The Christmas Pact

by Keeland, Vi

  “Thanks for the heads up,” Kennedy whispered in my ear as I passed him a glass of eggnog. “Your father was a freaking colonel, and your mom’s Mahjong friends are a retired major and two captains in the Army.”

  I smiled sweetly. “Well…I could have warned you, yes. But what fun would that have been?”

  Miriam Saunders, the highest ranking of the three, pointed at Kennedy. “If you’re in training, how did the two of you meet? You must be stationed at the Johnson Space Center. Houston’s a long way from New York City.”

  “Ummm. Yes, ma’am. I’m about to start training in Houston, actually. But Riley and I met while I was in town visiting some family.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “I thought you said your family is from Rochester.”

  “They are. Well, my dad’s family. My mom has some family in New York City. I was visiting them.” He swallowed hard and added, “My grandmother, actually.”

  The major squinted. “So you met our Riley while you were in town visiting your grandmother?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Mm-hmm. How did that come about, exactly?”

  It was the first time Kennedy didn’t look so comfortable. He glanced over at me for help, and I grinned and sipped my eggnog.

  “Riley likes to tell the story about how we met. Don’t you, sweetheart?”

  “Oh, you know I do. Because it is quite the story. But, darling, you tell it so much better than I ever could. Go ahead, pumpkin. You tell them the story.”

  Kennedy cleared his throat. “It’s a little embarrassing.”

  I arched a brow. I should have known better than to challenge this man. His eyes sparkled and he leaned in toward Miriam. “For her. It’s a little embarrassing for her.”

  He then proceeded to tell an elaborate story about how he’d been visiting his grandmother who lives across the hall from me, and I’d been cooking leftover pizza in the oven for breakfast. Apparently, I’d put the entire cardboard box that it had been delivered in, into the oven—because, yeah, I was that much of an idiot—and started a fire in my own kitchen. Kennedy, being the Boy Scout that he was, had smelled something burning and rushed over with a fire extinguisher and saved my life.

  “And the rest, as they say, is history.”

  My mouth gaped open in shock as I looked from Kennedy to the squad and back again. They were buying this shit! I’d known these women my entire life. They couldn’t possibly believe this stupidity.

  Yet Miriam shook her head at me and tsked. “Pizza for breakfast? Your mom is such a good cook, Riley. It’s a shame you didn’t take after her.”

  Unbelievable. They bought that Kennedy was an astronaut and that I’d cooked a cardboard box. All this man had to do was flash that smile of his, show those dimples, and even the toughest women I knew couldn’t resist him. He had turned the brains of these intelligent women into mush. Well, apparently…because I’d brought him here, hadn’t I?

  During a break in the conversation, I told the new Kennedy groupies that I needed to steal him away to meet a few people. I steered him into the kitchen, closed the door, and turned to face him. “How do you do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “Tell ridiculous stories and people believe you?”

  He shrugged. “I find it’s easier to get away with telling a big lie than it is to tell a little one.”

  My sister Abby chose that moment to walk into the kitchen. “Oops. Sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds. Mom asked me to grab some more dip from the fridge.”

  Kennedy snaked an arm around my waist. “It’s my fault we’re hiding.” He gazed down at me. “Your sister looks so beautiful tonight. I just want to hog her all to myself.”

  My sister made an awww face and grabbed the dip. She winked at me on the way back out to the living room. “He’s a keeper, Riley.”

  Once she was out of earshot, I groaned as I rolled my eyes. “Very nice. More big lies.”

  Kennedy’s brows drew together. For a half second, I almost believed that he hadn’t been bullshitting again. “You do look nice tonight. I should’ve told you that when you changed earlier.” His eyes wandered down my body and back up, snagging on my cleavage and lingering there.

  I huffed, “God, you’re almost believable.”

  He shook his head. “I’m not lying, Riley. I think you look beautiful tonight.”

  “Sure,” I snickered.

