Page 21 of When in December

“But …”

If all went well, it would be a few weeks, and then I would never have to look at the man I’d made a complete fool of myself in front of again. And hopefully, he wouldn’t tell Sarah Hayes-Preston that I had made a fool of myself either and fire me.

“You just—you wouldn’t believe this guy, Hannah. Beyond the whole …”

“Crush you have on him?”

“Decorating? They pay you to do that?” I openly mocked, quoting his words that had sent a flash of red-hot anger through me. “Now, I’m also going to have to deal with him for the next month.”

“Gah,” Hannah said, dragging out the word in understanding. “Never mind. Keep ranting if you need to. I have a call coming in. Hold on a second.

“Home Haven Holiday Hotline, this is Hannah. No, no, no. Ma’am, when I said take out your turkey to defrost, I didn’t mean to defrost it in the oven. There’s a setting to defrost in the oven? The microwave. Ah, I see. No, don’t panic. Let’s remain calm. It’s all right. I mean, most people like the leftovers better anyway. Our goal now is to make sure it gets in the oven to cook.”

Another ring startled me as I turned toward my monitor. I looked back at Hannah. She looked at me with wide eyes, shaking her head. It wasn’t her phone.

I shifted through my bag until I found my own. I stared at the lit-up screen filled with numbers before I finally had enough sense to answer. “Hello?”

Hannah was still staring at me while her call went on in the background. She cocked her head to the side, as if waiting for me to continue. Apparently, I needed to work on my phone-answering skills.

Home Haven, this is Poppy. I wasn’t sure I could pull it off.

Carefully, I got up and headed outside the cubicle. A few others were in the office today. The sound of the copier whirred, and a hum of voices remained minimal enough that I tried to keep my voice down.

“Hi there. Is this Poppy Owens?”

I cleared my throat, trying to sound professional. “This is she.”

“This is Sarah, about the house.”

“Yes!” I nodded into the phone immediately. Of course it was. I needed to put her number into my phone permanently. I added it to my mental to-do list once I got off the phone, switching from my minor meltdown back into business. “It’s good to hear from you. How are you?”

“I’m fine. Thanks for asking,” she said before pausing. “How are you?”

“Me?” I asked before I could stop myself. Quickly, I cleared my throat. “I’m perfectly well, thanks. It was a pleasure to finally see the house and meet the homeowner on-site today.”

“Uh-huh,” Sarah intoned as if she didn’t believe me.

My forehead creased as she murmured to someone in the background. A few eyes in the office glanced toward me, but only for a second before returning to whatever else they were working on.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it out to the house for your start date today. I made all the preparations and plans to be there, but unfortunately, things got a bit out of hand at work,” said Sarah.

“Completely okay. I understand. That’s why I am here. It’s expected that these things happen, especially around the holiday.”

“And the house?”

“The cabin is really lovely.” I mentioned, “I’ll admit that I expected some of the larger renovations to be further along. A few of the rooms have not been finished yet by our renovation team.”

Another thing to add to my to-do list.

“Will this push back our finish date?”

No. It wouldn’t. Couldn’t. “It will all be taken care of.”

“I love to hear that.”

I could hear her smile over the phone. It should’ve relieved me. Instead, it made my heart race.

“I’m sure seeing my brother there, however, was more than just another surprise.”

---