Chapter 12

Twelve

E lvis’ “Blue Christmas” hit differently when your heart was broken.

All of her favorite Christmas songs hit differently this year.

She was miserable and lost all of her holiday spirit. If anything, she just wished it was January first so she could be done with the whole darn thing. Never in her life had she been so miserable. Nothing cheered her up—not her baking or her Christmas decorations or her favorite songs. Basically, she was numb and just going through the motions to survive until the new year.

And once that time came, Daphne vowed to throw herself fully into her web design business and put the dream of owning a bakery behind her. She wasn’t cut out for it. If she couldn’t even handle her little seasonal shop, how was she supposed to handle a major business?

“Merry Christmas. I’m a loser,” she mumbled as she finished setting up her display for the day. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, so today was going to be a long day. She had a ton of orders back at her rental kitchen that her mother was going to bring over after three today. Most of the orders were going to be picked up as people were leaving for the holidays, and there just wasn’t enough space here in her booth to have them all. She’d given everyone pickup times so there wouldn’t be any confusion.

People were arriving for work, and it wasn’t long before her line formed. For the first time in over a week, she was dressed festively. Her red sweatshirt with reindeer on it used to always make her smile, and she’d typically wear it with her Santa hat. But today, she put a red bow in her hair and did her best to smile and thank everyone for their business.

“Hey, Daphne,” Faye said as she stepped up to the counter. “How are you doing?”

It was the same conversation they’d been having every day. Without ever asking, she always put a blueberry muffin in the box with whatever Faye was ordering. She couldn’t help herself. Tristan hadn’t come by to talk to her again, but she knew the small repairs on the gingerbread house were his doing.

Along with the white poinsettias that filled the space along with the red ones.

He was clearly respecting her wishes, but even seeing him from a distance every day broke her heart.

“Daphne?”

“Oh, sorry,” she said with a small laugh. “My mind wandered. I’m fine. How are you? Ready for Christmas?”

“I am! My kids are all getting in tonight. I’ll pick up the cookie platters around four. Will that still work?”

Nodding, she handed Faye her box. “Sure does!” Ringing up the order, she handed the credit card back to her. “Have a good day and I’ll see you later!”

Between the constant flow of customers and chatting with Marcie, Anne, and Kaitlyn while they all exchanged gifts, her day was incredibly full. Lunch arrived—compliments of Tristan, she knew—and she had to sneak little bites here and there between orders.

Her mother arrived promptly at three o’clock with her father in tow and the three of them set up tables and began stacking all the orders to be picked up. Once they were done setting up, her father began taking pictures of the whole thing.

“Dad, what in the world?” she said with a laugh. “What are you doing?”

“This is all just amazing, Daph. You should use this for future promotions! Add these pictures to your website!”

Just then, her mother stepped over and put a Santa hat on Daphne’s head. “You need to look more festive, dear. After all, you’re helping everyone with their holiday traditions! Stop moping and try to look like you’re happy.”

“It’s not that easy, Mom. I’m exhausted and sad and…I’m not good at faking it.”

“I know, sweetie. Just a few more hours and you’ll have some time to finally relax. And next week will be a short week, right? You’re taking off Monday and Tuesday and then Friday is your last day. Don’t let everyone remember you because you were the saddest little reindeer.”

Oh, good grief…

“Fine. I’ll put on my big girl panties and act merry and all that,” she murmured. “But once the last order is picked up, I’m going home and curling up on the couch with a bowl of corn chowder and sleeping for twelve hours.”

“Hopefully not on the couch,” her father teased. “Now, let’s get a shot with you behind the counter!”

So she posed and smiled and pretended that everything was fine. The next few hours flew by and when the last box was finally picked up, she nearly sagged to the floor with relief.

“Okay, now to clean up and…”

“You know what, Daph? Your mother and I will take care of the cleanup. You go home and rest. You put in a lot of hours and deserve to call it a day. We’ve got this.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“We’re positive,” her mother said even as she began nudging her away from the booth. “We’ll see you for dinner tomorrow night. And don’t worry, I already took a variety of stuff from your inventory, so dessert is already taken care of.”

