Christmas With Tiffany

Copyright
© 2012 Carolynn Carey

All
rights reserved

Discover
other titles by Carolynn Carey at

http://www.CarolynnCarey.com

This
story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either
products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

No
part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from Carolynn
Carey.

Cover
design by Dar Albert

Dedication

This
story is dedicated to
Juli
Alexander and Leanne
Tyler. Thanks for all your support as we navigate the
sometimes
murky
paths on this exciting journey.

Chapter
One

The tinkling of the tiny
bell above the gift shop door was almost drowned out by the unmelodious blare
of the Christmas song Tiffany Elwood hated most in the entire world. “I’m going
to kill that girl,” she muttered as she stepped into the small shop that
encapsulated her dreams and her joy.

Well, it was a joy other
than the times when her kid sister watched the store for her.

 
“You’d think she could cover for me for
half an hour without going out of her way to irritate me,” Tiffany said aloud.
She pushed the door closed behind her, shutting out the cold but subjecting her
poor hearing to the high-decibel chorus of
Grandma Got Run Over by a
Reindeer.

She closed her eyes, struggling
for composure. Usually just being inside her shop soothed her spirits and
brought a smile of near contentment to her face.
 
The tangy smell of pine-scented candles,
the peaceful gurgling of the small fountain in the front window
and—usually—the soft strains of instrumental Christmas music always
left her feeling as though she was at peace with the world.

But
not today.

The song thankfully
ended and Tiffany glanced around, relieved for once that there were no
customers in the store. She hoped Holly’s choice of music hadn’t driven anyone
away. Tiffany couldn’t afford to lose business, especially at this time of
year.

“Holly,” she yelled.

Holly came bounding out
of the storeroom. “Hi, Sis. Did you grab some lunch?” She grinned and her
braces flashed in the sudden spear of sunlight that found its way through the
small window behind the counter.

Tiffany immediate
stepped across the room to tilt the blinds. Too much sunlight destroyed the
atmosphere she’d tried to create in her shop. “I didn’t take time to eat.
I was going to the post office
,
remember
?
I got all the cards mailed inviting people to the open house. And I stopped by
the newspaper office to place the ad. I hope you’ll be able to help me unbox
and display the new decorations that I have on order.”

“I should be able to
help. Most everything at school is over for the semester. When’s the open house
again?”

“The fifteenth. Why
don’t you put it on your calendar?”

“I would if I had a
smart phone like all the other kids. Do you suppose if I asked Santa—
well, if there
were
a Santa.
”
Holly sighed, and the sound was a burred dagger straight to Tiffany’s heart.
She hated that her little sister couldn’t have what other kids her age could
afford.

“If the monthly fees
weren’t so high—” she began, feeling as though she was singing the same
song, fiftieth verse.

“I know,” Holly interrupted.
“It’s okay, Sis. I don’t need a smart phone calendar to remember your open
house. Everybody in town looks forward to it. Of course all of the goodies Mom
makes for the refreshment table
draws
in most of the crowd.”

Tiffany forced a smile
to hide the fact that she was gritting her teeth. Trust Holly to state the
unadorned facts. “Yes, well, in any case, I ordered some of the most beautiful ornaments
you could ever imagine and they will be arriving any day now. I’ll let you know
when they get here so you can help me unpack them. Now, did any customers come
in while I was out?”

“Just Mr. Matthews, who
bought a candle for his wife, one of those fancy ones that smells like peaches
when it burns. I’ll bet she’s mad at him again. And, oh yes, some guy who said
he knew you from high school.”

“From high school? Who
was it?”

Holly crinkled her
forehead. “Okay, let me think. I was going to remember his name. Hmmm.”

Tiffany continued to
smile over her clenched teeth as she waited.

“His first name started
with an R. Or was it a B?”

Tiffany raised her
brows. “I didn’t go to high school with that many people.”

“I know, I know. That’s
what’s weird. I know just about everybody because they are all still here in
Rushville, but I didn’t know this guy. Oh, I remember now. I thought he seemed
a little vain. I mean
,
you should have seen the way he
was dressed, all fancy with shiny black shoes and one of those coats that I’ve
heard described as camelhair. Boy, was it ever soft.”

“You touched him?”

“Don’t look so shocked,
Sis. I just accidentally brushed up against his coat sleeve. That’s when I
decided he was vain, because he sort of took a step back like I was going to
contaminate him. So I remember his name. It rhymes with vain.”

Tiffany felt the floor
shift under her feet and she grabbed onto the back of the chair she kept
sitting near the counter to accommodate husbands who got bored while waiting
for their wives to shop.
Okay, no need to come
unglued. There must be a thousand names that rhyme with vain. Cain,
Raine
, Fane, Jane. No not Jane. A man wouldn’t be named
Jane. Would he?

