Found A Homeless Billionaire Husband for Christmas – Episode 02
“Yes. Don’t worry.” Victoria put all the reassurance she could into her answer. With Grandma’s health so uncertain, she wanted her mother to have one piece of good news she could trust.
Carl had already proposed. They would get their marriage certificate tomorrow. The plan was close enough to touch, and she offered it confidently across the phone, certain there was no reason to hold back.
Her family immediately embraced the idea of a Christmas wedding. Grandma would see her in a wedding dress after all. Relief traveled through the conversation, making the distance between New York and Texas feel briefly smaller.
Her mother was going to notify the relatives. The decision expanded beyond the call into a celebration that other people would begin expecting. Victoria smiled at their excitement, happy to have something that could give it to them.
“I’ll talk to you later. Love you.” She ended the call and turned back to Simon. Only then did she remember that he had been trying to tell her something.
“Sorry about that. What were you saying?” She gave him her attention again. Whatever had brought that serious look to his face deserved more than being lost beneath her family news.
“Never mind.” His hesitation was brief but noticeable. Victoria waited, expecting another sentence, before realizing that he had decided against continuing.
He had heard she was getting married, he said. Then he congratulated her. The words were generous, and she accepted them without knowing what he had chosen not to say.
“Thank you, Simon.” She was glad he knew. The wedding was happening quickly, but it was still something she wanted to think about with pleasure rather than worry.
Lunch rush was starting at the burger restaurant. She could not stay, even with so much happening beyond her shift. Work had its own demands, and she knew how quickly the orders would begin piling up.
She promised to speak to him later. It was the sort of promise that belonged to their familiar routine, a brief visit squeezed between obligations. She had no reason to imagine the next conversation would be different.
Simon thanked her again. Victoria wished him happy holidays and hurried back, taking her family’s excitement with her. Tomorrow she would get a marriage certificate; today she still had customers to serve.
Inside, the routine caught her almost immediately. There was comfort in having small, definite tasks when so many larger plans were moving. She could take an order, bring food, make herself useful.
“Next order.” The familiar words brought her attention back to the counter. For the moment, the wedding and the trip home could wait behind the business of lunch.
She offered condiments, asking whether a customer wanted ketchup. Her thoughts were still moving between the people in front of her and the family preparing to celebrate back home.
Then she saw Carl. His presence should have been a pleasant surprise. Instead, something about the encounter stopped her in the middle of her ordinary words.
“Carl?” She said his name again. He looked at her with an expression she had not expected from her fiancé. “Jesus Christ, Victoria. I thought you were off today.”
The woman beside him was no stranger. “Hey, cousin. Long time no see.” Victoria looked between them, the warmth of the call with her mother still painfully close, and waited for a reason why neither seemed glad she was there.