How Gavin Stole Christmas (Fierce Five Series Book 0) Read online

  She laughed at him. “Not as much as some might think.” She zipped the jacket up, gave him a little wave and all but ran out the door, leaving him there shaking his head and wondering what he just did and if he was smart to hire her without even checking her references first. Guess he better go do that now.

  More Like You

  Jolene rushed out of the bar as fast as she could. Her feet were itching to break out in a dance that she always did when something good fell her way. Since not a lot of good happened to her in life, she didn’t get to dance often.

  She’d been going around downtown trying to find places to drop her resume off or fill out applications. She didn’t have a lot of experience in anything other than manual labor jobs or the hospitality industry. It wasn’t for everyone, but it was for her.

  Not the glamorous life she always thought she’d have, but wanting something and having it were two different things. She learned a long time ago to accept what she had and make the best of it. It’s what her parents did and she knew no other way.

  She made her way to her roommate’s car the same time that April was opening the driver’s door. “Did you find anything?” Jolene asked her.

  “No. I just filled out a few applications. How about you?”

  “I just got hired full-time. I think full-time. He said he could swing me full-time since he was going to hire a bunch of part-timers, so yeah.” And at that moment in the back parking lot, she did a little Irish jig.

  “Where?” April asked, climbing into the car, starting it, and rubbing her hands together. The beginning of November was brisk in Charlotte.

  “A new bar that’s opening. Fierce.” She wasn’t going to tell April that she’d been watching the progress for weeks now. How the bar was taking on a new life, and if there was one thing Jolene loved it was a transformation. Or rather something coming to life. Yeah. That was it. Coming to life all nice and pretty and trying to reinvent itself into something better. She knew that well too.

  “Oh,” April said. “For a second I was going to run over too and apply, but I don’t want to work in a bar.”

  Jolene bit back the urge to laugh at April’s scrunched up nose. “He’s looking for more people. He asked if I knew anyone,” Jolene said, but she knew April wouldn’t consider it. She wasn’t the waitressing type. She got flustered easily.

  “No. I’m good though. I’ll keep checking at the retail stores around. I stopped at a few offices too to see if they had any receptionist positions. I could handle just answering phones and patching people through.”

  “You’ll find something better. Don’t worry,” Jolene said.

  The two of them only worked part-time. Both of them scraping by as best they could. Neither of them wanted a third roommate right now for their two-bedroom apartment, so they decided weeks ago to start job hunting with a vengeance.

  They both thought they’d easily find a job with the holiday season approaching and businesses getting busier, but found they were a little late to the party. Most had those positions filled. And most were temporary when neither of them wanted that either.

  “I’m sure you will. Gavin did ask me if I could cook.” Jolene paused when April started to laugh. “Yeah, I did the same thing, but he was serious. Guess he was looking for someone in the kitchen too. You cook good. Do you want to go talk to him?”

  “No,” April said. “Too much pressure. I like to cook at home, but not like that. I’d freak out and slow everything up.”

  Jolene knew that was the truth, but didn’t want to admit it to her best friend. “I’m sure you’ll find something. The good part is I’ll be making more and we’ll be okay for a while.”

  “I’m still scraping by for my half though,” April said, looking a little miserable.

  “I’ve got your back. No worries. We’re in this together, remember?” She’d never let April down. She’d never leave her on her own with no lifeline. She remembered that feeling all too well when she was younger.

  “Yeah. I just wish I had your outlook on life. I never thought it’d be this hard.”

  Jolene put her hand on her friend’s between them on the seat. “It’ll get better; you just need to stay positive.”

  “I hope so.”

  She’d been telling herself for years that if you wanted to get anywhere in life you had to buckle down and do it yourself. No one was going to hand anything over to you. Not on a silver platter, not even a paper plate. Not in her life.

  “I know so,” she said. One of them had to be upbeat and it always seemed to fall on Jolene. Of course she’d spent most of her life being positive when others weren’t.

  Her parents had immigrated here from Ireland when she was just a baby. Neither her mother nor her father had a lot of education and both took any manual labor job they could. She’d heard the stories.

  No employers wanted to take a chance on them. No one wanted to give them an opportunity for a better life, assigning them the most menial jobs and lowest pay. Because her parents were desperate they took what they could get.

  Then add two more kids to the mix and life was just plain hard. But it was still better than where they were before, from what her parents had told her, so she held onto that. She remembered the nights when food was scarce on the table, just some bread with butter on it and a glass of milk.

  They weren’t citizens, they didn’t get government help. She wasn’t sure if her parents would have even accepted it, but would have liked to think so back then. That their pride would have been pushed aside for food in their bellies when their paychecks ran out just covering the bills for their small apartment.

  When she was old enough to get a job, she did. Giving half her money to her parents to help with the bills. She never realized they’d taken that money and set it aside for her, so when she graduated from high school she had a nice chunk to start her life.

