Evelyn didn’t skip a beat. As if this was something they did regularly, Evelyn scooped Bug on to the sofa by his bum. Bug circled twice and then lay down, his upper body leaning over Evelyn’s leg. Evelyn carried on like nothing was amiss. Alyssa wanted to laugh out loud. What else did this pair get up to? It was clear as day that they had formed a bond and now had a routine.
“Oh, pizza’s here,” Evelyn announced when her phone pinged. Jumping up, Alyssa headed to the elevator to wait for the delivery man. She was determined to get Evelyn to relax, and if that meant sitting on the sofa with Bug lounged on her, then so be it.
“Oh, my God, this is heaven,” Alyssa mumbled through her first bite of pizza.
“This is just what I needed, thank you Al.”
“No worries. I am worried about you, though, Evelyn. You can’t keep going like this.”
“I know,” she sighed. “I’ll just be glad when bloody Christmas is done.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. We need to rectify this dislike of Christmas. You’re as grumpy as Bug about it. Have you never enjoyed it?”
“Not at all. I loved Christmas. Decorating, watching movies, eating junk. Waiting for Santa. What isn’t there to like as a kid?”
“But not now?”
Alyssa watched Evelyn deflate. “My mum was the one who made Christmas extraordinary. Every year seemed to get bigger and better than the last. Then she died.”
Alyssa wiped a tear from Evelyn’s cheek.
“Dad didn’t know how to make Christmas what it was without her and then he met the floozy. There was no way I wanted to share Christmas with him and her, so I worked. That’s when I realised how much larger my workload was over the festive period. I had less and less time to enjoy it.”
“I’m really sorry to hear that, Evie.”
“It’s okay. Times change.”
“But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy Christmas again,” Alyssa said gently, taking Evelyn’s hand. All she wanted to do was make the woman feel better. Wrap her up in cotton wool and make everything okay.
“What’s the point? My dad will be away. Maggie has her family. I have an empty penthouse. I might as well forget about it and carry on as normal.”
No chance in hell Alyssa was going to let that happen. She had some planning to do.
“Well, let’s forget about that tonight. We still have pizza. Bug is practically drooling in anticipation. I’m guessing this isn’t the first time he’s got food from you with those big puppy eyes. Am I right?”
Evelyn grinned.
“Thought so. So let’s eat, drink, and plan for this party.”
“I can do that. And, to show you I’m not quite the grinch you think I am, I’ll treat you to some festive music.”
The opening bars of “Fairytale of New York” played softly through speakers dotted around the office. With the light low and the beer flowing, Alyssa had to be on guard. Those complicated feelings were becoming less complicated as the minutes wore on. Evelyn Crawford had captured her attention, and it was becoming painfully clear that somehow she’d captured Alyssa’s heart, too.
15
Party Planning and Impossible Deadlines
Alyssa
Three days had passed since Alyssa found Evelyn stressed out in her office, having just been informed by Dan the Douche that she had to organise the traditional Crawford’s HQ Christmas Party. The task had seemed impossible then: plan a corporate event for all of Crawford’s staff in under two weeks. Alyssa had offered to help, thinking it would be a quick afternoon project.
She’d been spectacularly wrong.
Planning a corporate Christmas party was, Alyssa discovered, approximately 7,000 times more complicated than managing a sanctuary full of dogs with varying digestive issues and personality disorders.
“So,” she said, spreading a massive spreadsheet across Evelyn’s conference table, “we need to categorise your employees like we do our rescue dogs.”
Evelyn looked simultaneously horrified and intrigued. “Excuse me?”
