Mistletoe Magic (Evergreen Lake: Under the Mistletoe)

Chapter 14

fourteen

CHRIS

I hadn’t meant to eavesdrop.

I’d ducked out the back and chopped some more firewood and was hauling some in when I overheard their conversation.

The sadness in Holly’s voice had me freezing on the spot and waiting for them to have their moment. It felt like I was intruding but I couldn’t move. My feet were cemented to the floor.

“Sweetheart, your dad loved you so much. If he could’ve been here with you playing in the snow, he would’ve. He would’ve helped you wrap the presents. He would’ve carried the tree. He would’ve even snuck you chocolates and candy before dinner just to see you smile.” Holly’s voice broke as she said it. I hadn’t known the story of Noelle’s father, and even though I was intrigued I didn’t want to pry. But this told me more than I needed to know. Noelle’s father hadn’t just left, he’d died. Holly wasn’t just a single mom, she was a widow. Suddenly, my own pain and bullshit didn't seem like it mattered.

“Like Chris did?” Noelle replied, and I froze

When Noelle replied, I dropped a log on my foot. “Oof,” I grunted.

Having outed myself, I picked up the offending hunk of timber and pushed open the door. Holly looked up at me with red-rimmed eyes, and I knew it wasn’t the cold that had knocked her around.

“I didn’t want to run out,” I offered pathetically as a way of explanation before I started unloading the wood in my arms into the stack by the fireplace.

“Good idea,” Holly replied, sitting up a little straighter and wiping her eyes.

I wanted to hug her. I wanted to tell her how sorry I was for her loss. I wanted to assure her that no matter what, she was an incredible mom, and Noelle was a credit to her. I wanted to promise her that she’d never be alone.

That thought had me mentally slapping myself.

I’d already come to terms with the fact that Holly was hot, but I wasn’t going there. That’s not what this was. Not what we were. Holly and Noelle were passing through. They weren’t forever. As soon as the storm cleared and I managed to get her car back on the road, they’d be on their way. I needed to remember that.

Holly stood up and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders like it was a cape. “How much longer do you think the storm will last?” she asked, walking over to the window and pushing back the curtains.

“Not much longer. The weather channel says it should ease by morning,” I told her.

“I can’t see anything out there and it’s not even four in the afternoon,” Holly continued.

Noelle bounced to her feet and stood beside her mother. There was no doubt they were related. The apple definitely didn’t fall far from the tree with them. Noelle was the spitting image of her mother, and was sure to be a heartbreaker in her teens.

“Can you see our snowman?” Noelle asked, pushing up on her toes and trying to stare out the window.

Leaving them to it, I ducked back out the door and collected the last of the wood, stacking it by the fire. After adding a log, I watched as flames licked the timber and the crackling sound echoed around the room.

“Mom?” Noelle cooed, and I swear Holly’s shoulders tensed. It must be hard having a child who asked questions you didn’t know were coming and couldn’t prepare for.

“Yes, Noelle,” Holly replied, closing the curtains again and turning back to her daughter.

“Will you play cards with us? Chris was teaching me,” Noelle asked, and I swear my own chest deflated. An innocent question with an easy answer.

Holly must’ve felt the same. “Absolutely.” Holly smiled, before looking over Noelle’s head and catching my eye.

Even sick and sad, Holly was beautiful. This woman deserved the world. I just wasn’t the man who could give it to her. My own scars were too deep, I was too damaged to ever be good enough for someone like Holly. She was all sweetness and light, and I was too far gone for saving.

Needing to break the heaviness, I suggested Holly shuffle while I got snacks.

Time passed easily. We chatted about our childhoods, played cards, and laughed. Noelle had gotten bored after twenty minutes and was off playing with her dolls again and entertaining herself. She was a truly remarkable kid. Independent, creative, and tough. I was in awe.

“You feeling any better?” I asked Holly when she yawned widely .

“A bit. I’m just so tired,” she admitted as she rolled her neck on her shoulders trying to work out a kink.

“Why don’t you get some rest?” I suggested.

“I can’t!” Holly snapped back quickly.

“Why not? The mattress is right there. Take your blankets, curl up, and have a nap. You’re sick and you need rest,” I tried to rationalize.

“I don't have time to be sick.”

Holly was one stubborn woman. “Now is the perfect time to be sick actually. You can’t go anywhere or do anything. You might as well take care of yourself now so once the power is back and the roads are clear, you’re as good as new.”

I was surprised by how bitter my words tasted. I was already packing them up and shoving them out the door when it was the last thing I wanted them to do.

