LOVE ALWAYS, CHRISTMAS, page 16
“You don’t sound like Scrooge,” Adam said.
Libby gave him a look. “You’ve already called me the Scrooge, remember?”
“Well, I’m sorry. I was wrong. I won’t call you that again.”
Libby glanced up to see if Adam was kidding and was surprised to see sincerity and empathy in his eyes.
“I think it’s okay to feel whatever you feel,” Adam said. “You’re being honest with yourself , and I admire that. I can’t even begin to imagine not having my parents with me at Christmas, or any time in my life.” Adam stopped for a moment to take her hand in his. “I wish I had something to say that could make it better for you, but I know there’s nothing that can do that. So, I’m just going to say I’m sincerely sorry, Libby. I really am.”
When Libby looked at Adam she felt grateful. His words touched her heart because he didn’t pretend to understand her pain or say what so many other people always said—that ‘everything would be okay.’
Adam had come right out and admitted he had no idea what she was experiencing. Then, just as sincerely, he’d said that he was sorry, and that gave her comfort.
More than anything she wanted to get to a place in her heart where she could enjoy Christmas again. She wanted to embrace all her family traditions and keep them alive as a way to honor her parents. But she knew it was going to be a process and that it would take some time.
Being in Holly Peak, surrounded by a community that honored and cherished Christmas, was reminding her of what her parents loved about Christmas and what she had always loved, too. For better or worse, she was quickly finding that in Holly Peak, you couldn’t avoid Christmas. It was celebrated everywhere you looked.
When she was home, she was always at work and that let her escape all the merrymaking in Evergreen Valley, but right now, she was surrounded by Christmas spirit everywhere she turned.
She stared into the fire, lost in her thoughts, not really aware of how long they sat there in silence. It surprised her at how comfortable she felt sharing her feelings with Adam. It was a relief to talk to someone when she didn’t have to pretend to be okay or put on a brave face. She could just be herself.
When she finally looked at Adam, he smiled back at her.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
“For?” he asked softly.
“Just…this.” Libby said. She couldn’t find the words to explain how she was feeling.
They both sat back and looked up at the sky.
“I bet the stars here at night are so incredible,” Libby said.
“One of our Christmas activities is stargazing with an astronomer who talks about the Christmas star,” Adam said.
“That’s really cool,” Libby said.
“And you know what else is cool?” Adam asked and then answered his own question. “Our unique desserts that we have here in Holly Peak.”
Libby quickly sat up. “Did you say desserts? You know us Christmas elves…”
“You need your sugar.”
Libby nodded, excited. “Exactly!”
Adam jumped up and held out his hand. “Let me show you the way.”
Libby was laughing as she let him pull her to her feet. “Can we start at the Candy Cane Crush food truck?”
“Your Christmas wish is my command,” Adam said merrily as they headed for the food truck.
Libby smiled back at Adam. She wasn’t sure why, but after her talk with Adam she felt lighter, like some of the weight of the world she’d been carrying had been lifted off her shoulders.
Normally, she’d analyze the feeling to death trying to figure out why it was happening and what it meant.
But right now, she decided she just wanted to be thankful that for this moment, she felt better than she had in a long time.
Chapter 15
Libby and Adam stood in front of the Candy Cane Crush food truck as she devoured her second dark-chocolate-covered candy cane.
She sighed blissfully. “It’s official. I’m in candy cane heaven!”
Adam looked pretty proud of himself. “I told you they’re amazing.”
“And you were right about the candy canes, but the entertainment, not so much…”
“Wait, my knock-knock jokes are amazing! I’m the knock-knock king,” Adam said proudly.
Libby laughed. “No, Adam. You’re not. Your dad jokes are so bad.”
“Okay, I have one I know you’ll like,” Adam said. “Knock, knock.”
Libby held up her hands. “I can’t…”
“Come on, CeCe loves this one!”
Libby finally, reluctantly gave in. “Okay, but only one more.”
Adam grinned back at her. “Okay. Knock, knock.”
Libby sighed. “Whose there?”
“Holly.”
“Holly, who?”
“Holly up and let’s sing a Christmas carol!” Adam finished, laughing at his own joke.
Libby shook her head. “Seriously, Adam. That’s worse than the last one.”
“Knock, knock!”
“Adam, no. You promised.”
“Who’s there?” Adam said.
Libby laughed. “What, now you’re playing both parts?”
“If you won’t, I will,” Adam said as he rushed to continue. “Knock, knock. Who’s there? Snow. Snow who? Snow time to waste. It’s almost Christmas!” Adam laughed even louder.
“I have some advice,” Libby said.
“Really?” Adam asked, leaning in.
“Don’t quit your day job.”
“Now who’s being the comedian?” Adam said as he handed her another candy cane. “Do you know the history behind candy canes?”
“No, but I’m guessing you’re about to tell me.”
“Nope. Can’t do it,” Adam said as he took the candy cane back from her.
Libby’s mouth dropped open. “Wait, give that back and tell me the history. Now I want to know.”
