A Mountain Springs Christmas

Chapter 10

ten

NICK

“Daddy, my ankle hurts,” Holly said as they sat on a blanket on the floor of what would very soon be their dining area, having dinner with Rachel and Aiden.

“Maybe this will help,” Rachel said as she took off her cardigan, rolled it up, and then placed it under Holly’s ankle.

Holly looked up at Rachel like… well, like she’d found something that was lost. He understood the feeling so well.

Holly’s ankle hadn’t been injured too badly, but he did keep her home from school on Wednesday. Luckily, it hadn’t been a day where he’d had to go into the office. His office in his in-laws’ home was in the guest bedroom with him, so he had set up a bunch of pillows in his bed like a throne. Holly had felt like a princess as she colored, read, and watched shows on his tablet, Rosy by her side as he worked.

She seemed to have loved the extra attention and privileges… to a point. By that evening, she was tired of being in bed and wanted to play with Rosy. Linda had fixed her up with a simple ankle wrap, and despite a small limp, she seemed to play without any pain.

He’d taken her with him to the house every evening, and when she wasn’t thinking about it, her ankle seemed to be pretty fine. He suspected that it was the attention that Rachel was giving her that was making it “hurt” tonight.

Even with Holly’s ankle, he’d managed to finish the rest of the flooring and baseboard and trim Wednesday night and painted them just yesterday. He and Rachel had tentatively planned to finish the fireplace set piece on Saturday, but since the house was now ready to be moved into, he’d asked her if she could come tonight, instead.

Tomorrow, he and Holly were going to be able to move in. A full week before Christmas. He couldn’t believe he’d managed to pull it all off.

As soon as they were done with the meal and got everything packed back up in the basket Rachel had brought, they let the dogs back through the gate. One of the only items in the house that wasn’t a home improvement tool was a Bluetooth speaker he’d brought so he could listen to music while he worked on the house. He started it playing Christmas music and turned on the fireplace—it seemed appropriate, given what they’d be working on.

Then he and Rachel started working on the set piece. They hadn’t even gotten through talking about their next steps before Aiden said, “Can me and Holly go set up the blankets for our beds?”

It would take hours to get the set piece finished and they knew they would be working past the kids’ bedtimes, so they brought a huge pile of blankets and a couple of soft mats that his in-laws had so they could sleep when it was time. “Sure thing. Holly can show you which room.”

The kids carried armloads of blankets away, trying not to trip on the trailing end, the dogs running around them and nipping at the corners of the blankets. He guessed there was going to be a lot of chaos and laughing and probably the wearing of blankets like capes before any beds got made. He was going to drink in every second of laughter that he heard coming from his daughter.

He and Rachel looked at the fireplace—the fake one, not the real one— which was standing but was still wood-colored. “So,” Rachel said, her hand on her hips as she studied the piece, “paint from the mantle up first, so it can dry, then work on cutting and installing the brick facade? Then, hopefully, the top will be dry enough that we can paint the details and then figure out how to attach the Christmas decorations.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me.” He still had the floors covered with a drop cloth from when he’d painted this room yesterday, so they were able to get to work quickly. As Rachel painted the edges with the paintbrush and he painted the big areas with the roller, every time they got close to one another, he was reminded of their date on Tuesday and how they’d been moments away from kissing before it had abruptly ended. All the nerve endings firing, all the warmth spreading from his chest, all the longing that he’d been feeling that night he was feeling at full force again now.

And every time that their faces were close and Rachel’s eyes would meet his, a breath of anticipation hanging in the air between them, a kid would come running into the room, usually chased by a dog, sometimes chasing a dog, and he’d be reminded how much a kiss wasn’t about to happen. Holly was warming up to Rachel quite a bit, but if his daughter caught him and Rachel kissing, he worried it would be pushing her too far, much too fast.

Besides, every time he thought again about the kiss they’d almost shared, he would also start thinking again about the cancer. He knew cancer well enough to know that relapses could happen and that Rachel wouldn’t fully be in the clear until she’d had scans come back clean for a full five years.

When she’d first told him, it had felt like a bowling ball hit him in the gut. He was really falling for Rachel. After losing Clara, though, could he face the possibility of losing Rachel, too? He wasn’t sure.

They had gotten all the fake brick pieces cut that they would need and were in the middle of attaching them to the fireplace with the construction adhesive when Holly and Aiden came running into the room. “Can we each have one of those cookies you bought?” Holly asked.

“Yep,” he said. “Just make sure the dogs don’t eat any.”

Somewhere in the middle of his sentence, he heard Rachel say “Oh,” as an exhale.

“I apologize,” he said. “I shouldn’t have answered for both of us.”

“No, it’s totally fine. Go ahead, kids.”