  She’d taken that money and moved out, finding someone who wanted a roommate. It was one less mouth for her parents to feed, and they didn’t argue for her to stay so she knew it was the right decision.

  For the past six years, she’d worked all sorts of different jobs. Manufacturing, cleaning, office positions, retail. You name it, she did it or tried it. She’d do it for a period of time to get the bills paid, but she couldn’t see herself standing in front of an assembly line her whole life. Nor could she sit behind a desk.

  She needed people. She needed to move. Getting a job as a waitress was perfect for her. The faster and friendlier she was, the more tips she got. Pretty soon she was making almost as much as a full-time manufacturing job and all she was doing was working three nights a week...as long as those nights included Friday and Saturday.

  But lately bills were adding up and it just wasn’t enough. Full-time, even if it wasn’t all nights, would help out her and April’s situation. She didn’t want to live like her parents, but at the moment she was looking it straight in the eye.

  The last thing she’d do would be to let April know her fears. No, she had to keep her best friend going and if that meant putting up a good front, then she would.

  Poor April. The two of them had been close friends in high school. April had gone to college but then dropped out when she met a guy. He’d taken care of her and told her she could work part-time, so she did, liking life in the slow lane. April didn’t want to worry about anything like schedules and bills.

  But when April’s boyfriend said he was done and she needed to move out, she didn’t have anywhere to go. Her parents told her she’d made her decisions and she couldn’t come home. They’d lectured her enough about poor choices, but she’d never listened, they’d said.

  So Jolene did what any friend would, and said, “You can share my room with me. It will help with the costs.”

  Living the way she did as a kid, wishing that someone helped her or her parents out made her decide to always help others. She was a firm believer in karma and that someday any good she did for someone in need might come back to her in s
ome shape or form.

  When April found her own job and wanted her own room, the two of them moved to a bigger place. That was a year ago. April just struggled to keep a job though.

  “I feel really bad,” April said. “I don’t want you to feel like you need to support me.”

  “I’m not supporting you,” Jolene said. “I’m saving us from being evicted.”

  “I don’t want us to get evicted,” April screeched.

  “Sorry,” Jolene said. “Bad joke.” You’d think April would be used to her sense of humor by now. “Relax. Let’s go to the mall and you can fill out some applications there.”

  “That sounds like fun,” April said. “You know I like shopping. Maybe I can get a job in a department store.”

  “Then that is where we’ll head to first,” she said.

  April smiled now. “I wish I was more like you.”

  “No, you don’t,” she said back, laughing.

  Make it Festive

  Jolene couldn’t believe how busy it’d been at Fierce. She’d started part-time for the two weeks as she finished her job at the restaurant and this was her first week full-time.

  Gavin had her on eleven to eight Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, then four to two Friday and Saturday nights. She’d requested those nights and he gladly gave them to her once he saw how capable she was.

  “It’s starting to slow down a bit,” she said to Gavin around eleven thirty. “I thought for sure it’d be busier with tomorrow being Thanksgiving. Thinking of people visiting in town and wanting to get away from some family craziness.”

  “That’s why it’s slowing down,” he said. He was wiping glasses clean and restocking the bar behind him. So far she’d noticed that most ordered beer when they were seated at the bar. Around the pub and when people were eating, they tended to go for wine or mixed drinks. At least the ladies did and there were a lot of ladies in the bar for some reason today.

  “I think everyone is going home to get ready for their big meal.”

  “That’s my guess,” he said back, not really looking at her right now and just wiping off more glasses like she didn’t exist. She wondered if she stood on the bar and started to dance if he’d look at her. Even when she was placing orders lately, he barely made eye contact.

  After her interview, she’d gone home thinking of how nice and handsome he was. Nah, he was smoking hot! All big and hard, with that deep voice that sent warm fuzzies all through her when he talked.

  Too bad he barely talked to her. Now he was the boss and she was the employee.

  There was definitely something under the surface with him though. She could sense it. He was hurting and she wanted to do what she did best. She wanted to help him.

  Unfortunately, she couldn’t figure out the best way to do it, but until she could, she was going to enjoy just being around him.

  “How busy do you think it will be tomorrow, being the holiday and all?” she asked.

  She started to push the stools in after she wiped them off. They’d gotten into a routine closing in the past few weeks when she’d been scheduled nights, helping him close up earlier.

  “Hard to say. I figure it’ll be dead early on, which is why I’m not opening until five. Tony is the only one that’s going to be on in the kitchen, as neither of us thinks many will want to eat.”

  “I don’t know about that,” she said. “Not everyone has a big family dinner, but they still might not want to cook.”

  “Like you,” he said, and actually cracked a grin. Color her amazed.

  “On the cooking part, exactly. I’ll spend the day with my family though.”

  “That’s nice.”

  She wanted to grind her teeth. For a second she actually thought he was going to carry on a personal conversation with her.

  “What about you? Will you spend it with family?”

  He looked up almost shocked that she’d asked that question. “Yeah. My mother and brothers. An early dinner so I can get here to open up.”

