“Where would you like to go?” Jake asked.
“Wherever you’d like to take me.” Late though it was, she didn’t want the night to end. Lindy Lee had never thrown a Christmas party for her staff. Maybe she’d talk to Lindy about planning one for next December; she could discuss the benefits-employee satisfaction and loyalty, which would lead to higher productivity. Those were the terms Lindy would respond to. Not appreciation or enjoyment or fun. Having worked with Lindy as long as she had, Holly suspected her employer wasn’t a happy person. And she wasn’t someone who cared about the pleasure of others.
“I thought this would be a miserable Christmas,” Holly confessed, leaning close to Jake as they moved down the busy sidewalk. They weren’t the only couple reveling in the falling snow.
“Why?” Jake asked. “Because of your brother?”
“Well, yes. It’s also the first Christmas without my parents, and then Mickey got called up for Afghanistan so there’s just Gabe and me.”
“What changed?”
“A number of things, actually,” she said. “Meeting you, of course.”
“Thank you.” He bent down and touched his lips to hers in the briefest of kisses.
“My attitude,” she said. “I was worried that Gabe would resent living with me. For months we didn’t really bond.”
“You have now, though, haven’t you?”
“Oh, yes. I didn’t realize how much I loved him until he went missing the other day. I…I don’t normally panic, but I did then.”
Holly was still surprised by how accommodating her employer had been during and after that crisis. First Lindy Lee had allowed Gabe to come to the office and then she’d actually chatted with him. Holly didn’t know what the two of them had talked about, but her employer had seemed almost pleasant afterward.
“Remember the other night when you and Gabe decorated your Christmas tree?” Jake asked.
“Of course.”
“Gabe asked me about mine.”
“Right.” It’d been an awkward moment. Gabe had been full of questions. He couldn’t understand why some people chose not to make Christmas part of their lives. No tree. No presents. No family dinner. The closest Jake and his father got to celebrating the holidays was their yearly sojourn to the Virgin Islands.
Holly knew this was his father’s way of ignoring the holiday. Jake and J.R. left on Christmas Eve and didn’t return until after New Year’s.
She was sure they’d depart sooner if they could. The only reason they stayed in New York as long as they did was because of the business. The holiday season made their year financially. Without the last-quarter sales, many retailers would struggle to survive. Finley’s Department Store was no different.
“You told Gabe you didn’t put up a tree,” Holly reminded him.
“I might’ve misled him.”
“You have a tree?” After everything he’d said, that shocked her.
“You’ll see.” His stride was purposeful as they continued walking. She soon figured out where they were headed.
“I can’t wait,” she said with a laugh.
When they reached Rockefeller Center, they stood gazing up at the huge Christmas tree, bright with thousands of lights and gleaming decorations. Jake gestured toward it. “That’s my Christmas tree,” he said.
“Gabe’s going to be jealous that I got to see it again-with you.”
Music swirled all around them as Jake slipped his arm about her waist. “When I was young, I found it hard to give up the kind of Christmas I’d known when my mother and sister were alive. Dad refused to have anything to do with the holidays but I still wanted the tree and the gifts.”
Holly hadn’t fully grasped how difficult those years must’ve been for him.
“Dad said if I wanted a Christmas tree, I could pick one in the store and make it my own. Better yet, I could claim the one in Rockefeller Center and that’s what I did.”
Instinctively she knew Jake had never shared this information with anyone else.
“Well, you’ve got the biggest, most beautiful Christmas tree in the city,” she said, leaning her head against his shoulder.
“I do,” he murmured.
“Jake,” she said carefully. “Would you consider having Christmas dinner with Gabe and me?”
He didn’t answer, and she wondered if she’d crossed some invisible line by issuing the invitation. Nevertheless she had to ask.
“I know that would mean not joining your father when he leaves for the Caribbean, but you could fly out the next day, couldn’t you?” Holly felt she needed to press the issue. If he was ever going to agree, it would be tonight, after he’d witnessed how much it meant to Finley’s employees that he’d attended their party.
“I could fly out later,” he said. “But then I’d be leaving my father alone on the saddest day of his life.”
“I’d like to invite him, too.”
Jake’s smile was somber and poignant. “He’ll never come, Holly. He hates anything to do with Christmas-outside of the business, anyway.”
“Maybe so, but I’d still like to ask him.” She wasn’t sure why she couldn’t simply drop this. It took audacity to invite two wealthy men to her small apartment, when their alternative was an elaborate meal in an exotic location.
She was embarrassed now. “I apologize, Jake. I don’t know what made me think you’d want to give up the sunshine and warmth of a Caribbean island for dinner with me and Gabe.”
“Don’t say that! I want to be with you both.”
“But you don’t feel you can leave your father.”
“That’s true, but maybe it’s time I started creating traditions of my own. I’d be honored to spend Christmas Day with the two of you,” he said formally.
Holly felt tears spring to her eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered.
She turned to face him. He smiled as she slid her hands up his chest and around his neck. Standing on the tips of her toes with a light snow falling down on them, she pressed her mouth to his.
Jake held her tight. Holly sensed that they’d crossed a barrier in their relationship and established a real commitment to each other.
“When I come, I’ll bring the robot for Gabe and hide it under the tree so it’ll be a real surprise.”
“I’ll give you the money on Friday-Christmas Eve.”
Christmas Eve.
“Okay.” She knew he’d rather not take it, but there was no question-she had every intention of paying.
Jake called his car service, and a limousine met them at Rockefeller Center fifteen minutes later. When he dropped her off at the apartment Mrs. Miracle was sound asleep, still in the blue chair. Jake helped her out to the car, then had the driver take her home. Holly was touched by his thoughtfulness.