Dear Santa(15)

“It’s the house salad,” Billy said, as if it should be obvious.

“I mean this?” She swung her arm out to indicate the room. “You’re feeding me dinner?”

He flashed her a boyish grin. “It’s the least I can do, Lindy. You’ve been working on that design for hours.”

“But dinner in a private dining room?”

He glanced around, as if the two of them alone came as a surprise. “So it seems.”

Lindy felt like royalty. “Wow. You should know I enjoy my work. This has been fun for me.”

“I appreciate your help more than I can say.”

“So, tell me, how long have you been in the restaurant business?” Lindy asked. She couldn’t help being curious.

“From the time I was sixteen.” Billy leaned forward as he spoke, his gaze warming as he continued. “I started out as a dishwasher for a friend of my grandfather’s who owned a diner in Yakima. Eventually I worked my way up, doing every job there was in the kitchen. Earl, my grandfather’s friend, taught me nearly all there was to know about the ins and outs of restaurant ownership. I’ll be forever grateful to him for mentoring me. I’ve had other mentors through the years and am grateful for the time they put into teaching me what I would need to know. Earl is the one I owe the most. What about you? How is it you ended up in website design?”

    Lindy had always been good with math and science, and that led her to a degree in computer science. The website design and the graphics came about later as she continued her studies. She’d been drawn into the creative part of designing websites, which led her to her job with Media Blast. Without going into a lot of detail, she casually described her work.

“You genuinely love it, don’t you?”

“I do,” she said. “And if my ideas are chosen on a current project, I will have proved my worth to the rest of the team.”

He frowned. “You need to prove your worth?”

“I got hired over someone who’d been with the company several years and expected the position to be hers. She and the rest of the team haven’t taken kindly to me.” What she didn’t mention was the extra hours she’d put in, the weekends she’d gone into the office, all in an effort to prove that management had made the right choice in hiring her.

    “I have to admire your tenacity,” Billy said.

“Media Blast is where I’ve always wanted to work. No way was I going to let a few disgruntled people drive me away.”

“Good for you.” Lindy didn’t mean for the conversation to revolve around her. She wanted to know more about Billy.

“It’s fun, running into you, especially after Mom showed me those old letters to Santa.”

“You mean to say you’d forgotten me?”

“Not forgotten. Let’s just say you slipped my mind.”

“I’m here now, Lindy, and happy to see you.”

The intensity of his words and the way he looked at her caused her to blush. “Thanks, Billy. It’s good to connect with you, too.”

Rarely had Lindy enjoyed a dinner more. The conversation flowed easily from one subject to the next. From their work to updating each other about their families.

“You say you’re in town for the next two weeks?” Billy asked. “I’ve enjoyed the time we’ve spent together. How would you feel about getting together again? It might be at odd hours, though. The restaurant is my first priority. I’m hoping you won’t mind working around that. Would you be willing?”

    “That sounds great.” Two weeks of letting go and having fun. No way was she turning down this opportunity.

“How would you feel about a trip to Leavenworth?”

“It sounds perfect,” she said.

It really did.





CHAPTER SEVEN





The next morning, Lindy couldn’t stop thinking about her romantic dinner with Billy. The staff referred to him as Will, but he would always be Billy to her. The evening had been lovely. She enjoyed their conversation and was impressed that he seemed genuinely interested in her and her work at Media Blast. Unlike other men she’d dated—not that they were dating or anything—who had almost always talked about themselves, looking to impress her, she supposed.

It surprised her how much Billy remembered about her and her family. He grinned when he said, “I’m not likely to forget the talking-to our school principal gave me.”

“Ah yes, if I remember, that must have been the Billy-the-bully talk,” she said, recounting her indignation when he wouldn’t let a day pass without pulling her hair.

Like her, Billy had never been married, and while he didn’t mention other relationships, she strongly suspected there had been more than one through the years. It made sense, seeing how attractive and eligible he was.



* * *



—

    Coming into the kitchen, Lindy found her mother sitting at the table with the local newspaper and a cup of coffee.

“Sorry about dinner last night,” Lindy said, after explaining she’d dined with Billy. Her mother had kept a plate warmed, waiting for her return. By the time she arrived home, the meal had completely dried out. While cleaning up the kitchen, she’d danced around the room, feeling free and a little silly. It’d been a long time since she’d experienced this unfettered happiness. And to think it was all because of Billy Kincade. Covering her mouth, she laughed. Never in a thousand years would she think he’d be the one to make her heart sing.