Page 55 of Dragged Home for Christmas
“Sit down, Mike.” Sam led him to the couch.
“Here, have some tea.” Elliott poured him a cup.
“And one of Ellen’s cookies,” Anthony added.
Mike glared at them. “Start talking. Tell me why you just let six million dollars go walking out that door. Because he was right. That would have solved all our problems.”
“And given Ben Sharp a toe in the door,” Ashley flung at him. “No one around here wants that.”
“Not to mention that you’d have Nick rolling in his grave—if he had one.” Anthony glanced at Sam. “You can tell him.”
Sam pushed out a sigh. “We’d better come clean.” He cleared his throat. “We set up a crowd-funding project, to raise money for the supplies—justthe supplies—and then shared the link on the town’s Facebook page.”
“Afterwe checked you hadn’t joined it yet,” Jim added.
“And before you got the results of the survey,” Elliott said.
Mike was momentarily lost for words. “You shouldn’t have done that. It makes us look as though we’re holding out a begging bowl. Hasn’t Elliott’s money box already sent out that message?”
“But that was forchange,” Elliott stressed. “You needed a hell of a lot more. And itwasn’tbegging. We asked for donations of any size—even if that was five dollars—from anyone who knew Nick.”
“It was Harry’s idea,” Anthony informed him. “We just took it and ran with it.”
“Please, don’t be angry with us,” Sam pleaded. “We know how much it means to you to get this place up and running. Harry just thought this would give you a head start.”
Mike couldn’t argue with them, not when they’d acted out of love.
“I guess I’m not really mad at you. And whatever it raises, no matter how small, it’ll go toward the bill for the supplies.”
Elliot smiled. “But this is why we’re telling you now. We set an initial goal of ten thousand dollars. We passed that the day after Thanksgiving.”
“What?”
He nodded. “We can’t believe it either. The donations just keep rolling in.”
“How many donations?”
“About two thousand people so far.” Sam smiled. “And counting.”
“So what we’re trying to say is… You don’t need Ben Sharp’s money. Granted, we’d never raise six million, but you don’tneedthat much.” Jim’s face glowed. “This way, we have enough to refurbish the hotel—including paying for the bathroom suppliesandgetting someone in to install it all, plus everything else that needs doing—and have it up and running by Christmas.”
“More importantly, it’s what Nick would’ve wanted.” Anthony’s voice cracked.
Mike’s throat seized, and tears pricked his eyes. He held his arms wide. “Come here, all of you. I’m calling for a group hug.”
Four men and one woman crowded around him, and Mike was swamped in a wave of affection.
He sent up a silent message.
Nick, wherever you are? Thank you for my new family.
“You can move now.”
Elliott stretched his arms high above his head. “Am I allowed to look?”
Stephan chuckled. “Usually I make the model wait until I’m finished, but as it’s you…” He crooked his finger. “Come take a peek.”
He hopped off the stool he’d posed on, and strolled over to the easel. After three sessions, he’d gotten comfortable around Stephan, and he had no qualms about walking around the studio naked.
