Christmas Kisses: An Echo Ridge Anthology (Echo Ridge Romance Book 1)

by Lucy McConnell

  Anika laughed and they both collapsed on the floor with a sigh.

  “Mommy, are you happy now?” Megan asked.

  “I’m trying to be, sweetie. It’s just a busy time right now. Lots to do.” She ruffled Megan’s hair. Her daughter snuggled close to her. Anika pulled the corners of her lips up into a smile. Right up until her mother died, she had said that smiling made you happy even if you weren’t. Anika resolved to try it more often, otherwise she’d end up like Cecilia. Megan smiled back at Anika.

  Four-year-olds were much more perceptive than people gave them credit for. Anika had tried to hide it, but her daughter noticed the strain that accompanied most days in their cramped apartment. It was hard to shake off the old fears of Jimmy showing up looking for drug money. Anika wasn’t sure where he was now, and she wouldn’t be surprised if he was back in jail. Thankfully, Megan was too young to remember her deadbeat father and Anika didn’t speak of him. It was better that way— safer that way. She kissed the top of Megan’s head. “We’d better cook some breakfast. Who’s in the mood for waffles?”

  “Me! Me! With extra peaches.” Megan jumped up and ran to the kitchen. There was one can of peaches left in the cupboard and Megan had pulled it out by the time Anika followed her into the kitchen. She mixed up the batter while Megan played with some cloth napkins. Anika reached for the cinnamon and her fingers brushed the white sack Reese had given her that still held two chocolate Santas— she was saving them for Megan’s stocking as she hadn’t been able to find any flaws on the packaging or the chocolate. Why they were marked “no-sale” was beyond her. But Megan couldn’t read so she’d have no idea they were free.

  Anika shook the cinnamon into the batter and tried to concentrate on the dark flecks of spice instead of the Puerto Rican carpenter/fireman, but she found herself imagining his deep brown eyes again. She whipped the batter until the cinnamon had blended in. She thought about snow, her sore back, Megan’s chatter… Anything but Carlos.

  Carlos rubbed his hands against his jeans. He’d been building up the courage to talk to Anika for the past fifteen minutes. The area for the new soda fountain had been cordoned off with yellow warning tape and Jessica, manager of the women’s department had helped him to move all of the stock to another area of the store. Jessica had been pretty friendly but when he’d asked her about Anika, she’d stopped flirting and Carlos could almost see the matchmaker in her head light up. Jessica had left promptly at three when Anika arrived.

  It was his responsibility to “interview” the employees he wanted to help with the refurbishing project. Anika would be a hard worker and she was looking for extra opportunities to earn money. He’d overheard her tell Jessica that she could cover her shift on Wednesday. She must have found someone to watch her little girl. That was a good sign that she might accept the extra hours to work with him.

  Keira had requested that he do the “noisy work” after hours, so he planned to be at the store until midnight for the next several nights and then early in the morning as well. Hopefully Anika could team up with him and he could get the soda fountain done on time. Of course, he could have asked a man able to heft some weight, but there was only one name on the card that wasn’t a female and Carlos was pretty certain that Anika could lift more than the man in his late sixties who was temping in the shoe department.

  Carlos blew out a breath and approached the rack of dresses Anika was arranging. She looked up and her eyes widened before she turned and hung up another dress.

  “Can I help you?” she asked without making eye contact.

  “Actually, yes,” Carlos responded.

  Anika turned around and yanked another dress off the stand and hung it, forcefully next to the others. She wasn’t going to make this easy, so he’d better just get it over with.

  “I’m really sorry about the other day,” Carlos said. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you. Cecilia is hard to deal with. She makes my blood pressure rise and then I do stupid things. I just wanted to help.”

  Anika licked her lips. “I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

  Carlos let go of the breath he’d been holding. This was going better than he thought. Maybe she would give him a chance. “I’m in charge of refurbishing the old soda fountain and Cecilia gave me a list of names of employees who might be able to help outside of their shifts.” He stopped and gulped for air. There, he’d said it.

