Back to December (Ward Sisters Book 1)

©2014 by Lucy Gage

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing, 2013

Second Printing, 2014

ISBN 978-1534967496

[email protected]

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Ward Sisters Series

Back to December (#1)

Only One (#2)

Right Here Waiting (#3)

This Year's Love (#4)

Time to Begin (#5)

Just Realized (#6)

Bucksport, Maine, Labor Day...

Emily Ward could pinpoint the moment everything in her life changed, and it wasn’t even her moment. It was the second Dan proposed – not to her, but to her little sister, Charlotte.

In Emily's opinion, Dan and Charlie should live together first, then get engaged and maybe
then
married. At least, that’s what Emily would do. She'd lived with her boyfriend, park ranger Josh Ricker, for nearly three years and dated him for the two before that. Your perceptions of a person changed definitively when you cohabitated.

Emily and Josh weren't oil and vinegar, but they weren't two peas in a pod, either. They were more like peanut butter and bananas – it depended on who you asked whether they were perfect together or completely wrong for each other. Emily sat increasingly in the second camp these days.

In the time between her sister's Labor Day proposal and the winter solstice, Emily and Josh changed from being relatively happy and content to having regular, escalated arguments and hours of silent treatment.

It wasn't a shock when Emily asked Josh for a break three days before Christmas as she left for the career opportunity of a lifetime.

At least not to Emily.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, three days before Christmas Eve...

The flight attendant gave arrival instructions: gate numbers for those continuing to other destinations, baggage claim information, pick up for gate checked items. Emily had been so lost in her thoughts that she missed the baggage claim information, the only item of importance. Fortunately, she knew she'd find an airport monitor to relay the details. With the rest of the afternoon and evening to get settled, she wasn't in a rush.

After she picked up her bags, Emily made her way to the car rental counters. The long line prompted the thought that it would be nice to have a car waiting for you at the airport, a driver whose purpose was to ferry you away as soon as humanly possible. Just then, she noticed a mob of people milling around the pickup area. The volume of the crowd's voices escalated instantly and overwhelmed all other sound in a tornado of noise.

Most of those gathered had professional cameras with high-powered lenses. Paparazzi? In Minnesota? Em didn't have experience with that sort of thing, but she thought it was odd that anyone important might be arriving in Minnesota. It must be a politician; all the really big names coming to the Fluxus opening wouldn't arrive this far in advance when it was so close to the holidays. Minneapolis wasn't Aspen.

Whomever it was, the crowd grew thicker and louder. It must be someone important. She hadn't heard anything about a Presidential visit, and she knew neither he nor the VP were from Minnesota, so it must be a more local celebrity, like a member of Congress. The celebrity was surrounded by a moving throng as he passed through the airport to his waiting car.

Em assumed 'he' because what little she could see of the person was broad shoulders and brown hair with a man's cut on what was obviously a tall frame – she guessed he was over 6 feet tall. She wished she knew her members of Congress better, then she might have a clue who it could be. As soon as he got into the car, everyone instantly dispersed.

She pondered asking if anyone knew who it had been, but her phone rang.

Emily checked the caller ID before she answered – if it was work or her parents, she'd answer, but she didn't want to take any calls from Josh. It was too soon.

It was her boss, Marcus.

“Hi, Marcus. What's up?”

“Hi, Em. Listen, can you get to the museum before 5 p.m.?” He sounded a little worried.

“Well, I haven't switched my watch time, yet, but it's only...” she did the math in her head – subtract two hours, “two here, so it shouldn't be a problem. What do you need?”

Marcus sighed. “Good. Okay, they've had some crisis with printing the brochures and I need to you take care of it. You're there, it makes more sense for you to handle things. It'll be more effective if you're glaring at them than if I'm yelling over the phone. I saw you the other night, I can tell you know how to glare. If you have to do it, channel whatever bothered you then. Call if there's an emergency. Otherwise, I assume you'll take care of it all yourself. I expect to hear great things from Lucinda the morning after the gala. Good luck.” He ended the call before she could ask questions.

Great, a crisis before she left the airport. Now Em knew why her co-worker, Andrew, was relieved to bow out as the
Art Wurks
liaison. He knew the work involved with the magazine as the major sponsor of the Walker Art Museum's Fluxus gala and exhibit.

The only good news was that she had a bigger chance to prove herself. And she could channel that glare. She was still unhappy with how things had ended at home. And now that Marcus brought it up, she had more than enough time in line to stew.

It took longer than Emily thought to get her rental car, and since they had been out of small and midsized cars, she had been stuck with an SUV. It was either that or a behemoth Crown Victoria, and she had no desire to drive a rear-wheel drive cop car in the Minnesota snow. The magazine paid for her car, so she figured it didn't matter what she drove. What could they expect when she needed a last-minute rental just before Christmas?

She and Josh each had a GPS unit for their cars at home, and since she assumed her rental wouldn't have one, she brought hers along. But her expensive, late-in-the-game rental had an on-board navigation system. Thankfully, it resembled her Garmin, because she'd have otherwise pulled hers out of her luggage.
Get lost
wasn't on her to-do list.

