Page 411 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
It was exactly what I’d pictured in my head.
At my desk, I shed my coat and cardigan, leaving both draped over the back of my chair. I hadn’t settled for more than a minute and was still waiting for my computer to finish starting up when my closest friend in the office and the lead on my event team, Aleena, showed up with a piping-hot cup of coffee. She set it on the corner of my desk, sat down across from me, and leaned back in her chair with a contented sigh.
“How long have you been here?” I asked.
She nodded up at the icicle lights over our heads. Later this afternoon the team would be adding festive greenery to the overhead décor. “We started as soon as the cleaners were finished. So… three o’clock this morning?”
I winced. “Sorry, babe. I know it’s kind of a pain, but you get tomorrow off still, yeah?”
“Yep, and I intend to make the most of it. I’m going to take my sister out to a craft fair in the afternoon, and then I’m going to take her kid off her hands for the evening. She and her husband haven’t had a night to themselves in months. Can you imagine?”
“Aleena, I can’t imagine having a night to myself with a dude in general. Too busy.”
She chuckled. “Yes, but you haven’t seen my sister’s husband. He’s a stud. Like, top notch stud. You know, I’d wager he’s almost on the same level as Chadwick.”
“As in he’s a total player?” I asked dryly. My computer had finally powered on, so I signed in and immediately opened my email inbox.
Sixty-seven new messages.
Great.
“My sister’s husband is definitely not a player.” Aleena snickered. “He’s one of those guys who grew into his looks. He was such a dorky-looking guy when they first met. But now he’s filled out. Chadwick on the other hand? He’s always been hot.”
I looked around the office, searching for the owner’s son, Chadwick. “Will you lower your voice? The last thing we need is him overhearing us talking about him like this. His ego is already the size of Manhattan.”
“With a face and a body like his? I can’t blame him.”
I eyed her over the top of my computer. “You know, I was going to buy you a little something I saw in Macy’s store window for Christmas this year, but maybe I should just ask Chadwick to show up at your front door with a bow on his head.”
“I’d ruin him for all other women,” she said dreamily.
“Apparently he’s not the only one with an ego the size of Manhattan,” I mumbled as I half-scanned an email from one of my décor vendors who’d run out of gold tinsel. I’d need to get my hands on some later this week somewhere else.
Aleena sipped her coffee. “The only person here who should have an inflated ego right now is you. Everyone knows about your promotion, you know.”
“Who let it out of the bag?”
Aleena shrugged. “Beats me, but everyone is talking about it.”
I looked around the office. Nobody met my eye, and it didn’t feel like I was the subject of any rumors, but this was a professional office, and there was no telling what whispers were being muttered behind closed doors.
“Don’t sweat it,” Aleena said. “Nobody is saying anything bad. They all think you deserve it. You’re the hardest worker here, Tinsely. Well, aside from Alastair of course. But let’s be real, you work more hours than anyone else, and you rule the Christmas season with a candy cane fist.”
I arched an eyebrow. “That sounds rather tyrannical.”
“And true.”
Okay, maybe it was true. I had a reputation for being a bit of a Christmas freak in this office because my career started at Bamford’s at this time of year exactly ten years ago. I’d only been eighteen at the time, and I didn’t work in this glamorous office. I worked on the retail floor at the original Bamford’s store in Manhattan. I covered shifts between departments during the regular season, but that year the store had been short on salespeople, so I was brought on to work an overtime closing in the Christmas department.
The funny part?
I got locked in overnight because, me being me, I’d gone into Santa’s village with the bright idea of trying to make the scene more “authentic” by putting fake snow around the base of his sleigh and adding real toys that were for sale into it. When I realized my own work ethic had literally sabotaged me and got me locked in a giant department store completely by myself over night, I started to panic.
In the middle of a near-breakdown, I decided to do what I did best.
Decorate.
I made sure the whole store was organized to perfection and decorated the way I saw it in my mind’s eye. When the manager came in and opened the next day, she found me wrapping gifts behind the sales counter that had been ordered by customers who would come to pick them up that afternoon.
