By one o'clock on Thanksgiving Day, the Hummel Farms store was empty and Frankie Rivera could close up for the day. The last last-minute jug of apple cider had been bought, along with the last batch of Hummel Farms Granny Smith apples.

Frankie felt bad for the husband tasked with the errand. What was left of the Hummel Farm apples were far from their best and almost everyone else in the small Vermont farming town had made their pies days ago.

Frankie turned off the lights and the cavernous room went dark, its steel beams overhead glowing in the hazy afternoon light that came into through the antique windows. It took the use of both her hands and all her might for Frankie to pull the large red barn doors shut, locking them up with double chains and a padlock that had only two keys: Frankie's and Dan Stephens's, the owner of Hummel Farms and Frankie's boss.

The only car left in the parking lot was officially Dan's but Frankie had unofficially inherited it in the spring after Dan's back injury. The cherry-red truck hummed to life under her touch and cold air came blasting in through the vents. Frankie didn't have a long enough drive for the heating to come to life and there was still cold air blasting at her by the time she pulled the truck into the Stephens driveway, a quarter of a mile down the road.

She waved at the huddle of bodies playing football on the front yard as she passed, knowing it must be half-time in the Patriots game if the men of the family were away from the TV. Frankie could spot half of Dan's farming staff in a huddle with half of Dan's relatives.

The crunch of her boots signaled her arrival and one head popped up from amid the huddle as she approached to yell a loud greeting of, "Frank!"

Frankie waved but continued on her way into the antique farmhouse.

"Come join us, Frankie!" Graham, Dan's nephew, called out, the original source of her greeting.

"I'm good," she called back.

"Come on, Frank. We need a good running back."

Joe, one of Dan's senior farmhands, popped his head up from the huddle as well. At his plea, Frankie hesitated on the worn wood steps leading up to the wide porch and the front door less than ten feet away.

Luckily, Hannah Stephens's silvery head of hair poked out the front door and called a fifteen-minute warning, granting her an out. Hannah's warning was not to be questioned.

Frankie dropped off the jugs of apple cider she had brought over from the store on the kitchen counter with a quick greeting to Hannah and her daughter-in-law Sara before heading to her room above the garage. She washed up, changed into something nicer than her work jeans and flannel shirt, even managing time to braid her long curly black hair. She entered the Stephens kitchen through the back kitchen door just as everyone was sitting down for dinner at the dining table.

Frankie waved hi to all the familiar faces, passing the kids' table where three of Dan and Hannah's grandchildren sat, already face deep in the mashed potatoes. The only spot left open was at Dan's right hand at the end of the table.

"Hey, everyone," she called, making her way to her spot. "Hey, Aaron, how's it going?"

Frankie nudged her seat partner just as she was about to sit down. Dan's oldest son, and the father of the three rascals currently making the most noise from the kids' table, nodded back a greeting.

"Frank, this here is my youngest, Jack. Jack, this is Frankie Rivera. Say hi," Dan's said, in his familiar gruff but friendly tone, a small smile peeking out of his dark beard and deep-set frown.

The seat across from Frankie's scraped against the hardwood floor as its occupant stood, his hand outstretched. Frankie followed the hand to its owner and found Hannah's light green eyes staring back at her. They were brighter on her son, accentuated by the dark black hair that threatened to fall into his face.

"Johnny. Everybody usually calls me Johnny. Nice to meet you."

Frankie grabbed the hand extended to her and shook, noting that he had callouses, just in different places than her own. She also noted that he had to flick his head to keep his hair out of his face.

"Nice to meet you," Frankie replied.

Introductions out of the way, Frankie took her seat and grabbed Dan's and Aaron's hands as everyone around the table grasped hands and bowed their heads. Hannah led them in prayer, thanking God for their food, their friends, their family, and everything they had been blessed for. Frankie could feel someone looking at her. She risked opening one eye and found who it was. Johnny, from across the table. She blushed when he caught her staring back and quickly shut both eyes, trying to look as devout as possible.

"-and thank you for bringing my baby back home safe. Bless his time here with us this holiday season. All God's children said..."

A group 'Amen' ended the prayer and the eating began. There was little talk for the first fifteen minutes except for exclamations of satisfaction and praise to the two chefs. Hannah bowed her head in humility, as did Sara, Aaron's wife, who had acted as sous-chef for the day.

Frankie, Aaron, and Dan fell into work talk as soon as their plates were pushed to the middle. They kept their voices low so Hannah wouldn't catch them.

Aaron ran through the logistics of the business end of things on the farm as Frankie and Dan waited to understand what that meant for them. As Aaron was explaining the need to hire a few more workers to man the store as the influx of tourists for the holiday season was sure to arrive any day, Frankie again felt someone looking at her.

She glanced across the table and found Johnny scrutinizing her place in the conversation between his father and older brother. Frankie forced herself not to shift under his gaze and remained focused on the conversation until Hannah stood from her spot at the end of the table and started to clear dishes. Frankie was the second person out of her seat to help.

Hannah's move started a chain reaction as everyone stood and filed through the kitchen with their dirty dishes, placing them in the sink and then heading out into the family room. The game was put back on and then quickly turned off as the Patriots were losing.

