead of taking her hand, she gave her a hug, too. “I’m a hugger,” she explained. “And I know exactly who you are. I’m a huge fan of your books. When Luke told me you were hosting this Christmas Camp, I knew I had to come.”

  Luke pretended to look hurt. “And here I thought you came home to see me.”

  They all laughed.

  When Luke led everyone over to the couch to sit down, Comet took his favorite spot by the fire where he could watch them all. Caylee sat on the floor next to him and started petting him, then turned her attention back to Riley. “I really do love your books. There’s a group of us girls on the base who share them whenever we can get them.”

  Riley was surprised and flattered. “Really?”

  “Oh, yeah!” Caylee continued. “One of the other soldiers in my unit gets your books from her mom, and I trade cookies for books. It’s totally the barter system, and thanks to Maryanne’s amazing cookies, I can get some really good stuff for them.”

  Everyone laughed, and Maryanne stood up from the couch. “And that’s my cue to get back to the kitchen. I need to start making some cookies for our Christmas Campers.” Before she left, Maryanne leaned down and gave Caylee another hug. “I’m so glad you’re home safe. We’ve all missed you so much.”

  “I can’t believe I’m actually home.” Caylee took a deep breath and smiled. “I love you guys.”

  Comet barked and wagged his tail. “Especially you, Comet,” Caylee said and gave him a hug.

  As Maryanne left the room, Luke turned to Caylee. “So you’ve really read some of Riley’s books?”

  Riley was glad he asked the question because she was curious herself. She had never heard of her books being read by any soldiers in war zones.

  “I have,” Caylee said proudly and smiled at Riley. “I haven’t read the latest ones, we’re a bit behind, but your first book, Loving the Dream, was amazing.”

  Riley was touched. “Thank you. That’s one of my favorites, too. And thank you for taking the time to read them while you’re in Afghanistan. You’re obviously incredibly busy with much more important things.”

  Caylee smiled. “That’s the thing that’s so great about your books. They’re the perfect escape when I want to forget where I am for a while. They also always give me hope that I’ll find my own love story someday.”

  Luke looked surprised. “What about that guy, Terry? Larry? The one you were seeing?”

  “Gary,” Caylee laughed. “Didn’t work out.”

  Caylee turned to Riley. “He was another soldier. Good guy, but at the end of the day, it turned out the only thing we really had in common was being in Afghanistan and being in the army. There was no spark.”

  “Well, you have to have the spark,” Riley said emphatically.

  “Exactly,” Caylee agreed.

  When Luke shook his head like he wasn’t following, Riley and Caylee shared a laugh.

  Caylee jumped up. “If you guys don’t mind, I haven’t slept in, like, forever. I was going to go upstairs and crash for a few hours.”

  Luke stood up, too. “Of course. Your regular room is waiting for you.”

  Caylee gave Luke another hug. “Love you!”

  “Love you more,” Luke said, and Riley could tell he meant it.

  As Caylee started to leave the room, she smiled back at Riley. “So great to meet you, Riley. I can’t wait to do this Christmas Camp with you. The girls back at the base are going to be so jealous!”

  “Great to meet you, too,” Riley said. “Get some rest.”

  Riley and Luke both watched Caylee leave the room. Then Luke let out a deep sigh of relief and sat down for the first time. “I’m so glad she’s home and okay,” he said. “I feel like I’m holding my breath the whole time she’s gone.”

  “And you said she’d been gone a year?” Riley asked, sitting down next to him.

  He nodded. “And a year is a long time to hold your breath.”

  They shared a smiled. Riley could tell from the first moment Luke saw Caylee that she was someone special to him. When he talked to her, his eyes lit up and his voice softened.

  “Does she live here at the lodge?” Riley asked.

  Luke laughed a little. “No, though don’t try telling her that. She still calls this home.”

  When Riley looked confused, he continued as he got up and put a few more logs on the fire. “Caylee’s mom, Sue, used to work here at the lodge. She did a little bit of everything from housekeeping to organizing events and activities for our guests. Caylee’s dad was in the military so he was gone a lot, and Sue would bring Caylee to work with her. My parents insisted and loved having Caylee here. My mom always said having an energetic little girl at the lodge kept them all on their toes and kept them young.”

  Riley laughed. “I bet it did. Caylee has so much energy now I can only imagine her when she was little.”

  Luke nodded and smiled. “Oh, Caylee was something all right. She has always been full of life. I’m an only child, and when I went off to college and moved to Europe, I think my parents missed having me here so having Caylee around was great for them. She got her first job here at the lodge when she was ten—the same job I was given.”

  “What was that?” Riley asked, intrigued.

  “Collecting firewood for the fireplaces in the guest rooms,” Luke answered. “Actually, it was more like kindling, picking up little sticks around the property, but it was something to do that kept us out of trouble and gave us some responsibility.”

  Riley nodded. “Smart parents.”