  Kennedy looked back and forth between my eyes. “You have a small freckle on your right breast, just…about…here.” He ran his fingertip along the scooped neckline of my dress. “And when you get nervous, you twist that ring you wear on your pointer.”

  I had to look down at my chest to confirm. Sure enough, it was really tiny, but I did have a small freckle on the inner curve of my right breast. How the hell did he even notice that? When I looked up, he read the confusion on my face.

  He smiled and leaned in close to my ear. “Told you I wasn’t lying, Riley. I can’t keep my eyes off of you in that dress.”

  My belly did a little somersault, and I felt my breath catch when he pulled his head back and looked into my eyes. Luckily we were interrupted again. This time, by my mother.

  “There you two are. The roads are getting pretty bad. Kennedy, dear, you can’t possibly drive back to Rochester tonight. You’d better plan to stay the night here and head to see your family in the morning.”

  I walked over to the kitchen window and looked outside. The picturesque light snowfall from earlier had transformed into white-out conditions.

  Kennedy looked at me, then back at my mother. “Are you sure?”

  “Of course! I insist.” She joined us by the window, patted his arm, and whispered, “You can stay with Riley in her room.”

  Kennedy

  Riley and I were holed up in her bedroom. She looked less than thrilled that her mother had insisted we sleep in her old bedroom together, but what did she expect? We were adults, and my performance out there had been so convincing that I honestly wasn’t sure Mrs. Kennedy would have objected if I’d knocked Riley up in here tonight.

  “You have to admit, this is pretty funny,” I said.

  “I’m glad you’re amused.”

  Despite the fact that I truly did find all of this amusing, I didn’t want to stay here if it was going to upset her. “Seriously, Riley, if you don’t want to continue this, I can just go.”

  “No. I don’t want you to drive home in this weather. It’s fine.”

  “I insist on sleeping on the floor, anyway.”

  Not surprisingly, she didn’t argue about that. “Okay.”

  Riley’s room was definitely dated. It must not have changed much from the time she was a teenager. A sparkly poster of a psychedelic flower hung on the wall, along with a framed photo of Justin Timberlake on her desk. It was from his NSYNC days when he had the longer curly hair.

  “Timberlake, huh?”

  “Stop, Kennedy. I was ten when I got that. I’m not good at parting with things.”

  “You want to tell me to go bye, bye, bye right about now, don’t you?”

  “Look, if I knew you were going to end up in here, I might have…cleaned up a bit.”

  “Nothing to be ashamed of. We all have our crushes.”

  “Oh yeah? Who was yours?” she asked skeptically.

  I scratched my chin and chuckled. “Let’s see, when I was really young, I used to like Peg Bundy from Married… with Children. I don’t remember her real name.”

  Her eyes widened. “The mom?”

  “Yup.”

  “Oh my God. You were, like, a MILF lover?”

  “Yeah. At, like, six years old. What can I say? I liked the big red hair and the spandex.”

  She laughed. “That’s so twisted but probably shouldn’t surprise me.”

  Looking around, I asked, “You got anything fun to do in here…board games or something?”

  “We should probably try to get some sleep.”

  I was too wired to sleep, which really suc
ked for Riley. I walked around and picked a doll up off a shelf.

  “Aw...who’s this?”

  “That’s Lovey.”

  The doll’s face had red splotches all over it.

  “What’s wrong with her face?”

  “I left her out in the sun once. She got burned.”

  “You do realize that a doll doesn’t have actual skin that can burn, right?”

  “Well, I left her out in the sun. She turned red. How else do you explain that?”

  I chuckled again. “You’re adorable, Riley.”

  “Adorable? I thought you found me annoying.”

  “When have I ever said that? You’ve been the skeptical one all this time, not me. I’ve always found you adorable and funny and intriguing.”

  “Intriguing? Based on what?”

  “Based on the fact that you get so damn worked up about everything. I knew there had to be so much more to you than you just being a bitch. You’re very self-protective. Being here has helped me piece some of the mystery together.”

  “Oh yeah?” She plopped down on the bed. “Why don’t you enlighten me about myself?”

