Sugar And Spice (Holidays: Valentine)

by Charlotte French

  Quinn held his hand out but Lisa hesitated. Crissy fixed her with a steady look and she finally reached out to grudgingly shake Quinn's hand, her smile tight and disapproving already.

  "Well come in," she said. "Don't just stand there. The ceremony is in an hour. You were supposed to get here at least two hours ago but obviously that didn't happen and..."

  "Crissy!" Andrea said, leaning out of the kitchen doorway. Her long blonde hair, usually always carefully pulled back, now hung in loose waves around her face, softening the sharp angles of her face.

  "I need your help on something," she said.

  Lisa sighed. "Oh, don't drag her into that nonsense. She's not dressed, you're not dressed. Call another caterer, fire that one."

  "I worked weeks with this caterer, I'm not firing him. Crissy, please?"

  Quinn nudged her with his shoulder. "This is your territory, sweetheart," he said quietly. "Get moving."

  Before she could ask him to come with her, Lisa waved her off.

  "I'll take Quinn to show him where he can get changed," she said. "You two hurry up. I won't have either of you late for this wedding."

  Panic rocketed through Crissy's chest as she watched Lisa leading Quinn off into the depths of her house. Then Andrea caught her wrist and pulled her into the kitchen.

  "I'll make this quick, I promise," she said. "And Kenneth will keep an eye on Quinn."

  "What's the problem?" Crissy asked.

  Andrea pointed to the kitchen counter where her wedding cake was half-crushed and completely past saving.

  "Oh that's..." Crissy started.

  "Not good," Andrea finished for her. "And as much as I'm irritated beyond belief that this happened, it wasn't the caterer's fault. Mother got impatient and bumped into him as he was carrying it inside this morning."

  "What do you want me to do about this? There's not enough time to make another one."

  "You know food. You know food really, really well. And if that caterer doesn't impress the hell out of our mother, she will make sure he loses his job."

  "You're asking me to work a miracle here, Andrea."

  Andrea nodded. "Yes I am."

  Crissy blew out a breath, her mind spinning. "I'll talk to the caterer," she said. "You go get ready."

  Andrea raised her hand and for a moment, she hesitated, then she let her hand come to rest on Crissy's shoulder.

  "I owe you one, Crissy," she said. "A big one. Maybe more than one, after this is over."

  After Andrea left, Crissy spent a good half hour with the caterer, discussing replacement dessert options for the cake. He wouldn't stop apologizing every other word no matter how many times she reassured him that he wasn't going to lose his job over this. They finally settled on a simple, elegant dessert with chocolate, finely sliced fruit, and crystalized sugar with rose petals.

  Crissy headed upstairs and she was just zipping up her dress when Lisa pushed into the room and caught her elbow in a vise grip.

  "That man is not good for you," she said.

  Crissy twisted away. "He's perfect for me. You've only spent a few minutes with him."

  "I know men much better than you do." Lisa reached over and pinched Crissy's dress at the waist, tugging on it. "You never thanked me for that diet I sent you. Did you even try it? Or did you just ignore me? You were supposed to be at least three sizes smaller than this by now."

  "Mom," she said, looking Lisa straight in the eyes. "Leave me alone."

  Lisa blinked and pulled back as if she'd been slapped.

  "Excuse me?"

  "I said leave me alone. And don't lump Quinn in with Dad just because he walked out on you."

  "That man is using you and you're blind to it. He'll leave you and break your heart the second another woman comes into his life and catches his attention. All men are selfish, Cristina. I've been telling you that for years. This one is no different."

  "You're just saying that because you think my life is the same as yours but it's not. Quinn isn't going to leave me. He loves me exactly the way I am."

  Lisa snorted. "Did he tell you that?"

  "Every damn day."

  "Well he's lying."

  Crissy let out a short bitter laugh and shook her head. "Why? Why on earth would you think that when you don't even know him?"

  "Because you're a very difficult person to love, Cristina, that's why."

  Crissy clenched her teeth as red hot fury burst inside her chest. She pushed past her mother and out of the bedroom. She needed to get away. She needed distance.

  "Where are you going?" Lisa demanded. "I'm talking to you."

  "Not anymore. I'm done listening."

  "You ungrateful child!"

  Crissy spun around to face her. "Am I ungrateful because I'm standing up to you? Or is it because I'm finally calling you out on your bullshit after putting up with it for my whole life?"

  Lisa's hand twitched a fraction of a second before she raised her arm and sent a stinging slap across Crissy's face. A rush of cold washed over the heat blazing through Crissy's veins and she reached up to touch her burning cheek.

  "I've made dozens of sacrifices for you," Lisa hissed. "And you've thrown them away, over and over. You never listened to me. You never thanked me. After all I've done for you, a little appreciation would go a long way."

  Crissy was shaking despite the resolve surging through every inch of her body now.

  "All you've done for me," Crissy replied, her voice low and trembling with anger. "All you've done for me is that I'm no good if I don't wear the right dress size. All you've done for me is to tell me that my dreams are useless because they don't match your dreams. All you've done for me...all you've done for me isn't very much in the end, is it?"

  Lisa's mouth worked open and closed in shock.

