Merry's Christmas: A Love Story (4 page)

Merry watched Daniel. She listened as he
talked on the phone. Absently, he wound up a tiny, toy robot, then released it
to march across his blotter.

Daniel shifted the phone on his ear.
“Yes...The sooner you can run it the better...Tomorrow morning’s paper would be
great...Yes, it’s—”

Merry watched as Daniel picked up a note.
She listened as he read from it.

“It should read:
‘Help Wanted:
Christmas Coordinator. Full Service shopper, decorator, and event planner for
family. $7,500 salary, all expenses advanced.
’ That’s it.”

Merry’s jaw dropped. She tried not to
betray the fact that she had been eavesdropping, but nothing in her could help
it. Maybe she was meant to overhear this, she reasoned. Maybe this was the
answer to her prayers. She listened intently as Daniel continued on the call.

“Right. Then, just go with the blind
e-mail box for replies...Absolutely...Sounds good.”

Mouthing a quick
thank you
, Merry
shoved her loan application into her bag and skidded up to Daniel’s desk. In
fact, she got there so quickly that she had to put her hands down to slow her
momentum and stop her from crashing right into it.

“Could I possibly persuade you to cancel
that ad you just placed?” Merry gasped.

Daniel looked up. “Do I know you?” he
asked.

“I’m Merry Hopper. M-E-R-R-Y as in Merry
Christmas, which is perfect because I really, really want that job.” There.
She’d said it with total conviction, knowing it was completely true.

Daniel smiled in a way that said he
remembered her from their first encounter. “Merry. Oh, right. Aren’t you the
one who—”

“—spilled coffee all over you? Yes,” she
admitted. “That would be me. So, could I buy you a cup to actually drink this
time?”

Life could change on a dime
, Merry thought. One moment she could be
completely down and out and the next, before she could even get her balance,
she could be whip-lashed into what seemed to be an absolute miracle.

Merry reflected upon how quickly it had
happened. Not ten minutes before she’d been ready to mortgage her future. Now,
she was sitting at an upscale café, living in the possibilities. Merry watched
as Daniel ordered his coffee from an uptown waiter. It was a far cry from the
place where she worked.

“Espresso. Black,” Daniel said. Then
turning to Merry, he assured, “And this is my treat. Would you like anything?”

“Just to give your family the best
Christmas ever,” she beamed.

The fancy waiter nodded, bowing almost
imperceptibly as he left, the way no one ever bowed at the Downtown Diner.

Daniel turned to Merry. “So, it’s not
huge...I have three children: twin girls, almost sixteen, a nine year-old son.
There’s my mother, who helps out with meals and such since my wife passed.”

Immediately feeling for him, Merry
interjected. “Oh, I’m sorry. So, your mother lives with you?”

“Practically. But no, she has very nice
condo down the block.”

Merry smiled. “Must be great to have her
so close.”

“Yes, well, she’d be very much included,”
Daniel went on, maintaining a professional tone.
 
“May I ask, what kind of experience do you have for this kind of
thing?”

Yikes
, Merry thought. There it was, that gulpy moment. There was
the temptation to embellish. But if this was the miracle it seemed to be, Merry
knew she would come by it honestly. “I don’t have any actual experience for
this. So, none.”

Daniel looked at her quizzically,
prompting her to continue.

“But that’s what makes me perfect for
this job. I’ve been dreaming of throwing a family Christmas all my life. I just
never had the family to do it for.”

Daniel sat back cautiously. “I take it
you’re not bonded. I’d be setting up a dedicated account for my coordinator to
draw upon for expenses.”

“Arthur, he runs the diner where I work.
He’ll vouch for me,” Merry assured. “I never stole so much as a single penny in
all my life.”

Shaking his head unconsciously, Daniel
back-peddled. “Yes, well...”

“I won’t lie, Mr. Bell,” Merry promised.
“I don’t just want this job. Truth is, I really, really need it.”

Daniel studied Merry for a moment,
visibly torn by the decision.

As the waiter arrived with Daniel’s
promised coffee, Merry rose and stuck out her right hand. She knew that the
practice of shaking another person’s hand had fallen somewhat out of fashion,
what with all the germs going around. Still, Merry responded to the urge to end
things on a personal note. She knew she had little in terms of technical
qualifications, but giving things a special touch was her forté. So, she shook
the hand he extended warmly before turning to leave.

Merry stepped out into the brisk early
December wind. She filled her lungs and left the café, quietly ecstatic. It
wasn’t an immediate
yes
—not by a long shot—but it also hadn’t been an
instant
no,
a fact that didn’t escape her relentlessly hoping heart.
This, she encouraged herself, was a definite
maybe
. There was a whisper
of a chance, and Merry knew it. She had gotten her foot barely into this door
and the windows of possibility had blown open.

three

A
rthur
hoisted a sack of bread flour onto his stock room shelf. Merry lingered nearby.
In a way, Arthur enjoyed her attention. He knew Merry wasn’t standing there
because she’d heard anything about the Christmas Coordinator position yet. He’d
seen her squeak back into the diner moments before her lunch break was over.
There had been no jubilant announcement about this pipe dream of a job she’d
spoken of actually coming true.

Arthur decided that, for once, he
wouldn’t make this easy for her, the way he usually did. Why should he? He was
the one who’d been there for her all these years. He was the constant in her
life. He would make her work for his attention for a change. He’d keep futzing
around, unloading cans, and straightening shelves. He’d pretend to only halfway
listen. It was hard not to let himself look at her, so he reminded himself that
he shouldn’t. One glimpse of those sparkling green eyes or those dimples in her
cheeks and his heart would turn completely to mush.

