Holiday Heat: The Men of Starlight Bend

by Ashley Jennifer

  “You’re selling out? You’re selling your store?”

  “That was always the plan,” Simone said.

  Henry shut his mouth with a snap and turned shocked eyes to Kari. “You knew about this?” he demanded.

  Simone, so caught up in her excitement that she missed the tension, answered for her. “It was Kari’s plan. Her brilliant plan. Make the brand, sell it for big bucks, move on.”

  Henry was still staring at her. “Move on?” he repeated. “What about my son? Does he know about this?”

  Kari felt like her heart was lodged somewhere in her throat. She couldn’t speak. Not when it hurt so much. Why hadn’t she seen this coming, this plunging, too late to turn back now, feeling?

  “Does he?” Henry demanded.

  Kari nodded.

  “Son of a bitch,” Henry muttered. He swiped his bag off the counter, gave them both a tip of his hat and stomped out the door.

  Simone watched him go with a stunned expression. “Why is he so pissed?”

  It could be any number of reasons. He’d finally sold his family legacy, only to have it shut down with no prospect of anything replacing it. But that hadn’t been his first concern. No, it had been Ty. His son—the one he wouldn’t even speak to.

  Simone looked perplexed as she studied Kari’s face. “What’s going on here, Kari? Aren’t you happy about this offer? Isn’t this what you wanted?”

  Numb, Kari nodded. “Yes. It’s what I wanted.”

  Except now . . . now . . . .

  “Okay,” Simone said, not really convinced. “I’ll send their contract over to Jake to review.” Jake was her brother and their lawyer. “I’m sure he’ll want some changes. But I feel like celebrating! How about you?”

  “I do, Simone. I promise. But there are a couple of things I need to take care of today. Can I have a raincheck?”

  “Kari, what is going on? Why aren’t you as happy as I am? Is it Ty? I thought you two split up?”

  “We did. But . . . I just need some time to process. Okay? Please? I’ll get there. I promise.”

  “Tell me you’re not thinking of walking away from this deal.”

  “I’m not. I swear. I wouldn’t do that to you, Simone.”

  And she wouldn’t. But now that the time had come to claim the success she’d worked so hard for, all Kari wanted to do was cry.

  She didn’t though. If she let even one tear fall, she feared she’d never stop.

  Stoic and dry eyed, she dug out her to-do list. Today was the last day to deliver her gifts to the Wish Tree before they were picked up for disbursement to the many children. And having a purpose gave her the strength to ignore the chaos of her emotions. It wouldn’t last though. Like an avalanche rumbling in the distance, the landslide of feelings was just waiting to come down on her.

  She drove to Big Sky Living and the Wish Tree, braving the storm that had swept down from the mountains. It powdered the streets and buffered all sound. It echoed the numbness she felt inside.

  With the free time that Ty’s absence had left her, she’d thought about what he said. About Sara. About choices. And finally she’d figured out what to get the young woman. She’d wrapped all four boxes—one each for the younger kids, stuffed with the items they’d requested, plus some extras she thought they might enjoy. Sara had two boxes wrapped together and a card, from Kari to Sara. Kari had cried when she’d written it. She hoped it would speak to Sara’s heart.

  She left the boxes with the efficient elf who checked off the children’s names in her book. “Thank you for sharing the spirit of Christmas,” the elf told her.

  Kari had tears in her eyes as she murmured, “Merry Christmas.”

  As she turned, she found Santa standing right behind her. He smiled his jolly smile at her. “Merry Christmas.”

  “Merry Christmas to you, too,” she said, less enthusiastically. And then, because she had to know, “I was here a few weeks ago . . . .”

  “I remember you, Kari Dale.”

  His use of her name cut off her words. “How do you know who I am?”

  He winked. “Santa Claus.”

  “Oh. Right. That makes sense.”

  On Mars, maybe.

  “I just wondered about the cards you had in your bag . . . They all say your wish is granted, right?”

  He smiled again. “Is that what you’re hoping for?”

  Vexed, she shook her head. “I just want to know.”

