california christmas dreams

by J. M. Jeffries

  “I get it,” Merry said quietly. “Your dad’s a dreamer. I understand exactly how he feels. I’m not going to waste the money. I’m not going to create frivolous things. I understand the bottom line. I have to do my job. I’m bringing John’s dreams to life. Doctors, chemists and plumbers make existence possible, but artists, singers and actors make life worth living. And sometimes there’s a price to pay for that.”

  John knew exactly what she meant. She might understand the creativity of the artist, but he saw the unsavory side. “I don’t want my dad’s dream to kill him.”

  “That’s not your choice,” Merry said gently.

  “I still have to protect him.”

  “You’re right, you do. But not to the point where you stifle him, where you stifle me.”

  Jake ran a hand across his face, his eyes closed. He felt a hand on his arm.

  “Jake,” Merry said, “I understand about disappointment, about losing. I spent years in the shadow of a diva, but there was a time when I realized I wasn’t going to have the career I wanted. It was a major blow to my self-esteem. I found something else I loved as much.”

  He held his hand out. “Truce.”

  She shook his hand. “Truce.”

  * * *

  Merry drew her hand back and searched his face. No matter what type of truce he offered her, it would be an uneasy one. She backed away. “Since we’re burying the hatchet, I wanted to talk to you about getting some star power for our opening weekend. We’re going to be competing with Black Friday shopping and Cyber Saturday, or whatever.”

  “Cyber Monday,” he answered absently.

  “We’re going to need a draw.”

  “Did you have someone in mind?”

  “You’re the music man. Who do you know who would do a show for cheap but will bring in the crowds?”

  He gazed at her thoughtfully, running through his list of clients in his head. “We’d want someone who’ll put on a family-friendly performance, who can be professional, and you’re coming to me looking for a draw.”

  “It’s a win-win situation,” she said. “You’re here, you have the contacts.” She had contacts, too, but she didn’t want to fall back on them unless he didn’t want to cooperate. “Besides, I already got the carolers. You get the headliner.”

  “Carolers!”

  “The group that performs at the Dickens festival in downtown Riverside every February. They’re very good and they’re working for free.”

  “As in no money changing hands?” he asked, looking suspicious.

  “Well—” she squirmed a little “—not totally free. But they’re willing to perform in exchange for yearly passes to the park. I know you’re out the money for the passes, but they’ll spend money on food when they’re here. Why not promise yearly passes to the headliner?”

  He laughed at her. “You have really, really been thinking about this, haven’t you?”

  “Yeah,” she replied. She’d worked hard to figure out ways to save money, and offering yearly passes in exchange for free labor or reduced labor costs had been one of them. John had approved.

  “I need to think about this,” he said.

  “All you have to do is get one good act to show and others will follow. And if they’re good enough, people will start putting this park on their summer agenda. In fact, I think we should have summer concerts like the more well-known parks. There’s a lot of potential here,” she said, swinging her hand to encompass the park. Her knuckles hit the nutcracker and it wobbled.

  “Don’t you think my dad thought about the potential?” he asked curiously.

  “No, he didn’t think about diversification.” She knew John had some idea of where the park needed to go, but he didn’t know which direction to take. “There’s a lot to work with here. You have the rides, the water park, the go-karts and a small amphitheater that isn’t really being utilized.”

  “It’s too small for big acts,” he replied.

  “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use it,” she said. “And it’s not too small, it’s intimate. One of my favorite shows was MTV Unplugged. And that’s what you can do. The amphitheater is perfect for acoustic music, and I’ll bet we can get bigger names than you think we can. Do you know what tweens would pay to see Justin Bieber unplugged? We could get him.”

  “He’s not one of my clients,”

  “That’s not a problem. I spent a whole summer at the Pasadena Playhouse working for free. And my name on the marquee was enough to bring people in. And I did it just to prove that I could. You appeal to these people the right way, you’ll get them here dirt cheap.”

  “That leaves out my clients,” he said with a wry laugh. “They hire me because they don’t have any money.”

  She held up her hand. “LL Cool J’s career was revived on MTV Unplugged. And look at him now. He still produces music and stars on a highly rated TV show. Just think about it.”

  “I’ll think about it,” he promised.

  She glanced at her watch. “I’ve got to go. I have an appointment with a woman who wants to open a bakery here that specializes in Russian food.” She walked away, thinking how thrilled she was to have had an open conversation with him, considering the almost kiss. Her sister was right—act as though nothing had happened.

  Chapter 7

  During the morning, the wind increased until it was practically howling, and Merry started to panic. The weatherman had said it would be a mild windstorm, but this was changing rapidly into something stronger. Most of the displays hadn’t been secured yet because she was still playing with the arrangements. And now the wind was moving them around as if they were nothing.

  She raced across the pathway to John’s office, and the wind was strong enough to practically blow her inside. She fell inside to find John standing at his window, looking at the flagpoles.

  “This is the earliest Santa Ana we’ve ever had,” John said.

  “It’s going to blow my displays all over the park.”

  “Get the construction crew together and we’ll take everything to storage.”

