Julianna Morris - Christmas With Carlie

“California?”

Tilly’s eyes narrowed. “There’s nothing wrong with California. As a matter of fact, General Pierson’s aide recommended Poppy Gold the last time we spoke. I’m sure I can clear your appointment and meeting schedule for the next month.”

“A month?” he repeated. “How did we go from getting out of town for Christmas to a whole month?”

“It has to be long enough to do some good. Better yet, stay a week or two into the New Year. They have a fully equipped business center, so you’d be able to handle anything urgent that comes up.”

“Let me take a look.”

Luke turned to his computer and pulled up the website for Poppy Gold Inns, where the holidays—both Thanksgiving and Christmas—were the main theme. According to the description, the entire historic district of a town in the California Gold Country had been converted to a group of bed-and-breakfast inns. In the pictures, Poppy Gold Inns was a quaint Victorian village, decorated to the nines with holly, evergreen and red velvet bows.

“I don’t see any snow,” he said, “so it obviously wouldn’t be a white Christmas.”

Tilly snorted. “When was the last time we had a white Christmas in Austin, Texas? Down here, it’s Santa Claus in a cowboy hat, driving a stagecoach. Stop procrastinating. I’ve checked and one of the houses is available.”

“You’ve already checked? Let me guess—you’ve already reserved it, too.”

“Of course. I didn’t want anyone else to take it while you were dragging your feet. It needed a referral from General Pierson’s office, so the clock was ticking.”

Luke’s jaw tightened. Maybe a change would be best for the girls.

For him, too.

“All right, clear my calendar from the last week of November through the first week of January,” he told her. “We’ll take the jet and leave the day after Thanksgiving.”

Tilly pursed her lips. “What about your parents? They planned to be in Austin until the twenty-fifth.”

Luke loved his mother and father, but they could be something of a trial. Craig and Heather Forrester both had generous trust funds, but when he was a kid, they’d always spent their annual allowance within nine or ten months. He’d hated the way they lived off their wealthier friends the rest of the year. Luke’s grandparents on both sides had given up on them before his sister, Nicole, was born, being people who heartily disapproved of a frivolous lifestyle. He barely remembered them.

“Get my parents invited to an embassy dinner in Washington. They’ll regretfully call off their trip to Austin.”

Craig and Heather’s latest goal was getting appointed to a diplomatic post. They were effortlessly charming, so it was possible, but he doubted they understood that being in the diplomatic corps required actual effort. Work wasn’t a concept they grasped well.

“Which embassy?”

“It doesn’t matter. Just find one that’s having a party. I’ll ask my sister if she wants to come with us to California.”

“You’ll also need a tutor for the girls so they don’t get behind in school.” Tilly made a note on her pad. “Anything else?”

“Not right now, but I hope this bed-and-breakfast place has decent plumbing.”

Tilly looked smug. “If they don’t, you can fire me.”

“I’ve fired you a hundred times. You refuse to go.”

“That’s what makes me such a valuable employee... I don’t listen to a word you say.”

He smiled faintly. Tilly was more valuable to him than a thousand other employees and she knew it.

As she walked out of the office, he closed his eyes, wishing he could go back to when life had been simpler. But life never got simpler. It just got harder.

CHAPTER ONE

CARLIE BENTON BREEZED through the back entrance of Old City Hall. No longer a civic building, it housed the reservation hub and guest reception area for Poppy Gold Inns and Conference Center, along with various offices and other useful spaces.

“Good morning,” called a familiar voice.

Carlie grinned at her aunt. “Good morning, Aunt Polly. Wasn’t Thanksgiving terrific?”

“It was wonderful. I think we broke a record for everyone getting back home to Glimmer Creek for the holiday.”

“That’s because they wanted to see Tessa’s baby.”

Polly Murphy beamed. “I don’t think Tessa and Gabe got to hold their daughter the entire afternoon, even to change Meredith’s diapers.”

“Tessa was able to nurse Merri, that’s all.” Carlie glanced at the clock. “Oops, I’ve got to go. Busy day. See you later.”

Until sixteen months ago, Carlie had been working in the San Francisco Bay Area, only returning to her hometown for visits. Then she’d been hired as the Poppy Gold Inns’ activity director. Carlie loved it and in many ways working at the historic bed-and-breakfast facility was like attending a family reunion every day. Her cousin Tessa McKinley was the owner-manager along with her father, Liam Connor, and half the employees were related in one way or another.

If only her own father...

A hint of melancholy went through Carlie. Dad had been injured the previous summer while laying down asphalt on a road as a highway worker. An impatient driver had sped around some slow-moving cars and plowed into him, permanently damaging his leg. Mike Benton now worked as a traffic flagger at road construction sites, which he hated. But he also wouldn’t take a job at Poppy Gold, no matter how much the family cajoled him.

“I don’t want anybody’s pity,” he’d declared on more than one occasion. He didn’t understand that it wouldn’t be pity; it would be giving Poppy Gold the benefit of three decades of practical, hands-on civil engineering experience.

Carlie shook the thought away and greeted the members of her staff who’d already arrived.

“Did you hear...?” Joan Peters started to say, only to stop and blush.

“Hear what?” asked Carlie.

“Nothing,” Tracy Wade said hastily.

Tracy and Joan exchanged glances and hurriedly went back to making holiday name tags for the staff.

Carlie frowned.

She’d sensed an air of anticipation in Old City Hall after arriving, but had put it down to adrenaline. They had to hit the ground running to get ready for Christmas, so there was little time for day-after-Thanksgiving relaxation. For the next six weeks, Poppy Gold would be devoted to the Christmas and New Year celebrations. The Victorian village was ideally suited for strings of lights, electric candles in the windows, mistletoe, evergreen swags and everything else that was bright and cheerful.

“Is something going on that I should know about?” she asked.

“Uh, no. We mustn’t gossip.”

Especially here at work, Carlie added silently.

Gossip was a form of entertainment in the small town of Glimmer Creek, but it was discouraged at Poppy Gold, particularly when it came to their guests.

Carlie didn’t have time to think about anything new, regardless. The basic holiday schedule had been established long before she’d begun working as the activities director, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be busy implementing her own ideas. Traditionally, the autumn decorations came down the morning after Thanksgiving, with Christmas arriving with a vengeance the next day. Well, it would arrive with a fervent festive spirit.

Poppy Gold Inns had guests who booked years in advance for Christmas kickoff day, as the regulars called it. Visitors didn’t have to participate, but being able to join in as part of the “work crew” was why many of them came for the extended Thanksgiving weekend, saying it got them in the mood for the holiday. Some loved decorating trees, some preferred making wreaths, while others strung evergreen garlands on fences or lampposts or worked on the public areas of a specific Victorian. There were lots of things to do for all ages.