Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Vanessa woke up at eight sharp, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she sat up in the darkened room. She got up, sliding her feet into her fluffy slippers, and opened the curtains, smiling at the view of the sugary-white snow outside.
It was her last day in Fir Tree Grove, and she had the thought that she would miss this view.
She hadn’t missed the foggy harbor view from her apartment window as much as she would have thought.
She hadn’t missed the balmy air either, or the constant bustle around her that helped her stay distracted and keep from getting lost in her thoughts.
Those thoughts had come back while she was in Fir Tree Grove, memories from when she was a kid and time spent with her parents, but it hadn’t been as difficult as she had thought it would be.
If anything, it had been nice to remember it in a place where the memories felt less like loss, and more like reminders of happy times.
She threw on a pair of jeans and a camel-colored cashmere sweater, heading downstairs to get some coffee and breakfast. On the main floor of the bed and breakfast, it smelled like fir and coffee and cooking food, the garlands were lit and the large tree near the fireplace was twinkling.
There was an antique silver tray near the front desk that always had fresh, decorated sugar cookies on it, no matter the time, and she saw that Christopher was behind the counter scribbling away at something in a ledger.
“Morning,” she called out, and he looked up, smiling as he waved to her.
He’d been wonderful, a kind and attentive host, and very friendly.
She supposed that was all part of his job, but still, it had all felt very genuine.
He’d been happy to answer any of her questions about the town, and had offered to have her breakfast sent up to her in the mornings if she wanted to pre-select her menu, since he’d noticed she hadn’t stayed down to eat with the other guests.
She’d considered it, but ultimately decided not to.
She couldn’t tell if he ran the place by himself or not, but if he did, she didn’t want to create more work for him.
And she had decided that while she was in Fir Tree Grove, she would try to not automate her life as much as she always did back home.
She would slow down a little, while she had the opportunity to, and see if she really disliked it as much as she thought she would.
Picking out her breakfast every morning, instead of pre-selecting it and letting it show up, felt like a way to do that.
She decided to splurge on breakfast a little that morning, and ordered eggs over-medium with blueberry maple sausages and a side of cut-up fruit.
It wasn’t the healthiest breakfast, but she’d enjoyed going out of her comfort zone with things like the meatloaf she’d had at her grandmother’s for dinner.
And soon enough she’d be back in San Francisco, and back to her usual habits again.
When her breakfast was ready, she took it back up to her room, along with her coffee and a small, insulated carafe with a second cup in it. Her laptop was sitting on the desk, waiting for her, and she felt an unfamiliar clench in her stomach as she looked at it.
She’d never had the urge to put off work before, but right then, she didn’t want to open her laptop.
She didn’t want to half-enjoy her coffee and breakfast while she stared at spreadsheets and invoices.
She took a deep breath, sitting down at the desk, and nudged her laptop aside as she put her plate in front of her.
The food was delicious, and she was hungry.
She’d been hungrier than usual since arriving in town, she thought, and she wondered if it had something to do with the fresh air.
Probably all the walking she did too, more than just her daily commute back and forth and then sitting at her desk all day.
She finished everything on the plate, took her last sip of coffee, and refilled the mug, dosing it liberally with the peppermint creamer that she’d brought up as well.
She looked at her laptop. She was on her second cup of coffee, and done with breakfast, so she had no more excuses not to start her work.
Not that she’d ever needed an excuse to not start before.
She was always off and running, her mind on the office as soon as she woke up every morning.
But just then, she had the urge to go sit out on the small balcony that jutted off of her second-story room, and look out at the quaint view of the town while she sipped her coffee.
The view she wasn’t going to see again after this morning.
She never took vacations. She barely took days off. Maybe one day of not working quite as much wouldn’t be the end of the world.
Picking up her phone, she tucked it into her pocket just in case of a call, and went to grab one of the folded, quilted blankets that hung over a wooden ladder against the wall.
Wrapping it around her, she picked up her cup of coffee and stepped out onto the balcony, breathing in the fresh, cold air mingled with the coffee-and-mint scented steam coming from her cup.
There was a wooden Adirondack chair on one corner of the balcony, and she dusted the snow off of it, sinking down into it with the blanket wrapped snugly around her body.
She sipped at the hot coffee as she looked out over the town, and she could feel herself relaxing by inches as she sank deeper into the chair and let out a long breath.
Fir Tree Grove might be a bit obnoxious when it came to Christmas, she thought, but it was a beautiful place.
She could see a good bit of the town from her balcony—the diner with the line slightly out of the door to get in for breakfast, the shops on Main Street, the endless rows of trees at the Christmas tree farm.
She could easily imagine enjoying this view without ever getting tired of it.
Where did that thought come from?
She definitely didn’t have any intentions of staying in Fir Tree Grove long-term.
That made no sense. But she thought of her grandmother’s not-so-subtle hints that she really needed help, with the upcoming Santa event and with the toy store in general, and she let out a sigh as she took another sip of her coffee.
Mabel did need help. There was no question about that.
Just Vanessa’s brief time at the shop had shown her that her grandmother was going to struggle, if she had to take care of The Toy Chest during the busiest season with an injured wrist. And Mabel was convinced that hiring someone else to help was just going to create more work than it was worth.
