Together for Christmas

by Debbie Macomber

  “On time and sober?”

  “When have I ever shown up anywhere drunk?” he asked. As an athlete, he worked against the clock as it was. Age would slow him down fast enough; he wasn’t about to destroy his body with alcohol.

  “I’m just covering all the bases,” she told him.

  For Kyle.... “Maybe I’m not the one you should be worried about,” he said.

  “What do you mean?

  “Maybe you should pay Kyle a visit instead, see if you can get him to call off the coming travesty.”

  She looked as though he’d just stuck her with a pin. “Why would I do that?”

  He made a face that suggested she was crazy for even asking. “Because he’s about to ruin his life?”

  For a moment, she seemed torn, but ultimately took the party line. “We don’t know that.”

  “Maybe you don’t, but I do.”

  “Granted, Noelle isn’t the woman Olivia is,” she said, relenting, “but...it’s his choice. We have to respect his wishes.”

  Brandon leaned one shoulder against the wall. “Were you aware that Olivia’s been planning the wedding?”

  She slid her purse farther up her arm. He wasn’t sure how, at five-two and a hundred and twenty pounds, she managed to haul that thing around. It had to weigh thirty pounds. But she didn’t go anywhere without it. “Nancy mentioned she was helping, yes.”

  “I can’t believe they’d expect her to do that.”

  “They told me they thought it would be cathartic for her.”

  “To plan the wedding of the man she loves—to her sister? Come on! I think it was just cheaper.”

  “It wasn’t my place to make that decision, either,” she said, but at least her tone of voice acknowledged that she agreed with him.

  “Someone should’ve told them to plan it themselves,” he grumbled.

  “I’m sure it’s fine. Olivia’s a very forgiving, wonderful woman. And someday she’ll find an equally wonderful man.”

  Brandon pictured Olivia sitting on the side of the road, tears streaming down her face as she gazed up at him. Even completely disheveled, she was the prettiest woman he’d ever seen. “How wonderful would he need to be?” he asked.

  His mother frowned at him. “Excuse me?”

  “Never mind.” He’d known all along, ever since he’d held Olivia in his arms at prom, that he couldn’t have her. If he was going to get involved with a woman, she had to be like him, able to enjoy a quick, passionate affair and then move on.

  Because, as soon as ski season arrived, he’d be gone again.

  * * *

  Noelle was angry during dinner. Olivia could feel her sister’s animosity. She wasn’t sure why Noelle felt she had the right to be upset. She wasn’t the injured party. But every few seconds she’d glance over at Kyle, who was keeping his eyes on his plate, before sending Olivia an accusing glare.

  What did she think happened before she came upon them outside?

  Olivia didn’t care. Not really. Most of the slights Noelle perceived were imagined. It’d always been that way. Olivia just wanted to get the wedding favors assembled so she could leave. She couldn’t stay here, as planned. The unspoken hurt and anger were too agonizing.

  But she wouldn’t go to Brandon’s. Sacramento wasn’t that far. Although it would waste time and gas, she’d drive home and come back in the morning. She did, however, have to tell Brandon what she’d said to Kyle. She wasn’t looking forward to that conversation. She’d already embarrassed herself once where he was concerned.

  After dinner, Kyle went in to watch a true crime show with her father, Noelle disappeared into her bedroom to do whatever she felt she needed to do to prepare for her wedding and Olivia helped her mother wash dishes. Olivia had just started to relax, thanks to the comfort of routine, when Noelle called to her from the bedroom.

  “Can you come and tell me how to wear my hair?” she asked, but Olivia wasn’t fooled. Noelle had played nice long enough. She’d obviously decided on a bit of honesty to pierce the thin veneer of civility that had carried them this far. Olivia wasn’t opposed to that herself.

  “I’ll be right back,” she told her mother.

