Page 6 of A Kiss at Christmas
“Youdon’t get called to the third floor of headquarters for something good.”
Valeriaglanced at her watch. “Well, you’ve got twenty-two minutes until you need to be there.Whatcan we work on that will take your mind off of it for a few minutes?”
“Nothing.”Kellishook her head. “Ithink maybeIshould just head over there now.”
Gettingthere early had been a mistake.Awinter snowstorm was just rolling in, and big, fat snowflakes were covering her coat and hood by the time she’d walked three buildings over to headquarters.
Shestomped her feet in the lobby, shook the snow off her coat, and then took the elevator to the third floor.Shehad seenMeritCasselmanquite a few times over the two-and-a-half years that she’d worked atZentCube, and had metGrahamseveral times, too, but she had never been to the third floor before.
Thereceptionist on the third floor led her toCarla, who directed her to a seat outside ofMerit’soffice, facing aChristmastree she couldn’t even focus on, to wait for him to finish the meeting he was in.Thewalk hadn’t helped to calm her racing heart.Thecold air hadn’t cleared the lightheadedness.Forcingherself to do calm breathing as she sat and waited didn’t stop her leg from bouncing.
Andnothing stopped her from feeling like she was sitting outside the principal’s office, about to find out exactly how much trouble she was in.
Finally, at three-thirty-two, the door opened, andKellistood.Thetwo head honchos were shaking someone’s hand and talking in happy voices to him, butKelli’sbrain was so full of worries that she hadn’t thought to notice if the guy was wearing aZentCubeemployee badge or not.Asthe man was walking away,Grahamturned toKelli. “Welcome,MissEllis.Please, come in.”
Sheshook both of their hands and then swallowed as she walked into the office.Insteadof sitting down across the very large desk from them, as she had imagined,Meritmotioned to a seating area in the other half of the office, where two chairs and a couch were arranged around a coffee table.
Notknowing which seat to take, she sat in the closest one—a padded armchair—and wiped her hands on her slacks, straightening them while also making her hands less clammy.
Grahamsat down in the other armchair andMeritsat in the middle of the couch, his arms spread wide on the back of the couch, looking about a million times more comfortable than she felt.Ofcourse, he wasn’t the one being called in to talk to the big boss.
“Everyyear,”Grahamsaid, “we take about a dozen employees on aChristmasretreat.Haveyou ever heard anyone talk about it?”
Kellishook her head.Shouldshe have?Orwas it something she wasn’t supposed to hear about?
“Everyyear it’s a little different, but we always go to our managers and ask if they know of anyone on their teams who doesn’t have a place to go forChristmas.Thenwe take a look, narrow down the list as needed, and form a group.”
Theywouldn’t be smiling so much and chatting about fancy retreats if she was in a lot of trouble, right?Somaybe they wanted her to do something?Like, make some kind of marketing materials for the retreat?Itwas weird they were coming to her directly instead of going to her boss or the marketing director, but she could do that.Orshould she already have been doing that and she somehow missed the message that she was supposed to?
“We’vegone several different places in the past,”Meritadded. “Butduring the summer,Grahamsent me toTheRoyalPalmsresort inMyrtleBeach,SouthCarolina, and it was amazing.”
Grahamchuckled. “Andhe’s not just saying that because he met the love of his life,Elise, while he was there.”
Meritgrinned, andKellisaw a hint of a blush.Thiswas all great, but she still didn’t understand why she was here, inMerit’soffice.Shewanted to run her sweaty palms across her slacks again, but she was trying to be professional, but it left her not having a clue what to do with her hands.Soshe just set them beside her legs on the seat.
“I’vebeen there, too,”Grahamsaid, “andIthink it’s a perfect place for our retreat.Wewant to take a group there thisChristmas, especially, becauseEliseis over all theChristmasevents.AndsinceMeritandIdo this thing together,IthinkImight be on my own ifItook us somewhere other than whereEliseis.”
Thetwo of them were smiling like kids atChristmas, butKellistill didn’t get why she was even in on this conversation.
“So,” she asked, “are you wanting me to do some kind of pamphlets for it, or come up with some images to—”
Meritlaughed and interrupted. “No, we want you to come!”
“You…What?”Shelooked at both of them, trying to make sense of the words. “Idon’t understand.Youwant me to work at the retreat?”
Grahamchuckled, shaking his head. “Thefirst year we did this,ZentCubewas probably one-tenth the size it is now and we were all in the same building.Wefound out that a few people had nowhere to go forChristmas, so we decided to do something about it.Weknow it can be hard around the holidays to not be with family, and we know how much fun it can be to spend it with a group of people that you may or may not know.
“Andthis year, we’d like you to join us.Asa guest.Anddon’t worry—we pay for everything.Willyou come?”
Shegasped as their words finally sank in, a lightness filling her chest and making it seem like she was floating right out of her chair.Werethey really inviting her to go on vacation?Andgiving her a place to go forChristmasso she wouldn’t be alone? “Forreal?”
“Forreal,”Meritsaid.
Kelli’sheart practically burst out of her chest with so much happiness and gratitude that it made her jump out of her chair and hugGraham, and then go around the little table and hugMerit. “Yes!Yes,Iwant to go!”
Shewas going to have a place to go forChristmas.Itwas all she could do to not let happy tears spill down her cheeks right in front of the company’s founders.Whenthey led her out of the room to pick up a packet of information fromCarla, she hugged it tight to her chest.Shekept hugging it tight as she put on her coat and speed-walked back to her building, not even caring that she was getting covered in snow.
Shewasn’t going to be alone.Shewas going to belong somewhere.