Vanessa wasn’t sure she agreed with that, but Mabel wasn’t budging.
Could she really leave her grandmother without any help?
It wasn’t her responsibility, technically, and Mabel had sort of tricked her into this spot.
But she also knew that if Mabel had told her on that first phone call that she needed Vanessa to come out to help her run the toy store because she’d sprained her wrist, Vanessa would have turned her down flat.
She would never have come out to Fir Tree Grove at all.
And that thought made her feel surprisingly sad.
She thought of how isolated she’d been since her parents had died.
It had been a long time, a little over ten years, and she’d kept herself endlessly busy with work all that time.
She’d never stopped, never taken breaks, never made time for friends or a relationship.
She’d kept herself running, refusing to let herself think about how she felt for even a moment, wanting distraction above all else.
But slowing down, even a little, hadn’t been as bad as she had thought it would be.
She hadn’t started having panic attacks, or collapsed or fallen into depression.
Remembering things about her childhood and when her parents were alive had actually been a bit…
comforting. And when she thought of how Mabel clearly needed her, really needed her, and how she was the only family her grandmother still had left and vice-versa, she felt a pull to help her.
To stay a while longer, and enjoy this time with her family.
It was the holidays, after all. That was what was supposed to happen at Christmas. Could she really just walk away from that?
Her phone buzzed in her pocket at that exact moment, and she knew before even picking it up that it was Russell. He’d probably looked at her Google sheets and seen that her little icon wasn’t up at the top.
“Hey.” She took a sip of her coffee, and he barely took a breath before he was off and running.
“The new secretary is a disaster, Vanessa. She misplaced a file of orders yesterday. I had to pull them all again and have the other girl print them out. If you’d been here, you could have handled it, but things have really been piling up with you gone.
Plus, half the office keeps rotating out for vacation for the holidays, and it’s only getting worse the closer it gets to Christmas.
Everyone wants to use up all their PTO before the end of the year.
I’m glad you’re at least working while you’re on vacation.
Speaking of which, have you finished those spreadsheets yet?
I noticed you’re not logged in, and I took a glance at your email inbox, and there’s a good bit of work piled up.
Usually by this time in the morning you’re already on it, so… ”
The wheels in her head were turning as he ran on, his frantic rambling suddenly more grating than it had ever been before.
She was suddenly frustrated with all of it.
The fact that he was checking in on her and preventing her from enjoying even a single slow morning, the fact that he knew her schedule so well that he could pick up on any deviation from it.
And that wasn’t just micro-managing, that was on her too.
She was predictable. She’d handcuffed herself to her job so thoroughly that she’d made herself indispensable, but not in a good way.
She thought of the look she’d seen on Mabel’s face every time she picked up a phone call during a meal, or sent a text, or had to dart out to get back to work.
She knew what her grandmother was thinking, that it was unreasonable that she didn’t have times where she was simply unavailable. That she didn’t get any time off.
Now, for the first time, she needed it. Her grandmother needed her. And as Russell finally came to a stop to take a breath, she cut in, knowing what she needed to do.
“Actually, Russell,” she said, as calmly as she could manage. “I’m canceling my flight out in the morning. I’m going to be staying longer in Fir Tree Grove.”
The silence on the other end of the line was deafening. Vanessa knew she should actually feel a sense of accomplishment. She’d never known anyone to shock Russell into silence before. But she just felt a tightening knot in her stomach.
“You can’t be serious,” he said finally. “I need you here—”
“My grandmother needs me here. She was injured, and she needs help with her shop. I know exactly who can cover my tasks while I’m away.
Kaitlyn is very capable, and she knows what I usually handle.
She and Jenna can split most of the work without you even really noticing anything has changed.
” She doubted that, if only because Russell made it a point to insert himself into every task, just to feel useful.
But it sounded good. “And I’ll continue to keep doing what I can from here.
I’ll check up on things and make sure there are no loose ends.
But I really need to help my grandmother. ”
“Vanessa—”
“I’ve never taken time off,” she said firmly. “But I need this leave for family reasons.”
He couldn’t tell her no, she knew that. Well, she supposed he could, but if he did, he’d be losing someone who was indispensable to his office. And she imagined he could probably get in some kind of trouble for refusing her any personal time for family leave, if she really wanted to look into it.
But it didn’t matter. She had plenty of money saved up to get by if she ran out of PTO, and even if Russell let her go, she would be fine until she could find another job. Even if he fired her, she knew she was in the right. She’d find something else.
It felt good to be able to hold her ground. “Fine,” Russell said snappily. “But I expect you back right after the holiday. And I need you to make sure nothing is left undone. Things can’t be left hanging here just because you need to work remotely over the holidays.”
“I’ll make sure of it,” she assured him, and then he hung up without another word.
She stared at the phone for a long moment, hardly able to believe that she’d actually prioritized Mabel over her work.
Her job had been her first and only priority for so long that it took a second for it to sink in.
She hadn’t seen her grandmother in years, and didn’t know her all that well any longer…
but she’d put Mabel first, and she felt good about it.
She took the last sip of her coffee, folded up the blanket, and went inside to get ready for the day.