Charlotte pushed the thumb tack through the drywall to stick the line of shimmering tinsel in place. She stepped back to admire her job. Strips of tinsel dipped along the wall in bright Christmasy colours of green, silver and red. At least the happy colours hid the otherwise dismal, stained cracked wall. It was in such an abysmal state a few tiny thumb-tack holes wasn’t going to make any difference at all.

She sighed, looking around the shelter. One wall down, three more to go and it was already heading towards the lunch-time rush that her friend Lisa had warned her about.

Thinking about Lisa, Charlotte hurried over to the three-step ladder her friend was currently perched on as she tried to fit a beautiful silver star to the top of the Christmas tree. Charlotte grabbed the sides of the ladder and weighted the bottom rung with her foot before Lisa toppled over. “Hey, Lis. You’d better be careful on this thing!”

The last thing they both needed was for Lisa to be out of action because of a silly accident. Her friend had travelled all the way from Australia for a well-deserved personal break to get away from her loser ex-boyfriend, Lachlan, but she’d spent every waking moment helping out at the shelter. Which was why Charlotte was here herself.

Despite her hectic schedule, Charlotte had wanted to see what Lisa was doing. Besides, helping homeless people was something close to her heart, just as it was for her friend. If she wasn’t so busy with her boss, Gabe Olivari who owned Olivari Barbers, she’d spend some more time down here herself.

“Just about got it.” Lisa finally secured the star, and the top branch swung back and forth when she let it go, dancing merrily with the sparkling addition. “I just love this time of year, don’t you?”

Charlotte couldn’t help her chuckle, despite being so exhausted with the work Gabe piled on her, this time of year was a special time for her as well. “Sure do. I can’t wait to get back home. I wonder if Mum has got her Christmas tree up yet? She said she was going to get a real one this year.”

Charlotte could imagine her father would probably bring back the biggest tree he could find and try and stuff it into their small living room. They used to have a much bigger living room in a much nicer house. Charlotte forcefully set the thought aside, as well as the pain, hurt and guilt. What was done was done. All she could do now was to help her parents out as much as she could and make amends for her unforgivable mistake.

Lisa stepped down the ladder onto the grey concrete floor, the signs of years of wear evident on the hard surface. No wonder the shelter had only been given a limit of six months to operate. The new owner no doubt wanted to renovate as soon as it was approved. Charlotte couldn’t help think that the building was a living hazard the way it was right now.

Lisa rubbed Charlotte’s arm in a comforting gesture. “Your poor Mom. She’s been through such a lot this year, besides losing the business. Surprising her with the Christmas Day you’ve been planning will be a fantastic present.”

Charlotte blinked back the tears that rose quickly. Her Mum had had a shocking year. Three operations trying to cut out the breast cancer, each one worse than the last, and finally six months of chemo and radiotherapy had all but ravaged her body. Her Mum definitely deserved the Christmas Day that not just her, but all of her family had been planning for the last couple of months. Relatives from all over the country were going to fly into Melbourne to surprise her. It had all been organised, flights booked, accommodation reserved, everyone knew what was happening. Charlotte’s biggest concern though, was getting herself back home in time. The pressure from work, and Gabe, had increased to the point where she was working twelve hour days and weekends to keep up with the demands. “Which reminds me, I have to tell Gabe I need to be home for Christmas Day. I still have to book my flight.”

“Oh my gosh, I thought you’d already done that! You’d better get one soon because everything will be booked out. It’s crazy this time of year. Especially trying to fly out of New York!” Lisa said.

Charlotte relocated the ladder and started securing more tinsel to the bare wall. “Don’t I know it! I have so much work at the moment.”

“But you also have that sexy advertising guy, Andrew Robinson to take care of you,” Lisa waggled her eyebrows.

“Lis! Quiet.” Charlotte’s gazed about the room, but no-one seemed to have heard. The last thing she needed was her secret crush on Andrew Robinson going around. She already had to mentally prepare herself if they had a meeting so she didn’t become a gooey mess at the conference table.

At the mention of Andrew’s name, Charlotte’s heart stuttered. Just being on the phone to that man made her face heat and flush like there was no tomorrow. The words, ‘damn sexy’ flashed in her mind like a bright pink neon sign. She’d had very inappropriate dreams about Andrew that crucified the meaning of the word.

The man was sex on a stick, dreamboat Heaven. And strictly hands-off. He worked so close with Gabe’s business that she would never risk anything more than being on a professionally level just in case something went south with the relationship and Gabe’s business suffered as a result. She thought too much of Gabe, as well as Andrew’s business, to screw things up like that.

