“The wrecking ball comes on Monday morning.”
Monday morning? It was already Wednesday. If she wrapped up a few things here in Seattle, she’d be able to delegate her weekend parties to her assistant, and she could start on Friday afternoon. Would that give her enough time to go through the closets? She could figure out what to do with her aunt’s property and with the contents of the closets later. With any luck she could be back to Seattle before Monday morning. Then she wouldn’t have to witness the destruction of the foundation building where her aunt had built a legacy that would die the same year she did. It was all too much.
“I can be there this weekend,” she finally mustered.
“That’s wonderful. The rest of the building will be emptied, but I will come and unlock the building for you,” Edna promised.
“Thank you,” Hailey said.
“And if there’s anything else you need …” Edna’s voice trailed off.
“The name of a good moving company to load up everything I’m taking away.” Hailey’s event planner mode dialed into the supplies she’d need, but if there were large trees to move or heavy decorations, hiring a moving company would help her get things done faster. She didn’t want to stay in the past for very long. She only wanted to clear the space.
“I can help you more than that. I will make sure that a moving company is already ready to go for this weekend. We have a large moving truck that we use for delivering all of our trees after the Forest Festival. They’ll be able to help you.”
“Thank you,” Hailey said.
“There’s also a small trust from your aunt in connection with the Forest Festival. She left it as part of her donations, but now that we aren’t doing the Festival, the money can be turned over to whichever charity you’d like,” she said. “I can show you the paperwork.”
“Is the money enough to cover the cost of the Festival?” Hailey asked hopefully. Maybe there was a still a chance …
“No. Unfortunately it won’t cover it. But the main reason for cancelling has to do with the labor-intensive start time. The Red Oaks Foundation feels it’s time to try something less … time consuming. Streamlining our process on how we raise money will help us be more efficient with our resources.”
Less time consuming? Streamlining? The words felt like a change from their small town feel to a sterile machine. “I understand,” Hailey said, though she really didn’t. She was one of the most highly efficient and sought after event coordinators on the West Coast, but time was something that was crucial to every event. Every project. It was the time that ultimately came through and made her events recognizable in the media. Once she hung up with Edna, she called the realtor in Red Oaks. It was time to list Helena’s house and get it sold.
* * *
Hailey waited in front of the old Red Oaks Foundation building on Friday morning. The office space looked like it was only barely held together. It made sense that the headquarters would be torn down. Hailey’s heart squeezed, missing her aunt more as she stared at the building that would be reduced to rubble in less than a week. A car drove around the cones used as barricades to keep people from parking in the parking lot, pulling up next to Hailey’s rental.
A woman in her early fifties stepped out of the car, coming around to where Hailey stood on the sidewalk. “I’m Edna,” the woman said, then gave Hailey a quick hug. “I worked with your aunt for the last six years. She was a wonderful woman.” Edna pulled a ring of keys out of her coat pocket.
Hailey’s throat constricted, but she managed to respond with, “She was.”
Edna looked at her with kind eyes. “I’ll show you where her stuff was kept. I’d hate to see it demolished without family looking at the contents first.”
Hailey wasn’t the closest relative, but she was the one that was stipulated in the will, and she’d honor her aunt’s last wishes.
Edna unlocked the building, and they both stepped inside. Edna hadn’t been exaggerating when she had said the place would be empty. The building wasn’t big, but the entryway felt cavernous without any furniture. Dim bulbs lit the way down the hall towards several doors. The hallways had cork boards on nail holes where pictures and announcements used to hang.
“Here we are,” Edna said. “Now, anything you don’t want can be loaded with the movers too. Just let them know, and they will drop it off for donations or take whatever you don’t need. The rest of it is up to you.”
“And the hospital won’t use any of this?” Hailey asked, wondering if some of the trees could be repurposed.
“The hospital has its own stock of decorations. Nothing is needed. Most of this stuff was your aunt’s personal property. Now that we aren’t doing the Forest Festival anymore, we don’t need any of it.”
“And there’s no chance that you’ll do the Forest Festival again next year, when you have more time to prepare?”
Edna shook her head. “Like I said on the phone, this was your aunt’s project. She was the force behind it. When your aunt started getting sick at the beginning of the year, we didn’t have the time or resources to aid her. She kept a list, but now ... well now it seems too much without her. It wouldn’t be the same. We’re looking for an easier approach to receiving donations.”
“What about all the good it did for the hospital?” Hailey asked, knowing that of anything that would have been her aunt’s top concern.
Edna blew out a breath. “They are sad to lose the support, but they have other ways to raise money throughout the year.”
Hailey swallowed, not wanting to pry further. There was nothing she could do about it, but make peace with it. Helena Waters was gone. The Forest Festival wasn’t happening again. And the sooner Hailey finished up in Red Oaks, then soon she could get back to Seattle and mourn all of the changes by herself. “Thanks for letting me in.”
Edna nodded, putting the keys in her hand. “This is your aunt’s set of keys. Keep them until you’re finished. You have my number if you need anything else while you’re in town, right?”
Hailey nodded. “What time is the moving truck supposed to be here?” She glanced at her watch. It was still before noon. If she could make a dent in this today, she could spend most of tomorrow with the realtor.
