Page 26 of Kiss and Makeup
Chapter Eleven
Kristen
It was that time again; holiday songs were playing on repeat. I happened to pass a restaurant where “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” played from hidden speakers, and the singer drew out the last word longer and longer until I wondered how anyone could hold a single note for so long.
He’s not wrong.I yawned, rubbing underneath my glasses to shake the sleepiness from my eyes. I probably just made them red, but honestly, this chill was making everyone as red as the holly berries adorning the countless wreaths across the shop windows of Chicago. I shouldn’t have stayed out so late with Xavier….
We had finally been able to reschedule that dinner about a week ago, and then have another one last night. The first dinner went wonderfully and ended in passionate kissing, but went no further. No matter what my body might want, I had to get home to Emma before Lauren needed to leave at 11 PM. After that, I told Xavier I wanted to slowly integrate him into Emma’s life, and he agreed readily. So, he met up with us two afternoons between that dinner and last night to meet whatever new stuffed friends Emma might have met during the day and walk us home.
Sometime soon, I would have to ask Lauren to stay the night with Emma. She would know immediately why I wanted her to do that, but… Lauren was really more than a babysitter. Our friendship had started before Emma had come into the picture, and then Emma had been an excuse for us to get to know each other better. I had brought up Xavier a few times and shared some bits of the history between us, and Lauren was all for us reconnecting—and helping out with that if she could.
I needed to pay that girl more. I also needed to stop cracking my jaw with these yawns.
A cup of coffee would wake me right up, and I always got one of those on the way to work. If someone opened the door of the coffee shop, I might even be able to smell the delicious aroma from here…
That didn’t happen, so I had to wait until I pushed through the jingling, bell-covered door myself to bathe my senses into wakefulness.
I needed to be awake today. Today, the very first thing on my schedule was a meeting with Grant. Since I had visited his office to listen to him tell me the company I had personally selected had gone under, I’d only seen him in person once, although I had sent him several detailed reports on the progress of our holiday campaign. To my eyes, it had been a success and I could watch the ads for my company play on TV or listen to them on the radio. I couldn’t imagine him having anything but good things to say, but… Honestly, sometimes you just never know. Business could be so variable.
So, it was with a grain of salt that I marched into his office, much as I had months ago. Expectations couldn’t fade into disappointment if I didn’t let myself have any and just handled things as they came.
“Good morning, Kristen.” Grant looked up immediately when I knocked on the office door, just a formality since it was already half open.
“Good morning,” I replied cheerfully. Coffee and Christmas music worked wonders for sleepy single mothers.
Maybe Grant had seen some wreaths or heard Jingle Bells or something too, because rarely… never actually, had I seen him in such a good mood. His elbows against the desk as he leaned forward, he beamed at me over papers that looked suspiciously like reports in front of him. “These are reports I got back from René over in Sales. You met René, right? Tall guy, bald, lets his kids pick his tie—”
“Yeah, I know René,” I interrupted Grant, though not rudely and only after several polite nods of agreement. What had gotten into him today? Chatty didn’t usually describe my CEO.
“Well, these are from Sales. And this—” He rustled around in the papers and extracted one. “This is from the two weeks between the launch of the ad campaign and a day ago. So from the 24th of November to the 8th of December. Have a look at the numbers.”
Good thing I had my hair and eyebrows done a day ago, because those were creeping up my forehead and I was sure he noticed everything. “Well,” I started carefully, “I haven’t been with the company long, so I haven’t seen many sales reports, but…”
“Those are high numbers. Very high. And very good for the company, even for an ordinary holiday season. So far, our Holiday Collection has been a massive success. I just asked you here this morning to commend you on your good work.”
“Thank you,” I said, pleasantly surprised. Grant didn’t need to tell me this in person. I could have walked into my office, found reports on my desk or in my box, and given myself a pat on the back for a job well done.
Recognition is nice,I thought contentedly on the way up the elevator to my office.Surprises can be nice too.This holiday season was proving to be an uplifting one.
* * *
The trend of joy during the holidays only continued to evolve, this time because of the newfound free time in my schedule that I could share with Xavier and Emma.
Right now, I was spending some of that time with Xavier—this time without Emma. Not that I minded spending time as all three of us. I loved dressing Emma in her favorite little outfits and letting her help choose my clothes, meeting Xavier somewhere, and watching a movie or going out to lunch. Sometimes, though, I wanted some “adult” time to further our relationship.
Today was one of those days. Lauren picked Emma up from school today and both Xavier and my work day ended about forty-five minutes ago, so we had the afternoon and part of the evening to ourselves.
“What should we do?” I had asked Xavier yesterday.
“Well, I have my own house now. It’s close to my parents’, if you remember where that was.”Like I could forget that mansion.“Mine is smaller, but I think you would like it, if you’d like to come over after work. I can pick you up.”
“Sure, sounds perfect,” I agreed immediately. We had already determined to take some time for ourselves, and he knew Lauren had Emma today.
So, now, here I was in Xavier’s “house”. I don’t know what I expected, but a cute little mountain cabin just thirty minutes from Chicago might be the last thing on the list. Inside, it was still cute, but not quite as little as it had looked. Stairs ran up the wall to the left of the door to a… balcony? An indoor balcony? I didn’t know what to call it, but it was like a balcony that ran all the way around the inside walls of the house, wide as a hallway but with the sides open as just railings so you could look down into the open living room and kitchen.
“Wow,” I said admiringly. “This is really nice. How long have you lived here?”
“Since a couple years after college. My parents started having it built for me right when I graduated,” he told me, following my gaze around the place. “A lot of this stuff was my grandpa’s.”
