Puppy Love and Mistletoe

by Merrillee Whren

  “Are you going to sigh another time?” Lesley’s voice brought Amelia out of her contemplation.

  Amelia looked over at her coworker. “Have I been doing that?”

  “Yes, every other minute.” Lesley gave Amelia a cheesy grin. “It can’t be that bad. We both still have our jobs. We just have less money to work with, but we can rise to the challenge.”

  Amelia nodded. “I’m glad you’re so optimistic.”

  “Someone in this office has to be. You’ve been going around here like you’ve lost your best friend since the task force meeting.” Lesley raised her eyebrows. “Could that friend be one Scott Graham?”

  Amelia sighed again. “I don’t want to talk about Scott.”

  “I think you should.”

  “Well, I don’t.” Amelia swiveled her chair away from Lesley’s scrutiny.

  “Are you angry because he cut our budget?”

  Amelia let the question riffle through her mind. Was that the problem? She was angry with herself for caring too much about the man. Was she being unreasonable? Probably. He had a job to do, and he did it. Too well. “I’m not sure how I feel. Right now I don’t have time to think about him. I have to think about ways to cut corners and still provide the programs that the town wants.”

  “It’s Christmas Eve. We get off work early. And we can be thankful we still have our jobs. They might be a little harder because we have less money to work with, but I thought the feedback we got from folks in the community was helpful.” Lesley put on a happy face.

  “You are this department’s version of Pollyanna.” Amelia let out a halfhearted chuckle. “Let’s focus on what we can do right now without any community help. Every department is dealing with cuts. Ours just happens to have more.”

  Lesley got up and walked around the desk to face Amelia. “I think we can get the folks and businesses in the community to step up and help because they won’t want to lose programs either.”

  Amelia looked up at her assistant. “I hope you’re right. They elected the mayor because he ran on a platform of not raising taxes. He’s keeping that promise by cutting the budget, and we’re left to pick up the pieces.”

  “I’ve never heard you so downhearted.” Lesley frowned.

  “I know I need an attitude adjustment.”

  Lesley plopped down on the chair behind her desk. “I still say your melancholy outlook has more to do with Scott than the budget.”

  “We’re wasting city time on a fruitless discussion.” Amelia turned back to her computer screen.

  “I just have to say one more thing. Then I’ll be quiet.” Lesley jumped up from her chair and stared Amelia right in the eye. “I hate to see you throw away a chance at happiness with a very nice and attractive man. You need to call him and tell him you want to see him.”

  Amelia shook her head. “But he didn’t talk to me after either meeting.”

  “Probably because he didn’t want to cross Susan or you.”

  Amelia frowned. “I thought you said one more thing.”

  “You asked me a question.” Lesley threw her hands up. “Was I supposed to ignore it?”

  “Sorry. Let’s just get to work.” Amelia’s fingers flew over the computer keyboard. “I’ve sent you a list of things I want you to check on. I want to hit the ground running with our plans when the new year begins.”

  “Okay, Boss, but I don’t want to hear that you spent Christmas alone.”

  Alone. Amelia tried to concentrate on her work, but that one word ran rampant through her mind and overloaded her thoughts with loneliness. Her parents would be far away in Germany. She would have a video call with them sometime during the day. Lesley planned to spend the holiday with her family in Pennsylvania. Would Scott be with his sister’s family and his parents in Baltimore? Most likely.

  There was no reason to spend Christmas alone. She had family in Virginia who would be glad to share the day with her, but wouldn’t she rather spend it with Scott and Lily? She had to get over herself and take a chance, just as she had done the day Jet bolted into her life and led her to Scott and Lily. One handsome man and a cute little girl were a lot less scary than a small black dog.

  Amelia had some Christmas shopping to do.

  ****

  “Lily, what have you done?” Scott stared down at his charge.

  Lily lowered her head, refusing to look at him. “I let Jet out.”

  “You know we have to watch him. Didn’t you learn your lesson the last time?”

  Lily nodded, her gaze still trained on the floor.

