The Perfect Christmas (5 page)

That
was it? People thought she was a charity case and had taken pity on her. Too bad the coffee incident had happened at the end of her four hours. Who knew how much she would’ve collected if it had occurred earlier.

She nearly laughed aloud when she realized one glove was missing. Cassie didn’t have a clue when that had disappeared or how.

Precisely four hours into her assignment, when she was about ready to hand in her kettle and bell, she
saw Dr. Simon Dodson. He was walking across the parking lot and headed directly toward her. And he was frowning.

J
ust as Simon approached, an elderly gentleman stepped up to the pot and inserted a folded bill.

“Thank you and Merry Christmas,” Cassie told him cheerfully.

“No, thank
you,
” the old man returned. “You see, I was on a troop train in World War II and your organization met us at the station as we disembarked and handed out doughnuts and coffee. That small kindness meant the world to those of us going off to war. I’ve never forgotten it.”

Cassie hardly knew what to say.

“A lot of us didn’t come home from the war, but I’ll bet you those of us who did will always remember
the friendly smiles and support you gave us. I’m an old man now and I don’t have many more years left.” He grew teary-eyed as he spoke. “Merry Christmas, young lady,” he whispered, gently squeezing her hand, “and thank you again for the sacrifice you’re making on behalf of others.”

Now it was Cassie who had tears in her eyes. She brushed them aside as Simon came closer. The old man had disappeared inside the mall by the time he arrived.

“How was it?” he asked.

Cassie tried to swallow the lump in her throat. “My grandfather was in the Second World War, too.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“That elderly gentleman,” she said, sniffling, “the one who was just here. He told me about something that happened when he went off to war and thanked me as if I was the one who’d been kind to him.”

“I didn’t see any old man.”

“You didn’t? He was here a minute ago and was…just wonderful.” She didn’t understand how Simon could have missed him. It was unlikely that he’d have eyes only for her.

“What happened to your coat?” Simon asked, apparently not interested in hearing about the man who had touched her so deeply.

“Oh, that,” she said, glancing down. “That was a lucky break. Well, to be honest, it didn’t seem like it at the time, but I collected a lot of pity donations as a result.”

He didn’t ask her to elaborate. “Your shift is over. You can leave now.”

“What about my substitute?” Cassie wasn’t about to be lured away from her duty station until the next person was firmly in place.

“That would be me,” a cheerful middle-aged woman said from behind Simon, the supervisor at her side.

Cassie handed over the bell, and the supervisor took her full kettle and replaced it with an empty one. “Good luck,” Cassie told the new bell ringer and meant every word. She nearly added that the woman was going to need it.

“You didn’t tell me how your morning went,” Simon said. He walked into the mall with her.

Cassie stood just inside the sliding glass doors for a moment, soaking in the blast of warm air. Until now she hadn’t fully realized how utterly cold she’d been. Four hours had felt like forever.

“You don’t want to know,” she said. Her teeth had only now stopped chattering.

“I don’t ask questions if I don’t want an answer.”

“Okay, fine. I misplaced a glove, and my nose lost feeling in the first half hour.” She looked at him and muttered, “It’s still there, isn’t it? My nose, I mean.”

“Yes.” His mouth twitched, but he didn’t admit he was amused.

“My feet feel like blocks of ice. A jealous wife threw coffee on me and some sweet old lady slipped a fifty-dollar bill into my coat pocket because she felt sorry for me. I threw it in the pot,” she added righteously.

Simon arched his brows. That apparently was his only comment.

“Furthermore, I recognized your plant.”

“My…plant?”

“The man you sent. Okay, so I made that remark about saying hello to Tiny Tim. Oh, and about seeing a shrink. I probably shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t help it. He was obnoxious. Did you pay him extra for being rude?” she asked. That sounded like something Simon would do.

He eyed her speculatively, but didn’t respond one way or the other.

