I’d been looking forward to the Silver Bells Christmas Party for so long, but now, as I walked in, I just felt sick. I couldn’t shake the look of betrayal on Adam’s face when he’d found out I had tried to sabotage his buyers. Connor had apologized to me and had been mortified when he realized what he’d blurted out in front of Adam, but it wasn’t his fault. Plus, I might need him to show me the ropes on how to be a loiterer if I got fired.
Not that I could blame Adam if he canned me.
The party was in full swing when I arrived, but I needed to find Adam first and clear the air. I was sure once I explained to him why I’d done what I’d done he’d understand. We’d grown so close over the past few weeks, so he’d understand. Wouldn’t he? I slipped through the lobby and headed for Adam’s office, but as I got closer, I could hear him talking on the phone.
“I’ll be back in New York soon. I just have a few loose ends to tie up.” He glanced up as I knocked on the open door, before walking in. “Let me call you back.”
Adam looked at me, his eyes flickering down to my dress for the briefest of moments before returning to my face. Morgan had told me I looked like a mermaid (in a good way) in the dress, which was floor length and covered in sequins made of turquoise blue, which flashed green as it moved. My heart rate sped up and I forgot everything I’d planned to say.
He stepped out from behind his desk, came around to the front of it, and perched on the edge of it. He looked so handsome in his dinner jacket that I wanted to cry, but, unlike The Little Mermaid, my makeup wasn’t waterproof and I didn’t think panda eyes would help my cause. I smiled hesitantly, but was met with an icy stare.
“What can I do for you, Faith?” he asked.
I flinched at his cold tone. “I just wanted to explain and clear the air.”
“I heard all I needed to hear last night.” He stood up and walked to the door. “Let’s just get this party over with so I can wrap things up and get back to New York.”
Over with? The Silver Bells Party was one of the highlights of the season in Christmas Mountain and I had wanted Adam to experience it with me. But that dream had been shattered after he’d overheard Connor.
“Was there anything else you wanted to say or do? You have a knife, perhaps?”
I frowned, not understanding. “A knife?”
He nodded. “Yes, to stab me in the back with.”
“No, I’ll just go,” I said, my stomach tightening. As I walked down the corridor I heard him talking on his phone again.
“Hi, Tiff? Sorry about that, no, it wasn’t anything important.”
As I walked back into the lobby I bumped into Ruby.
“Connor told me what happened,” she said as she hugged me. “Are you okay?”
“Not really.” I grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. “But, if this is going to be Silver Bells’ last party, I’m going to try to enjoy it.”
I worked my way through the crowd, smiling and laughing, but despite my declaration to Ruby, it felt like a knife going through my heart every time someone congratulated me on the party, or complimented Silver Bells. I envied their ignorant bliss as to what was about to happen.
Jake, a handsome rancher who I had dated a couple of times, sidled up to me. “Care to dance, ma’am?”
“Why not?” I laughed at his fake southern drawl and how he pretended to touch his non-existent cowboy hat, and let him lead me onto the dance floor. As we started to dance, the music changed to a slower song, and Jake grinned, slipping his arms around my waist. At the same moment, I noticed Adam standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded. I was so intent on watching Adam that when Jake spun me around for the finale, I stepped back too quickly and stood on his foot, my silver stiletto heel sinking into his boot. Poor Jake. As he hopped comically around (he’d always been one for exaggerating), I apologized profusely, and caught Adam’s eye again, a satisfied grin on his face.
I turned back to Jake. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry.”
He straightened. “I’m fine, it’s just a foot, right? I’ve got a spare.”
He hobbled off the dance floor, and I looked around, but Adam had disappeared. I headed for the bar and asked for a glass of champagne.
“Adam Kline, can you come to the front?” Harmony asked, tapping the microphone. “Oh, now it’s working. And Faith Sterling? Please come up.”
After a long sip of champagne, I headed to the front where Harmony stood.