Like Gabe, Andrew was a self-made man, securing some of the largest advertising and marketing accounts New York had to offer. As well as being incredibly handsome, and masculine and all the things that any good romance novel required of an alpha hero — yes, she was into romance books in a big way — he had the mind of a shark. Intelligent to a knife point, he was a fast thinker and had a sense of humour that would have her in inappropriate fits of giggles. It was extremely unprofessional but he always managed to unravel her in some way that had her mentally chiding herself.

She was in New York to learn. To grow. To save her family from poverty. To make amends. She was here for only a short time to do all of those things, and then she was going to leave to go back to Australia. She didn’t need a diversion from her plan, no matter how tempting it could be.

“Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me. But if it was up to me, I’d be spending more time with him than just business meetings. That guy’s hot!” Lisa said.

“Yeah, and everyone in the office has a secret crush on him as well,” Charlotte said.

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you, Charlotte. You’re just blind to it,” Lisa said.

“He does? I am? How do you know?” Charlotte asked.

Lisa laughed, “So many questions for someone who’s not interested. I saw the way he looked at you when I brought your lunch in for you the other day.”

Lisa had come in when she and Andrew were in an afternoon long meeting. Lisa had brought so much food it had been enough for the both of them.

“You should go out with him,” Lisa said.

Luckily, just at the right time her phone rang. “Oh, that’s my phone. I have my hands full. Can you please get that, Lisa?”

“Sure. But you’re going to come clean on Mr. Andrew Robinson.” Lisa winked at her, then answered the phone.

Charlotte listened to the short one-sided conversation. Lisa placed the phone against her hip and called out. “Your boss is calling you on a Sunday and needs help with the Barton file. Shall I tell him where you are?”

The Barton File. She inwardly groaned, nodding at Lisa. More work to stack on the pile.

“We’re at the Helping Hand Café, it’s on Bowery Road,” she heard Lisa tell him. “He’ll be here soon. Is he always this cranky?”

The answer was, yes. He was. And also busy with his mind on his business every minute of the day.

“No, it must be you,’ Charlotte said.

Charlotte sighed and continued to tack the tinsel to the wall. She wasn’t surprised that Gabe was working on a Sunday. Working on a Sunday was why his business was so successful, and that was why she had taken the job in New York. Gabe was not only her boss, he was her mentor and the reason why she also worked so hard. She was here to learn from the best so she could go back home and start her own business chain. This was her contribution to be able to help her parents. She’d been up front with him from the start and to her surprise had agreed to take her on knowing one day she’d leave. From then on, she’d always warmly regarded his heart of gold, in his own gruff way.

Charlotte took a steeling breath and looked at her friend, “Okay, three walls to go, half an hour, let’s get this tinsel up.”

“That’s what I like about you, Charlotte you just get things done without any preamble. That’s what you have to do, isn’t it. Don’t overthink things. Don’t let things get to you,” Lisa’s gaze turned inwards as she gathered more strands of tinsel.

This time it was Charlotte’s turn to give her friend a supportive squeeze on her arm, “You’ll get there, Lis. Just give it some time. Things have a way of working out.”

“I hope so, Charlotte. I really hope so.” If there was anything Charlotte could do for Lisa, she would. She’d thought that offering her condo in another country for her friend to have a break from everything at home would help, but even after two months Lisa seemed to be as sad as ever.

“There you are, Charlotte.” She faced her boss who was already holding out a bursting manila folder to her.

“When would you like me to get back to you on this?” Charlotte asked.

“First thing tomorrow morning,” Gabe said.

Just another thing to add to her balancing act. She’d have to get an early start on it tonight as she had other urgent things to do first thing in the morning as well.

“Okay. I’ll let you know my progress,” Charlotte said.

Gabe gave her a curt nod and turned to leave. Charlotte pulled her bag from behind the boxes of Christmas decorations and shoved the file inside. She glanced at Lisa working the coffee machine. To her surprise, Gabe hadn’t left yet and instead was talking to Lisa. The conversation looked intense, Gabe never taking his gaze off Lisa.

“Good idea, Lisa. Make Gabe a coffee, both of you have a break and keep him away from giving me any more work. I have enough of it,” Charlotte murmured to herself, turning her attention to the box of tinsel and the three bare walls. Hopefully she could get it done before the dinner crowd. And when that was finished, go back home and spend a few hours going over the contents of the Barton File that Gabe had so kindly handed to her.