“Fourth tree goes to…Mr. and Mrs. Clarke.”
“Fifth tree goes to…Daniel and Lila Dixon.”
“Sixth and final tree goes to…Dakota Moore. Congratulations everyone. I can’t wait to see what you all produce.”
“I got it. I got a tree.” She grabbed Adam, wrapped her arms around him as she bounced up and down with glee. “Can you believe it? I got a tree.”
He held her as she squealed. When she looked up at his face, she frowned. A sense of sadness filled his eyes even though he was smiling.
“Adam, are you alright? Something’s bothering you and I want to help.”
He laughed. “I’m actually wondering if you want to take back your decorations. I figure you’re going to need them for the tree.”
“Why on earth would I want them back? They were a gift to you.” She practically danced, too excited to keep still.
He placed his hands on her shoulders and she basked in the touch. “Because, the rule of thumb for tree decorating is as follows, and I quote my mother because she considers herself an expert – for every one foot of tree height you need one hundred lights, nine feet of garland, and twenty ornaments.”
Dakota stopped moving. Her eyes bugged and her mouth dropped open. She’d never decorated a real tree on her own before. Her condo hadn’t had room for more than a small fake arrangement that stood on a coffee table. Last year’s tree had even come with its own built in lights. It even got packed away with the decorations still in place. She was in for a huge awakening.
“Yep. And do you know how big these trees are going to be?” Lights twinkled in his eyes and her heart sunk. This wasn’t sounding that good of an idea after all. “Ten feet is the minimum.”
She gulped, quickly calculated how many ornaments she would need. “Oh.” There weren’t that many in her store now that she’d made a huge delivery to Rach at the gift shop earlier in the week. She couldn’t go and ask for them back.
“What are you going to do, Dakota?” Mari moved into her line of vision. “I can see what I can get from my suppliers in L.A. but you really need your tree to be unique if you want to be in for a chance at owning the winning tree.”
“Oh my goodness, what have I done?” She bit her lip, worried the skin with her teeth. This would take some serious planning and she hated to admit she was caught more than a little lacking. Her mind raced over what she had in her stores for decorations and how many she had left that were complete. Would she be able to get another shipment of glass before then? Beads and copper wire would be needed as well.
“Bother. I might need some help. I don’t think I have enough copper wire either. I have to go home and do a stock count.”
“Want me to come with you? We can talk over coffee.” Adam looked at her with hope in his eyes. “Or if you prefer, I can grab a bottle of wine.”
“Sure.”
“Hey Adam.” Jake pushed his way through the crowd, Cory clinging to his arm. “Cory was hoping to find out if you managed to get an answer from your teammates about coming out for a coaching clinic? Had a chance to call them yet?”
Dakota heard the intake of breath and saw the panic cross his face. His fingers gripped her arm.
“Hell, I knew there was something else I had to do today.”
The moan of frustration coming from Cory shocked her. “Typical big talker. Just like your father.” He pulled away from Jake and pushed his way out of the crowded room.
“What the heck…”
“Let him go. Adam, can we talk?” Jake dragged him away to the side of the room and Dakota went with them, her fingers held captive in Adam’s.
“I’m sorry, Jake. Things didn’t go as I planned today and I, look I hate to admit it but I forgot.”
“I understand with what you have on your plate, but you can’t do this to a kid. Especially Cory and it’s not because he’s my son either.” Jake jammed his hands in his jeans pockets and looked down.
“Why then?”
“Because your father did the same thing the last couple of years. Promised to get you out here for a coaching session not long after we lost his mom. Never eventuated and now you’ve let him down too. I didn’t want him saying anything to you but I guess you needed to know what happened and why it means so much. A kid doesn’t need that, okay? Not any kid.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll get right on it, Jake. You can count on me, promise. I’ll call a few of the guys tomorrow.”
Jake nodded his head but the look on his face gave Dakota the impression he didn’t believe it. With a grunt, Jake turned and left them alone.
“I think we need to get out of here. Seems you have some explaining to do, Adam.” How could she have been so wrong about him? The joy of getting a tree was overridden with the pain of seeing Cory let down by someone he hero worshipped. Adam had better have a good reason for disappointing Cory like that because the last thing Dakota needed was someone in her life who treated people like her ex had. At the time she hadn’t noticed how he only cultivated people that could further her career and thus gave him contacts for his budding investment business. Currently he held the crown for being the let-down king. Adam had better not be threatening to take it off of him after she’d made the mistake of enjoying his company and thinking he was better than that. And not after she’d decided to speak plainly to him and try to sort out what put the shadows in his eyes.
Chapter Ten
“I’m not really good company right now.” Adam sat
