Christmas in the City II Read online

  COPYRIGHT

  Copyright © 2016 by Authors in the City

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing, 2015

  Authors in the City

  www.authorsinthecity.com

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the authors.

  Cover design and formatting by MadHat Books.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Thank you Shari at MadHat books for the wonderfully awesome cover. Once again you took our insanity and created something so beautiful.

  To Lori and Donna - thank you for helping get this together for the second year. Dealing with my Alpha tendencies can't be easy. I'm sure you want to shake me several times a day. Always in the end you have my back wether I'm happy with the results or not. Love you ladies. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

  To the participating 2016 CITC Authors - without you this book wouldn't exist and I'm grateful you took time out of your already busy schedules to make this anthology happen. I appreciate you more than you know.

  Thank you to Caring Community Foundation for allowing us to use their charity as our chosen charity for this anthology. We hope Christmas in the City II will help many families who are fighting with cancer and needing help make ends meet.

  DEDICATION

  To those who have and are suffering through cancer. To their families who have to see their loved ones go through many changes, feelings, and stages of fighting this awful disease. We dedicate this book to you in hopes that it will help brighten your day when you need to smile, need to get away, or just need to rest your mind for a little while on something else other than the pain and what happens next.

  Christmas Once Again

  Written by:

  Samantha Chase

  One

  Hunter Ashton wanted nothing more than to change his last name and ditch all of the responsibilities that were attached to it. There hadn’t been a time when he wasn’t being groomed for something or being told what was expected of him. Saying no to his parents – particularly his mother – wasn’t an option. At least…not a smart one.

  Case in point – the call he was on right now with her. Doing his best to leave his office after a disastrous meeting with his marketing people, the last thing he needed was his mother demanding that he put in an appearance at a holiday-themed fundraiser at the family estate in Chapel Hill. Tonight. With a snow storm moving in.

  Stalking out the front door of his downtown Raleigh building as the first snowflakes started to fall, he sighed. “Mother, this is kind of short notice and I already have plans for tonight.”

  “Cancel them,” Susan Ashton quipped. “This is far more important. You know how much the art council means to me. And it’s early enough in the day for you to change your plans and put in an appearance.”

  Pinching the bridge of his nose and counting to ten under his breath, Hunter did his best to remain calm. “I understand what you’re saying, Mother, but had you given me a bit more notice…”

  “You would have come up with an excuse sooner,” she replied. “I know you, Hunter, and this is why I have to do things the way I do. Now…if you leave the office now, you’ll have time to go to your house, grab a change of clothes and be here by three. It’s very important that you be here, Hunter. By three. Don’t let me down.” Then she blew a kiss into the phone and hung up.

  Cursing under his breath, Hunter climbed into the black Lincoln SUV that was waiting at the curb.

  “Not the friendliest of greetings…”

  Looking up, Hunter was greeted with a smirk by his best friend, Brady Miller. The two had been friends since they met in private school back in the fifth grade. They’d had plans for the weekend – a trip to Atlantic City to blow off a shitty week. Rather than answer, Hunter simply grunted as he took his seat.

  “I take it the meeting didn’t go well?” Brady asked.

  “That’s one way of putting it.”

  Brady shook his head and chuckled. “I don’t think I want to know. We’ve got an entire weekend to put all thoughts of work behind us.” He clapped his hands together and rubbed them. “A little gambling, a little fine dining, cigars…and a female companion – or two…” He waggled his eyebrows for comedic effect. “Right?”

  Hunter rubbed his throbbing temple. “Slight change of plans…”

  Beside him, Brady groaned. “Dude…no. Just…no.”

  “We’ll get to do all the things you mentioned…tomorrow.”

  “Hunt, nothing is going to get accomplished at work on a Friday afternoon. You need to put it aside and…”

  “It’s not about work,” he murmured. “I just got summoned to put in an appearance at a Christmas party. Tonight. Well, more specifically, I need to be there this afternoon and then stay for the party.”

  Brady cursed. “Seriously?” There was no disguising the disapproval in his voice.

  “That was my mother on the phone…”

  Another curse. Brady leaned toward the driver. “Thomas, you can take me home.”

  “No!” Hunter quickly called out.

  Turning, Brady gave him a questioning look. “Hunt, there is no way I’m going with you. And besides, your mother would have a coronary if you brought the lower class with you.”

  The migraine growing behind Hunter’s right eye was getting worse by the second. “It’s not like that.”

  “It’s exactly like that,” Brady argued, sitting back in his seat. “She hasn’t hidden her disapproval of me since the fifth grade. You know it irritates the shit out of her that we’re still friends.”

  “I don’t care what she thinks…”

  “Then why are you going?”

  Good question. “It won’t be so bad. We’ll go, make an appearance and grab a flight out as soon as we’re done.”