Frankie stayed in the kitchen to help organize dishes as Hannah and Sara pulled the multitude of pies out of the oven and set up a dessert table in the family room. Frankie paused in her attempts to lessen the number of dirty dishes and followed behind Sara as the last pie was brought out.

Again, satisfied silence as everyone enjoyed the hard work of Hannah and Sara. An easy air fell over the crowd as people chatted among themselves, some getting up to get a second piece of pie or a hot mug of fragrant apple cider.

Frankie stood leaning against the doorway that led back into the kitchen, half in the family room, half out. She found she was watching Johnny as he interacted with the crowd. She couldn't help noticing his shirt. It wasn't flannel, for one thing, like the rest of the room was wearing, and she had a feeling it was very expensive.

She knew what he did for a living. Everyone in Hummel did. Almost every single tourist who came to Hummel did. That was one half of their tourist industry, fans coming to check out Johnny Stephen's hometown, the other half coming down from the ski lodge at the top of the mountain.

Frankie had been in town, working for the Stephens, a week by the time she was all caught up on Johnny Stephens.

He was the Stephens's youngest, musically inclined since he was a kid, always sneaking away, leaving his chores undone so he could go play guitar in the barn. He received a scholarship to a fancy music school in Massachusetts and left home at the age of fifteen. It was there he met his two future bandmates, Leo Thompson and Nate Harper. The three of them would go on to form the band 'Late Nights Back Home' and start playing cafes, clubs, and school dances throughout the Boston area.

Their band name was shortened to 'Late Nights' when they got signed and Johnny had barely been back home since.

It was easy to look back and see why Frankie hadn't met Johnny in her three years working for the Stephens. If he made it back home, and that was a very large If, it was usually during the holidays. Frankie spent the holidays with her older sister, down in Burlington where she worked as a receptionist in a dentist's office. But that Thanksgiving and Christmas, Frankie's sister was spending the holidays with her fiance's family. And she had made it very clear that Frankie was not invited.

Frankie had been staring too long and had caught Johnny's attention. She turned and retreated into the kitchen to wash dishes before he could catch sight of the red spots lighting up her tan skin.

The sound of games floated into the kitchen over the sound of running water and Frankie could guess they had started a game of charades. She could also guess that the unfamiliar cadence belonged to Johnny as it was the only one she didn't recognize.

Frankie ventured into the family room one last time to grab the pies before retreating for good, making eye contact with Hannah who mouthed a silent 'Thank you' that Frankie accepted with a nod.

Dessert taken care of, along with most of the dishes, Frankie left the Stephens family, their friends, and any employees who didn't have anywhere else to go to their games and socializing. The sky was dark overhead and the wind was bitter as Frankie stepped back outside.

The sound of her boots crushing the leftover snow from the storm the week before was the only sound in the air. Frankie kicked off any and all dirt and grime from her boots before heading up the stairs built into the side of the garage and opened the door that led to her own private apartment.

It was part of her deal with the Stephens. She worked on a salary that included room and board. She was Dan's official gofer, right-hand-man, ready to do anything and everything. They had offered her a room inside the house, their daughter's old childhood bedroom, or the apartment above the garage. Frankie took the apartment in a heartbeat, grateful for a space away from the house, a space just her own. She hadn't had that before.

Frankie's little apartment was dark until she lit the lamp set beside Dan's old easy chair that Hannah had made him get rid of. He helped Frankie lug it up into her room and set it right in front of the row of windows that looked out over the yard, the house, and the rolling fields beyond that ended with Aaron's house down at the end. The whole view was Stephens's land; Hummel Farms.

Frankie curled up into the deep leather seat and tucked her wool-socked feet beneath her. She grabbed one of the many books that crowded her end table and opened its familiar worn leather cover.

It was officially Christmas with the end of Thanksgiving dinner and Frankie opened the Christmas Carol for the tenth time. The words were as familiar as old friends. It was the only one of her family's traditions that Frankie was determined to keep alive, the rest of her family history sold off with their land years ago.

Twenty pages in and Frankie looked up at the sound of voices. Standing up to look out the window, she saw Dan, Hannah, and Johnny standing on the porch, waving good night to their guests as they made their way to their cars and their homes.

Dan and Hannah left as the last car drove out of the driveway and turned onto the quiet country lane. But Johnny stayed. He seemed to be surveying the land before him, drinking in the fresh country air that always smelled faintly of manure.

When he turned to go back into the house, he paused when he caught sight of the garage. Frankie's lamp was illuminating the windows at the top. Frankie knew she was standing too far away from the windows for him to see her but something in the way he squinted up at her apartment made her think he saw more than she thought.

A/N:

Merry Christmas, everyone!! Happy Holidays!!

Welcome back to another one of my Christmas/Holiday books! I hope you guys like it!

Also, if you read my "Love Like The Movies" series, then you might recognize our male lead. If you didn't, check out the "Across 2 Oceans" story for more Johnny Stephens content. It's available on my profile RIGHT NOW!!!

But finish this first. Obviously.