  “I don’t think the storage area is big enough.”

  “Then we’ll pack things into the empty retail spaces.”

  Merry opened the door and ran into Jake. The wind pushed him into her and she flew back. “We need to get all the displays into storage areas or they’ll be damaged by the wind.”

  “I’ll get the construction crew started on it,” Jake said.

  Merry simply nodded as she ran down the path to the go-kart track, a little surprised that Jake would pitch in so readily. She couldn’t think about Jake now. Her life was being blown away. Generally Santa Ana windstorms started in late October. She’d figured she had a couple more weeks before the first storm and enough time to get the displays secured.

  The wind whipped her hair around her face and she reached into her pocket for a hair tie to secure it. She picked up the smaller wooden boxes, headed to the row of empty retail stores and set the boxes down in the first one. She ran back for more. Ribbons from a display flew past her. She chased them, but the wind was too strong. She rounded a corner and found Jake with a dolly piled high. He’d caught the ribbons and held them in his hand. He grinned at her and held them out, presenting them to her like a conquering hero. Merry laughed because chasing those ribbons had been silly and he’d been sweet to catch them for her.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “You’re welcome,” he replied as he turned back to push the dolly toward one of the retail stores.

  The wind caught the top box and flung it away. It landed hard on the concrete path and broke into pieces. Merry felt tears start, a feeling of defeat settling over her like a mantle of doom.

  “It’s nothing we can’t fix,” Jake said as he wrestled the broken pieces back to the dolly and held them down with his hand as he started pushing.

  “I know you’re right, and tomorrow I’ll agree with you, but right now I feel beaten.” She opened the door to one of
the stores and he pushed the dolly inside, out of the wind.

  “Okay,” he said as he started unloading the boxes. When the dolly was empty, she held the door open for him. Once outside, he stopped and sniffed.

  “Do you smell smoke?” he asked, raising a hand to shade his eyes as he scanned the blue sky.

  “Fire,” she said. She didn’t see any smoke. The sky was a deep cloudless blue. The wind had shuttled the smog out to sea.

  “Not close,” he said, sniffing again.

  Fire was always a worry for Southern California. Merry’s father had once joked that California’s four seasons were fire, wind, drought and mudslides. “I’ll check the news and find out where it is,” she said. The park was vulnerable to fire since it was smack dab in the middle of country surrounded by dry scrub brush, grass turned brown from the summer heat and rolling hills with the kind of conditions just right for spontaneous combustion.

  She ran back to her office and turned on the news. Fortunately the fire was about seven miles east and a couple of miles north of the park. They were in no danger, but still she felt a slither of fear run through her. She’d seen the devastation a fire could leave behind. Andy had lived in the foothills behind the studio and had lost his home twice to fire before he’d moved to the beach to be nearer to his restaurant.

  “We’re safe,” she told Jake when she sought him out a few moments later.

  He nodded. The construction crew had brought the last of the displays inside and had gone out to the retail area to pick up the roof shingles that littered the yard.

  Merry could see the damage. Tears prickled in her eyes. So much work gone in just a few hours. She should have secured the displays. She should have known. How could she have been so careless?

  Jake put an arm around her. There was sympathy in his eyes. “I said we can rebuild. Nothing had been so damaged it can’t be repaired.”

  “It’s the loss of time,” Merry said. She felt comforted by his arm around her, but the image of their almost kiss haunted her. “And it’s going to blow my budget.”

  “You’ve come in underbudget on almost every project. You have a few dollars here and there to use for the repairs until the insurance company pays.”

  “You have insurance!”

  “Of course we have insurance,” Jake said. “But it may not come through by the time we need it.”

  She brushed her tears away. She could do this. “Tomorrow I’ll get back on that horse, but today I think I’ll just go home and cry in my beer.”

  “Don’t do that. Come to the Queen’s Knickers with me and you can cry in their beer. They have the best fish and chips in California.”

  “Are you asking me out on a date?”

  “No, I’m taking you drinking.”

  “Okay. I didn’t want to have to tell my sister you’re taking me out to a pub named the Queen’s Knickers.”

  “Do you and your sister talk about me?”

  “Not in a nice way,” she answered, unable to resist teasing him.

  “And this ‘not in a nice way’ consists of what?”

  She tilted her head at him, suddenly feeling lighter and happier. “I moan about what a penny-pinching miser you are.”

  He gazed at her thoughtfully for a few moments. “Then maybe I need to give you nicer things to talk about.”

  “If this night works out, I doubt I’ll remember anything.”

  He chuckled. “I’d better get you a hotel room ahead of time.”

  “I’ll get a room at the Mission Inn. If I’m going to have a hangover, I’m going to have one in a nice place.”

  “Considering that the Queen’s Knickers is across the street, you won’t have far to fall.”

  She laughed. “It’s a date. I mean, a nondate. I mean, a drinking date. Scratch all that.”

  “I’ll meet you in your office at five. I need to call the insurance people and find out how to get the ball rolling.”

  Merry grinned. She walked back to her office, looking forward to her nondate with Jake.

