Christmas in East Kansas (Christmas Holiday Extravaganza)

by Regina Smeltzer

  “Tomorrow’s Saturday.”

  “I’ll come in for you.”

  She nodded in agreement.

  Mrs. Flannigan tapped the gavel against the wooden block. All the council members were present, and three quarters of the pews occupied. The room hummed with excitement. Coats draped the back of the pews, scarves and gloves were tucked into pockets or lay in laps ready for the return outside. The murmur of voices changed to the sound of shuffling feet as everyone stood for the pledge of allegiance and Pastor Robert’s prayer.

  “Let’s begin the business that brought you here tonight,” the chairwoman said. “We have a beautiful town nestled among the mountains, and we offer many fine shops and hiking trails for tourists, but no one can find us. There is no easy way to get to East Kansas. At the prompting of some of you,” she smiled at Olivia, “I have been lobbying our state legislature for a road to connect us to Interstate 250. As you know, the interstate is the route of choice for many people heading south. Our lobbying has been successful!” She paused long enough to nod to Thomas Baker. “We are getting our road!”

  The room erupted into applause. A few people whistled.

  Olivia smiled, enjoying the enthusiasm. Most of East Kansas’s businesses were barely in the black. Without this change, shops would close, employment would dwindle, and a once-thriving town would become one more down-and-out place to live.

  After several raps of the gavel, the room quieted.

  “I knew you would be delighted. And now I want to introduce the man who will make this happen, Mr. Thomas Baker, representing Shuster Construction.” Hannah pointed a remote control toward the back wall and a screen lowered from the ceiling.

  Olivia’s heart pounded. She was not usually swayed by good looks, but something inside her resonated, as though they were best friends. She took a deep breath. This was a big day, no time for silly emotions.

  Thomas handed a thumb drive down to Ted, off stage, and soon a picture of Shuster Construction’s home office building in Morgantown filled the screen.

  Hannah passed a remote control to Thomas and whispered to him.

  He smiled and aimed the remote toward the computer. The picture on the screen changed to a map of East Kansas and the surrounding mountains. “I guess this works.” He grinned.

  Olivia shifted in her seat.

  “As you can see, this is a topographical map of the area.” Thomas, using a laser pointer, identified the mountain ranges, the rock formations, and the general landscape that surrounded East Kansas.

  Olivia, unconcerned with the details, listened to the sound of Thomas’s voice, the easy way he addressed the audience, how he seemed to pull them all in, as though he were talking to each person individually.

  The door opened and cold wind blew in. The latecomer would have a hard time finding a place to sit.

  “As you can see, Allegheny Mountains—“ Thomas stared at the back of the room, his pause continuing a second too long, “—surround East Kansas.” He turned to face the map. “Here is the only logical place to put the road.” He indicated a red line on the map with his pointer. “It will extend from here, onto the interstate, and connect with the town’s eastern edge just south of Rocky Point.”

  The picture on the screen changed.

  “This is a timeline for the project. My team needs to start immediately. We will move in some of the heavy equipment right after Christmas, do the necessary surveying, and break ground in early January, if the weather holds.”

  “What if we get three feet of snow?” a man in the back asked.

  “Your unique position in the mountain limits the snowfall in this area, but we work around snow. Our equipment can move whatever needs moved. We can’t work with mud, so I prefer to get the base down before the spring thaw.”

  She had to have misunderstood what was on the screen. Hesitantly, Olivia raised her hand.

  “Miss Miller?”

  “Can I see the last picture again, please?”

  “Sure.” Thomas pointed the remote and the image changed to the map of East Kansas. “Do you have a question?”

  She looked. Her chest tightened. Wanting a better view, she stood, just to be sure. “You’re taking the road right through the pond?” She dug her fingers into the pew in front of her.

  “You mean that pond on the west side of town? Yes, we’ll fill it in. It won’t cause a problem.”

