A Maverick for the Holidays

by Leanne Banks

  “I’ve got it all under control. Rose is bringing a relish tray and some fruit. I’ll check back with you next week if I think of anything else I need.” Haley glanced at her watch. “Oops, I have a meeting in ten minutes.” She rose to her feet and Angie followed. “I’m glad we grabbed this time. Now don’t you dare let G.I. Joe or any other man get you down,” she said and gave Angie a hug.

  “I won’t,” Angie said and couldn’t help being thankful for her family. They’d allowed her to be herself and find her own way. Except for that brief period when Austin had acted out after their mother had died, Angie had always felt cared for by her sister and brother. Knowing that she was loved by Haley and Austin had made her feel strong enough to help other people. Now, though, she wanted more. She wanted a life with Forrest.

  * * *

  After that, everything moved into high gear. There were pies and bread to be made for the orders that had been placed. Angie held “baking parties” on Monday and Tuesday nights. Other staff and students would be on hand for the customers to pick up their ordered goodies.

  Good thing because Angie would be getting ready for the holiday dinner for soldier’s families. The day of the event she was so excited she got up before her alarm went off. She didn’t know which she was happier about—the actual dinner or spending the whole day with Forrest. She’d been so busy she hadn’t seen him in days.

  After hurriedly showering and dressing, she gobbled down some leftover pumpkin chocolate chip bread and reviewed her list. Gathering a few last-minute items, she heard the doorbell ring and her heart nearly jumped out of her chest. She ran to the door and threw it open.

  “Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas,” she said to Forrest. “Are you as excited as I am?”

  Forrest grinned. “Probably not, but I’ll work on it.”

  “This is going to be so cool,” she said, gathering her bags and list. “I’m excited that Annabel is letting Smiley be there tonight.”

  “We just need to make sure no one feeds him. They’re going to be tempted. Let me carry that,” he said, taking the bags from her as they walked to his truck. “Have you spoken personally with any of the families coming tonight?”

  She nodded as he drove toward the resort. “A few of them. One of the women broke down in tears. She said she’d been taking care of her sick mother and with her husband gone, she didn’t know how she was going to fake being happy for the holidays for her kids. Going to the Gallatin Room made her feel as if she’d been invited to a royal ball.”

  His gut clenched with a strange emotion. “Like I said before, I didn’t think about how hard it was for the families back in the States. If we can’t bring their soldiers home for the holidays, we can at least let them know we appreciate their sacrifice.”

  “That’s what I’m hoping,” Angie said. “That, and I wish they all just have a great time tonight.”

  “I imagine they will,” Forrest said. “It’s hard to have a bad time when you’re around.”

  Angie smiled. “Thank you very much, Major.”

  They pulled into the parking lot and Angie immediately popped out of the car. Forrest could tell she was chomping at the bit to make sure everything was in place. They entered the beautiful resort and made their way to the Gallatin Room. A Christmas tree tastefully decorated with matching ornaments sat in the corner of the room. Round tables with crisp white cloths surrounded the room in sophisticated elegance and crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling.

  “Oh, no,” Angie said with a frown on her face. “This is all wrong.”

  Forrest looked at her in confusion. “What’s wrong? It looks nice to me. It’s a lot grander than a barbecue place or the mess tent where most of the soldiers will eat their meal.”

  “I’m not saying it’s not nice,” she said, walking around the room. “It just needs to be more festive. A lot more festive. We need to be cheering up these people. This is just too stuffy.”

  “It is the most exclusive place to have dinner for miles around. You’re not going to find plastic blow-up Santas and snowmen.”

  “We don’t have to go that far,” she said, moving toward the tree.

  “What do you mean by that?” he asked as he joined her beside the tree. The determined expression on her face made him wary.

  “I mean, we can add a few decorations and it will make a big difference. But we need to go back to my house. I only brought a few things with me. We might need to pick up some lights, too.” She turned to look at him expectantly. “But we need to get moving now.”

