by Hunter, Lara
His First Christmas
The Lonely Billionaire
By Lara Hunter
With a little inspiration from Holly Rayner
Copyright 2015 by Lara Hunter
Contents:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
CHAPTER ONE
A walking pile of shopping bags sighed and slumped down onto a mall bench. Anna Lionel would have preferred to have powered-through her shopping, but her legs had become irredeemably numb.
As she extricated herself from her bags, she watched passers-by from her spot on the bench; an elderly man giving his similarly silver-haired beau a peck on the cheek, and a trio of teenage girls howling with laughter as they ambled along, arms linked.
Looking at them caused Anna to sigh wistfully. As she waited to regain the feeling in her legs, her thoughts finally got a chance to catch up to her. What am I doing here?
It wasn’t that Anna was particularly anti-consumerist; it was more a response to seeing her fellow shoppers’ laughing faces as they walked by—faces accompanied by friends and families and lovers—faces that contrasted sharply with Anna’s distinct sense that she did not belong.
Cheer up, she thought to herself. Think of how happy your family will be when they see what you got them for Christmas.
She only wished that some of the gifts in her bag were for people other than her family. Sure, she had purchased a few polite boxes of chocolates and bottles of wine for her coworkers—but she wished she’d formed the type of relationships that warranted more heartfelt gifts. Feelings of failure began to surface in her brain as she sat on the mall bench with her endless shopping bags as her only company.
Thinking of her family didn’t do much to stave off her feelings, and given that it was hardly November, she wouldn’t be seeing them for a while either. She’d always been a little overzealous when it came to Christmas, commencing her holiday spirit (and shopping) the minute Halloween was over. Hey, at least I avoid long lines, she thought as she got up from her bench, rounding up her army of bags.
I need a better strategy for keeping my mind off things, she thought as she finished up the last of her shopping. She didn’t like it when she got stuck brooding. I need to keep busy… Anna’s job was keeping her as busy as it could, given that she was still a fairly new recruit, but still she pondered what she could do to further squeeze out any pockets of idle time. Maybe a yoga class…? She mused as she exited the mall.
She’d only made a few steps on the pavement outside when a man sitting on the sidewalk interrupted her.
“Excuse me, miss,” he said, fog coming out of his mouth as he spoke. “Can you spare a quarter?”
“Um…” she said, slowing her walk, “My hands are full right now—but I’ll be right back!” she said.
She power-walked down the block to where her car was parked, dumped her bags, and ran back to the spot where the man was sitting. She caught her breath before handing him a ten. “Here you go,” she said.
“Oh my… Bless you,” the man said, looking at her.
She was about to wave and run off, but something stopped her. “You don’t have proper gloves, or a warm jacket!” she said, appalled. “You must be freezing.” An idea was forming in her head. “Why don’t you come with me, and we can get you some winter clothes?”
“Oh my,” the man said again. “God bless your soul,” he said, showing off a missing-tooth smile. “I can’t go in there, though. The mall cops don’t like the likes of me.”
Anna frowned. “Okay…will you wait here while I get you some things?”
He nodded. “Thank you,” he said. Anna turned towards the entrance.
“Wait,” the man said. “What’s your name?” he asked.
“It’s Anna,” she smiled. “What’s yours?”
“I’m Robert.”
Anna completed the shopping as quickly as she could, but it took longer than she had anticipated as she found herself buying practically an entire winter wardrobe.
She came out to find Robert sitting in the same spot.
“Here you go,” she said, handing him a giant bag. He took it carefully from her and when she looked at his face, Anna was shocked to see tears in his eyes.
“Thank you so much,” he said. “No one is ever this kind to me,” he said softly.
“It’s no problem,” Anna said warmly. “Where are you headed after this?”
“To the shelter, down that street there,” he said. “Compassion House. Luckily, they got room for me tonight. I’ve been turned away before, but I don’t blame ‘em. They got too many people. How they supposed to handle that many?”
Anna nodded, frowning. “Listen, Robert. If you ever need anything, feel free to contact me. I mean, I know it might be hard to get access to a phone or a computer, but the library should be able to help set you up,” she said, handing him her real estate agent card.
Robert took the card and looked it over.
“Hawthorne Estates, huh?” he said, raising an eyebrow. “That’s some fancy stuff, girl.”
Anna laughed. “Yeah…I started working there a couple of months ago. It’s going okay,” she said.
“Alright then, I won’t keep you,” he said, clapping her on the back. “Thank you again, Anna.”