  “Why? Will it make your wish coming true any less important?”

  “No. I mean, you don’t even know what I want.”

  He laughed again, a jolly chuckle that crinkled his eyes and jiggled his belly. “Ah, Kari. It’s you who doesn’t know. You haven’t figured that out, yet?”

  She opened her mouth, but didn’t answer. Because no, dammit, evidently she hadn’t.

  “Go see your teacher, Kari. He knows what he wants, but without you he can’t have it.”

  Stunned didn’t describe how she felt. Hit by a truck came closer.

  She made it to her car without breaking down, but as soon as the door closed, she couldn’t hold it any longer. Great, heaving sobs rose up from deep within her as she let everything she’d managed to suppress since he walked out the door rise to the surface.

  She missed Ty so much that each day without him seemed bleak and endless. And the thought of a future that didn’t include him? She couldn’t bear it.

  The cheerful Christmas music playing in the parking lot jarred her already aching heart. The goodwill of the people bustling around her—some of them people she’d come to know—it all felt like salt in an open wound.

  Her emotions had been twisted up since she’d met Ty. They’d been in shreds since he told her that he loved her.

  And then walked out the door. Out of her life.

  Choose me, he’d said.

  At first, she’d been angry. How dare he deliver such an ultimatum? But it hadn’t taken long for that to burn off and reality to step in. He’d said, choose me. Not, quit you job or give up your dreams. He’d simply asked her to add him to those dreams.

  There was no real reason why she had to leave. The offer on the table wasn’t contingent on her packing her bags and moving on. She didn’t have to keep living a nomad’s life. She could end this self-inflicted isolation with just a word to the right man.

  And he was the right man. In her heart, she knew that. He was the only man as far as she was concerned. It had just taken this painful moment to understand.

  She wiped her tears and started the car. She would go to him, beg him to take her back if that’s what it took. And she would do it now.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Ty was having a hell of a time focusing on his class, and they knew it. And, like the pack animals they were, the room full of teenagers had immediately spotted the weakness and began to work it. Josh had asked for the bathroom pass four times. Daniel couldn’t keep his trap shut and Miley, Suzie and Coralynn Whitney—cousins, not triplets, thank God—giggled at every smartass comment he made. Normally, Ty could appreciate his wit. The kid was funny. Today, not so much.

  “All right,” Ty said, rapping a book on his desk to get their attention. “I know it’s the last day before Winter Break. I know you’re all excited Santa Claus is coming, and you’re ready to blow out those doors, right now. But I can’t let you out for another forty-two minutes and I don’t have the patience for your shenanigans.”

  Wrong word to use. He knew it as soon as he uttered the first syllable.

  “Shenanigans,” Josh repeated derisively.

  “You sure you want to use that tone with me?” Ty said.

  Josh shut his mouth.

  “Okay,” he said with a deep breath. “Let’s make these last interminable minutes of school as painless as possible. I have potentially valuable prizes for right answers. Who is—”

  His classroom door burst open and Ty’s dad stomped inside. Ty gaped at him for a full count, before he managed to sputter, “Dad?
What are you doin—”

  “Did you know?” Henry Timberlake interrupted. “Did you know she was just going to use the store and then sell it?”

  He could only be talking about Kari. In truth, Ty had been waiting for someone to spring the news on him. He just hadn’t expected it to come from his dad. Yet with the snow and the good cheer and that little white card he’d been carrying around like a love sick boy—your wish has been granted—he’d hoped.

  He’d hoped she’d choose him.

  “She’s really leaving?” he said numbly.

  “Leimann’s Department Stores bought her out,” Henry spat. “Now she’s moving on. Who cares about Timberlake’s? Certainly, not you.”

  “When?” Ty asked.

  “Sounded like it just happened. I can’t believe you didn’t say something, if you knew.”

  Ty gave a bitter laugh. “To you? You didn’t even tell me you’d sold the place. You haven’t had a nice word for me in years. Why in the hell would I come to you with anything?”

