Holiday with a Twist

by Shannon Stacey

  Leigh was horrified when her eyes actually teared up. “Thanks, Mom.”

  “I’m so glad you girls are keeping some of this. The thought of throwing it all away was breaking my heart.” She took a self-portrait done in chalk out of the box, and they guessed it was Hope by the reddish highlights in her hair. She handed it to Leigh to scan. “Jenna’s suggestion we scan all the artwork and make digital slideshows so we can toss the paper was really smart.”

  “It was. When is she coming, by the way?”

  “She’s not going to be able to come until Christmas Day, I guess. She and Randy are on their way to visit Randy’s family for the holidays because he has Aimee. Then she goes back with her mom, but Jenna will have to catch up on work. They get her back late morning on Christmas and they’ll come over then.”

  Jenna had married a guy who was older than her by enough to raise a few eyebrows, and who came with a preteen daughter, but they seemed really happy despite the usual issues that came with stepparenting. Leigh was glad because her daughters going oh-for-three in relationships would be too much for their mom.

  When her cell phone rang and she saw Croy’s name on the screen, Leigh pushed herself to her feet. “I’m going to run upstairs and take this. I won’t be long.”

  “Take your time, honey. Judging by the look on your face, you’ve been dying to talk to him.”

  Halfway up the stairs, she realized her mom thought Jason was calling her and felt a pang of guilt. But she didn’t want Croy to go to voice mail, so she answered it on the run. “Hey, how are you?”

  “Good. Are you busy? You sound out of breath.”

  “Nope. Just sorting through old stuff with my mom and now I’m upstairs. What’s up? And how’s Carrie and the baby?” He’d texted her late last night to tell her he had a new niece. The exchange had been brief because of the hour and the fact his family was exhausted from juggling a short-staffed restaurant and a new baby.

  “They’re great. Emily’s so tiny, Leigh. I’m almost afraid to hold her.”

  “I’m certainly not the one to tell you how to take care of a baby.”

  “I think it’ll be a while before they ask me to babysit Emily.”

  “Are you guys going to hire more help?”

  He was quiet for a long enough time that Leigh wondered what it was he didn’t want to say. “We’re hoping not to, especially since Carrie handles training and all that. Right now we’re a little crazy with Lucas and the other cooks trying to make do without Jeff, but they’re actually planning to stay with Dad for a couple of weeks so he’ll be with her to help out and Jeff will be right downstairs if they need him. Covering for Carrie wouldn’t be that big of a deal if not for that award coming at the worst possible time. We were busier than usual last night and it was just announced.”

  “Isn’t she the hostess?”

  “Yeah, but it’s more than that. She kind of manages everything and coordinates between us all. And we’re able to have only two servers because she helps them out. She checks on the diners and helps run for requests. She’s a floater, I guess you could say, but she’s so helpful on every level that it’s a lot harder and more hectic without her. My dad came down last night and he tried, but...he’s not good at it. I bet you would be, though.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, right.”

  “I’m serious. You work with the public, kind of. And other than seating people and giving them menus, you’d basically be responding to requests, so you’d know what was needed.”

  There was something about the way he said the words, so earnestly, that gave her pause. “Wait, are you asking me to work at your restaurant?”

  “To fill in for Carrie, yes.”

  “I don’t know anything about restaurants. I mean, I’m not even good at being a customer. I can never decide what I want and I end up telling the server I’ll have whatever the person I’m with is having.”

  “Mostly you’ll just seat people and then back up the servers. Refill coffees. Check on tables and make sure everything’s okay.”

  “What if it’s not?”

  “Then when they tell you what’s wrong, you fix it.”

  He made it sound easy, but she knew it wasn’t. She interacted with people all the time. It was her job to engage people, but not in person. In digital space, she had time to think. Edit. Sometimes delete and start over. That was an entirely different skill set.

  “There must be people in this town who could help you out,” she insisted. “Maybe somebody retired or looking to pick up holiday cash, but definitely somebody with restaurant experience.”

  “We don’t have time to mess around. And it wouldn’t be the entire time. Just for the dinner hours. Maybe four to eight? Seven if it’s not busy.” There were a few seconds of silence, and then he spoke again in that low voice that made her shiver. “Please, Leigh.”

  “You’re playing dirty. How am I supposed to say no to you?”

  “I guess when you said you’d owe me one, you should have been more specific.”

  She laughed. “You helped me babysit for less than two hours, most of which TJ napped.”

  “And I’m keeping your secrets,” he added.

  “This is ridiculous,” she said. “I’ve been back in New Hampshire for four days and you’ve already kissed me and now you’re going to make me work in your restaurant? Four days, Croy.”

  “Okay, so that’s a little fast, but it’s not like we’re strangers. We’ve been doing different things for the last few years, but we’ve known each other our entire lives.”

  A few years was an understatement, but she knew what he was saying. He was Croy. And while the almost unbearable hunger she felt for him was something new and unexpected, she did know the man. And, one bad year aside, she’d always liked him.

