Holiday with a Twist

by Shannon Stacey

  “I’m the youngest. What does that mean?”

  “You think the world revolves around you.”

  He tilted his head, as if thinking about it, and then grinned. “Not the entire world. Just my family.”

  She laughed, and then leaned forward to turn up the radio a little. It gave her an excuse to talk about music and not talk about Jason or her mom anymore. That wasn’t exactly the way to ramp up her Christmas spirit in preparation for the shopping crowds.

  She hit the scan button until she found some upbeat Christmas music, and then she sang along. Croy laughed at her enthusiasm and then joined in as the miles flew past.

  * * *

  Croy sank onto the uncomfortable plastic chair with a groan. “When I said dinner, I didn’t really mean the food court. I just want you to know that I usually aim higher.”

  Leigh unwrapped her burger and then dumped her fries onto the paper. “I’m starving and exhausted. I don’t have the energy for a where do you want to eat conversation or waiting in line for a table so, trust me, I’m all about the food court today.”

  “At least we’re done shopping. Usually I’m at the mall on the last weekend before Christmas and by the end of the day, I feel like I’ve run one of those marathons with the mud and the obstacle courses.”

  “I know what you mean. I always felt like online shopping was cheating somehow, but I was tempted this year. I would have, but knowing my luck, I’d be one of those shipping delay nightmare stories you see on the Christmas Eve news broadcast every year.”

  Croy smiled when she stopped talking and dug into her burger as if she hadn’t eaten in a week. He couldn’t blame her, he thought as he did the same. They’d hit three chain stores before arriving at the mall, where it felt as if they’d done laps.

  It had been a great afternoon. Normally he wouldn’t think that about a day of shopping, which ranked somewhere below cleaning grout on his list of favorite things to do, but it had been different with Leigh. They’d talked and laughed and helped each other find perfect gifts for all of the family members on their lists, and he couldn’t help but wonder how much more enjoyable all aspects of his life would be if he had somebody like her to share it with.

  “What?”

  He jerked his attention away from that somewhat scary thought and blinked at Leigh. “What?”

  “That’s what I said.” She grinned. “You were staring at me, so I’m wondering if I have ketchup all over my face or something.”

  “No, you don’t. I was just...lost in thought.”

  “Ah. Thinking about anything good?”

  Like maybe imagining them a few years down the road, holding hands and laughing and picking out Christmas presents for their kids? There was no way in hell he was going there. “I was just thinking that I’m glad you came in for a drink the other night. I’ve missed your friendship.”

  She leaned back in her chair, smiling. “I had fun today. Maybe not as much fun as the time we got caught trying to toilet paper the trees in Mr. Wilson’s yard and he turned the hose on us.”

  “And blew wet toilet paper all over us and it dried as we ran home.” He laughed, shaking his head. “That was the worst. You and Aubrey had so much freaking hair spray in and when it got wet, the toilet paper bits were like papier-mâché.”

  They laughed together and reminisced some more while they finished eating. It was slightly awkward at times because Aubrey was a part of every story they shared, but he refused to let it put a damper on his mood. He’d put that part of his life behind him and rarely looked back until Leigh had shown up. But now it didn’t seem as important as it once had. He’d dated a girl. They’d broken up. It wasn’t the first time or the last time, even if it had been one of the more painful.

  Way too soon, they’d not only finished eating, but their drinks were empty too, and they’d run out of excuses for taking up a table in the busy food court. There was nothing left on their lists, so it was time to go out to his truck, the backseat of which they’d stuffed with shopping bags. Then he’d have to bring her home and drop her off. With no goodnight kiss, either, since he had no doubt her parents and sister would be there, watching.

  “Did your family say anything about you going shopping with me today?” he asked once they were back on the highway.

  She shrugged. “Not much, but they gave me some looks, if you know what I mean. But we were friends growing up, so I think my mom is trying to believe the best of me.”

  “Wouldn’t it be easier just to tell her you and Jason aren’t a thing anymore?”

  She was quiet for a long moment, staring at the window, and Croy found himself hoping she’d say yes. Even though he knew Leigh was a single woman, nobody else did and it forced him to stay at arm’s length.

  “I just...” She sighed. “I don’t know. I just don’t feel up to the questions and the sympathy and what won’t be at all subtle pressure to stay here. I just want to enjoy my holiday with the family and worry about my life when I get back to Houston.”

  He nodded, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. He didn’t care for secrets as a rule, but this one wasn’t his to share, so all he could do was try to remember that she was in a holding pattern—that her life was on pause until she could get out of New Hampshire and get back to it. This was an intermission for her and whatever was brewing between them—assuming it wasn’t all in his own mind—was just part of that.

  Then she turned to face him, her mouth curved in a smile. “You know, now we have to wrap all these presents.”

  “I wish you’d reminded me of that before I bought so much stuff.”

  “I don’t usually mind wrapping, but it’s going to be a pain trying to wrap everything on my bed this year, which is the only place I can find any privacy.”

  Croy knew an opportunity when he saw one. “Tell you what. You can leave all your presents in my truck and I’ll take them to my place. Then you can come over some day before Christmas and we’ll put on a movie, make a couple of drinks and have a wrapping party.”