Smiling, she ran back into the booth and grabbed her purse, coat, and keys. “Thanks, you guys. I am ready to crash, so I appreciate you doing this for me. I love you both.” And after hugging them and thanking them several more times, she finally walked out of the building.

The air was brisk and woke her a bit—which was a good thing considering she still had to drive home. As she walked to her car, she casually glanced around to see if Tristan’s was still there, and as usual, it was. He was undoubtedly staying late to avoid seeing her.

“Well, he won’t have to worry about that for too much longer. Just a few more days and I’ll be nothing but a distant memory. Dammit.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she climbed into her car and kept flowing all the way home.

“I said it before and I’ll say it again,” she said between sobs, “Merry Christmas, loser.”

By the time she got home, she had no appetite and opted to simply shower, change into her pajamas, and crawl into bed. Fortunately, sleep claimed her as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The next morning, Daphne was surprised to see it was almost eight o’clock. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept so late. Stretching, she got up and padded to the kitchen to indulge in a leisurely cup of coffee.

At least…that was the plan.

The sound of her phone ringing pierced the peace she was enjoying. The number on the screen was from the property manager of the office building.

“Probably calling to tell me not to even bother coming back next week,” she mumbled before answering. “Hello?”

“Good morning, Ms. Noelle. It’s James from Oak District Management. I’m sorry to bother you so early on a Saturday, but the lobby has been vandalized.”

“Oh no! What happened?” she cried, instantly on her feet.

“Someone broke in, smashed one of the windows, and ransacked the lobby. We’re calling all the businesses and asking them to come in and make sure their offices are intact. Most of the damage seems to be here in the lobby. I know it’s Christmas Eve, but if you can come down as soon as possible to file a police report, it would be greatly appreciated.”

“Of course! I’ll…I’ll be there in thirty minutes. Thank you.” Devastated, Daphne hung up the phone and wasn’t sure what to do first. “Brush your teeth and get dressed. I need to do that and figure the rest out on the drive over.”

All the while, her mind raced at what kind of damage could have been done. Was anything destroyed? Was this the work of some teenagers who were just being menaces? Did anyone get hurt?

“I probably should have asked that first.”

Dressed, she put on her coat and grabbed her phone, purse, and keys and ran out to her car. It was positively freezing out, and she cranked the heat up as soon as she got in the car. Before she could pull out of the driveway, she called her mother.

“Merry Christmas Eve!” her mother said as her greeting. “Did you get a good night’s sleep last night? Are you calling to make sure your father and I cleaned up properly?”

“Oh, Mom…” She relayed the conversation she’d had just minutes ago. “I’m on my way there now to see what kind of damage was done. I can’t believe anyone would do such a thing right before Christmas!”

“This is terrible! Your father and I will head over too. And don’t worry, no matter what we’re dealing with, it will be okay. Promise me you’re okay to drive. We can come and get you.”

“Thanks, but I’m just pulling out of the driveway now. I’m fine, just a little shaken up. I wish I had asked more questions, but I don’t think it actually registered just what he was saying.”

“Just be careful and we’ll meet you there.”

“I will, and thanks, Mom. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” When she hung up, the first thought to cross her mind was how this was possibly the worst Christmas ever. Never in her life had so many things gone wrong or had she felt so hopeless. “Bring on the new year because I am ready to kick this year to the curb.”

When she arrived, there weren’t any police cars anywhere. However, there were about a dozen other cars in the lot, including Tristan’s. Her first thought was that he had vandalized her booth and everyone else’s—based on how vocal he’d been about hating all of them.

“No, he wouldn’t be stupid enough to do something like that, and he certainly wouldn’t be dumb enough to get caught.” Parking her car, she gripped the steering wheel hard and prayed she wasn’t walking into some kind of Christmas massacre.

Okay, dramatic much?

But when she stepped inside the lobby, everything looked fine. Confused, she slowly walked further into the space and spotted a small crowd of people—mostly from Tristan’s office—but her booth looked fine. Actually, it looked great—better than it’s ever looked. She was about to question what was going on when…

“Surprise!”

