Christmas Romance Collection

by Melissa Hill

  She looked at him, feeling curious, "All you've really told me about your 'line of work is that you’re a glorified paper-pusher. So tell me, what was the buzz around the water cooler today?”

  He hesitated before answering, "I may have understated my position. The truth is, I’ve pretty much clawed my way to the top of the paper-pushing food chain. The water cooler sits in my huge corner office which boasts a million dollar view of America’s most vibrant city.” he paused as he tried to read her face. “I’m telling you this, not to impress you with my resume, but as a means of illustrating that I know my industry.”

  “OK, I get it,” she told him, “but what exactly is your industry?”

  “Let me put it this way -- last night when I heard you sing, I knew immediately that your voice is special. That's not a sappy sentimentality from a boy who is falling in love with a pretty girl. It's a professional assessment from a man who enjoys the view from his 28th floor glass office at Atlantic Records,” he finished and waited for her reaction

  Dakota couldn't help herself as she blurted, "So, is that what this is all about? You’re courting me like royalty because you think I can make you more money? This is how you built your career?" She felt as if the last 24 hours had been an emotional rollercoaster ride.

  He responded calmly, “I have no intention of making a dime from your singing. What I am trying to tell you is that I have spoken with a producer friend over at Virgin Records. I gave him the heads up that you were playing tonight and suggested that he might want to listen in. Long story short, he visited the coffee shop this evening. What happens next is entirely between you and him,” he said as he reached for her hand.

  "I don't think you are the type of girl who can be bought, Dakota. It's like I told you last night--when I'm with you, I feel something that I used to think was silly sentimentality. I wouldn't trade that for any number of additional zeros on my income statement."

  Dakota returned his soul searching gaze for a nearly a minute before she grinned and said simply, "I'll bet you say that to all the girls."

  The carriage had slowed to a stop and the driver turned in her seat to ask loudly, "What's next on the agenda, Prince Charming?"

  Nick looked at Dakota and winked before answering the grandmotherly driver, "Home."

  He took Dakota's hands and said, "I'm pretty handy at flipping the switch that stokes a roaring blaze in my apartment’s gas fireplace. Care to join me on the hearth for a nice chardonnay?"

  Her kiss was all the answer he needed.

  Lovelorn in Manhattan

  A CHRISTMAS STORY

  1

  As Alice walked through Central Park she could feel the snow on the end of her tongue, and for the first time in weeks she felt that things were beginning to get easier.

  It was about time.

  Harry had died in October. It had been six weeks from the diagnosis to the funeral. The apartment that they had spent two years setting up on the Upper East Side had not even been lived in. She had stayed there last night for the first time in the master bedroom, the one that Harry had painted a pretty tortoiseshell. She could remember each and every one of the items in the bedroom and the discussions and arguments they had had about them all. She felt closer to him there but the pain lay in her chest like a physical lump. It hurt so, so bad.

  The snow in Central Park was now getting heavier but instead of heading home, she sat on a bench near the tree - their tree: the one against which he’d spontaneously kissed her that time during a walk here in the fall.

  “I love you, Alice,” was all he had said, but it had been enough. The park was empty at this time of day, and apart for a few kids building a snow man, no one had passed by.

  Last night in the bedroom, she found the tickets for the concert in his best coat pocket. It was to have been a surprise for her this Christmas. The Beatles were to play Carnegie Hall the following spring and Harry had been involved in setting up their tour.

  “You’ve got to hear this group, they are the tops,” he’d told her and he was right, the up and coming English band were wonderful.

  Just then a squirrel jumped through the snow and bounded up the tree to her left. She looked up at it and realised she’d never really appreciated how beautiful the tree was. From the top, a squirrel might be able to see all the way to Staten Island. Assuming the squirrel was interested in looking.

  She smiled to herself as she walked over to it. The snow was falling harder and clinging to the bark. Alice pressed both hands into the snow, just like she and Harry had done up in the Catskill mountains last winter.

  She hugged the tree. It was nice to hug something. As she did she noticed a small hole in the bark, one that was just large enough to fit a hand into. Alice had no idea why she did it, but she placed her hand in the hole, almost expecting to get bitten.

  But instead she felt something else entirely. She pulled out a crumpled piece of paper which she quickly realised was not just a random piece of trash, but a letter. Alice went back to the bench, cleared some snow and sat down to read it.

  H,

  I waited for you, but once again you didn’t turn up. I know I said some hurtful things for which I am sorry. I was just so scared of losing you. I don’t understand why you won’t leave him. If you tell him about us, we could be in London soon. This was why I wanted to see you, to tell you that the company have agreed that I should spend two years in the UK office. I said yes, because it would mean that we could be together and he would be out of our lives for good.