  Crissy tipped her chin up and let her hand slide away from her face. "But I'll always be grateful," she continued. "Because while you pushed me away over and over, I found people who love me anyway. They love me, even if I’m plus sized and I have no money and I bake food for a living. That's what I'm grateful for. And it has nothing to do with you."

  Crissy turned away, heading towards the door. She couldn't stay after this. She hated the idea of missing out on Andrea's wedding after they seemed to be thawing a little but she wasn't going to be in this house another second with her mother.

  Lisa's footsteps clattered after her.

  "I was the only one who ever loved you," she said. "All those other people don't really care about you. Don't come crying to me when they leave you because they will. You throw everything away. You threw away your family, a promising career, a fiancé who was good to you. And now? Now you're nothing."

  Crissy froze. Silence settled in the hallway, silence so full to bursting it was suffocating.

  There it was. That was what she had been waiting for her entire life. Those words, finally put into the air rather than simmering below the surface of her mother's actions, tainting everything she said. Crissy had always suspected it but now it had finally been said, point blank, without a doubt.

  Very, very quietly, Crissy looked at her mother.

  "Go to hell," she whispered.

  And she went straight for the door because she was never coming back here. Not ever.

  Lisa blustered and started after her. Crissy tensed, waiting for another assault, but it didn't come. Heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Quinn coming forward, the collar of his tuxedo undone, tie draped around his neck. He caught Lisa's arm and pulled her back.

  "You've said enough," he growled.

  Quinn wrapped an arm around Crissy's shoulder and together they returned to his car. She gripped a fistful of his shirt, grounding herself. The adrenaline burning through her veins was beginning to fade and she could feel herself starting to crumble with every step she took but she had to keep it together, at least until she was away from here.

  Quinn helped her into the truck and stepped on the gas a
s he tore out of the driveway. He took her hand and glanced at her but she wouldn't look at him. She kept her gaze trained straight ahead, willing herself to hold it together until she got to the safety of Quinn's house, with the comfort of Breckenridge around her again.

  After a few minutes of silence, Quinn finally spoke.

  "Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

  Crissy closed her eyes. "No."

  He tightened his grip until her fingers went numb.

  "Do you want to talk...?"

  "No. Please. I really don't."

  For the entire drive back, Quinn never let go of her hand and he didn't say anything else. He parked outside the house and helped her climb out of the driver's side after him. He kept a tight grip on her hand as they walked up to the house and into his room.

  At the foot of Quinn's bed, he turned to face her. She closed her eyes and the first tear slipped down her cheek. He wiped it away with this thumb, placing a long, lingering kiss against her forehead.

  "Why does she say such cruel things?" Crissy whispered.

  He shook his head. "I wish I knew, sweetheart."

  Slowly, Quinn unzipped her dress and peeled it away, letting it drift to the floor. Crissy slid beneath the covers and he curled around her, warm and solid and protective, his chin tucked over her shoulder, his arm around her waist, as she cried herself to sleep.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Crissy lingered in that hazy in between, not quite awake, but not quite sleeping either. The ache of exhaustion in her body was never eased and when she did finally touch consciousness, the memories flooded back to her mind in all their ugly glory and she closed her eyes, drifting off again.

  Distantly, somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt Quinn still with her, occasionally whispering to her softly, but most of the time he said nothing at all as his hands smoothed over her skin, over her hair.

  Then he wasn’t there and her heart beat spiked with panic. She pulled herself to consciousness, fighting off the bitter memories and the burn of tears that demanded to be felt all at once. She rubbed at her eyes and propped herself up on one elbow, listening for any signs of Quinn.

  Just as she pushed herself up to swing her legs off the bed, Quinn slipped into the room, closing the door as quietly as possible before he turned.

  “Hey,” he said softly. “Did I wake you? Go back to sleep.”

  She shook her head. Quinn eased onto the bed beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She let out a small breath of relief she didn’t realize she’d been holding as he kissed the top of her head and his hand came to rest against her cheek. She didn’t say anything for a minute or two, closing her eyes against the faint, sweet scent of his skin.

  It felt as if she’d been stripped raw, every nerve shredded to ribbons. She thought she was okay after the fire, piecing herself back together, only to wind up here again, exhausted and drained. The fire had taken her home, her dreams, almost everything she had worked so hard for in her life. But this…this hit deeper, struck a chord that had been frayed and close to breaking for a very, very long time. And now it had snapped.

  “How long have I been asleep?” she finally whispered.

  “Three days,” Quinn replied.

  She pulled back, startled and confused. “You’re joking.”

  He shook his head and brushed his thumb over her chin.

  “Wish I was,” he said. “You needed the rest anyway.”

  She rubbed at her forehead with the back of her hand. It didn’t feel like she’d been asleep for three days. Her body was tender to the touch and her head ached from crying. How could she have slept for three days and still feel like she wanted to sleep for three days more?

  “You’ve been here this whole time?” she said.

  He nodded.

  “But…what about your job?”

  “A couple of the guys owed me a few favors so I got some time off. I didn’t want to leave you after…all this. So you have me for as long as you need me. Or if you would prefer to be alone…I can make myself scarce too.”

