His First Christmas: The Lonely Billionaire - A Heart-Warming Romance Novel by Holly Rayner, Lara Hunter Page A

after she had inappropriately kissed him.
     
    She sat up abruptly, clearing her throat. “You know, the weirdest effect of the fire was that it resulted in an intense love of Christmas for me,” she said. “After our house burned down, the community and neighbors rallied for my family, and helped us out tremendously.” Having finished her glass, Anna put it down on the floor beside her. “We were really poor back then, and the fire could have easily have made us homeless. Our neighbors who took us in for a month… they’re like family to us now.  Our stay at their house ended in a huge Christmas dinner with all the families from the neighborhood. After the food, the community presented my family with a ten thousand dollar check that they’d fundraised, to help them get back on their feet.”
     
    “Wow,” Jason commented. “I’ve never been part of a community like that. That’s an incredible story.”
     
    Anna smiled wistfully. “Yeah, it was an amazing thing for them to do—I don’t know that I fully understood it at the time. The thing was, my neighbors weren’t exactly well-off either. In fact, they all might have been as poor as us. So it’s even more incredible when you consider that,” she said. “And you know, the best thing for me, personally, was seeing my parents be the happiest I’d ever seen them—even after everything that had happened.”
     
    Jason shook his head in awe. “A fire? Growing up poor? Clearly your childhood wasn’t as average as you made out. What was it like, growing up poor?” he asked.
     
    Anna mulled it over. “I guess you could say it was rough. My parents were always overworked, stressed. There were times when we couldn't afford food and had to go to food banks. It was only after the fire that my parents managed to get less menial jobs—again, with help from our neighbors.”
     
    “Growing up, there was never any “spare money”—I could never really go to the movies or anything like that. I always had shabby clothes. I worked two jobs during high school but still managed to get good grades. My mom had always told me that good grades were a ticket out of poverty, and of course she was right,” Anna laughed. “As you can probably guess, being the overworked, unstylish geek didn’t win me many friends, but it’s not like I had much time for a social life, anyway. It was kind of…a lonely time, but thankfully I won enough scholarships to be able to afford college, and from there my life improved exponentially,” she concluded.
     
    Jason paused briefly before responding. “Wow. I’m so humbled, hearing your story, Anna. I guess this explains your charitable side,” he mused. “I have to admit, I was puzzled as to why someone would go through the trouble of organizing a charity appeal, on top of all their normal work—but now it makes total sense.”
     
    And I was puzzled over why you seemed so against the holidays. But now I think I understand . Anna kept the thought to herself, not wanting to unnecessarily bring up the subject of Jason’s childhood trauma.
     
    “Yeah—about the trouble of going through a charity appeal,” she said instead, “I would appreciate it if you could make it a little less trouble. You know…a little less red tape, and all that,” she smiled sweetly.
     
    “Oh,” Jason said, abashed. “I’m sorry about that, Anna. I swear it wasn’t because of any vendetta against you or charity or…Christmas itself, even. I think the bureaucracy may have been a vestige of how my parents ran things…”
     
    Anna pursed her lips. She had tried to avoid bringing up the subject of his parents, but it ended up happening anyway.
     
    Jason gazed at her closely, as if searching for something. “I would never have guessed that you grew up poor, Anna… You don’t strike me as the type.”
     
    Anna raised an eyebrow and flashed a sardonic smile. “And what, exactly, is the type?” she asked.
     
    “Um,” Jason said,