Mine on Christmas Read online

  Mine on Christmas

  Sarah J. Brooks

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright and Disclaimer

  Special Invitation

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

  Preview of “Accidentally His”

  About the Author

  Copyright and Disclaimer

  Copyright © 2018 by Sarah J. Brooks

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

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

  Facebook: Sarah J. Brooks

  Special Invitation

  Hey Sweetie,

  do you want to get THREE romance novels sent directly to your Facebook Messenger inbox? Simply click here and I will reach out to you personally!

  With love and talk soon,

  Sarah

  Chapter 1

  Thomas

  “Your sister is here to see you,” Matthew said through the intercom from the lobby.

  “Tell her I’m busy,” I replied.

  The holiday season was here and although that didn’t seem like the high season for airplane parts, we were swamped with orders. Many of the companies we supplied were rushing to finish jobs before the end of the year. Plus, I had a lot of high-level executive staff who planned vacation time which meant I was handling a lot more of the day to day work than I was used to handling.

  My sister, Ashley, had a knack for wanting my attention at just the wrong time. She would often stop by my office when she was in town and just expect me to have time for her. I loved her, there was no doubt about that, but I couldn’t stop my day without notice just to coddle her during her imaginary time of need.

  “I can hear you, Thomas, don’t do me like that,” Ashley yelled as she stormed through my office door.

  Matthew was close behind her with a pitiful look on his face as if he’d tried to stop her and was unable. She was half his size, certainly, he could have made a little more of an effort than just following her into my office.

  I knew Ashley had pushed past him and left him no choice in the matter, but he was notorious for not putting up a fight when women came into the office to see me. My sister wasn’t as much of a problem as it was when women I dated decided to drop in and see me. Oh, how I hated that Matthew couldn’t just block their path and get them to leave.

  “Ashley, I’m busy. That wasn’t some sort of line so I didn’t have to see you. Do you see all of this paperwork on my desk?” I asked and then didn’t give her a chance to answer. “This is real people work. I know you wouldn’t know what that is, but I actually have to get this done. So yes, I’m busy.”

  “Shut up, Thomas. You might be my older brother but I’ll still kick your butt.”

  Ashley and I had a unique relationship. She was the youngest and I was the oldest sibling. When she was younger I acted as her protector with the boys that were always trying to take her out but now that we were older I’d relinquished that job to her. She was more than capable of protecting herself now.

  “You’re the size of a walnut, you’re not kicking anyone’s butt. What do you want? Make it quick.”

  I knew the only way to get her out of my office was to solve whatever problem she had come to tell me about. I loved my family, but most of the time they avoided me and the rest of the time they just wanted me to help with some charity event or fundraiser they were involved in.

  We were dysfunctional, like every other family in the world, but sometimes the dysfunction spilled over into downright insanity. My mother was obsessed with appearances, my father avoided all emotions, my sister was left to take the reins of the family as my brother and I tried to melt ourselves into our spouse’s families as much as possible. Well, I didn’t have a spouse any longer, I’d lost Rose, but I did still love her family very much.

  “Christmas, I’ll do it. I tried texting you and calling you, but you’re too busy to return a text to your own sister. I wanted to stop by and make sure you were alright with me taking it for this year. I’ve got some amazing ideas and I can’t wait to get started.”

  “You’re not doing the Christmas party. It’s my year.”

  “You haven’t done it since Rose died. I assumed you were going to skip out on it this year too.”

  “What? No, I’m looking forward to it. Jackson and Jenna are looking forward to it too. It’s my year and I’m doing it. And you know what you get when you assume something,” I snorted and laughed a little at the joke.

  “Thomas, you said you were going to do it three years ago and then didn’t plan a thing. Mom and Dad ended up throwing the party at their house and it was terrible. I’m just trying to save everyone the stress of you not doing what you said you were going to do. Just let me do the party.”

  In all fairness, Ashley was right. I was supposed to host the big family Christmas party every three years and I hadn’t done it in the last ten years. After losing Rose, raising the twins was exhausting. I wanted to throw the party. I intended to make it a huge hit with everyone, but time slipped away from me and the emotions of the season got the best of me the last time it was my turn.

  Things were different now. Jackson and Jenna were sixteen years old. They were independent little adults who could actually appreciate the effort I made. Plus, the kids were so wrapped up in their own lives that I needed to do this party so they had at least one memory of the Christmas party being at our house. The last time we had a big Christmas at our house the kids were toddlers and their mother was the one who had planned it all. It was time for me to give them some new memories.

  I didn’t have time to explain all my reasoning to Ashley though. The determined look on her face made it clear that she wanted to throw the party.

  “I’m doing it,” I told her. “I’ve been thinking about it all year and I’m doing it. End of discussion. You can go now.”

