Sip of Assistance

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

“…take the rest of the day off and enjoy your holiday. We’ve got a ton of profiles to go through after Christmas. Look, I’ve got to go. See you in a couple days.”

I heard the feminine voice interrupt the ending scene of The Grinch. William was so enthralled he didn’t seem to notice, but the rest of us turned to look at the woman on her cell phone as she finished her call.

She was elegantly tall and thin, her long white blonde hair pulled up in a neat pony tail. She was wearing a gray professional business suit with a white undershirt and heels. James never told me what she did for a living but looking at her outfit and demeanor my guess was lawyer. How wrong I was…

“Livvy, I’m glad you made it!” Caroline jumped up and embraced her daughter. Olivia patted her back awkwardly, oddly uncomfortable with the gesture.

“Hi, Mum, father, Nana, James… random girl I’ve never met…” Her perfectly arched eyebrow rose as she took me in. I pulled away from James slightly, not wanting her to make assumptions.

“Oh Livvy, be nice!” Caroline waved her hand, “Holly this is Olivia, Livvy this is Holly. She and James are good friends and she’s spending her holiday with us.”

“Nice to meet you,” I told her.

“Are you two dating?” she asked bluntly.

At least she was straight forward, I thought. “Holly is my assistant and a really good friend, Liv,” James cut in.

“Hm,” she said, still eyeing me.

“You missed the reindeer gifts, here’s yours, you know the drill,” said Nana, handing her a red package with gold ribbon.

“Right,” she replied. Taking the package with her delicately manicured hand and holding it away from herself as if it were going to bite. “Guess I’ll be right back.” With that she spun around and disappeared.

She was different from the family; that I could tell immediately. She had a cold impersonal vibe that didn’t mesh with everyone else. It was solidifying my thought that she was a lawyer... so, so wrong.

“Sorry ‘bout Liv. She’s very direct and extremely nosey,” James apologized.

“It’s fine,” I told him in return, but I moved a little further away not wanting her to pry if she saw us too close. When she returned we had started Frosty the Snowman. She was wearing plain black silk pajamas that buttoned all the way up firmly to her throat.

She announced that she was hungry so Caroline and Nana followed her to the kitchen letting us know they’d be preparing lunch. There was a steady stream of talking coming from their vicinity, but the voices were too low for me to hear the discussion so I focused back on the film. I felt James stir beside me and then his arm wrapped around me, pulling me back to his side where I’d been comfortable before his sister arrived. I thought about pulling away, but it felt so warm and cozy, so right.

Halfway through the film, the women came back with an arrangement of warm appetizers. We all nibbled on them until it was time to start the next movie, A Christmas Story. At that point Olivia got up and turned to me, “Holly can you help me in the kitchen?” James stiffened beside me, but I nodded and followed.

She was pulling icing and sprinkles out. “I need to decorate these, you think you can help?”

“Of course,” I replied. She didn’t seem like the cookie decorating type, but I figured it would give us the opportunity to get to know each other and anything to warm her up to me sounded like a good idea.