  “Right?” Luke smiled. When he paused for a moment and looked away, his smile faded. He took a deep breath before continuing.

  “When Caylee was eighteen, her parents were killed in a car accident. It happened just a few miles from here. A car, someone not from the area, was coming the other way and hit a patch of ice and lost control . . .”

  Riley touched her heart. “I’m so sorry. That’s terrible.”

  “It was rough,” Luke said as he stared into the fire.

  She couldn’t see his expression, but she could hear the pain in his voice.

  “My parents decided to take Caylee in,” he continued. “She was getting ready to graduate from high school. Legally, she was an adult . . .”

  “But emotionally . . .”

  When Luke turned to face her, his own pain was clear. “Emotionally, she was lost and scared, and this was the only other home she’d ever known.”

  “That was wonderful of your parents to take her in,” Riley said.

  “There was never really a question,” Luke said. “She came back here the night of the accident and never left. No one ever talked about it. She just stayed here. This is where she belonged.”

  Riley nodded.

  “She wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps and serve her country,” Luke continued. “She’d already been accepted into a military academy, where she graduated top of her class. She gr
aduated almost two years ago and was almost immediately deployed to Afghanistan. She works in Army intelligence. I’m not even sure doing what.” Luke smiled a little. “Whenever I ask, she always jokes saying that line about how if she told me she’d have to kill me or whatever it is. She really is something.”

  “And you love her very much,” Riley finished for him.

  Luke nodded. “Like a little sister, and I worry about her every single day.”

  “But now she’s home,” Riley said.

  Luke nodded. “And now she’s home. But I don’t know for how long. Her tour is almost up, but she’s talking about re-enlisting. She’s always saying we need to be thankful for the time we have together because tomorrow is never guaranteed.”

  “And she’s right,” Riley said, thinking about the last Christmas she’d had with her dad.

  “Caylee is going to be a great help to us during Christmas Camp,” Luke said. “She can do just about anything around here, and the guests always love her.”

  “Then I’m really glad she’s here,” Riley said. “For a lot of reasons.”

  “Me too,” Luke said.

  They shared a smile.

  “And you know what,” Luke said, “I’m glad she’s not with that Harry, Larry guy.”

  “Gary,” Riley corrected him.

  “Whatever,” Luke said. “I didn’t like the sound of him.”

  Riley laughed. “Now you sound like a true big brother.”

  “Well, didn’t you agree that without the spark, forget about it?” Luke asked, locking eyes with her.

  For a moment, Riley had to remind herself they were still talking about Caylee. She looked away as she stood up from the couch. “That’s right. I did. Having a spark is everything.”

  As if on cue, some embers from the fire sparked and cracked. When Riley looked into the flames, she told herself it was the fire that was making her all warm and tingly, not the way Luke was still looking at her.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Needing to get her mind off Luke, she took her phone out of her pocket and held it up. Still no signal.

  “How long do you think the cell service will be out?” she asked.

  Luke shrugged. “You never know. It’s a good thing one of Christmas Camp’s mottos is, ‘Disconnect to reconnect with what matters most at Christmas.’”

  “Well, right now, what matters most to me is getting ahold of my agent,” Riley said. “I’m supposed to be checking in with updates so we can get some posts on social media”

  Luke walked over and picked up the old-fashioned phone and held the handset out for her. “Here you go,” he said, smiling. “Call anyone you’d like. I’ll go see if I can hook up the new router and get our Wi-Fi back up.”

  “That would be great,” Riley said. She eyed the phone. “But in the meantime, I’ll just use this relic again.”

  “Be thankful we have it,” Luke said.

  “Oh, believe me, I am,” she replied. “I bet we’re already getting tons of people saying what they want me to write about in this Christmas novel. I want to start writing everything down and see if anything inspires me.”

  “So basically you’re going to let our Christmas Campers write your story for you?” Luke asked.

  Riley tilted her head while she studied him. “Why do you make it sound like I’m doing something wrong when we’re trying to include what my fans want to read?”

  “No judgment here,” Luke said.

  Riley put her hands on her hips. “Really, because right now you’re sounding pretty judgy to me.”

  Luke laughed. “Then I’m out of here. Good luck with your call.”

  “Thanks.” Riley watched Comet start to follow Luke out of the room. “Alone at last,” she said quietly to herself as she sat down to make her call. But apparently, she had spoken too soon because when she looked up, she saw Comet hadn’t actually left the room yet. He was standing in the doorway watching her.

  “What?” she asked, feeling guilty for some reason. “I’m only making a call. That’s it. Nothing fun. You’re not missing anything. Trust me. It’s just a call to Margo.”

  When Comet heard Margo’s name, it did the trick and he trotted out of the room. Riley couldn’t help but laugh.

  Margo’s phone rang four times before she picked up. Riley had almost hung up.

  “Margo Meyers,” Margo answered.

  When Margo’s voice sounded a little off, Riley wasn’t sure if it was Margo or the connection. She tapped the headset several times.

