Hope for the holidays

CH 1

CHAPTER ONE:

The dreams were always the same. Night after night. It all seemed so real. She could feel his arms holding her, she could taste his lips kissing her sweetly, then more urgently, the need quickly growing between them. She felt him gently laying her down on the bed and noticed clothes being shed hastily to the floor in their rush to be together. The details varied.

Sometimes, they started out talking like they used to, just as friends, other times, they began yelling at one another. A few times, they spotted the other at the airport or across the street and ran to each other like in the movies, but no matter how the "meet again cute" began, it always ended up with them passionately making love.

This particular morning, she woke up from one of her "make-out" sessions with her dream lover, and saw that it was in fact, only three in the morning on a Saturday. But her eyes popped open, and she often found it impossible to return to sleep when one of her fantasies woke her up in the middle of the night. She groaned, glancing at the alarm clock next to her bed and grabbed her phone absently, calling her sister.

"Good morning! Are you up yet?"

"Sure, I am, but why the heck are you? Isn't it super early there...BETTY!"

Betty patiently waited for her big sister to "do the math", "OHMYGODl! It's only three am there! Why in the hell are you calling me in the middle of the night, instead of sleeping? Let me guess; you had another one of your hot, imaginary booty calls from your former boss?"

"What? Wait! How did you know about that? Did you talk to Christina?"

"Maybe. She's my friend, too, you know. Besides, we're two old married ladies with kids. What else are we gonna talk about besides you and mister blue eyes that you're so in love with?"

"I am not!"

"Are too!"

"Hilda! I am NOT in love with Daniel Meade! Don't be ridiculous!"

"Excuse me, but if you're not in love, why do you keep dreaming about the man?"

"I plead the fifth! Christina has a very big mouth! And you're WAY too nosy!"

"Well, it's not like I can just read your diary anymore, is it? Unless you want to come back home sometime soon?"

"Hilda, we've already talked about this. Of course I miss you all, but I've only got one more year until Mr. Dunne retires! Then I'll take over! I really need to stay here now especially. I mean, I can always come home to visit for holidays and special occasions. And besides, I thought you said it was great that I live here in the UK, so you can travel cheaply to Europe for anniversaries and birthdays? You and Bobby loved Paris and Rome! And your tenth anniversary is next year, so who knows where you might get to go then!"

"That's not fair, mami! Bringing up Paris? You're not going to make me choose between a second honeymoon and getting to see my baby sister once in a while, are you? You know I always have a great time seeing you there and Rome and Paris were amazing! It was so sweet of you, Papi and Justin to surprise me with that for my fifth anniversary, but...I still miss you!"

"I know. I miss you guys, too, but…"

"But nothing! You don't just miss your family. You could still have a life HERE in New York, B. EVERYBODY misses you! You can get a great job in New York, too with all your connections and experience now, you know. You're so damn stubborn! You don't HAVE to stay an ocean away. You're just scared to come back here to face you know who."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I have a job here. Plain and simple. This is where my life is now. That's all there is to it. I love London. I have friends here, I have my nice little place, I have a great staff. I have a social life…"

"ISH!"

"You know if you're wiggling your hands I can't see it over the telephone, Hilda."

"Then facetime me. I bet you look like crap! Having another dirty dream about the man you let slip through your fingers because you were too scared to admit you had feelings for him is keeping you up way too much and not in the good way! I mean, what else was he supposed to do? He followed you there, gave up everything to cross an ocean for you, then wrote you that love letter in his magazine, but no, you were too busy to give him the time of day...I'm sorry, Betty."

Hilda sighed in exasperation, realizing she had gone too far, "Seriously, facetime me, will you? I need to see my baby sister!"

Betty complied and sure enough, she had started to tear up at her sister's words.

"Aww….I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry!"

Betty sniffed, "I'm not crying!"

"You are, too!"

"I just have allergies."

"No you don't!"

"Do you think...I should come home for Christmas this year? I guess...I mean...I DO miss you guys! I suppose I could look at flights and see if I can clear my schedule. I really don't have anything that urgent going on during the holidays here."

Hilda brightened up, nodding vigorously, "YES! Absolutely! You NEED to come home for Christmas this year, B! You can come to papi's and we'll all cook. Well, okay, he and Elena will cook. I'll buy something from the store and bring it. This is AWESOME! Call me when you have your flight information! It'll be so good to see you again! It's been forever!"

"You were just here in June."

"Right! Honey, you do realize June was six months ago? Oh, and bring your diary. I need some good stuff to read. Your little fantasies make for some pretty steamy reading!"

Betty rolled her eyes, "You and Christina have to stop gossiping about me!"

Hilda shrugged, but smiled widely, "Whatever! Get your tickets, then text me your info! I'll let Justin and Bobby and pappi know. Love ya, Betty! Finally, there's hope for the holidays this year!"

Once she hung up, Betty smiled at her phone, then took out her laptop, trying to find the best time to fly back to see her family for Christmas at the last minute. In a fairly short time, after checking several airline search sites, she found a good deal and texted her sister the information about her flight.

She made a cup of tea and curled up with her old diary, looking through the pages here and there as she smiled, then put it away on her shelf, taking out her laptop again. Little did Hilda know, she had long since stopped writing longhand in her diary and found it much easier to type her thoughts into her "online journal". One that she was certain Hilda wouldn't be able to access.

She closed her eyes and tried to relive the dream that had awakened her this time. Sometimes she wished she were the type of person that could take naps easily.