“He told you, didn’t he?” Cassie could easily picture Scrooge running to Simon to tattle on her.

As they walked past a Starbucks, Cassie stopped abruptly. “I would kill for a latte,” she said and veered back into the store.

Simon followed, and they stood in line together. When they reached the counter, Cassie ordered her vanilla latte, along with two shortbread cookies. It was after two, and she hadn’t had lunch yet.

Simon ordered a large black coffee and paid their bill. Although the small area was crowded, a couple left just then and they were able to secure a table.

Cassie sank gratefully into the chair. She crossed her legs, and removed one boot so she could rub feeling back into her toes, pausing occasionally to sip her latte. It tasted like heaven.

“About this, uh, plant you mentioned.”

“Oh, him. Not to worry, I caught on fast enough. Well, maybe not as fast as I should have, but it was obvious that you sent him. He didn’t try very hard to hide it, either.”

“Not
that
obvious,” Simon said mildly. “Because I didn’t send anyone.”

“Oh, come on. There’s no need to carry on this charade.”

He regarded her sternly. “I am not in the habit of lying.”

She studied him—and realized he just might be telling the truth.

“I will repeat myself this once. I did not send anyone to test you.”

“Oh.” The man with all the complaints had been so unpleasant that it was a natural assumption.

To hide her embarrassment, Cassie tore the cellophane off her cookies and gobbled them both down.

“What did you learn from the experience?” Simon asked.

She rolled her eyes. “You didn’t tell me there’d be an exam.”

“It’s not an exam. I asked a straightforward question.”

“Well…” Cassie took a sip of her latte, then removed her other boot. “For one thing, I will never pass someone standing in the cold ringing a bell and not leave a donation. You wouldn’t believe how many people simply look the other way.”

“But you’ve ignored a bell ringer now and then, haven’t you?”

“Okay, I may have, but I won’t again. I don’t think I’ve ever worked harder at anything.”

The merest hint of a smile showed in his eyes.

“You find that funny? Why don’t
you
stand out in the cold for four hours and see how you like it?”

“I prefer to write a check.”

“Of course you would. It’s much easier.”

“Agreed. That’s the point. Anything else?”

“Well, there was the lovely old man.” She turned an angry look on Simon. “You must’ve chased him away.”

“Like I said, I didn’t notice any old man and I certainly didn’t chase one away.”

“He was definitely there. He reminded me of my grandfather. Grampa died when I was young, but I remember him so well.” She grew introspective. “He was in the war, too. That old man made everything that happened today worthwhile.”

She gestured at her stained coat and her stocking feet, then tentatively at her nose. “I think I’m finally thawing out.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

He didn’t sound glad. In fact, he sounded bored.

“Tell me about John,” she urged.

Simon’s deep sigh informed her that she was becoming tiresome. “What do you want to know?”

“Something. Anything. Did you assign him three tasks like you did me? What are they?”

“I won’t discuss my other clients with you.” The way he said it suggested she’d committed a major faux pas.

She forged ahead despite that. “Has John asked about me?”

Another sigh. “I should never have mentioned his name.”

“But you did and now I’m curious. Come on, Simon, have a heart. Give me one small detail, one tiny tidbit, about my hero.”

He glanced at her coat and, seeing the huge coffee stain, must have taken pity on her. “All right, if you have to know, he’s an engineer.”

“An engineer?” she repeated slowly.

“Your children will be left-brain geniuses.”

“Children.” Overwhelmed with excitement she grasped Simon’s hand.

“Restrain yourself, please.”

“Oh, Simon, loosen up a little, would you?”

He looked at her coldly, as though her comment didn’t merit a response.

“Has John asked about me?”

He nodded.

Rubbing her palms together, she blurted out, “And what did you say?” After asking, she quickly changed her mind. “No, don’t tell me—I’d rather not know.”

“It wasn’t unflattering, if that’s what you’re implying.”

This was promising. “Really?”

“Are you looking for compliments, Cassie?”

