Holiday with a Twist

by Shannon Stacey

  “That makes sense, I guess.”

  “And it’s not like I have a lot to do. There are boxes and boxes with your name and Jenna’s name on them, but not many with mine. I could have just come for a long weekend if not for Christmas.”

  “Really, Leigh?”

  “What? Am I lying?”

  Her sister laughed. “And you know it’s because Jenna and I played all kinds of sports and extracurricular activities and we loved art. Between the two of us, we filled this house with trophies, certificates and more arts and crafts junk than you would believe. You didn’t. It has absolutely nothing to do with me being the oldest and Jenna being the baby, you poor, pitiful middle child.”

  Leigh rolled her eyes. “Not everything is about me being the middle child.”

  “Which we’ve been telling you for your entire life.”

  “Whatever. I’m going to get myself another cup of coffee and then I’m going to take a shower.”

  She was almost to the door when she heard their mother’s voice yelling up the stairs. “Leigh? Croy Dawson’s here to see you!”

  “Oh shit,” Leigh said, and then she remembered the baby. “Sorry. Oh shoot. Crap.”

  Hope gave her a strange look. “Did you invite him over?”

  “No.” She forced herself to calm down. “Maybe he has my phone. I left it at the pub last night, I think.”

  “You should stop in the bathroom and brush your hair.” Hope just smiled at the black look Leigh sent her. “You know Mom will happily chat with him until you get down there.”

  No, there could be no chatting with her parents. She hurried down the hallway and the stairs, only to pull up short when she saw him waiting for her in the front hall.

  Hope wasn’t wrong. He was even better looking now than he’d been before, and the worn jeans and quilted flannel jacket hanging open over a gray Henley shirt suited him a lot more than the khakis and shirt he’d been wearing last night.

  And she’d left her hairbrush in her bedroom when she went into the bathroom and hadn’t gone back for it since there was nobody but family in the house. Her hair was a hot mess, her long T-shirt with the penguins on it clashed with the red plaid sleep pants she’d brought, and she’d only had three sips of coffee. At least she hadn’t been wearing makeup yesterday, so she didn’t have to worry about day-old mascara gunking up her eyes.

  “Good morning,” he said, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

  But when he looked like he was going to take a step toward her, she rushed forward and grabbed his arm. Pulling him down a short hallway into a huge closet her father had turned into a laundry room, she closed the door behind them.

  It might have been a huge closet, but it was a very small room and, with the washer and dryer hogging most of the room, it was tight.

  With barely any space between them, she tilted her head back to look up at him. “Sorry. Good morning.”

  Leigh was practically vibrating with anxiety, but Croy couldn’t figure out why. Sure, she’d been wound pretty tight when she walked into the pub last night, but now she appeared to be on the verge of hyperventilating.

  Then there was the whole dragging him into a laundry room thing. Two drinks might have gotten her tipsy enough so it wasn’t safe to send her walking home alone, but there was no way the alcohol could be blamed for what was happening right now.

  Not that he minded, particularly. She looked adorable in her mismatched pajamas and he wanted to bury his hands in her hair. Whether to straighten it out or mess it up even more, he wasn’t sure, but his fingers itched to touch it.

  “I wasn’t expecting you,” she said, a little breathlessly.

  “I have your phone.” He slid it out of his pocket and held it up. “When Dylan went to clean the bar where you were sitting, he picked up your napkin and found the phone under it. I plugged it in and charged it overnight since we have the same kind. But I shut it off first so I wouldn’t be tempted to be nosy.”

  “It has a passcode.”

  He grinned. “Yeah, but you have it set to show previews on your lock screen, so I don’t need the passcode to know some woman’s shocked you left your job and can hook you up with some contacts.”

  Leigh snatched her phone out of his hand. “Okay, so all that stuff I told you last night? My family knows none of that.”

  “I know. You made it clear last night you haven’t told them you broke off—”

  “Stop!”

  “Aren’t we hiding in here so we can talk without them hearing us?”

  “I don’t know how soundproof the door is.” She shrugged. “You didn’t have to bring the phone to me, you know. I was going to stop by later and see if I left it there.”

  “We’re closed on Tuesdays, so you wouldn’t have had much luck.”

  “Even if I knocked? It’s still your house, isn’t it?”

  “You’d have to knock pretty hard for them to hear you from upstairs. My dad and Lucas are the only ones who live there, though. Lucas moved back in after his divorce and his two boys are there sometimes. Jeff and Carrie built a house on some land her family owned a couple years back.”

  “And you? You don’t live at home anymore?”

  “You sound surprised. You do remember we’re the same age, right?”

  “Yeah, I just... I don’t know. You’re not wearing a wedding ring, so I just assumed you’re single and why not save money and live above where you work? But I guess not having an actual band on your finger doesn’t mean you’re not in a relationship.”

  “I’m not.”

  “Oh.” She had to work at not making eye contact, since they were crammed into a fairly small space together, which he found interesting.

  “I have a house over on the pond.”