“That’s just it,” Adam said. “No one really knows where they come from. They’re a mystery.”
Libby laughed. “Stop messing with me.”
“I’m being serious,” Adam insisted.
“Really?” Libby asked. She still could never tell if Adam was joking around or not.
“Really. Of course, there are stories…”
“Like?” Libby asked.
“One legend has it that candy canes were invented in 1670 when a German choirmaster gave sugar sticks to the little kids in the choir to keep them quiet when they weren’t singing. Since it was Christmas, the choirmaster bent the sugar sticks so they’d look like shepherd’s crooks, and that’s how we got the candy cane shape we all know and love today.”
Libby studied Adam’s face closely. “Seriously, is that a legend, or did you just make that up?”
“Cross my candy cane Christmas heart, I’m telling you the story just as it was told to me,” Adam said as he crossed his heart.
Libby laughed. “So, your Christmas heart is that different from your regular heart?”
“Same heart,” Adam said. “It’s just bigger this time of year because it’s filled with all the love that comes with Christmas.”
“Wow, you really should write Christmas greeting cards or something. Your jokes are terrible but when you talk about Christmas like that, it’s pretty inspiring. Is that why you moved to Holly Peak—because you love Christmas so much?”
“It would be a great reason to move here, for sure,” Adam said. “But that’s not why I came.”
Libby waited for him to continue.
“Like CeCe told you, I was a corporate lawyer in Seattle. I was at a top firm making an insane amount of money—and that meant I was also working an insane number of hours. When my firm offered to make me a partner, I thought it was a dream come true. It had always been my goal.”
“That sounds great,” Libby said. “So, what happened?”
“I’d wanted that promotion for so long, I had given up my personal life. I was working twelve hour days, seven days a week to impress my boss. Work was all I cared about.”
“I get that,” Libby said. “I did the same at the marketing company I was working for. I gave them everything…” Libby frowned as her voice trailed off.
“And what happened?” Adam asked.
“No, you’re telling your story. Keep going,” Libby urged.
“But I want to know what happened with you.”
Libby took a deep breath.
“Okay, the short version. My boyfriend, Brad, stole my ideas so that he could get the promotion that had been promised to me. When I told the higher-ups what had happened, they refused to believe me. There was no way I could keep working there, so I quit. I had to start completely over with my personal life and professional life.”
“Wow, that’s rough. I’m sorry.” Adam said.
“Don’t be,” Libby said. “Brad did me a favor. He obviously wasn’t the right guy for me, and that company wasn’t the right company. As hard as it was at the time—and don’t get me wrong, I was devastated—it forced me to get out of my comfort zone and got me to start my own company.”
“And your personal life?” Adam asked.
“That hasn’t restarted yet,” Libby said with a laugh “And trust me I hear about it from my friend Tammi all the time. But I honestly haven’t had time for a personal life. I put my entire savings and all of my energy into launching my company. And then, right after I launched, my mom passed away. I had to take over our family home. I had no idea how many repairs it needed, and I was already struggling to pay the mortgage. So, that’s where I am now. I’m trying not to lose my company or my home and I’m running out of time.”
“What do you mean?” Adam asked.
“I’m now behind on the mortgage payments. If I can’t catch up by the end of the year, I’ll be forced to sell.”
“That’s why you have the For Sale sign up,” Adam said.
Libby nodded. “Yeah. My realtor wanted to put it up to see if we can get any great offers while everyone’s coming through the neighborhood to see all the Christmas lights.”
“Except your house doesn’t have any lights.”
“I know,” Libby said. “I just…couldn’t decorate this year. It’s all the stuff I was telling you about before. It was just too hard. If I’d decorated, it would have felt like I was celebrating losing my mom and dad. I know that probably doesn’t make sense to anyone…”
“And it doesn’t have to,” Adam said. “It only had to make sense to you. Do you think there’s any way you’ll be able to keep your house?”
“There’s still one chance—and it’s all tied into how well my Santa Kitty campaign goes. The company that hired me, Carter Pets, is dangling the chance of signing me to a huge contract and promising a big bonus if this campaign is a success. So that’s me, now back to your story.”
“First, I have to say that I think you’re very strong and brave to go out on your own and build something you believe in.”
“Very brave and now very broke,” Libby said with a laugh.
“Great reward only comes with great risk,” Adam said.
When he looked into her eyes, she wondered if he was only talking about career risks or if he was also talking about the risks you take in your personal life.
“Okay, now it’s your turn,” Libby said. “Please finish your story. You were saying you were finally offered your dream promotion at your law firm.”
Adam nodded. “Oh, yes. The offer came, and it was all I could have hoped for and more. I would have been set financially for the rest of my life.”
“But?” Libby urged.
“But,” Adam continued, “when I looked at my future, I didn’t like what I saw.”
“What do you mean?” Libby asked.