“Noelle …”

“Is fine. She’s right there playing happily. She’s warm, safe, entertained, and fed. And she’ll be right here when you wake up,” I assured her.

“I don’t know.”

I wanted to laugh. Not at Holly but at the situation. A few hours ago, I had her daughter outside in the snow throwing snowballs and running around while she slept upstairs, and now she was worried.

“I promise, Holly. She’ll be fine.”

“You’re sure?”

That was the moment I knew I’d won the battle. “Absolutely.” With a grin and not another word, I positioned the air mattress, stacked the pillows, and watched as Holly climbed in. It took less than five minutes before she was asleep.

Noelle was content playing with her dolls and making up weird and wonderful situations to put them in. The kid never stopped amazing me. Her creativity was something I’d never seen before. I couldn’t remember ever being like that when I was younger. So, with Holly asleep and Noelle entertained, I dropped into the uncomfortable office chair behind my desk and started sorting through the pile of bills.

They were never-ending. The paperwork never stopped coming. I’d thought I’d be a mechanic so I could avoid being cooped up in an office or stuck behind a computer staring blindly at the screen. Turns out, there was no escaping it.

Over the years, I’d thought about hiring someone to help, even for a few hours a week to take this shit off my plate, but that would mean someone pestering me for answers, asking questions I didn’t know the answers to, and having to talk to. Since she who shall not be named upended my life, I’d become a recluse and that’s the way I liked it. At least, it’s the way I thought I liked it. Holly and Noelle were changing things. Having them around, having them in my space, taking over my bathroom, and kicking me out of my own bed didn’t bother me like I thought it would. Maybe enough time had passed that the hurt had dulled, or maybe, just maybe it was them. I shook my head at the thought. I couldn’t let myself go there. Right now, they needed me but there would come a time, sooner rather than later, when that changed and they were on their way, barely sparing a glance in the rearview mirror only to have forgotten me the moment they rounded the corner.

“Chris?” I looked up and found Noelle standing beside my desk.

“What’s up?” I asked as I rolled my neck back and forth, trying to work out the stiffness.

“Can we have something to eat, please? I’m hungry,” Noelle asked.

I glanced behind her at Holly still sound asleep, not having moved a muscle. When I stood up from my desk, I pushed the curtains back and peeked out the window. It was dark now. The whole town once again enveloped in darkness, but the sounds of the storm had eased. The branches on the trees stood still and for the first time in days it wasn’t snowing.

“You know what I feel like?” I asked Noelle, walking toward her.

“Pizza?” she squeaked before bouncing on her toes.

Damn, kid. Now she’d said it, pizza sounded so good, but with no power it wasn’t on the menu, not tonight anyway.

“I was thinking of a PB&J,” I countered, trying to make it sound appetizing.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a PB&J, but it would be as good as anything else.

“Can I have a glass of milk with it?” Noelle’s big, hopeful eyes pinned me, and I knew even if it meant I had to go find a cow and milk it myself, she was getting what she asked for.

“Did you want to wait here, and I’ll go get what we need?” I suggested not wanting to take Noelle upstairs and risk Holly waking up and finding us gone.

“Sure,” Noelle agreed.

“Why don’t you pack up your toys so we have some room? Then after dinner, we can play a game,” I offered.

“A game?”

“Do you know how to play Monopoly?” I asked, hoping I hadn’t thrown the old board game out.

“What’s Monopoly?” Noelle asked, and I smirked. This was going to be like taking candy from a baby.

“You’ll see. Clean up your things and let your mom sleep …”

“But what if she wants a PB&J, too?”

She was a thoughtful kid, I had to give her that.

“If your mom wants one, when she wakes up, we can make her one,” I suggested, and Noelle seemed to accept my answer as she turned around and started collecting her toys .

I quickly tossed another log on the fire, listening to it cackle before shrugging on my jacket and stomping up the stairs.

I pushed open the door and stepped into the frigid apartment. Damn, it was cold in there. Even if the power came back soon, we wouldn’t be moving back here tonight. I’d rather spend another sleepless night on an air mattress and be warm than have a proper bed and freeze.

Taking advantage of the moment up there alone, I walked over to the window and stared out at the town below. I’d lived there forever, and I never looked. I should. Even shrouded in darkness, Evergreen Lake was something to behold. Spinning around, I stopped and stared at my living area. The scent of fresh pine still lingered in my apartment, and rather than having the urge to remove any speck of Christmas spirit and throw it through the plate glass window, I straightened a strand of tinsel hanging in the window.