  “Well, I mean, the fact that your mother makes you feel inadequate...that clearly explains a lot. But now that I know what you told me about losing your boyfriend...I can see why you’re a bit cautious. That’s a huge loss, one that someone shouldn’t have to go through so young. It makes my shit seem trivial.”

  “And what exactly is your shit? You’ve alluded to being in love at one time and then it ended. I mean, you gave up truly being Neil Armstrong for her. That had to have been something,”

  “Yeah, it was something, alright. Something I’d rather forget.”

  I needed to change the subject. I spotted what looked like a Chewbacca cookie jar on the shelf. I picked it up. “This is interesting.”

  Panicked, she leapt up to quickly stop me. “Don’t touch that!” She placed it gently back on the shelf.

  “Whoa. What are you hiding in there…a dead body?”

  Her face turned red. “Yes,” she breathed out softly.

  “What?”

  “It’s Frankie’s ashes. His parents split them up between his siblings and me.”

  Oh man.

  I scrubbed my hand across my face. “I’m sorry. Wow, I’m really batting a hundred right now.”

  “You’re fine, Kennedy. You didn’t know.” She looked down at her feet, then back up at me. “He…was a Star Wars fan. I left his ashes behind when I moved to Manhattan, thinking it might help me move on. Clearly, it didn’t.”

  “Jesus. That’s heavy.” I blew out a breath. “Here, I was thinking you were hiding something stupid in there, like a vibrator or something.”

  “If I were hiding my vibrator, you’d have to be much more creative to find it.”

  “Oh really. Are you saying it’s hiding in this room somewhere?”

  She bit her lip. “Maybe.”

  “Why, Riley, Riley, Riley, you dirty girl,” I teased. “Is that a challenge?”

  “No. Because you’d never find it.”

  “Oh, I bet I would.”

  “No, you wouldn’t, considering you’re holding it, and you don’t even know.”

  What?

  Looking down at my hands, I realized I was still holding the doll with the sunburn.

  “Uh…this isn’t a vibrator.”

  She took it from me. I watched as she twisted the doll’s head off and reached inside its hollow body, pulling out a small purple wand.

  I laughed until I was wiping tears. “Don’t you accuse me of being warped ever again, Miss Kennedy.”

  “Yeah, well. My mother is nosey. You do what you have to do.”

  “Did you use that thing when you thought about J.T.? You know…break open the doll’s head and rub one out to the beat of ‘Tearin’ Up My Heart’?”

  She threw the old vibrator across the room. “Oh my God! Why did I even show you? I must be insane.”

  “Because you’re warming up to me. Admit it.”

  “No. I think I’m just wired and losing my mind a bit.” She yawned. “Anyway...it’s getting late. We should get to bed. I don’t know where my mother keeps the spare bedding, and I can’t actually ask her because she thinks you’re sleeping with me. So how about if I give you my blanket and keep the comforter?”

  “That works, or I’m okay just sleeping on the floor with my coat.”

  “No. Take the blanket.” She handed it to me.

  “Thanks.”

  I lay down on the cold floor, wishing I could have been in that warm bed, snuggled up against her. Then again, maybe that would have been a bit dangerous, considering I probably wouldn’t have been able to hide my excitement in that scenario—especially after all this talk of vibrators and Peg Bundy. But mostly, because Riley was just…beautiful.

  I couldn’t fall asleep for the life of me. All was quiet and pitch black, so I couldn’t tell if she was out yet or not.

  “Are you asleep?” I whispered.

  “I’m trying to,” she said flatly.

  “Okay. I’ll take that as you not wanting to talk. Sorry. Goodnight.”

  Her bed creaked. “What do you want to talk about?”

  “You never told me how you ended up working for the publishing house.”

  “I fell into it. Took an internship and never left. Ended up liking the literary world decently enough. How about you? How the heck did you go from wanting to be an astronaut to working in publishing?”