  “Then why did you let him out without watching him? This time he didn’t even leave his collar behind.” Scott stepped closer to Lily. “Look at me please.”

  Lily slowly lifted her head until she stared up at him, her lips quivering. Tears welled in her eyes. “I thought he would find Amelia, and she would have to bring him back. He found her before, and I thought he could do it again.”

  “What?” Scott tried not to raise his voice, but he couldn’t help himself. “You let him go on purpose?”

  Tears rolled down Lily’s cheeks as big sobs shook her little chest. “I wanted to be with Amelia for Christmas. She makes us happy.”

  Lily’s blubbered words melted Scott’s heart. That was what he’d thought until Amelia cut herself off from them because of that horrid city budget. If only they had met under other circumstances. Maybe things would have been different.

  He glanced at the ceiling, then back down at Lily. Could Jet actually make his way to Amelia’s place again, or would he wander the streets and never find his way home? Or get hit by a car? Scott shook that terrible scenario from his mind. At least this time Jet still had on his collar and identification.

  Lily sniffled, and Scott gathered the little girl in his arms. He closed his eyes and held her tight. “We’ll work this out.”

  Lily wriggled out of his arms. “Are you going to call Amelia?”

  Scott grabbed his phone from where it sat on the kitchen counter. He’d already tried to call her several times since the council meeting. She hadn’t answered or responded to the voicemails and texts he’d left. He’d wanted to let her know that he’d had changed his number because he’d suddenly been getting bizarre calls all times of the day and night.

  As the phone immediately went to voicemail, Scott didn’t know how he would explain to Lily that Amelia seemingly didn’t want to talk to them, or more specifically him. He left another voicemail, then pocketed his phone.

  “Sweetie, Amelia isn’t answering her phone for some reason.”

  “Then let’s go to her house, and we can look for Jet on the way.” Lily’s face brightened, and she ran to get her coat.

  Scott followed her to the coat closet. “Okay. We’ll walk to her house, but we don’t have much time. Auntie Nicole is expecting us at her house in time to attend the Christmas Eve church service they go to every year.”

  “We’ll hurry.” Lily sprinted out the back door.

  Lily skipped ahead, calling Jet’s name as she went. Scott trudged behind wondering what kind of greeting he would receive, since Amelia seemed to be ignoring him. He had been too passive about his pursuit of her after the incident with Susan. He had backed away without a fight. His mistake. His big mistake. His colossal blunder.

  Lily paused at Amelia’s front door. “Hurry, Daddy.”

  Scott jogged the last few steps as Lily rang the doorbell. They stood there together for a few seconds. No one came to the door. Lily punched the doorbell again. Still no answer.

  Lily pressed her lips together. She looked up at Scott as tears flowed down her cheeks. “Why isn’t she home?”

  Scott went back down the steps, then put his hands on Lily’s waist as they stood eye to eye. “She’s probably gone somewhere for Christmas.”

  “But she’s supposed to spend Christmas with us.” Lily’s voice rose in a wail that Scott feared would rouse the neighbors. “You should have
told her.”

  Yeah. He should have, but maybe this was the way it was meant to be. Now there was the matter of Jet. What if they didn’t find him? “We can’t worry about Amelia now. You need to find your dog, or you’ll be without him, too.”

  Lily sniffled and hopped off the stairs into his arms. He held the little girl tight and prayed they would find Jet. Christmas would be a somber affair if this child lost her dog. He wanted to be angry with her for letting Jet go in hopes of finding Amelia, but he should have been as desperate to heal the gap between him and Amelia. Then maybe this wouldn’t have happened. He had failed Lily, and he had failed himself.

  All the way back, they called Jet’s name as they took a more circuitous route home. Jet did not make an appearance. The closer they got to home, the more Lily cried. Nothing Scott could say would console the child. Amelia and Jet were lost to them.

  After they reached the front door, Lily’s sobs stopped for a moment as he inserted the key. She hurried to the back of the house and opened the back door. She disappeared outside for a few minutes. When she returned, so did the tears. “Jet didn’t come back. What can we do?”

