Santa's Posse (16 page)

“Uh, well, uh…” she
stammered.

She threw her
hands in the air.  “Miss Sanders!  Do I have to remind you that you made a
commitment to this charity event, and if you don’t get with the program, the
program could be sorely affected?”

Kellie glanced
from Miles to Dolores.  “I’m sorry,” she murmured contritely.  She was still
fixated on Miles’ declaration that he wanted to spend more time with her. 
Yeah,
good luck
, she mused. 

“What is it you
need, Dolores?” Miles asked, and Kellie didn’t miss the weary tone to his
voice.

“Well,” she said
crisply, turning her attention to Kellie again, “you need to stop by Lawton’s
Bakery tonight at seven.  They’ve promised us three hundred fifty pies for
Santa’s Posse…”

“She’s not picking
them up tonight?” he said.  “They’ll spoil…”

“Of course not,”
Dolores cut in, giving him a disgusted look.  “No, but they do want her to stop
by to make the arrangements for the eventual pickup.”

“Can it wait?” he
asked, before Kellie could get a word in.

Dolores shook her
head adamantly.  “No.  We’re grateful for their generosity, and it’s only fair
that we abide by their time constraints.  They asked that we stop by tonight,
so we stop by tonight.”

He ventured a
hopeful smile.  “We?  Could you go talk to them, Dolores?  Kellie is really
busy.”

She shook her
head.  “By ‘we’, I don’t mean me.  I have other Santa’s Posse business to
attend to this evening.”  She turned to Kellie and raised her brows.  “Well?”

“I’ll go,” she
said too brightly.  What else could she do?  She was the Santa’s Posse
Procurement Specialist, after all.

Satisfied that she
was going to drive out to the bakery, and after admonishing her again to read
the contents of all the envelopes, Dolores hurried out of Kellie’s office.

Miles sunk into
the chair, heaving a heavy sigh.  “So much for dinner,” he murmured.

Kellie gave him a
shy look.  “You could always go with me to the bakery.  We could grab a donut
for dinner.”

“We could.”  He
laughed without humor, but perked up slightly.  “It’s a date.  First, however,
I’ll see you here, six ‘o clock sharp.”

***

Kellie hurried
into her condo to freshen up for the trip to the bakery.  She had just slipped
into comfortable slacks and a top when Miles rang her doorbell.  He’d shed his
work clothes and gotten ready in record time too.

She hurried to
answer the door, purse and keys in hand.  He stood patiently at the

door.  “We’ll have to leave now if
we’re going to make it to the bakery by seven,” she told him.

He nodded.  “Lock
up and we’ll get moving.”

“You really don’t
mind coming with me?”

He smiled.  “Not
at all.  I was thinking we could grab something to eat after we’re done at the
bakery—something more substantial than a donut.”

“Sounds good.”

Soon they arrived
at the large, industrial bakery and were greeted by the owner, an older woman
with sleek silver hair.  “Thank you so much for coming by,” she said, leading them
through a storefront and past a glass case filled with delectable treats.  “I’m
Margo.  My office is this way.”

In her office, she
sat down, gesturing for them to take seats.  “I’m glad you were able to come
this evening.  I have so much going on over the holidays, that I really like to
get my ducks … er … pies in a row,” she joked.

Miles chuckled. 
“We understand.”

“And thank you for
donating the pies,” Kellie added.

The woman nodded. 
“We’re always glad to help out with local charities.  Anyway,” she said,
glancing down at a sheet of paper, “Dolores Angles tells me you’ll need at
least three hundred pies.”

Miles nodded. 
“We’re actually expecting to serve over three hundred families this year, but
three hundred pies are just great,” he assured her.

She tilted her
head in thought.  “I’ll plan for four hundred,” she told him, “just in case you
do exceed your expectations this year.  I know the need for food and toys for
needy families increases each year.  It’s commendable work you do.”

“Fortunately,
thanks to you and others, we’ve always managed to meet the need,” he told her.

She smiled and
inquired as to when the pies were needed.  He told her the date of the
deliveries.  “Is there a particular time on delivery day you’d like us to
deliver the pies to you?” she asked.

“You’re bringing
them to us?” Kellie said, surprised.

“We do have a
delivery truck and would be happy to do it.”

