All He Wants for Christmas by Lisa Plumley

Author:Lisa Plumley [Plumley, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2014-08-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

The proof of Danielle’s new Christmas craziness arrived not long after she returned home with Jason and her children in tow.

None of them could quit talking about the tumble she and Jason had taken on the rink—or about the way the two of them had rallied back from it in the end—but Danielle had other things on her mind besides ice-skating and kissing and getting carried away beneath the romantic lights of the courthouse-side rink.

Those other things began with shuffling her kids off to start their bedtime routines, continued with warning Aiden, Karlie, and Zach that she had to make an important telephone call . . . and ended with Danielle slipping away, phone in hand, while Jason was soothing his sore muscles in a nice, hot shower, to enact the plan she’d devised to snare them more time together.

The only way to make sure Jason wouldn’t have to leave Kismet tomorrow for the rest of his Midwestern Moosby’s tour was to make sure the board of directors didn’t believe a Midwestern Moosby’s tour was necessary. That was why, with her heart in her throat and her mind boggling at the chance she was about to take, Danielle slipped into her bedroom and dialed Chip Larsen.

Fortunately, it was earlier on the West Coast. She caught him on the third ring. His terse, unpleasant voice rang over the line and almost made Danielle give up on this whole gamble.

Because that’s what it was: a gamble. She was about to gamble an opportunity in her future for a chance with Jason today. Danielle hoped it worked. She also hoped she wouldn’t regret it. But there wasn’t any time to contemplate that.

“Chip Larsen here,” he barked. “State your business.”

Wow. He probably didn’t win a lot of friends with that phone opener. “Hi, Mr. Larsen. It’s Danielle Sharpe.”

“Who? If you’re calling about an admin position, you should check with the HR department,” he huffed, clearly in motion toward someplace. “I don’t know how you got this number, but—”

“It’s Danielle Sharpe,” she repeated patiently. “The manager of the model Moosby’s toy store in Kismet, Michigan.”

A tense silence filtered over the line.

She’d had to endure this weirdness last time, too.

“Did you think I was calling about an admin position just because I’m a woman?” she blurted incredulously, belatedly realizing the probable source of that taut silence. “Because I’ve been applying for management positions for months.”

“Ah. Yes.” Chip chuckled. “Ms. Sharpe. Danielle. Of the model Moosby’s store. In the boonies. Right. Of course.”

His words came out with lengthy pauses between them. Clearly, he was checking something to remind himself who she was. Danielle didn’t find his absentmindedness reassuring.

She also didn’t appreciate his snide remark about “the boonies.” If she went to work at HQ, would they all view her as some kind of country bumpkin? That would be a hurdle, for sure.

“We spoke earlier this week about Jason Hamilton and his media tour of the Midwest.” Danielle darted a glance toward the hallway outside her bedroom. At the other end of it, Jason was luxuriating in a hot shower.

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