  Nothing. The word rattled around in Scott’s mind. That was the situation in a nutshell. He had done nothing about Amelia, and now they were all suffering the consequences.

  Hunkering down in front of Lily, Scott hoped she wouldn’t have a complete meltdown. “Sweetie, we have to go.”

  “But, Daddy. We can’t leave without Jet.” She let out a little sob as her breath hitched.

  What was he thinking? He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if Jet returned home and they weren’t there. “Okay. I’ll call Auntie Nicole and tell her what happened.”

  Lily’s little eyebrows knit together as she stared back at him. “Is she going to be mad at me?”

  Standing, Scott patted Lily on the head. “She’ll understand.”

  Scott called his sister and explained the situation. “Hopefully, he’ll come back before long so we can make it down there for Christmas Eve. Our stuff is all packed.”

  “I’m going to pray about this.” Nicole’s statement made Scott think she was talking about more than the return of their dog.

  “Thanks. I hope we get to see you tonight.” Scott plopped onto the couch and wondered if he should give Amelia another call. What could it hurt?

  Scott made the call, but it ended in another voicemail message. Lily stood at the back door, her nose pressed to the glass in the storm door. He went to stand beside her.

  Lily looked up at him with concern in her eyes. “Is Santa going to be mad at me? Will he put me on his bad list for letting Jet go?”

  Scott’s heart nearly broke as he looked at her worried little face. He wanted to tell her that this Santa couldn’t be mad at her because he loved her too much. He might be unhappy at the moment, and he was going to let her stew for a while, but he wanted her to have the best Christmas ever. “I’d say you’d better be on your best behavior for the rest of the day.”

  “Can we go look for Jet again?”

  Scott shook his head. “I think it’s best if we stay right here and wait for him. We don’t want to be gone if he comes home.”

  Lily looked up at him. “I’m going to pray that Jet finds his way home.”

  “Good idea.” Scott joined her and prayed for a Christmas miracle.

  ****

  The presents Amelia had wrapped lay on her kitchen counter. Now she had to be brave enough to talk to Scott and invite herself for Christmas. She stared at the screen of her cell phone. It said it was making a call, but the call wasn’t going through. What was going on with her phone?

  She’d tried earlier to call her parents, but she thought the reason the call wasn’t completed had to do with the international connection. The problem must be with her phone. What an inconvenient time for her phone to go bad. Christmas Eve. If she’d realized there was a problem, she could’ve stopped at the phone store while she’d been at the shopping mall.

  Pacing through her kitchen, she tried a call to her aunt and uncle who lived in Virginia. Same thing. Now what was she supposed to do? She had no landline. Could she use a neighbor’s phone? Her upstairs neighbors had already left to visit family for Christmas. She had to go next door.

  Amelia shrugged into her coat and trotted done the sidewalk. She’d lived here for five years, but these neighbors had moved in just before school started last fall, and she didn’t know them very well. They said hi in passing, and that was about it. She knocked on the door and prayed that someone was home. No answer. They either were still at work or had already left for the long holiday weekend. Her neighbors on the other side were gone also. Now what? Should she go door to door asking to use a phone?

  While she stood there contemplating her next move, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned. A black dog bounded toward her. She stood frozen for a second until she realized the dog was Jet. Without hesitation, she hunkered down to greet him as he wiggled from the top of his head to the tip of his tail.

  “Jet, what are you doing out here alone?” She noticed his collar as he lavished kisses on her face. She picked up the ball of fur and carried him back to her apartment, the whole time marveling that she wasn’t afraid.

  Once inside her apartment, she put Jet down on the floor. He raced around sniffing everything as he went. After he had inspected the place, he sat at her feet with his big brown puppy-dog eyes staring up at her.