  And move, they did. He’d never known one person could have so much holiday paraphernalia in their attic. They quickly improvised a system of bringing down the boxes and carting them to his truck.

  After the sixth trip, he lifted his hand. “You’ve got to be kidding,” he said. “We can’t need anything more.”

  “Just a few things,” she said. “Just in case.”

  “In case of what?” he asked. “In case we need to decorate two more dining rooms?”

  She shot a stern look at him. “That’s a big restaurant. I don’t want to underestimate how much I’ll need to make it look festive. We don’t have that much time.”

  “We’ve got more than half the day. I can come back,” he said, as he watched her head for the attic again.

  After loading another half-dozen boxes, Forrest was finally able to pry Angie away from the attic and usher her into his truck. He refused to ask her if she wanted to get more decorations.

  “We only need to make one stop,” she said, clasping her hands together and shooting him a smile.

  “For what?” he asked, unable to filter his reluctance.

  “Lights,” she said. “It’s hard not to underestimate how many lights you’ll need.”

  “Hmm,” he grunted more than said. She was going to work his butt off.

  They returned to the resort and she opened the bags from the department store where they’d stopped. “Lights first,” she said.

  An hour later, they’d strung all the lights from the bags and her boxes, and he was pretty sure the tree was so bright it would be picked up from satellite surveillance. They had to be done.

  “Great,” she said in approval. “Now the ornaments.”

  Forrest gaped at her. “What?”

  She shook her hands in front of her expressively as if she were an artist. “We’ve got to make it festive.”

  “Okay, what do you want me to do with the ornaments? And I better warn you, if you’ve got tinsel, then I’m in the throw-it-on-the-tree camp,” he told her.

  “We’ll skip the tinsel,” she said. “Just put as many ornaments on the tree as possible.”

  “Volume,” he said.

  She nodded. “Exactly.”

  “Like the movie Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase?” he said. “Loaded?”

  “Yeah. Think of it as a hot fudge sundae loaded with everything,” she said, and something about her expression was surprisingly sexy to him.

  “Done,” he said and filled the tree with ornaments while she decorated the tables.

  Another hour later and Angie gave her stamp of approval. “It’s perfect,” she said. “It really does look like it could be in a movie.”

  “A scary Christmas movie,” he muttered under his breath, looking at the monstrosity. “I hope all those lights won’t blow the circuits.”

  Angie gave him a playful nudge in the ribs. “You know you love it.”

  “I should have brought my sunglasses in with me,” he said.

  “Come on, Grinch. I need to take a shower and get dressed for our event. So do you.”

  “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” he asked, tugging at the button-up shirt that covered his T-shirt.

  “Stop,” she said, her eyes gleaming with a combination of fire and joy. “I want to double check the delivery of the gifts.”

  “Who is delivering?” Forrest asked. “I can do it.”

  She shook her head. “You need to b
e waiting for Smiley. One of the part-time ROOTS workers is bringing the goodies. Thanks for all your work. You put up with a lot.”

  He felt a rush of pleasure, but shrugged. “It was nothing.”

  She moved toward him as if she were going to hug him. He held his breath. Then she pulled back and clasped her hands in front of her as if to keep herself from embracing him. “It was a lot more than nothing for me and the people who will be coming tonight.”

  Silence hung between them, but it felt like a storm cloud was coming. He could have sworn he felt a crazy electrical short zap between them. Forrest frowned at the sensation. “We should go.”

  Two hours and fifteen minutes later, Angie put on her mascara and lip gloss. She was wearing twice as much makeup as she ever did. It was crazy, but tonight almost felt like a date. “Crazy,” she whispered to herself as she gave a second glance in the mirror and swiped her hand over her hair.

  She wore her prettiest dress and hoped, for once, that Forrest would look at her as an adult. A woman he desired. It might be wishful thinking, but holidays were for making wishes come true, weren’t they?

