by Debbie Mason
“Thank you for reminding me because I’d totally forgotten that.”
Cat smirked, then handed Chloe her phone. “He knows you’re upset. All you have to do is call and apologize.”
Now that was a problem. “I went too far. I shouldn’t have broken up with him when I was angry and on the phone. But I don’t owe him an apology, Kit Kat. He owes me one.”
Cat held up her hands. “Okay, I didn’t hear the entire conversation, so you and Easton will have to figure that out on your own. But Chloe, for everyone’s sake, can you please just do as Gage asked? Maddie was heading up the committee, but she hasn’t been feeling well, and Gage is worried about her.”
After listening to their story, Chloe had become somewhat invested in the couple’s happiness. “Is it serious?”
“She’s pregnant.”
“How nice. Connor, Lily, and Annie must be excited.”
Cat stared at her. “You remembered their names.”
“Of course I know their names, Kit Kat. They’re our step-nieces and -nephew now.” Until she’d listened to the book, she’d never remembered their names before. She supposed it had been her way of leaving Christmas and her bad memories in her rearview mirror. She never let herself get sucked into the town’s drama. She stayed above the fray and far away. And here she was stuck right in the middle of it.
“Speaking of nieces, Skye and Ethan aren’t happy you haven’t dropped by to see them and Evie.”
“I thought I was supposed to see them at the barbeque on Saturday night.”
Her sister grinned. “They couldn’t make it. Skye’s sick, too. And they have some news they want to share.”
“They’re pregnant, too?”
Cat raised her hands. “You didn’t hear it from me.”
Chloe was happy for the parents-to-be, but she couldn’t help feeling a little jealous. As the years flew by, she was beginning to think she’d never have a baby of her own. She wondered if Cat felt the same. Probably not, since she already had a ring on her finger.
Chloe hugged her sister and waited until Grayson disconnected from his call, then bent down and blew him a kiss. “Bye, my favorite brother-in-law-to-be.”
He winked at her. “If you need backup at the meeting, give me a shout. You’ve got my number.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“You’re going to the meeting then?” her sister asked.
“Yes, I am. And I’m going to sit there and not say a single word.”
“Chloe!”
* * *
Chloe slunk down in the driver’s seat of her Mustang in the parking lot of Christmas High. She watched the women walk beneath the caramel-colored brick arch to enter the double doors of the school. Suddenly overcome with a feeling of impending doom, her heart beat triple time against her ribs. Lightheaded and disoriented, it took a moment for her to realize she was having a panic attack. Once she did, she tried one of the strategies she’d found online, distracting herself by counting backward from a hundred by threes. It wasn’t working, and it became more difficult to breathe. In an effort to calm herself, she put her hands over her mouth. That didn’t work either. Now her ears were ringing. Then she realized it was her phone. She fumbled for it in her purse. She needed help.
“Hello,” she said, her voice a strangled rasp.
“Chloe, where are you?” Easton asked. He sounded angry, but it didn’t matter. She pressed the phone tight to her ear as though she could absorb his strength.
“In my car. Parking lot at the high school. Can’t breathe.”
“Okay, just sit back and relax. You’re going to be fine. You know it’s a panic attack. You talked yourself out of one before, you can do it again.”
“It’s worse. Feel sick.”
“Pretend I’m there with you, that I’m holding you in my arms. I wish I was, you know.”
“I wish…you…were, too,” she whispered, still having a hard time catching her breath.
“We’re not over, Chloe. Not by a long shot. I’ll be home tomorrow, and we’ll talk.”
“That’s what you said…last time, and then you went out…with Brandi. She’s here, you know. I saw her walk in the school…with her posse. I can’t do it, Easton. I know you want me to, but I can’t. I’m having a panic attack, and I haven’t even gone in the school yet.”
“Good girl. You did it.”
“What are you talking about? I just told you I haven’t been inside the school. I’m going to embarrass myself. I’ll start sweating and—”
“I am listening. Your breathing’s evened out. Your panic attack is over.”
