One Night in Christmas

by Debbie Mason

  “Oh, I thought you meant something really adventurous.” She waved her hand like she took part in activities such as those all the time and then shut the bedroom door in Adam’s laughing face.

  While Sophia searched her closet for something outdoorsy to wear, Adam updated her on the activity on her Facebook account.

  “Soph, when was the last time you checked Facebook?”

  “A couple of days ago. Why?”

  “Because there’s a bunch of guys thanking you for accepting them, and you sound, ah, really friendly.”

  She growled low in her throat and heard an answering rumble on the other side of the door.

  “Relax, Zeus,” Adam said. “Stop pacing. She’ll be out in a minute. Zeus, sitz.”

  At Adam’s frustrated sigh, she said, “Zeus, sit,” and then picked up her cell phone to call Ty. It went straight to voice mail. “Just because you have spring fever doesn’t mean I do, Ty. Stop pretending you are me on my Facebook page and stop screening your calls. Autumn is missing.”

  “Don’t worry. He won’t get on your account anymore. I took him off as an administrator. I also got rid of the guys he accepted. I’m on Autumn’s page now. She hasn’t updated her status in a couple days…”

  “What? What do you see? Don’t pretend you don’t. I can hear it in your voice.”

  “It’s not what she says. It’s some of my brother’s recent comments. He’s been messaging her too. Okay, I’m not really comfortable with this, Soph. But I will tell you that there’s no doubt they’re dating. And I know you don’t want to hear this, but it sounds like they’re serious.”

  She whipped open the door. Adam, who’d been sitting on the floor leaning against her door, fell on his back at her feet. He stared up at her and gave his head a slight shake. “Next time, do me a favor and wait until you’re fully dressed before opening the door.”

  She looked down at herself. She had on a long-sleeve cream thermal top, a faux-fur vest, and a thong. She turned, ignored his groan, and went to grab the black jeans off the end of her bed. “You can’t say things like that to me and expect me not to react.”

  “And you can’t parade around in your underwear and expect me not to react.”

  “I’m not parading around in my underwear,” she said, hopping with one foot in her jeans.

  “Can you stop that, please? I’m already having trouble thinking straight.”

  She stopped to stare at him. “You’re worried. Don’t try to deny it. I can see it on your face. You get a line here.” She rubbed her index finger between the bridge of her nose and right eyebrow. He couldn’t fool her. She’d studied his face for years, mostly searching for some sign he liked her as much as she liked him.

  He walked into her room with the dog on his heels. Zeus skirted around him, reaching her first. He sat at her feet. All but positive Adam was about to deliver bad news, Sophia slowly lowered herself onto the edge of the bed. Adam joined her there, which caused the flutter of nerves in her stomach to increase. The girl she used to be cheered, Adam Dane is sitting on my bed!

  “Okay, I could be wrong, but I do think something’s going on, and that’s why Nell and Calder came up with this story about Rick to get me home this weekend. I tried to push them off to next weekend, but they were insistent.”

  He’d filled her in about Rick when they were driving around Christmas looking for Autumn and his brother. “Not five minutes ago you said you believed them when they said they didn’t know where Autumn and Logan are.”

  “I don’t think they do. But I do think they know what they’re doing wherever they are.”

  “Even I know they are having sex, Adam.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about. Trust me, the two of them having sex is the least of our worries.”

  Because they were sitting on the end of her unmade bed and talking about sex, it took a moment for Sophia to stop thinking about Adam naked in her bed. Once she did, her eyes widened. “You think he’s proposing to her?”

  * * *

  Adam stood on the back deck of his grandfather’s log house nursing a beer as the sun slowly sank behind the Aspen trees. He’d been right. Logan had taken Autumn up to the top of Blue Mountain at sunrise and proposed to her. She had said yes. Around the time Sophia had been getting rear-ended on Main Street, the newly engaged couple were at the Rocky Mountain Diner with his niece and nephew. About ten minutes after Adam had shared his theory about the couple with Sophia, Autumn arrived home to break the news.

