by Karen Rock
She seemed hesitant, but finally she nodded. She grabbed a sweater from the back of a chair, draped it over her bare shoulders and led the way to the wraparound balcony outside her room.
She sat at the table on the heated deck overlooking the lake, with the snowy mountains in the distance, and he put a plate of food in front of her. “Enjoy,” he said, taking his own plate and sitting across from her.
She removed the lid and moaned. “Oh my God, this looks so good,” she said, picking up a strip of bacon and folding the entire thing into her mouth.
“This place is incredible,” Liam said, sipping his coffee and sitting back to admire the view—of her, not the mountains. Her long, dark wavy hair, messy and loose around her shoulders, reminded him of the girl he’d once loved. His chest tightened at the thought that he’d lost her back then—lost the one thing in his life that he’d really cared about.
“Stop staring at me,” she said, pausing with her fork in midair.
“Sorry, I’m trying to make up for eight years of not seeing you.”
She pointed her fork at him. “Enough of that. If you don’t want me to kick you out, you have to stop with the ‘good old days’ talk. Got it?”
He nodded. “Okay.” He cut into his French toast and saw her staring longingly at it. He held out his fork and without hesitation she accepted it.
Closing her eyes, she moaned as she ate it.
If she expected him not to flirt with her, she had to stop doing that. “Here. Take mine,” he said, switching plates with her. “You’re just going to eat all of my food anyway,” he said with a wink.
She laughed.
His heart soared. Man, he’d missed that sound. He hadn’t realized how much until that very moment. When he stared a fraction too long, her smile quickly faded and she turned her attention to the French toast. “So, it was you stalking me at the North Pole yesterday, right? I don’t have to be concerned that I have more than one creepy, crazy ex here?”
“Just me. I didn’t mean to creep you out with the note, I just couldn’t leave my post. I was waving to you, but you didn’t see me.”
“Your post?”
“I volunteered for a Santa shift yesterday afternoon,” he said, sipping his coffee.
The look of admiration was brief, but it was there and he clung to it. Maybe his good deed would earn him brownie points with her, which would just be a bonus. “Like your dad used to?”
She remembered. He nodded. “Sort of. Dad did it because he enjoyed it, but also because we needed the money. I just wanted to honor his memory this year by doing something he would be proud of.”
“I was sorry to hear of his passing. Julie posted the memorial service information on Facebook. I sent flowers.”
He’d been so distraught and there had been so much to do, he hadn’t even paid attention to the flowers and well wishes arriving at the funeral home, allowing the staff there to handle the thank-you notes. But now he was touched by her thoughtfulness. “Thank you.”
“Is that why you stuck around the resort? You weren’t looking forward to the holidays without him this year?”
He set his coffee on the table and leaned forward, his gaze locked with hers. “I told you why I stayed.”
Her gaze lowered to her breakfast and she looked uncomfortable as she shifted in her seat.
He sighed, sitting back again. He wouldn’t push too much, too fast. “So, Julie said you work at a family-law firm in LA.” Better to stick with neutral topics for now. She didn’t seem eager to discuss the past or the history between them. That was okay—for now.
She nodded, her mouth full of toast.
“And is the world of law as exciting as you expected?”
She swallowed. “No, but it’s as busy as I expected.”
“You look tired.”
“Thanks.”
“Not in a bad way. Just...tired.” This was the first opportunity he’d been able to get her to agree to spend time with him and already he was messing it up by insulting her.
“What about you? Julie said you’re still working for Grayson’s,” she said, taking a sip of her coffee.
“I own Grayson’s.”
Her coffee escaped her lips and shot across the table, staining his white T-shirt.
“Oh no, I’m sorry,” she said, her cheeks reddening as she reached for a napkin.
She looked so cute right then, flustered and with her guard down momentarily, that he wouldn’t have cared if she showered him with coffee every day for the rest of his life. He kept that thought to himself. “It’s fine,” he said instead, dabbing at the stain.
When he glanced at her, her gaze was locked on him.
“Okay, now you’re staring.”
“Sorry,” she said, dropping her gaze to her plate. “I didn’t know...”
He shrugged. “I’m not even sure Julie knows. Her mom used to talk to Dad sometimes, but Julie and I haven’t really been close in a long time. I was actually surprised that I was invited to the wedding.” Surprised and relieved that he didn’t have to crash it.
“So when did you buy the store?”
“Right after college. Mr. Grayson was going to close it when he retired, but when my football career...didn’t work out, I needed a new plan, so I applied for a bank loan and offered to buy the store. I later went back to college and took some business courses to figure out how I could grow the business and we opened a new location in Tampa last year. Next month we are opening one in Miami and one in LA.” He waited for that to sink in.
“LA?”
He nodded. “I’m planning to run that location until we find a manager qualified to take over, and then I’ll start looking at other places to expand.”
She looked as though she didn’t recognize him. Maybe she didn’t. He barely recognized himself from the carefree, reckless kid he’d once been. A kid with no plans to fall back on if football didn’t work out.