  The room became silent. “No, you don’t understand.” Her heart raced as she looked at each person sitting on the stage, needing someone in authority to tell Thomas this couldn’t happen. Council members averted their eyes. No one looked at her. No one supported her. And yet everyone in the room knew why the pond could not be destroyed.

  Matthew Dixon placed a hand on her arm; she brushed it off.

  Finally, Hannah spoke. “Olivia, we all understand your attachment to the pond—”

  “You can’t destroy the pond!”

  “No one wants this road more than you, and this is—”

  “This can’t be the only place to put a road!”

  Behind the computer, Ted stood. “Madam chairman, perhaps we can adjourn and give the Council time to review Shuster Construction’s proposal.”

  “Excellent idea, Ted.” Hannah Flannigan’s face relaxed. “We will adjourn until seven o’clock Monday evening. That will give the Council time to review the, ah, proposal.” She hit the gavel once and the room erupted into a myriad of voices.

  “Miss Miller.” Thomas Baker reached a hand toward Olivia.

  She ignored him and pushed through the crowd, almost colliding with Mr. Goodman, who stood by the door. For a brief second Olivia wondered why the old hermit was in town. But the thought fled because she had to leave before the tears fell.

  4

  Olivia raced down the frozen sidewalk in the dark. The East Kansas Hotel stood in the center of town, only a few blocks from the council building, and she normally enjoyed walking. But now she wanted to get home. Thank goodness it was Friday, Patty Phillips’s night to watch the front desk.

  Taking the wooden stairs to the covered porch two at a time, she flung open the front door. On seeing Patty, Olivia’s anger surged. “I warned you not to bring those trashy tabloids in here,” she shouted.

  Patty, sitting by the fireplace, lifted the magazine, showing its yellow cover. “National Geographic?”

  Olivia huffed as she pulled the red scarf from around her neck.

  “Bad meeting?” Patty asked.

  “The worst. I’m going to bed.” Olivia climbed two steps before stopping. “You are here for the night, right?”

  “That’s what you said.”

  “Just wanted to make sure.” Olivia’s knees threatened to buckle. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. Before she made a fool of herself for the second time, she stumbled up the stairs to her room.

  5

  With the morning sun streaming through the living room windows, the Town Council meeting seemed more like a nightmare than reality. Olivia hesitantly descended the stairs. The night before, after a long, hot shower, she had spent hours thinking of a way to stop this Thomas Baker from destroying her pond. If the Town Council wouldn’t stand up to the man, then she would. But first she had to make amends with her only employee. “Patty, I need to apologize.”

  Patty scooped the ashes from the fireplace and dumped them into the metal bucket. “No problem.” She stood and dusted her hands off on her jeans.

  “No, you deserve more respect than I gave you last night.”

  “Something really got you going.” Patty leaned against the couch.

  “It was the council meeting. The construction company wants to run the new road right through the pond.”

  “Seriously? The Town Council said no, right?”

  “Wrong! The council members went along with it!”

  Patty’s eyes narrowed as she glanced toward the top of the stairs. “I knew there was something off with that man. I feel things like that, you know, when pe
ople are off. And this man has an agenda bigger than East Kansas.”

  “When did you see him?”

  “He’s here. Room seven. I gave him the key and told him the rules. No candles, no pets. Linen changed every three days unless he requests otherwise.”

  “Wait. He’s in my hotel?”

  “He came last night shortly after you went upstairs.”

  “You’re sure it’s him?”

  “Tall, good looking, green eyes?”

  Olivia groaned.

  The stairs creaked.

  Olivia turned, trying to erase the anger from her face.

  Thomas Baker stopped at the bottom of the stairs, as though waiting for an invitation to continue. If only his eyes didn’t beg her to linger, if only his broad shoulders didn’t urge her touch them…if only a dozen other things, then hating him would come easier. But, he had made implementing her strategy easier by staying at her hotel. Now, to see if the plan would work. She measured her words. “Your road will destroy what my family built. They gave the pond as a gift to the town.”