  Anika paused and he could see her swallow before lifting her eyes to his. The crystal blue color was striking against the dark red of her shirt. This was his chance. If Anika didn’t want to work with him, he probably wouldn’t have an opportunity to break past her wall made of all brick and steel and prickly thorns. The corners of her eyes crinkled as she studied him. Carlos held out the schedule he’d written up.

  “If you want to look it over, you’ll see the areas I need extra help are highlighted in yellow. Keira wants this finished quickly. They’re paying fifteen dollars an hour.”

  The papers crinkled as Anika took them and smoothed them out. She nodded. “I’d like to help, but I don’t have much experience in building things.”

  “That’s no problem. I’m a good teacher,” Carlos said. His heart thumped when Anika looked up. He shouldn’t be so excited to work with someone who had shut him down the way she had last week, but he saw her— the vulnerable side of her that she didn’t want him to see. “Most of these things are pretty simple. If you can put together a puzzle, you’re qualified to lay tile.”

  “I put together puzzles with my four-year-old,” Anika said. “Does that count?”

  Carlos chuckled. “Más o menos. It’s a stretch, but I’ll take it if that’s a yes.”

  “Yes, I guess it is. Nights work best for me because I’ll have a sitter, but I could maybe come in a couple mornings depending on what I can work out for Megan.”

  “In that case, I might be able to get this finished,” Carlos said. “That’s a relief.”

  “Under a lot of pressure, huh?” Anika handed him back the schedule.

  “Yeah, I guess the boss is planning some kind of event for the grand reopening to attract more customers.” Carlos took the schedules back from Anika and slid them into the folder, but he pulled the top sheet off and held it out. “This copy is for you. Check your schedule and see what you can work out. I’ll hope to see you whenever there’s a highlighted slot.”

  “Thanks, Carlos.” Anika stepped back to the dress rack, but turned and spoke over her shoulder. “I have a feeling you’re trying to help me out again.”

  “Who me?” Carlos shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  She smiled and turned back to her work.

  Carlos walked back to the soda fountain, resisting the urge to turn around and stare at Anika. That had gone better than he expected. The only problem now had to do with the way his heart was pounding when he thought about working alongside Anika. She’d agreed to work with him, but would she consider going on a date? His stomach tightened when he thought about finding the nerve to ask her out. He bent to pick up his bag of tools, thinking about the possibilities in his future. When he looked up a few minutes later, he could have sworn Anika was watching him.

  ON HER WAY OVER TO RING UP A CUSTOMER, Anika watched Carlos out of the corner of her eye. His biceps flexed every time he picked up another tool or piece of wood. She’d have to be blind not to notice the way his jeans fit just right, his physique accentuated by the heavy tool belt loaded up with probably ten different tools. She bit her lower lip. Carlos had seemed nervous about asking her to work with him, and she’d almost said no before she started tallying the extra dollars that would be added to her paycheck. It was a dangerous game she was playing. She was supposed to be staying away from the guy, not spending more time with him. So why did her stomach flip every time she thought about working with him?

  Maybe it was because he was more than just a good-looking guy. Already, he’d treated her with more respect than Jimmy ever had. Her ex had
been handsome, although in a different way. Jimmy never had a hair out of place and always looked carefully put together. That all changed when he started using the drugs he was dealing. Anika shook her head, pushing the memory back. She didn’t know if she dared to trust her judgement but her gut was telling her that Carlos was nothing like any of the guys she’d dated before or after Jimmy.

  When Anika went to the break room at seven, she met Tayton Wells. Several of the other employees were there and he handed each of them a sheet of paper. “Keira and I have come up with an idea for the holiday selling season. Each week we’ll have a friendly competition between the departments in the store. Each department is a team and we expect you to all work together with your department managers to implement ideas that will increase sales over last year.” Tayton pointed to a copy of the paper he’d given them. “You can see on this graph that I’ve recorded the sales for each week from last year along with the target goal and bonus goal for sales this year.”