Wildly confused, Daphne looked around frantically. Facing her booth, it hit her that this wasn’t her gingerbread house—not the one she had originally built. This was entirely new and she still had no idea what was going on.

“Go ahead, Daphne!” Faye called out, smiling from ear to ear. “Step inside and check it out!”

“Okay, but…um…”

“Go!” Faye said with a laugh as she guided Daphne to the side door of the house.

The first thing she noticed was how sturdy it was. There was a lot more space than she typically had, and all the storage space was a dream! It was exactly like she’d dreamed it could be if she had been able to make it larger herself. Walking over to the counter, she was trembling and nearly overcome with emotion. “What is happening right now?” she said to the crowd of faces smiling back at her.

Just then, Tristan stepped forward wearing the loudest, ugliest Christmas sweater she had ever seen and a Santa hat. “We’re getting to it,” he said, but before he could do or say anything else, the landlord stepped forward.

“Ms. Noelle, I can’t apologize enough for the distress I caused you. I made a decision based on the obvious evidence I had. But thanks to Sara from Maxwell and Martin, and the IT team from Knight Architects, we realized Tristan wasn’t the one making the complaints.”

“Well, I did make the first one,” he said solemnly.

Darryl laughed softly, shaking his head. “After some thorough investigating, we found that a former employee of Knight Architects was posing as Tristan and lodging the complaints. I am sincerely sorry that you got put in the middle of this mess and that I excluded you from any future events here. Obviously, you can tell us you don’t forgive us and take your delicious baked goods to another location that will appreciate you. But I’m here to tell you, we are all incredibly hopeful that you’ll stay.”

There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but this time Tristan stepped forward.

“As you can see, this booth is not only larger than your original one, but it’s also semi-permanent. The plumbing and electric won’t be completed until after the new year. The overall design is all yours—with every festive option you can imagine—and has all the extra space you should ever need.”

“Why? Why would you do this?”

“Because you mean everything to me, Daphne.” He moved in closer until his hands covered hers on the counter. “You wouldn’t talk to me, so I figured I’d show you what was in my heart.”

“Tristan…”

“I know why you didn’t believe me,” he said, his voice low and tortured. “My track record has been pretty awful. But this is my way of proving to you how much you mean to me and how much I believe in you and support you and want you to stay.”

“You’re just saying that because you’ll miss your daily blueberry muffin,” she said shyly.

“No,” he gruffly said, reaching up and caressing her cheek. “I’ll miss you . It’s you I need to see every day. And for the record, your original gingerbread house is safely stored away. I didn’t get rid of it. Your family helped me take it down.”

That’s when she noticed her parents and cousins tucked in the middle of the crowd.

“If you don’t like this one, I’ll gladly make any modifications you’d like,” he went on.

Tears stung her eyes because she was so completely overwhelmed. “I can’t believe you did all of this. Especially for a seasonal thing.”

“Sweetheart,” he said, gently cupping her face. “We all want you here permanently. Well…semi-permanently. I’m designing some luxury executive condos one block over and they’re holding a space for you if you’d like to put your bakery there. It was one of my stipulations for the plans.”

“What?!”

“And maybe you could still have your booth here as a remote spot. You know…if you’re so inclined.”

It was all too much to take in. Her head was spinning. “So you didn’t…it wasn’t you who complained? I feel like this is all a lot of information to process.”

“I promise to explain it all to you, but why don’t you come out here and let everyone congratulate you and wish you a merry Christmas?”

All she could do was nod.

Stepping out of the booth, she found Tristan waiting right there for her with his hand held out. “Nice sweater,” she teased.

“This old thing? There’s a battery pack in here and the tree lights up!”

Unable to stop herself, she tugged him close. “You are full of surprises, Mr. Grinchy Grincherson.”

He laughed loudly. “I deserve that, but just like the cartoon Grinch, thanks to you, my heart has grown too. Maybe not three sizes, but…it’s definitely grown and filled with love. For you.”