  Only she hadn’t shared where the couple intended to spend their life as man and wife. Logan asked Adam to keep the couple’s plans for their future to himself for at least a week. They wanted a chance to slowly ease Sophia and the family into the idea of them moving halfway around the world.

  He lifted the beer bottle to his mouth and took another deep pull. Before the night was over, he’d need something a lot stronger than a bottle of beer. So would Sophia. He couldn’t keep Logan and Autumn’s plans from her. He’d tell her tonight.

  As he’d suspected, Nell and his grandfather had wanted him home for a reason. They knew damn well Logan planned to propose this weekend, no matter how hard they tried to deny it. His evidence: the impromptu engagement party they were hosting tonight at seven. Nell assured them only close friends and immediate family would be there, but it sounded like half the town had been invited.

  A rustle in the undergrowth and the snap of a branch brought Adam’s head up. His grandfather’s house was on an isolated part of the old mountain road, and it wasn’t uncommon for a big cat, bear, deer, or elk to end up near the place. He glanced back at Zeus, who lay practically comatose at the back door. Neither his tail nor his ears perked at the sounds coming from the bush.

  Adam had made the mistake of thinking Sophia had somehow gotten through to him and the Zeus he remembered was back. Sophia had worked her particular brand of magic on both of them. Adam had felt better today than he had in weeks, but now the feelings of guilt returned, weighing him down. He’d failed Manuel the day of the shooting, and now he was doing it again.

  His mood darkened, which might have been why he growled, “You’ve got two minutes to show yourself or I shoot.”

  A wild animal wouldn’t be as noisy as whoever was in there. A dark-haired man wearing camouflage stumbled out of the woods with his hands up. “Don’t shoot.”

  “What are you doing, Rick?” Adam asked his cousin at the same time he checked on Zeus. The dog didn’t lift his head, but his eyes followed Rick from the woods to the deck.

  Rick held up a camera. “I heard the news about Autumn and Logan and wanted to offer my congratulations.”

  “Try again.”

  There was something about the defensive lift to Rick’s chin that reminded Adam of his baby brother. There was no denying the strong family resemblance. “Does no one remember I’m family? I didn’t get an invitation. That hurts, you know. I’m a changed man, and I’m trying to get back on my feet. It’s not easy around here. All anyone does is throw my past in my face.”

  “Maybe that’s the problem, Rick. You should have gone somewhere where no one knows you. Start over with a clean slate.”

  “How? I have nothing. The Danes are real good at helping everyone else, but I haven’t seen any of you offering me a hand up.”

  “Is that why you stole the snowmobile, ski equipment, and petty cash?”

  His face flushed, but his chin once again went up. “You know as well as I do that the lodge is as much mine as it is yours and Logan’s.”

  “I know that’s what you believe, but that’s not what the judge ruled. You have to move past this, Rick.” Adam reached in his back pocket for his wallet and pulled out a couple hundred-dollar bills. “This isn’t the time for it now. I’ll talk to Gramps and Logan in the morning. I can’t make you any promises, but if you give me your word that you’ll clean up your act, there might be a job for you at the lodge.”

  “Doing what? Lift operator? I’m a Dane. I—”


  “And that’s your problem, Rick.” Zeus came to his feet and began whining at the back door. Adam frowned. No one was expected for at least a couple hours. It had to be Sophia. “Look, I can’t deal with this or you right now. Drop by tomorrow. I’m sure there will be leftovers—”

  “I don’t want your handouts. I want what is due to me.” He stormed off the deck and into the woods.

  And not a moment too soon. The back door opened, and Sophia stepped out. She wore her pink trench coat and shiny black boots that disappeared under the hem of her coat. Her hair was disheveled, her glasses askew, and he couldn’t help but wonder what she had on under her coat. When images of her in her Playboy Bunny pj’s filled his mind, he had to fight the urge to walk across the deck and check for himself.

  “Hello, Zeus,” she said to the dog dancing at her feet. Her voice sounded like she’d been crying for a week. She surprised him by kneeling beside Zeus and throwing her arms around the dog. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t kinder to you. I forgot what it was like to lose your best friend, and now I remember.”