The road ahead seemed to loom out endlessly. Daniel felt his eyes begin to droop before he shook himself awake. It wasn't THAT much farther, he told himself. God, what he wouldn't give to be able to just close the heavy drapes like he had at his office at Mode and take a nice nap! But that was then. Now he didn't have a PA like Miss Suarez, running around behind him like a cute little puppy, doing everything for him. He was his own man now. And mostly, he preferred it that way. That didn't mean he didn't miss HER.

However, since he no longer had the luxury of a personal assistant to cancel or reschedule his meeting, and didn't even have a private driver so he could sleep comfortably in the back seat on the way, he opted to stop for a cup of coffee at a small diner and refuel his car and himself.

The place resembled something out of the fifties, complete with a "jukebox" and leather seats. He slid into the booth and took out a menu.

"What can I get you, handsome?" the waitress asked kindly, the wisdom in her eyes betraying her age more than her plump face, devoid of wrinkles.

He could have sworn she winked at him. He smiled and glanced up at her, "I'm not sure what I want to eat yet. But I KNOW I desperately NEED some coffee!"

The woman nodded, disappearing for a moment, then quickly filled his cup, leaving cream and sugar on the table with an extra spoon, "Get that down ya and let me know when you decide what strikes yer fancy! Jeff makes the best coffee in the whole dang state! A damn site better than any of those fancy schmancy coffee places with their sugary crap that barely tastes like real coffee anymore! That'll put some hair on yer chest!"

Daniel chuckled, "O...kay...good, I...guess! Thanks! Um…"

"It's Betty! Betty Jane!" she smiled back and tapped her name tag.

Daniel's smile faded slightly, "Oh! Okay...thanks, um...Betty Jane." He tried to hide the pain in his expression but his fatigue betrayed his feelings sometimes.

She left, then returned to freshen up his coffee and see if he had decided what to order, "Have you found somethin' that strikes yer fancy, darlin?"

He nodded, pointing to the omelet and toast, "Can I get the mushroom omelet and whole wheat toast, please?"

"No problem-o!"

He looked slightly startled at her choice of words and she stopped in mid-stream as she scribbled down his order, tucking her pad into her pocket, eyeing him curiously, "Are you okay? You look a little down?"

Daniel shook his head, blinking heavily, then rubbed his eyes, "Just tired, that's all."

"You sure about that?" she looked around, then leaned down slightly to whisper, "It's still early in the morning for me, but if you've been driving all night and you need a little pick-up, I suppose I could see if Jeff can rustle me up some Irish Cream for that coffee of yers!"

Daniel shook his head, and pointed to her name tag, "No, thanks! It's not that. I...well, I think it's...your name. I...knew somebody named Betty once. A very long time ago. I guess I really miss her sometimes."

"Oh, I'm sorry, darlin! Did she...pass away?"

"No! We just...well she left the country for a job and we just sort of...lost touch."

"I see. What's stopping you from reaching out and "touching" her?"

Daniel shook his head, "I'm not sure. Time, maybe? It's been so long, I don't know what to say to her now. I let her go to grow up and see what she could do with her career there and I completely walked away from everything I knew to start from scratch. I grew up wealthy and realized I didn't deserve her. She was such an inspiration. I always had everything handed to me.

So now, I'm trying to prove to myself that I don't need my family's name or money and it's not easy! I never realized just how spoiled I was growing up with money. No wonder she thought I was a five-year old. I was so needy, always expecting her to do every stupid little thing for me instead of doing it for myself!

It's been a real education these past nine years!" He stopped, making a face, "Sorry! I suppose I've been driving for a long time with no one to talk to except the radio! I didn't mean to talk your ear off!" he smiled wanly.

Betty Jane shrugged, patting his shoulder, "No worries, good-lookin'! You can tell me all about your sweet little Betty who you are so in love with! I'm a sucker for a good love story! You should definitely call her!"

"WHAT? I'm in...LOVE, with...Betty? No way! We never...even kissed! We were always just...friends."

"Friends with benefits?"

"NO! No benefits, just...friends! We...I…"

"Did you not even try to keep in touch after she left the country for this job of hers?"

"I did! I quit my job and followed her to London and...wrote a sort of love letter to her in my magazine…"

Betty Jane raised her eyebrows, "Wait, you OWNED a magazine? And you quit it to follow her? You really MUST be rich! Don't tell me you gave your money all away or something? Is that why she rejected you? Your poor now?"

"No. First of all, Betty's not like that. She's never been into my money. She respects hard work. But I'm still rich. I didn't give all my money away. Well, I did donate some and I do chair a non-profit for cancer in my late wife's honor. Most of my money is in a trust fund if I really need it, though. I've still got access to it. But I haven't used it often.

I'm trying to learn how to live on a budget to see how my father was able to build up his own fortune when he started with very little capital. He only got one small business loan from his grandfather and he turned it into a multi-million dollar global publishing empire. It wasn't my magazine, really. It was my father's. He gave me the job before he died. He also hired Betty for me."

"It sounds like your old man really loved you!"

Daniel smiled, nodding, "I guess maybe he did. I never thought so when he was alive. But...he did find her for me and he is the one who gave me my first real job."

She put one hand on her hip, "I thought you said you WEREN'T in love with her?"

"I'm not!"

"Why did you write her a love letter then?"

"That's a fair question. I'm sorry. I don't mean to keep you."

She shrugged, "I've got nowhere to be and no other customers right now. Let me put in your order, then you can tell me your sad little love story. Just remember, it is the holidays. You can never count out the magic of Christmas! There's always hope!"