“No…well, maybe.” Then, because she was curious and she couldn’t resist, she asked, “Do you like me, Simon?”

He regarded her for a moment, as though carefully weighing his response. “Not particularly. Wait—let me rephrase that. I don’t have any feelings for you whatso
ever. Except for the appropriate reactions of a professional toward his client, of course.”

What would it have cost him to smile and say something nice? “You really are a dolt.”

He stiffened. “I beg your pardon?”

“You heard me. You know, if you smiled more often you might look human. You’re supposed to be a psychologist—haven’t you heard that a smile is a positive way of interacting?”

“I don’t see any reason to—”

“Forget it. You are who you are, and I am who I am.”

“That was profound.” He seemed to be making fun of her.

Cassie didn’t care. Simon was a means to an end, and if he found her a decent man she could love for the rest of her life, then it didn’t matter if he liked her or not.

“When can I complete the second task?” she asked, eager to hurry the process along. From the sound of it, John was equally excited about meeting her.

“I’m making the final arrangements next week. I’ll be in touch as soon as everything’s set.”

“Okay.” Cassie finished her latte and dabbed at the crumbs left over from her shortbread cookies. “You’re not very good at relationships, are you? Personally, I mean, not professionally.”

Acting as if she hadn’t spoken, Simon shoved back his chair and seemed about to leave. “As I said earlier, I’ll be in touch.”

“Before you go, I’d like to ask how you came to this line of work.”

“You already know I don’t answer personal questions. This isn’t about me.”

“But it is.”

“
Au contraire.
You came to me for services rendered. Do you interrogate your dentist about his background—or private life?”

“No, but—”

“You let him do his job and you walk away satisfied when he’s finished. It’s the same with me, or it should be. I perform a service, nothing more. I’m good at what I do and I enjoy my work.”

“Always?”

“Some matches are more difficult than others. Some clients more trying.” He looked pointedly in her direction.

“At least you can take comfort from knowing that once I meet John, you won’t ever need to see me again.”

“Yes, there is that…?.”

Cassie couldn’t help it; she burst out laughing.

Simon seemed genuinely puzzled. “Why is that funny?”

“It wouldn’t have been if you hadn’t been so honest about it. You’ll be happy to get rid of me, won’t you?”

He stood and tossed his empty coffee container in the proper receptacle. “You did very well today, Cassie.”

For a moment, she thought her ears had deceived her. “Was that a compliment, an actual
compliment,
from the great Dr. Simon Dodson?”

“Not really,” he said soberly. “It was a statement of
fact. The truth is, I didn’t expect you to last all four hours. You surprised me.”

“I want to meet John,” she told him, disregarding the implied insult in his words.

“So I gathered, and soon you shall.”

Ten minutes later, they left Starbucks together and exchanged civil goodbyes.

Cassie could hardly wait to get back to her condo so she could talk to Angie. The minute she’d showered and changed, she reached for the phone and hit speed dial.

After several rings, she was connected to voice mail. That was odd. Angie hadn’t said anything about going out—but then it wasn’t as if Cassie was her parole officer.

Much later that afternoon she heard from Angie.

“Where were you?” Cassie asked right away.

“Shopping. ’Tis the season, you know?” Her friend seemed to be in high spirits.

“Did you find any bargains?”

“Lots. How’d the morning go?”

“Simon said I surprised him.”

“You saw Dr. Dodson?”

“Yeah, he showed up to check on me. We had coffee afterward.”

“You and…Dr. Dodson? Simon?”

“What’s so odd about that?”

“I don’t know,” Angie said. “I just can’t picture it.”

“It wasn’t like a date or anything,” Cassie insisted. “More of a…debriefing. He said he’d be in touch next
week with the details about my next task. I get to be an elf. That
has
to be easier than what I did this morning.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Angie warned her.

