Beth Carpenter - A Gift For Santa

And she’d been wrong again. Wrong when she’d thought Robert would make the perfect husband and father, and so very wrong when she’d believed Jason was someone she could trust. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

So many bad choices, but she was finally taking the lessons to heart. She had poor judgment when it came to men. Much better to focus on the aspects of her life she did well, like her career and her family. Not that she’d done so well with family in the past few years, but now she would, because the scare with Oliver made her realize he and Becky meant more to her than anything else in the world.

She went back to work, taking care of the rabbits and feeding the goats and Willa, the potbellied pig. Once she’d checked that the chickens were all right, she unloaded the party gear from the truck. The mail still lay on the front seat where she’d left it.

She put the truck away and carried the letters to the house, sorting through them to see if anything had been forwarded to her. A large “second notice” stamp on one of Oliver’s envelopes caught her eye. Uh-oh.

Oliver had always handled the bills. Maybe with his illness, he’d fallen behind. Marissa decided that after dinner she would volunteer to help out. The scent of sage and onions greeted her when she opened the back door. Becky was stirring the chicken soup she’d started in the slow cooker that morning. Marissa closed her eyes and inhaled. “Mmm. I’m starved.”

“Then it’s a good thing we’re ready to eat.” Becky dished up bowls of soup filled with big chunks of chicken, vegetables and barley. Oliver sat at the kitchen table, slicing bread. Marissa hurried to wash up.

After dinner, she washed the dishes and Becky dried. While her aunt was still wiping down the countertops, Marissa slipped into the living room to talk with her uncle. “I brought in the mail today and left it on your desk.”

“Okay, thanks.” Oliver reached for the remote control.

“I, um, couldn’t help but notice that one of the envelopes said second notice.”

Oliver didn’t look at her. “Humph. Must be some computer error or something.”

“Do you want me to check? I’m good with paperwork, if you need me to balance your accounts or anything.”

“No, no. I can handle it.” He was answering too quickly.

She studied his face, at least what she could see of it, since he still hadn’t looked her way. “I know you can, but as long as I’m here, why don’t you go ahead and write the check so I can put it in the mail tomorrow?”

He snapped the television on to some reality show that she knew he had zero interest in. “Not necessary.”

“Aren’t you curious as to which bill is late?”

He shook his head and pretended to watch the show. He knew. It wasn’t some computer error. Oliver knew exactly which bill was late and why. What was going on with their finances?

“Uncle Oliver, tell me the truth. What’s wrong?”

For a moment, he ignored her. Finally, he clicked the TV off, but continued to stare at the screen. “We’re having a little cash flow problem.”

“Why?”

“I made a bad investment.”

A sense of foreboding formed an icicle in her stomach. “What kind of investment?”

He shrugged.

And she knew. “You invested with Jason, didn’t you?”

Jason had gone out of his way to welcome them when they’d visited in February. He’d asked all sorts of questions about the farm and life in Alaska. He’d seemed fascinated with Oliver’s stories of the reindeer farm and how isolated they were with their closest neighbors a mile away, a couple who used the house only in the summer. And of course, Oliver ate it up.

Jason had never mentioned money or investing while Marissa was around. He’d obviously waited until he had Oliver alone. Of course, even if Marissa had realized he was soliciting investments from Oliver, she wouldn’t have objected. After all, she’d entrusted her own modest savings with him. And now Oliver and Becky were facing old age and illness without any financial cushion, while Jason lived it up with their money on a tropical island somewhere. Damn him.

Oliver eyed her with concern. “Honey, it’s not your fault. You didn’t know.”

“I should have known. The whole setup was wrong. It was too good to be true. He was too good to be true.”

Her uncle reached for her hand. “Don’t beat yourself up. Most people are basically good. So, you and I let a slick huckster take our money. Next time we’ll know to ask more questions. But what would be the real tragedy is if we let him destroy our faith in people, don’t you think?”

How did he do it? Here he was, sick, unable to pay his bills and yet he was comforting her. Her heart swelled with pride to be related to such a man. She hugged him. “I think you’re the world’s best uncle.”

He chuckled. “I believe I have a mug that says so. Don’t you worry about that bill. Once Becky takes today’s check to the bank, we can pay it and the feed store. And the good news is we have several more parties scheduled between now and Christmas. We’ll be fine.”

But what about after Christmas? There was a huge gap between Christmas parties and the summer tourist season. They were going to require a regular income above their modest retirement checks just to get by, and the transplant wouldn’t be cheap. As soon as she could make it happen, Marissa needed to find a job.

CHAPTER FOUR

Twenty days till Christmas

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER PARTY. This one was a private birthday party. Not as profitable as the big events, but every little bit helped. Marissa grimaced as she bounced the wheel of the trailer over the curb on the turn into the parking lot, no doubt jostling the reindeer inside. Sorry, girls. She wasn’t used to driving with a trailer, but Oliver’s aid was running late and Becky had to stay until she arrived. Marissa gingerly pulled the truck and trailer along the edge of the almost-empty parking lot where they would be setting up the reindeer rides.

Across the lot, the door of an old blue truck opened. Chris. What was he doing here so early? Becky had him scheduled to arrive just in time to get dressed before the party started. After her meltdown the other day, Marissa had hoped to have Becky as a buffer the next time she faced him, but apparently not.

He walked across the parking lot. “Hi. Where’s Becky?”

“She’ll be along in a little while. Oliver’s health aid got delayed.”

“Oh.” He shifted his weight. “I, uh, I’m sorry for the other day. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“I’m fine.”

“Good. Because I—”

“So let’s just forget it, okay?”

“Okay.”

“What are you doing here so early?”

He shrugged. “Nowhere else I need to be. Besides, Sam is leaving for his rotation to the North Slope today, so I wanted to be out of the house.”

“You still live with Sam?” She’d have thought Chris would have gotten his own place by now.

Chris shrugged. “Why not? He’s been promoted to head supervising engineer at Prudhoe Bay, so he’s gone to the slope two weeks out of four, and I’m out fishing most of the summer. Why leave two places sitting empty? I might be moving soon, though.”

She smirked. “Trouble in paradise after all these years?”

“Very funny. No, it’s just getting a little crowded, now that he’s married. And since it’s his last day home for two weeks, I thought I’d give the newlyweds some privacy.” He opened the tailgate. “You need all this stuff carried in?”

“Sam is married?” She wasn’t sure why she was so surprised. Sam was a great guy, but he’d been solely focused on his career. More than one woman had tried to tie him down, with little success. Marissa wondered who had finally won him over. “What’s his wife’s name? Do I know her?”