This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 by Kasey Stockton
Cover design by Blue Water Books
First print edition: November 2020
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations for the purpose of a book review.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Epilogue
Holly Springs
Sneak peek at Snowflake Wishes
Also by Kasey Stockton
About the Author
Chapter One
Hailey Grant scooped up the pile of stuffed animals on the plush living room rug and balanced them close to her chest so she would only have to take one trip upstairs to deliver the things to the toy bin. A dotted ladybug toppled from the pile and rolled across the stark white rug, landing under the fake, snow-tipped branches of the Christmas tree.
Ugh. Gently crouching, Hailey reached for the ladybug and set it on top of the pile in her arms before slowly standing again, her thighs burning. Sheesh. Maybe she needed to add squats to her daily routine. She could slip them in right after her race to get dressed in the morning, shortly before grabbing a granola bar on her way out the door.
Or maybe she could set a new rule for herself: every time she bent to pick up a stuffed animal at work, she would squat. Her butt would look amazing in no time.
Some kids hoarded stuffed animals, collecting them like those spoons people bought in souvenir shops but never intended to use. Those types of kids arranged their stuffed animals pleasantly across their beds without planning to ever play with them. But Kendra was different. Kendra, the six-year-old girl Hailey spent her afternoons chasing around the high-rise New York City loft, played with those little suckers like they were her best friends. And she didn’t gravitate toward the type of animals that typically lived on the beds of six-year-olds. No, she loved the bugs most.
The fact that they did keep her so thoroughly entertained at least made cleaning up what felt like thousands of stuffed bugs every night totally worth it. At least Kendra wasn’t into fashion dolls. All those little accessories everywhere would be so much worse.
Hailey paused on the landing at the top of the stairs, peeking through Kendra’s open door at the girl’s small, sleeping form nestled under the blanket. Oh, please don’t ever, ever discover fashion dolls.
After the stuffed caterpillars, beetles, and butterflies were all safely stored in the giant bin in the dim room, Hailey took the Life Cycle of a Butterfly book perched beside Kendra’s pillow and tucked it back onto the bookshelf. She double-checked the latch on the window to make sure it was locked, then let herself quietly out of the room.
Seamless.
It hadn’t been this easy in the beginning. Hailey had come to work for the Martinez family when Kendra wasn’t even two. It’d been an adjustment, but she’d only meant to nanny for a year or so—however long it took her to get noticed.
But sometimes things didn’t work out the way they were so carefully planned. And Hailey was fine with how her life had turned out so far. She loved Kendra, and the Martinezes paid her insanely well. Of course, her salary was a drop in the barrel that was the immense Martinez fortune. But it was more than enough to keep her stocked in sound equipment and guitar strings. They probably had no idea they were funding such an expensive side hustle.
If moonlighting at bars or producing demos could even be called a side-hustle. Didn’t it have to actually bring in money to earn that title?
The elevator ding rang across the marble floors, and Hailey darted down the stairs, her extra-thick socks padding her silent footsteps. If she hurried, she might make it to Nomad before the band scheduled before her, Midnight Moods, finished their set. And she had to be there before they finished, or she was done for. Johnny already told her that if she was late one more time, he’d take her off the docket completely.
But tonight she was prepared. She’d brought her guitar, dressed nice enough for playing in a bar—which, admittedly, wasn’t any different from her regular clothes, just a lot more black—and had her Uber app opened and ready to go.
The elevator doors beeped from the Martinezes’ foyer before opening, and Amber Martinez stepped into the apartment, her stilettos clicking loudly.
“How was your day?” Hailey asked, sitting on the tufted bench to pull on her boots.
“Fine.” Amber waved her hand dismissively. She crossed into the kitchen, visible through the wide, open doorway, and dropped her bag on the center island. “Is Kenny asleep?”
“Yep. She’s been out for thirty minutes or so.”
Amber nodded. The bags under her eyes and drooping smile highlighted her constant late nights at the office, and she had nothing on her husband. Luis was basically never home.
Hailey leaned down to zip her boots. “Megan had to leave early, so I stacked your laundry in the closet, and she promised to stay late tomorrow.”
Amber filled a glass with water from the fridge. “That’s fine. I’m sure she’ll make up her hours.” She glanced over her shoulder, giving Hailey’s faded black jeans and boots a once-over. That was all that was visible under the marshmallow-puffy coat Hailey was zipping up. “Where are you heading off to?”
“Just to Nomad.” Hailey lifted her guitar case and slung her purse over her shoulder.
Amber’s brows lifted. “You’ve got a gig?”
“I don’t know if it qualifies as a gig, but I sing there sometimes.”
Amber offered a wan smile. “I want to tell you good luck, but I also never want to lose you.”
Hailey used all her self-control to not check the time on her phone. She needed to get out of there. And fast. “You know I adore Kendra. It’ll take a major recording contract to get me to leave her.”
