Island Christmas

by Kimberly Rose Johnson

  “I appreciate all you’ve done here at the resort, Derrick, but I need to make some changes.”

  His stomach churned. Was he about to get fired? “I’ve enjoyed working here. What’s changing?”

  “As you know, I’m six months pregnant, but what you don’t know is that I’ve been put on bed rest. Effective immediately you will be the acting manager of Wildflower Resort and Spa. I know we talked about you taking over while I am on maternity leave and that you were concerned about the long hours during that time. I hope you can make this work because I’d hate to bring in someone new.”

  His pulse thrummed in his ear. “No. It’s fine. Are you and the baby okay?” He’d begun to make changes at home to accommodate the longer hours he would be working in a few months, but he wasn’t there yet. How would his fifteen-year-old daughter Alyssa handle him working sixty-hour weeks?

  “My baby and I are okay, but my blood pressure is too high—has been for a while now, actually. I know you will do an exemplary job in my absence.”

  He nodded. Talk about a switch. A minute ago she looked like she was about to fire him.

  “Knock. Knock.”

  He turned at the sound and spotted a raven-haired woman with pale skin and classical facial features—stunning. She wore a hoodie, ripped jeans, and work boots—not so attractive, but she’d turn heads if she made an effort. Maybe she worked with Chase, Piper’s husband, in the gardens.

  “Hope.” Piper smiled and stood, though a little slower than usual. “I’d like you to meet Derrick Trainor. He’ll be acting as manager until I return. You will need to run your schedule by him before you start any work, and he will check over everything done each day.”

  Hope frowned. “I hope you’re kidding.”

  Derrick shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I’m not following.”

  Piper waved her fingers in the air. “Close the door and have a seat, Hope.”

  The woman sat beside him. “Hope Michaels.” She offered her hand. Deep purple nail polish covered her neatly trimmed nails.

  “It’s nice to meet you.” He shook her hand then turned to Piper. That unsettled feeling resurfaced.

  “Hope is the owner of the electrical company I hired to re-wire the section of the building that caught fire last month. Her company will also be doing all the electrical work for the cabins.”

  No wonder Piper’s health was at risk. She had too much on her plate. Between dealing with the fire that damaged three suites at the north end of the building, to the construction of the cabins for phase two of the resort, anyone would have high blood pressure.

  Hope removed her hoodie revealing arms with several tattoos. He didn’t care for body art, but to each his own, or this case her own.

  “Derrick, because of your background in electrical work, I thought it would be fitting for you to oversee this aspect of the project.” Her attention shifted to Hope. “Having a second set of eyes is no reflection on your quality of work, Hope. But after the fire I’d feel more comfortable if Derrick double-checked everything. Chase will be dealing with the rest of the subcontractors.”

  Hope’s face reddened. Clearly she wasn’t happy with Piper’s arrangement. He was an electrician by trade but hadn’t enjoyed it. After doing odd jobs he fell into his position here as assistant manager. He looked from his boss to Hope. The tension in the room was so thick it’d take a chainsaw to cut through.

  “We can talk more later, Hope,” Piper said. “Thanks for stopping in.”

  The woman stood, but to her credit she didn’t argue with Piper, though he suspected she had a few choice words for his boss. “Take care of yourself, Piper.” She grabbed her hoodie and strode from the room, leaving the door open behind her.

  He turned to Piper. “That was awkward.”

  She wore a mischievous grin. “You’ve heard the phrase don’t judge a book by its cover?”

  He nodded.

  “It applies to Hope. I consider her a friend, and in spite of what I said, I don’t expect there to be any issues.”

  “Then why am I inspecting her work? You realize an actual inspector will do that?”

  She gave him a look that clearly said he was trying her patience. Time to keep his thoughts to himself. But what exactly was Piper hinting at when she said not to judge a book—or perhaps, Hope—by her cover? Sure she looked a little rough around the edges, but if his boss had confidence in her abilities, so did he.

  Although he hadn’t been in the field for several years, he kept up to date on everything. He didn’t want to close the door on what he’d spent so much money learning to do.

  “Hunt Enterprises, my father’s development company, has used Hope on multiple projects. She does excellent work. I only wish she’d been available to do the job here when we were building. We probably wouldn’t have had that electrical fire last month.”

  This was high praise coming from his boss—but even given her paranoia something didn’t add up. Piper was fair and called things how she saw them, whether good or bad, so what was he missing?