  He focused on her face a bit too long. “It’s not my intent to destroy anything, Miss Miller. I’m a hired worker doing a job.”

  “But it’s your plan, right? You decided where the new road would go?”

  “Let me get the maps. I can show you---“

  “No, let me show you something.” She paused. “Do you know how to skate?”

  “I haven’t for a long time.”

  “Go get your coat.”

  ~*~

  Thomas shortened his stride to match Olivia’s as she led him down Main Street. Nothing good would come of this time spent with her, and yet he was unable to say no. He pushed his hands farther into his jacket pockets. He should have gone home after last night’s meeting. He could have made the trip in two hours. The council wasn’t convening again until Monday. But instead he’d checked into the East Kansas Hotel.

  The town had charm. East Kansas looked like the typical Christmas card minus the snow. Storefronts of wood and stone, built sometime in the last century, stood proud. Strings of lights and dozens of evergreen wreaths transformed old buildings into a picture that reflected joy and anticipation. East Kansas did Christmas well.

  Olivia, her mitten-clad hands swinging at her sides, chatted on about the history of the town. She was as oblivious to the cold as she was to his identity. He glanced toward her hoping to find some sign of remembrance in her expression.

  “See the store with the blue bench by the door?” she asked. “That’s Paulson’s Diner. Clara Hector runs it now. She’s the great-granddaughter of the original Mr. Paulson.”

  “Long time for one family to run a restaurant.”

  “The diner is the second oldest business in East Kansas.”

  “Your hotel being the first?”

  “Yes.” A genuine smile reflected her pride in the little town.

  Just as he remembered.

  “Many of the stores are run by the original owners. In the past, most travelers had to drive through East Kansas regardless of where they were headed. The hotel was almost always full, and all the merchants had steady business.”

  “But that changed?”

  “In the1960s the highway system made it possible to bypass East Kansas. The only road coming in or out is narrow and winds around a dozen mountain peaks.”

  “So the town has suffered due to my business of building roads?”

  “I didn’t mean it that way, but yes. Roads have hurt the town.” She paused. “And now, the only way to save the town is to build another road.”

  “Which your council asked the state to fund.”

  “Correct.”

  His gut clenched. His first instinct in Shuster’s office had been right. No good would come of him returning to East Kansas. He should call Mr. Shuster and tell him he was walking away from this job—too much conflict for him. But the relief on his crew’s faces when he’d announced that winter work would replace unemployment kept him silent. And then there was the raise. He needed that bigger paycheck. “So what about snow?” he asked. “Most of the state gets at least a few inches by Christmas.”

  “Because of our location, the heavy clouds usually hit the mountains and dump their moisture on the peaks. We get the cold but very little snow, much to the displeasure of the kids.”

  He knew this; he had shared it at the meeting, but he liked hearing her talk about her town. “No snowmen in East Kansas?”

  “Not too many.” She pointed to a small road jutting off Main Street. “We turn here and cut across the field to the pond. Mr. Carl should be working on the decorations by now.”

  “You decorate the pond, too?”

  She grinned. “Of course.”

  Although it was not even nine o’clock in the morning, about fifty people were either on the ice or clustered around the fire barrels. An elderly man in heavy coveralls draped lights around a pine tree.

  “That’s Mr. Carl,” Olivia said. “He’s been in charge of the town’s decorations for as long as I can remember.” Olivia led Thomas to a bench. She tied on her skates while he struggled into the pair she had provided for him.

  Soon they were gliding across the frozen surface.

  He tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow. To his surprise, she didn’t pull away. Eventually he would tell her that they had met before, that he had spent a summer in East Kansas, and when he left he swore he would never return. Obviously that time had meant more to him than her, since she evidently held no memory of him. Perhaps it would be better for her to go on believing they had just met. He gave a long sigh. This was one of the reasons he had not wanted to come to East Kansas.