“Wow,” she said, sitting back and looking at the scenery. “I have to say I’m surprised...” She took a sip of her coffee before adding, “And a little bit impressed.”
Victory number two. “Yeah. I guess I realized that I needed to get my life on track after things—” He stopped when she stiffened. “So, where’s Mr. Chase?” he asked, changing the subject but unable to resist asking about her personal life. From the limited information he had gathered—okay, coerced—from Julie, he knew she was still single. He just had no idea why. She was beautiful, smart, ambitious and successful. The men in LA were probably falling all over themselves to get her attention.
She grinned. “There have been a few men interested in that position, but no one serious.” She paused. “What about you? I’m surprised to see you here alone.” She toyed with the edge of her napkin, avoiding his gaze.
“I couldn’t exactly bring a date when I only came to see you.” He was starting to sound like a broken record, and he wondered when she was going to believe him—she was the reason he was there. He leaned across the table and touched her hand on her coffee cup.
“Liam, what you and I had was...”
“Fantastic? Exciting? The real thing?”
She pulled her hand away. “I was going to say fun while it lasted but not the right thing for either of us.”
“Maybe not back then, but things are different now.”
“It’s been eight years. We can hardly just pick up where we left off,” she said, but he could tell she wasn’t firm in her rebuttal. There was a note of openness in her voice.
“No, you’re right. We can’t. We barely know each other anymore, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t start over...”
She stared at him for a long time, as though weighing his words. Too long. Long enough to move beyond spontaneous agreement and enter into reasonable thought. Long enou
gh to remember that he’d hurt her.
Damn it.
She shook her head and stood. “Thank you for breakfast, but I think that’s as far as this goes.”
“Alex...”
“I’m meeting Julie in an hour, so I think you should go now. And take the rest of that French toast with you,” she said with a small smile.
He stood. “Okay. For now.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “I let you walk out of my life without a fight once before. I’m not sure I can do that again, Alex. At the end of this week if you still think we don’t deserve another chance, I’ll accept that. But I can’t help but feel like we’ve been given another chance this Christmas and I’m not giving up on you.”
She pulled her hand away, her expression sad and full of longing as she said, “We’re both a little old to believe in holiday magic, Liam.”
CHAPTER FIVE
SIPPING AN IRISH COFFEE, seated at a small table near the window overlooking the lake, Alexis scanned the nearly empty restaurant later that morning. The View had the same dark work decor and fireplace common throughout the resort. The round-mirror accents on the walls gave the illusion of a much bigger space, but the café-style chalkboard menus and moose head on the wall created a cozy, casual feel.
Seeing her friend enter, she stood and smiled.
“Hi!” Julie said, rushing toward her. She set her oversize Gucci bag on the floor and hugged her.
“Hi! How are you?” Alexis asked as they broke away. She knew the wedding’s cancellation had a lot to do with Austin, but she didn’t want to assume anything or push her friend into an uncomfortable conversation. Julie had enough to think about and work through on her own.
“I’m good. I mean, I dragged over eighty people to a destination wedding and then canceled it, but other than that...” She shrugged, but her tone had gotten slightly higher pitched and she scanned the restaurant for a waiter. “I could use a drink.”
Alexis smiled, touching her friend’s shaky hand on the table. “Everything’s going to be fine. It was better to realize this now than after the wedding. Trust me. I know what I’m talking about.” Last month she’d worked on a case where the couple had gotten married on impulse after knowing one another fewer than six months, only to file for divorce three weeks later. That particular case had struck a chord with her and had made her wonder what would have happened if Liam had accepted her untimely, impulsive proposal.
Julie’s thin shoulders relaxed and she nodded, strands of her silky dark hair escaping her ponytail. “Thank you. It’s been a little crazy. And I’m so sorry that I haven’t been able to spend time with you.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, I don’t have much time today, either. Mom hasn’t been feeling great.”
She looked anxious and Alexis shook her head. “Please don’t worry about it. I understand. If you need anything, I’m here.” While she longed to catch up with her friend, this trip probably wasn’t the right time.
Julie offered a grateful look. “Thank you.” She folded her legs and sat forward. “I still can’t believe I won’t be getting married here.”
“Maybe someday you will. To the right guy,” Alexis said, though she was far from an expert on the subject. She’d never tell her friend, but she wasn’t convinced the right guy really existed. She stared through the window at the breathtaking scenery.
She could feel Julie studying her. “Are you okay? I may have just called off a wedding, but you look as conflicted as I feel.”
Even though their busy lives kept them apart most of the time, her friend still knew her well. “I’m fine. It’s just...nothing, it’s nothing,” she said. Her friend had just called off a wedding and her mother was sick. Alex’s minor irritation at having to spend the holidays with Liam paled in comparison.
“This nothing wouldn’t happen to be my cousin, would it?” Julie said, sounding annoyed. She shook her head. “I told him to leave you alone.”