  * * *

  Merry loved the Queen’s Knickers the moment she walked in. The huge bar was paneled in wood, with dark wood floors and royal memorabilia hanging on all the walls. A huge portrait of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth of England, hung over the fireplace, a pint in her hand.

  The bar was noisy and filled with professional people who thronged the bar. The noise was insane.

  Jake found them a round table in a corner, a bit away from the bar. She hoisted herself up on a stool and picked up the paper menu tucked into a holder in the center of the table. She glanced through it as a waitress approached with a ready smile for Jake.

  “Hi, Jake,” the woman said. “The usual?”

  He nodded. “Hi, Bonnie. Why are you waiting tables? You own this place.”

  “I have three people out sick.”

  Merry smiled at the woman. Jake was obviously a regular. The waitress turned to Merry. “And you?”

  “Do you have Blackthorn Ale?”

  “We sure do, honey,” the woman said as she scribbled on her pad. “Our dinner special is shepherd’s pie.”

  “And I’ll have a shepherd’s pie.” Merry loved shepherd’s pie. Her parents had taken her to England for her high school graduation gift. They’d spent days wandering the Cotswolds, peering into the bakeries, the smoky pubs and eating in the tiniest of restaurants. Merry’s favorite was Sally Lunn’s in Bath. She’d been back to Bath twice since then, and each trip had been special.

  “Me, too,” Jake said.

  Bonnie smiled and walked back to the bar, calling in their order.

  “She looks familiar,” Merry said.

  “She was big in the eighties. Had her own band, the Golden Octopus.”

  Merry knew that name. “My mother listens to them. That’s why she looks familiar. Her photo is on all the albums.”

  “Which are still selling reasonably well.”

  “Is she your client?”

  “For a while she was. Bonnie was one of the smart ones. Had her act together, kept her money and when travelling three hundred days a year got old, she bought this place. She now owns five of them throughout Southern California, as well as this whole block.”

  “So not everyone who comes to you needs your help.”

  “A few just want investment advice, which I’m happy to provide.”

  Bonnie returned with their drinks. Merry took a sip of the ale and smiled. “Perfect.”

  Bonnie smiled happily and said she’d be back with their food.

  Merry cupped her chin in her hand and gazed at Jake. “When you heard I was coming to work for your dad, did you think I was one of the lost souls?”

  “My sister thought you were a gold digger trying to use my dad to revamp your career. If she weren’t so busy with the beginning of her new semester right now, she’d be dogging you every step of the way.”

  “Why would you think that? I don’t understand why you would think working for your dad would revive my career. That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “It wasn’t so much my thought as my sister’s. After a long conversation with her, I was able to persuade her to stay cool.”

  “What were your thoughts about me?”

  “I’ll admit I had my own concerns, which were why I stepped in to keep an eye on the money. But...” His voice trailed off as he studied her.

  “Do tell me you’ve had a change of heart,” she coaxed.

  “I’m a little more open to what you’re doing,” he said.

  Bonnie came back with their shepherd’s pies and set the large bowls in front of them.

  “That’s a ringing endorsement,” Merry said when Bonnie had left. She dipped her fork into the crusty potato topping, her mouth already watering.

  “That’s all I’ve got,” he said, and took a long drink of his beer. “About the other night...”

  “No big deal,” she said, waving his words aside. Noelle had told her to act as if nothing happened. She moved unc
omfortably on the stool.

  “But I want to explain something.” He paused, staring down at his food. “I liked Maddie’s Mad World.”

  Merry drew back in surprise. “You’re kidding me.”

  He shook his head. “It’s true. Chloe was always so loyal to Maddie, and Maddie’s adventures were fun.”

  “Chloe was boring,” Merry said. “She was the eternal best friend who always knew how to get Maddie out of trouble.”

  “She wasn’t boring,” Jake replied.

  “Don’t get me wrong. I loved playing her, but she was the bright and cheerful daisy standing next to the elegant orchid.”

  “You’re being too harsh on yourself. Chloe was smart and capable and she always had the right answer. No matter what madcap problem Maddie created, Chloe was always able to figure it out.”

  “She never got the guy. She had the weirdest clothes. She went through the entire six years of the series having a crush on this one guy who had no eyes for anyone but Maddie.”

  “So you would have had the character move on.”

  “Yes. I understand that real life, despite the prevalence of reality shows, just isn’t that interesting. And the only people in fiction who get to be smart are detectives or scientists who have to figure out how to stop the zombie invasion.”

  “So you’re saying that literature and movies and TV shows are populated by dumb people.”

  She nodded. “Dumb decisions make drama. Look at Captain Ahab. Did he really need to hunt that whale? I think not. And look how that turned out for him. And really, Anna Karenina, get on the train. It’s not like the guy wasn’t a drunk or a gambler. This doesn’t make for the most stable of relationships. So why kill yourself over him? And why do so in such a gruesome manner? Take pills instead.”

  “Wow,” he said with a broad smile.

  “Don’t get me wrong. I like reading about other people’s stupidity. I understand stuff happens and people have to fight their way out of it, but a lot of times, people volunteer for the situation.”