Page 22 of Just A Dash of Holiday Magic
SECOND CHANCE GLANCE
Chapter 1
NIKKI
Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. But it never fails that despite putting up my tree the day after Thanksgiving, watching countless holiday movies, and eating my weight in peppermint bark, I can’t seem to get my act together to do any of my Christmas shopping done until the last minute. And I’ve pushed it to the last minute once again.
In fairness, I’d planned on getting my shopping down once I got to my family’s house for the holidays, but when my mom’s best friend, Diane, heard I was back, she asked to meet with me.
I had no idea when I showed up in her office this morning she would offer me a job as the Director of Marketing and Social Media for her chain of pie shops around the city. I thought she wanted to talk to me privately about planning a surprise birthday party for my mom’s fiftieth. It was clear to both of us that my mom had misled us both about ten minutes into the conversation.
Diane thought I knew what I was walking into, and I was mortified when I realized why I was really there and that my mom let me leave the house in leggings and a sweater dress for an interview. However, we were able to get on the same page pretty quickly after we cleared up the misunderstanding.
At first, I wasn't interested, I liked working in the city for a matchmaking website, but the perks and salary she offered were enough to make me think twice about saying no on the spot.
I know my parents would be over the moon if I moved back to town, but I've been gone so long that I'm not sure I could handle the slower pace of small-town life. Besides, there was one person here who could influence my decision—Gabe. But I hadn't seen him in years, not since we broke up senior year of high school when I told him that I was going away to college in California and he was staying in here to work in his Dad's auto shop.
“Pick up! It’s your mother!" My phone starts to say in one of the shopping bags I dropped it in as I checked out in the last store. "Pick up! It’s your mother!”
Some of the other last-minute shoppers in the parking lot start giving me curious stares as I fumble in each of the bags to find the phone.
“I have got to change that ringer,” I grumble to myself. I nearly slip on a patch of ice when I finally find it and click the answer button. “Hello?”
"Nikki, what is taking you so long to get home?" Mom yells, and I pull the phone away from my ear. "I've been waiting all afternoon to find out why Diane wanted to speak with you."
“Don’t even try to play dumb that you didn’t set up the whole meeting on your own,” I tell her.
She clears her throat. It's her tell when she's been caught in a lie but plans to double down. "I have no idea what you are talking about."
“Nice try. You know that Diane offered me a job.”
“When do you start?” She asks, dropping all pretense of surprise.
“I didn’t give her an answer.”
"Why not? Do you know the negotiating I had to do to get her to up the offer to what it is?"
“You what?”
“I mean,” she clears her throat again and asks, “Why wouldn’t you accept the generous offer she is giving to you.”
"It is a generous offer, but I've been with my company for almost five years. This is a big change, and I want to make sure that I have thought everything through before I gave her an answer.”
“Fine, I guess that’s a good enough reason as any.”
I roll my eyes to the sky and shake my head. I love my mother, but sometimes she drives me crazy. This meddling behavior she is exhibiting is not helping sell me on accepting the position with Diane.
"Listen, I've just finished my Christmas shopping, and I will be heading home soon. We can talk tonight about all this. I'm sure that Dad would love to hear all about my side of what happened today."
“Wait, what? Umm, sweetie, he doesn’t—”
“Bye, Mom,” I cut her off and clicked the end button.
My Dad knows more than anyone how my mom meddles in situations she shouldn't be interfering in. He’s the only one that can rein her in when she gets this way. I’m sure she was hoping he wouldn’t find out about this. I can just see him now, face in his hands as she talks her way out of this one.
The winter chill is biting, so I put my bags into the trunk and start my car. I wait a few minutes for it to warm up before I pull out onto the main road in town. The snow from last night is packed down and making it hard to drive. The tires keep losing traction, and I start sliding but not enough to panic. I grip the steering wheel tight as I pass through the intersection of both the main roads in town. My eye catches on the blue tow truck with the wordsAnders and Sonpainted on the side in white letters.
“Gabe?” I glance over my shoulder to see if it’s him in the driver's seat, but the glare from the setting sun makes it impossible to tell.
I look back to the road to the car in front of me just in time to see their brake lights flash. I slam on my brakes, but my tires can't find any grip, and the car keeps moving. Instinctively I jerk the wheel to the right and slide down into the ditch on the side of the road.
"Are you kidding me right now?" I yell, thrusting the gear shift into reverse and try to back out, but the car moves only a few inches before I slide back into the ditch.
“This cannot be happening.” I rest my forehead on the steering wheel.
Suddenly there is a knock on my window, and I nearly jump out of my skin. “Are you okay?”
I turn and see Gabe’s concerned face on the other side of the glass.
