Small Town Christmas (Blue Harbor #4) - Olivia Miles Page 0,21

about it for a moment. “I don’t think so.”

“Come here,” he said, gesturing her over. “I’ll teach you.”

Georgie looked as pleased as he felt when she set down her scone and walked over to where he stood at the powder room door. He handed her the tool and walked her through the process, slowly, carefully, until she had tightened the screws.

“Look at that!” he exclaimed.

His grandfather would be proud. He’d make a point to tell him, next time he saw him.

Phil’s stomach twisted on that thought. He wasn’t sure when he would see his grandparents again, now that he considered it. He rarely visited the home they were in, and he hadn’t factored that into the timeline between now and his move.

“When are we going to decorate the tree?” Georgie asked.

“Soon,” Phil replied.

“Mom always decorates the tree the day she gets it,” Georgie continued. “And she hangs stockings.”

Stockings. Shoot. Right.

“And she puts a wreath on the door, and she sometimes puts a candy cane in my lunch box.”

He knew that he couldn’t fault Michelle, and that everything that Georgie said was true. Michelle was a good mother. And everything that she had said was true, too.

He hadn’t been there for Georgie in the past. Hadn’t shown up at the big events, hadn’t treasured the small milestones. Hadn’t seen the value in a sit-down family dinner or conversation about how they’d spent their day. He’d focused on the big house, the top of the line swing set, the private music lessons, and the expensive school.

He’d tried to give his daughter a good life, and now his child preferred to spend her time with her mother. Preferred to spend her holidays without him.

And when he stopped to think about it, who could blame her?

Hadn’t he, after all, once longed for more time in this very town, with simple pleasures that only his grandparents had provided?

He reached for his coffee, but found, much like his excitement for expanding his business opportunities overseas, that it had gone cold.

5

By Friday, Georgie had made it clear that she couldn’t wait to get the tree decorated any longer. She had made some paper garland and other ornaments with supplies she had found around the house. Phil had searched the attic for the decorations that had belonged to his grandparents, but that only revealed dust bunnies and a cedar chest with a yellowing wedding gown that still managed to spark a gasp of delight from Georgie.

“I guess that Great-Grandma and Grandpa didn’t like to celebrate Christmas either,” Georgie said with a shrug.

That wasn’t true, and he opened his mouth to tell her so, but thought the better of it. Georgie was restless, tired of sitting around while he tended to work calls and emails, and the day was getting on. Soon it would be dark, and the provisions that he’d picked up last weekend were running low. He’d have to hit the frozen food aisle or find a restaurant in town for dinner.

If it was just him, like it usually was, he’d be happy with another frozen pizza, or even a decent sandwich, but Georgie had made it clear that this wouldn’t suffice, and he wasn’t up for an argument. Technically, he had enough work to stay busy for hours more, but Phil supposed it would be nice to stretch his legs and get into town, and the least he could do, he supposed, was throw some business toward the poor owner of the holiday shop. And give her fair warning.

“Let’s head into town,” he said, before he could change his mind. He closed his laptop firmly, deciding that it was really just a distraction from the business at hand. He’d come to town to wrap up his grandparents’ estate and that was exactly what he needed to tend to at the moment. Besides, unlike his other projects, he didn’t have any assistance on this one, or backup. If he wanted to get things in Blue Harbor cleared up before Christmas, he’d have to handle it on his own.

With that in mind, he drove them into town and parked the car near the square, where concession stands were already being set up for the tree lighting ceremony.

“Look how big that tree is!” Georgie pointed in awe at a giant spruce standing tall in the center of a snow-covered park.

“I don’t think they bought that at the tree lot,” Phil replied, and even he was impressed by the size of the tree. He didn’t know what he’d been expecting,