  Tayton was well dressed and exuded the professional downtown New York City air, but when he smiled, his face appeared boyish and his eyes twinkled. His dark hair was trimmed above his collar, and the few times Anika had seen him, he’d been clean-shaven and walking at a brisk pace toward his next assignment. “The prize will be store credit of one-hundred and fifty dollars for the winning team,” he continued. “If we meet our goal, next week the prize money will go up with a combo of cash and store credit.”

  Anika sucked in a breath, and straightened in her seat. Money like that would make a huge difference to her and Megan. She surveyed the competition. Jeff was there from housewares, and Tasha from the makeup section, and, she barely stopped from wrinkling her nose, Gentry. Dressed in charcoal suit pants, a button up lavender shirt with a pinstriped vest, Gentry was a perfect model for the men’s department but Anika thought he was too shiny. Shiny hair, shiny teeth, and a shiny forehead that she suspected he covered up with powder. He reminded her of how Jimmy was when they first met, preppy and put together. Gentry lounged on the sofa, but he caught her looking and winked at her. Anika turned away and swallowed the funny taste in her mouth.

  She turned back to Tayton, paying attention to the last of his speech about holiday competitions. Anika didn’t have high hopes of winning, because she didn’t work that many hours, but when she considered her manager, Jessica’s enthusiasm over every detail in the women’s department her lips twitched in a smile. Maybe they’d have a better chance than she originally thought. One hundred and fifty dollars per team at Kenworth’s prices, even with the employee discount could only buy a couple things, but they would be high quality and help to make Megan’s Christmas a bit brighter.

  “Keira explained the contest to the day shift employees earlier. This is a trial run. We’ll see how it goes, so have fun with it and see what ideas you can come up with to make Kenworth’s the place to shop this holiday.” Tayton clapped his hands together. “May the best team win.”

  When Tayton left, Gentry hopped up from the couch and headed toward Anika. She hurried to dial Lila’s number before he reached her side. Thankfully, Lila answered.

  “Hey, Lila. How is Megan doing?” Anika asked brightly.

  “She’s asleep now, but she sure was a sweetheart earlier.” Lila did a good job of hiding her confusion over Anika’s question.

  Anika smiled at Gentry and walked away, still talking to Lila. “Hey, do you mind staying until a little after eleven? I have an opportunity to get some extra work on a big project here.”

  “Sure, I’m working on my history report,” Lila’s voice was chipper.

  “Thanks, I really appreciate it. The store is in a bind and they can use me every night this week so check with your parents and see if that’s okay.”

  “Will do. See you later,” Lila said. She sounded excited and that was a relief to Anika. Even though she’d be paying extra babysitting money, the soda fountain renovation might be enough to buy Megan a dollhouse. The one on display at Kenworth’s had two stories with little pieces of furniture like a couch, table, and tiny dishes perfect for Barbies, and the few other dolls Megan owned.

  Anika walked back out to the floor of the women’s section, her eyes immediately searching for and finding Carlos hard at work near the soda fountain. She took a breath and walked over to him. “So, it turns out my sitter can stay late tonight. My shift ends at nine and I can help you until eleven— that is, if you still need me tonight.”

  Carlos’s eyes lit up. “That’d be great.”

  “I— uh, don’t have clothes to change into though.” Anika motioned to her favorite red blouse with the silver buttons and her brown dress slacks.

  “No problem. We’re mostly taking down this old signage, but if you could find an apron or something that might work.”

  Anika looked over at The Candy Counter. “I bet Reese has an apron she’d let me use.”

  Carlos nodded. “Good idea.”

  Reese did have an extra apron and at two minutes past nine, Anika tightened the bow behind her back and joined Carlos in front of the old soda fountain bar. He smiled at her when she approached. He sure is a happy guy, Anika thought. Maybe I need to take some lessons.