“That’s great,”
Kellie enthused, turning to Miles.

“We haven’t
discussed what kinds of pies you’d like,” Margo said.

“We’ll take
whatever you’ll give us,” Miles said honestly.

She rose from her
desk.  “This is what we’ll do,” she said, leading the couple out of her
office.  They followed her to the glass case in the front of the on-site
store.  “Lisa,” she said to an employee, gesturing to a large assortment of
pies, “will you box up a pumpkin, apple, and cherry pie for these folks?  No
charge.”

The girl nodded in
response and Margo turned back to them.  “Please do taste them and let me know
what you’d like.  If you could let me know as soon as possible which pies you
prefer, that would be great.  Making pumpkin pies isn’t a problem this time of
year, as is the case with apple, but cherry…  If that’s your preference, we’ll
need some notice.”

Miles smiled his thanks. 
“As I said, we’re delighted with whatever you’ll give us.  Why don’t we go with
apple and pumpkin, so as to simplify things?”

She grinned.  “You
haven’t tried my cherry pie, but that sounds like a plan.”

After thanking her
again, the couple left the large bakery, Kellie carrying the pies.  Inside
Miles’ truck, she steadied the deserts in her lap, noting that they were still
warm. 

“Those smell
great,” he said.

She grinned. 
“Desert first, dinner later?” she inquired, arching her brows.

He chuckled.  “Would
you like to grab burgers at a drive-through restaurant and eat at your place? 
We should probably leave the pies for after.”

“Sound goods,” she
said.  “I’m exhausted.”

Back at her house,
they ate their burgers and fries, and then Kellie hurried to cut into each of
the pies, putting a small slice of each on two plates.  Miles watched her,
smiling.  “We’re sampling all of them tonight?” he asked.

“Hey, this is a
taste test.  Margo wanted us to try them all.”

“I’m not arguing,”
he declared, accepting his plate from her.

Side-by-side on
the couch, they tasted the pies.  Kellie made a play of biting into each slice,
tipping her head to the side to discern the merits of each flavor, and then
declared apple her favorite.

“I don’t know,” he
said, “the cherry is excellent, but then, so is the pumpkin.”

She eyed the pie
boxes on the table.  “Maybe we need another small slice of each.”  She took his
plate, and crossed the room to cut into the pies again.

“Where does she
put it?” he said with a low whistle.

She paused. 
“Nervous energy,” she said seriously.

“What are you
nervous about?” he inquired, his voice concerned.

“I’m nervous I may
not have signed leases on all the empty retail spaces at the mall by the first
of the year, I’m nervous I may have missed something relating to Santa’s Posse,
since to be honest, I haven’t read through all my big envelopes, and…”

“Don’t worry,” he
cut in, giving her an encouraging smile.  “Grab the envelopes and we’ll look
through them together.”

“Do we have to?”
she said with a moan. 

“You have met
Dolores, right?” he said, giving her an ominous look.  “You don’t want to make
her angry, do you?”

She shuddered
dramatically.  “I’d rather leave town.”

Miles rose then,
crossed the room, and to her surprise, pulled her into his arms.  “I don’t want
you to leave town.”

She leaned into
him, resting her face against his chest.  “This is nice.”

“It is,” he said. 
“Very nice.  And about what we were talking about earlier, in your office…” 

Suddenly, three
clipped beeps sounded from the pager in his front pocket, causing her to jump. 
He let out a groan as he grudgingly pulled it from the pocket.  Kellie watched
him expectantly as he checked the tiny screen.  “I have to make a call,” he
growled, glancing around.  “I left my cell phone at home…”

“Oh, the phone is
right over there,” she told him, pointing to the kitchen counter where she’d
left it earlier.

He heaved a sigh,
crossed the room, and punched in a number.  He stood silently, listening. 
“Blake,” he said finally, and then, “yeah.”  With that, he clicked off the
phone and turned to Kellie, giving her an apologetic smile.  “I have to go.”

She simply
nodded.  Of course he had to go.

“We’ll talk
later,” he told her.

“Okay.”  She
walked him to the door, where he paused and searched her face.  “The fates seem
to be against us,” he said with a humorless laugh.

“Things will slow
down after the holidays,” she assured him.