H
er arms loaded down with groceries, Cassie hurried over to the elevator. “Mr. Oliver, hold that door for me!” she cried frantically, trying not to drop the quart of milk dangling from her index finger.

Mr. Oliver pretended not to hear, and the doors glided shut in her face.

Cassie ground her teeth in frustration. This wasn’t the first time Mr. Oliver had purposely let the elevator close as she ran toward it. She’d watched him do the same thing with other residents. Obviously it gave him some kind of thrill. She might have imagined it, but Cassie swore she saw a glimmer of sadistic humor in his eyes as the doors slid closed.

She lowered one bag to the floor and pushed the call button. While she waited, she went to collect her newspaper, only to discover the slot was empty—and
it wasn’t even Tuesday. Apparently Mrs. Mullinex was now clipping coupons from the Sunday edition, as well.

Perhaps it was time to confront the retired school-teacher.

Cassie took the elevator up to the fifth floor, brought her groceries to the kitchen, and walked down the hallway to Mrs. Mullinex’s unit. Outside her neighbor’s door, she rang the bell until she heard footsteps on the other side.

“Hold your horses,” Mrs. Mullinex called out.

She answered the door, wearing her housecoat and slippers. Her head was covered in pink curlers and wrapped with a bandanna knotted directly above her forehead. It wasn’t a look Cassie saw very often these days—if ever.

“Why, Cassie, how nice of you to stop by,” she said pleasantly. “Can I offer you a glass of eggnog?”

“Oh, no, thank you.” Cassie made an attempt to be neighborly or at least polite. “Uh, I believe you have my newspaper.”

Her neighbor seemed startled, as if the suggestion that she might have taken something not hers was a devastating insult. Mrs. Mullinex raised one hand to her mouth in a gesture of innocence. “Oh, dear, was that
your
paper?”

Cassie held out her hand.

The older woman slowly retrieved the thick weekend edition and reluctantly placed it in Cassie’s outstretched hand. “I was wondering, dear, if you wouldn’t mind letting me have the section with the
New York Times
crossword puzzle.”

Cassie clutched the paper to her chest.

“Only when you’re finished with it, of course.”

“I happen to enjoy doing the crossword puzzle, Mrs. Mullinex.”

“Oh.”

Wondering if she’d been a little too inflexible, Cassie returned to her own condo, put away her groceries and made a cup of coffee. She sat down with the paper, prepared to relax. She’d just turned to the middle section, grabbed a pen—doing the crossword puzzle in pen was a matter of pride—when the rap music started next door. The whole room seemed to vibrate. Cassie groaned. There was no question: the fates were conspiring against her.

Getting up from her chair, Cassie pounded her fist against the kitchen wall hard enough to rattle her dishes. She had to repeat the pounding twice before the music was lowered to a tolerable level.

Settled once more, she rested her feet on the ottoman, crossed her ankles and savored the first sip of coffee when her doorbell rang.

“Oh, for the love of heaven,” she muttered, tossing down the pen. If it turned out to be one of her annoying neighbors—whom she’d be having dinner with all too soon, according to Simon—she didn’t know what she’d say.

To her astonishment, it was her brother, toting a five-foot Christmas tree.

“Shawn, what are you doing here?” Normally she’d be fortunate to see him twice in four months, and this was his second visit to Seattle in as many weeks.

“Are you complaining?”

“Of course not!”

“I come bearing gifts.” He thrust the Christmas tree into the room.

“So I noticed.”

Shawn grinned. “I thought you could use a bit of Christmas cheer.” He stepped into the condo and leaned the tree against the living room wall. “This also seemed like a good excuse to stop by so you could tell me how everything went yesterday.”

Had it only been the day before that she’d stood in the cold, soliciting donations? That didn’t seem possible, and yet Cassie hadn’t stopped thinking about the experience. What remained uppermost in her mind was the time she’d spent with Simon at the coffee shop. He’d been frank, unemotional, honest. She amended that to
brutally
honest. When she’d met him, she’d considered him rude and arrogant, but since then she’d had a change of heart. Simon, she decided, was simply…direct. He said what he felt and didn’t moderate his opinions in deference to other people’s flimsy egos. She’d never met anyone quite like him.