  “This part is kind of tedious, but it’s simple. I need you to take down all of these clips, price tags, and signs.” Carlos motioned to the back wall of the soda fountain that had been used to sell various houseware items. There were stockings, stuffed reindeers, and a few Christmas ornaments still on display. He’d moved most of the items earlier and they were stacked in boxes, waiting to be redistributed throughout the store. Anika removed a row of stockings and thought of an idea.

  “Maybe I’ll put a few of these over in clothing. Our displays need a little pizazz.” Anika dropped a few items into a separate box.

  “I’m sure that’d be fine,” Carlos said. “Jessica helped me earlier and she said Jeff would have to work on restocking this stuff tomorrow.”

  Anika worked in silence for a few minutes while Carlos used his drill to pull out screws from some of the warped boards on the back of the fountain. She focused on the job of removing the price tags attached to various signs along the large mirror behind the counter, and tried not to look at Carlos. His phone emitted a siren-like tone and she was jolted out of her thoughts.

  Carlos grabbed his phone from his tool belt and studied the screen before texting a response. He slid the phone back into one of the leather straps. “That was notification from the police department.”

  “Is it a fire?” Anika asked.

  “No, just some schedule changes. Sorry to worry you. I have that alarm set for all notifications from them. It works because most of them are calls for accidents or fires,” he explained.

  “So you help with accidents too? I thought it was just fires.”

  “The fire truck goes out to all car accidents. It’s routine. That’s why I’m trained as an EMT.” Carlos knelt down next to her and pulled out his measuring tape. “Since Echo Ridge is a small town, the departments work closely together.”

  “That must keep you pretty busy.”

  “It’s strange, but it kind of comes and goes in spurts. It’s like everything happens at once,” Carlos said. “One week there won’t be anything and the next week, I’ll get called out four times.”

  “That does seem to be how life goes.” Anika tugged on a silver bar that had previously held a line of stuffed snowmen. It wouldn’t budge so she used both hands, planted her feet, and yanked. The bar came free and she toppled backwards into Carlos. He stumbled, landed on the floor, and Anika fell right into his lap.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Anika turned her head and then pulled back when she saw how close she was to his face. She felt heat rush into her cheeks. “I’m sorry. You must think I’m a walking accident.”

  Carlos laughed. “Not at all. Although I’ll keep my distance the next time I see you around a Christmas tree.”

  It was Anika’s turn to laugh, and for some
reason she giggled which made her self-conscious. She scrambled to get off Carlos and slipped onto the floor, bumping her tailbone. “Ow!”

  Carlos helped her up with a chuckle. “Okay, maybe not a walking accident, but a falling one.”

  “You’re not helping.” Anika laughed.

  “But I’m trying.” Carlos cupped her elbow to steady her, and then he dropped his hand and stepped back.

  She couldn’t be sure, but she thought his skin had a hint of red under his bronze complexion. Anika smiled. It was charming to see Carlos blushing. “Thanks. That was the last one.” She pointed to the back wall. “What would you like me to do now?”

  “How about we finish clearing out all the miscellaneous stuff from these cabinets?” He pulled open a door on the back side of the soda fountain bar. “I spent a lot of time measuring and drawing up the plans today. Tomorrow night, we should be ready to rip out the broken tiles and start replacing them.”

  “I’ll be sure to bring some old clothes to change into.”

  “That’d be a good idea,” Carlos said. “I’m glad this worked out. How’s Megan doing?”

  “She’s a lot happier when she gets to bed on time. I have a teenage girl watching her.” Anika was surprised in a good way that Carlos had remembered Megan’s name and asked about her. Most guys avoided the topic of her kid, hoping that if they pretended she was invisible they could flirt without consequences. “Thanks for asking,” Anika said.

  “Sure, she’s a sweet kid. Reminds me of my niece Sylvi,” Carlos said. “She’s three.”

  “That’s a busy age. Do you have family around here?”

  “Most of them are in Florida.” Carlos rubbed a cloth over a dusty shelf. “Mi madre doesn’t understand why I want to be up here freezing my tail off.”

  Anika laughed. She loved his accent and how he slipped into a little bit of Spanish when he spoke of his family.