Free Kisses on Her Christmas List by Susan Meier

O , as if she were totally surprised or totally horrified. When she threw arms around Rory and buried her face against his neck, Shannon guessed she was horrified.
    Rory held her tightly. “Finley, honey, we’ve been over this already. I told you the store would be decorated for the holiday. I told you there would be Christmas songs.”
    Finley only snuggled in closer.
    After the lovely weekend that had caused her to begin to bond with a man and child she couldn’t have, Shannon had promised herself she would keep her distance. No more private conversations with Rory. No more helping to discipline Finley.
    But a frightened child had to be an exception to her rule. She grabbed Rory’s hand and led him in the direction of the elevators.
    â€œCome on,” she said, ignoring the thump, thump, thump of her heart from the feeling of Rory’s hand tucked inside of hers. “Before you know it we’ll be in my office where, I swear, there isn’t as much as a poinsettia.”
    Pushing through the crowd, Shannon got them to the elevator and immediately dropped Rory’s hand. She pressed the button for the third floor. The door closed, blocking out most of the sights and scents of Christmas, but “Jingle Bells” still piped into the little box.
    Finley huddled against Rory. She wasn’t upset or panicky. Just huddled. Once they got into the undecorated administrative offices she would be fine.
    Shannon faced Rory. “Even though we lost the weekend, we can get down to work right away. There are four administrative departments. Buyers, human resources, accounting and advertising. If you take one day with each department, that will give you a full day on Friday to walk the store and some time for questions and explanations.”
    â€œSounds good.”
    The elevator reached the second floor. “Jingle Bells” became “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” Finley looked to be getting antsy, so Shannon kept talking. “I only have four departments because I combined a lot of things for efficiency.”
    â€œThat makes sense—if you’ve combined the right departments.”
    â€œMIS with accounting. Public relations with advertising.”
    He shrugged. “Should work.”
    The elevator pinged. Shannon sucked in a breath. Though they were entering the housewares department, it was as decorated with shiny red, green and blue ornaments as every other floor in the store. And the Christmas music? Well, that was piped everywhere, except into the administrative offices. So “Rudolph” still echoed around them.
    She hurriedly ushered Rory around the tables of sheets and towels, past the shelves of small appliances, past the rows of dishes, glasses and stemware.
    When they finally reached the swinging door into the administrative offices, she pushed it open with a sigh of relief. The second it swung closed behind them, “Rudolph” became a soft hum. As they hurried down the hall, even the hum echoed away.
    At the end of the long, thin corridor, she opened the door that led to her office suite. Wendy was already seated at her desk.
    â€œGood morning, Ms. Raleigh.”
    Shannon shrugged out of her coat. “No need to be formal for Mr. Wallace’s sake. We spent the weekend together.”
    Wendy’s eyes widened. “The whole weekend?”
    Rory slid Finley to the floor and helped her out of her little pink jacket. “Couldn’t get to my car until today.”
    â€œIt was a mess,” Wendy agreed, scrambling to take Finley’s coat and Rory’s topcoat and hang them on the coat tree. “So what are you planning for today?”
    â€œSince we’re late, I’m only introducing Rory to the staff this morning. Then he can pick a department to spend time with this afternoon.”
    Wendy said, “Sounds good to me,” but her gaze fell on Finley.
    Rory put his hands on his daughter’s shoulders.