Christmas Kisses: An Echo Ridge Anthology (Echo Ridge Romance Book 1)

by Lucy McConnell

  She probed her still tender nose. “Maybe another day?” They walked back toward the racquetball courts. He held his crumpled and bloody shirt in his hand. Chelsea really liked the way his triceps bulged. He’d… developed a lot since high school.

  “How about some food?” Drew asked.

  “Sure.” Chelsea sent up a silent cheer. He wanted to prolong their time together. “What are you thinking?”

  “I miss Jack’s Pizza Shack.”

  “All the fabulous pizza in New York and you miss Jack’s?”

  “Something about that wood-fired stove.” He winked. “Maybe it’s something about being home.”

  They retrieved their racquets and slipped their sweatshirts on. Chelsea was careful not to bump her nose. She hoped it wasn’t swelling, but she probably looked like Rudolph.

  “I’m glad you came home.” Now if only he’d stay, but she knew that couldn’t happen, he had an amazing career and life in the city.

  “Me too.” Drew held the exterior door for her. “I wasn’t planning on it this year. Darcee begs me every holiday, but it’s… hard. Then I saw you at Kenworth’s.”

  “Me?” Chelsea hated that her voice cracked. She studied the snow piled next to the sidewalk.

  “Yeah. I wanted to see more of you again. I’ve missed you, Chels.” He opened the car door for her, but stood blocking it. He trailed his hands through the hair hanging from her ponytail, stopping at her shoulder. His fingers lingered there.

  She looked up at him and her mind went blank at the look in his eyes. This wasn’t the look of a friend saying they’d missed their buddy; this was the look of a man who was interested in a woman. “Th-thank you,” she managed.

  He smiled at her awkward response and stood back. Chelsea slid into the car. They didn’t talk on the short ride to her house. Drew pulled into her driveway and she jumped out before he could come around and open her door.

  “I’ll be back in twenty minutes,” Drew said. “Is that enough time for you to shower and primp?”

  Chelsea laughed and was happy it wasn’t too shaky. “You know me, I don’t primp.”

  “One of the many things I love about you.”

  Chelsea shut the door and ran toward the house. She had no clue how to respond to Drew touching her so gently, saying he’d missed her, and saying there were things he loved about her. Not that he loved her, loved about her, yeah, that was it.

  Drew was prompt in his return. As they drove to the pizza parlor, they laughed about her taking herself out with a racquet and him having to hide from the police if she revealed his past with explosives. It seemed that everything was back on solid footing and any romantic notions of him saying he’d missed her or her ogling his chest were forgotten.

  Chelsea inhaled the warm scent of baking bread and cheese as they entered Jack’s Pizza. Her nose throbbed, but hadn’t swollen much thanks to some ibuprofen she’d downed and an ice pack held on her nose for a few minutes while she waited for Drew.

  She took her coat off and sighed with pleasure. “I forget how good this place smells.”

  “What!” Drew’s head came up and he stared at her. “You don’t come here every Friday night?”

  She shook her head. “That was our tradition. Not much fun without you.”

  Drew’s mouth came open, but the young, blonde hostess showed them to their table before he could speak. They’d barely picked up their menus when her student, Mason, set waters, breadsticks, and their delicious Alfredo dipping sauce on the table.

  “Hi, Ms. Jamison, thanks for coming in tonight.”

  “Hi, Mason. Drew hasn’t been here for a few years and thinks he can do The Chuckwagon Challenge.”

  Mason’s eyes widened. He glanced over at Drew, seeming to measure him. “That’s impressive, sir.”

  Drew opened his mouth to speak, Chelsea cut him off. “And I’ll have a house salad and a slice of The Cozumel.”

  “Sounds great. Just water to drink?”

  “Yes,” Chelsea said.

  “I’ll take a Dr. Pepper,” Drew spoke up. “If it’s okay with the lady.” He arched an eyebrow at Chelsea.

  Chelsea nodded mockingly.

  Mason smiled. “I’ll get that order in.”

  “So you think I can eat an entire Chuckwagon pizza?” Drew asked.

  Chelsea laughed. “You did it in high school.”

  “I don’t have quite the appetite I did in high school.”