“Sis?” Holly looked at
her strangely. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” She
straightened. “So what was the man’s name and what did he want?”

“I don’t know what he
wanted. He didn’t say. He just said he was looking for you because he hadn’t
seen you in so long. He said he’d be back.”

“The name, Holly. The
name.”

“Oh, right. Duh. It’s
Bain. Bain Lyndhurst. But I don’t remember ever hearing of any
Lyndhursts
around here. Did they all move away?”

Bain was back. Why on
earth would he be back in little old Rushville, Tennessee? He wasn’t a native.
In fact, he’d only lived here during his last three years of high school. His
father had been transferred to Rushville to establish a factory for making
parts for one of the large auto manufacturers in the state. The factory had
been a Godsend for Rushville, employing dozens of people who were in dire need
of a job.

The thankful townspeople
had welcomed the new residents, but while the
Lyndhursts
had been friendly enough, they’d not bothered to put down roots or form any
attachments in the community, knowing they’d be moving on in a couple of years.

Bain had been the
exception. When he entered Rushville High as a sophomore, he instantly became
the most popular boy in school. Good looking, outgoing, and always joking, he
had all the girls half in love with him. Why on earth he’d singled out quiet
little Tiffany Elwood was a mystery that baffled everyone.

“Sis? What’s wrong with
you? I asked you a question. Who is Bain Lyndhurst?”

Tiffany cocked her head
to one side and forced the biggest smile she could manage. “Just a guy I knew
in high school, sweetheart.
Just a guy.
Now you run
along home and tell Mom I’ll be late for supper. I can’t leave the shop until
after the freight truck runs. I want to hang around in case my ornaments
arrive.”

“Okay.” Holly reached
under the counter and pulled out a knitted scarf that she wrapped around her
neck. She lifted her jacket off the coat stand and pushed her arms into the
sleeves.

“Holly?”

Holly paused. “What,
Sis?”

“Thanks.”

“Are you sure you’re all
right? You look kind of pale. You’re not sick, are you?”

Holly always worried if
she thought a family member was getting sick. She’d been this way ever since
their dad had begun to feel sick one bright spring morning and was gone a mere
three months later.

“I’m fine, Holly. Don’t
worry. I might be a little tired but I’m fine.”

“You work all the time.
Mom says you work too much. I can stay and wait for the delivery man.”

“No, sweetheart.” Tiffany
blinked rapidly for a second, not wanting Holly to realize just how tired she
really was. Besides, tears would merely bring on more objections, and she
couldn’t leave Holly alone to sign for a delivery. She swallowed hard. “I
appreciate the thought, really I do, but I’m not all that tired.
 
You go on home and help Mom. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay.” Holly pulled on
her mittens and slipped out the door while Tiffany settled down to wait. If she
was
lucky, she’d have a few customers while she
waited, and then the delivery man would bring her gorgeous ornaments, the ornaments
she was counting on to sell in large quantities at the open house. If they sold
well enough, she might be able to afford that smart phone for Holly for
Christmas.

And if she
wasn’t
lucky, Bain would come
back to the shop. She didn’t want to see him. Not now. Not ever.
 
But she would love to know what he was
doing back in Rushville. When he moved to California after their senior year,
it seemed to her that he’d shaken the dust of Rushville off his shoes when he
left and that he never looked back.

So what was he doing
here now, eight years after he’d turned his back on her and broken her heart?

*
* *

Bain Lyndhurst leaned
back in the soft leather chair behind his huge desk in the CEO’s office of the
Home for the Holidays Hotel located in the tourist mecca of Crow’s Creek,
Tennessee, just thirty-two miles from his old stomping grounds in Rushville.
Eight years ago, when he and his parents had moved to California, he would have
laughed if anyone had suggested he might someday be living in Tennessee again.

Not that he was unhappy
about the location, just surprised. He’d only been with the HHH Company for a
little over four years, and he hadn’t expected to be moved up the ladder so
quickly. The Crow’s Creek hotel was a huge one, and there’d been more than one
manager interested in the position. Bain wondered if his having lived in the
area in the past had given him a leg up on his competitors for the job.

Of course when he’d
lived in Rushville, Crow’s Creek had just been a wide place in the road with a
couple of motels and one small amusement park. But its proximity to the Smoky
Mountains had started drawing crowds, and its growth had been phenomenal in the
last few years. Hotels had started springing up almost on a monthly basis, and
the HHH Company had seen an opportunity for their year-round Christmas-themed
hotel.