  Brady snorted with disbelief. “Right. You keep telling yourself that. But me? I’m a realist. And I have a great memory. So you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t feel like sitting through another round of Susan Ashton reminding me of my scholarship status.”

  “It was years ago. And there was nothing wrong with you going to school on a scholarship. You’re a walking success story now. You make more money than I do!” He was going for light, but Hunter could tell his friend wasn’t buying it. “Plenty of people went there on scholarship and I was friends with most of them.”

  “And yet you let her…”

  Hunter immediately cut him off. He didn’t want to go there. All these years later and it still burned. “Just…don’t.”

  Sighing loudly, Brady raked a hand through his hair. “Then don’t do this. Don’t go to this party. Stand up to her! For once in your life, Hunt, do something that you want to do! Something that makes you happy!”

  “It’s not that easy.”

  “So make it that easy!” Brady cried. “What is the worst that could happen? She’ll be pissed? So what! Seems to me she’s normally pissed at something. For a little while, it will be directed at you. You’ll live.” He paused, trying to gauge Hunter’s reaction. “C’mon, man. Don’t do this. Because if you do, I won’t be a part of it.”


  They drove in silence for all of two minutes.

  “Thomas?” Hunter said wearily, his eyes closed.

  “Yes, sir?”

  “We need to stop by my place, please.”

  A nod was the driver’s only response.

  Without opening his eyes or looking at his friend, Hunter said, “And you’re going with me.”

  Brady slouched a bit in his seat. “Yeah. I know.”

  ****

  “Son of a…” Lexi Hayes stormed out of the large office building she’d just been thrown out of, reading a text that made her want to smash her phone. Hauling her oversized bag over her shoulder, she quickly made her way to the overpriced parking garage as she tapped the screen to make a call.

  “Hey, Mom,” she said wearily, her slow voice in complete contrast to her hurried pace.

  “So? How did it go?”

  “Let’s see…my big break? My chance to finally get to present a major concept to one of the biggest clients we could hope for?”

  “Um…”

  “Well, some executive had a hissy fit with their previous appointment and canceled all of his afternoon meetings. I heard the yelling. The guy sounded like a complete lunatic. I sat in the waiting area for over an hour in hopes of changing someone’s mind!”

  “And?”

  “I was asked to leave. Or…more specifically, I was told to leave.”

  Another curse slipped out of her mouth as she took the stairs up to the fourth floor level and managed to do so without feeling like she would soon get frostbite. At the sight of her car, she breathed a sigh of relief – she’d be able to get out of the cold in just another minute.

  “Lex? You still there?”

  “Something has to give, Mom. Working two jobs is exhausting. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. And with Christmas right around the corner…”

  “All the more reason the extra job is helping. And at least tonight’s party isn’t too far, right? You said it was a small gathering for the library. That should be fun!” her mom said cheerily.

  “Change of plans,” Lexi said and tried to sound a little less morose. “I got a text from Angela as I was coming out of my appointment. Instead of working the library party, I’m doing some charity fundraiser in Chapel Hill. Honestly, the clientele is normally way more high maintenance and I don’t know if I have it in me to deal with them tonight!”

  Climbing into her car, she immediately cranked on the heat but knew it would take at least ten minutes for the old Toyota pickup to even begin to warm up. And with the snow starting to fall…

  “Oh, Lexi, sweetie…I’m so sorry. I wish…”

  Reception was gone. Crappy phone.

  A minute later it rang again. “Hi, Mom. Sorry. I really need to get a new phone. I’ll just add that to the list of things I need but can’t afford to buy.”

  “Lexi, I know you probably don’t want to hear this…”

  “But…?” Lexi prompted as she rubbed her forehead.

  “But maybe you should look up some of your old classmates. There’s no harm in networking with them and you never know – one of them might pan out. I remember that boy you dated…Hunter something…I’m sure if you called him, he’d give you a chance.”

  Ugh. Just the thought of Hunter Ashton made her stomach clench. “Believe it or not, Mom, it was Hunter’s company I got tossed out of today.”

  “No!”

  “True story.”

  “So why didn’t you tell the receptionist who you were? Maybe you could have bypassed the fit-throwing executive! You have to be a little bolder, Lexi,” her mother admonished.

  She sighed. “Mom, it wouldn’t have made a difference. There is no way I’d reach out to Hunter. Not after…”

  “Oh, please. That was ages ago. So you dated and things didn’t work out? It happens. Nothing to be ashamed of.”

  Easy for her to say, Lexi thought. “Mom, believe it or not, Hunter wasn’t as nice as you or I thought he was. He let me believe I meant something and then blew me off. Right before Christmas, if you remember. And all everyone talked about afterwards was how it was because I was poor.” She took a steadying breath, amazed at how it still hurt. “So…yeah. No thanks. I won’t ask for any favors from Hunter Ashton.”

  “Okay, okay. Forget I mentioned it.”

