Christmas at Holiday House

by RaeAnne Thayne

  “I’m sorry I bailed after you came all that way to visit me last night. I was so tired from everything we’ve been doing to get ready. Still, I feel terribly guilty I didn’t try to stay up to help you decorate the tree. Were you there long?”

  About fifteen minutes longer than he should have been. If he had been smart and left as soon as they’d finished decorating the tree, he would not have made a fool of himself by kissing Abby.

  The memory of their kiss had haunted him all night long. If he closed his eyes, he could still feel her soft skin, taste the sweetness of her mouth, feel that strange tug and pull in his chest.

  He could legitimately say he had never before had a woman thank him for not making her nauseous with his kiss.

  He had to hope to heaven it never happened again.

  “I left around ten. It wasn’t terribly late.”

  “Well, I’m grateful. When my arm is out of this stupid cast, I promise to make you some of that banana bread you love.”

  “You don’t owe me banana bread,” he said, though the idea of it made his mouth water, and he realized for the first time that he had skipped breakfast. “I was glad I was there so Abby didn’t have to climb the ladder on her own.”

  “She does have a thing about heights. Mind you, that hasn’t stopped her from climbing up and down while she’s been decorating, but I know that big ladder you have to use for the great room tree had been making her nervous. She had been putting off the job for days. Thanks to you, it’s done now.”

  “Glad I could help,” he said again.

  What would Winnie say if she knew he had kissed her nurse until neither of them could think straight?

  “That actually reminds me,” Winnie said. “I wonder if I could ask another favor of you.”

  For some reason, he was seized by sudden trepidation. “Tell me you don’t have any more twenty-foot trees you need me to decorate.”

  She chuckled. “No. One is plenty. But this favor does involve Abigail.”

  Yes. He was definitely right to be nervous. “Oh?”

  “Well, Abby and Christopher, actually.”

  “What?”

  “She’s been so wonderful since she’s been here. What a treasure. But I’m afraid I’ve been working her so hard. She never takes a rest. I was thinking she and Christopher might enjoy a chance to play in the snow a little. I wondered if you could arrange for them to try out your new tubing hill at the ski resort.”

  That much at least he could handle with minimal effort on his part. He let out the breath he had been holding. “Sure. That’s no problem. I can leave passes at the sales office for them.”

  “Thank you, my dear. That would be nice, but I was actually hoping you might be able to take them yourself. Christopher has never been sledding or tubing before. He told me so. I suspect Abby hasn’t, either. They could use someone to show them the ropes.”

  “Um, there’s not much skill involved when you go to the tubing hill. You take the magic carpet up the hill, grab a tube and slide down. That’s about it.”

  “Abby’s afraid of heights, remember? I’m not sure I could convince her to take Christopher on her own if she didn’t know someone else could take him if she chickened out.”

  “Why not wait for Lucy to get home?” he countered.

  Winnie’s disappointment came through loud and clear in her overlong pause. “I guess that would work. She’ll be here early next week. Christopher has waited this long. He can wait a little longer. Thanks, anyway.”

  Oh, she was so good at manipulating him. He wished he could be a little tougher and withstand her. Without blinking an eye, Ethan could negotiate with everyone from rival executives to international labor union leaders. His grandmother was totally in a class of her own.

  He might try to withstand her machinations if he didn’t actually think it would be fun to take Christopher on the tubing hill.

  He had been meaning to make time to try it out since the season started. He was a little embarrassed he hadn’t been able to manage it yet. This would provide the perfect excuse.

  He didn’t want to encourage Winnie—if he gave an inch, who knows what she would ask of him next?—but he still found himself nodding. “Sure. I can take them. When did you have in mind?”

  “How about tonight?” she asked brightly. “Tomorrow everyone from the Silver Belles is coming over to do a run-through before our first tours on Friday. This would be the best chance. The only chance, really. Is your schedule free?”

  “Mostly. I can rearrange a few things.”

  “Great. Why don’t you come for dinner first around six and then the three of you can leave after that. Thank you, darling. I’ll see you then.”

  She hung up before he could argue. So not only had she managed to persuade him to take Abby and Christopher sledding, she had also somehow thrown his attendance at dinner into the mix without giving him a chance to tell her whether that worked for him or not.

  He shook his head, wondering what his grandmother might be up to. She sounded positively gleeful, which raised about a hundred caution flags in his head.

  Winnie was known for being high-handed but this was a new level, even for her. Had she somehow gotten wind of his kiss with Abby? He wouldn’t put it past her. Winnie seemed to know everything.

  If she continued with this kind of thing, he would simply have to sit her down and tell her what she wanted was impossible and that she should turn her matchmaking efforts elsewhere.

  He wasn’t in the market for another relationship. Not now and probably not ever. He had learned his lesson well.

  Oh, he couldn’t say his heart had been irreparably damaged by the end of his engagement to Brooke.

  Or damaged at all, really, if he were honest.