  “So you’ll have a few slices left over.”

  “Darcee will cuss me for bringing grease into her home, but Jake will love me.”

  “Who doesn’t?” Chelsea blushed and took a long drink of her water.

  Mason brought Chelsea’s salad and Drew’s Dr. Pepper. “Let me know if you need anything else,” he said.

  “This is great, thanks.” Drew broke off a slice of the garlic breadstick and dipped it in Alfredo.

  Mason smiled and rushed off to help another table.

  “Seems like a nice kid.”

  “He’s one of my favorite students,” Chelsea said. An idea formulated so quickly she knew she had to go with it. “Hey. Keira called me about helping Mason and his family out for Christmas. I put his name on The Hope Tree but The Christmas Council, Keira, and I all feel like the entire family needs a lot of help for Christmas and stocking them up with essentials like food and clothes that could last awhile. Would you be interested in doing it with me?”

  “Um, sure.” He licked his lips and studied the table.

  Chelsea swallowed and shifted in her chair. She’d made Drew uncomfortable but she didn’t know why. The Drew she knew was always helping everyone out. “It’s okay, I can do it on my—”

  “No,” Drew interrupted her and placed his hand over hers. “I would actually love to help, I just haven’t done Christmas for a few years, you know?”

  Chelsea nodded. “Because of your parents?” The car accident had been a couple days after Christmas. Of course this time of year would be hard for him.

  “Yeah. I always send presents to Darcee, Jake, and the boys, but besides that I pretty much ignore the holiday. This would be really good.” He rushed on before she could ask anything deeper. “Tell me about Mason and his family. What is he into?”

  Chelsea gave him the info she knew about Mason’s mom and sisters and the suspicions of an abusive stepdad. “Mason loves lacrosse,” she continued. “I watched him play a couple of times and he was unreal. Chayton thinks he should get a scholarship, but he said it’s really hard to get D1 schools interested if you don’t get on the right comp teams or go to recruiting camps.”

  “We definitely need to help him,” Drew said. “A scholarship for a kid like that could make the difference of an amazing life or working at a pizza parlor forever. I know my basketball scholarship is the only way I would’ve been able to go to school. Well, until my parents… well, you know.”

  Mason brought Chelsea’s slice and Drew’s huge pizza. They both laughed at the impossibility of Drew eating the entire thing.

  Drew savored a few bites before asking, “Wasn’t that Chayton guy the lacrosse coach?”

  “Yeah.” She hid a smile at the way he seemed to grind out Chayton’s name.

  “Could you call Chayton and get the name of the comp team Mason should be on, and maybe the recruiting workshops he could go to this year?”

  “Sure.” Chelsea appreciated that even though there was obvious animosity between Drew and Chayton, Drew was willing to put it aside to help Mason.

  “What year is Mason in school?” Drew asked.

  “Junior.”

  “Then we need to jump on it. A lot of colleges recruit junior year.”

  Chelsea blinked back the moisture in her eyes. She’d planned on using money she had saved to buy clothes, toys, and food for Mason’s family. Drew was taking this to the next level. She pulled out her phone and called Chayton. He gave her a list of names of nearby recruiting camps and his top two choices for competitive teams.

&
nbsp; Drew slowly chewed a bite of pizza, watching her as if gauging her reaction to Chayton.

  “I’ll put together a highlight video for him and email it to you,” Chayton said, “plus my recommendation as his coach. Tell them you’re doing this as a teacher because of what an amazing student athlete he is and I can help you with all the forms. Luckily, his grades are right there. Some of them will want me to email them my recommendation directly. You’ve done this with basketball so it shouldn’t be too different.”

  “Yeah, it’ll be great.” She smiled at Drew across the table.

  “Also, he told me that his four-year old sister loves all things girl, but the two-year old is a tomboy and loves lacrosse. I’ll buy her a small stick and I want to buy Mason something extra,” Chayton said. “I’ll bring it by your house before Christmas Eve.”

  “Thanks, Chayton.”

  “No, thank you. This is a great idea.”

  She ended the call and had to wipe at her eyes. “Thanks, Drew.” He squeezed her hand and they were both grinning like idiots when Mason came to check on them and was shocked that Drew was on his first slice and Chelsea hadn’t touched her salad or her pizza.