  She had a special delivery to make. Jet needed to go home. She tried to use her phone one more time to call Scott, but it still didn’t work. She searched her apartment for a large shopping bag and something she could use as a leash for Jet. She located the bag in short order. Finding a makeshift leash proved a harder task. Finally she spied a thin piece of rope coiled up in a drawer in her bathroom. She tied it to Jet’s collar. With her purse slung over her shoulder, one hand holding the rope and the other holding the shopping bag, she locked up her apartment and started the three-block trek to Scott’s place.

  By the time Amelia reached Scott’s front door, her stomach was spinning with anxiety. Surely he’d be glad to see her. At least he’d be glad to see Jet. As if he was urging her to get on with her mission, the wayward pup barked as Amelia hesitated to ring the bell.

  As she reached out a gloved hand to punch the doorbell, Lily opened the door.

  “Jet, you’re home.” The little girl hugged the dog, then jumped up and hugged Amelia, too. “And he brought you.”

  “He did.” Amelia glanced into the row house to see whether Scott was there. “Where’s your dad?”

  “He’s talking with Auntie Nicole about Christmas. We couldn’t leave without Jet.” Lily pulled Amelia into the house. “Now we can go, and you can come with us.”

  Without another word, Lily raced to where Scott stood in the kitchen, his back to them and his phone to his ear. She tugged on his arm. He looked down, and Lily pointed in Amelia’s direction.

  He smiled, and her heart burst with an array of emotions as colorful as the lights on the Christmas tree.

  He ended his conversation as he walked Amelia’s way. The closer he got, the faster her heart beat. Her grip tightened on the shopping bag as she gazed into his eyes. What would he say about her sudden appearance? Lily was glad to see her. Did Scott feel the same way?

  “Hi, Merry Christmas. And it’s going to be a much better Christmas now that you’ve shown up.” He stopped in front of her. “I see you found our wayward dog again.”

  Amelia couldn’t help smiling. “Merry Christmas. I’m glad you’re happy to see me, and I’m glad I could return your dog.”

  “I wasn’t sure what was going on with you.” He wrinkled his brow. “You never answered your phone or returned my calls.”

  “You called me?”

  He nodded. “Numerous times since the council meeting.”

  “I’ve been having lots of trouble with this.” After set
ting down her bag, Amelia fished her phone from her purse and handed it to him. “Do you know what the problem might be?”

  Scott took the phone and scrolled through several screens, stopping to study several. He looked up at her. “I’m going to do a couple of things that might help. Airplane mode off and on and turning the phone off. That might fix the problem.”

  After Scott gave her phone back to Amelia, she punched in her security code. Her phone dinged at least a half dozen times, indicating messages. She checked them, then looked up at him. “They’re all from you.”

  “I told you I called. I wanted to let you know I had a new number.” Scott went on to explain why. “I thought you didn’t want to talk to me.”

  Amelia’s heart thudded. “I just wanted the city budget thing out of the way.”

  “So you’re not angry with me for the cuts to your department?”

  “I’m not angry, but I can’t say I’m not disappointed. We’ll deal with it.”

  Grinning, Scott rubbed a hand across his brow. “Whew! That’s a relief.”

  Even though Scott seemed glad to see her, Amelia didn’t want to overstay her welcome. She picked up the shopping bag and held it out. “I wanted you and Lily to have these. Then I’d better let you get on your way.”

  Scott took the bag and set it on the floor near his feet, then took her hands. “I don’t want you to go anywhere. If you don’t have plans, Lily and I want you to go to my sister’s place with us. She’s got plenty of room for one more.”

  Before Amelia could say anything, Lily grabbed Amelia’s arm. “Please come. Christmas will be so much better if you’re with us.”

  Amelia swallowed hard. She wanted to say yes, but she wasn’t sure she should. Was Scott just being polite? Was he doing this to mollify Lily?

  “Lily, go upstairs and get your suitcase.” Scott gave Lily a little tap on the head, then turned back to Amelia as Lily raced up the stairs, his face a mask of concern. “I want you to know that my feelings haven’t changed. I hope the mess with the budget hasn’t changed yours.”