“Well?” Shawn prodded her.

“Who do you want to hear about first—Mr. Scrooge, who
wasn’t
sent by Simon as a test,” she added, “or would you rather I told you about the woman who threw coffee at me because she thought I’d flirted with her husband?”

Shawn flopped down on the sofa. “Both, and while you’re up, I’ll take a cup of that coffee.”

“Sure,” she said, while she got a mug and filled it to the brim. “You won’t believe what he said to me.”

“Scrooge?”

“No, Simon. I asked if he liked me and he said ‘not particularly.’ What’s so funny is the fact that—”

“Funny? You thought this was funny?”

“Not at first,” she admitted. “The thing with Simon is that he wasn’t being intentionally rude. He’s the most plainspoken man I’ve ever encountered.”

“Sounds like a bore to me.”

“I called him a dolt.” She smiled at the memory. “He didn’t much like that.”

“So he can dish it out, but he can’t take it?”

“Well, he certainly isn’t used to it.”

They chatted for a while, until Shawn eventually said, “I hope you realize that all you’ve done is talk about Simon. I’ve yet to hear a word about anyone else.”

“Really?” Caught up in her musing, Cassie hadn’t noticed.

“I think you might be falling for him.”

“For Simon?” The suggestion was ludicrous. “Oh, hardly! If I’m focusing on him, it’s because he’s the man who holds the key to my happiness. He’s going to introduce me to John—and I have high hopes for John. He’s my perfect—oops,
most suitable,
which is what Simon calls it—match.”

“Just in time for the perfect—or should I say,
most suitable
—Christmas.”

Cassie suspected Shawn was mocking her a little, but she was too hopeful and too happy to care.

All at once he grew serious. “Don’t build your ex
pectations too high, Cassie. What if you and this John character don’t really connect?”

“But we will. That’s the beauty of it. Simon studied our profiles and concluded that we’re ideal for each other. I think his success lies in the fact that he can be emotionally detached and even clinical. It’s all quite scientific, you know.”

“Uh-huh.” Shawn nodded wryly.

“Did I mention Simon refuses to talk about himself? That’s probably why he’s so brilliant at this. He doesn’t want to cloud the relationship between him and his clients. His sole focus is on finding the right person for them.”

“Seems to me you’ve got him all figured out.”

“I think I just might. Now wipe that smirk off your face,” she said. Now that she’d thought seriously about Simon, and she’d been doing that for the past twenty-four hours, it all made a crazy kind of sense.

Simon
made sense.

Simply put, he wasn’t encumbered with the need to please others. His skill at matchmaking was based on his knowledge of psychology, as he claimed, but he obviously had good instincts, too. His success rate was impressive, and if he honestly felt John-the-engineer would make her a good husband, then Cassie didn’t doubt it for an instant.

“He’s an engineer,” she murmured.

“Simon?”

“No, my match. Simon offered me a crumb of information yesterday.”

“An engineer,” Shawn echoed. “I guess your kids will be left-brained.”

“That’s what Simon said,” she returned excitedly.

Shawn looked surprised. “You told him about your IQ?”

“No, but it was on the questionnaire.” In high school, her high IQ had been an embarrassment rather than an asset. She always used to insist that scoring well on a test didn’t make her any different from everyone else. She still felt that way—although it did get her through two chemistry degrees in four years instead of six.

“Mom was always proud of your intelligence,” Shawn reminded her.

“It didn’t matter to our father, though, did it?” As a child, Cassie had thought it was her fault their father had left the family. Although it made no sense for a seven-year-old to assume that kind of blame, she had. Later, she’d learned this was fairly typical in situations like this. They’d all been devastated, but she’d unconsciously taken on the role of scapegoat.