  Nancy’s forehead creased in worry, as if she, too, suspected that Noelle wasn’t interested in opinions on her hair, but she nodded, and Olivia silently promised to do all she could to keep her temper in check. Fighting wouldn’t improve the situation. Noelle and Kyle were going to have a baby. She needed to keep that in mind, especially if she wanted to be part of her niece’s or nephew’s life. The child was innocent and deserved the support of his or her entire family. Olivia just hoped that someday she’d be able to look at her sister’s offspring, at Kyle’s offspring, without cringing.

  Maybe it’d be easy. Maybe Noelle would have a little girl who was a much better person than her mother....

  “Are you thinking of an updo?” she asked as she walked down the hall.

  Noelle was waiting by the door. She closed it as soon as Olivia walked in. “What are you doing?” she whispered harshly.

  Olivia studied her flushed face. She was pretty; there was no denying that. They both had wide blue eyes, long blond hair and even features, but Noelle, shorter by two inches, had a curvier figure, which probably made her more attractive. Despite that, Olivia had never been jealous. Due to Noelle’s demanding nature, self-absorption and terrible mood swings, she’d never been particularly popular with the opposite sex. Olivia figured men could sense that her looks wouldn’t be worth the cost of involvement. She’d always thought Kyle understood that, too. “I don’t know what you mean,” she said.

  “You know exactly what I’m talking about!”

  Did Noelle believe Olivia had said something inappropriate to Kyle? That she was trying to stir up trouble?

  Olivia started to explain that she was at a complete loss when Noelle made the reason for her anger clear. “You’re seeing Brandon? Really? Kyle’s stepbrother?”

  At first, because of Noelle’s emphasis on the family connection, Olivia assumed she was worried about how that might make Kyle feel. Neither one of them had any right to complain, of course, but the threat of looking like a hypocrite had never stopped Noelle. She believed the entire world should bow at her feet—which made Olivia suddenly realize that Noelle wasn’t angry on Kyle’s behalf. She expected Kyle to fight his own battles and cope with his own difficulties. She expected that of everyone, except herself. The only way Noelle could be this upset was if Olivia’s actions affected her personally.

  And then Olivia remembered. For most of one summer, Noelle had had the worst crush imaginable on Brandon. She’d done everything possible to gain his attention, including driving past his house numerous times a day, calling him incessantly, showing up wherever she guessed he might be. Olivia had forgotten that, largely because it’d been so long ago—eight years or more. And he hadn’t given her so much as a second look. When August rolled around, he told her flat-out that he wasn’t remotely interested and she’d better quit stalking him or he was going to the police.

  The police threat came—understandable enough—after she’d spied on him with another woman, but his unequivocal rejection had done significant damage to Noelle’s ego.

  “Why are you smiling?” Noelle snapped.

  Olivia sobered. “I guess I still don’t understand why you’re upset.”

  Noelle grabbed her arm. “I’m upset because you’re doing this on purpose! You’re trying to ruin my wedding!”

  “What?” Olivia jerked loose. “I’ve been planning your wedding—for free! Not only have I donated hours and hours of my time, I’ve called in favors from all the vendors I’ve ever worked with.”

  “For Mom and Dad. Not for me.”

  Olivia couldn’t argue with that.

  “This is your revenge,” she continued. “This is how you think you’l
l get the last laugh.”

  “What are you talking about?” Noelle had liked a lot of boys over the years. She couldn’t claim proprietary interest in all of them. Besides, after that summer she’d never had a nice thing to say about Kyle’s stepbrother.

  “I’m talking about you sleeping with Brandon!”

  So Kyle had shared that information. “I don’t see why my being with Brandon would bother you. You’re in love with Kyle, right? You’re having his baby. And because of that baby, he’s marrying you.”

  “Not because of the baby!” she cried, stamping her foot. “Because he loves me! I knew you’d try to cheapen it, try to convince yourself that he’s still in love with you. But he’s not. He hates that the two of you were ever together!”

  When they talked on the phone for the last time, Kyle had said the years they’d spent together were the best of his life, but Olivia didn’t give him away. His feelings had probably already changed.

