“Dad . . .”
“I’m just saying that maybe you two have more in common than you think.”
Jeff laughed loudly. “What, Haley and I? I don’t think so. Haley only cares about one thing. Work. She doesn’t care about any of this stuff. She wouldn’t even be here if she didn’t have to be.”
“People can change . . .” Ben said as he picked up an old-fashioned clothespin angel ornament. It was made out of white paper and lace. He handed it to Jeff.
“You know I love the way you always see the best in everyone, but I wouldn’t expect too much of a transformation from Haley. I don’t want you to be disappointed. Christmas Camp can’t change everyone.”
Smiling, Ben watched as Jeff put the angel ornament on the tree, and it glowed in the light. “I believe that at Christmas Camp, anything is possible.”
Jeff shook his head. His dad’s optimism was relentless. “Okay, but after camp, remember, you promised we’re going to have a serious talk about the future because I believe that unless you plan on Santa Claus bringing you a big bag of money, you’re going to have to sell this place, and it will be the best thing for you. You’ll see . . .”
But when Ben just continued decorating without saying a word, Jeff knew he’d upset him. But he also knew his dad was in denial about his finances, and it was his job to protect him.
THAT NIGHT, SNUGGLED in bed, Haley looked over at her tree. The angel ornaments were glowing in the moonlight. The tree was a little lopsided and some of its branches were sagging from the weight of the angels, but she thought it was perfect, and for the first time in a very long time, she felt it. Joy. Just like Ben had said she would. She fell asleep smiling.
Chapter 17
As the sun came up over the mountains, its golden glow lit up the Holly Peak Inn and the snow-covered trees.
The first thing Haley saw when she opened her eyes was her Charlie Brown Christmas tree decorated with the angel ornaments. She loved her little tree. Throwing off the covers, she jumped out of bed and was just starting to get dressed when she heard Max bark outside her door.
“Hold on, Max. I’m coming!”
This time when she opened her door and saw Max sitting there with his leash in his mouth, she was ready for him. She already had on her coat, hat, and scarf. As she bent down to pet him, she noticed he was wearing a new Christmas sweater. This one was red with green stripes. “Well, look at you in your new sweater. This one is much better than the one with the crazy cats. Okay, let’s go!”
Max was so excited he practically dragged her down the hallway. When they went out the front door, Haley was hit in the chest with snowball.
“Hey!” she shouted as she looked around, surprised. That’s when she spotted Blake and Madison, both with snowballs in their hands. She gave them a warning look. “Don’t even think about it!”
Madison laughed. “Sorry, I was trying to get my brother.”
Blake took advantage of the distraction to pelt Madison with two snowballs.
“Whoa! Wait! That’s not fair!” Madison threw a snowball at him but missed.
“Do you need some help?” Haley asked her.
“Please!” Madison said, and then got hit in the leg with another snowball. “Hurry!”
Laughing, Haley quickly put Max back inside the house. “I’ll come back and get you in a second. Just hang on. Madison needs some help.” She then ran back to Madison, expertly made two snowballs, and fired them at Blake. They were both direct hits, landing square on his back, sending snow everywhere.
He whirled around. “Hey!”
“Nice shot, Haley!” Madison grabbed some more snow and ran to hide behind a tree.
“No fair,” Blake complained. “It’s two against one!”
All of a sudden Haley got pelted in the back with a snowball. When she spun around, she saw Jeff grinning at her. He was holding another snowball and coming right at her.
“Run, Haley, run!” Madison shouted from behind the tree.
Haley took off running just as another snowball hit her in the leg.
“Nice one!” Blake ran up to Jeff, and they high-fived.
When Susie and Ian walked out the front door, Madison started waving her arms at Susie. “Susie, over here! It’s the girls against the boys. Hurry!”
“Wait, what?” Susie looked confused until one of Blake’s snowballs hit her in the stomach. “Seriously?” she said, glaring back at Blake. “Oh, you are so going down!” She grabbed some snow, ran up to Blake, and stuffed it down the neck of his coat.