“I spent all day and often half the night in my office going over contracts for Fortune 500 companies. I would spend days on one paragraph, fighting over a word that I wanted to change or add for my clients. I was dealing with multimillion-dollar mergers, sales, and acquisitions. I rarely met a client or had a genuine, human interaction. That was all handled by someone else at my firm. I was just the contracts expert. I never got to see how my work impacted anyone directly. Up to that point, I thought I was happy with my job because I was making so much money and money is supposed to make you happy, right? And I was really good at my job. But when they offered to make me partner, I had to ask myself if that was really what I wanted for the rest of my career.”
“And it wasn’t?” Libby asked.
Adam shook his head. “No. It wasn’t. I mostly worked alone. I was very isolated. When I looked at my future, I just saw myself sitting in the same desk year after year, being buried under paperwork. I hadn’t taken a vacation in years, and I didn’t see that changing. I knew my firm would expect me to continue to work just as hard, if not harder. I had set up unrealistic expectations for how much they could ask of me, and I didn’t have anyone to blame but myself. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had any fun or relaxed, and that scared me. I know my parents were worried about me. I was barely even seeing them, and we only lived thirty minutes apart. I knew I wanted more for my life. I wanted to actually start living my life.”
“So, what happened?” Libby asked. She was fascinated by Adam’s story.
“I quit,” Adam said.
Libby’s eyebrows raised. “Just like that?”
“Just like that,” Adam agreed. “I had no idea what I was going to do. I just quit.”
“How did your firm take it?”
“Honestly, not great, but ultimately, I believe they understood my decision even if they didn’t like it,” Adam said. “I think some of my colleagues were jealous. We were in a golden handcuff situation. We were at the top of our game making all this money, so why would anyone ever leave?”
“You did,” Libby said. “And I think that’s admirable. You didn’t sell out. You wanted the one thing they couldn’t give you when you made partner.”
“What’s that?” Adam asked.
“You wanted to be happy.”
Adam laughed. “You’re right. No one has ever said it that simply, but you’re a hundred percent right. Of course, my Seattle friends and the woman I was dating at the time thought I was nuts. My girlfriend actually thought I was having a nervous breakdown. She couldn’t believe I was walking away from—”
“The opportunity?”
“The money,” Adam said. “Turns out that’s what she really cared about.”
Libby drew back. “Ouch.”
“Right?” Adam asked. “But from the moment I made the decision, I was fine with it. I never regretted it. I just knew I wanted to do something drastically different. Something where I could use my education and skills and really make a difference in people’s lives. I wanted to actually know the people I was helping and see the impact and change I could help make.”
“So, how did you end up in Holly Peak?” Libby asked.
When Adam smiled, Libby could see the joy in his eyes.
“Now that’s a story,” he said.
“Tell me,” Libby said. “I can’t wait to hear this!”
Chapter 16
Libby followed Adam as he walked over to a small gazebo that was covered with Christmas lights and holly. In the middle of the gazebo there was a little red bench that had one of the plaid Christmas blankets draped across it.
When they sat down together, side by side, Adam put the blanket over Libby’s legs.
She quickly gave him part of the blanket back and covered his legs. “We can share.”
“Thank you,” Adam said as he smiled at her. He looked into her eyes. “You’ll let me know if you get cold?”
“I will, but I’m good,” Libby answered. Not with you looking at me that way, she thought. She shook herself mentally. “Now, please tell me the rest of the story. The suspense is killing me. How did you end up here in Holly Peak?”
Adam laughed as he sat back on the bench and got comfortable.
“It was the craziest thing,” Adam started. “I’ve told you that my mom lives for Christmas, right? So there we were, a couple of Christmases ago, right after I’d quit my job. She was watching the news in Seattle and heard about a state-wide competition to win the honor of being named the Best Christmas Town in Washington. Alpine Ridge was in the running, so she wanted to go check it out.”
Libby smiled. “Of course, she did.”
“Long story short, my dad was supposed to take her, but at the last minute he couldn’t so I got volunteered. I wasn’t working and I thought it would be a fun day with my mom, so we drove up here for the day. Only we never made it to Alpine Ridge. My mom saw the cute sign to Holly Peak, and she wanted to stop and check out the town. She’s obsessed with holly and she figured this would be the perfect place for her to buy some new Christmas wreaths and pick up some fresh holly to decorate with.”
“Was Holly Peak decorated like it is now for Christmas?” Libby asked.
“Yes and no. All the businesses on Main Street had their holly garlands and wreaths with all the white twinkle lights like you see now, but the town didn’t have all the Christmas-themed activities yet. Still, it was enough for my mom to fall in love. Give her some holly and Christmas lights, and she’s hooked.”
Libby laughed. “So, what happened?”
“We were at the Holly Berry Bakery getting some gingerbread cookies and my mom was bragging to the owner Gina about me being a lawyer.” Adam rolled his eyes. “She always does that. It drives me crazy.”
Libby laughed. “She’s just proud of you.”
“Still embarrassing,” Adams said, but he was smiling. “But in this case, it was a good thing because Gina started talking about her son-in-law Eddy who used to be Holly Peak’s lawyer and town manager. She was lamenting the fact that he’d moved with her daughter to the East Coast for a better job opportunity.”