  “Mr. Hanover, you have a two o’clock meeting you’re late for,” Matthew interrupted on the intercom. “They are in the boardroom.”

  “See, I’m actually busy,” I motioned to my phone and for Ashley to leave me alone. “Plus, I thought you guys would be happy that I was finally stepping up. Didn’t we have an hour-long conversation last year about what a Scrooge I was and how I didn’t have any Christmas spirit?”

  I’d been told more than one time over the last several years that I didn’t have any Christmas spirit. Christmas was hard on me. It was hard for me not to have the family that I’d expected to have in my life. It was impossible for me not to think about Rose and how happy we would all be if she hadn’t passed away. So yeah, sometimes I got distracted by my sadness and I wasn’t as much fun to be around as other people, but I wasn’t a Scrooge. I always told Matthew to buy people amazing gifts and I wasn’t stingy with my money.

  “You told Mom and Dad to stop singing Christmas songs so loud because the
y were giving you a headache.”

  “They were being really loud,” I laughed and grabbed my papers for my meeting. “Okay, so this year I will let people sing. Now I really need to get to my meeting. I appreciate that you wanted to do the party, but I’m doing it.”

  “Thomas, just let me do it. You are clearly busy and I really don’t want to drive all the way out to your house just to see that you didn’t do anything. I have much more time available to work on this.”

  “Mr. Hanover, they are waiting,” Matthew interrupted again.

  I could feel my blood pressure climbing as Ashley continued to push me on the Christmas party and Matthew kept interrupting us. I wasn’t about to give up the party this year. I didn’t care how much time it took, I’d hire someone if I had to.

  I loved my sister but sometimes it felt like she got some sort of joy out of getting me all worked up. She would see that I was upset and sometimes I even thought I saw her smile as she would push more and more until I broke down and screamed at her.

  There was nothing about being stressed out that I liked. I didn’t like yelling at people. I didn’t like them thinking that I was a bad person. I hated when I lost my temper and I absolutely didn’t like when anyone looked at me like I was crazy because of something I said while I was under stress. Yet it happened to me a lot.

  Of course, my life had changed a lot over the years and part of that was why I was angry. But I didn’t like that side of me and was trying to work on it. I didn’t like snapping at people or making them feel bad.

  “Go tell them I’m coming,” I growled at Matthew and then turned my energy toward Ashley. “I’m throwing the party. I don’t care if you come or not. It’s my year to throw it and I’m doing it. I’ll invite all the family and friends and everyone else is going to come, so if you decide not to, then you will be the one who looks like Scrooge.”

  “You are such a child.”

  “No, I’m not,” I snarled back at her. Similar to how the two of us fought throughout our teenage years.

  I loved my sister, there was no denying that. Ashley was a smart woman who worked hard and I loved those things about her, but she was also really pushy. I could out push her any day of the week though because I didn’t care as much as Ashley did. Her biggest downfall was caring about the outcome of things. I didn’t let my emotions get the best of me in business or my personal life. If you didn’t put emotions into things then you could push for whatever outcome you wanted.

  Well, maybe I let my emotions about Rose get the best of me sometimes, but not my emotions about this party. I was throwing the party! Everyone was going to love it! That was the end of this argument.

  “Robert and I already talked and decided it would be best for me to do the party,” Ashley continued on with her fight to win this battle. “You have to admit the last party I threw was really amazing. I’ll just do it this year and you can keep doing all this important work you’re doing.”

  “You and Robert can suck it. I’m doing the party,” I yelled and stood up so quickly that my chair hit the wall behind me making a loud thud.

  I had a temper. It was something that had developed after losing Rose. At home, I managed it with the kids because I knew I was their only parent now and I never wanted them to worry that I couldn’t handle the situation. With the kids, I was kind and understanding. Around my kids, I took an extra moment to think things through and try to be calm, but around my sister or at work, I struggled a lot more to keep my anger in check.

  The look on Ashley’s face was my warning that I had to calm down. I’d scared her by pushing the chair over and raising my voice. The flash of fear was enough to get me to calm down enough to finish our conversation.

  “Tom, you don’t have time for this party. We have dozens of people who come, weeks’ worth of preparation would be needed, and you don’t have that sort of time. Just let me do it. You can do it next year if you really want. Now that I know you want to do it we can plan better for next year. I don’t think you’re in a good spot to do the party this year.”

  “Tom, are you coming to the meeting?” One of me executives asked as he peeked his head in through my door.

  “Yes, I’m on my way now,” I replied, not showing the level of agitation that was continuing to grow inside of me. With my upper management and executive level employees I did my best to keep my anger in check too.