  My heart is your heart. S xxx

  Alice was pleased to see that there was still some love out there in the world. She sometimes felt that all love and hope had died with Harry. The world went on, life moved on. She decided to put the letter back where she had found it. There was some lucky, (if unhappily attached) person out there waiting on it.

  2

  Alice didn’t return to the park for a few days. This was going to be her first Christmas without Harry and she didn’t want to spend it with her family. So early Christmas week she took the train to Poughkeepsie to visit her sister and then after a couple of days of trying not to argue, continued on to Albany to see her mother.

  By the time she got back to the city and the park, just two days before Christmas, the snow was still lying on the ground. Alice embraced the solitude. She loved her mother but a few days had been more than enough.

  She dared to visit the tree again and after looking around to make sure she wasn’t being watched, she placed her hand in the hole. This time she pulled out two pieces of paper, one was the original letter and the other was something new.

  You are beginning to worry me. It has now been three weeks since we last spoke and I don’t think I can go on without a word from you. I think about you all day, I even dream about you. Please, please, get in touch.

  S. x

  That night when Alice got back to her apartment some of Harry’s work friends came round for a visit. It was good to have company and it even better to be able to talk about Harry properly, not the skating around the subject that her mother and sister seemed to indulge in.

  However as the night wore on, her mind began to drift back to the letters. She wondered who the couple were, how old they might be and why were they leaving notes for each other in a tree in Central Park. Perhaps this was just a quick distraction for one of them but it seemed the other had invested significantly more in the relationship.

  “More coffee?” asked Jim, Harry’s oldest friend.

  Alice shook her head.

  “You seem to be somewhere else tonight, though I guess that’s understandable,” he added gently.

  “I’m sorry,” apologized Alice. “I’ve been to see my mother and the travelling has taken a toll....”

  “No need to say anything. I’ll round up the rest of the guys and we’ll let you be.”

  Jim was always her favourite of all Harry’s pals. He understood, and was sensitive.

  When the apartment was h
ers once more, she went to the study, the one that Harry had intended to use at weekends.

  Then, not entirely sure what she was doing or why, Alice started to write a note.

  I am so sorry that I have taken so long to reply. He has started to get suspicious and he follows me around. I know I must tell him but please give me a few more days.

  She had no idea why she was doing this. Perhaps she didn’t want to let ‘S’ down? Or maybe she had done it for herself.

  3

  She could only hazard a guess as to when that second letter had been placed in the tree. It might have been early morning or late at night - perhaps on the way to or from work.

  So Alice took the safe option and went to the park in the early afternoon. As always there was no one around, so she removed the two letters from before and replaced it with her note.

  She had to be honest and admit she was getting a thrill from all of this. She felt excited as she crossed Columbus Circle, and as she passed several men entering the park, she wondered if any of them were ‘S’ on his way to the tree.

  The following afternoon, Alice thought she would check to see if there had been a response. She pulled out the note but she was disappointed to find it was just the one she had left.

  She sat on the bench for a while, scolding herself for being so stupid, for being so childish. Then out of the corner of her eye, a figure stopped at the tree then moved on.

  Alice didn’t get to see the person properly but she was sure it was a man. And sure enough, when she went back to the tree her note was gone.

  The following morning the snow was beginning to melt a little so she thought she might take an early morning walk around the park. If ‘S’ wasn’t going to come until the afternoon, her journey would probably be fruitless.

  Except to her delight, there was another letter already there.

  You have made me the happiest man in the world! To know you care about me and are still thinking of us being together has suddenly made me look forward to Christmas. Please tell him soon, so that we can put all of this behind us.

  I love you more than I have, or will, anyone in the world. S xxxxxxx

  Alice knew the letter was meant for someone else but it had been written to the author of the last letter and that was her. She sat on the bench and tears began to flow. Someone had told her that they loved her. This girl ‘H’ was far luckier and richer than she possibly realised.

  She decided to head back to the apartment and write a reply.

  Of course I care about you.

  That was all the words she felt were necessary.

  Though Alice grew worried after her note had been collected but there was no response the next day or the day after that.

  In fact there was nothing for a whole week.

  4

  Then on a bright snowy afternoon when she had decided to stop being so stupid and give up this silly charade altogether, she found another message.

  I put your note in my wallet and took it with me to London. I have found an apartment or a flat as they call it over there, one that would be ideal for the two of us. I have to start work on January 7 but it means we could have Christmas and New Year together. Would you like that?

  S. xxxxxxxxx

  Alice’s heart sank. Was this all wrong? She was leading this poor man into believing, that the love of his life was going elope across the Atlantic with him.

  What if the real ‘H’ decided she had made a mistake? What if the real ‘H placed another letter in the tree? What then?

  Alice told herself that she should just stop this whole charade now and come clean. But first, just one more note, one final message so that she could arrange to meet S and try to explain the truth about her actions.

