Living with Her [Book 3]

Chapter 25

"So you're going home for Christmas?" Jeff asked as he looked down into Dusty's cubicle.

"Yeah." Dusty nodded, the mere thought of going back to West making her stomach go into a frenzied spin cycle.

"Always nice to go home for the holidays." Jeff smiled kindly, though it was hard to take him seriously when he was wearing a Santa hat. It was the last day of work before the offices closed for the holiday season, and everyone was in high spirits. There were decorations everywhere, and people had brought in mince pies, yule logs and cookies. It was only mid- morning, and Dusty was already fit to burst from politely eating all the festive treats she had been offered.

Her colleagues were finally warming to her, as evidenced by the array of greeting cards that adorned her cubicle. Christmas always managed to bring out the best in people, and her office had been no exception. "What will you be doing over Christmas?" Dusty asked politely, sipping at the eggnog she'd been handed.

"I'm heading home too," Jeff said a little tired. "Back to Connecticut."

"Well, have fun." Dusty smiled, finding it difficult to imagine her manager anywhere other than the city. He wore slick suits and walked with an air of self-confidence, which in New York seemed commonplace, but anywhere else, like his hometown, he must seem arrogant and aloof. Would Dusty also fail to fit in back in West? Would her time away at Princeton and now the city have irrevocably remarked her?

Changed her from the small-town girl into something else, something the locals would find unrecognizable? "Going back for the first time is always strange," Jeff mused, noticing Dusty's troubled look. "You find that while you may change, many places and people do not." With those final parting words of wisdom, he raised his own glass of sickly sweet egg mixture and nodded at his young protégé before moving on to the next cubicle to carry on his managerial duties of making festive-related small talk with all employees.

Sighing, Dusty looked out of the vast windows at the far end of the office and saw New York sparkling beyond. Ornate Christmas trees and rows upon rows of glittering lights had swept the city, as if everything had been sprinkled with fairy dust. Even the most drab building now appeared magical. It was intoxicating to walk through the city when it was illuminated like this, you could be forgiven for imagining that you were within some wondrous fairy tale.

The lights and the whimsical atmosphere that accompanied them reminded Dusty of the good in the world, of the potential for wonderful things to happen. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so jubilant in the prelude of the festive season. But that euphoria soon fell away when she thought of her destination for the holidays and, moreover, who might be there.