“No!” Blake laughed and squirmed, but it was too late.
Ian laughed. “I should have warned you. My wife has three brothers who taught her how to fight back. She annihilated me the first snowball fight we had.”
“Then get over here, Susie! Hurry!” Haley yelled.
But just as Susie ran over to join the girls, a snowball hit her in the back. She froze and turned slowly, and when she saw it was Ian who was standing there grinning back at her, she gave him a look that had him running in the other direction.
“Come on, girls, let’s get ’em!” Haley shouted.
For the next five minutes, they battled in an epic snowball fight, girls against boys. Both teams were pretty evenly matched until John came outside and joined the guys. His first snowball hit Madison.
“Dad! How could you!” Madison gave her dad a look.
“All’s fair in love and snowball fights. Love you, honey!” John hugged his daughter, but when she squirmed out of his embrace, grabbed some snow, and rubbed it into his hair, it was his turn to look shocked.
“Seriously, Madison? To your own dad?”
“All’s fair in love and snowball fights! I love you, too, Dad!”
Everyone laughed.
“Hey, what’s going on out here?” Ben asked as he walked through the front door.
Everyone turned to look at him then looked at each other. When Jeff nodded, they all pelted him with snowballs.
“Wait! What?” Ben dodged as many snowballs as he could, but the one Jeff threw smacked him on the chest. “Son, you know better than that!”
A second later Ben was running toward Jeff with two snowballs in his hands.
Jeff started backing away. “Dad, you wouldn’t.”
But Ben looked like he, indeed, would . . . happily.
“But we’re family,” Jeff pleaded in a teasing voice.
“But all’s fair in love and snowball fights, right, Dad?” Madison asked gleefully.
“She’s right,” John said. “Sorry, buddy, you’re on your own here.”
Ben picked just that moment to throw his first snowball at Jeff.
Jeff expertly dodged it and was celebrating his victory when he got a surprise hit in the back.
“What?!” When he spun around, he saw Haley doing her own victory dance before she ran up to Ben and they gave each other a high five.
“Nice job, Haley!” Ben put his arm around her, and they both grinned at Jeff, who was still trying to brush all the snow off him. “Okay, everyone, let’s all go clean up and get some breakfast because we have a big day ahead of us.”
As they headed in, Jeff caught up with Haley. “Teaming up with my dad, huh?”
“Oh yeah.” Haley smiled. “I know a winner when I see one.” She winked at Ben, and he winked back before she gave Jeff a victorious look, laughed, and ran inside to get Max for his promised walk.
A FEW HOURS later, Ben led the group into the town’s modest-looking community center, where Haley noticed a sign on the door that read HOLIDAY VOLUNTEERS NEEDED. She looked at Gail, who was walking alongside her. “I guess we’re the volunteers.”
“I guess we are,” Gail said. She smiled at Haley. “I’m really looking forward to this. My son, Ryan, and I used to volunteer every year at our local food pantry. It’s one of our favorite family Christmas traditions.”
“That’s a great tradition,” Haley said. “What did he think about the picture we took of you with y
our Christmas tree?”
Gail’s smile faded a little. “I haven’t heard back from him yet. I know he’s really busy. He has a high security job in the military, and he’s always traveling to remote places, so he’s not always able to reach out, but I’m sure I’ll hear from him when he can.”
“He sounds like a great son,” Haley said.
Gail’s eyes lit up. “He really is. We’ve always been really close. He’s been so worried about me this year, being alone at Christmas . . .”
Haley put her arm around Gail. “But you’re not alone. You’re here with all of us.”
Gail gave her a smile and put her arm around her. “You know what? You’re right, and I’m thankful for that. Now, let’s go see how we can help here.”
Haley and Gail and the rest of the group followed Ben to a table covered with food. The food was separated by category. There were turkeys, boxes of mashed potatoes, canned yams, cranberry sauce, stuffing mix, and pumpkin pies.