  Piper continued to talk, and he focused on her words again. “I’ve arranged for her to stay at Wildflower B&B since we are booked for the summer.”

  His sister managed the B&B. He almost laughed. Jill was as straight-laced as a person could get. Her eyes had probably bugged out when she saw the art on Hope’s arms.

  He tabled the thought for now. He had enough to worry about with the new responsibilities given to him today. “Sounds good. I assume you want me to update you on what’s going on in the day-to-day operations.”

  She shook her head. “As much as I want that, my doctor suggested I allow Chase to filter what information I receive.”

  Whoa. This sounded serious. “Okay.” Piper was hands-on. It must be killing her to release control. Besides that, Chase not only took care of the grounds at the resort, he had a flourishing landscape and design business that often took him away from the island.

  “Any questions?”

  “Not right now. If I come up with any, may I call you?”

  She shook her head. “Talk to Chase. He’ll stop in every morning and then again in the evenings.”

  Derrick nodded. Things were about to get very interesting.

  Hope stormed through the lobby and out the automatic sliding glass doors. The nerve! She was highly respected in her industry. Why would Piper want a dude who clearly couldn’t cut it as an electrician looking over her shoulder? Piper knew how good she was.

  Her phone rang, and she pulled it from her back pocket. “Hope speaking.”

  “It’s Piper. I think I owe you an explanation.”

  “You don’t owe me anything, but if you don’t trust me to do the job then why’d you hire me?”

  “You and I have been friends since college, and I’ve known Derrick for three years. He’s a good man, but he’s lonely. I think the two of you would hit it off.”

  Hope stopped moving. A car beeped its horn. She waved and moved out of the way. “Come again? Are you seriously trying to set me up?”

  “Well…”

  “I quit.”

  “No! Please, Hope. I need you.”

  “You should have thought of that before you tried to play matchmaker. Does he know what you’re up to?”

  “No, and don’t you tell him either. I can’t afford to lose him, not with me going on bed rest. I can’t lose you, either.”

  This was so unlike Piper. It must be all those hormones from being pregnant causing her to behave like a moron. “Fine. But only because you’ve been a good friend—at least until today. I will do the job and only the job. I will not go out with Derrick, no matter how cute he is.”

  “You think he’s cute?” Piper’s voice rose in pitch.

  Hope waved a finger in the air. “Don’t. It was only an observation.”

  “Okay. I’m sorry.” Disappointment clouded her voice. “Thank you for sticking with the job. But don’t overlook Derrick just because I messed up.”

&nbs
p; “Whatever.” She liked Piper, but the girl was tripping. “I have work to do. Don’t worry about anything here. You’ve assembled a great team, and your resort is in good hands.”

  “I agree. Don’t be a stranger. I’m sure to get sick of myself, and I’ll appreciate the company.”

  Hope grinned and shook her head. She couldn’t stay mad at Piper. “I will stop in sometime soon. Catch you later.” She pocketed the phone. When she’d arrived on the island yesterday, she sensed it would be a different kind of place to work when the manager of Wildflower B&B looked scandalized by her tattoos; however, she never imagined what Piper had in store.

  She headed to her SUV. There was work to be done, and she would not spend the afternoon daydreaming. She grabbed her tools then headed inside to the north section of the resort. The sprinkler system did its job, but the damage was considerable in the affected suites.

  On her way through the lobby she spotted Derrick standing behind the counter. He had a Ryan Reynolds thing going on with his dark hair and five o’clock shadow. She’d watched “The Proposal” many times over the years and had always found him attractive. Derrick’s broad shoulders filled out his navy sports jacket and looked very nice, but his clean-cut, boy-next-door look wasn’t her thing.

  Why would Piper think they’d hit it off? They were too different. She was a jeans and T-shirt girl, and he was GQ. Okay, she knew how to dress up and had to in her other life but much preferred her work clothes.

  He looked her way and caught her staring. She whirled around and two-timed it toward the wing that needed repairs. Her cheeks burned. That would not happen again.

  At six o’clock she called it a day, packed up, and headed to the restaurant kitchen. Looking around for the tall blonde woman Piper had described, Hope immediately spotted Zoe, the head chef, and waved.

  Zoe grabbed a large brown bag. “You must be Hope. Piper called and gave me your order.”

  “Yes, thanks.” She reached for her wallet.

  “Your meals are complimentary for as long as you work here.”

  “Really? Piper didn’t tell me. Well that’s a nice way to end a rough day. Thanks!”