  “That sounds a lot more fun than doing it alone, especially since there’s no alcohol in my parents’ house.”

  “It’ll be fun,” he said, glancing over at her.

  She smiled and nodded, which made him smile in return before turning his attention back to the road. Now was definitely not the time to confess he hated wrapping gifts and usually charmed his sister-in-law into doing the chore for him.

  It was a date. Another undefined, maybe-just-old-friends date, but he’d take it. He was still wrapping his head around his totally unexpected attraction to Leigh Holloway, but he knew the only way to figure it out was to spend more time with her.

  * * *

  The next morning, Leigh was only a quarter of the way through her first cup of coffee when her family dropped the next drama bomb on her.

  “Hey, Leigh, do you have any plans this morning?” her sister asked, innocently enough.

  “No. I thought I’d start sifting through some boxes, though, since that’s what I’m supposed to be doing while I’m here.”

  “That won’t take you long since you don’t have many, so maybe you could do me a huge favor?”

  “Ouch again.” And huge favor didn’t sound good. “What kind of favor?”

  “I have a meeting with my lawyer today. It’s actually like an arbitration thing or whatever, so Tim and his lawyer are supposed to be there. I feel like it would be easier if Mom and Dad were with me. You know Tim minds his manners whenever Dad’s around.”

  “What does that have to do with me?”

  “I was going to watch TJ,” her mom answered. “But since you’re here, you can keep an eye on him and we can both go support your sister.”

  Leigh suspected that babysitting TJ meant a lot more than just keeping an eye on him. She was fully capable
of watching him if he was lying on a blanket or something. It was the feeding him and changing him and figuring out why he was crying and how to make it stop that concerned her.

  But all three of them—and Atticus—were watching her and she didn’t have the nerve to admit she would rather Hope face lawyers and her asshole ex-husband alone than babysit her nephew. “Okay, sure. You have to write down instructions, though. Like maybe with pictures.”

  They all laughed as if she was kidding, and an hour later the front door closed behind them with what sounded like an ominous thud.

  TJ was on his back on a blanket on the floor, ignoring some kind of play gym hovering over him in favor of staring at her. Atticus sat at the edge of the blanket, breathing heavily and also staring. Then the baby’s face crumpled and he let out a wail that made Leigh want to cover her ears. She jiggled a star dangling from the baby gym and it jingled, temporarily distracting TJ from his woes, whatever they were.

  She made it almost fifteen minutes alone with her nephew before she picked up her phone and sent a text message to Croy.

  Are you available to do me a huge favor?

  A few seconds later, her phone rang in her hand, startling her so much she almost dropped it. Her caller ID said it was Croy, so she slid her thumb across the screen to answer it. “It’s called texting. I text you and then you text me back. It’s how people communicate in this century.”

  “But then I don’t get to hear your voice.” She felt her cheeks get hot and was thankful he couldn’t see her. “What do you need?”

  That was a loaded question, but Leigh forced herself to stay on task. “Do you know anything about babies?”

  There was a long silence on the other end of the line. “Well, I know how babies are made. More importantly, I know how babies are not made.”

  “Funny. I really need your help.”

  “Is this some biological clock thing because you’ve been thirty for four whole months now?”

  He remembers when my birthday is. Leigh tried to shake off the thought and focus. “No, this is a my sister has an appointment with her divorce lawyer and my parents went with her because they all think I’m capable of taking care of TJ until they get back thing.”

  “And you’re not capable of taking care of him?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Did you tell them that?”

  “Not exactly.” Laughter erupted from her phone, and both TJ and Atticus looked in its direction. Leigh rolled her eyes and waited for his amusement to fade. It took a minute. “Would you want to admit you’re thirty years old and have no clue how to take care of a baby for two hours?”

  “If the alternative is actually taking care of a baby for two hours, then definitely yes.”

  “You have two nephews. Your sister-in-law is going to have a baby any minute. How can you not know how to babysit?”

  “I wasn’t around a lot when Hunter and Parker were born, so they were fairly self-sufficient by the time I took them for our first no-parents outing. And as for Carrie’s baby, they’re super low maintenance when they’re not actually, you know, born yet.”

  “You’re going to make me beg, aren’t you?”

  More laughter. “It’s tempting.”

  She would if she had to. “I don’t need you to actually do anything. I’m just really anxious about being alone with him.”

  “I can be there in five minutes, but I can’t stay the whole two hours because a surprising number of people want alcohol with their lunch and Lucas sucks at bartending.”

  “I’ll owe you one.”

  When Croy knocked on the door, Leigh took TJ with her to answer it. She didn’t really have any choice since he’d cried again and this time refused to be distracted by the baby gym, so she’d picked him up. He’d fisted his sticky hand in her hair and she’d had no luck figuring out how to untangle his fingers.

  “Thank you so much for coming. I feel so stupid, but being alone with him is intimidating the hell out of me.”

  “He’s got a good grip for such a little guy.”