Ben picked up an empty box to pack things in and smiled at the group. “Okay, everyone, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to fill up these boxes with the Christmas dinner supplies you see here on the table. They’re for families who need a little extra help this year, so we are going to make sure they have something special for Christmas.”
Blake picked up a frozen turkey. “Does everyone get one of these?”
“Blake, put that down.” John took the turkey from his son.
“It’s okay,” Ben said. “Blake has just volunteered to do the turkey.”
Madison laughed, pointing at Blake. “I always said you were a turkey!”
Blake playfully held the turkey up to Madison’s face, “Why don’t you give it a kiss?”
Madison backed away and gave him a look. “Funny.”
Ben laughed. “Actually, Madison, your brother has an important job. He’s in charge of making sure every box here gets a turkey.”
Madison grabbed a pumpkin pie. “Then can I do the pie? Every family needs a pie, right?”
“Absolutely,” Ben said. “Pie is one of the best parts of Christmas dinner.”
“Totally,” Madison agreed. “My favorite part.”
“Mine too,” Haley agreed. “Sometimes at Christmas all I’d eat was the pie—”
“Then I’m coming to your house,” Madison said.
Everyone laughed.
“Okay, everyone, team up, and let’s get going. We have a lot of meals to put together and a lot of families counting on us,” Ben said. “Let’s pair up and keep working.”
Haley walked over to Gail. “Since it sounds like you’re the expert and have done this before, I’m staying with you if that’s okay?”
Gail laughed. “Of course it is, and you’ll be an expert, too, in no time.”
“Fantastic.” Haley eagerly picked up a pie.
Gail gently took it from her. “But the pie goes in last. We don’t want to get it smooshed.”
“Oh, of course.” Haley picked up the frozen turkey. “So, I’m thinking this little butterball is the one that goes in first . . .”
“And you’d be exactly right. Just put it in one of those plastic bags so when it starts to thaw out, it won’t get everything else all gooey,” Gail said.
“Good tip. See, you are the expert. I knew I picked the right table.” Haley followed her lead as Gail picked up a box of mashed potatoes and a can of cranberry sauce and put them both in the box. Next, when she grabbed a can of yams, so did Haley. Haley was literally copying Gail’s every move, and they worked together perfectly.
After a couple of minutes, Gail gave Haley a look of approval. “You’re a great student.”
Haley laughed. “I always was an overachiever.”
Gail smiled back at her. “Seems like you still are. I heard you telling Jeff you work in advertising.”
“I do,” Haley said proudly. “I’m a brand specialist.”
Gail gave her a questioning look.
“Don’t worry.” Haley laughed. “No one’s really sure exactly what it means. Even my parents get confused and just tell people that I come up with cool ad campaigns.”
“Like television commercials?”
“Sometimes, but it can be any kind of campaign—newspapers, magazines, radio, online, social media . . .”
“So, you come up with the ideas for the campaigns?”
Haley nodded. “I do. It’s one of the things I love the most, although right now I’m really struggling to come up with an idea for a Christmas toy campaign.”
“I’m sure you’ll come up with something wonderful,” Gail said.
“I’m trying to. I just need to stay focused,” Haley said. When she saw Jeff walking toward them, she knew he was her number one distraction.
WHEN JEFF GOT to their table, he looked impressed. “Wow! Looks like we have a couple of pros here.”
Haley nodded toward Gail. “She’s the genius in this operation, I’m just the muscle.” She held up a turkey for emphasis but it slipped out of her hands. “Oh no!” She tried to grab it but missed. It would have crashed to the floor if Jeff hadn’t caught it at the last minute.
Gail covered her mouth, but you could tell she was laughing.
“Okay, so I’m not the muscle, I’m the klutz,” Haley said, laughing, too.
Jeff carefully handed her back the turkey. “Can I trust you with this?”
Haley looked down at the turkey. “I can’t make any promises. It’s kind of slippery, right?” She looked to Gail for support.
