Page 291 of Screwged for Christmas

Each squeaky step across the hardwood floor echoed. Ivy kicked off the noisy rain boots but opted to keep her coat on.

An arched doorway divided the foyer from the rest of the house. Stained glass doors with a domed peak stood wide open, welcoming anyone that entered. When the sunlight followed people through the front door, multicolored light beams would spray the entire house with every cheerful color in the rainbow.

Today, the shroud of clouds that enveloped the town and blocked the sunlight mirrored her mood perfectly.

Walking out of the small foyer, a wall of windows to the left looked out over frozen gardens that waited for the thaw of springtime. Pushed up close to the windows stood a worn yet loved oak table that easily sat twelve to sixteen if they were clever and didn’t mind little elbow room. Two generations of family and friends had bonded over meals and birthday cakes sitting there. The amount of history that table had witnessed astounded her.

A small communal area divided the semi-open space layout before giving way to the gathering area to the right, which invited everyone close with its cozy fireplace and enough seats even the largest of families would fit. Along the back of the sofas were tables that currently held holiday knickknacks, peppermint candy dishes and her gran’s favorite—poinsettias.

She walked past the dining table piled high with the materials she would need for her job and made a beeline for the kitchen, divided by another larger archway and matching stained glass doors that never closed.

She tossed her bag and planner on the counter next to the money and lists Gran had mentioned.

With several flips of her planner, Ivy found the full calendar spread for the month and counted out the days she had to work.

Three days to do a job that normally took seven. Alone. Yeah, sure. She took out her cell and checked for any messages she may have missed but found none. That didn’t mean anything, she reassured herself. They could still be deliberating over her proposed plans. She glanced at the clock. It would soon be noon on the East Coast. Half the workday already went.

“Focus, Ivy. No need to panic. Yet.”

Guests. They were due to arrive in five days. Three days to do the work, a day to clean up and a day to make sure everything was in shipshape.

Many came here year after year and knew her family from before she was even born. That thought helped calm her.

A new idea crept up. They would understand if she called and canceled, right? She eyed the little nook her gran used as the B&B office off to the side of the kitchen.

Ivy crumpled the piece of paper, the little red ribbon at the top smashing into a satisfying colored ball of angry.

“That wouldn’t work.” Everyone already paid and she couldn’t issue refunds this late in the game.

A weird kind of pressure weighed on Ivy’s chest. She rubbed at her place over her heart and scratched at the high collar of her sweater. Her chest heaved and she couldn’t say for sure if it was snowing inside or if the little white dots across her vision were the lack of oxygen to her brain. Staring down at the crumpled note her Gran left, she’d go with the latter as a safer bet.

How could she do this to her? Ivy mentally ran through her list of contacts and who to reach out to in an emergency. A missing grandmother was cause for panic. Right? Only she wasn’t missing. She kidnapped herself and went on vacation and left her in charge with a see-you-later and little choice about the matter.

She could run and never look back. That thought came with another. Where would she run? Maybe her brother, Jon, could hook her up in one of his ski resorts in Switzerland. No one would find her until after the holidays. She would make her older sibling promise and by then it would be too late.

She shoved her hands in the pockets of her coat and pulled out a cookie from the bundle Lucille and sent them off with.

Deep in thought, she nibbled off the antlers first and made her way through the rest of the cookie.

Who was she kidding? As soon as Jon handed over the key to her room, he would be on the phone with Mom and Dad finding a way to fix what appeared to be broken—her. He never could stand to see her sad or upset over something.

Good try, but the idea wouldn’t work. She needed to be ready for the call with her new employers not halfway around the world. If they hired her, she corrected herself. Heck, if they called. They seemed pleased. She didn’t want to get ahead of herself, but she thought it had gone pretty well with their meeting the previous morning. She’d walked out with a promise of a call within the next twenty-four hours if they would be hiring her. She looked at the clock again, when a ping came from her phone.

HA. Gran gave a smiley face emoji to Ivy’s status update. What was she supposed to read into that?

She dusted off the cookie crumbs and tapped in Gran’s digits. Maybe if she pleaded and begged a little more, she would return.

She pressed the cell between her shoulder and ear. As it rang, she snatched the wadded paper off the counter and spread the crinkled mess out when her eye caught something at the bottom.

What? She’d missed something on the note. She tapped the end button and held the note up.

P.s. “Don’t worry about the Christmas lights. I’ve already strung them around outside. But be sure to keep the back gate closed. Oh, don’t forget to put up the Christmas trees.They’ll be delivered at noon,”she read aloud. “As in more than one? How many Christmas trees does a house need? Christmas trees, baubles and lights. Who had time for that stuff? There are walls to paint, light fixtures to replace, Gran’s yearly gift baskets for the guests to assemble and and…”

She couldn’t breathe.

She bent at the waist and placed her hands on her knees.

Her chest wanted to implode and shrivel at the same time, causing dots to cloud her vision again. She immediately regretted eating that cookie as her stomach rolled and heaved.

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