Author's Preface: Everyone in this story is eighteen years old or older. The story is entirely fictional. Any similarities to real people or events are purely coincidental. Constructive comments are always welcome.
This story follows the relationship between John and Laura, first introduced in "New Neighbors Pt. 01" in which they meet. This is the last chapter in the New Neighbor series. This is the last story in the series.
Enjoy
New Neighbor Pt. 07 Christmas - The girls surprise John.
Since Thanksgiving was on the latest possible date, it wasn't long until Christmas.
The girls got together on the first Tuesday in December for their monthly meeting. The first order of business was to deal with the man who had dated Katie for weeks without mentioning the small detail that he was married.
It turned out Katie was much better off without that creep. She met Henry at the Thanksgiving party. Despite her misgivings about dating a new guy right after she broke up, she and Henry were becoming close.
Russell found a phone number for the wife. He called from his law office and told her that her husband had been cheating on her. He was calling on behalf of her husband's ex-girlfriend. She had no idea. Russell gave her the number of the best divorce lawyer in town. He warned her not to let her husband know she knew anything until she talked to her lawyer.
The second order of business had been kicked around for a while. The girls wanted to get John something for Christmas that would be special. He had become a good friend to all of them and they wanted to get him something that would express their feelings for him.
No one could think of anything that they could buy him. He was a man who had everything that he wanted.
Katie suggested, "We could all take him to bed just once."
Laura nixed that idea and gave her a dirty look.
Vicky said, "That's not a bad idea."
"Vicky!" Laura yelled.
"Not that, I mean
do
something for him rather than
get
him something."
Vicky came up with the idea to do something for the shelter to raise money in his name.
"He loves the shelter. What could we do for them?" Laura suggested they talk to Dani, the volunteer coordinator, to get some ideas.
-----
Laura and Katie got together with Dani after work. They met for happy hour at a bar and got a little drunk and giggly. They discussed ways of raising money and increasing awareness of the shelter. A calendar was possible. They could get plenty of models. They laughed about getting male models, dressed as firemen, policemen, construction workers, or lumberjacks, in just parts of their uniforms holding dogs, or girls holding puppies in front of their puppies. In their inebriated state, they laughed hysterically about each new calendar idea.
Then they got serious and talked about doing Santa pictures. Dani had some ideas and thought that pictures could work well as a fundraiser. The girls could supply the labor and gather all the items needed. Dani needed to ask the shelter to see where they could do it. If it was successful, it could disrupt the flow of traffic in the shelter on one of their busiest days. Dani was fun to work with. Laura and Katie decided that they liked Dani, especially with a couple of drinks in her. They thought the others would too.
They decided on Saturday the 14th, to do the pictures. They needed to advertise and let people know about it without John finding out.
-----
There were only eleven days to get everything done to make this happen. It was going to be tight. They needed to do this event as cheaply as possible so that the shelter made the most money. John's annual donation would be more than they'd make, but it was the thought that counted.
Dani said they could use an air-conditioned three-car garage at the shelter for the pictures, but it would be quite a job to clean it up and move all the crates and miscellaneous stuff out. Rain might be an issue. If there was rain it would be hard to find room for people to wait.
For the Santa pictures, they needed elf, Santa, and Mrs. Clause costumes. Dani had a contact at a costume rental shop. They had the costumes they needed and would let them use them for just the cleaning fee.
All the girls insisted that Mrs. Clause was not going to be frumpy and white-haired this year. They were able to find costumes that were a little younger and sexier. Bridgette and Jackie were asked to be Mrs. Clause because they were the shortest. It made getting costumes easier.
Rodger and Henry volunteered to be Santa. Their costumes were traditional. It looked like Mrs. Clause was way out of Santa's league. They would take turns, so they could take breaks.
Everyone else would dress as elves. They needed elf costumes, sexy but not too sexy for 6-foot-tall models. Laura and Katie insisted that Dani needed an elf costume too. The costume shop was able to fit the girls with outfits that looked good, but they could still bend over and not cause a ruckus.
The men's elf costumes were not as sexy as the girls, but they looked good. They got one for John too.
Elves oversaw checking people in, going through the pictures, making memory sticks, checking out, keeping the trays of cookies full, and any other tasks that needed to be done. The elves also formed a choir to sing Christmas carols at random times.
They needed to advertise the event without letting John know that it happening. Dani temporarily removed him from the email list, so he didn't see the announcements. Vicky was in advertising, so she designed posters and advertising material. She arranged for the webmaster in her office to design a web page for the event that would be linked to the shelter's web page.
Ken would oversee wrangling the dogs and their people. He would seat them with Santa or Mrs. Claus or with both.
After Thanksgiving, John started teaching Ashley how to set up lights and take studio pictures. So, Ashley was the photographer. She'd be in an elf costume too. Before he left, she asked John a lot of questions about setting up equipment for a remote shoot.
Laura's main job was to get John out of the way for the week before, so he wouldn't find out anything.
Wednesday night, Laura called her mother and on Thursday morning said, "Guess what John, we're going to Colorado to ski before the holidays. We're leaving Saturday, and we'll be back next Thursday. I have a chalet booked for us."
"What?"
"You'll get to meet my mother. She gets lonely around Christmas since my father died. She's a little frail and can't get around too well. I worry about her health. I told her all about you and she wants to meet the man who loves me, to see if you're good enough for me."
"I can't do that. It's a busy time at the shelter and they need someone to take pictures of the dogs."
"I already thought about that, and Ashley volunteered to work with Ken to get the pictures. Dani signed off on it."
"I can't leave Bo."
"Bo can stay with Ken. He loves it over there. It's all set up."
"I can't ski."
"You can take pictures of me skiing. If you can figure out how I won't freeze, they can be nudes. I know how you like to see me in tight sweaters. And I'll buy some extra lingerie."
"But..."
"Before you make another excuse, remember one thing. I was prepared to sleep on the cold ground with you, eat MREs, and use a bucket for a toilet. I wasn't happy about it, but I was going to do it anyway because I love you."
John said, "You know, I'd love to go to Colorado with you."
-----
They didn't want him to look at the website because he'd find out about the Santa pictures. Laura had contacted the owner of the chalet and asked her to disable the internet. The cell service was spotty at best unless they went out to dinner.
If he did find out about it and could get a call out, he'd either call Dani or Ken to ask them. They had worked out a story explaining to him that it was not a big deal. It was something they were trying with just a few people this year to see how it went. They might make it bigger next year if it was successful. They each had a script to keep their stories straight.
When they arrived at the resort, Laura's mother was there to meet them. She was a tall and extremely good-looking woman. John would have guessed she was in her mid-to-late forties.
"Hi Mom, I didn't expect to see you here. We were going to meet you at the house."
"At the house! I'm not staying by myself at home, I'm going to stay in the chalet with you. I want to get some skiing in, and I want to get to know this good-looking man."
"Down Mom. John, this is my mother Karen Swanson and Mom this is John McAddams."
"You were right honey; he's quite a hunk. Come here." Karen hugged John.
"Hi, Karen. You certainly look spry and in good shape." He looked at Laura.
"What a strange thing to say."
"Ask Laura why. We'd love you to spend the week with us at the chalet. You can tell me all about Laura as a little girl."
"Thank you, John. I know you two will be having sex, and I won't get in your way. And don't worry, I haven't had clothes on in a hot tub...well ever. I was in a hot tub for the first time just before I got pregnant. That may have been where I got pregnant, but we weren't sure. Before that, it was hot springs, and I didn't wear clothes in those either."
"I can see where Laura gets her good looks and her personality."
"Oh, you are a charmer."