  She looked up, then, her brow furrowing. “Really? Which one?”

  “It used to be the peeling white cape with the bad roof shingles and crooked dock. Now it’s the cream vinyl-sided cape with the metal roof and a not crooked dock.”

  “I can’t believe you live in that house. I remember whenever we took the canoe out, the old guy would wave to us from the dock and we were always afraid he’d fall in because the stupid thing was collapsing on one side.”

  “He never did fall in. He sold the place to me and he’s very happily living in the veteran’s home now, keeping track of which branch of the armed services produces the worst chess players.”

  “Oh? And?”

  “He says it’s the navy, but he’s a marine, so take that with a grain of salt.”

  When she laughed and then put her hand over her mouth as though to shush herself, he shook his head. This was a weird morning, since they were both a little old to be hiding from her parents.

  “What exactly are you going to tell your family if they ask what we’ve been doing in here for so long?” he asked.

  “Crap. I really didn’t mean to be in here that long, but you distracted me talking about your house. I’ll just tell them you were returning my phone.”

  “In the laundry room?”

  “I panicked.”

  That was an understatement. “I wouldn’t be a very good bartender if I went around telling all my customers’ secrets, now would I?”

  “That’s true.” She took a deep breath. “So I guess I dragged you into the laundry room for no reason. That’s awkward.”

  “No, it’ll be awkward if we open the door and your family’s all in the hallway, staring at us because we’re being weird.” He shrugged. “But I don’t mind this.”

  Her cheeks turned a pretty pink, so he knew she hadn’t missed what he was implying. “My family thinks I’m engaged.”

  “That definitely complicates things.” She nodded, chewing at her bottom lip, and he wondered if she was weighing keeping her secret ver
sus being free to hang out in the laundry room with a boy with the door closed. “You can tell them we talked about a Christmas present idea last night. I stopped by with some information and you didn’t want anybody to hear because it would ruin the surprise.”

  “Oh, you’re good at this.”

  “When you have two older brothers who love to torment you, you learn how to keep things to yourself.”

  “I still have to Christmas shop, so if you actually give me an idea, it’s not even really a lie.”

  He chuckled. “I have to shop still, too. What’s a good gift for a baby that’s not born yet?”

  “It would probably be easier to come up with ideas for each other’s family,” she said, and even though he could tell by her tone she was kidding, the words left his mouth before he could stop them.

  “We could go together.”

  “Shopping?”

  “Sure. It’s not as fun alone, and we can help each other out.”

  She looked up at him, and for a few seconds, he thought she was going to refuse. It was a little hard to wrap his head around, this shift from being angry with each other to being more like the friends they’d been before Aubrey blew it all up.

  “It’s not as much fun Christmas shopping alone,” she finally agreed. “When were you planning to go?”

  He shrugged. “We’re closed Tuesdays, so either today or next Tuesday. The other days we open at noon, so it would be a fairly early morning shopping trip.”

  Leigh wrinkled her nose. “I’m a morning person, but not really a Christmas shopping in the morning person. And next Tuesday is only a few days before Christmas, so my mom might have ramped up the preparation. Right now we’re not doing much of anything, but I don’t want to hijack your day.”

  “You’ve already kidnapped me and hid me in your laundry room. What time do you want to go?”

  “Anytime.” She paused and looked down at the cute penguins on her T-shirt. “Well, I should probably shower and get dressed first.”

  “I like penguins.” When she snorted, he laughed. “And I think the closer you get to Christmas, the lower the expectations for shopping fashion. How about two? We can shop for a few hours and then find some dinner.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Croy had to stifle a laugh when Leigh cracked open the door and peeked out into the hall. The coast must have been clear, because she opened it wide enough for both of them to get out. He didn’t see anybody else, so he opened the front door.

  “I’ll pick you up at two, then?” When she nodded, he gave her a little wave and left.

  And then he spent the drive back to his place wondering whether or not he had a shopping trip with an old friend planned...or a date.

  Chapter Four

  Leigh thought maybe she’d gotten away with her momentary lack of common sense, but as soon as she walked into the kitchen to pour herself another cup of coffee—and no amount of sisterly guilt would get her to share this one—her mother pounced.

  “Why on earth were you in the laundry room with Croy Dawson?”

  Luckily, her father had already disappeared to some other spot in the house. For some reason, he’d always been better at detecting when Leigh was being less than truthful than her mother was. “I, uh... We were talking about Christmas gift ideas last night when I went to the restaurant. He got me some information and stopped by to tell me because he didn’t have my number. I didn’t want to ruin the surprise, so we needed a private place to talk.”

  “I guess it wouldn’t have done him any good to have your number, since he had your phone.”

  “True.”

  When her mother gave her a searching look, Leigh did her best not to squirm. She wasn’t used to an intense level of scrutiny from her parents. Hope and Jenna had demanded so much of their attention what with being always on the go and their personalities that Leigh tended to just skate through life, not attracting attention to herself.

  “Is everything okay with you, honey?”