She smiled at him again before turning to walk back to her car, gears beginning to turn in her head.
CHAPTER TWO
“You’ve been hired at Hawthorne Estates?!” Julie exclaimed.
Anna nodded excitedly. It was a testament to how awesome her boss was that she was happy for Anna rather than sour at losing an employee to one of the company’s fiercest competitors.
Julie shook her head, smiling. “Well, I’ll be sad to see you go.”
Anna rushed in for a hug. “Thank you for giving me the chance to work here,” she said sincerely. “I’ve learned so much from you. I’ll definitely be visiting whenever I come back to Spokane,” she grinned.
Anna’s boss hugged her back. “Looks like young Anna is movin’ on up…”
***
That was six months ago. In the time since, Anna had slowly built up her list of contacts and learned the ropes of Hawthorne Estates—and of Seattle itself. For example: never mention Sleepless in Seattle unless looking to invite scorn from fellow Seattleites. Never mention Starbucks unless looking to incite a passionate debate about coffee. And lastly, most people were originally from somewhere else, too, so newcomers like herself were in good company.
Alas, knowing all this did not help Anna her feel any more settled in Seattle. Or at the company, for that matter.
Stepping inside the elevator, Anna pressed the button for the top floor. The doors closed and the car silkily made its way up the many floors to the penthouse office suite. Stepping out into the plush lobby, Anna made her way over to the secret
ary’s desk, smoothing her pencil skirt and trying to act as though she belonged. She noted the lack of Christmas decorations, and the impressive view of the bustling downtown scene below. She wished that the view included snow, but so far, much to Anna’s chagrin, Seattle was looking far from a picturesque holiday card.
“Hi there. I’m Anna Lionel, I work at the sales department,” she said, offering her hand.
“Karen,” the secretary replied, taking her hand warily.
Oh man. She already seems to not like me. In response to Karen’s apprehension, Anna decided to cake on the cheer. “So, Karen, with the holidays being upon us, I was thinking…” she started jovially, “that I might be able to speak to Mr Hawthorne about organizing a Christmas fundraising dinner through the company. Do you know how I might go about doing that?”
“A charity appeal?” Karen asked, one eyebrow raised.
“Ah…that’s right, yes.” Anna smiled.
“You’ll have to get Mr Hawthorne’s approval for that.”
“Of course,” Anna said. “Would you be able to book me in for a meeting with him?”
Karen shuffled some papers. “Well first you’ll have to talk to Linda in HR to go through the process of getting the charity appeal approved. Once you do that, you’ll have to email this form to her for approval of audience, and then I can book you a meeting with Mr Hawthorne, who will either accept or reject the proposal—if he accepts the meeting.”
Anna nodded slowly. Okay… So, in short, she’s telling me that in order to get approval for my charity appeal, I have to get approval to ask for approval from the CEO. And before I can do that, I have to get the charity appeal pre-approved.
Karen added, “If you really want to do this, make sure you act quickly; Mr Hawthorne will be leaving the office for his two week break in just a few days.”
Two week break? The rest of us are hardly getting two days, Anna thought.
“Thank you for your help, Karen,” Anna said brightly, then made her way over to the thankfully waiting elevator where she selected the fourth floor, sixteen floors down.
Back at her desk a few minutes later, Anna got straight to work emailing and filling out forms. The labyrinthine process had come as a bit of a shock after her experience at her last job. There, she had literally gone up to her boss and asked, “Hey, what would you think about hosting a Christmas charity event?”, and her old boss had responded enthusiastically.
Anna resisted the urge to sigh with nostalgia. Working at her old job had been a great experience, but when the opportunity had arisen to work at the prestigious Hawthorne Estates, she hadn’t been able to refuse the chance for advancement.
But the boss here… Anna knew precious little about him, and her coworkers hadn’t been able to tell her much. All she had learned in the couple of months she had been working there was that the CEO was king, and an extremely elusive one at that.
CHAPTER THREE
Anna jumped when she heard a “How did it go?” from behind her. It was Penelope, Anna’s cubicle neighbor.
“Oh…apparently lots of hoops to jump through before I can get started,” Anna said. She and Penelope had only recently started to bridge the gap between acquaintanceship and friendship, but Anna was glad that she finally had someone to talk to, if only for superficial topics.
“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Penelope said, leaning on Anna’s desk. “Personally, I don’t get why you would want to bother braving all the red tape.”
“Oh well, it’s all just a minor inconvenience, really,” she smiled. “It’ll be worth it in the end. The holidays would ring so hollow without giving back, you know?”
