“And you know what I’m going to say. Christmas is just as hectic for me as it is for you. I can’t get away.” Because Christmas is the busy season for my family’s business, we’ve always celebrated the holiday the second week of December.
It’s weird, but it’s tradition. As kids, we believed Santa was just as busy as our parents on Christmas day. By getting our presents on a different day we were giving Santa a break he’d be grateful to get. So grateful, he might give us more presents.
Having a business of my own now, it’s become painfully clear that our parents could have managed to take a few days off for the holiday if they’d really wanted to and made it a priority. They certainly had enough staff to cover for them.
“And I know that’s bullshit,” he says. “I get why you don’t want to come home. And I can’t promise you Mom and Dad won’t spend the entire time you’re here mocking your business and telling you what an idiot you are for leaving. In fact, I can promise you that’s exactly what they’ll do, but you should be here. We all miss you. And Mom and Dad love you, they’re just misguided. They really believe your guide business is just a blip and you’ll be back here as a ski instructor by next year.”
The fact they think I can best contribute to the family business as a ski instructor is a big part of the problem. They still see me as the wild, irresponsible kid I used to be. I haven’t given them much reason to think I’ve changed, but they haven’t tried to get to know adult me, either. “I’ll visit in the summer.” When I can stay for a few hours and leave.
“Mom and Dad are thinking about retiring.”
That sucks the air right out of my lungs. I can’t have heard him right. “What?”
“They want to travel and spend more time with their grandkids. Maisey’s been struggling since the divorce and Mom and Dad want to be able to help her out.”
My sister is a very young mom to two-year-old twins. She married her high school sweetheart before she’d even finished college and it was a rocky, unhappy marriage. The divorce was a relief to all of us, except Maisey. My singular regret in not getting home more often is not getting to see more of my niece and nephew.
“They don’t mean it,” I say. “They’ll toss the idea around for a few weeks, but you know they won’t be able to retire.”
“Dad just turned seventy, man. He’s not getting around as well as he used to, and Mom wants to travel with him while he still can.”
My chest gets tight at the thought. As frustrated as I am with my parents, I can’t picture my six foot five, muscular, active father getting frail. “You aren’t just fucking with me to get me to come home? You really think they’re retiring?”
“Cal’s been champing at the bit for years to take over as CEO and Maisey has some ideas she wants to implement about redesigning the chateaus that she can’t do as long as Mom’s around. You know Mom thinks nothing can change or people will stop coming back to ski here.”
“Yeah, I do know.” Maisey’s called me often enough to vent. “What I don’t see is how that necessitates my presence at Christmas.”
“Mom and Dad are worried about you, bro. They don’t feel they can truly retire as long as you’ve flown the nest. They want you working for the company, secure in your position on their watch. If you want them off your back, you need to make thembelieve you’ve got an undeniably good reason to stay in Yuletide. It’s the only way they’ll accept it.”
“There’s nothing I can tell them, because they don’t want to accept reality. They’ll never be happy until I’m back in the family business.”
“There’s got to be something.” Holden’s tone goes distant like he’s thinking. “Maybe a unique mountain view or a type of fish that can only be found in Yuletide… Nah, that doesn’t work.” He pauses. “I’ve got it. You need a Yuletide girlfriend. The kind of girlfriend who’s committed to staying in Yuletide and never leaving. Maybe someone with a lot of family there?”
Shit. What he’s saying is making sense. I really don’t want it to make sense. I’m in no mood to get grief about my business from my family, especially since the success of Evergreen Expeditions is teetering toward doom at the moment. Unfortunately, retirement would be what’s best for my parents and my siblings, and I still care about what’s best for all of them. No matter how much I don’t want to.
I open my mouth to say I have no idea what, when Blue walks past the front of my truck toward her apartment. She’s wearing a skirt or a dress that’s so short her ass would be revealed with one gust of wind. It’s a ridiculous thing to be wearing in this cold, even if she’s got a puffy coat over her top half.
The sky-high heels she’s got on are also ridiculous, even if her long, shapely legs look amazing in them.
What I like least of all about her outfit are the two over-muscled pretty boys wrapped around her, the three of them laughing together as they walk away from me.
“Hud, I’ve got to go. I’ll consider your request.”
“All I can ask for.”
I hang up, grab what I need from the back of my truck, and take off at a sprint for Blue’s apartment.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Blue
“You got any chicken breasts in here?” Marcus asks from where he’s bent over and staring into my freezer, Lilith winding around his feet because she loved him at first sight. “Do you eat anything other than frozen dinners?”
“Leave her alone.” Francis pats my head. I’m laying on the couch with my head in his lap. “She’s had a rough week.”
So rough, I haven’t had time to take down all the stupid decorations Garrick put up, except for the ridiculous bedspread with his face on it. Honestly, I’m growing kind of fond of the decorations. They make my apartment feel lived in. And I’ll admit that to him over my own dead body.
“I’ve had a rough year,” I say, fully wallowing now. “Everyone hates me. Even you two couldn’t make people hang out with me.”