  “We can talk later,” Ashley said as she started to leave. “I’ll just start planning for…”

  “No, I’m throwing the damn party. I’ll hire someone to help plan it if necessary,” I said in a calm and even tone. “Stop trying to take this away from me, Ash. I want to do this. I feel like this year is the year for it and I’m going to throw the party. I will hire help and it will be amazing. I know you don’t like the idea of me hiring someone, but that will help me so I’m going to do it.”

  Ashley shook her head disappointedly at me as if hiring a party planner was the worst thing I could have said to her. Sure, everyone else plans the party themselves, but none of my family members were single parents or ran billion dollar businesses.

  Growing up both Ashley and Robert had been really close to one another. We were all close in age, just five years between us, but those two had similar temperaments. While I was powering through school, sports, and other extracurricular activities; both of my siblings were relaxing and hanging out with their friends. Neither of them had the level of drive that I did or the commitment that was needed to run a huge corporation. I loved them, but we were nothing alike. They were both soft souls that loved and cared for me though and I appreciated that about them.

  When my wife was alive, she brought us all closer. Rose loved Ashley and Robert like they were her own siblings. Since she didn’t have any of her own it always seemed like she had adopted my brother and sister and treated them as her family. They loved Rose, everyone loved Rose, and sometimes I couldn’t help but think they would have been happier if I had been the one who died in the accident.

  Rose blended in with my family seamlessly and I blended in with hers. After she passed away her parents were such a support for me and my family just seemed to nag and push me all the time. Perhaps I just preferred Rose’s parents because her mother reminded me of her so much? Either way, I still loved my family very much and I didn’t want to fight with any of them, especially over a Christmas party.

  “Hiring someone?”

  “Yes Ashley, if I have to hire someone I will. Now please, leave, I have work to do.” Matthew stood in my doorway and was about to say something, but I stopped him dead in his tracks and held my hand up to motion for him not to say anything. “I swear to God if you tell me I need to get to that meeting one more time, Matthew, I’m going to fire you.”

  He stood there staring at me with a file in his hand. Slowly Matthew presented the file to me and pointed to a spot that I needed to sign. He handed me a pen and I signed the document and pushed the papers back at him. He never spoke a single word and then turned and walked out of my office and back to his desk.

  Matthew was a great assistant. I gave him a hard time and he took it in stride. He let me yell at him when I was overwhelmed and didn’t blink an eye when I’d then ask him to help me with something. I was lucky to have him around and tried to pay him well enough that he felt somewhat appreciated in his job.

  “I can’t believe he hasn’t quit yet,” Ashley mumbled. “You treat him terribly.”

  “What? Why would he quit? I give him a great salary and benefits. Plus, I’ve started giving him weekends off too.”

  “You’re an ass, Thomas. I don’t know how anyone can work for you. I mean I hardly like you and I’m your blood. Whatever you’re paying him, you should double it.”

  “Thanks for the compliment.”

  “I mean it. You’ve turned into a jerk these last few years. I know your wife died and I know life is busy for you, but you have to stop being so rude to everyone. Your kids are going to go off to college s
oon and you’re going to be that old grumpy man living alone in a mansion. That doesn’t sound fun at all.”

  “I’m not an old grumpy man.”

  “Right. Well, I’ll let you work on the party for now. If you decide you don’t want to do it, will you at least agree to let me know a week in advance so I can put something together? You probably won’t even be able to find someone to hire at this short of notice. So just call me this week if you decide to let me do the party.”

  “I’m doing the damn party!”

  “Fine,” Ashley stormed out of the office without looking back at me.

  My sister was a strong-willed woman. She was the youngest sibling, and the only girl, so she had a special relationship with our parents. She also was much more of a type A personality than a typical youngest child, but still vacillated toward a more laid-back personality than I ever did. I attributed this to her being the only girl and always feeling like she needed to prove herself. She combined her strong will with much more kindness than I had.

  Christmas was a huge deal for my family. I remember my parents throwing parties that the whole block would come to because they were absolutely amazing. For the first few years after losing Rose I went through the motions of going to the in-law’s house and my family’s house with the kids. But now was the time for me to show all of them that I could throw the party.

  They were going to see that I could throw a better party than any of them had done in years. I’d hire someone to help me and make this year’s event so unforgettable that Ashley would be begging me to help plan the party every year.

  The kids were going to remember this party and talk about it until they had their own children. I wasn’t going to spare any expense. This was my year. This was our year. This party was going to be amazing.

  Matthew was sitting at his desk on the telephone and looking back and for the between me and the boardroom, without saying anything to me. I knew had to get to that damn meeting. But now I needed to get him started on finding a party planner. I didn’t want Ashley to be right about all the planners being booked already for the season.