  She leaned into him and his arms came around her, his fingers tangled in her hair.

  “I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” he said. “You tried to warn me and I didn’t listen. I didn’t think it would be that bad. I should have convinced you to not go at all.”

  “I knew you’d never do that. Family is important to you. And I…really wanted to be there for my sister. Amy told me not to go but…I insisted.”

  After a pause, she asked very quietly, “How much did you hear?”

  Quinn let out a long, slow breath. “Right around the time your mother said I would dump you at the first chance that came along.”

  She groaned and buried her face in his chest.

  “I wish you hadn’t heard any of it,” she said. “The things she said about you…”

  “You were the one who took the most damage in all this. Don’t worry about me, Crissy. I can handle it. ”

  A hot flash of anger surged through her chest and she pulled back.

  “I don’t care,” she said. “You shouldn’t have to handle it. You have been nothing but gentle and supportive and you’ve loved me in a way I never could have dreamed of. She had no right to say those things to you because they weren’t true, none of them. And after all you’ve done for me, you don’t deserve those words she put into your head. I’ve lived with her words in my head for years and I never, ever wanted that for you. I never…”

  Her voice broke and she sucked in a breath of air through the tightness in her throat.

  “All right, I hear you, sweetheart,” Quinn said, cupping her face in his hands. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not,” she said, her voice shaky as she curled her fingers over his wrists. “It’s not okay. It’s so far from okay right now.”

  “I know, I know.”

  “Please don’t believe a word she said about you. Because she’s wrong. She doesn’t know the first thing about you and she has no right to judge you like that. Please.”

  “Consider it already forgotten,” he said, drawing her into his arms again.

  She huffed a bitter laugh. “Her words never go away once they’re in your head. You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

  He smiled slightly as his hand came to rest at the back of her neck, his mouth resting against the top of her head.

  “Yeah, maybe a little bit,” he said. “I don’t like to see you so upset.”

  She closed her eyes with another sigh as she listened to the steady thrum of his heart beat, the even rise and fall of his breathing.

  “She was wrong about you too, you know,” he said.

  Crissy said nothing and her fingers tightened against Quinn’s back.

  “You are everything to me, to Amy,” he continued. “Just because your mother can’t see what you’re capable of because it doesn’t fit what she wants doesn’t take anything away from the incredible, caring, kind person that you are, Crissy. Please don’t ever forget that.”

  She nodded. Quinn placed a hand against the side of her head, his thumb skimming over her cheek bone. He shifted until he settled his back against the wall, taking Crissy with him. She tucked her head under his chin, her fingers tracing the hollow of his throat and down his chest.

  After a few minutes had drifted by in silence, Quinn reached into the pocket of his sweats and pressed Crissy’s phone into her hand.

  “Andrea called earlier.”

  Crissy said nothing. She wasn’t ready to face Andrea. Maybe they had been getting along for a few minutes but after all this time, all this planning, Crissy hadn’t been at Andrea’s wedding after all and she wasn’t ready to deal with that mess at the moment.

  “But you really need to call Amy,” Quinn continued. “Tell her what happened. She’s freaking out.”

  Crissy grunted and screwed her eyes shut. “Not yet.”

  “Yes, now. You were supposed to call her right after the wedding and you didn’t. Y
our phone has been going off almost every hour for the past three days. I finally called her last night to tell her you were safe…but she saw right through me and she knew you weren’t okay. Instead of calming her down, I think I might have managed to get her even more freaked out.”

  “Did she threaten to cut her trip short?”

  “Yes. I barely managed to convince her that would not make you happy at all.”

  “You’re right, it wouldn’t. Did she actually listen?”

  “Only because I told her you needed to sleep. But I keep expecting her to break down my door any minute now anyway.”

  She smiled slightly at that image and rolled onto her back, pulling up Amy’s number. She blew out a breath and turned to kiss Quinn’s shoulder.

  “You’re amazing and I don’t know what I’d do with you,” she said.

  Quinn took her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm before he grabbed a shirt from the end of his bed and pulled it over her head.

  “I’ll be right here if you need me, sweetheart.”

  She nodded and trailed her fingers over his cheek before she headed to the kitchen and called Amy. The phone rang only once before Amy was rattling away at her ear.

  “What happened?” she demanded. “Why have you been completely silent for three days? Why did I get a phone call from Quinn and not you? I knew I should have stayed at home with you. Are you all right? Wait, I don’t know why I asked that. You’re obviously not all right and…”

  “Amy,” Crissy said quietly. “Slow down.”

  Amy went silent for the span of a heartbeat. Crissy drew in a deep breath as she sat in a chair at the kitchen table and pulled her knees up to her chest. Sunlight streamed in through the window, illuminating every tender spot in her body even more, especially compared to the dark, soft comfort of Quinn’s bedroom. But this was familiar territory too, with the lingering smells of cinnamon and sugar still floating in the air. This was always where she belonged, where she felt at home, at peace.

  “What happened?” Amy repeated, her voice a little more level, a little less frantic this time.

  “Everything went to hell, that’s what happened.”

  Amy growled. “I’m coming home. Right now.”