  A second later, the doorbell rang and Angie’s heart shot through the roof. The second time that day. She wondered if she would ever have a normal reaction when she was meeting Forrest. Angie grabbed her coat and ran to the door. Forrest, wearing his dress military uniform stared at her as she stared at him.

  “You look ama—” she began.

  “You look beautiful,” he said at the same time.

  A wave of awareness and wanting surged in the air between them. Angie could hardly breathe. Her emotions were suddenly so strong that she couldn’t even speak.

  Forrest cleared his throat. “We should go if we want to arrive before our guests.”

  Angie nodded. “Yes,” she whispered, closing the door behind her and walking beside Forrest to his truck. He helped her into the passenger seat and climbed into his seat then drove to the resort.

  Still stuck in that strange aura of feelings she’d experienced a moment ago, Angie struggled to think of something to say. “What are your plans for Thanksgiving?” she finally managed to say.

  “Antonia and Clay have pretty much demanded that I join them for dinner tomorrow night. I’ve tried to give them space, but Clay says I don’t need to avoid them as much as I have been.”

  Angie nodded. “I’m sure it’s hard to strike that balance since you live so close.”

  “Clay and I used to eat breakfast with Antonia. I’ve been eating a lot of cereal to start my day lately,” he said. “They’re getting married on Friday.”

  Angie looked at him in surprise. “Really? So fast?”

  He nodded. “Clay fell hard for her and he knows she’s the one. With their kids being so young, they want to make it official. It won’t be a big affair. A minister will do the deed in Antonia’s den. They’ve decided to delay taking a honeymoon until her baby is a bit older. I don’t mind helping with the horses, but I don’t think I’m ready to take on two babies. I bet my mom is itching to get her hands on both of them, so anytime Clay and Antonia say the word, I imagine she’ll be ready.”

  Angie couldn’t help imagining how thrilled she would be to have Forrest’s child. The thought conjured such strong feelings that she tried to push it away, but she wondered if their child would have his strong profile and even stronger will. One thing she knew, he would be a loving protective father. “Those kids are lucky to have Clay.”

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t have picked Clay to jump into the fatherhood role, but he’s great with kids and would do anything for them,” he said.

  “I didn’t exactly win the lottery in the father department, so I’m always glad when I see a man step up the way he has.”

  “That’s right. Your father left when you were pretty young,” Forrest said, shooting a quick glance at her. “You don’t talk about it much.”

  “I don’t remember much about him. After he left, my mother had to work twice as hard, but she never complained, and I always felt wanted. After she died, Haley and Austin were so devoted to me. They were determined to make sure I had as normal a life as possible. For a while there, I withdrew from everyone. I was shell-shocked and I was afraid of being left behind by myself, but I came around.”

  “I can see why you would have been frightened. It’s a wonder you’re as outgoing and trusting as you are,” he said.

  “I don’t want to live my life being afraid,” she said. “That would be a terrible way to live. There are too many happy, wonderful things just waiting to happen.”

  “You wake up everyday feeling like that?” Forrest asked, his voice full of doubt.

  “If I don’t wake up that way, then I remind myself,” she said. “It’s not about thinking nothing bad is going to happen, because bad things do happen. I just try to fix what I can and look for the good things.”

  “Even when your truck breaks down in the snow and no one will pick up the phone?” he asked as he drove into the resort parking lot.

  “But someone did,” she said, smiling at him. “And he came and helped me.”

  “I can’t deny that,” he said as he pulled in front of the front door of the resort. “How about if I let the princess out here so you don’t have to walk in the cold?”

  Surprised, Angie felt a rush of pleasure. “That’s nice of you, but I can walk.”

  “Not tonight,” he said, and put the car in Park and circled to her door.

  She accepted his hand as she stepped from the truck. “Well, if I’m a princess all of a sudden, then what are you?”

  “The servant. The military lives to serve,” he said.

