Chapter Fourteen
Lottie
Christmas Eve had come and gone much like it always had, but instead of a phone call to Willa, Lottie had gone over to her best friend’s new place and given her and Beckett the gift she had procured for their baby.
They had loved the vintage fire station toy that Lottie had scoured the Internet for and had refinished to look brand new, marveling over the woodwork of the tiny figures and the structure itself.
In addition to that, Lottie had given the two of them a gift certificate to a hotel in Seattle so they could have a babymoon before their little one arrived that summer.
After accepting her own gifts in return, Lottie went to the senior center to have Christmas Eve dinner.
The group of elderly friends and neighbors she’d been attending dinner with annually were just as much fun as they always had been, telling Lottie stories about their pasts while sharing bits of the present as well.
Some tales she had heard before and others were brand new, but they were always entertaining and gave Lottie plenty of ideas for the book she was hoping to put together.
Whether anyone would read a book of stories about the people of her hometown remained to be seen, but she was hopeful that if nothing else, the citizens she wrote about would appreciate being memorialized in that way.
Most of the book still sat in various documents both on her desk and her laptop, but once she’d finished helping Nate with his project, she would have more time for her own.
The mayor had been on her mind a lot lately, especially over the last seven days.
Since their time up in the loft, Lottie and Nate had spent little time together.
It seemed that with the holidays approaching, every person in Applewood had some sort of emergency that they called the mayor to come solve.
Arbitrating issues between townspeople wasn’t a part of his official duties, but like the other mayors before him, Nate took it upon himself to help out whenever he could.
While he did that and worked on his town square proposal, Lottie busied herself helping him out in any way she could while also writing her newsletter and gathering information for her book.
So far she had stories of humor, intrigue, and romance, but the more she thought about the stories she’d gathered, the more she worried about how her own would turn out.
Nate said he loved her, he obviously wanted her, but there was still that worry that he would push her away and she would have to go, leaving her alone again.
Lottie sighed, her mood dipping with each passing second she stared at the cell phone in her hand.
It was Christmas Day and well past lunch time, and she was overdue to make a call to her parents.
A feeling of dread hung over Lottie, and she wondered why she kept up with the ruse that they were still family when they had never seemed to care about her, moving out of Applewood while she was away at college without even telling her until it had already happened.
Maybe it was the perpetual desire to be seen by them that had Lottie dialing her mom’s number.
Or maybe she was a glutton for punishment.
Either way, as the call rang through and her mother’s shrill voice sounded out of the speaker, Lottie couldn’t help but hope that this time it would be different. “Merry Christmas, Mom.”
“Oh, Lottie. Merry Christmas.” The woman sounded surprised despite caller ID being a thing as well as this being the one day of the year they spoke with one another.
A long silence hung in the air and finally her mother spoke again.
“Did you want to speak with your father? Because he’s taking a nap and you know how he gets when his sleep is disturbed. ”
Lottie didn’t know because she’d made it a point to be gone any time the two of them were in the house together. Listening to them fight was always awful and she couldn’t stand being around it. “No, that’s okay. I don’t want to cause you any trouble.”
A huffing sound came through the phone. “I have trouble every day I stay married to that man.” Before Lottie could say otherwise, her mom launched her usual tirade about Lottie’s dad and how he still was having difficulty holding down a job, never did the dishes, and couldn’t be bothered to buy her the present she wanted for the holiday.
“Can you believe he got me a toaster for Christmas? What is this, the forties? I know you like all that traditional nonsense, but I am a modern woman.”
Lottie grit her teeth, not bothering to tell her mom that how she dressed wasn’t about values but about fashion and celebrating one of the few adults who’d paid her any attention as a teen.
“Well, it’s the thought that counts, right?
” Her mom argued otherwise. Any hope that Lottie would have a normal relationship with her parents floated away on the wave of negativity her mother was spewing.
When she felt like she’d had enough, Lottie cleared her throat to end her mother’s diatribe.
“You know, there’s someone on the other line. You have a Merry Christmas, Mom.”
After her mother’s curt goodbye, Lottie hung up the phone and wiped a stray tear off her cheek.
Part of her knew that it wasn’t worth crying over, but she couldn’t help it.
Making a solemn vow not to call next year and save herself the emotional upheaval, Lottie brought up the streaming service on her television and cued up The Bishop’s Wife.
There was nothing quite like some classic Cary Grant to cheer her up.
She would have preferred Nate, but she knew he would be with his family today and while inviting her to their annual Christmas party was one thing, inviting her over for the day of was another.
While Lottie was hopeful they would be there one day, clearly they weren’t yet.
Sighing, Lottie started the movie and got up to gather some snacks while the credits rolled.
Just as she sat down with her bowl of popcorn and box of holiday themed chocolates, a knock at the door had her pausing the movie and heading over to see who it could be.
Dressed in her favorite pair of men’s pajamas, Lottie opened the door cautiously, hoping it wasn’t a group of carolers coming to wish her a merry Christmas.
The last thing she wanted right now was to be in front of her neighbors when she was dealing with the emotional aftermath of another parental letdown.
When she caught sight of who was on her stoop, Lottie opened the door wider, a hopeful smile forming on her face. “What are you doing here, Nathan?”
Nate smiled back at her. “Merry Christmas to you too, Charlotte.” He brushed past her holding a small wrapped gift box in his hands as he looked around her entryway, playing with the old nutcracker that sat on a small table for a second before meeting her eyes.
“I came to bring you your present, but if you don’t want it I can go. ”
Lottie shut the door and pressed her back up against it.
She hadn’t wanted company, but Nate was the exception and always had been.
“I want it.” When he looked over at her, his eyes darkened and snippets of the memory from the last present he gave her played in her mind.
While she was definitely down for that as well, she was too curious about what he’d brought for her. “Merry Christmas.”
Nate joined her at the door, wrapped his arm around her waist, and pulled her up against him.
“It is now,” he said before pressing his lips to hers.
It was forceful yet sweet and was everything Lottie needed in that moment to help wipe away the lingering disappointment from her earlier phone call.
When they parted, he smiled down at her again before placing a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Do you want your present?”
Lottie nodded, and gestured for him to join her in the family room. “I thought you would be with your family today.”
Nate removed his coat and hung it up on the wall, revealing the ugly Christmas sweater he’d paired with his faded blue jeans.
Waving his hand up and down the bright green sweater embroidered with a cow wearing reindeer horns, Nate joined her on the couch.
“If you couldn’t tell, this was not my idea but a gift from Felix he insisted we all wear for pictures.
” Lottie chuckled and looked closer at the clothing item to see tiny cow bells stitched all over the sleeves, smiling up at Nate as he pulled the offensive item off his back and tossed it on the chair.
Underneath he’d been only in a white t-shirt that clung to his bulging muscles nicely.
Attempting not to get too distracted by the sight of his gorgeous body in front of her, Lottie grabbed the box he’d brought and held it in her hands. “You didn’t have to leave them to come here. This could have waited.”
Nate brushed a lock of her hair back and shook his head. “I wanted to come over anyway, and once Willa mentioned that you were probably calling your parents, I needed to come over right away.”
Lottie turned the box over in her hands as she stared at the red and green wrapping. “Why would that matter?” As far as she knew, Nate had never even met her parents let alone known about her less than stellar connection with them.
Nate reached over and stilled her hands with his. “I know you don’t have the best relationship with them, and I was afraid you might be a little sad. The thought of you being sad at all, but especially on Christmas, was just something I couldn’t stand for.”