Page 41 of Wishing for Christmas
Clara knew, though, that she needed to figure it out without him, so she’d decided to use the staff as the valuable resources they were. She’d been following them around to learn the ins and outs of each department. Over the past couple of weeks, she’d soaked up as much information as she could about maintenance, reservations, housekeeping, even the restaurant. Now, she was just relieved to have gotten through it in one piece.
With Christmas only a week away, the party rush was now behind her. Things slowed down a lot at the Darlington over the week leading up to Christmas, as the hotel’s hordes of business travelers were replaced with a much lighter holiday tourist crowd. Clara was thrilled to finally be getting some badly needed time off—time she’d get to spend with Brent. As busy as she’d been at the hotel all week, she hadn’t seen him since the squadron party last weekend.
Clara glided down Main Street, the weight of her work week disappearing with each step away from the hotel. She headed straight for the Sugarberry Bakery. The bell jingled as she opened the door to be greeted by the sweet aroma of sugar and butter. She peered at the cakes behind the glass. They looked too good to eat—like a display case full of art. Clara went to the counter to pick up her order, packaged in a pink box tied with their signature gold ribbon. It was worth the small fortune she’d paid for it. The Sugarberry Bakery was famous for its decadent cakes, especially around Christmas. It would be the perfect gift to take to Brent’s parents’ house for their Christmas party that evening. Clara swallowed. Their first time meeting.
Cake in hand, she made a last-minute decision to visit Lily before heading home to get ready. She pulled out her phone to double check the address she’d stored for Kyle, knowing Lily had planned to move to his place after the wedding. Clara hadn’t seen her at all since this whole time-travel thing, and she needed Lily’s calm right about now. She was more nervous aboutmeeting Brent’s family tonight than she realized. Were they going to see right through her? Would they take one look at her and know she didn’t have any idea who their son really was? She was beginning to feel more like a con artist at every turn.
She knockedon Kyle’s door and was instantly greeted by her best friend waving her inside. Clara set the cake on the kitchen counter and untied the ribbon to give Lily a quick peek. They had both been in awe of the boutique bakery’s cakes ever since they were kids.
She thought about the time when they were in third grade and had gone to Sugarberry to pick out a cake for Clara’s birthday party. Her mom had given them money and told them to pick out whatever looked best to them. Clara, in true fashion, had wanted something basic and beautiful. Lily, of course, had tried to talk her into a confetti cake. It was full of colors, all of them bright, exploding with sprinkles in all directions. Instead, Clara chose a classic white cake with pink roses on it. The whipped cream flowers looked as if they had bloomed from a real garden. She loved that cake and could still remember how happy it made her that day.
She thought back to that time in their childhood, back when life was so simple. It didn’t seem all that long ago, but now here they were. Lily’s students were now that age. She was married, and Clara was about to be as well. It all seemed to go by in the blink of an eye, and perhaps it did. Clara thought about what she wouldn’t give to slow time down, even just a little.
“Oh, that looks amazing,” Lily said, peering inside the box, her eyes wide. The two of them both inhaled at the same time, the scents of buttercream and gingerbread pouring out from thecardboard box. Lily leaned in and stuck a finger toward it. Clara swatted it away.
“This is sure to make a good first impression,” Lily said. She looked up at Clara. “But from the way you’d talked about his parents before, I assumed you’d already met them.”
Clara frowned and closed the box. She sat at the table while Lily poured her a cup of hot tea. She pretended to be more familiar with Kyle’s house than she was. She’d been there before but hadn’t paid much attention at the time. Surely she must have been to Lily’s new place at least a dozen times over the past year, and she needed to act accordingly. The last thing she wanted was to revisit the awkward conversation they’d had the other day.
Lily hadn’t believed her for a second, and Clara supposed that was for the best. It was becoming more obvious each day that this was a phenomenon she needed to keep to herself, at least until she understood it better. No, Clara wasn’t going to try to explain this to Lily. She was already stressed enough about meeting Brent’s family. What she needed right now was the familiar company of her best friend. She just hoped that Lily had forgotten their weird conversation.
Clara took out her phone to quickly check for any missed calls. Her thoughts turned to the one person who could make sense of this—her grandmother, who she still couldn’t get a hold of. She needed her more than ever right now, and things were beginning to feel more desperate the longer she went without talking to her.
Clara fired off another text message to her mom.
Call me when you can.
Every time her parents had called lately, she’d either been asleep or working, and any calls Clara had returned went straight to their voicemail. If it weren’t for the regular textsshe received from them, she’d be worried. But with the time difference, she knew better than to count on consistent communication. Even so, this was longer than she was used to going without talking to them, especially Grams.
Her mind returned to Lily’s comment about Brent’s parents. Clara bit her lower lip and thought about what she knew about them. “They live a couple of hours away, so there hasn’t been an opportunity to meet them,” she said, unsure if that was true. Shehadn’tmet them before, had she? Clara squinted as she racked her brain for any clues, knowing the chances were almost nil. Still, she needed to be careful. She never knew what to expect with a conversation these days and didn’t want any more mortifying moments like at the squadron party. Between that painful encounter with Will and her embarrassing show during the newlywed game, she’d had enough humiliation to last her the season.
She made another attempt to get onto her social media account, using the wordcarthis time. The day after the party, she’d tried bothengagement ringandblue star. Neither had worked. She just knew the clues she needed to piece things together were there online. If only she could get in. Access was denied again, though.
Clara passed an eye over the kitchen, taking in the sights of her best friend’s grown-up house. It was a small bungalow on a great street near downtown. Lily, of course, had decorated it all in her typical style. Clara chuckled to herself, appreciating how very “Lily” it all was. Some things never changed—even a year in the future.
She sipped her tea, enjoying the moment of calm in what had otherwise been a chaotic week. Even if the house wasn’t familiar, it was still nice to be in Lily’s comforting presence. While life seemed to be changing so quickly around her, she needed the stability of their rock-solid friendship to ground her in reality.
Clara was quickly learning that her life was just a series of changes she was forced to adapt to, whether she liked it or not. Perhaps a moment of patient reflection was all she needed to reset and not feel that things were moving at a thousand miles per hour. She took a slow breath, smelling the fresh flowers Lily had set out. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmth of the mug against her hands. Lily’s cat purred in a soothing rhythm from underneath the table. When did Lily get a cat? Clara shook her head and smiled, appreciating the surprises as they came. She reached down to rub him on the back. In return, he rubbed his head against her leg as if they’d known each other forever. Yes, she needed this time to relax and get out of her head for a moment.
Lily sat in the chair across from her. “So, are you nervous for the party tonight?” she asked, taking Clara away from her peaceful escape too soon.
Clara nodded with her lips pressed together. “It’s not only his parents I’ll be meeting. His entire family and all their friends will be there too.”
“No pressure,” Lily said. She raised her mug to her lips.
Clara chewed a fingernail.
“Seriously though, Clar, I know they’re all going to love you.”
Clara only shrugged, hoping Lily was right.
“So how was the squadron party last weekend?” Lily asked, changing the subject.
“A little awkward at times.” Clara stopped herself from saying more. She had no idea how she could possibly explainthatsituation to Lily. She couldn’t imagine how it would sound that, through a party game, she realized she knew absolutely nothing about the man she was engaged to. It was probably best to leave that part out.
Lily raised her eyebrows.
Clara waved it off. “Overall, it was amazing.” It was true. After that night, she was more convinced than ever that Brent could be the one. Sure, it seemed as if he knew everything about her already, and she still hada lotto learn about him. When they’d danced together, though, none of that seemed to matter. She smiled to herself as she remembered it now.