  “Margo? It’s Riley. Is everything okay? Can you hear me all right?”

  “Clear as a bell,” Margo said with a bite to her tone. “What number is this? Where have you been? You were supposed to call last night.”

  So far, Riley thought, this was shaping up to be a typical Margo call where she shot a lot of questions at her but never gave her a chance to answer any of them. When she tried to sit back in the chair and get comfortable, the phone cord pulled taut and the entire phone almost fell to the floor.

  “You stupid thing,” Riley muttered, scrambling to save the phone.

  “What did you just call me?” Margo snapped.

  Riley’s eyes grew huge. “Sorry! Margo, I wasn’t talking to you.”

  “Then who are you calling stupid?” Margo asked. “I hope not one of your Christmas Campers.”

  Riley stared at the handset, annoyed. “Like I would ever do that. I was talking to the phone.” She took a deep breath to regroup. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. I’m calling from a landline at the lodge. The cell service isn’t working.”

  “Good to see you’re taking this whole disconnect-to-reconnect Christmas Camp theme to heart,” Margo said.

  Riley knew if she heard that phrase one more time she was going to lose it. She fought to keep her cool. “Look, Margo, I’m calling to see if you have any social media feedback for me yet? Has anyone sent in ideas yet of what they’d want to see in this Christmas book? I haven’t been able to get online since I got here.”

  Margo laughed. “Do we have feedback yet? It’s been incredible. We’ve gotten more than thirty-two thousand responses so far with all kinds of ideas. They’re all using the hashtag we created, #ChristmasCamp. I’m having a couple of my interns pulling everything together, getting rid of the duplicates, and then we’ll send you a list.”

  “Wow,” Riley said, stunned. “And we haven’t even started the camp yet.”

  “I know,” Margo said. “The response has been amazing, and your publisher team is calling Mike a genius.”

  “Oh, great, just what we need, for him to have an even bigger ego,” Riley said.

  “If that ego ends up saving your career, then I’m all for it,” Margo said. “How far are you on your outline?”

  “What outline?” Riley asked. “If you’re talking about the outline for this Christmas book, I haven’t even started. I’ve been waiting to see what kind of feedback we get and what people want to read about.”

  There was silence on the other end of the line.

  “Margo? Are you still there?”

  “I’m here,” Margo said, her voice icy. “I’m just trying to figure out why in what world you think it’s okay that you haven’t even started on an outline that’s due in a just a few weeks.”

  “I told you,” Riley said, getting frustrated. “I’m waiting to get the fan feedback. That’s what you wanted. That’s why I’m here, right?”

  “You’re there for the publicity, for some positive press. You still need to create your own original Christmas story. Sure, you can use a few generic ideas from people, like including a snowball fight or making a snowman, things like that, so when people read it they’ll think it was their idea, but it’s up to you to figure out how all these Christmas activities tie in to your characters falling in love. You should have already starte
d on that.”

  Riley didn’t know how to respond. She didn’t have a clue what she wanted to write about, and she had been hoping that something would inspire her at Christmas Camp. She didn’t want to panic Margo, so she just decided to play along.

  “Sounds good,” she told Margo.

  Silence.

  “Margo?” Riley asked.

  “Yes, I’m still here,” Margo said. “It’s just so rare that you simply agree with me without putting up a fight.”

  “Well, when you’re right, you’re right,” Riley said, hoping Margo would buy it.

  Margo laughed a genuine laugh. “Who are you and what have you done with my author?”

  Riley laughed, too. “Seriously, Margo, everything’s going to be great. I appreciate what everyone’s doing on your end. Is there anything you need me to do from here?”

  “Yes,” Margo said. “Find your Christmas spirit.”

  Riley rolled her eyes. When reindeer fly, she thought.

  “I’m serious about this, Riley,” Margo said as if reading her mind. “Don’t think you’re fooling me. I’ve known you for seven years, and in that time, you’ve never once talked about celebrating Christmas or talked about Christmas at all, for that matter. And,” she continued, “when it was first brought up that you needed to do a Christmas story for your next book, I saw the look on your fa—”

  “What look?” Riley interrupted.

  “Like you’d rather chew broken glass,” Margo said.

  Riley winced. Margo always had a way with words.

  Silence again. But this time It was from Riley.

  “Are you going to say something?” Margo asked.

  “Nope,” Riley said. She wasn’t about to incriminate herself, and she knew Margo could read her like a book, pun intended. “Look, Margo, I really need to go. Luke is waiting for me to finalize the Christmas Camp plans.”

  “Okay,” Margo said. “But there’s one more thing.”

  “What?” Riley asked. “Whatever you need.”

  “I need a Christmas picture of you with your family—something when you were little or one of those pictures kids get every year with Santa. A couple of the online outlets are requesting them since Mike is promoting you as ‘Miss Christmas.’ You know how everyone loves to see childhood photos.”