  “Fine. He hates that we were together. He hates me. I don’t care. He’s all yours now. You got exactly what you wanted. So enjoy him and leave me alone.”

  “I didn’t get pregnant on purpose. I know you think I did.”

  “At this point, it doesn’t matter what I think.” She turned to go but Noelle wasn’t finished yet.

  “Does Brandon know?”

  Olivia hesitated with her hand on the doorknob. “Know what?”

  “That I’m pregnant?”

  Why would he care? “Of course he does. Everyone in town knows.”

  “Your relationship with him won’t last,” she said suddenly, changing tactics. “He isn’t the marrying kind.”

  “Fortunately, after what I’ve been through in the past few months, I’m only looking for some fun.” Unable to resist, she lowered her voice. “And, God, can he provide it!”

  * * *

  Kyle had the hardest time keeping his eyes from gravitating to Olivia. She looked better than ever—tall, tan, hair streaked from the sun. But, despite her shapely legs—which happened to be his favorite part of the female anatomy—her appearance had nothing to do with how he felt. She’d always been beautiful to him, the only woman he’d ever loved. Just seeing her made his determination falter.

  How had he gotten into such a terrible mess? These days, he constantly asked himself that. But he had no answer—except the obvious. He’d been an idiot, foolish enough to make the kind of mistake that would change his life forever.

  He wished he could stop time, demand everyone back up and let him start over. But he’d seen the results of the pregnancy test. With a baby coming, there were no second chances.

  “Honey, you have to put three hugs and three kisses in each box,” Noelle said.

  He blinked at the foil-wrapped chocolate candies. Wasn’t that what he’d been doing? He opened the last wedding favor he’d assembled. She was right. He’d put in five kisses and only one hug. He’d thought, as long as they each included six pieces, it wouldn’t matter. They had more than enough of both kinds. But every little detail mattered to Noelle.

  “Got it.” He smiled as congenially as possible to keep Olivia and her parents from knowing how badly Noelle’s voice grated on him.

  Three kisses, he silently mimicked. And three hugs. Along with a scrap of paper that read, What’s the earth with all its art, verse, music worth—compared with love, found, gained, and kept? —Robert Browning

  “Kyle, is something wrong?”

  He glanced up to see his future mother-in-law watching him. He hadn’t realized he’d slipped into inactivity. He was sitting there, staring at that damn line of Robert Browning’s.

  “No.” His cheek muscles ached with the effort of yet another smile. “I was just wondering if I’d remembered to invite my aunt Georgia.”

  “You invited her,” Noelle said without looking up. “You had so many on your list I had to cut twenty from mine, remember?”

  He didn’t know if he was supposed to apologize. He’d tried to keep his list small. His was certainly smaller than hers, by a significant margin. He hadn’t wanted a big wedding. Given the situation, he much preferred they forgo the embarrassment of being married in Whiskey Creek and fly to Vegas. It seemed crazy to celebrate the hardest thing he’d ever done.

  But thanks to Noelle’s insistence on creating the fanfare she’d always craved for her wedding, they were looking at a long, painful weekend. One that included Olivia, making it impossible to avoid the fact that, if not for one foolish night, this could’ve been their wedding.

  Actually, he’d been with Noelle more than one night. It had been a whirlwind couple of weeks, during which she’d flirted and teased and cajoled and pleased. Caught in the aftermath of Olivia’s proposing a break and moving to Sacramento because she didn’t want to settle down without experiencing a little more of life, he’d been feeling rejected, unsure she’d ever really come back and angry enough to tell himself he didn’t have to suffer while she was gone. Their break hadn’t been his idea. The fact that they weren’t together but weren’t really apart left him feeling irritable and foolish.

  And this was where it had gotten him....

  Suppressing a groan, he started filling boxes again.

  “Did you find the right tie and cummerbund for your tux?” Olivia asked. It was the first time she’d initiated any conversation between them. He would’ve been grateful for her attention, would’ve seen it as a hopeful sign that she might eventually be able to forgive him, except he knew she was only asking as the wedding planner.