  “Sure. I heard you’re staying at the Wildflower B&B.”

  “I am. Have you been there?”

  Zoe chuckled. “My husband and I own the place. We live in the basement apartment. I’m sure our paths will cross there sooner or later.”

  “Small island.”

  “Yep. Have a nice evening. I need to get back to work.”

  “Okay.” With her dinner bag in one hand and her toolbox in the other, she made her way to the parking lot. She spotted Derrick wearing a black leather jacket and chaps, and holding a motorcycle helmet. Well, that added another dimension to Mr. GQ. She walked over to him. “You didn’t stop by to check my work.”

  “Didn’t think that was a good idea today.” He winked and slipped on the helmet.

  “That yours?” She looked skeptically at the Indian Chief Classic.

  He straddled the seat. “Yes.”

  “Nice.” She nodded, her curiosity piqued, but she’d never admit it to Piper. “Well, have a good night.”

  “Maybe I’ll see you at the B&B.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “My sister’s the manager, and my daughter is sort of the in-house sitter for guests. She sent me a text a little bit ago about needing to watch a kid this evening.”

  “Oh. Okay. Maybe I’ll see you.” She strode to her SUV struggling to come to terms with this new information. His sister was the uptight manager, and his daughter was old enough to babysit. How could either of those be possible? He didn’t look old enough to have a teen, and he rode a motorcycle. She chuckled. His sister for sure didn’t approve of that.

  Wildflower Island was an interesting place. She was beginning to think she owed Piper a thank you for offering her the job. The people didn’t appear as colorful on the surface as her normal crowd, but one didn’t have to dig deep to see there was more to the people than met the eye.

  Derrick rode past and waved. Her stomach did a little flip-flop. She couldn’t go there. He was not her type at all, plus he was a dad. She didn’t date dads.

  Coming April 1, 2016

  Christmas Sugar Cookies

  1 1/3 cups shortening

  1 ½ cups granulated Sugar

  2 teaspoons almond or vanilla extract

  2 eggs

  8 teaspoons milk

  4 cups all-purpose flour

  3 teaspoons baking powder

  ½ teaspoon salt

  Cream shortening, sugar, and almond extract. Add egg and beat until light and fluffy. Stir in milk. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; blend into creamed mixture. Divide dough into four balls and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill 1 hour.

  On lightly floured surface, roll one dough ball at a time to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes.

  Bake on greased cookie sheet at 375 degrees about 6 to 8 minutes. Cool slightly then remove from pan. Cool on wire rack. Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies depending on size of shapes. Frost and add sprinkles if desired.

  Discussion Questions

  Rachel was afraid that people in the church would judge her or dislike her if they knew her past. Do you think her fear was justified? Why or why not?

  Have you ever judged someone in that way, or have you been afraid you might be judged for your past? How did it make you feel?

  Chris was determined to not have a romantic relationship with a non-Christian. Do you think he was right or wrong and why?

  Although an adult and on her own, Rachel had yet to create any Christmas traditions. What are some of your traditions and how did they come about?

  Rachel experienced a lot of trouble after moving to the island. Do you think it was God’s way of getting her attention or just the way life is?

  In the beginning, Chris expressed the desire to have a family, but he was also afraid to pursue that desire due to his family medical history. Do you ever allow fear to prevent you from pursuing your dreams?

  Author Notes

  I thoroughly enjoyed writing this series and hope you enjoyed reading it. Although inspired by Anderson Island in the Puget Sound, Wildflower Island is a figment of my imagination and a place I would love to live.

  Readers, thank you for going on this journey with me. I hope you found the third book in the Wildflower B&B Romance Series satisfying.

  Kimberly loves connecting with her readers.

  You may find her at:

  http://kimberlyrjohnson.com/

  Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KimberlyRoseJohnson

  Twitter at https://twitter.com/kimberlyrosejoh

  You may also follow her on Amazon to be notified every time she has a new book release by using the following link:

  http://www.amazon.com/Kimberly-Rose-Johnson/e/ B00K10CR6E/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1433292617&sr=1-2-ent

  BOOKS BY KIMBERLY ROSE JOHNSON

  Wildflower B&B Romance Series

  Island Refuge

  Island Dreams

  Island Christmas

  Island Hope Releasing Spring 2016

  Standalone

  A Valentine for Kayla

  Series with Heartsong Presents

  The Christmas Promise

  A Romance Rekindled

  A Holiday Proposal

  A Match for Meghan