  If she was this bad off because Autumn was marrying his brother, he didn’t want to think what she’d be like when she learned the truth.

  “Come on, you’re going to get your coat dirty.” He went to help her up. Zeus looked like he wanted to tear him limb from limb. Totally get where you’re coming from, pal, he thought. But he couldn’t let the dog’s reaction go. He repeated the Spanish phrase Manuel used when he wanted to remind Zeus who was the alpha in the partnership. And there was the problem—Adam and Zeus weren’t partners. As though aware of the battle for dominance playing out around her, Sophia waved Adam off and gave the dog one more hug.

  Just when Adam was thinking he wouldn’t mind taking Zeus’s place, Sophia rose to her feet and walked to him. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she sobbed her heart out. He guided her to a wooden rocker and sat down, pulling her onto his lap. Zeus sidled over and put his head on her knee.

  “You’re worrying me, Dimples. Zeus too.”

  “They’re leaving Christmas, Adam. Logan has a job opportunity in Switzerland, and they’re leaving in six weeks.”

  “How did you find out? Logan said they weren’t going to say anything for at least a week.”

  “Oh, but he tells you. He doesn’t think his fiancée’s best friend, her business partner, the woman she owns a home with deserves to know that he’s about to upend her life completely?”

  “I wouldn’t let you be blindsided, Soph. I planned to tell you tonight. Is there any chance you can buy Autumn out of the house and business?”

  “No. And Autumn will need her equity from the house and the business if she plans to open an online candy store.”

  “What did she say when you talked to her about this?”

  “She doesn’t know I know.”

  “How did you find out?”

  “I knew she wasn’t telling me everything, so I followed the crumbs they left on social media.” She looked at him through fogged-up glasses, her face splotchy and tear-stained. “What am I going to do?”

  “We’re in this together, Soph. I don’t want them to move any more than you do. If they do, I have to take over the lodge or Rick will inherit, and that would kill my grandfather.”

  Chapter Ten

  Why do you get to be best man and I get to be matron of honor? I should be best woman. Matron of honor makes me sound old and boring,” Sophia grumbled from the passenger seat of Adam’s truck.

  They were on their way to the lodge for Spring Fling, the final weekend of events before the ski runs were closed for the season. It was also the weekend they put Operation Happy Ever After in Christmas into action. Sophia’s idea, not his. She said they needed a code name for their plan. At that point, he’d been ready to agree to just about anything to get her to stop crying.

  “You are the best woman, a gorgeous best woman, but right now we have more important things to think about. Like how we’re going to convince Autumn she loves you and her friends and Christmas too much to leave. And—”

  “You think I’m gorgeous?” she asked with a teasing smile, because the woman was nothing if not confident in her looks. All she had to do was look in the mirror or go to her Facebook page for confirmation. Today she was stunning in a body-hugging, cream-colored ski suit with a pink vest and pink fur boots.

  “Yeah, and I think you know I do. You always did,” he said, his eyes on the narrow mountain road. Traffic was heavy as everyone made their way to the lodge for the cardboard box race. Tonight they’d be dining under the stars with live music.

  He glanced at Sophia when she didn’t say anything. She was staring at him. He frowned. “What?”

  “I didn’t know you thought I was gorgeous back then. I didn’t know you looked at me that way.”

  “Come on, you had to know. And how was I supposed to look at you? I was a guy. You were a girl.”

  “I didn’t know, Adam. If—” She broke off and looked out the window.

  “You had to know I was attracted to you, Soph. All the guys were.”

  “I didn’t care about all the guys. I only cared what you thought about me.”

  “I thought you were beautiful and incredibly sexy and funny and sweet, but I was enjoying being single and free, and you were too young for me.”

  “And now?”

  He wasn’t sure how to respond. He was as attracted to her as he’d always been, maybe more so. But there was a part of him that still thought of her as his brother’s wife. And even though Bryce had been gone, and gone a long time, Adam found it difficult to get past that. “I still think you’re the most beautiful woman in all of Colorado.”