  “You’re telling me. I’m supposed to give him a bottle soon and she said nothing about how to prepare it with a baby swinging from your hair like Tarzan.”

  “I’m glad you called, then. I’d hate to miss that.”

  She laughed as he closed the door and then she led the way into the kitchen. “She wrote out directions on how to heat the bottle and she wrote don’t microwave in all caps and underlined it four times, so that seems important.”

  Croy picked up the paper, which had very few words written on it for a sheet on how to keep one’s infant child in one piece. “Fill a pan with hot water and stand the bottle in it until the formula’s warm. I feel like we can handle this.”

  A few minutes later, Leigh was settled in the corner of the couch, feeding her nephew. He’d let go of her hair in order to use both hands in a death grip on the bottle, as if he was afraid she’d try to take it away. Croy sat at the other end, turned sideways so he could watch them.

  “See? You’re a natural.”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “Wait until it’s diaper time. I’ll spare you the details of the conversation about all the places poop can hide on a baby boy, but I’m not looking forward to it.”

  “Are you planning to have some of your own someday?”

  Leigh smiled down at her nephew’s little face. His dark blue eyes were watching her intently, his brow furrowed slightly as he guzzled his milk. “Someday. That was part of the plan, of course, but we kept finding reasons to put off the getting married part of the engagement process. Now I’m starting over, so it’ll be a while. How about you?”

  She looked up at him as she asked the question, just in time to catch his expression as he watched her. His dark gaze was almost as intense as the baby’s, and the corners of his mouth were turned up in the ghost of a smile. Then he shrugged and the softness was gone.

  “Sure, I want kids. Someday.”

  He’d probably have some already if not for her, she thought. “I owe you an apology. For the whole thing with Aubrey, I mean.”

  She didn’t particularly want to talk about Aubrey right now, but the opening was there and maybe once they talked about it, the past would be officially put to bed.

  He exhaled slowly. “Aubrey and I dated for four years and not once did I ever get the impression you wanted us broken up.”

  “I never wanted you broken up.” For some reason, it was really important to her that he believe that. “I was selfish, yes, but I honestly thought your relationship would survive the temporary distance.”

  When she’d come home that first time alone, because Aubrey had gone home for the break with her new man, Croy had said a lot of unpleasant things to her and she’d given them right back. Even now, the memory of some of the words they’d exchanged made her cringe. But they were older and wiser now, and they’d practically fallen back into their old friendship.

  “Why couldn’t you just leave it alone?” he asked. “Also, the paper said you should burp TJ about halfway through the bottle and he’s about there.”

  “Thanks.” She pulled the bottle out of his mouth, which wasn’t easy, and set it on the side table. Then she draped the cloth over her shoulder and held TJ the way she’d seen Hope do. “I had a hard time in Miami. I don’t know if it was being from a small town or what, but I just didn’t fit in. I had a hard time making friends and I was so lonely. But I’m stubborn and I fought so hard to attend college in Florida, so I didn’t want to admit defeat. Talking my best friend into doing two years in Miami with me seemed like the perfect solution.”

  “For you.”

  “Yes, for me.” She paused when her little nephew gave a belch that would make a drunken sailor proud. Then she settled him in her arms and gave him back the bottle. “Not in a million y
ears did I think she’d meet a guy and break it off with you. With both of us, really. She got so wrapped up in him, I was still alone.”

  “She never really looked back, I guess.”

  “I never intended to hurt you, but I did and I’m sorry.”

  “Thank you.” He winked at her. “Apology accepted.”

  “Just like that?”

  He chuckled. “No, it’s not just like that. It’s been a long time and it stopped being something I gave too much thought to years ago. And if Aubrey was able to dump me—both of us—that easily, she probably wasn’t going to stick around in the long run, anyway. But at the time I blamed you instead of her and didn’t even try to listen to what you had to say. I was hurt and I said some ugly things you didn’t deserve. I’m sorry for that.”

  “Apology accept.” She smiled at him, relieved to have that unpleasant blip in their personal history resolved. “I hope Aubrey’s happy in whatever life she’s made for herself but, other than that, I don’t give a lot of thought to her, either. She moved on.”

  “And so have we.”

  The bottle made a funny sound and she realized TJ had sucked air. Pulling the nipple out of his mouth with a pop, she set the bottle down and burped him again. She could feel his little body relaxing and, after giving her another impressive burp, she thought he might be nodding off.

  “Should I change him before I lay him down?”

  Croy held up his hands. “I have no idea. But I do know my mom was fond of saying ‘you never wake a sleeping baby.’ I imagine if he needs a diaper change, he’ll let you know.”

  Moving as slowly as she could, Leigh scooched to the edge of the couch. As she stood, one of Croy’s hands tucked under her elbow while the other pressed against the small of her back.

  Don’t drop the baby she said to herself as her body reacted to Croy’s touch. He was just being a gentleman, trying to steady her and the baby, and she knew that, but she couldn’t help being very aware of how large and warm and strong his hands were.

  “Thanks,” she whispered once she was on her feet. He let go of her elbow right away, but it seemed as if the hand on her back lingered there for a few more seconds.