  A collective gasp whispered through the classroom. Profanity—loved by all teens—was against SBHS’s zero tolerance rules.

  “Sorry,” he said.

  “We got your back, Mr. T,” Josh assured him.

  Henry looked at Josh and the rest of the class with surprise. Had he taken the roomful of students for cardboard cutouts? Of course, they were listening.

  “You’re Johnson Riley’s oldest, aren’t you?” Henry said, eyeing Josh suspiciously.

  Josh nodded.

  “He can’t keep his nose out of other people’s business either. You can tell him I said so, too.”

  “Dad,” Ty said. “Dial it down.”

  Henry scowled. “Are you just going to let her pack her bags and go away?”

  Again, no doubts who he meant.

  “It was her choice.”

  And she’d chosen her dreams. He got that.

  Didn’t stop it from hurting like hell, though.

  “I thought I raised you better than that,” Henry said.

  “Better than to respect a woman’s choices?”

  “Better than to stand there with your head up your—” He paused, looked at the avid audience and scowled some more. “Don’t you all have better things to do? Get out your homework or something.”

  “There’s no homework,” Josh said. “It’s the day before Winter Break, man.”

  And there were still thirty-two minutes of class to go. They were going to be long ones, too.

  “Dad,” Ty said, interrupting before this got completely out of hand. “I have class and, as you can see, they’re eager to listen up and learn something. If you want to talk, let’s have dinner. Now, is not the time or place.”

  And that’s when the door flew open again and yet another unexpected visitor burst into the room.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The drive from the Wish Tree to the high school wasn’t far, but the snow, made the freshly plowed streets slushy and slick. Fat, bedazzled flakes flurried from a sky so low, it seemed mystical. Kari’s wipers worked overtime, but couldn’t begin to combat the silent attack. She was white-knuckled by the time she pulled into visitor parking. Filled with the overwhelming fear that she’d waited too long to figure things out, that she’d better hurry or she’d be too late, Kari jumped out of the car and sprinted across the lot until she hit an icy patch and almost ended up on her ass.

  She took a moment, a breath, and then calmly—carefully—made her way to the door. The holiday decorations looked a little worse for the wear, but the counter just inside the office had three plates of cookies next to a boom-box merrily playing Cossack Dance from the Nutcracker. The music had an urgent beat Kari felt deep inside her

  Marianne looked up when Kari walked in. Kari remembered the first time she’d been to the school, the wild butterflies whirling in her stomach, and how warm and friendly Marianne’s smile had been when she’d greeted her.

  Marianne eyed her now, and Kari knew things were going to go a bit differently today. In her head, she heard Ty say, Small town, sweetheart. Nothing happens here that someone doesn’t know about.

  “Merry Christmas,” Marianne said with all the warmth of a snowball in the face.

  Because Kari was the out-of-town wench who’d seduced the hometown hero then cast him aside.

  “Merry Christmas,” Kari answered, irrationally struck with an ache in her chest. She didn’t know Marianne well enough to miss her smile. “I’m here to see Ty.”

  Nonplussed, Marianne said, “I guessed.”

  Right. Why else?

  “He’s teaching right now. You can wait if you want.”

  And her expression said, Until hell freezes over and starts handing out donuts. What kind of idiot breaks up with Ty Timberlake?

  “You're right,” Kari said, horrified when she realized she’d said it out loud. “I mean, why did I think staying with Ty was the wrong decision?”

  Good grief. She had tears in her voice. Tears in her eyes. She probably sounded like a crazy person, too. Marianne’s brows came down suspiciously.

  The sound of a deep voice raised in anger rumbled from the down the hall. It came from the direction of Ty’s classroom, but it wasn’t Ty’s voice.

  “Mr. T’s dad is here, too,” Marianne said grudgingly.

  “His dad?” Kari repeated. “Here? You said Ty was teaching.”

  Kari didn’t wait for a response. She started down the hall. If Henry was here, fighting with Ty in the middle of class, she’d be damned if she’d wait for permission to go in, too.

