Page 49 of The Christmas Eve Delivery

In the car on the drive to the airport, at every exit I passed, I thought about pulling over and turning around and driving straight back to Brookdale. Straight back to Lydia and our baby. I was doing this for us. I was doing this so that I could transfer my office and work more efficiently from the inn.

She had to know that the sacrifices I was making right now were only to strengthen our relationship and so that I could be with her, so we could be together and be a family.

Those intrusive thoughts about turning around and going right back to her did not leave me even after I was on the airplane.

Once I was back in the city, my mood turned foul, and nothing seemed to go right, especially once I got to my office.

“Why is there a note on my desk from Donald White?” I yelled to Sarah.

She appeared at my office door. “He’s called several times. I emailed you,” she said.

The note indicated the investment percentages he was interested in allocating toward my different projects, and that he was ready to receive corresponding numbers from me at any time.

I crumpled the note.

“Are you sure you emailed? Why didn’t you email Harris and have him complete this? You knew I was out of town.”

Sarah crossed her arms. “Because you told me that you wanted to handle anything from Donald White yourself.”

I groaned inwardly. Damn it, she was right. I had wanted to handle his investments myself, but I had been distracted onceI’d gotten up to Brookdale. Lydia was a beautiful distraction. I was going to be a father. I was definitely distracted.

“You’re right, damn it.” I waved off Sarah and sat in my chair. Fortunately, cranking out the spreadsheet for Donald White was fairly straightforward, and with a few clicks on the keyboard, I had his desired percentages poured into an existing template. The numbers rolled out into columns with projections and balances. I typed up a quick email message and attached the spreadsheet, and then hitSend.

We were definitely going to have to develop a better workflow process if I was going to be working remotely from Brookdale for the foreseeable future. Notes couldn’t sit on my desk that I would never see. And Sarah was going to need a clear chain of command if she couldn’t get ahold of me to meet certain deadlines.

This was all more complex than I had originally anticipated. After all, with a laptop and an internet connection, I should have been able to work from anywhere.

25

LYDIA

Iwas back in the plumbing section of the library trying to find the book I had checked out a few months earlier. I managed to get myself into a little trouble thinking I could go in and disassemble a drain to clean out the P-trap without having step by step instructions by my side. It couldn’t be that hard. I had convinced myself it couldn’t be that hard. And yet, when I had a sopping wet towel under a sink and desperately in need of a bucket, I realized maybe I had forgotten a step or two.

I passed by the wiring books in the DIY home repair section. I wasn’t ready to tackle that. And to be honest with myself, I didn’t think I would ever be ready to tackle electricity. It simply scared me too much.

“There you are, stranger. What are you working on now?” she asked as she found me among the rows of shelves.

“I’m back to struggling with the bathrooms up on the third floor,” I admitted.

I had a block of rooms that for some reason, I couldn’t manage to get guest-ready on my own. The problems didn’t seem socomplex that I shouldn’t have been able to handle them on my own.

“Lydia, I have a question for you,” Evie said.

“Shoot,” I said. My stomach twisted with apprehension.

“Please don’t tell me that the man I saw you with is the baby’s father.”

If anybody was going to figure it out before they were told, it was going to be Evie.

“Busted,” I said with a grimace and a blush.

“Lydia, no,” she pleaded. She looked really upset.

“What do you mean, no, Evie?”

“How could you, Lydia?”

“How could I what? It’s not like Brad Pitt came knocking on my door,” I replied.

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