“Three,” Edna said.
That was close to five hours of working time. That was probably plenty. “Thanks,” she said.
After Edna left, Hailey went to work. The closet, as Edna had called it, was more the size of a large conference room, and when Hailey went to what she thought was the end, it went back further. Red and green boxes lined the wall on one side. The other side held various Christmas trees, some put together and wrapped with plastic, and still others were in their boxes. At least everything was organized. A back shelf had miscellaneous decorations. A thin layer of dust covered everything.
Hailey circled around the room, back to the front. She turned on her favorite playlist and blasted the music from her phone speaker. Pulling down the very first box on the shelf, she set it in the middle of the floor. Inside the box were several ornaments. If Edna had had her come all the way from Seattle just to see if Hailey had wanted to keep a few gold and silver ornaments, Edna was wrong. As Hailey dug further into the boxes, she found boxes full of keepsake sentimental ornaments, and still others full of Helena’s personal stuff. Hailey wiped her forehead. It would take a lot more work than she’d planned to get through this closet.
* * *
It was 4:30 PM before Hailey looked at her clock. The movers still hadn’t shown up. She left a quick message with Edna about it. Hailey had categorized enough of the boxes to know what she was keeping and what she was leaving on the first wall. The contents were well labeled.
She hadn’t realized how much her aunt had used paper instead of electronics to keep her records. Receipts and invoices were all stapled and filed in a complicated system. Toward the back was a row of green and red banker’s boxes. Hailey lifted the lid, expecting to find more color-coordinated ornaments in
each box.
She coughed as the disturbed dust floated through the air and tingled her nose. No ornaments, just another set of file folders. She closed the lid, trying the next box. Again, it was more files. She opened three more boxes before a pile on top of the files made her stop. A bundle of envelopes, sitting on top of the files, were bound with coarse twine. A sticky note on the stack simply said, “Read and file.”
Hailey pulled at the twine and the bow immediately untied. The letter was addressed to Helena and there was a Christmas stamp in the corner. Hailey was sucked into the cursive handwriting on the Christmas notecard.
“Dear Helena,
This year has been hard for me. Attending the Forest Festival was the highlight of the winter. I was feeling low, and the Forest Festival brought me through. Thank you for all of your hard work. I shudder to think what I would have done without it this year.
With love, Charlotte”
Hailey returned the card to its envelope, then pulled out the next one.
“Dear Helena,
Thank you for your encouragement to donate a tree for the Festival this year. I’ve wanted to help decorate a tree for a number of years, but your invitation was what I needed. My family and I had so much fun as we decorated our themed tree. I will never look at a Christmas tree quite the same way again. Thank you for believing in me.
Your friend, Patricia”
Hailey touched the outside of the card, where a raised Christmas tree had glitter sprinkled on it. She returned it to the envelope, then glanced at the sticky note. “Read and file.”
Hailey bit her lip, then looked back in the box at the first file. The file was full, but not with receipts and invoices the way the first several boxes had been. This one was full of letters. She moved to the next file and the next. All of the files in this banker’s box were full of letters, cards, and pictures. A file in the back held several sheets of white computer paper. Each page had a crayon drawing on it. Hailey pulled out the first picture, then flipped it over. A date, a name, and the hospital were on the back in her aunt’s handwriting. Hailey pulled out the next and the next. The pattern was the same. She pulled the whole box on the shelf, kneeling next to it, and craving to see everything her aunt had saved.
The filing system seemed complicated. She couldn’t quite tell how they’d been filed. She took out another green and red banker’s box, and found the same thing. The entire box was heavy with letter, drawings, cards. Ribbon and paperclips kept letters and envelopes together.
Hailey read more, getting lost in the praise and the gratitude until her head swam with the emotion from it. The Forest Festival meant so much to so many, not just to her, not just to her aunt—but to the town. The surrounding communities supported this beautiful tradition. The hospital administration had written Helena a note every year expressing their gratitude for her work with the hospital and with the Forest Festival. Hailey teared up as she read the tender stories of the miracles and the moments in peoples’ lives that surrounded the Forest Festival.
A gold file folder caught her eye, and she read through more letters. Occasionally there was a sticky note on one of the letters, in her aunt’s handwriting with details about the person, or a reminder to write a note back.
Hailey shifted from her crouched position to a kneeling one in front of the current box. She pulled out another letter. She wasn’t sure what she would do with the eight boxes that had sentimental objects and thank you letters, but she didn’t want them destroyed with the building.
“Hi,” a man said.
Hailey startled and dropped the letters onto the pile. She turned to face a tall, handsome man wearing jeans. His brown hair fell in a gentle wave over his forehead. Hailey scrambled to her feet, blinking her emotions back.
“Hi. I was beginning to wonder if you’d come at all tonight,” Hailey said to the man who was obviously the mover. Her breath caught as his muscles rippled, bulging against his white polo.
The man tilted his head. “I didn’t know I was expected.” His chocolate brown eyes held surprise.