“Oh, I-I didn’t notice.” She hated the attacks. They embarrassed her and made her feel weak. How could Easton want to be with her?
“Hang on a sec.” There was a long pause before he came back on the line. “Listen, I was calling to say I’m sorry. When you started talking about suing Gage, I got mad. But it—”
“I understand. He’s your brother, and I shouldn’t—”
“Chloe, would you mind letting me finish?”
“No, but I just wanted you to know I’m not suing. And even though it’s unfair, I was going to chair the committee. But now, after this—”
Easton cut her off with a sigh. “Can you give me a minute here? What I’m trying to tell you is that I wasn’t thrilled you threatened to sue Gage, but it’s not why I was mad. I was mad that you keep sabotaging yourself. You get your feelings hurt because you think everyone in town hates you, and then you pull crap that makes them hate you. Maybe hate’s too strong a word.”
“I prefer despise. It doesn’t sound as harsh.”
Easton laughed at the same time someone knocked on Chloe’s fogged-up window. “Just a minute,” she said to Easton, then rolled it down. It was Gage and Madison’s oldest daughter. “Hello, Annie.”
“Hey. Uncle E told me to come and get you and show you where the meeting is. He figured you haven’t been here for a long time and wouldn’t remember where to go.”
“Thank you. That’s very nice of you. I’ll just be a minute, all right?”
Annie shrugged. “Sure.”
Chloe smiled and rolled up the window, swallowing past the wedge of fear in her throat. She put the phone to her ear. “Annie’s here.”
“I heard. She’s one of the student reps. She’ll be attending the meeting, too. If you don’t want to go, I’ll call Gage. Get him to assign you to something else. But Chloe, I think you should.”
“Of course you do. Conquer your fears and all that, I get it. I just don’t know if I can, Easton. I’m sure this will sound stupid and immature to you, but I don’t want to save Christmas High.”
“The girls bullied you, Chloe, not the school. They’re women now, and life’s knocked a few of them around. Hopefully that’s knocked some sense in them. If it hasn’t, that’s their problem, not yours. Don’t let them get to you. Call me after your meeting.”
“All right. Thank you for calling and sending Annie.”
“Wouldn’t be much of a white knight if I didn’t look after my girl, would I?”
“You know Ty’s nickname for you?”
“Small town, remember?”
They said good-bye, and she reluctantly disconnected. She didn’t want to get out of the car, but she’d already kept Annie waiting long enough. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you.” She apologized to the teenager, then shut the door and beeped the lock button on her key fob.
“It’s okay. I know you don’t want to be here. I overheard my mom and dad talking. They didn’t know I was listening.”
“I’m sorry you had to hear that, Annie.” She didn’t know what else to say. She wasn’t going to pretend it wasn’t true. If Annie was in the meeting, she’d find out soon enough.
The young girl shrugged. “I’d probably feel the same if I were you. I was bullied in eighth grade, and I didn’t want to come to school either.”
She stopped Annie with a hand on her arm. “You’re not still bull
ied, are you?”
“No, Mom told me I had to stand up for myself, and it worked. You should, you know, stand up for yourself. I heard what Aunt Nell did. She pulled stuff like that on my mom until she stood up for herself.”
“I know, I read about it in The Trouble with Christmas.” Something else that made Chloe feel better. After listening to the book, she no longer took Nell’s attacks personally. Well, mostly she didn’t.
Annie held open the door, and Chloe forced herself to walk inside. The common area’s beige tiles were polished to a high sheen. Sunlight streamed through the domed ceiling while potted plants and comfortable-looking brown cushioned chairs decorated the space. To the right was the secretary’s office. There’d been two when Chloe attended Christmas High. Behind that the principal’s. She’d spent more time in the nurse’s office than Mr. Lowry’s.
Classes were dismissed at three, but there were still students hanging around. A couple of them waved at Annie and said hi, looking at Chloe with interest. One of the girls appeared to recognize her and shyly approached. “Can I have your autograph?”