Em easily found her hotel, The Debussy, even without the help of the GPS. Fortunately, it was close to the Walker Art Museum and she could park at the hotel for free and walk to work. She still had a little time – it was only 3:30 when she finally got to the hotel – so she checked into her room before she went to avert the printing crisis.

Once Emily settled into her room, she freshened up from travel, changed from her sweats and Bean boots into a navy wool skirt, her 3-inch Mary Jane heels and a cream silk shirt, then headed to the museum. When she arrived at the entrance, her breath was momentarily taken away. She'd seen the museum in photographs for years, but as the sun set, it hit the building just right and created a stunning, gleaming piece of Modern sculpture. It would certainly be no hardship to arrive every morning at this building for work.

Emily found security and gave them her name. They had expected her and assigned a temporary badge while they called Becky, the museum staffer who would be her contact point while she was at the Walker. Moments later, Becky arrived to take her to the offices. She expressed surprise that Emily arrived a day early – Becky had anticipated her the next morning. Nonetheless, they had set up a temporary office for Em in a conference room. When she finally got a word in edgewise, Em told Becky why she was there.

Becky laughed. “Oh, that Marcus. He either wanted to make you rush over here or else he's having another one of his days where he panics about nothing because he's too busy to pay attention to details.”

Emily sighed. “So, there isn't a crisis?”

“No! We've got in-house design, Emily. You can head down there to give final approval for the brochures, but that could have been done tomorrow. Maybe someone over at design called to ask for you to make a decision on some last-minute details, but it wouldn't have been urgent.”

Emily shook her head. “Okay. I guess while I'm here, I can head down to design and take care of whatever they wanted so it's off my plate tomorrow.”

Becky agreed and they went to the design office. There were a few logo placement decisions to make, but it wasn't anything worrisome. Becky walked her back to security, where they took Em's photo for a badge that would be available to her in the morning. Tomorrow, she would repeat her arrival procedure from earlier. After that, she could come and go with her badge at the staff doors. They said their goodbyes and Emily headed back to the hotel to retrieve her rental.

The printing non-crisis behind her, Emily turned her attention to buying Christmas gifts for her former college roommate's little boys. She sprung a last-minute request to spend Christmas with Angie's family. Angie had moved back to Minnesota when she graduated and promptly met a doctor who worked at the Mayo Clinic. Their two little boys, ages five and seven, were apparently obsessed with comic book characters and Transformers.

While Em sat at the Portland Jetport waiting for her flight to depart, she'd Googled toy stores in Minneapolis. She found a shop outside of the city called MacArthur's Toys. The places in town didn't have action figures. MacArthur's website wasn't very detailed, so Em called to see if she could get what she wanted there and before they closed. Otherwise, she might as well shop in town where she could walk.

Fortunately, the owner answered and said he had two of the Wolverine toys that the boys requested and Angie couldn't find at a reasonable price. Em had no idea what a reasonable price was supposed to be, but since they were hosting her for the holiday at the last minute, she could hardly worry too much about it. It might bust Angie's budget for the kids, but not hers – Emily had a short shopping list. The guy said he'd hold them for her if she got there that night before they closed at 6 p.m.. She said she was on her way.

Finding the place was easy, but the traffic frustrated her as cars crawled along the streets and the highway, often at a snail's pace. By the time she parked at the toy store, it was only 10 minutes until close.

The proprietor was still there and, as promised, he'd saved her the two action figures. She knew the boys would play with them, but the shop owner said the reason the figures were difficult to find was that they were collectibles and were in high demand this year. An inexperienced action figure buyer, Emily couldn't say if the $20/each price tag was outrageous, but since she paid close to $50 for her collectible Barbie each year, she wouldn't complain.

The man sold her wrapping paper and tape, then it was time for him to close. He said she was lucky, those were his last two Wolverines and he knew there wouldn't be more coming before Christmas. She thanked him for his help and wished him a Merry Christmas.

Emily stepped out the door and slid fingers into gloves as she walked down the path to the sidewalk. All of a sudden, as she approached the end of the walkway, a huge mass slammed into her and she flew into the snowbank. She was disoriented for a moment when a man reached down to help her stand.

“Oh! I'm so sorry!” he said. “Are you okay? I didn't hurt you, did I?”

She looked at the guy, too discombobulated to register his appearance. “Did you just crash into me?”

He gave her a sheepish smile. “Yeah. Sorry about that. I wasn't watching where I was going. Um, it looks like the handle of your bag broke.”

She looked down at the little bag with the toys in it and, sure enough, one of the handles had broken. When she checked the bag, there was only one of the action figures inside. “Oh no! Where did the other one go?”

“Other what? Did you lose something?”

“Yes! I just bought these two action figures and one of them is missing from the bag!”

“Maybe you forgot it at the register?”

“No! He put them both in the bag. I saw him. Maybe it fell out when you knocked me down.”

“Let me help you look.” Given that it was dark and the street light wasn't very bright, she could hardly say no.

They looked around near where she had landed and didn't see anything. Then a guy rode by on his bicycle, decked in winter biking gear, and she heard the crunch of plastic packaging. The stranger grimaced. He knew as well as she did that the cyclist had found the toy. He picked it up and his expression grew solemn. “Oh, I'm so sorry. It looks like it got broken.” He handed it to her.