  THE NEXT WEEK FLEW BY WITH SCHOOL, an away basketball game for her team on Tuesday, and some time spent playing basketball with Drew and scheming what they were going to do for Mason’s Christmas. Every day she had lunch with Chayton, who was a huge help planning for Mason’s surprise. It was great that both he and Drew were so willing to help.

  Thursday night her girls had a home game against Adirondack High. Both teams came out fighting. Adirondack had won the contest by one point last year and Echo Ridge definitely had something to prove. With twenty seconds left, Echo Ridge was down by two points and on defense. Chelsea’s stomach churned as she clutched her hands together and yelled for her girls to foul someone, anyone. Jamie knocked the ball out of an Adirondack girl’s hands and came up with it clean.

  Chelsea screamed in elation then immediately asked for a timeout. Jamie yelled to the ref and put her hands in the T position. The ref blew his whistle and her girls ran to the sideline, jumping in their excitement at a chance to tie the game up.

  Chelsea outlined a quick play that would get the ball into the hands of their high-points player, Jamie, who would draw in the defenders as they’d assume she was shooting a three, but then she’d pass it underneath and they’d hopefully get an easy shot to tie it up. Overtime was much better than losing.

  The referees called the teams back from the timeout and Chelsea’s apprehension ratcheted up. She bounced in her spot, still clinging to the white board where she’d scribbled the play. Sadie passed the ball down the court to Jamie and the seconds were ticking off as the crowd shouted, “8, 7, 6…” Jamie moved to throw to Izzy and her defenders dodged at her, but then Jamie pulled back and shot as one of the defenders slammed into her.

  The shot bounced off the rim and the buzzer sounded. Chelsea’s heart sank, but she screamed for a foul along with the rest of the Echo Ridge fans. The ref signaled for foul shots. Jamie looked back at Chelsea and grinned. Chelsea should’ve been frustrated that her player didn’t follow through with the plan but that was the hallmark of a great player— they knew when to improvise.

  Jamie stepped up to the line and sank the first shot. Chelsea felt like she could hardly breathe. The entire gym seemed to be holding their breath. Jamie sunk the second shot and the Echo Ridge fans exploded as the Adirondack fans groaned. Chelsea’s shoulders lowered an inch.

  The ref tossed the ball back to Jamie for the third shot. Adirondack fans started howling for her to miss it while the Echo Ridge fans stood coiled with energy but trying not to make a sound. Jamie had her characteristic smile on as she tossed her curly ponytail, dribbled a few times, shot, and sank it perfectly through the hoop. The gym erupted in shouts of joy.

  Chelsea jumped into the air and didn’t stop cheering until her girls ran to her and picked her off the ground. They bounced in circles in a huge group hug before Chelsea calmed them down enough to organize a cheer for Adirondack. Chelsea took her time telling each of the Adirondack girls and their coaches how great they played and thanked them for coming. She finally made it back to her girls and they all had to hug and laugh together for a while. They finally disbanded to greet friends and go shower. Chelsea reminded them no practice until after the New Year. The next three weeks were blackout and this was such a perfect way to start that break. They’d all come back energized and ready to work harder than ever.

  Numerous fans came by to congratulate her, including her mom and dad who never missed one of her games. She walked with her parents toward the exterior doors, receiving more congrats as she went. Suddenly, a deep voice said, “Hey, Coach, great job.”

  Chelsea turned to face Drew; equal parts surprised and elated that he would be here. She tried to remind herself that he loved basketball and would enjoy watching a rivalry game, but this felt more personal. Plus, he looked fabulous in a long-sleeved t-shirt that stretched across his broad shoulders and Levi’s encasing his long legs. Some men just wore tall well.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “Fun game.”

  “For us.” She grinned.

  Drew turned to her parents, shaking her dad’s hand and accepting a hug from her mom. Her mom gushed over how great it was to see him and how he needed to come by the house. Drew handled it all very graciously until Chayton joined their circle and wrapped his arm around Chelsea. She wanted to elbow him away, but they were friends and it wasn’t unusual for Chayton to give her a side hug. But why did he have to do it in front of Drew and her mom of all people?