She might have said it was fine, but he’d seen from that initial look on her face that she wouldn’t have told them it was okay. He glanced at the clock and realized that it was almost bedtime. Maybe saying yes to sugar wasn’t the best idea ever.

“Yes!” Aiden pumped his fist. Then, to Holly, he said, “I told you she would say yes to anything!” Then the two of them ran over to the kitchen counter to get the cookies before racing off, the dogs at their heels.

He wouldn’t have thought anything of Aiden’s statement if it weren’t for the way it made Rachel’s cheeks redden, so he had to ask. “You’d say yes to anything?”

Her cheeks went redder and she rubbed her nose and then waved her hand. “It’s just a bet with my coworkers. I’m doing a ‘Season of Yes’ because they think I’m too much of a planner and it’d be good for me.”

Oh, interesting. He’d seen glimpses of her planning side, like when he’d seen inside her perfectly organized pantry when he and Holly had joined them for snowflake making, and anytime she opened her planner or the schedule in her phone, and when she’d unzipped her purse to grab lip balm, but he suddenly wondered how many things she’d said yes to that she wouldn’t have chosen to do. “So, saying yes to helping with this set piece. Was it because of the bet?”

“I definitely only said yes because of the bet. I didn’t have the first clue how to make this on my own.”

“Going on a date with me?”

“Yes, because of the bet.”

Oh.

She gave him a playful shove. “I’m kidding. That I couldn’t have said no to.”

The tension he hadn’t realized had gathered in his shoulders released and a smile spread across his face. Rachel grabbed the caulking gun with the adhesive, knelt in front of the fake fireplace, and started spreading the glue where the next faux brick section would go. Since the answer to the last question was, apparently, good for his shoulder muscles, he thought it might be fun to push it some more.

“And what about saying yes to coming over tonight? Was that because of the bet?”

She tapped a finger on her lips like she was deep in thought, and all he could think of was kissing those lips. “Well, I might not have changed plans… I was really looking forward to the wrapping presents party Aiden and I were going to have. But it turns out that going three days without seeing you is about my max.”

Nick grabbed the next piece of bricks they had cut, knelt in front of the fireplace, and he and Rachel both fit it into the correct spot, both pressing on it for the thirty seconds the adhesive called for. Their shoulders were touching, their arms entangled, their knees bumping. “So what would’ve happened if we didn’t work on this until tomorrow as we’d originally planned?”

Rachel shrugged. “I might have, say, gotten stuck in the wreaths at The Home Improvement Store and had to call for help. It’s hard to say.”

He shook his head, chuckling.

Aiden popped up from behind the kitchen island and said, “Mom said that we would probably make gingerbread cookies and bring some to you!”

Rachel put a hand over her face. “Aiden! What are you doing spilling all my secrets?” Then she looked down at her watch. “Oh, wow. I didn’t realize it was that late. It’s bedtime.”

The kids got their teeth brushed and pajamas on, then he and Rachel worked together to get the kids and the dogs all snuggled into their makeshift beds. Aiden pulled out the Christmas book that he had packed and Rachel read it to them.

After the book, as they were both straightening the blankets on their kids, Aiden said to Rachel, “You know that paper I left for the dove in the park? I want to tell you what I wished for but I can’t say it out loud or it won’t come true.” He paused a moment, then said, “So how about I whisper it in your ear?”

Competitive girl that she was, Holly had to whisper something in Nick’s ear while Aiden was whispering in his mom’s. She motioned for him to come close, then cupped her hands between her mouth and his ear and said, “I think I am ready for a mom.”

He pulled back, blown away by Holly’s declaration. She was? He just looked at her for a moment as she gave a satisfied smile and lay back on her pillow again. Then she and Aiden shared a look, probably because she also whispered something into a parent’s ear. He took Rachel’s lead and said goodnight to the kids before quietly leaving the room.

The whole evening—having dinner, working on a project together while the kids and the dogs played, tucking the kids in bed, all of it—had just felt so… domestic. Which was especially incredible, considering that they were in an empty house that hadn’t been moved into. Regardless, it had almost felt like they were a family and it stirred something in him that made him crave more of it.

It took hours after the kids were asleep to finish all the details on the fireplace and get it fully decked out for Christmas, complete with stockings hanging on the mantle. But he didn’t mind even a little bit, because it meant he got to spend more time with Rachel.

They swapped stories about their lives. He told her about his two sisters and brother and all the places they’d lived when he was growing up, and she told him funny stories about her and Jack and all the crazy things they’d done as kids. There were times when they’d laughed so hard that he was surprised they didn’t wake Holly and Aiden.

He glanced at his watch—just past midnight. They took a seat on the hearth of his actual fireplace and admired the work they’d done on the fake one. “I kind of wish this was staying in my house—it makes the place feel more homey and Christmassy.”