  “Hey! You can’t go back there,” Marianne said, scrambling from behind her desk to follow.

  While the Nutcracker music rose to a crescendo, Kari took off in a sprint.

  “Stop,” Marianne hollered, trying to catch up. “I said you—Wait just a minute! If you don’t stop, I’ll call Security.”

  The school security guard was outside, walking the perimeter. He’d waved to Kari when she’d pulled in. No way he’d be back in time to stop her.

  With Marianne charging behind her, Kari raced down the hall. She could hear Henry’s voice, muffled but booming as she neared Ty’s door.

  “Are you just going to let her pack her bags and go away?”

  Marianne had gained on her. The sound of their running feet drowned out Ty’s response, while in her head, the Nutcracker’s relentless bum da-da-da-da bum-dum-dum, bum da-da-da-da bum-dum-dum played on.

  Just before Marianne’s reaching fingers found Kari’s arm, Kari burst into Ty’s room, panting, sweaty, tear stained and without a clue about what she planned to say. Marianne stumbled in a second latter, red-faced and out of breath.

  A classroom full of teenagers gawked at them. They weren’t alone. Ty stared at her like she’d just beamed in from another planet, and beside him, Henry wore an identical expression. Both of their mouths were open, but neither one of them had figured out what they wanted to say yet. If not for Marianne’s labored breathing, the silence would have been complete.

  “I tried to stop her,” Marianne managed, sucking wind like they’d run a five-mile race instead of a fifty-yard dash.

  “It’s fine,” Ty said, regaining his composure before the rest of them. “I’ll escort her back out in a minute. Thank you, Marianne. I’ve got it from here.”

  At Ty’s smooth dismissal, Marianne shot Kari a poisonous look and about-faced. She didn’t close the door behind her and her footsteps echoed back reproachfully. Henry stayed where he was. So did Kari. Ty’s students watched with undivided attention.

  Way to go, Kari.

  A hasty exit would be the smart course of action, but Kari’s brain had taken a back seat to the rising lump of emotion caught somewhere between heart and throat. She had things to say and they needed to be said now, like right now. If that meant she’d be spilling her guts in front of Ty, a room full of hormonal teenagers, and one crusty old man, so be it.

  She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and opene
d mouth.

  “Wait,” Ty said.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The sight of Kari standing in his room, disheveled, face streaked from tears, and eyes glittering with emotions he wasn’t sure he believed, had completely caught him off guard. First his dad, busting in like he had every right. Now, the woman he couldn’t stop thinking of. Whatever came down next, he didn’t need the audience.

  He faced the class. “You all go home,” he said to them.

  No one moved. Nineteen minutes of class remained and, technically, Ty wasn’t allowed to dismiss them early. It was a hard, fast rule that had been implemented twelve years ago when an early release had resulted in the vandalism of the library and one broken nose. Letting class out early could be counted as grounds for termination. Ty didn’t even care.

  “I said, go home,” he said in his don’t question my authority voice.

  Still, no one was willing to give up their front row seats to what promised to be the most exciting thing to ever happen at Starlight Bend High.

  Josh—who else?—interrupted the silence and blurted, “You’ve been getting with her? Damn, Mr. T.”

  The tone held such respect that Ty nearly smiled. The kid didn’t know the half of it. Kari was everything he didn’t know he wanted. Needed. Craved like air. But if his dad was right, Kari already had her ticket out of town. She was either here to say goodbye or try one last time to convince him to go with her.

  Either way, he refused to have the conversation in front of his students.

  If he couldn’t get rid of them, though, maybe he could count on his dad, for once in his life.

  “Dad. Would you mind babysitting my class for a few minutes while I have a word with Kari?”

  Henry looked at him like he’d sprouted fangs and meant to use them. “Me? Hell, no. I’m not watching these monsters.”

  A collective gasp came from the students. Whether it was the profanity or the slur, Ty wasn’t sure.

  “Students, Dad,” Ty corrected angrily.

  “I don’t care what you call them. I came here for a reason and it’s got nothing to do with watching your . . . class.”