Chloe smiled. “Of course,” she said, taking the proffered glitter pen and signing the girl’s notebook.
Before long, a crowd gathered around them, and Annie, looking at her with a mischievous gleam in her eyes, said, “Chloe’s taking my mom’s place. She’s the new chair of the Save Christmas High committee. Isn’t that great?”
Chloe narrowed her eyes at the teenager who she was beginning to think had inherited a manipulative gene from her great-aunt Nell. But she didn’t get a chance to refute Annie’s statement because the students began talking at once. They relayed their thoughts about their school and why it should be saved. While they did, Annie stood off to the side texting and occasionally taking pictures of Chloe.
She heard from them all: members of the football team, debate team, drama club, and band. They were wonderful kids who obviously loved their school and their friends. Friends that would be, Chloe learned, separated, in some instances, by the new boundary lines being drawn up so as not to cause overcrowding at the other schools.
She happened to glance at the clock on the wall and realized they’d been talking for more than thirty minutes. “It’s been lovely meeting you all, but I don’t want to be late for the meeting.”
As she started to walk away, the boys and girls invited her to come and watch their respective teams. “I’ll try and—” Chloe began before Annie interrupted her.
“Text me the times and dates, and I’ll make sure Chloe is there,” her self-appointed social secretary said.
Chloe crossed her arms and tilted her head. Annie grinned, then shrugged. “Christmas High isn’t how you remember it. If you get to know everyone, you’ll want to help save the school.”
“You’re pretty smart, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, Dad says I take after my uncle E. He helps out at the football practices when he can, so you’ll want to go to those,” Annie informed her as they walked down the hall. “Computer club, too. And you should definitely try to make a rehearsal for the drama club. They’re really good.”
Chloe heard a whooshing noise. It was the sound of her getting sucked into Christmas. “Send me the details, and I’ll try to make it,” she said, stopping in front of the glass cases that held the athletic trophies. The McBride boys had their names on more than their fair share. Her brother and sister did, too. Chloe pressed her nose to the glass to get a better look at the football trophy from their final year of high school. Easton had been captain and star quarterback of the team. Cat had been head cheerleader. They were voted prom king and queen, too, but after what Chloe did, they were no longer talking at that point. Chloe didn’t go to the prom. She couldn’t face Easton. Her sister did though.
Chloe turned at the camera’s flash. Annie shrugged. “Uncle E wanted another picture of you.”
“Have you been texting and sending pictures to him the entire time?”
“Yeah.” Annie read the incoming text and rolled her eyes. “He said to tell you he likes your jeans.”
Chloe smoothed her hand down the dark denim. When Ty found out she was attending the meeting, he insisted she attempt to fit in by dressing down. He’d badgered her for two hours. She’d finally given in and picked up a pair of skinny jeans from Naughty and Nice and a long-sleeved black T-shirt with pink sparkles. She’d completed the outfit with a pair of her favorite black-and-pink peep toes.
“Do I look okay?” Chloe asked self-consciously.
Annie nodded. “Better than the dresses you always wear. You look younger.”
“Really?” Chloe said, not quite believing her. But if it was true, she might have to revisit her opinion of jeans.
Annie angled her head, then nodded again. “Doc Martens might look better than your high heels though.”
Chloe no longer trusted Annie’s fashion sense. “You sound like my sister.” She looked down the hall. “Do we have time to stop at the library?”
Annie’s eyes dropped to her cell phone. “Sure,” she said, then led the way. And as Chloe stepped into the room, it was like walking back into her past. This was the one place she’d felt safe at school.
“Chloe O’Connor, is that you, dear?” She turned to see the librarian, Mrs. Woods, behind the desk. Chloe ran over and hugged her. “It’s so good to see you,” she said and meant it. Mrs. Woods had been the one person other than Easton who she’d opened up to at school. It had been the librarian who’d encouraged Chloe to follow her dreams.