  “I can help you out,” she heard herself say. “Temporarily.”

  The relieved exhale echoed through the phone. “Thank you, Leigh. Seriously. Can you come tonight?”

  “Yeah, I’ll be there.” As soon as she figured out how to tell her family she was going to work with the guy they were worried she was spending too much time with.

  Predictably, her sister was sneaking her raised-eyebrow looks of speculation, and her mother’s worried expression would have made her change her mind if Croy hadn’t sounded so desperate.

  It was her father who saved it, though. “Good girl. I was worried about you spending so much time away, but you remember how we raised you. In New Hampshire, we help our neighbors when they need it.”

  She fled to shower and change before her mother could break out a yeah, but and managed to avoid Hope and any probing questions she had. After calling out that she had no idea what time she’d be home, she almost ran up Center Street.

  When she showed up, there were only a few cars in the parking lot, so hopefully she’d have time to get her bearings before the supper crowd hit. The first thing she saw when she walked into the entrance foyer was the huge chalkboard for the daily specials, but there were no specials listed. Instead there was a photo of Emily Elizabeth Dawson’s nursery card taped to it and a short message. Our amazing hostess, Carrie, and our head cook, Jeff, welcomed their healthy baby daughter to the world yesterday. (So please be patient.)

  “Cute sign,” she said when Croy saw her and walked over. “Great idea, actually.”

  “We’re hoping it’ll keep the locals from asking the basic questions like her name, weight and all that, since it’s on the sign. And we’re hoping everybody else will show us some mercy.”

  “I was looking at a few apps before I came over. How come you don’t have any offers?”

  He frowned, not sure what she was talking about. Or even if she was talking to him, actually, since she was looking at her phone. “Offers for what?”

  She held the phone up so he could see
the screen, which didn’t tell him much. “Deals, you know? Like if somebody checks in here on the app, they get a free appetizer.”

  “Lucas isn’t a big fan of free.”

  “Maybe Lucas is a big fan of a group coming here instead of somewhere else because, hey, they can get a free appetizer. And if you’re going to have an appetizer, you’re going to have drinks, what the hell, why not have a meal, too? And then a bunch of people they know see that they’re here and decide to check it out. All for the cost of a half-dozen mozzarella sticks.”

  “I’ll mention it to him. If he’s interested, he’ll probably ask you nine hundred questions.”

  She laughed. “Not a problem.”

  “Speak of the devil,” he said as Lucas approached.

  He held out his hand to shake hers. “Thanks for helping out, Leigh. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. We all do, I mean. Carrie not only having Emily early, but on the same day they blasted our name on the television and Facebook as the best family-owned pub has made life a little hectic. Good hectic, but still.”

  “Congratulations, by the way. For both blessings.”

  “Thanks.” He gave her a big smile, which Croy had led her to believe was a rare look for his oldest brother. “We’ve got a uniform shirt if you don’t mind changing in the restroom.”

  “Not at all.”

  “Great. I’ll take you out back. Croy, you can get back to the bar.”

  Croy rolled his eyes at his brother’s back and then winked at her. “I’ll be right over there if you need me.”

  She forced herself to follow Lucas instead of standing there like an idiot, watching Croy walk away. She had a feeling a lot of information was going to be thrown at her in a very short amount of time and she needed to pay attention.

  Chapter Six

  By Monday night’s dinner shift, Leigh had settled into the Center Street Pub routine, and Croy had settled into the routine of being able to take care of his customers and get his job done while watching her do her job.

  “You know,” Lucas said from right behind him, “getting Leigh to pitch in was pretty brilliant, but it’s going to backfire if you’re not getting your shit done because you’re too busy watching her.”

  Or he’d thought he was able to take care of things while watching her. “Don’t worry about my shit. You’re supposed to be helping out in the kitchen.”

  “Jeff has a couple of damn good cooks back there. They don’t need me. Hell, I really don’t think they even need him.”

  “That’s not a bad thing, especially considering everybody and their grandmother wants to eat here this week. And it allows us to remain somewhat calm, so Jeff doesn’t feel torn between us and his wife and baby.”

  “Yeah. It’s nice to know he’s upstairs if we really need him, but we can leave him alone if it’s not urgent.”

  Croy nodded, but his mind was once again on Leigh as he watched her greet a party of four in the foyer. While she wasn’t quite the extrovert his sister-in-law was, she was personable and didn’t seem to have any trouble with the customers. Jo and Deb both liked her, as did the kitchen staff. Even Dylan had remarked on how quickly she picked up on the job, and that kid barely noticed when his shoes were untied.

  “She has some good ideas for marketing,” Lucas said.

  “Who?”

  “Oh, please. The woman you can’t stop staring at. She’s mentioned a few things we should be doing online and I think I’m going to ask her if we can sit down for a while during off time and go over a marketing plan.”

  “She mentioned something about an app and checking in and... I don’t even know what she’s talking about.”

  “Hell, I felt like figuring out Facebook advertising was going to kill me. But I guess there are a lot of apps for food and restaurants and, even though she didn’t work on the inside with those, she used them personally. She already knows more than we do, so you don’t mind if I try to set up a meeting with her?”