He caught a slight smile from Rachel out of the corner of his eye. “Of course, you moving in tomorrow will probably do the same thing.”

He laughed. “True.”

They gazed at it in silence for a moment before Rachel said, “We make a good team.”

“We do.” His voice came out lower, huskier than he’d meant. But the words were authentic—they’d made a great team. He stopped looking at their project so he could turn his gaze to her. They’d been working hard for many hours, but she still looked beautiful. Vibrant. Full of life. Her eyes still radiated spunk and caring kindness. She’d pulled her hair up into a ponytail when they’d started working, and it exposed the most exquisite neck.

All night long and really, since their date on Tuesday, they’d had so many little touches. A brushing of their hands or arms. A bumping of their shoulders or legs. And so many times when it happened, Rachel had given him a look that started a fire in his chest. And he could tell by how often she glanced at his lips that she was wanting a kiss as badly as he was.

But between the presence of the kids and the fact that the project had to be finished tonight—the rest of the weekend would be filled with moving in and the program was on Monday—the anticipation had been building and building.

But right now, she was there with him. No kids present, no project looming over them. Christmas music played softly from the speaker across the room, the warmth from the fire was at their backs, the sounds of fire crackling just behind them.

Rachel reached out and ran a finger lightly across his forearm and the touch sent tingles up his arm. He met her eyes, his heart racing. Not because of anything to do with Clara. Or because he felt like he shouldn’t kiss Rachel—it was more because he felt like he should . He hadn’t expected that at all.

He just studied Rachel’s face and took in everything that she was. The person she was. Everything about this moment just felt right.

Like they had all night long, their legs bumped together as he leaned in closer to her and she closed the gap, pressing her lips against his. Her lips were soft and the feel of them on his made him moan. Rachel sank into the kiss, a humming sigh escaping her that made that heat in his chest burn stronger.

He stood, pulling Rachel to stand with him, and put his hands on the sides of her face, savoring the feel of her skin, the touch of her lips, the scent of her shampoo, the tickle of her breath.

He dropped a hand to her waist to cradle her close to him, and she slid her hands up to his neck, sending tingles everywhere her fingertips touched.

When they’d been dancing at the wedding, he’d felt like he’d been pushed out of an airplane, feeling the wind brush past his face. He had that same sense now, but this time, it was as if Rachel was falling with him, hand-in-hand, and he didn’t care that the parachute hadn’t deployed yet. The feeling of falling so completely and totally was consuming.

He pulled away from her lips so he could trail kisses along her jaw and down that neck that had looked so striking all night. Then he trailed the kisses right back up toward her ear and breathed, “You are an incredible woman.”

The sound that escaped her lips may have been a moan. Or maybe a sigh. Whatever it was, it sounded both relaxed and elated and made his chest expand. She looked into his eyes, and he realized that he could stare into her eyes for hours and not tire of what he saw.

“Wow,” she whispered. “That was…” She didn’t finish her sentence and she didn’t need to. She just looked into his eyes for a long moment, both of them soaking in everything.

Then her gaze shifted to behind him. She squinted, her eyebrows drawing together. “When did it start to snow?”

Still with his arm around her waist, he twisted to see the window that faced his backyard. The light inside made it reflect the surroundings of the room, but he could kind of see a bit of what lay beyond the window.

Rachel grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the doors that led onto his patio, so he turned the knob and pulled it open.

Snow had blanketed everything and was still falling gently, silently from the sky in big fat snowflakes. If this house contained anything other than a fake fireplace, a bunch of tools, and the blankets that their kids used, he might have welcomed the sight. He might have even suggested that he and Rachel go out on the patio, wrapped in blankets, and enjoy the storm together.

But neither of them was staying there tonight, so the falling snow brought with it a sense of urgency. He turned and hurried across the room and down the hall toward the front door and opened it. White covered everything, shining brightly in the light of the street lamps and Christmas lights. No plows had come down the street yet, and the snow was increasing by the moment.

He closed the door, shaking his head. “It always amazes me how much more snow falls here in the mountains than it did in Colorado Springs.”

“We should go before the roads get any worse.”

He stepped closer to Rachel. “We should.”

She closed the gap even more. “I don’t want to go.”

“I don’t want you to go.”

The reluctance on Rachel’s face seemed to match his. Given the choice, he would’ve stayed in his empty family room, kissing Rachel for a very long time. He stepped up close to her and cupped her chin in his hand before placing a soft kiss on her lips. He looked into her eyes for a long moment, hoping she could sense how much he didn’t want her to go. “I’ll go get our cars started and the snow brushed off them, then I’ll carry the kids out.”

She gave him a smile that made him want to brave an arctic snowstorm for her, then he gave her one more kiss before he turned to grab their keys.