  “I’m gonna go,” Lexi said after a minute of silence. “The truck is almost warmed up and I have to run home to grab my things and change so that I can get to the party on time. I wish this weather was cooperating a little more.”

  “Be safe,” her mother said. “Text me when you get there so I know you’re okay.”

  After they said their goodbyes, Lexi placed the phone back in her bag and tried to relax. Right. Like that was possible. She had an hour to drive to her place, grab a quick peanut butter sandwich and change her clothes before she had to run right back out the door. And unfortunately, the only thing racing through her mind was how she wished she didn’t have to eat a peanut butter sandwich and run out the door to serve at a party for a bunch of pompous and snobby socialites.

  “Yup, this is my craptastic life,” she murmured.

  Her head lolled back and she couldn’t help but wonder why her life couldn’t be a little bit easier. Why did other people get the chance to live their dreams and not her? Why was she still searching for someone decent who wanted the same things she did – love, a family, kids, a home…? Another sigh. She had thought she found that someone, but looking back, Lexi realized it was crazy to believe at age eighteen that she’d met the one.

  And Hunter Ashton had been the one. They’d known each other for years in school and even though she was there on a scholarship and he was from one of the wealthiest families in North Carolina, he’d never treated her as anything but a friend. A good friend. And by the time senior year came around, Lexi thought they were going to be more.

  But after just a handful of dates – and some serious kisses she still hadn’t forgotten – Hunter had gone and completely ignored her as if she didn’t exist. She’d been devastated and humiliated and left with a pile of Christmas presents she’d bought for him. And it sucked how eight years later, the memory still burned.

  True, going to Hunter’s place of business – even if it was as a last resort – certainly wasn’t the way to go on that front. Even though Lexi hadn’t really thought she’d run into Hunter, somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered what she’d do if she did.

  “He probably wouldn’t even remember me,” she murmured.

  Reaching toward the air vent, she felt the first blast of heat and sighed. Minutes later she paid for her parking and was merging into the downtown traffic along with all of the other people looking to escape the city before the snow hit.

  If only she could escape her memories as easily.

  Two

  Hunter checked his watch as Thomas pulled the Lincoln into the long tree-lined drive that led to Susan Ashton’s Georgian-style estate.

  “It’s not too late,” Brady said as they approached the front of the house. “No one has to know we were here. We can tell Thomas to turn around and we’ll forget all about this.”

  “It won’t be so bad,” Hunter said, but he clearly wasn’t feeling the words.

  “Can I wait in the car?” Brady asked as his head hit the backrest.

  Chuckling, Hunter patted him on the leg as the car came to a stop. “A couple of hours at the most. I promise.”

  “Yeah, you also promised a fun-filled weekend in Atlantic City and yet…here we are.” They climbed from the car and Brady made his way around to meet Hunter in front of the hood. They both stared up at the imposing brick house. “What does this place sleep? Eighty? A hundred people?”

  Shaking his head, Hunter continued to laugh quietly. “Dude…every time?”

  They were about to take a step forward when Susan Ashton – carrying her teacup Pomeranian puppy, Pookie – stepped out
the front door. “Hunter! Sweetheart, I’m so glad you made it,” she gushed.

  Both Hunter and Brady walked up to her and Hunter leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. “You’re looking lovely, Mother.”

  Susan took the compliment with a serene smile. She was dressed in a burgundy sheath of a dress and her blonde hair was up in a classic chignon. “Thank you, darling.” She looked over at Brady and smiled. “And you’ve brought Brandon with you! It’s lovely to see you again, dear.”

  Brady coughed to hide a laugh. “It’s Brady,” he corrected mildly, “and thank you. It’s nice to see you again too.”

  Her smile never faltered. “Yes, yes, Brady. So sorry.” Then she turned her attention back to Hunter. “Darling, tonight’s fundraiser is for the art council. You know how much I love them. And it means the world to me that you made time to come and show your support.”

  Hooking Susan’s arm through his, they walked into the house. “It wasn’t as if you gave me a choice,” he murmured and looked over his shoulder at Brady.

  “Nonsense,” she said quickly. “This is a family event and you needed to be here. There wasn’t any reason for you not to attend.”

  Hunter was about to argue but thought better of it.

  “Come. Let’s get out of this bitter cold and let me show you how it’s all going to look. We’re going to have all kinds of food stations set up to go with specific art themes. It’s an original idea I thought of and once I explained all of it to the caterer and the committees, they thought it was pure genius!”

  “I’m sure they did,” Hunter agreed softly and glared once again at Brady as he stifled another laugh behind them.

  Susan made a big production of taking them from room to room to see the progress on the set up for the fundraiser. With every room they came to, she explained the theming and the food that would be served. Hunter and Brady exchanged more than a few eye rolls and bored glances as they walked around.

  “Mrs. Ashton?” someone called out and Susan thrust Pookie into Hunter’s arms before walking away.