“Three weeks, Arthur,” Merry posed.

“At least four,” Arthur returned. “What
goes up for Christmas must come down after.”

“Okay, four. And it’s not even full time.
I can still work part time here.”

“If he even offers it. I say you’re outta
your league, Merry.”

“Christmas
is
my league!” Merry
enthused.

Finally, Arthur stopped what he was
doing. He hazarded a glance in Merry’s general direction, fighting to maintain
his resolve. He pointed out to the floor of his establishment. In an instant,
he felt his ears turn scarlet, the way they always did whenever he got worked
up over anything.

“Ever see them rich people in this
diner?” he spat out. “No. They’re uptown in cafés and fancy schmancy
restaurants charging more than you and me make all day.”

“Artie, this is my time,” Merry implored.
“I know it. This is my Christmas. So, would you please just roll with me on
this?”

Arthur mulled it over, hesitantly. He ran
a tired hand through his thinning hair as Kiki stepped into the fray. He saw
Kiki plant herself, put her hands on her hips, and burn him with the kind of
look that only Kiki could give.

“You don’t let Merry do this, then I
quit,” Kiki vowed. “Either way you’re way up a holiday creek.”

Arthur knew when he was outgunned. Merry
had always been a good waitress, but Kiki was a great one. She’d been serving
the Downtown Diner’s customers since the very beginning. He couldn’t afford to
lose Kiki, not in this economy, and certainly not during the upcoming holiday
rush. “All right, I give. Fine,” Arthur conceded. “So, get out there and get
cracking!”

Merry gave Arthur an exuberant kiss on
the cheek and scurried back out toward the restaurant’s service floor.

Arthur sighed dejectedly as she left.
Everything in him wanted to read something more than the flush of excitement
into Merry’s burst of affection, though he knew deep down that he shouldn’t.

Kiki softened. “Can’t lose what you don’t
have.”

Arthur watched Merry from the kitchen.
She was already back wiping the counter, charming his customers, obviously
elated about the possibilities. “She don’t have that job yet,” he insisted to
Kiki. “Think I want to see her crushed? Best she face up and get on with it.”

Kiki shook her head with a grin. She
could reach him like no one else could.

“Artie, you’re something,” she teased.
“You think you’re some kind of Oprah, don’t you? Well, maybe folks’ll start
listening to all them pearls when you start listening to yourself.”

♥    ♥    ♥

Catherine
searched her purse as she exited Strong Bank & Trust with Daniel. She
enjoyed having him back on her arm. It wasn’t that she’d felt threatened in any
way when she’d seen him step out for coffee with Merry. From her vantage point
at the top of the mezzanine stairs, Merry had seemed waifish at best. Her
uniform and worn sensible shoes had done absolutely nothing for her appearance.

Just as soon as he’d returned, Daniel had
been careful to explain to her that Merry had just wanted to talk to him about
the Christmas Coordinator position, and that qualifications hadn’t so much been
her strong suit.

It was a mercy interview, Catherine
intuited. Even if it hadn’t been, she couldn’t imagine that there would be a
problem. Still, something inside her hoped Daniel would go another way.

Catherine fished a ticket stub out of her
bag. She handed it to the valet, then turned to Daniel. “If you’re looking for
someone more seasoned to coordinate, I have a great service I’ve used. They’re
very professional,” she promised. “They’d take care of everything, first class
all the way.”

“Thanks, but...I’m still mulling it
over,” Daniel replied. “She’s a little green, but...it might work out with the
kids. I don’t know.”

Catherine was pleased to have come
prepared. She went back into her designer clutch and found a business card. She
extended it to Daniel as offhandedly as she could. “Well, here’s the service,
in case. Ask for Philippe. Tell him you’re with me and he’ll clear his
calendar.”

Daniel accepted the card with a smile. “I
like the sound of that—saying I’m with you.” He put his arm around her waist,
making her glad she’d worked so hard on it with her trainer.

“Do you, now?” she coyly replied.

Daniel maintained a pleasant, nonchalant
air. “Perhaps it’s no surprise, but...I do have intentions toward you,
Catherine.”

Catherine took it in, making her designs
upon him every bit as clear. “Good to know.”

♥    ♥    ♥

It had been
easy for Merry to wait through the night. A man like Daniel wouldn’t be rash,
she reasoned. He would probably sleep on the decision. Merry had said her
prayers. She’d nodded off, blissful at the events of the day. For hours she’d
slept soundly, that was, until she heard the slap of Mr. Grabinski’s newspaper
being flung onto the stoop at 4:30 a.m.

For a long while, Merry resisted crawling
out from beneath the covers. She tried to have faith that the best would come
to be. But by five, she found herself padding down the stairs of the walk-up,
dressed in her terry robe and slippers.

Carefully, Merry pulled out the
classifieds and stood under the yellowed lantern by the door. She turned the
pages and scanned the Help Wanted ads meticulously, searching for any sign of
whether or not Daniel had gone ahead and posted his ad after meeting her.

There was nothing. Merry breathed
relieved sigh.

By the time Merry got to the Downtown
Diner later that morning, Skeeter was standing by the newspaper machine,
counting what little change had been tossed into his cup. She liked the way his
weathered face brightened whenever he saw her round the corner with a brown bag
in her hand. Merry figured it was an even trade for the fact that Arthur always
kept her fed when things slowed down at the diner. So, as often as she could,
she brought a bag lunch for Skeeter. Inside, there would be his favorite tuna
sandwich and some of those cheesy puffs that made his chocolate-brown fingers
turn orange. A juice box would wash it all down to soothe his growling stomach.