“You were expected, and you’re late.” Hailey dusted off her hands on her jeans, trying to play off her notice of him. “But no matter, you’re here now. All of these boxes in this pile are headed to my aunt’s house. Well probably all of it will go there, until I figure out where to donate all of it.” She looked around the room, before settling her gaze back on the man in front of her. “I’m Hailey.”
“Troy,” he said, putting his hand forward and shaking hers. “Looks like you’re doing some remodeling.”
She almost laughed at the statement. Remodeling or completely decimating the area. But that wasn’t her concern. She’d get out her aunt’s stuff.
“So this is what you use for the Forest Festival?” he asked.
Emotions threatened to surface. She blamed it on all the letters she’d read through. Her aunt should have filed Kleenex in those banker’s boxes. Every letter had pulled at her heart, making her wish the Festival could still be a reality. “This is what has been used in the past.” Of course that wasn’t going to happen this year.
“I’m here to volunteer, so however I can help.” The sincerity in his eyes captured her. Maybe that was the power of the Forest Festival.
“I’m clearing out this whole room. Did you bring a crew or anything?”
He looked confused. “It’s just me, but I will help with whatever you need.”
“These boxes can be loaded.” It wasn’t much but it was a start. She pointed to another stack. “I’ll take these ones with me and sort them at my aunt’s house.”
Hailey went through a few more boxes while Troy took boxes out. She carried a banker’s box full of letters, all filed by year. Her aunt had made a difference in the community, and it was evident from the weight of the cards and letters in the box. She walked to the front of the building, and then stopped when she saw the stack of boxes next to the front door. “Shouldn’t we start loading these in the truck?” she asked.
He tilted his head. “Truck?”
She looked out at the shiny sports car that was parked next to her rental. The rest of the parking lot was empty. “Unless you have some serious trunk space in the back of that car, you brought the wrong vehicle.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Aren’t you part of the moving crew Edna hired?”
He shook his head. “I’m here to help volunteer for the Forest Festival. I came to the headquarters assuming they’d have information for me on how I can get involved. Your website wasn’t very detailed. It didn’t even have a phone number.”
Hailey blew out a breath. “That’s because there won’t be a Forest Festival this year. It’s been … cancelled.” Permanently. But she couldn’t hear to say the words aloud. It felt so final.
The man looked so stunned, it was almost comical. “That can’t be. I-I was told that this was a tradition. I came all the way up from New York City to help.”
Hailey tilted her head. “I’m sorry you drove all this way.” She bit her lip. She’d come even further and the whole situation felt cold and hollow. “The foundation is going in a new direction, trying to make more money without doing much work.” She muttered about the cold and sterile way they were changing the feel of this beautiful tradition.
“You sound happy about this,” he said dryly.
He’d caught her sarcasm. “Obviously.” She rolled her eyes.
“There must be something we can do,” he said. “I need this to happen. Maybe we can talk to Ms. Waters. My assistant said she is the person to talk to.”
Tears sprang to Hailey’s eyes, and her throat strangled as she mustered composure to keep her voice steady while blinking her tears away. “She would be the person to talk to, but my aunt passed away a few months ago.”
A crease formed along his forehead. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know.”
Hailey shook her head. “It’s okay. The Forest Festival was her pet project. I did
n’t realize how much she wanted to do the whole project herself, but she was essentially the glue in every single decision, and the whole thing ran like clockwork. I was called in to clean out the closet since there was some personal items mixed in with the decorations.”
She showed him the small stack of letters she’d carefully retied with the twine. She’d figure out how to file them later, but in the meantime, she’d secured them back together. She pulled out her favorite from the stack. A shaky hand had written the message of gratitude on a card with a house blanketed in snow, a Christmas tree in the window.
He took the card, his eyes scanning through it, then starting at the top and reading again. He handed the card back to Hailey. “This seems like a special tradition your aunt was a part of.”
Hailey smiled. “All of these boxes are full of similar letters,” she said. Her heart squeezed at the realization that she’d spent the last couple of hours reading the stories of people who had been touched by the Forest Festival. She couldn’t let this tradition just disappear. She could be at peace letting go of Red Oaks—she had a life in Seattle. But would Red Oaks really be okay without the Forest Festival? The thought weighed on her, pushing her with energy.
He nodded, but didn’t say anything. He took the box from her and loaded it into her the trunk of her small rental car. He brought out the rest of the boxes she wanted to go through in more detail, and they maneuvered the smaller trees together.
“So a moving company is supposed to come and take this stuff somewhere?” he asked, looking at the growing pile in front entryway.
“That was the plan, though unless it gets donated, I’m not sure what I’m going to do with all of it,” she said.
Chapter 2
Troy loaded another one of the colorful banker’s boxes into Hailey’s car. They’d packed them in the trunk, the backseat and one in the passenger side of the car, and it still wasn’t enough room. His mind was on overload as he tried to think of something to do or say. Her grief over her aunt was palpable. He’d pushed aside his disappointment at not being able to be involved in the first foundation that he’d chosen. He could find another opportunity—he still had two more days to figure out his idea and let Kyle know about it. It was plenty of time.
The Billionaire’s Christmas Miracle: The Billionaires’ Christmas Gifts Romance Page 2
