A Christmas to Remember(22)

“The Christmas decorations looked very nice when I drove up,” he said at last. “I like what you’ve done with the white lights outside and the window candles.”

“Thank you,” she said, her voice so quiet it was almost a whisper. She didn’t know what else to say. His reaction puzzled her. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Was he angry? Should she have just left well enough alone? It was only the second day of her employment; she had a long way to go. She’d never faced this situation before. She could always be honest with the women who had employed her, but being honest like she had with a man was different. Being honest with him was different. She couldn’t put her finger on it—perhaps it was the way he smiled at her, or the fact that she could tell there was more to him than he was showing.

She looked down at her stew and ate a spoonful. It was still hot enough that the steam was rising in front of her. She stirred it around, watching the vegetables spin in the broth. The more she sat there, the more she thought she might have been wrong making such a bold suggestion. No matter what she thought about Adam Fletcher, she barely knew him, and she worried that she’d overstepped her bounds. What had she been thinking to pry into his life and speak to him like that? She was the nanny, and he was her employer. Her focus was the children. Guilt settled in her stomach, making it difficult to eat another bite.

Adam picked up his phone and started scrolling through something, that serious face of his returning—the pursed lips, the crease between his eyes. Was he just going to leave the conversation at that? Never even address the fact that she’d asked him to get a Christmas tree with his own children? Was he going to make a call, get involved with his work again, and walk out not to return until the next morning? She felt so helpless in that moment because it was clear from only a few days with them that what the kids needed was time with their father, and Adam needed to show them love. They were all missing so much.

“I can try to meet you at ten o’clock tomorrow. Can we do it in an hour?” he asked, typing on his phone. He was mulling it over. She just noticed that he’d been scrolling through his calendar. She watched the way he pressed his lips together, the way he blinked slowly to fight fatigue, the strength in his cheekbones. He was good-looking, certainly, but the fact that he’d listened to her, paid attention to her request, and honored it, made him more attractive than any good looks could. She had to work to keep the smile from spreading across her face. Adam Fletcher was getting a Christmas tree. She’d done it, and the success of it felt so good. She’d gone with her gut, and she’d been right! The kids would be able to say that they bought a tree with their father. How wonderful. She wanted to get up and hug him. Instead, she tried to rearrange her lips to keep a serious expression.

“Yes,” she said. “We can do it in an hour.”





Chapter Seven





Deep breathing can ease anxiety and evoke calm. Carrie tried unsuccessfully to control her excitement as she got the children ready. She took in a big breath and let it out slowly. It was nearly nine forty-five, and they were meeting Adam at the Christmas tree farm down the road in fifteen minutes. She tucked Olivia’s scarf into her coat. “I’ve got the car running, but it will take me a few minutes to clean it off. Would anyone like to help me get the snow off the car?”

“Me!” Olivia jumped up and down. “Oh, I’m hot,” she said suddenly, pulling at her scarf.

Carrie smiled down at her. Only Olivia’s dark blue eyes and pink cheeks were visible. The rest of her was so bundled that her entire body was lost underneath.

“I can help too,” David said quietly, tugging on the wrist of his mittens to pull them on. His face was contorted in concentration as he struggled to get his fingers in. His stocking cap was a little lower than it should be, and he kept trying to push it out of his eyes.

“I’m hot,” Olivia said again.

With a chuckle, Carrie opened the front door, letting in a gust of freezing air. “This should help,” she said, ushering the kids outside into the snow. The sun had come out, casting golden light on the white expanse around them. All they could see was the bright blue of the sky and the glitter of snow. Carrie couldn’t help but be excited about this trip. It was a tiny step in the right direction. If she could get Adam to spend an hour with the kids on her third day of work, what could she accomplish with more time?

She handed David a little brush she’d found in the garage, and passed a scraper to Olivia. “David, can you be sure all the lights on the car are brushed clean, please? And Olivia, you can scrape the mirrors on the outside for me.” The children, eager to assist, got right to work. Carrie had already brushed the snow off the windshield, and the heat from the defrost inside had done the rest of the work, but she wanted the car to be warm enough. So, to keep the kids busy and to make them feel like they’d done something grown up, she’d had them help. By the time their interest was dwindling, it was a few minutes before ten o’clock, so she buckled them into the car and headed for the Christmas tree lot.