Once Upon a Christmas by Lauraine Snelling, Lenora Worth Page B

commitment. Her little voice made so much sense but…There was always the “but.” I missed out. That was the bottom line, she’d missed the family time not just this Sunday but for the last two. She’d missed out on time with Thane.
    Unca Dane. How had Amie done with the girls? Alison and Brittany were such fun little girls that Amie most likely had a great time.
    Everyone had a great time but me! And Suzanne, if you told him any of our family stories…She shook her head. Time for a tea break.
    When she stood up, the yawns caught her and shestretched her hands over her head to pull out the kinks. Maybe this called for coffee instead of tea. Had she had lunch? Maybe she should call her mother and ask for home delivery.
    The food would be good, but she’d missed out on the laughter.
    And the love.
    She went to the back door and called Harley in. Time to put the pity away and get on with what she needed to be doing.
    By the time she turned off the computer that night and organized the CD rack and the sheets of paper, midnight had just chimed on her grandfather clock in the living room. She was ready for the meeting. And exhausted.
     
    Power dressed in a black pinstriped suit, she marched out the door in the morning with all her supplies for her presentation at hand. She drove up to the office building with fifteen minutes to spare and had time to stop in the restroom before entering the offices.
    “Hi, Blythe, you all ready?” Gwen, the receptionist, and Blythe had been business acquaintances for the three years she’d handled the company account. “Hey, I like your hair.”
    “Thanks.” Blythe resisted the need to touch it. For once on a presentation day, she didn’t have a bad hair day. “They ready?”
    Gwen glanced at the clock on her desk. “A couple more minutes. I’ll take you back so you can get set up.”
    “Thanks.” Not that she didn’t know the way, but an escort was more official.
    After everyone settled with their coffee, legal pads and pens, she publicly greeted them and clicked on her infrared pointer. The presentation lasted twenty-six minutes, but had taken her two weeks to prepare.
    At the end she clicked off her screen and motioned for the house lights to be brought back up. “Now I’ve given each of you a copy of the material so we can begin the discussion.” An hour later, she left the building, glowing from the praise heaped upon her and grateful for their desire to continue on to the next step. She wanted to dance and sing out her excitement but that would draw stares and snickers, even in California.
    “I did it.” She pounded out a three-four time beat on the steering wheel as she started the car. “Thank You, God. You did it.” Her praise was a bit late, but heartfelt nonetheless. She’d known from the start the project would take more than she had to give, but the Word said nothing was impossible to those who loved the Lord, so she had proceeded on that promise, and look what happened.
    She punched Thane’s number into the cell phone and waited. Four rings and an answering machine. That would be a great title for a movie. “Hi, Thane, Blythe here, and I did it. The project I had to finish yesterday was a resounding hit. All for now. Back to the salt mines. Bye.”
    Next she called Suzanne and got another answering machine.
    “Isn’t anyone around to celebrate with me today? Not fair!”
    Back home she changed into jeans and sweater, ate lunchfrom leftovers in the fridge and headed back downstairs, Harley dancing beside her, nosing her hand for more love. She sent an e-mail to her mother, wrote a thank-you letter to the company and dove back into the stack of work left to finish. Eleven shopping days until Christmas and she needed to buy something for Amie and Thane, plus her nieces. Her package to her brother and his family had already been mailed to Alabama.
    Sometime later an e-mail popped up from Thane.
    “If you want people to return your calls, you should check