Penelope shook her head. “Gorgeous and a heart of gold. You must be hiding some kind of dark secret,” she winked. Before she left Anna’s cubicle, she asked, “Still coming for Wednesday drinks with the rest of the team later?”
“Definitely,” she said. “And thanks for the compliment,” she added, blushing slightly, as Penelope walked away.
It was true that Anna had inherited her mother’s elegant looks: well-defined brows, high cheek bones, full lips, and large, hazel eyes. Her simple, straight brown hair let her facial features shine.
Anna had been told she was attractive her whole life, and that kind of compliment tended to wash over her. She was more tickled to hear Penelope say she had a heart of gold. Let’s see if my heart is gold enough to pull off this charity appeal.
“And I’m not hiding some dark secret!”
***
Okay, maybe I am hiding a dark secret… Anna thought as she sipped beer with her coworkers at the local pub. That being that I like my job. The pub, The Three Boars, was busy with a mixture of young adult professionals like Anna and her colleagues, hip college kids, and retirees. Anna felt like it was part of authentic Seattle.
“To another Wednesday finished with,” Penelope cheered, raising her glass. Their coworkers, Kirk, Jane, and Victor, echoed, “To another Wednesday over,” clinking their glasses. It had been Penelope’s idea to have Wednesdays be drinks night.
“Monday gets a bad rap, but it’s not actually so bad. You still have your energy from the weekend. And same with Tuesday,” Penelope had argued. “But by Wednesday there’s no energy to speak of, and the weekend is still light-years away. So why not a drinks night to tide us over?”
The thing was, Anna found it disconcerting spending every Wednesday hearing her coworkers commiserate. Anna genuinely loved her job: the thrill of the sale, connecting with customers, and seeing how happy she could make people by helping them find their dream home. Her job was the one saving grace of Seattle.
“Okay, I’ll start. So I have this one nightmare client,” Jane began. “He’s completely delusional about the value of his home—about fifty grand off—and he’s been refusing offers that I think are more than fair. It’s going to be eons before I can close this sale,” she groaned.
Her coworkers nodded in sympathy. “Definitely been there,” Kirk chuckled.
“War of attrition. Not ideal, but he’ll come around,” Penelope said.
“You know how I avoid shit like that? Weed out crappy clients from the beginning. The sale, if it ever comes off, is never worth the headaches,” Victor said.
Jane took a swig of her beer. “I can’t wait for Friday.”
“I can’t wait for Christmas break!” Kirk exclaimed.
“Amen,” his coworkers echoed enthusiastically—all apart from Anna.
CHAPTER FOUR
Penelope, Victor, Kirk, and Jane… they’re all really nice, decent, people, Anna thought, closing her front door behind her. Her cheeks were still red from the cold, having just walked five blocks from the closest bus stop.
Anna was grateful they had welcomed a newbie such as herself into their fold. Still, as much as she wanted to, Anna felt like she didn’t really connect with them. We’re more friends of convenience, she thought, taking off her heels. Maybe my real dark secret is that I feel alone.
Anna felt like her generation glorified moving to new cities. Sure, it was an adventurous thing to do, but underneath the glamour of moving to a new city, she wished she’d known how lonely it would feel. She had been unprepared for the loss of entire networks of friends; unprepared for starting from zero, socially.
When she’d first moved, Anna had figured she would eventually adjust. That’s what I did when I moved from Westmount to Spokane for college, she’d reasoned. Sure, I missed my family, but I assimilated pretty fast. And when she stayed in Spokane for her first real job, she’d had her college friendships to fall back on.
Anna sighed, slumping into her couch. She’d taken the pressure-cooker of friendships that is college for granted. It was harder to make friends when you were an adult; everyone already had their networks, and any new people were just encroaching upon potential friends’ Limited Time. She felt like she could barely scratch past surface level with anyone—but surface-level, drinks-after-work friends were still better than nothing.
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br /> Realizing that she was brooding yet again, Anna got up from the couch and got out the vacuum cleaner. Even though lone, type-A types such as herself left nonexistent messes, she found that cleaning was a soothing ritual, and a way for her to take pride in her first home: a charming bungalow in Rainier, a twenty-minute commute from her work downtown.
This year had held a lot of firsts for Anna: first non-used car, first time investing, first time actually having health insurance. She was checking off Official Adult milestones, and she felt like her life was coming together quite well for twenty-five. Not bad for a girl who grew up on welfare.
She moved on, to the one or two dishes left in her sink. The thing is…will I ever get my relationships in order?