Well, he hadn’t listened. Though, she couldn’t say she’d entirely hated their breakfast that morning. “It’s fine, really.” She paused. “Hey, did you know that he now owns Grayson’s Sports? He’s turned them into a chain.” She still couldn’t believe it. The guy she remembered hadn’t been interested in anything other than football and he hadn’t had the drive to pursue that dream. She’d tutored him for nothing. She would never have pegged him for a successful entrepreneur, yet he said he had two new stores opening in the new year. One in LA. Her heart had raced hearing that.
“I think my uncle may have mentioned it a few years ago, but with his failing health, we were never sure how lucid he was at any given time.”
Sadness washed over her at the thought of Liam’s dad being sick. The few times she’d met Arnold Holloway, he’d been welcoming and kind...a nice man. “Yeah, I was really sorry to hear of his passing. But apparently it’s true.” She bit her lip.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. After he bailed on football I always thought he’d just coasted...”
“Well, he didn’t exactly bail on football. I think he was forced to take time away from school to take care of his dad when he got sick and missed the opportunity to play for the NFL scouts. It forced him to reevaluate his life.”
Her shoulders sagged. She hadn’t known that. Granted, she hadn’t kept tabs on him after they’d ended things. It was easier to live with the memory and feel hurt over how he’d left her than find out how time may have changed him—for better or worse.
“I don’t know all the details, but apparently he was spending so much time at the hospital that he started struggling to keep up with his classes. His grades dropped, so his coach was forced to kick him off the team.”
She’d heard that his dad was sick, but she hadn’t realized how bad it was. Or how much pressure Liam had been under. Maybe she’d been a little quick in her assessment of her former flame.
“Hello?” Julie was saying, waving a hand in front of her face.
“Sorry... What were you saying?”
“I’m sorry if he’s ruining your first vacation in years. I’ll talk to him.”
“No! I mean, it’s okay. I can deal with him. It’s fine.” She curled her legs under her in the chair and reached for her coffee. His words echoed in her mind. Not giving up yet...
“You’re sure?”
“Yes,” she said as the waiter finally approached their table and Julie ordered a glass of wine.
“Well, you know I really called off the wedding to free you of your maid of honor obligations,” she said with a grin.
She laughed, almost afraid to ask her next question. “What do you need me to do?” If her friend needed her help returning tuxes or something, she could do that. Helping to dismantle a wedding was better than being part of one any day. Especially now, with her emotions on high alert.
“I need you to take my place at the Jingle Bell Run.”
Huh? “The what?” she asked carefully.
“It’s Lake Placid’s annual holiday charity run for MS. Mason and I signed up to participate and we raised a lot of money. Unfortunately, neither of us will be able to actually run the race. Mason’s gone and, well, I’m going to try the luge, if you can believe that. Besides, running it now without Mason would be odd.”
“I’m sure as long as you still donate the money, no one will care.” Running was not her thing. Exercise in general wasn’t her thing.
“They’ve assigned everyone numbers and if you don’t show up to run, the charity can’t accept the donations made by people in good faith.” Julie gave her a pleading look.
Alexis sighed. Running? Really?
“I just thought that maybe since you don’t have to wear that bridesmaid’s dress anymore you might be in a charitable mood?”
“Fine. I’ll do it,” she said with a sigh. “How long is
this run?”
“It’s just two and a half miles, so about twenty minutes,” Julie said quickly.
“For you, maybe.” Two and a half miles would take her an hour. She hadn’t even brought running shoes with her. Her boots would have to do. “Where is it?”
“The running trail starts at the public beach and goes around the lake. It’s starts in an hour.” She reached for her purse and unzipped it.
Wow, talk about short notice. “Okay. Lake Placid public beach in an hour. Got it.”
“Thank you so much, Alex.” She hesitated, taking a red sweater from the bag. “There’s just one more thing...”
* * *
THE JINGLE BELL RUN around Mirror Lake was about to begin, and Liam couldn’t help but wonder why he was standing at the starting line with the hundreds of other participants who were participating in the two-and-a-half-mile race. He reminded himself that he was doing it for charity—the event was raising money for MS that year. When Julie had called his hotel room twenty minutes ago to ask him to fill in for Mason, he’d been reluctant—he was busy with his mission to win Alex over. But in twenty minutes it would be over and he could get back to stalking her. He stretched in place, scanning the sea of runners dressed in crazy Christmas hats, sweaters and antlers.
He glanced down at his own ugly Christmas sweater and shook his head. Julie had left it at the front desk for him, but it been bought to fit Mason, so it was too tight. He couldn’t believe he’d actually agreed to wear it. His cousin owed him one.
Lifting his gaze, he blinked.
The same ugly sweater was coming toward him...on Alex. She looked about as pleased to be wearing it as he was. Huh. Maybe his cousin was off the hook. He smiled as she came closer. “Nice sweater.”
She sighed.
“How did she talk you into this?” Liam asked.
“When you figure that out, be sure to let me know.”
“You hate exercise, so she must have guilted you into it somehow.”