“I sure hope so.” 
He stared intently into her eyes for several long seconds.  She watched his
irises darken, as he smiled and leaned in to claim her lips.  He pressed with a
gentle insistence, his lips firm, searching.  She responded to his kiss,
practically melting under his tender assault.

After the
lingering kiss, he held her for a moment, but finally pulled back with a resigned
sigh and pulled open the door.  “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

“Count on it,” she
said, and closed the door behind him.

“Are you going to
fill me in or what?” Jill said, standing over Kellie’s desk and tapping her
pencil impatiently on the desktop.

“What?” she said,
glancing up.  “Uh, Jill, can you pull the lease on the Cutlery Store, please?”

She dashed out of
the office, found the lease in the file cabinet, and dropped it onto her desk. 
“Talk!” she insisted.

Kellie glanced up
again and shook her head.  “About what?”

Jill sat down in
the chair across from her desk, and leaned forward, an expectant expression on
her face.  “Tell me what Miles had to say yesterday.  It was clear he had
something important to discuss.”

She furrowed her
brow.  “When?”

“Kellie!” she
admonished.  “You know very well when.  Yesterday, when he was in your office,
just before Dolores burst into the room and ruined everything.  That woman’s
timing leaves a lot to be desired,” she groused.

Checking her watch,
Kellie frowned.  “We’ll have to talk later.  My ten o’ clock is probably
waiting for me.”

“Right,” she said
dubiously, shooting her a look of daggers.  “If you don’t tell me, somebody else
will,” she said in a sing-song voice.

Kellie, who had
risen from her desk, paused to cast her a questioning glance.  “If somebody
else tells you what Miles and I discussed, then that would indicate he told
someone else what he and I discussed, which would mean our Commander has a big
mouth, which would mean I would have to take a closer look at him as a…”

“Potential
boyfriend,” Jill said hastily, gleefully. 

She didn’t bother
responding but instead sent a breezy wave Jill’s way before she dashed out of
the office.  She found her ten o’clock waiting, and after a brief meeting, left
with pep in her step, since she’d managed to rent out another long-empty mall
location.  Things were looking brighter in that arena.

To celebrate
finding a new retail tenant, she detoured to the cookie store and bought a
selection.  She was cheerfully munching a chocolate chip cookie when she
realized that the upper tier of the mall had suddenly gone darker.  Glancing
up, she gasped.  A blanket of snow had fallen on the gargantuan skylights above
her.

She hurried down a
corridor leading to a mall entrance.  She glanced out over the snowy scene. 
The parking lot was a veritable winter wonderland.

She returned to
her office.  “Jill, it’s snowing!”

“I know!” she
said, but frowned.  “Tomorrow is Thanksgiving!”

Kellie winced. 
“So much for going home for the holiday.” 

She realized that
while she was sad on some level, she was also somewhat relieved.  She hadn’t
looked forward to the long drive home, nor had she looked forward to the
interrogation her mother likely had planned for her regarding her relationship
status. 

If the snow
happened to stick, she knew her Thanksgiving would be spent at home, in her own
place.  There was something both appealing and comforting about that prospect.

“Kellie, what are
you going to do?” Jill cried suddenly.  “You can’t drive in this weather, and
the weatherman predicts the snow is going to stick, at least until early Friday
morning.”

“I won’t drive in
this weather.”  She sighed.  “Oh, I hope it melts off before we open the doors
early on Friday.  If it doesn’t…”  Her words trailed off.  A snowy Black Friday
could mean miserable sales for the mall stores.  “As for Thanksgiving, I’ll
just have to stay home.”

“Come to my
house!” Jill said, smiling broadly.  “George and I would love to have you. 
It’ll be fun!” 

She studied her
friend’s face.  On one hand, she really did like the idea of staying home, but
then, she’d never been alone on Thanksgiving.  Perhaps she could have the best
of both worlds—part of the day at Jill’s, with the remainder at her own place.

“Are you sure you
don’t mind?”

“Of course not! 
The more the merrier.”

“What can I
bring?”

“Nothing!  I have
everything.  Besides, you probably didn’t do any shopping for the holiday,
being as you had planned to leave town.  And you definitely don’t want to drive
to the store tonight in this weather.”