  I would love to talk with you soon so we can discuss everything. They say it is going to snow tonight so could we meet here in the park tomorrow, Christmas Eve, by this tree? There is so much I want to say to you, to explain.

  Alice went down at the crack of dawn to place the letter in the tree to make sure S had time to reply. When she passed by later in the day, there was another note.

  What a romantic idea! Of course I’ll meet you by the tree. Say 1pm and then we can go for a walk. There is so much I want to tell you as well. I will be working in London for a PR company; the same company who represent that new British group, The Beatles? There is talk that I may be working with the group directly. How exciting is that? I can’t wait to see you. Until tomorrow.

  5

  Alice sat most of the night looking out of her apartment window at the most exciting city in the world, her mind turning over the options.

  The Manhattan skyline had never looked brighter and full of promise.

  What should she do? Go to the tree? Sit on the bench and wait for the man to arrive as arranged?

  S was sure to be disappointed and indeed annoyed that Alice had taken it upon herself to intercept the notes, but she’d been so taken by the romance and adventure of it all that she hadn’t thought this through. She just hoped that when she explained all this to him that he’d understand.

  And perhaps the universe had meant for her to find the letter, and bring two lovelorn people together? Clearly H, whoever she was, had no interest in being with S given that she hadn’t responded to any of his notes.

  Although on second thoughts what if he became really angry and told Alice where to go? Then she’d end up feeling even worse and on Christmas Eve too. Suddenly she wondered whether going to this meeting was a good idea after all.

  She sighed. Once again she wished Harry was here; he’d give her advice on the best course of action, would know whether or not she should just let this lie or follow her instincts.

  But Harry wasn’t here was he?

  Alice was just getting ready to go to bed when she noticed something sitting on the bedside locker. It was the tickets to The Beatles concert that Harry had bought.

  She smiled, realising the significance and the odd coincidence that the man she planned to meet was also connected to the group in some way.

  And there and then Alice knew that her beloved was indeed pointing her in the right direction, and that one way or the other, whatever happened at the park tomorrow was meant to be.

  Christmas at The Heartbreak Cafe

  A Lakeview Christmas Novel

  About the book

  The Heartbreak Cafe, situated in the picturesque Irish tourist village of Lakeview is a local institution, and owner Ella has run a thriving business since it first opened its doors thirty years before.

  To honour all those happy years, Ella plans to host a huge Christmas party to thank the community for its support, and to bring all her loyal customers and staff together for a major celebration.

  She has spent weeks preparing; baking the cafe’s all time-favourite treats, Christmas favourites like mince pies and mulled wine, and decorating the cafe’s interior in the finest festive garb. Everything is set for it to be an amazing celebration of not just the cafe, but of life in Lakeview.

  But Christmas week, only days before the party, Ella receives a devastating letter. Her landlord won’t be renewing her lease in the New Year, and her beloved cafe will have to close.

  What will she tell her loyal customers? Will she have to start anew? Or is there any way Ella can save the business by harnessing support and convincing her landlord by Christmas that her cafe has a special place in Lakeview hearts and minds.

  1

  Ella Harris shuffled down the empty Lakeview Main Street at breakneck speed.

  At sixty-two, she was still the speed-walker she was when she was much younger, and as she shot through the early crisp winter air, the twinkling lights decorating the windows and roofs still lit from the night before flew past in a blur of reds, yellows, and greens.

  But Ella had no time to enjoy this sparkling festive display on the first day of December. Instead, she had one thing on her mind: getting to her café on time. Nicknamed The Heartbreak Cafe by the locals for
reasons that no-one could no longer quite remember, it was the perfect gathering place for all sorts of world-weary Lakeview residents and tourists looking for a warm drink and an even warmer welcome.

  The popular tourist village, twenty minutes-drive from Dublin, was centred round a broad oxbow lake from which it took its name. The lake, surrounded by low-hanging beech and willow trees, wound its way around the centre, and a small humpback stone bridge joined all sides of the township together.

  The cobbled streets and ornate lanterns on Main Street, as well as the beautiful one-hundred-year-old artisan cottages decorated with hanging floral baskets, had resulted in the village being designated heritage status by the Irish Tourist Board, and the chocolate-box look and feel was intentionally well preserved.

  Ella’s café was situated in a small two-storey building with an enviable position right at the edge of the lake and on the corner where Main Street began. Early in their marriage, Ella and her husband took over the running the café from her father-in-law, and she spent nearly every waking moment since then ensuring that his legacy—and that of her dearly departed husband Gregory—lived on through good food, hot coffee, and warm conversation.

  The interior hadn’t changed much over the years — it was still a warm cosy room with parquet oak flooring, shelves full of dried flowers and old country-style knick-knacks, along with haphazard seating and mismatched tables, one of which was an antique Singer sewing table.