  She wanted to ask about his father but didn’t bother. He was already walking to the other end of the bar to clean up there.

  Not to be ignored, she rushed over to that side of the bar and started to clean and push the stools in there. She’d just change the topic. “Are you going to decorate for Christmas?”

  “Why?” he asked, looking stunned to see her there. He should know by now she moved fast when she wanted to. He even made a few comments on it. Times when she thought he might be flirting with her. Guess she’d thought wrong those times though since they were few and far between.

  She stopped and laughed, then put her hand on her hips. “Because most places decorate for Christmas to make it festive. Make people want to come in here and hang out rather than spend money shopping.”

  “By reminding them Christmas is coming and they need to go do other things? Nah.”

  “No,” she said. “Some people are into the holiday spirit. Christmas carols, red and green, tinsel, and snowflakes. I’m guessing that’s not you.”

  He snorted. “Hardly,” he said, then made his way to the other end of the bar.

  She was just getting ready to follow him when she caught sight of an arm being raised at one of the few remaining tables. They’d been nursing their drinks for the past thirty minutes. “Would you like another drink, or are you ready for your check?”

  “If we could get our check, please?” the man said.

  “Coming right up.” She wasn’t even at the bar before Gavin handed it over. As grouchy as he seemed to be at times he always could anticipate what was going on, just like her. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, they worked well together.

  Now if she could only figure him out.

  ***

  Gavin was thrilled when Jolene made her way to the table, giving him something to occupy his mind as he watched her. He didn’t realize how distracting she was going to be when they worked together.

  Her first few shifts he’d scheduled her on at eleven so he could see how she worked. No worries there, as she put everyone else to shame.

  She wasn’t kidding when she said she was fast and friendly. He lost count of the number of times she’d sweet talk someone into another drink when they looked like they were ready to leave. Or how fast she’d ask, “Can we call you a cab?”

  He’d always had his eye on those at the bar, watching for someone who might need a soda or water before they were ready to call it a night, or a ride home. But it was hard to keep track of the whole pub and he was glad to know she seemed to have her finger on every pulse.

  When she asked if she could close on Friday and Saturday, he gladly gave her the hours knowing she’d be the best one for the job. She even kept the other waitresses moving and motivated too. If this kept up he might consider having her just oversee them all and take that off his plate.

  The only problem was, he’d have to talk to her more to do that and every time he got near her he’d lose his train of thought.

  Her smile that always filled her face, both engaging and addicting.

  Her laughter that was like Christmas carols she’d mentioned that he hated to listen to but always found himself leaning closer when no one was around.

  Her slim little body that moved both gracefully and speedily.

  She reminded him of a figure skater. Always poised, always balanced, always smiling and drawing everyone in just waiting for an applause at the end when she could take her bow.

  And the more he thought of her, the more he wanted to be near her. But he couldn’t because she worked for him and all his focus had to be on the bar.

  “They need change back,” Jolene said, handing him over the bills.

  He cashed the order out, handed her the change and tried to keep as much of a straight face as he could when their hands touched. That damn spark he kept feeling just went up his arm and into his chest.

  “Thanks,” she mumbled and left as fast as she came.

  She probably thought he was an ogre, b
ut he didn’t care. Fierce had to come first. It was all he had for himself now and he wouldn’t forget it.

  This was his place. His legacy. His responsibility. His life.

  Mr. Bah Humbug

  Black Friday, Gavin got to the bar at ten. He ended up closing down just before eleven the night before. Probably could have stayed closed with as little business as he had, but he hadn’t known and didn’t want to assume.

  Since he was the only bartender scheduled, he’d only paid one cook and one waitress for the night. He didn’t lose money by any means but didn’t make much either.

  He barely got the lights flipped on when he heard knocking at the front door that he hadn’t bothered to unlock yet. When he turned, he saw Jolene standing there, a massive smile on her face and her arms full of bags. What the hell?

  Rushing forward, he unlocked the door and held it for her. “What do you have there?”

  “Christmas decorations.”

  He ground his teeth. “I thought I told you I wasn’t going to decorate.”

  She brushed him off like a fly pestering her. “You don’t have to. I’m going to. I bought them too. My money, my time. Go be Mr. Bah Humbug over there.”

  His jaw dropped. He wanted to remind her it was his business. That he was the boss. That he had the final say, but she’d already walked by him and started pulling everything out of the bags.

  “Don’t you think you should have gotten my permission?” he asked, managing to find his voice.

  “You would have said no, so why bother?”

  At least she was smart enough to realize that. “Yet you’re doing it anyway.”

  “Yep,” she said, turning her back and walking around the pub with a red garland. “Red is a good color in here. We should have shirts with the Fierce name on it. Red is a fierce color, don’t you think?”

  He did. And he’d ordered a bunch of red T-shirts with Fierce on them just last week. Crazy how they thought alike, but he didn’t want to say that. Of course if he didn’t, she’d think it was all her idea.