  With her hand in his, looking into his strong, handsome face, it was all she could do not to throw herself at him and kiss him. Angie reined in the urge. Forrest had to make the next move. She’d let him know she was interested in him since the day they’d met. It might seem like the rightest thing in the world to kiss him, but she knew she had to wait for him.

  Even if it killed her.

  “All right, thank you,” she said and pulled away her hand. She shot him a cheeky smile. “I like a man who knows how to serve. See you inside, Major.”

  Angie walked into the restaurant and the sight warmed her heart. It was even more beautiful than she remembered from this afternoon. She hoped the military families would be pleased. She checked in with her contacts at the Gallatin Room. Everything was on time and under control.

  Forrest followed into the Gallatin Room and nodded in approval. “You did well,” he said.

  “With an awful lot of help from you,” she reminded him.

  “I didn’t do much,” he said.

  “Yes, you did,” she said and her eyes widened as she looked at the doorway. “Oh, look, our first guests.”

  Angie and Forrest greeted the woman and her two young children as they walked inside the room. “Welcome to the Gallatin Room,” she said and handed the woman a program. “This is Major Forrest Traub. He spent several holidays overseas before an injury brought him home for good.”

  The woman looked at Forrest with tears in her eyes. “Thank you for your service, Major Traub. I can’t tell you what this event means to all of us.”

  “We’re happy you could make it tonight. And thank you for your service,” he said as he shook the woman’s hand and the hands of her small children.

  Angie’s heart squeezed tight at his gesture. His action only reinforced what she’d known about him from the beginning, but Angie didn’t have time to focus on that because the guests kept coming during the next forty-five minutes.

  Finally, the families sat down to a lavish turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Everything was perfect, but Angie grew concerned about part two of this show. She glanced at her watch.

  Forrest sat at the welcome table and wolfed down his plate of food while Angie didn’t take a bite of hers. He looked up at her. “Why aren’t you eating? This food is great.”

  Angie frowned. “Santa was suppose
d to call me when he arrived five minutes ago.”

  “Santa?” Forrest repeated.

  “Yes. Justin from ROOTS said he would dress up as Santa and hand out the gifts to everyone along with Smiley. Speaking of which, where is Smiley?”

  “He’s due in six minutes. That’s why I’m eating so fast. If I weren’t being fed by Antonia tomorrow night, I’d ask for an extra plate.”

  “Yeah,” she said and punched in Justin’s cell number again. “No answer. This isn’t good. I have the suit and gifts, but no Santa.”

  “Maybe he’ll show up,” he said and continued to eat.

  Irritation nicked through her. “How can you eat when Santa may not show up?”

  He gave her a blank look as he swallowed a bite. “Santa hasn’t shown up for me for several years.”

  She scowled at him. “Then you’ve been hanging around the wrong people. Tonight, we have to make magic happen.”

  “We already have,” Forrest said, rubbing his belly. “This food is pure magic.”

  “We need Santa.”

  Forrest shrugged. “Give him a little time. He is a teenager. It shouldn’t be a surprise that he’s late. Their concept of time can get a little shaky. Eat your dinner.”

  Angie dialed Justin again then one of his friends. No answer from either of them. She began to pace.

  “Do you want me to tell them to wrap up this plate for you?” Forrest asked. “It would be a damn shame for you to not at least taste it.”

  Angie dialed Justin again and still got no answer.

  Forrest glanced at his watch. “Annabel should be here with Smiley. I told her I would meet her at the front door.”

  At a loss, Angie followed him through the hallway. As promised, Annabel had Smiley decked out in jingle bells on his red therapy vest and felt reindeer antlers on his head.

  “Oh, look at you, sweetheart,” Angie said, her heart softening at the sight of the dog. She petted him on the head. “Thank you, Annabel,” she said, looking at Smiley’s owner.

  “He’s happy to serve,” Annabel said. “Here are a few treats to get him through. Just try to keep people from giving him scraps. Table food is murder on his digestion.”