The Home Is Where The Heart Is Collection. Maisey Yates
Sue was right. So far this job offer seemed made to order for her particular circumstances, she thought, as she and Maddie ate the hearty breakfast—complete with pancakes that were so perfectly heart-shaped, Eliza didn’t know how she ever again would have the guts to make her own paltry attempts.
Maddie chattered away about her other favorite foods and other delicious pancakes she had tried, which led to a conversation about the berry pancakes she had eaten when the two of them had driven to the Oregon Coast during the summer and how she had chased a hermit crab around the beach and had looked at tide pools and touched a starfish.
Eliza would have tried to divert her attention in some way but Sue seemed to enjoy whatever conversational detour Maddie meandered down, watching her with a kind, indulgent expression.
When they both had finished breakfast, Sue took their plates and loaded them into one of two gleaming stainless-steel dishwashers Eliza could see.
“Should we go take a look at the cook’s quarters?” she asked.
She nodded and slid away from the table. Sue led the way to a door just down the hall from the kitchen. As Eliza looked around at the comfortable space with twin beds, a basic but well-equipped bathroom and even a sitting room, she had to fight the inappropriate urge to laugh.
Call her a pessimist, but she had to wonder about what fine print she must be missing. The position seemed almost too good to be true—a jaw-dropping salary, a beautiful home in which to spend the holidays and the ideal apartment for her and Maddie. It was better, even, than the slightly larger but more outdated space they would have shared at the Lake Haven Inn.
Who would have guessed that being hit by a car might turn out to be a lucky break?
She was still shaking her head at that irony when she saw movement outside the window and spotted Aidan, bundled up against the cold, heading for the outside door that led into the mudroom.
He stomped his boots off on the mat outside the door and brushed snow from his coat, then pulled off a wildly colored knit hat, leaving his dark hair sticking up in tufts. Oddly, seeing him like this, slightly wild and tousled, made him seem somehow more human and approachable than the carefully groomed executive who appeared on the business magazine covers.
“What do you think?” Sue asked.
She thought the man was too darn gorgeous for his own good. Or hers.
“It should work very nicely,” she managed to answer.
“You and the little one will have all your meals with the rest of us, of course, so you needn’t worry about having a kitchen of your own. As you can see, you’ve got a microwave and a little refrigerator in here. If you have something special you’d like to fix in the kitchen, of course you would be welcome to. I’ll also set aside space in one of the refrigerators for you to keep things of your own that might not fit in here.”
“Great. I appreciate that.”
“When we have a minute, I’ll sit down with you and find out a few favorite foods you and Maddie might enjoy.”
“That’s not really necessary. We can eat anything. But thank you.”
They headed back out into the mudroom, to find Aidan taking off his coat.
“Oh. You’re back,” Sue said. “How is it out there?”
“Deep. We could barely get the door open to the garage in order to get the pickup truck with the plow. We finished clearing around the house. Now Jim is working on clearing the drive to the main road.”
“I was just showing Eliza the cook’s quarters.”
“Have you made a decision, then?” he asked her.
Despite Sue’s avowal, Eliza wasn’t convinced her help was actually needed. She was almost positive he only wanted her to take this perfect position because he felt sorry for her and to ease his guilt.
Her pride urged her to tell him she didn’t need or want his pity. But this provided such a better situation for Maddie than any other alternative. Snow Angel Cove could provide a sanctuary for them for a while, at least a place where Maddie could be free to enjoy the holidays. How could she let pride stand in the way of that?
She forced a smile. “Yes. If you’re serious about your offer, I accept. We will stay through the holidays and help you with your family.”
A fierce, satisfied expression crossed his handsome features. He didn’t look particularly surprised, however. Why should he be? What woman in her right mind could refuse such an offer?
“I’ll contact my assistant immediately and have her email you some forms to fill out. Nondisclosure, confidentiality, the standard employment requirements. I don’t want you doing anything but resting today and even tomorrow. Shall we say you’ll officially start in a couple of days? Monday?”
“I am feeling fine, I promise. There’s no reason I can’t start today, especially since time is limited before your family arrives.”
“Don’t overdo anything. I want you and Maddie to both feel comfortable here. You’re welcome to use any of the facilities—the horses, the pool and spa, the game room. Sue can tell you, I like the people who work for me to feel more like family.”
“You’re sure you don’t mind Maddie underfoot? She loves to help me and when I’m doing a task where she can’t help, she’s usually very good at entertaining herself.”
“I don’t mind at all. In a week, this place will be crawling with kids. She’ll fit right in with everyone else.”
For an instant, she could picture it with vivid clarity—children filling the big house with laughter and excitement, Christmas music ringing through the space, the air rich with the smells of cinnamon and vanilla and pine.
She had hoped to give her daughter a memorable Christmas but this one might turn out to be more amazing than she had ever imagined.
“GET ME THE projected specs by Friday, then make sure your team takes time with their families over the holidays. They can hit it hard again after the New Year. Yeah. Same to you.”
He hung up the phone with one of his project managers then turned back to the trio of computers in his home office, almost a complete duplicate of the setup at his office at the Caine Tech headquarters and his home office in San Jose.
The furniture was the same style and arrangement in each location—one which he found most productive to his workflow—and he used the very same brand and model of office chair.
Aidan had long ago accepted that he knew what worked for him. Messing with that structure only erected mental roadblocks that wasted his time and energy.
His brothers sometimes accused him of having obsessive-compulsive tendencies. They were usually teasing when they said it but he wasn’t bothered by it. A man didn’t amass a fortune out of nothing without careful attention to detail and a healthy self-awareness of his own strengths and weaknesses.
Afternoon sun pierced the thick cloud cover to slant through the vertical blinds. With a flick of a remote, he turned on the gas fireplace—a unique but necessary feature of this particular one of his three offices—and dialed Louise, his very efficient assistant.
They spent a few moments going over details of a pending merger before he turned the conversation to his family’s upcoming visit.
“Yes. All the arrangements have been made,” she said briskly. “The pilots will pick them up at the Hope’s Crossing airport on the twenty-third and will return them all Sunday evening, the twenty-eighth.”
That was as long as he could manage to convince them all to stay, as Pop didn’t want to be gone from the café too long and others had work and volunteer obligations