  “What a game,” Chayton said then greeted her parents.

  Drew scowled at Chayton but plastered on a smile when Chelsea’s parents said their goodbyes and sauntered away. Neither of them tried to hide their grins at seeing their little girl with two eligible men. Chelsea dreaded the phone call she was going to get tonight from her meddling mother. She thought of Drew missing his parents and felt instant chagrin. Her parents were great and they were here for her.

  “We still on for lunch and dinner tomorrow?” Chayton asked, squeezing her shoulder and glancing briefly at Drew.

  Chelsea swallowed and forced a smile. “Yep. See you then.”

  “Looking forward to it.” Chayton nodded to Drew and then walked away.

  “Thanks for coming,” Chelsea said, hoping to preempt any discussion about Chayton and their date tomorrow night.

  “My pleasure. It was fun to watch you coach. I’ve never seen you that excited.”

  She blushed. “Did you watch me or the game?”

  “You.” His gaze said he wasn’t lying. “You want to go to Fay’s and grab a milkshake?”

  Chelsea smiled, so many memories shooting through her head of going with Drew to get milkshakes after either of them had a home game. Even though he’d dated lots of girls, he’d always reserved milkshakes after games and Friday nights at Jack’s for her. The thought warmed her.

  “How could I turn that down?”

  Being at Fay’s with Drew and most of her students felt a little too reminiscent of high school. She used to love coming to the fifty-themed diner with Drew but inevitably one of the frou-frou girls would interrupt and pull him away. He’d give Chelsea a little shrug and a grin as if to say, What’s a guy to do? It always reinforced that they were only friends or “buddies” as Drew would say.

  They talked and laughed about old memories as she savored her raspberry cheesecake shake and he downed his chocolate peanut butter. Chelsea had a hard time not bouncing in the plush fake leather seats like she used to do and ignoring the stares and whispers from the students around them. It was like she was back in high school and the girls were all saying, What’s he doing with her? She doesn’t even wear eye-shadow.

  She wondered if the old insecurities would ever die.

  “Do you ever see yourself leaving Echo Ridge?” Drew asked.

  Chelsea set her spoon do
wn on the shiny white table as her stomach tumbled. Was Drew just making conversation or hinting at something more, and how was she supposed to respond? “I left for college.”

  He swiped a bite of her shake. “That’s good. I know, but now you’re settled here, until what, they bury you?”

  “Bury me next to my mom and pops.”

  Drew grinned. “You’re evading.”

  Chelsea sighed. “I don’t know. I’m happy here.” She was much happier with him here, but how did she beg him to stay and give up his life in the city?

  Drew studied her with an intensity that caused her stomach to erupt in butterflies.

  “What about you?” she asked to stop his perusal of her soul.

  “Me? I already left.”

  “I mean. Would you ever want to come back?”

  “I don’t know.” He grinned. “If the sporting events are all as good as tonight’s I might consider it.” He stood and grabbed their garbage. “You done?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Shame to waste that perfectly good ice cream.”

  “Eat it then.”

  He took a couple of bites then groaned and said in a falsetto voice, “I’m going to hate myself at the gym in the morning.”

  Chelsea laughed and pushed his arm. “You are such a girl.”

  “Ha! Can still kick your trash on the court.”

  “Cannot.”

  “Can.” He took her hand and escorted her out of the building and to her car. She snuggled into her coat. The icy wind cut right through her.

  “Thanks for the shake,” she said.

  “Anytime. So the big date’s tomorrow night?”

  “I wouldn’t call it big.”

  Drew gave her a sad smile. “Well, have fun. Remember who you are and who you’d rather be dating.” He pointed to himself and mouthed, Me, then he opened her door and ushered her inside.

  Chelsea started the car and turned up the heater, but didn’t drop it into gear. She watched Drew walk to his sport utility. What was that? Were they just buddies or was Drew ready to date her? Did he want her to say she’d move away from Echo Ridge? Would she? Her head hurt from the confusion, but she knew Drew was right, she would rather date him. If only she could be certain what his intentions were. How did she ask the man she’d loved since adolescence to commit for life without scaring him away?