Whispering his name, she rested her head on his chest before saying, “That’s the best gift I ever could ask for.”

It took forever to finish letting everyone talk to Daphne. He had to admit, it was amazing watching her smile and all the play of emotions on her face. She was so beautiful and animated, and the way she gushed over her new space filled him with pride.

“You did good, Son,” his father said, coming up beside him.

“Dad? What are you doing here?”

“Faye told your mother what you were doing, and we wanted to come and join the celebration.”

“Mom’s here too?”

“She’s over there talking to Daphne’s mom.” He clapped Tristan on the shoulder. “You did a lot more than build something for Daphne. You were a fine example to your employees, Tristan. They watched you be humble and vulnerable, and then they watched you give your time and sacrifice for the woman you love. I’m proud of you.”

He’d waited years to hear him say those words regarding his job, but they meant so much more on a personal level. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Now, let me congratulate Daphne on her beautiful new space. Oh, and we’re going to invite her family to join ours for dinner tomorrow. I hope that’s okay with you.”

“More than,” he said. “We haven’t had any time alone to talk, but I was hoping when we did that she’d want to spend at least part of the holiday with me. With us.”

“Then let’s go make that happen now that the crowd’s almost gone.”

It was amazing how the Noelles and his parents were suddenly like old friends, laughing and joking and making plans for tomorrow’s dinner. The only thing missing from this incredible moment was Daphne.

Glancing around, he found her inspecting her new gingerbread house. “Mr. and Mrs. Noelle, thank you for all your help with this and for keeping it a secret. I never could have done it without you.”

“Thank you for wanting to do it,” her dad said, shaking Tristan’s hand. “Now let her play around with it. And good luck convincing her to leave.” They all laughed. “Tell her we’ll see her at dinner. You’re more than welcome to join us too, if you’d like.”

“Thank you, sir.” And after saying goodbye to his parents, he went over and joined Daphne. “How’s the inspection going?” he teased. “Did I miss anything?”

“It’s magnificent, Tristan! I don’t know how you got it done so fast!” Stepping around to one side, she asked, “What are these hooks for?”

“We’re working on holiday and seasonal decorations that you can swap out depending on the occasion. Naturally there are all kinds of Christmas decorations—I’m trying to figure out how to hook up a snow machine that won’t make it necessary to do a massive cleanup every day.”

Her eyes lit up.

“We’re making oversized sunflowers for the spring and giant Easter eggs, then there’s the pumpkin patch that will go off to the right here…I have a specialty wood shop working on all of them.” Taking her by the hand, he brought her into the house. “You’ll have actual electricity built into it. No more running extension cords and taping over them so people don’t trip. And you’ll have limited plumbing, so you can offer coffee if you want to add it to the menu.”

“Tristan, I’m…I’m…speechless. This is so much more than I ever imagined.”

“I hope I did it justice. We’ve talked about this space so much that I felt like I knew what you would want, but if you want me to add anything…”

“No. It’s perfect.” Closing the distance between them, she wrapped her arms around his waist. “Thank you.”

Placing a kiss on the tip of her nose, he whispered, “You’re welcome.”

It was a sweet and wonderful moment.

“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you,” she quietly told him. “It all just made sense on the surface, and then people kept convincing me of all the reasons it had to be true.”

All he could do was nod.

“So…who was it?”

“Jeff. The work of a very disgruntled ex-employee.”

“Oh, wow…but…why?”

“In the beginning, he thought he was doing me a favor. He had no idea our relationship had changed. And the day I fired him, he blamed you for turning me against him so…”

“He amped up his campaign to get me out of here. Yikes.” She shook her head. “Is anything going to happen to him for this? I guess technically he didn’t break any laws, but I feel like he still should be punished.”

“Unfortunately, there isn’t anything we can do. He’ll never get a recommendation from me or anyone at Knights, but I doubt that is going to hurt him. I’m sorry.” And he genuinely was. All he’d wanted to do for the last week was go and beat the crap out of Jeff and demand that he come and apologize to Daphne, but that wasn’t going to change anything either. So, he took the high road and did something he knew would bring her joy.