“Ladies and gents, as is Silver Bells tradition, the sleighs are waiting out front to take you on a magical moonlit ride through the forest. The first sleigh will be for our owner, Adam Kline, and our manager, Faith Sterling.”
I gave Harmony a strong look, but she smiled at me and waved. She was so not getting what I meant with that look.
“Please remember your coats as it is C.O.L.D out there tonight,” Harmony said. “Hot chocolate and mulled wine will be served on your return to warm you up, followed by lots more dancing. Enjoy, everyone!”
To my surprise, Adam put his hand on the small of my back. “After you.”
Sitting next to Adam on the sleigh, under a red velvet blanket, would’ve been totally romantic had this been a day ago. Instead, I felt irritated and couldn’t stop wondering what he and Tiffany had been talking about on the phone. He was silent until the sleigh was out of earshot of the crowd, who cheered and whistled as we pulled away.
“Look, Adam—”
“I can’t believe you did that to me, Faith. How could you go behind my back like that?”
“Adam—”
“I’ve been honest with you from the start that I was selling the business and you acted like you were on board to do anything to help,” he said, his jaw pulsing as he shook his head. “Instead, you were stabbing me in the back. I’ve never felt so betrayed in my life.”
“You’ve never felt so betrayed?” I asked, with a mirthless laugh. “That’s rich. What about me? You’re selling the business I love. No, worse . . .” I turned to face him. “How could you betray your dad this way?”
I knew as soon as the words left my mouth that I’d gone too far, but if I hadn’t known, the look on Adam’s face told me everything I needed to know. The light seemed to go out in his eyes and he sank back in the seat.
“That’s a low blow.”
“The truth hurts?” I said, quietly, all of the pent up feelings and rollercoaster of emotions of the past few days spilling out.
“Lots of things hurt. You dancing with cowboy Roy in there proved that. What happened there anyway? Did he say something that disappointed the perfect vision you had for his life? Did he say the wrong thing to you? Didn’t have a knife with you, so you stabbed him with your stiletto?”
I narrowed my eyes. “You noticed my shoes?”
“Seriously, Faith? That’s what you’re taking from this discussion?”
“Discussion?” I laughed, sounding like a Disney villain, my voice rising higher. “Is that what you call it? This may be what you and Tiffany call a discussion, thriving on the drama and stress, but I’d call this a full blown argument.” As I said her name, my lip automatically curled, like I had sucked on a lemon.
“What’s Tiffany got to do with anything?”
“Who cares? I’m nothing important.”
He looked at me like I’d gone crazy. “What?”
“You told her on the phone that I was nothing important. Well, thanks for that, Adam. At least now you can go back to your precious Manhattan and to the Plaza Christmas Ball with Tiffany.”
A low hanging branch we passed under chose that moment to break under the weight of the snow and dump its load onto my head. Adam’s eyes flickered and the corner of his mouth twitched. As the snow melted and dripped down my face, he looked away.
“I’m not going to the Plaza Christmas Ball with Tiffany.”
I wiped the snow away from my face, realizing too late that I was going to sport those panda eyes after all. “Sorry?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Are you?”
Totally confused, I glared at him. “Am I what?”
“Sorry.”
“I said ‘sorry’ as in ‘pardon’ because I didn’t hear what you said.”
He sighed. “I know, I was being facetious.”
We arrived back at the Silver Bells Luxury Tours store. As Adam helped me down from the sleigh, I opened my mouth to speak, to apologize for real, but Harmony’s voice interrupted me.
“Adam, there’s a call for you.” She looked at me apologetically before continuing. “It’s Tiffany. She’s been trying to reach you on your cell, but you haven’t answered.”
Adam gave me one last look before pulling open the doors and disappearing inside. As I watched him walk away from me without a backward glance, I realized that, even though he claimed to not be going to the ball with her, he’d just chosen a phone call with Tiffany over talking with me, which felt like a knife in my heart. I had survived losing two of the most important people in my life, but I wasn’t sure I could endure losing Adam. I had no choice though because he’d obviously made his decision, breaking my heart in two.