  I sighed. “Well, after my break-up, I wanted to get away from some bad memories, so I packed my bags and took a train to the city. Didn’t even have a job lined up. A buddy got me an admin position in the nonfiction department and I eventually worked my way up to editor. So, not that different from your story.”

  “It wouldn’t have been my first choice for a career,” she said. “But it suits me. I’ve always considered myself a creative person.”

  “Well, I mean, you hid your vibrator inside a doll. It doesn’t get more creative than that.”

  There was a moment of silence.

  “Are you smiling?” I asked.

  “It’s dark, so I don’t have to admit it if I am.”

  She was totally smiling.

  We both fell quiet again. Something had been bugging me all afternoon. I’d been pretty hard on Riley’s family after I’d intercepted that letter she’d written to the advice columnist—going as far as calling her mother a materialistic, self-absorbed narcissist, if I remembered correctly. But after coming here and getting to know everyone a bit, I was realizing that was as far from the truth as it could get. So I sucked it up. I was a big enough man to admit when I was wrong.

  “I owe you an apology.”

  “You’ll have to be more specific. Pretty sure you owe me at least ten.”

  I chuckled. I liked that Riley wasn’t an easy sell. “I meant, for the things I said about your mother after reading your little letter to that columnist.”

  She sighed. “My mom is…a lot…I know. But the truth is that she’s a really good person and an amazing mother. Those letters she puts out at Christmastime are obnoxious, yes, and make me cringe, but her heart’s in the right place. She doesn’t do it to shove our family’s successes in other people’s faces. She does it because she’s proud.”

  I nodded. “Yeah. I get that now. I was wrong to say those things about her, and I totally misjudged the situation. Can you forgive me?”

  Riley said nothing for a solid minute before speaking again. “Were you starting to worry I wouldn’t accept your apology when I went quiet?”

  “Yes.”

  She laughed. “Okay. Then we’re even. I needed to make you feel bad before I forgave you.”

  “Devil-woman.”

  “I have my moments.”

  A few minutes later, we were talking about some of the people I’d met tonight…when I heard the bed squeaking. It wasn’t a big squeak, but it was a consistent, rhythmic one, like she was mov
ing back and forth and maybe trying not to make it noticeable. I stopped mid-sentence when it dawned on me that she might be…

  No. She wouldn’t….

  Had she put the head back on that doll?

  No. Wait. She’d thrown the vibrator across the room. She couldn’t be…

  But she had gotten up to give me a blanket and then went to the bathroom...so she could have picked it back up without me noticing. Though, wouldn’t I have heard it? I could hear squeaking but no buzzing. Unless maybe she was just using her hands. I stifled a groan at the thought.

  No way…she wouldn’t.

  She couldn’t…

  But there was that noise again…low but steady.

  Squeak-Squeak.

  Squeak-Squeak.

  There was definitely something going on up on that bed. What the hell was I doing on the floor at a time like this?!

  Apparently, Riley noticed I’d gotten distracted. “She what?”

  Shit. I had no idea what we had been talking about. “Who?”

  “Major Saunders.”

  “What about her?”

  “I don’t know…you were the one who trailed off mid-sentence. You said, Major Saunders told you… and then you just stopped talking. Did you fall asleep mid sentence or something?”

  “Umm. Yeah. I must’ve. Sorry.”

  “It’s fine,” she said. “It’s late, anyway. We should get some sleep.”

  I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be catching a wink all night after hearing that squeak, but whatever. “Okay. Goodnight, Riley.”

  “Goodnight, Kennedy.”

  I stared up at the ceiling, lost in thought—the kind of thoughts I definitely shouldn’t be having while sharing a room with this woman.

  All of a sudden, the squeaking was back. And getting louder.

  Squeak-Squeak!

  Squeak-Squeak!

  And then…

  She groaned.

  Definitely not the same groan she made when I said something to piss her off and she rolled her eyes. Because, yeah, she was pretty adorable when she did that. This was the kind of groan that you made when you were about to….

  I swallowed. Hard.

  What the hell?

  And more importantly…can I get in on that?