Christmas music began to play softly from somewhere, and off in the distance, he heard their families saying goodbye. With his arms around her, they began to sway to the music. Michael Bublé was singing “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and it was exactly where Tristan wanted to be—with Daphne.

“Would you like to come home with me for lunch?”

“That depends.”

“On?”

“Is there really a battery pack in this sweater?”

The bark of laughter was out before he knew it. Reaching under the hem, he found the button and squeezed. There was one in his Santa hat too, so he squeezed the button in the white bobble and lit that one too before stepping back.

“Oh my goodness! It’s even better than I imagined!” she gushed. “I love it!”

Taking her hand, he tugged her back into his arms so they could finish swaying to the music. “Does that mean you’ll come home with me?”

“I’m a bit of a wreck,” she softly told him. “I had barely gotten out of bed when I got the call.” Glancing up at him, she added, “That was kind of a devious plan to get me here. I’m pretty impressed.”

“I knew you wouldn’t just come here if I called you. It had to be someone else reaching out and making it sound urgent.”

“Believe me, I was freaking out. I only had time to brush my teeth and throw on whatever clothes I could find.”

“And this has to do with lunch…how?”

“Well, I’d rather look a little nicer before coming for lunch. What if I go home and freshen up and meet you at your place in an hour?”

He pretended to consider it. “Or…I follow you home and wait while you freshen up and pack an overnight bag and then take you to my house with me. Then, later on, we go to your parents’ place for dinner and then go back to my house. We can open presents in front of the tree in the morning before going to be with my family.”

“That sounds…oh no!” The look of dismay on her face was a bit shocking.

“What? What’s the matter?”

“I don’t have any gifts for you or your family! I can’t show up empty-handed! That would be incredibly rude!”

“Daphne, this is all last minute. No one expects you to have presents for them. I know I don’t. Besides, I don’t have anything for you either. The gingerbread house was my gift.”

“But it’s an enormous gift, Tristan! I could never compete with it!”

Reaching up, he caressed her cheek. “It’s not a competition. Besides, a wise man recently reminded me that comparison is the thief of joy. Gifts aren’t the reason for the season, right?”

“I cannot believe you’re reminding me of this,” she murmured. “But…I get what you’re saying. I can’t help how I feel, though. I don’t even have time to bake anything. I used most of my inventory on all the orders, and my mom took what was left for our dessert tonight.”

“It’s going to be fine. We’re all more excited about having you join us. And if it bothers you that much, you can bake something for all the upcoming holidays.”

“Mmm…planning on keeping me around, huh?”

“I do,” he said solemnly. “I’m in love with you, Daphne Noelle. I love your ridiculous sweaters and sweatshirts, I love the colorful and sparkly bows you put in your hair and the big pink puffy jacket you wear with the fuzzy cuffs.”

“Don’t forget the matching hat…”

“I love that too,” he agreed. “I love your talent and your confidence. I love the way you stand up for what you believe in and the way you take care of the people who mean something to you. But more importantly, I love you.”

“Wow…I don’t even know what to say. I never imagined you saying anything like that to me. So, all I can say is…I love you too.” Smiling up at him, she rested her hands on his chest. “And in case you were wondering, I love seeing the softer side of you—even though that gruff exterior is kind of hot, too. I love arguing with you, and I love how you tried so hard to make the holidays perfect for your mom. I don’t love how we got here, but I’m certainly glad that we did get here.” Pausing, she sighed happily. “Tristan Knight, thank you for taking what was becoming the worst Christmas ever and turning it into the best. I love you.”

Leaning his forehead against hers, he felt more at peace than he ever had in his life. “Now that’s the best present you ever could have given me. Now let’s get you packed up so we can go back to my place and make up properly.”

“Ooh…I like the sound of that,” she said, leading him out of the house. “But…for the record, I have a bed too. So we can start making up properly much sooner.”

Laughing, he hauled her up into his arms and over his shoulder. “Santa says you’ve been a very good girl this year and should be rewarded properly!”

“Yay! Merry Christmas to me!” she laughed as they made their way out of the building.