  Leigh breathed in through her nose, trying to keep her expression from showing how very much not okay she was. She didn’t want to outright lie to her mom, but she didn’t want to tell the truth, either. It would be very dramatic and they’d fuss over her and ask her a million questions she didn’t have answers to yet.

  Worst case scenario, her mom would start wondering if, with Hope and TJ staying with them and Leigh not being as settled as they’d thought, it wasn’t a good time to sell the house after all. Her mother would still have the big, old house to take care of, and her father would still be clearing snow and every other damn thing.

  “I’m good, Mom.” That wasn’t really a lie.

  “You don’t look like you’re good.”

  Thanks, Mom. “You know how it is when you’re sleeping in a strange bed. Well, not a strange bed because it’s my bed, but I haven’t slept in it in quite a while. I’m just tired.”

  “Maybe you can take a nap later.”

  “I’m actually going Christmas shopping at two. I want to get it out of the way before I really start digging into my stuff.”

  Her mother frowned. “I think your dad said it might snow today and that car they gave you doesn’t look very safe for bad weather.”

  “I’m not driving, actually. I’ll be safe.”

  “Who’s...oh.” She paused for a few moments, as if gathering her thoughts, and then looked Leigh in the eye. “You’re not getting yourself into trouble, are you?”

  She knew her mom meant by running around with Croy while her “fiancé” was back in Houston. “I’m not, Mom. I promise.”

  At least not the kind of trouble her mother was worried about.

  At two o’clock sharp, Croy’s truck pulled into the driveway. Not wanting to give him a reason to come in or give her family another chance to question her, Leigh was ready. By the time he had the truck in park, she was halfway down the driveway.

  She laughed when he got out just to cross to the passenger side and open her door for her. His truck was tall and she wasn’t, so she had to grab the handhold and step onto the running board to get in. Once she pulled her legs in, he closed the door and walked back around.

  It was a very date-like thing to do, but Leigh decided not to read too much into that. He’d been raised to be a gentleman and, after he walked her home last night, she knew he hadn’t lost those values while she’d been away. It was probably that simple.

  “So, do you want to do the medium drive to the outlet mall or the longer drive into the city?”

  “Outlet malls are usually clothing and shoe store heavy, aren’t they? Do they have a toy store at all?”

  “No, and good point. To the city it is.”

  Leigh watched her small hometown go by as he drove out of town and up the state road until they reached the on-ramp for the highway. Once he was merged with traffic and had the cruise control set, he glanced over at her.

  “So you’ve never told me what you do for work. Or what you did, I guess.”

  “I do—did—online marketing for a big clothing brand. Campaigns and interactions and whatnot. Making sure their online presence reflects their brand and is hitting the right demographics. Stuff like that. Not a fancy job, but I enjoyed it. And I was good at it, dammit.”

  “I’ve heard it’s not a good idea to date your boss. Maybe this is one of the reasons why.”

  “He wasn’t my boss when we started dating. As a matter of fact, he got his foot in the door at the company as my intern.”

  Croy’s eyebrow shot up. “You must have taught him pretty damn well.”

  “He was charming and ambitious and good at golf.” Leigh snorted. “The powers that be thought he’d be a great ‘face of the company’ in the future and he was promoted quickly. Then he got my promotion. And then another. And then he
was my boss.”

  “All that and it was the lack of kissing that made you walk?”

  She shrugged. “I convinced myself that all the traits I hated as a female coworker getting passed over were things I’d appreciate when I was his wife and we were raising a family together.”

  “Okay, but why are you keeping this a secret from your family? Engagements end and it’s only natural you’d leave the job too, since he was your boss. Do you think they’ll be mad?”

  “No, they won’t be mad.”

  “Disappointed in you?”

  She shook her head, not sure she could explain it even if she wanted to. And she really didn’t want to. “I think if Mom found out I don’t have anything tying me to Houston at the moment, she’d be on my case to come home.”

  “Would that be so bad?”

  “I don’t know. I mean, maybe I could find a job in my field that allows me to work remotely. But I’m afraid with Hope at loose ends and then me, they might reconsider selling the house. It’s hard to leave it behind, but I know they’re really excited about moving on to a new phase in their life. I don’t want them rethinking it just because two-thirds of their children don’t have it together.”

  “I can see that, I guess.”

  “There’s enough drama with Christmas and selling the house and Hope getting a divorce. I don’t want to add to it so later, when everything’s settled and I have a new job, I’ll tell them.”

  “It seems like telling them now, when you can get a hug and comfort in person from your mom, would be easier.”

  “I don’t need her wasting comfort on me. I’m fine. She’s trying to say goodbye to the home she’s lived in for most of her adult life, while her oldest daughter and baby grandson have moved back upstairs because her son-in-law’s an arrogant, cheating jerk. She can shower her hugs on Hope and Jenna. I’m good.”

  He laughed, which took her by surprise. “I remember your family teasing you about your middle child syndrome and how you try to hide being needy, but failing.”

  “I’m the middle child. I’m needy by birthright.”