I found a forgotten ornament on the floor. I picked it up and ran my fingers over it, remembering what Christmas was like before. Before they’d been ruined. Before I’d lost who I was. I used to love Christmas. And I loved being a part of the town. I used to help cut down trees and deliver them to the elderly, watching as their smiles lit up the room. I used to dress as Kris Kringle, complete with fluffy, white beard and Ho! Ho! Ho! and enjoy the holidays. It was why the sleigh had been in my workshop that day. I was helping fix it. I needed to get it back together before Christmas was ruined and the kids of Evergreen Lake started to worry about presents not being delivered.

I sighed heavily as I discovered the box of ornaments stashed in the corner, unopened. I’d let Holly and Noelle do whatever they want, yet this battered box remained taped closed.

I’ll never know what possessed me to open it, but a moment later, without giving another thought, I peeled the tape back and froze. There, wrapped in bubble wrap was a tiny little sleigh. It was one that Shayna had given me our first Christmas together.

“I got you something,” Shayna announced as she pranced into the workshop.

I don't know how many times I’d told her, but the workshop was not a place for her to be bouncing around in those ridiculously high heels she loved so much. It was dangerous. She could trip over anything, and the hard concrete floor was unforgiving. I’d slipped and landed on my ass enough times to be able to guarantee that.

I slid out from under the car I was working on and wiped my hands on the rag hanging out of my pocket. Not that it helped. The life of a grease monkey. It didn’t matter how many times you washed your hands, they were permanently stained, and getting grease from under your nails, impossible. Using the bumper, I pulled myself up, cursing the ache in my back as I stretched.

“Hi,” I said, leaning in to kiss her only for her to step backward.

“You’re all dirty.” She giggled, and there was nothing I could do but shake my head. What did she expect coming in here at two on a Wednesday afternoon.

Shayna handed me the box tied with a pink silk ribbon. It was delicate and pretty, and something I should not be handling.

I handed it back to her. “You open it. Like you said, I’m filthy.”

“Okay,” she replied, tugging on the end of the ribbon and sliding it off, letting it fall to the floor.

Without a word, I bent down and picked it up, scrunching it in my fist.

“Chris, what do you think?” Shayna asked expectantly.

“It's a sleigh,” I replied, not really sure what I was supposed to be getting excited about.

“It’s an ornament to go on our tree, silly,” she explained.

“Ah,” I replied, not missing her reference to ‘our tree’.

Something was going on with her. I wasn’t sure what it was, but this wasn’t normal. Shayna didn’t usually drop in on a weekday and she certainly didn't buy me gifts because it made her think of me. I was the one buying the gifts and sending the texts. But I didn’t have time to think about it. I had a customer coming back at the end of the day to pick up his battered old Ford, and I still hadn’t figured out what was wrong.

“You don’t like it?”

“No, I do. It’s just I really have to get back to work … this car …”

“Whatever,” she snapped before turning and sashaying across the workshop toward the door.

Like the pathetic puppy I was, I followed her, hot on her heels, and when I caught up with her, I wrapped my hand around her wrist and hauled her back to me. Who gave a fuck if I was dirty. Clothes could be washed, but watching her stalk out of there angry wasn’t going to cut it. Not with me.

“Chris, what are you …?” I cut off her question with a kiss.

It was a hard, punishing kiss and one that hopefully left her with something to think about for the rest of the afternoon.

When I pulled back, her lips were swollen and she was panting.

“I’ll see you tonight?” I questioned.

“You want to?” she replied, not bothering to hide the surprise in her voice.

“Of course,” I replied before stepping into her space, pushing her hair back from her neck and whispering in her ear. “I want you in my home and in my bed. And if you’re really lucky, I’ll do that thing with my tongue that you like,” I promised before nipping at her ear lobe and then putting distance between us.

Her face was flushed, and her tits heaved as she weighed my words.

With a huff, she declared she’d be there at six which meant I had four hours to figure this out and get it back on the road so I could spend the evening buried balls deep in the woman who knew exactly what I liked.

Two days later, I discovered why she liked sleighs so much.

I tugged the porcelain ornament out of the box and dropped it to the ground, watching as it shattered into a million tiny little pieces. At one point, that’s what I’d felt like, completely shattered, but now, finally, after what seemed like an eternity, it felt like I was starting to glue them back together.

As satisfying as it was to destroy what was left of my broken past, I couldn’t leave them like that. Someone could step on them and hurt themselves, and no one should have to shed another tear over my disastrous relationship history.

I cleaned up, grabbed everything we needed to make PB&Js, the carton of milk, and a bag of crisps, and headed for the door.

I’ll never know what made me stop, but before I gave it much thought I reached up and pulled down the mistletoe, stuffing it in my pocket, and heading back to the two girls who’d brought me back to life.