  That had been her entire reason for giving him back the ring. He didn’t love her like she loved him, and she had come to accept that he never would.

  He had tried to protest that he wouldn’t have asked her to marry him if he didn’t care about her. He had believed that at the time.

  One year out, he could certainly see her point.

  If he had loved her, he surely would have been shattered when she walked away.

  Mostly, he had just been annoyed at the inconvenience of the whole thing and the questions people still sometimes asked him about her.

  He missed some things about his relationship with Brooke. Having someone to talk to at the end of each day had been wonderful, and Brooke had been funny and creative and a great hostess when he needed her. He wanted to think he had given her what she needed, too. He had been attentive and loyal, trying to show her daily how much he enjoyed having her in his life.

  He had cared about her. He wouldn’t have asked her to marry him if he hadn’t. In the past twelve months of reflection, he had come to realize she had been right. He had cared for her more like a valued business associate who held a cherished position in his life, not with the kind of passionate, all-consuming love she needed.

  Was he even capable of that kind of love or had his parents’ endless romantic drama ruined that for him? That was the question he had been asking himself since his engagement ended.

  His sister had made it clear since she was about ten or eleven that she wasn’t ever going to fall in love. Love was a joke and only made otherwise rational people behave in humiliating and demeaning ways. So far she had kept to that vow.

  Ethan wouldn’t go that far. He wanted a partner, someone he could share his life with and be a partner to in turn. He had seen enough happily married couples to know it was possible, and he yearned for that kind of connection.

  He had to wonder if maybe he was missing something in him, either because of nature or nurture, that made him incapable of that.

  Abby had it. She had glowed when she talked about how much she loved her late husband. Hearing her had left him feelin
g a little envious. Not because he was jealous of Kevin Powell and what they had shared but because Ethan had wondered if he would ever love anyone like that.

  He shook his head. Winnie had to get any ideas about him and Abby out of her head right now.

  When she had known a love like that, why would Abigail Powell settle for a man simply because he didn’t make her feel sick to her stomach when they kissed?

  * * *

  “That’s the way. Just keep pressing down with the cookie cutter. Yes, like that.”

  “Can we do a dump truck cookie?”

  Abby smiled at her son, who loved all things mechanical right now, especially dump trucks. “They’re not very Christmassy. I’m also not sure if Winnie has a dump truck cookie cutter. We might have to stick with ornaments and angels for now.”

  “Okay. Can we find a dump truck cookie cutter sometime?”

  “I’ll keep my eyes open,” she promised.

  He was cutting out a row of circles to be decorated as ornaments when Winnie hobbled into the kitchen. While she was getting around so much better than she had when Abby first arrived at Holiday House, she still moved at times like a woman who was nearly eighty years old. Which she was.

  “It smells delicious in here. You’re making cookies?”

  “I thought I would make some for dress rehearsal tomorrow.”

  “You’re so thoughtful. Thank you, my dear. You really do think of everything, don’t you? That’s exactly what I came to talk to you about. I think you need a break from everything, so I’ve arranged a little outing for you and Christopher.”

  “An outing? What kind of outing?”

  Winnie looked evasive, which made Abby suddenly feel nervous.

  “Oh, just a fun chance to play in the snow for a few hours. I’ve just hung up with Ethan. He’s coming for dinner tonight and then would like to take you and Christopher to the new tubing hill at the resort.”

  “What’s tubing?” Christopher asked.

  “It’s like sledding, only you sit on an inner tube that has a plastic bottom,” Winnie explained.

  Christopher’s face lit up. “That sounds fun!”

  “It can be. The resort has been working on a tubing hill for a few years now. I’ve heard it’s a big hit.”

  Abby remembered Rodrigo mentioning it at Thanksgiving, which seemed a lifetime ago.

  Her nerves seemed to jangle. Ethan. Tubing hill. An evening spent in his company. How could she do it without making an even bigger fool of herself around the man?

  She closed her eyes for an instant, remembering his mouth on hers, warm and hard, his arms holding her close, the heat that had swirled around them.

  She swallowed, pushing away the memory firmly. “I can’t possibly go tonight.”

  “Why not?”

  “You do remember that you have two hundred guests showing up here in two days, right? And a hundred things still to do before then.”

  “What do you still have to do?”

  Abby went through her mental list, which, she had to admit, had shrunk down to a few remaining details. “Plenty of things,” she said.

  “Everything looks great to me. You’ve been amazingly efficient. The house is decorated, the landscaping crew did an excellent job outside, others are taking care of the refreshments. What else do you have to do?”

  She would think of something. Anything.

  “Think about it, darling. You deserve a night out. If not for your sake, what about for Christopher, who has been such a good boy to help us.”

  “I want to go tubing,” Christopher said, his eyes pleading.

  Oh, my word. How was she supposed to withstand both of them?

  “Would it help if I told you that you won’t have to worry about a thing? You won’t even need passes as you’ll be going with Ethan. He will be there the whole time to watch out for both you and Christopher, if you decide you don’t want to go on the tubing hill.”