“Speaking of Dad…”

Cassie already knew what was coming. “He called you?” Shawn nodded.

“His yearly sojourn into fatherhood! Lucky you. This year it was your turn to receive the great gift of his phone call. What did he have to say?”

“He saw one of my murals and wanted to tell me he was impressed.”

Cassie shrugged. “That was nice.”

“A surprise, actually.”

Cassie knew how long Shawn had waited for any praise from their father. They rarely discussed him; the subject was still too painful for them both.

“Where was he?” The last she’d heard, he was living aboard his sailboat somewhere in the Caribbean.

“Hawaii.”

Cassie chuckled. “Really? Wouldn’t it be amusing if he ran into Mom on the streets of Honolulu?”

Shawn shook his head. “She’s over him. She forgave him a long time ago.”

“Mom’s a better woman than I am.” Talking about their father depressed her. “Can’t we discuss something else? Something more cheerful—like bank fore-closures?”

Shawn snorted. “Very funny.”

“I don’t know why he bothers,” she said.

“I thought we weren’t going to discuss Dad.”

“Right. Sorry.”

Shawn drank the last of his coffee and stood. “I’ve gotta go.”

“You mean you aren’t going to stay and help me trim the tree?”

“Can’t. I’ve got an…appointment.”

From the gleam in his eyes, this so-called appointment involved a woman. “You’ve got a date.”

“I’m not telling.”

It really wasn’t fair. Cassie had to pay tens of thousands of dollars to meet men, and her brother had women falling all over him. It must be those piercing blue eyes of his—plus, of course, the fact that he was talented, rich and eligible.

Cassie walked him to the door.

“Are you coming back here tonight?” she asked.

“Nope. I’m taking the red-eye to Phoenix.”

“Will I see you at Christmas?”

“Sure. Where else would I go?”

“Call me, okay?”

“Will do. Besides, I want to hear all about Simon.”

“John,” she corrected. “Simon’s the matchmaker.”

“Right.” That gleam was back in his eyes and Cassie suspected the slip had been intentional.

An hour later, Cassie had the Christmas tree in its stand and set by the window that overlooked the city. The big star above Macy’s glowed in the dim light of late afternoon. She dragged her ornaments out from the guest room closet and decided to give Angie a call. Trimming a tree all alone wasn’t any fun.

Her friend answered immediately. “Come on over,” Cassie invited her. “Shawn stopped by to drop off a Christmas tree and then abandoned me to decorate it by myself. I’ve got hot apple cider and popcorn popping in the microwave.”

“Oh, Cassie, I’d love to but I can’t.”

“Are you off shopping again?”

“No, I’m meeting an old friend. Sort of a last-minute thing. You could join us if you want.”

“Anyone I know?”

“Um, not really.”

“Oh, well, I’ve got an appointment with a box of ornaments, a bowl of popcorn and the DVD of
The Bishop’s Wife.
”

Angie sounded regretful. “I hate the thought of you trimming the tree alone.”

“Oh, I don’t mind.” And that was true. She was in a good mood; in fact, she planned to give Mrs. Mullinex the Sunday paper when she’d finished—and she’d leave the crossword untouched.

“Think of next year,” Angie urged. “You’ll most likely be married by then.”

“John and me.” She filled her head with happy thoughts of a Christmas photo in front of next year’s tree, the two of them smiling blissfully into the camera. The perfect Christmas. The first card she mailed out would be to Jill and Tom.

“You might even be pregnant by then.”

“Whoa, you’re moving a little too fast.”

“Why? You’re getting the best husband money can buy, aren’t you?”

Cassie laughed. She hadn’t thought of it in those terms but Angie was right. She was paying top dollar to meet John-the-engineer; by the same token, he’d been willing to pay top dollar to meet her.

And the one walking away with fistfuls of cash was Simon Dodson.

As far as Cassie was concerned, he would have earned every penny.