“Good,” Amber said. Oddly enough, she sounded super relieved. Thanks for the confidence, boss.
But it was true. Amber had nothing to worry about. The Martinez family wouldn’t be losing their nanny anytime soon. Hailey had spent the last four years trying to get her demos into the right hands, and that turned out to be way harder than she’d expected.
“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow!” Hailey crossed to the elevator and punched in her key code.
Amber made a farewell-type sound, and Hailey slipped out, hitting the button for the elevator to take her downstairs. Pulse speeding, she wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck and pulled her long, dark curls free, hitching her bag higher up on her shoulder so she was prepared to run to the corner to meet her Uber driver. This was her last chance to keep the gig and her best shot at being seen. She couldn’t lose it.
Declan, the doorman, would give her a scolding tomorrow for running through his lobby, but it’d be worth it. He really was the most crotchety old man sometimes. But hey, he’d been standing sentinel at this building’s door for at least a hundred years, so he’d earned hims
elf the right.
A splash of color caught her eye above the doors, and she had to chuckle. Whoever placed mistletoe wrapped in red ribbon up there was clearly a romantic, and it wasn’t Amber or Luis. Maybe Declan put it there for a little holiday cheer.
The elevator dinged, and Hailey gripped her guitar tighter, prepared to launch the moment the ancient doors slid open. Light poured through the widening gap as they did so, and Hailey went for it…directly into the man waiting on the other side.
“Oomph,” he said, taking the brunt of Hailey’s guitar case in the chest.
“I’m so sorry!” Hailey backed up, pulling her case flush against her as she turned to keep walking. She didn’t have time to waste. “I didn’t see you—”
“No, clearly you didn’t,” he snapped, still checking out his suit and only showing her the top of his head. But guitar cases didn’t make messes. It might have bruised his nicely sculpted—nope. Hailey shook her head to stop that line of thinking in its tracks. The guy was still looking down, assessing his designer suit, and didn’t appear to notice her walking away.
And the faster she escaped, the better. If this guy planned to claim that she’d snagged his Armani sleeve and required a replacement, he had another thing coming. A perfectly fitted suit like that would probably cost her a month’s salary—or more—and Hailey wouldn’t put it past anyone wearing something that expensive to pull a jerk move like making her pay for a new one. In her experience, people with money tended to have less kindness or basic courtesy. Or maybe it was an overall ignorance? Either way, clearly the guy was worried about it, or he wouldn’t be analyzing his lapel so closely.
Christmas was only ten days away, so she supposed it made sense that she’d run into a grinch at some point.
“Sorry,” she called again, slipping outside into the freezing December air. A glance at her phone made her break out in a run toward the waiting car with the Uber sticker on the back window. Twelve minutes. She had twelve minutes to get to Nomad or she’d be off the docket. With it being her only connection to music at present, it wasn’t something she was willing to give up.
She slid into the car and shut the door, settling the guitar case between her knees.
“Hailey?” the Uber driver asked, catching her eye in the rearview mirror. He matched his ultra-hairy picture the app had given her. Someone needed to get the man some beard oil and a trimmer.
She nodded. “Yes, and I’m in a major hurry.”
“Who isn’t?” He turned his attention to the road and flipped on his blinker.
Well, great. He really didn’t sound like he planned to hurry.
She shut her eyes, leaning her head against the back of the seat rest for about a millisecond before sitting up again. It was an Uber, for heaven’s sake. There was no trusting the last person who’d sat in her seat, regardless of how clean the driver was. No lice today, please.
The car absolutely crawled down the street, and Hailey forced herself not to beg the driver to go faster. What man in New York City didn’t know how to weave in and out of traffic to his advantage? The amount of space the driver left between his car and the one ahead of them had let so many people in, Hailey was positive she could’ve run across Central Park faster than it was going to take this guy to drive around it.
All the while, the clock ticked closer and closer to the end of Midnight Moods’ set.
She leaned forward and rested her forehead on the guitar case nestled between her knees. It would probably be better to prepare herself for losing the gig completely. Johnny wasn’t willing to budge, even a little bit, and she should know—she’d already begged her heart out to get another chance, and this was it. He’d been perfectly clear: if she stepped into the bar one second late, she was out.
Her phone glowed in the back of the dim car, the clock changing. Two minutes left.
Was it pathetic of her to hold on to a dream that wasn’t gaining any traction? Defeat closed in on her with each passing second as if the world, covered in twinkle lights and draped in red velvet ribbon, was actually dimming outside the car window like a countdown timer.
By the time the car turned onto Columbus Avenue, Hailey was sunk, her vision nearly void of light. Her last connection to the music world was about to be severed.