  A young woman stood at the edge of the pond waving her hands frantically. “Isn’t that the lady from your hotel?”

  “Olivia,” Patty yelled across the distance. “Your appointment with Mr. Dixon!”

  Olivia slid to a stop. “Oh, my goodness.” Her eyes grew round. “I forgot!” She signaled acknowledgement to Patty then turned to Thomas. “I have to go.” The expression on her face said she did not look forward to the meeting.

  6

  Matthew Dixon’s office was as familiar to Olivia as her own hotel. As a child she had accompanied her father to his financial meetings so she could play with the ever-present cat. The room looked the same, except the cat was different. She smiled, remembering how she especially loved an amber and white ball of fur called Kitten.

  Cats were banned at home, so the chance to pull a wood spool tied to a string, or dangle a feather for the cat’s entertainment, was a treat. The latest cat, a gray, long-haired male named Smoke, lay curled in her lap. She ran her fingers over his soft fur and was rewarded with a rhythmic purr.

  The only nod to Christmas in Mr. Dixon’s private office was a red poinsettia sitting in an old saucer on the corner of his desk. His taste was simple, in contrast to Mrs. Flannigan, who had covered her boutique in lights both inside and out.

  “There has to be another option, Mr. Dixon.”

  His eyes were kind. “I wish there was. We’ve stretched the money your parents left you longer than I expected.” He raised his hands. “I’ve done what I can. You have a degree in marketing. You’ll be able to find a job.”

  “There isn’t any work in East Kansas. I’ve always planned to use my degree to help my parents with the hotel.”

  “Situations change.”

  “I’ll have to move to the city.” Each heartbeat hurt worse than the one before it. First, the pond, now her entire life gone. Mitch probably knew the balance of her bank account and thought she would be desperate for him to rush in and save her. Marriage would be her part of the deal. She sighed and glanced out the window. She couldn’t marry Mitch when someone else owned her heart. This would be the last Christmas in her home.

  “I have some contacts around the state. I’ll make a few calls.”

  The gray cat jumped from her lap, and his absence left her feeling cold. “So I only have
enough money to pay my bills for the next couple of months?”

  “I tried to meet earlier, but you kept cancelling.”

  She had known. She simply didn’t want to hear it.

  “I’m sorry Olivia. If you find a good job, perhaps you can keep the hotel as a second home. But the wiser course is to sell the place to the town. You won’t get much for it, but it will free you of the tax and heating bills.”

  All Olivia had ever wanted was to keep her family’s heritage alive. One job, and she failed.

  ~*~

  Thomas made a couple more loops around the pond. He felt out of place among the smiles, happy voices, and couples moving past him hand-in-hand. The scent of the wood fire only added to the sense of magic—magic to which he must remain immune. East Kansas was locked in time and, unfortunately, it was his job to move it into the present. And in the process of saving the town, he would destroy the woman he loved.

  After leaving his skates on the hotel’s front porch, Thomas wandered toward Paulson’s Diner for a cup of hot coffee. Choosing a table by the window, he pulled a napkin from the container and dried the freshly cleaned and damp plastic tablecloth.

  A waitress across the room gathered plates and empty cups. Sprigs of holly in white vases sat on each table, a nod to the holiday. A few groups of twos or threes were sprinkled about the room.

  A quick glance around affirmed the man wasn’t there. He’d been at the town meeting, so, unlike his mom, the man wasn’t dead.

  “You look like a thundercloud about to burst.” The waitress, dressed in a pink uniform with a white apron tied snugly around her ample waist, stared down at him. A nametag, complete with a Santa pinned to the side, identified her as Clara.

  Thomas was suddenly back in time sharing a milkshake with Olivia. And the waitress—her hair more gray now than auburn—had joked with them about being married. He hoped she would not remember the twelve-year-old boy he once was.

  “Can I get you something or do you want to just sit until that storm in your head passes?”