  “You know that’s not what I meant.”

  “Yeah, I do.” He reached for her hand, brought it to his mouth, and brushed his lips over her knuckles. The same hand that had worn his brother’s ring. He lifted his gaze to hers, and the thought must have shown in his eyes because she nodded and drew her hand away. “Soph, look at me.”

  “It’s okay. I understand. I don’t know if I can get past it either.”

  “We’ll talk, okay? But right now we have a job to do.”

  “Yes, convince Autumn and Logan that they belong in Christmas, not Switzerland.”

  He’d returned to San Francisco the day after Logan and Autumn’s engagement party to get cleared for work, so he and Sophia had done their strategizing by phone. They were planning to show the couple that not only would Autumn miss Sophia and her friends, but that his brother and Sophia had things in common and could get along. Then they’d pull out the big guns Easter Sunday. They’d show his brother what his kids would be missing if he took them away from their extended family.

  “If they’re anything like Zeus, that shouldn’t be hard. He missed you this week.” If he was honest, so had he. Even though he’d talked to her every day, sometimes twice a day.

  “I missed you too.”

  He thought she was talking about him and was just about to admit he’d missed her too when he glanced over and realized she was talking to Zeus. “Hey, stop feeding him,” he said when she gave the dog an iced cookie. “You can’t give him human food, Soph. It’s not good for him.”

  “He’s skinny, and I’m not stupid.” She dug a Sugar Plum Bakery bag out of a purse the size of a suitcase. “Grace is making doggie cookies now.”

  “Okay, but don’t overdo it with the treats.” Adam pulled into the parking lot. It was filled beyond capacity, so he drove around to the back of the lodge to take advantage of family parking.

  “I’m sorry for thinking you didn’t know what you were doing, Sophia.” She mimicked a man’s voice. “I should have known that just because you have big hair and big boobs doesn’t mean you’re a bimbo with no brains.”

  “I don’t sound like that, and trust me, I know better than anyone that behind that big hair and body lies a devious little mind.”

  She cocked her head.

  “A mind as big as your ot
her assets.” That earned him a look from both her and the dog. “Okay, I’m sorry. I know you’d never do anything to endanger Zeus.”

  But an hour later, the same could not be said for Operation Happy Ever After in Christmas. From Logan’s expression, his brother definitely did not feel like he had anything in common with Sophia…or Ty.

  “Adam, I’m not sure putting Logan on Team Diva was a good idea,” Autumn said, glancing to where Sophia and Ty were hard at work blinging out the pink car they’d fashioned out of cardboard while his brother stood watching them with his arms crossed. Twenty-five vehicles—cars, boats, tanks, planes, and trucks—fashioned out of cardboard had been entered in this year’s race. Prizes would go to the best-looking and the fastest time down the bunny hill.

  “Yeah, Soph kinda forgot to mention their entry’s theme,” he told Autumn.

  “It’s Sophia and Ty. What did you think they’d be entering in a race?”

  He laughed, and then he saw Zeus. “What’s he doing over there? He’s supposed to be on our team.” Autumn, Jill, Nell’s nephew Gage and his wife, Madison, were on his team. Since three of them were law enforcement, they’d made a police cruiser three times the size of Sophia and Ty’s car. Zeus was their mascot. Just five minutes before, he’d been wearing a vest with a badge and sheriff’s hat, which had been replaced with a pink tutu and crown.

  “Soph, you stole my dog. And in case you forgot, his name is Zeus. He’s—”

  “Stop while you’re ahead,” Gage warned Adam as he affixed a cardboard headlight to the front of their cruiser.

  “Did the dog tell you its name was Zeus, Adam? No, I didn’t think so. Just like I don’t think it told you its gender identity,” Ty said.

  “The—” Adam was about to point out what did identify Zeus as male when Gage said, “Geezus, don’t go there.”

  And maybe because Sophia also could tell where he’d been going, she decided a distraction was in order. “I did not steal your dog, Adam. I cannot steal that which is already mine.” She gave him a smug smile and Zeus a cookie.