  Croy frowned. “Why would I mind?”

  He shrugged. “Because you’ve got a thing for her, but I’m single and better looking.”

  “The hell you are. But I don’t care if you have a meeting with her because you’re not her type.”

  “What’s her type?”

  Croy grinned. “Me.”

  Lucas shook his head and walked away as a couple came in and sat at the bar. Croy greeted them and, after setting coasters out, took their drink orders. The guy sitting next to them—one of the regulars—chatted them up and made some recommendations, which made Croy smile. Sometimes regulars could get a little territorial when a bunch of strangers started filling up an establishment, but their neighbors seemed as proud of the award as the Dawsons were and were going out of their way to play up that family atmosphere.

  The later it got, the busier the bar got, so the rest of the evening flew by. Finally it was time to turn off the sign and pull in the open flag. As he pulled out the laminated closing list and a dry erase pen, he was surprised to see Leigh walking toward him.

  “Hey, you,” he said casually, wanting to pull her close and taste those lips again. “You know, you don’t have to stay until close. Once the dinner rush winds down, Jo and Deb can handle everything.”

  “I know, but there’s really nothing to do at home, you know? My mom always has a Christmas special or movie on TV, but my dad will be snoring so loudly in his recliner, we can’t hear the words. Hope generally goes to bed early with TJ since he still gets up during the night. And my mom’s knitting a surprise for the baby after Hope goes upstairs. Trust me. Here is much more exciting.”

  She turned to the bar in order to read the checklist, which meant he was faced yet again with his greatest temptation. With her hair up in some kind of twist, the back of her neck was bare. He not only liked kissing that spot, but he knew she liked it, too. Which had him thinking entirely too often about it.

  After glancing around to make sure everybody was busy in some other part of the restaurant, he finally gave in. When he pressed his mouth to that soft spot at the back of her neck, she jumped. But then she relaxed against him, letting him kiss his way from her hairline to the barrier made by the collar of her shirt.

  “We could stay late,” he whispered. “Tell your parents you broke a dish and we made you scrub all the floors as punishment.”

  She chuckled, shaking her head. “Not only is this your place of business, but it’s also technically your dad’s house. That’s two strikes.”

  He sighed, but he already knew that was a bad idea. Not that he wouldn’t have risked the consequences if she’d said yes, but there was also the lack of a soft surface to consider.

  “We’re closed tomorrow. Maybe you can find an excuse to get away for a few hours and come see what I’ve done with the old house on the pond.” They both knew what he was asking, and he found himself holding his breath as he waited for her reaction.

  “I could probably get away for a little while.”

  He pressed another kiss to her neck and then stepped away as he heard footsteps approaching on the hardwood floor. It was Lucas, of course, and he stopped short when he saw them. For a long, horrible moment, Croy was certain he was going to say something embarrassing, but he restrained himself.

  “Hey, Leigh. I was hoping to catch you before you leave. Do you have a minute?”

  “Of course.”

  Croy watched her walking away, so he didn’t miss the naughty grin she sent him over her shoulder before disappearing around the corner.

  Tomorrow, he told himself. Tomorrow he’d finally have some time alone with her. No Dawsons. No Holloways. Just the two of them. It was about damn time.

  * * *

  It was only noon when Leigh finally broke. She couldn’t take the anticipation anymore. Walking into the living room, where
her mother was fussing over the last of the Christmas decorations, she held up her phone as if somebody had just texted her.

  “Carrie needs me to make a run to the city for her,” she lied. “There are a lot of things a new mom needs, I guess, and having nothing but men in the family makes it awkward.”

  “That poor girl. The weather’s a little iffy today, though. Why don’t you leave the keys to your car, since I don’t anticipate going anywhere, and you can take mine. It has the automatic all-wheel drive that kicks in if you need it.”

  That wasn’t a bad idea, since the highway might be clear, but she wasn’t going on the highway and she had no idea what kind of shape the road out to Croy’s house was in nowadays. “You’re sure you don’t mind?”

  “Of course not. And you take your time. I don’t want you rushing when it’s been so long since you’ve driven up here in the winter.”

  After exchanging keys and kissing her mom on the cheek, she got in her mom’s car and started it so it would warm up. While it did, she took out her phone and sent a text to Croy. I’m on my way.

  A few seconds later, his response came through. Can’t wait. Drive safe.

  He was so sweet, she thought as she backed out of the driveway. She realized too late she was going in the opposite direction of the highway, but she doubted anybody in the house even noticed.

  At one point, about halfway up the long snow-covered dirt road that led to Croy’s house, she felt the AWD kick in and was thankful she wasn’t in the tiny rental. But she finally found the house and, after pulling in behind his truck, she admired the work he’d done on the place. It certainly wasn’t a shabby place on the pond anymore.

  As she went up the walkway, Croy opened the door for her. Filling the doorway as he did, with jeans and a Henley shirt hugging his frame, he practically made her mouth water.