  “I have.”

  “And your groomsmen have the right ones, as well?”

  “Probably. I’ve told them where to go.”

  “You need to check.”

  “I will.”

  “Do they know the rehearsal dinner tomorrow has been moved to seven instead of six-thirty?”

  He kept forming little boxes and filling them with the appropriate chocolate candy before adding them to the stack in the middle of the table. The women took over from there, tying on a delicate pink ribbon imprinted with Kyle’s and Noelle’s names and the date of their wedding.

  Two days. The worst will be over in two days.... “I’ve notified them of that, too.”

  “Even Brandon?”

  He’d invited Brandon to be in the wedding party for the sake of his parents. He felt it would be too obvious a slight to leave him out. But other than receiving a brief email confirming his participation, Kyle hadn’t heard from his stepbrother. “Even Brandon.”

  “I’ll double-check with him tonight.”

  The idea of Olivia spending time with Brandon for any reason made Kyle flinch. She hadn’t meant much to him when the two of them went to a prom together years ago. But she meant a lot to him now. “I can email him again.”

  “Why don’t you just call him?”

  He met her gaze. “Maybe I will.”

  Ham, as Olivia’s father was called, paused in his work to raise his eyebrows at this exchange. But, as usual, he didn’t say anything. Sometimes Kyle wished he would. He wished someone would admit that this wedding was a huge mistake. Because he couldn’t. If Noelle wanted to marry him, he had no choice. He had to stand up and do the right thing or he wouldn’t be able to live with himself later.

  Five

  RELIEVED TO BE away from her parents’ house, Olivia dialed Brandon’s number as she sat in her car, letting the engine idle in the empty parking lot of Just Like Mom’s. The diner was closed, along with almost everything else in town, including the touristy shops dedicated to Whiskey Creek’s gold rush heritage. It was late enough that she was hesitant to start the long drive home. She was tired. And she wasn’t optimistic that facing her empty apartment would be that much better than crashing in her old bedroom. She seemed to be miserable no matter what.

  “I’m not sure how to break this to you,” she said as soon as
Brandon answered.

  “Break what to me?” he responded, his voice husky, which made her wonder if she’d awakened him. “You couldn’t have found someone with a bigger telescope.”

  She knew he was teasing but, feeling herself flush, decided to ignore the innuendo. “I, uh, told a little white lie about you.”

  “Did it make me look good or bad?” He didn’t sound too excited by the prospect either way.

  “Maybe a little opportunistic?”

  “Okay. Let me have it.”

  She drew a deep breath. “Kyle and Noelle think we’re seeing each other.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Not quite.”

  “I’m waiting....”

  “They also think we’re sleeping together.”

  “Really.”

  “I don’t know what got into me,” she said. “Kyle pulled me aside and said it was killing him to know he was causing me pain, and I... I couldn’t stand being so transparent and vulnerable. So I told him I’m not hurting at all, that I’m already seeing someone else.”

  “Me.”

  “Right. I could’ve named someone from Sacramento. That’s what I should’ve done, obviously. He couldn’t have proven that one way or the other. But...”

  “It wouldn’t have been half as much fun.”

  “No, it wouldn’t have had the same impact.” She’d found Noelle’s reaction even more satisfying than Kyle’s, but she didn’t mention that. She was fairly sure her sister would be a sore subject with Brandon, even after the number of years that had passed since she’d invaded his privacy. “I hope you’re not too sorry you stopped to help me.”

  “Not at all. I just wish I could’ve seen Kyle’s face.”

  She smiled as she remembered. “He went white as a sheet.”

  “Good. Maybe it gave him the jolt he needs.”

  “In what way?”

  “I haven’t given up hope that he’ll come to his senses and call the whole thing off.”

  Olivia pictured Kyle and Noelle as they’d been at dinner. They hadn’t seemed particularly close, but they were dealing with a lot of stress, even more than normally accompanied a wedding. She wasn’t convinced she could get an accurate reading from what she’d seen. “Maybe he loves her.”