Free A New Tradition by Tonya Kappes Page A

back to her receptionist desk just outside my office door. With her hands full, she called over her shoulder, “The girls are going to miss your rendition of Santa Baby during Rum and Monkey’s karaoke hour.”
    “I won’t be alone. I have Henry.” I pointed to my little white Persian cat curled on the brown leather couch in the corner of my office. Yes, I named him Henry after My Fair Ladies’, Henry Higgins.
    “You can only watch so much Audrey Hepburn.”
    She didn’t just say that! No one can ever have enough of Audrey! “Please don’t tell me you packed the Audrey outfit.” Her gaze darkened when she realized that I had, in fact, packed the black dress and tiara I love to put on when I watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s. “Really, I think you need help. I mean professional help.”
    “I did buy a new book on my Kindle. It’s charged and ready to go.” I knew that I would fall fast asleep before I got in a few pages. I had been working so hard on the Bassett deal that when my head hit the pillow, I was out.
    “I will call you tomorrow. Now get out of here.” I glance down at my watch. Noon. If I hurried, I could be at the cabin by two. Just in time to start a fire, put the small turkey and all the fixings in the refrigerator and fix my annual salmon dinner for tonight. Just because I wasn’t having Christmas with my family didn’t mean that I couldn’t have Christmas dinner with Audrey.
    “Tell your parents Merry Christmas if they call you,” Jenna said before heading out of the office.
    This was a once in a lifetime trip for my parents. Recently, my father had retired from the lumberyard. He started out sorting nuts and bolts for Mr. Baker, the owner of Mulberry Lumber, at the age of eighteen, moved up in the company and retired after forty-five years.
    As an appreciation for all dads’ hard work, Mr. Baker’s family gave him and mom an all-expense paid trip to London, England. Mom had always wanted to spend the holidays abroad. Since I’m their only child and grown, I encouraged them to go this year. I had the meeting with Mr. Bassett coming up on Christmas morning through Skype.  He had insisted it be on Christmas morning. It shouldn’t have surprised me, because he was always as cold as ice in his emails.  Scrooge!
    I was looking forward to seeing him. Of course, I had googled him, but he was nowhere to be found. I had heard through the grapevine that he never attended the openings of any of his casinos or the parties. He’s a bit of a recluse from what I understand.
    I’d put money on it that he was on some beautiful Caribbean island where everything you could possibly need was at his fingertips. And I wanted a piece of that pie. I was going to have to work hard to get it. That was why I was more than happy to head to our family cabin in the woods for a relaxing couple of days with Audrey.

Chapter Two
     
    Even with new tires on my old 1994 Mercedes, the roads were as slick as gopher-guts, making the trip a little longer than the two hours I had anticipated.
    It was the first time in ten years we were going to have a snowy Christmas. And spending it at the cabin made my soul feel warm and fuzzy.
    “ Baboom, baboom, Santa baby ,” I sang to Henry, who was sleeping in the passenger seat, at the top of my lungs when Eartha Kitt blasted through the speakers. I was going to miss my annual karaoke at the Monkey, but there was always next year. “ One little thing, a ring .”
    His ears popped up along with his head. Unimpressed, he laid it back down. One of the gang, Macey Ellery, works at Mulberry End’s SPCA and immediately called me when someone had brought Henry into the shelter. The SPCA really never had many animals, but when they did, Macey was always able to find them a good home. Lucky for me, Henry was the perfect size and companion I needed in a roommate.
    A couple years ago, I had bought the building where the Design Studio was located. There were two studio apartments above the