“It is slippery,” Gail agreed. “Let me get it.” She then took the turkey from Haley and handed her a towel to wipe her hands.
“Thanks,” Haley said.
“Gail, it looks like you’ve been working hard here,” Jeff said. “Why don’t you take a break with the rest of the group. Everyone’s getting some coffee. I’ll fill in for you here.”
Gail smiled back at him. “That sounds wonderful, Jeff. Thank you.”
“Hey, what about me? Don’t I get a break?” Haley asked.
“I think you need to redeem yourself first,” Jeff teased. “Unless you’re not up for it?”
Haley saw it again, the challenge in his eyes. Even if he was teasing, she could never resist a challenge. She stood up straighter. “Fine, but I’m telling you, I have the canned yams and mashed potatoes down to a science.”
Jeff and Gail exchanged a look and a laugh. “Good luck,” Gail said to Haley.
As Gail left to join the group Haley looked up at Jeff, who was already putting a turkey into a new box. “So, check this out,” she said as she picked up a box of mashed potatoes and used it as a tray for a can of yams, a can of green beans, and a can of cranberry sauce. When the cranberry sauce started to wobble, she quickly grabbed it with her other hand. “Pretty impressive, right?”
“You definitely have skills.” Jeff laughed.
“Right!” Haley smiled back at him.
“And I was just kidding before. If you want a break, go for it.”
Haley kept packing her box. “I’m good, but thanks. So, how long have you and your family been doing this?”
Jeff had to think about it. “Wow, for as long as I can remember.”
Haley watched as he quickly finished up his box. “That’s really nice. Gail says it’s her family tradition, too. Just imagine if every family that could helped out just a little bit, it could really make a big difference.”
“I agree,” Jeff said.
They shared a smile as they both reached for the same can of yams. When their hands touched, their eyes met and Haley felt the pull between them. It was stronger than ever. This both scared and frustrated her. She pulled her hand away quickly and concentrated on putting another turkey in a bag, but she felt like Jeff was still looking at her.
“There’s something I want to show you,” he said. “I thought it might give you some inspiration for your work project.”
When Haley heard the word “work,” she gave Jeff her full
attention.
“You game?” he asked.
She eagerly smiled back at him. “Lead the way.”
It didn’t take long for Haley to figure out where Jeff was taking her as she followed him up to the front of the community center, where there was a huge nine-foot Christmas tree. Almost every inch was covered with sparkling white twinkle lights. The only other things on the tree were simple white paper angels.
“This is the community’s angel tree,” Jeff said as he looked up at the tree fondly.
Haley stepped back so she could see the very top. “Wow, there has to be at least two hundred angels on this.”
“Probably closer to three hundred,” Jeff said as he stepped closer, took an angel down from the tree, and showed it to Haley. “Check this out.” On the angel was written Bobby, 7, Toy Truck. “Kids get to make their Christmas wish, and we get to help parents make their children’s wishes come true.”
As Haley watched him put the angel in his pocket, she found it impossible not to like him. He was obviously a good guy. He cared about helping people, he cared about his dad, and she knew he even cared about all of the guests at the Christmas Camp. The fact that he cared was a big problem, because she knew she was starting to care about him.
“So, are you ready?” Jeff asked.
Haley turned around and saw he was holding some white paper and a pair of scissors. He handed them to her. “We can always use some more angels.”
“I can do that,” she said. She was grateful to have something besides the way he was making her feel to concentrate on. As she started cutting out an angel, she reminded herself that all she needed to do was focus on work. Work, work, work, and only work, she chanted in her head. And that’s when she accidentally cut off her angel’s wings.
Chapter 18
Oh no!” Haley’s hand flew to her mouth as she scrambled to pick up the angel’s wings.
Jeff was instantly by her side. “What happened? Are you okay?”
When Haley, with a guilty look on her face, held up her angel in one hand and the wings she had just cut off in the other, she saw Jeff fight back a laugh.
“It’s okay,” he said. “We have lots of paper. Here, try again.”
Christmas Camp Page 14