Hailey trudged up three flights of stairs in her ancient apartment building and slid her key into the lock, glaring at the broken elevator over her shoulder. By the time maintenance got around to fixing the elevator—if they ever did—her arms were going to be super toned from lugging groceries and guitars up and down the stairs.
She paused. Well, she wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore. At least, not the guitar. Johnny, the manager for Nomad, had ended their agreement and hadn’t even had the decency to show a little regret. He wiped her from the docket as easily as he’d swiped away drips of alcohol from the bar top; she was sure she’d seen her career flying away as he’d tossed the used rag over his shoulder. Apparently, Johnny was finished with announcing her act then having to apologize for her tardiness.
She didn’t blame him entirely, of course. He had a business to run. But would it have hurt to agree to push the gig back a half-hour?
Hailey pushed the door open and dropped her keys in the bowl on her entry table, then turned and locked the deadbolt. Colored twinkle lights strung down the hallway cast a rainbow-hued glow over her, and she sighed. She put her things down and rounded the corner into the living room. Nikki had The Hallmark Channel on the television tuned in to one of the Christmas movies, the only lights in the apartment coming from the movie and the twinkle lights strung on the ceiling and wrapped around the tiny tree sitting against the little window. It was a better view than the brick wall they typically got to see from that window, and Nikki had already threatened to keep the tree up all year just to give their apartment some life.
What did it matter if the tree wasn’t actually alive? It was green. But they wouldn’t need to keep it up. Little did Nikki know, she had some house plants coming her way for Christmas.
“I thought you were playing at Nomad tonight.”
“Nope.” Hailey slumped onto the battered sofa and dropped her head back. She closed her eyes, tamping down the defeat clawing at her chest. “Johnny fired me. Or he let me go…whatever they call it when they drop you from a job where you don’t actually get paid.”
“That punk.” Nikki sat bolt upright. “Want me to call his mom? I will.”
“No.” Hailey chuckled. “Your family connections got me the gig, but it was my job to keep it. And it was my fault I lost it. I was late too many times, and he gave me loads of extra chances. It is what it is, I guess.”
“You can’t just give up. You told him that your boss gets home late all the time, right? You can’t just leave Kendra home alone.”
“It’s fine, Nik.” Hailey gave her a side-eye. “It’s not like Nomad was actually going to put me on the map.”
“It could have. There’s a reason their live music spots are so coveted. Johnny said—”
“Yeah, well, he might brag a lot, but none of the reported music execs that supposedly haunt Nomad approached me, like, ever. So I guess I got my answer.”
“Or you were just unlucky and never played while any of them were there.”
Hailey ignored Miss Positivity and turned her attention to the Christmas movie. A man with a lot of hair gel was on his knees, pleading for a woman’s forgiveness. Predictable. He’d messed up. She would forgive him. They’d live happily ever after.
Gag.
“Why do you love these movies so much?”
Nikki blinked. “We’ve gone over this so many times. Because of all the glorious, beautiful hope that good guys still exist.”
Hailey fought the urge to roll her eyes and remind her best friend that these were fake, scripted movies. Instead, she snuggled into the sofa, accepting the bowl of popcorn, and watched the show. When it finally came to a blessed end, a song played over the credits, and she closed he
r eyes, humming along with the music. She harmonized with the indie-sounding woman singing a redone version of Silent Night, Holy Night.
When the credits drew to a close, Hailey continued humming, and Nikki picked up the remote, searching the movies for another one to start. If she was hoping to find one she hadn’t seen, she was bound to be disappointed.
Hailey hummed the song she would have finished out the set with that night if she hadn’t been late—her big finale. It was slower, softer than her usual beats, but so melancholy and beautiful. If she was allowed to think that about something she wrote. There was something she loved about slow, meaningful music, the kind that gave her chills.
“You know what would be cool?” Hailey jolted up, the idea coming to her swiftly. “Taking a fast-tempo holiday song and slowing it down.”
“Mmhmm,” Nikki said, her gaze riveted by the TV and endless carousel of Christmas movie options.
“No, really.” Hailey glanced around the apartment until she caught sight of the Christmas tree and her brain gears spun, working and moving until she lit upon the right idea. “Okay, hear me out.” She turned to Nikki and started humming Rocking Around the Christmas Tree, getting the tune down before adding the words.
Nikki dropped the remote, closing her eyes and listening to the music while Hailey sang. The beat was slow, drawn-out, and almost harrowing. When she finished, she glanced up and paused.
Nikki’s wide-eyed gaze was locked on her. “That was cool.”
Hailey swallowed. “Too bad I don’t have a producer, or I could pitch them my amazing idea.”
“Yet,” Nikki said. “You don’t have a producer yet. Do I have to remind you what’s taking over half of your bedroom? I’ll give you a hint. It’s the reason we can’t get another roommate in here and maybe save some rent money.”
Melodies and Mistletoe (Christmas in the City Book 3) Page 1