  Winifred was difficult to say no to. The woman was relentless.

  “I told you I would wash all the Holiday House serving platters so Emily can use them for the refreshments,” she suddenly remembered.

  “Nonsense. I can take care of that. Sofia and a few others who are singing a number together asked if they could come over tonight to practice with the piano. They can help me with the serving trays.”

  She tried to think of some other excuse but ran out.

  “You have been working so hard this past week. Honestly, I don’t know what we would have done without you. That’s why I want you to go have a little fun with Christopher. He’s a little boy who has never gone sledding, even though right now you’re smack-dab in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. You can fix that tonight.”

  “We don’t have snowsuits or boots or anything.”

  “I’ve already thought of that. Mariah is bringing over some of Dakota’s extra winter gear for Christopher, and she has some of her own things that you can use.”

  “You’ve already talked to her?”

  Winnie shrugged, plopping down into her favorite kitchen chair. “You can’t blame me. I was only trying to anticipate all the excuses you might throw at me.”

  Oh, yes. Winnie had manipulation down to an art form. She couldn’t even really be mad since the woman was only trying to do something nice for her and for Christopher.

  “I have a chicken noodle soup in the freezer that’s one of Ethan’s favorites. I’m going to cook that for dinner, so you won’t have to fret about a thing on that front, either.”

  She really had thought of everything. Abby didn’t know what to say. While she would love the chance to have some fun with Christopher, who really had been a dear through this whole process, why did Ethan have to be part of the equation? Couldn’t they go tubing on their own?

  How could she tell Winnie that she wasn’t sure she was ready to spend an evening in his company? That, in fact, Abby would be perfectly happy avoiding the man for the rest of her life?

  Every time she thought of their evening together, she wanted to cringe. That kiss had been delicious, yes. She still couldn’t think about it without her knees feeling a little weak.

  While the kiss had been dreamy, what came after could only be described as the stuff of nightmares. Had she truly told him about being physically ill after her last date?

  Every time she thought about it, she wanted to dig a snow burrow out in the garden and climb inside for the rest of the winter.

  She could only imagine what he must think of her.

  Still, apparently he wasn’t completely repulsed, or he wouldn’t have agreed to take them tubing in the snow.

  “I really want to go, Mommy. I like Ethan. Can we? Please?”

  How could she say no? Christopher had been such a sweetheart, happy to entertain himself with coloring books or trains or his tablet while she was so busy decorating the house.

  He would love the chance to create memories in the snow. How could she deprive him of this opportunity, even if it meant swallowing her embarrassment and facing Ethan once more?

  She could do it. She only had to remember that Ethan meant nothing to her. Yes, they had kissed once and it had been spectacular, but it certainly wasn’t going to happen again. In a short time, she would be going home to Phoenix and then on to her new life in Austin, and the man would only be a memory.

  “Please, Mommy?” Christopher pressed one more time when she didn’t answer.

  “Listen to the boy,” Winnie advised.

  She simply didn’t have the strength to withstand the combined entreaties of her son and his septuagenarian accomplice. Who did?

  “Fine. We will go. It sounds like fun. That means we have to hurry and finish these cookies. You had better get stamping.”

  “I can help,” Winnie said. “Decorating sugar cookies is one of my favorite things. Sho
uld we put some Christmas music on?”

  “Yes. I want to hear ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,’” Christopher said.

  “I think that can be arranged,” Winnie said, grinning at him before ordering her home speaker to play the Gene Autry version, and soon they were all laughing and singing along.

  * * *

  “Hey, I’m taking Rod and a couple of his buddies to The Pie House for pizza and to watch the game tonight, since my mom has some kind of choir practice thing. You interested?”

  If only José has asked him an hour ago, when his calendar for the evening had been completely free. Pizza and the game would be a lot less awkward than trying to figure out how to talk to Abby again after their kiss the night before.

  “Sounds great but I can’t. Sorry. I have plans.”

  José raised an interested eyebrow. “Hot date?”

  Ethan stacked papers on his desk, avoiding his friend’s gaze. “The exact opposite, actually. I’m trying out the new tubing hill with my grandmother’s houseguest and her son. Sure you wouldn’t rather take Rod and his friends with us to do that, instead?”

  He wasn’t sure why he asked other than that he wouldn’t mind a little buffer between him and Abby.

  “Ordinarily, yeah, since the tubing hill is now one of Rod’s new favorite things, but we just did it a couple nights ago with my sister and her kids. We’ve got a real hit on our hands. Everybody had fun. Christopher should have a great time.”

  “I hope so. That would make one of us.”

  José gave him an interested look. “I get why you would rather be skiing down a black diamond slope instead of taking an inner tube down the slow lane. What about Abby? Why wouldn’t she have fun tubing with you and her son?”

  As much as he suddenly wanted to confide in José, how could he possibly tell anyone about that disaster of a kiss?