Mrs. Woods hugged her back. She smelled like books and lavender powder. “It’s good to see you, too. Your mother always lets me know what you’re up to. And I never miss an episode of As the Sun Sets.”
A pang of guilt twisted in Chloe’s chest. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Woods. I should have dropped by when I was in town. I will from now on.”
“You’re old enough to call me Vera, dear. And I’d love to see you more often, but you know the board is talking about closing the school.” The older woman looked around the room with its brick walls lined with bookshelves. “I’ll probably retire. It wouldn’t be the same working anywhere else. But you can drop by my house anytime.”
“Chloe’s not going to let them close the school, Mrs. Woods. She’s the new head of the Save Christmas High campaign.”
Chloe arched an eyebrow at Annie. The teenager gave her a smirk that was scarily similar to Nell’s.
Vera pressed her hands to her chest. “Chloe, that’s the best news I’ve had in ages. If anyone can change the board’s mind, it’s you. Your celebrity alone will have them sitting up to listen. I hated the thought of retiring, and now, because of you, maybe I won’t have to.”
Chloe glanced around the library, her eyes lighting on the table in the far corner of the room. It was where she and Easton had played chess. The place where she’d fallen in love with a teenage boy who’d been dealing with his mother’s cancer diagnosis. Chloe had been there for Easton, but the woman standing behind the desk, at risk of losing a job that she loved, had always been there for Chloe. “I’ll do my best, Vera.”
Chapter Twenty
Easton pulled up beside Chance’s log home on the lake. As soon as he got out of his truck, he heard his brother’s dog Princess barking her head off. “We’re up front, E,” Chance called out.
His brother had texted him to stop by on his way home. He planned to make the visit a brief one. Chloe was holding a committee meeting tonight, and he wanted to be there. He’d driven straight to his brother’s place from Aspen. He’d ended up having to add another two nights to his stay. Something that a few months ago wouldn’t have bothered him. Now, with Chloe in his life, it did. Easton planned to keep that piece of intel to himself. His brothers would razz him if they found out he was as whipped as they were.
Stepping back to shut the door of his truck, a searing pain shot from his knee to his foot. One more thing he had to hide: his leg was killing him after the drive. To hell with it, he thought an
d leaned across the driver’s seat to retrieve the unopened prescription bottle from the glove box. Chloe was right: there was no shame in taking the pills for his pain. He unscrewed the lid. Since he was driving, he popped only one in his mouth instead of the prescribed two. Grabbing the cold cup of coffee from the holder, he took a mouthful.
Of course his brother chose that exact moment to come around the side of the log house. “What’s keeping…” Chance’s gaze dropped to the prescription bottle in Easton’s hand, and he grinned. “About time. Guess we have Chloe to thank for you finally getting your head out of your ass.”
Great. No doubt Chance would be sharing the news with the rest of the family. “Off your game if you think Chloe has anything to do with me—” Easton began, as he tossed the plastic bottle onto the front seat.
Chance cut him off with a snort. “Right. You’ve been away for almost a week, and you’re telling me you won’t be making up for lost time with your girl tonight? If you’re not, then it’s you who’s off your game, bro.”
Since that was the plan, he could see his brother’s point. A little hard to make up for lost time when you can’t think straight with the pain. He probably should have thought about that and taken the pill sooner. Easton shut the driver’s-side door. “You wanna tell me what’s so important we had to have a meeting now instead of in the morning?”
“I wanted your thoughts on the feed that came in from the Martinezes about an hour ago. We have a problem,” Chance said, as they walked through the grass to the side of the cabin.
Easton groaned inwardly as his hope of a quick escape faded fast. He followed his brother down the stone steps and onto the patio. Vivi sat wrapped in a striped throw with her feet up on a chair, eating a…
He stopped and stared at her. “In case you didn’t notice, you have a dill pickle on your s’more.”
She grinned and wiped marshmallow from her upper lip. “I know. Chance will make you one if you want.”
“I think I’ll pass.” He nodded at her baby bump. “How’s Chance Junior?”
