Christmas Cowboy

by Claire Adams

  Trish giggled a little. “Same for me,” she admitted. She glanced back at me. “You must know that feeling, though. When it feels like everything in the universe has somehow aligned to bring you to the right place and the right people.”

  I shook my head, as much as I might wish it was otherwise. I looked over at Mina, who was expertly working her way up Trish's legs, soothing the no-doubt sore muscles there. Tourists always pushed themselves too hard; they didn't seem to understand that Hawaii was a place to come to relax.

  “Maybe I've got a certain friend who's like that for me,” I said, and Mina flashed me a smile.

  “It must be so great, to work together with your best friend,” Trish sighed.

  I grinned, winking over at Mina. We didn't exactly work together, but they didn't need to know that. “It is great.” I agreed.

  “I'm sure you'll each find husbands at some point, too,” Richard said.

  Mina snorted, and I gave her a warning look. I knew her views on love and marriage, but she didn't need to be spoiling this couple's honeymoon with her cynicism. Fortunately, though, she just said, “At the rate, we're going, I think we're both more likely to end up living together in some elderly care home, with too many cats and too many stories!”

  “Sometimes, that's the best way to do it,” Trish said.

  The conversation moved over to their plans for the rest of their trip, but I couldn't quit thinking about what Mina had said. I knew deep down that I shouldn't have kicked Christian out of bed the night before. He had made no signs that he was going to leave, and the foundation of any relationship was trust. If I could trust him to know what he wanted, it would be different.

  But I had told him it was best that we never see one another again, and he hadn't even argued with that. I had blown it this time.

  I suppressed a sigh and tried to focus on the conversation, but there in the back of my mind, I was starting to feel guilty.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Christian

  I was doing my best to forget about work and just enjoy the fact that I was there in Hawaii, but at the same time, I knew I needed to keep up with the news so that when I eventually did return, I would know what had been happening. And there was part of me that was just curious as well.

  I took a deep breath and opened my computer, tapping away at the keys to bring up the latest. Wow, despite my absence, or maybe because of my absence, the company was doing well. Surprisingly well. Our stocks had never jumped this high before.

  I pulled out my phone, debating on whether to call Paul. But I knew he was just going to reassure me that, of course, they weren't trying to phase me out of the company or anything like that. I couldn't help thinking, though, that with these numbers, something was up.

  They were certainly proving that they didn't need me. And I could only imagine the way that things might dip once I came back if I was the reason our numbers had been so low before.

  For all that I had always maintained that I was the face of the company and that they needed me, I was starting to wonder if that was true.

  I shut the computer and set it off to the side, moving over to the pool and diving into it, keen on forgetting about work through physical exertion, if that was what it would take.

  When I resurfaced, I was surprised to see Gretchen crouching at the side of the pool waiting for me.

  “Nice dive,” she commented, grinning crookedly at me.

  I raised an eyebrow at her, pausing to tread water. “What are you doing here?” I wanted to be a bit blunter than that and remind her that she'd been the one to say that we should never see one another again, but I figured she already knew that just as well as I did.

  Sure enough, she looked a little uncertain and bashful. “I came to see you, actually,” she said. She coughed lightly. “I don't have work today, and I was thinking that I could take you to that nice place that I wanted to take you to if you were interested. It's not a place that many tourists know about, so you probably haven't been there yet.”

  I frowned at her and decided just to be blunt. “Thought you didn't think we should see one another again,” I said.

  Gretchen ducked her head a little, toying with a bit of her hair. “Yeah, um.” She chewed on her lower lip and then blurted out, “I owe you an apology for that.”

  I laughed, deciding to take pity on her. “Yeah, sure,” I said, swimming over to the edge of the pool. “What kind of place is this? Do I need to get changed out of my swim trunks?”

  “No, but you probably should throw on a shirt,” Gretchen said, obviously eyeing my abs as I pushed myself up out of the pool.

  “Think you'll get distracted otherwise?” I asked, winking at her.

  She rolled her eyes but didn't protest, and I took it that that was exactly what she was thinking. I grinned. “I've got to bring my computer upstairs,” I told her. “Should I call my driver?”

  “I was thinking we could rent scooters,” she said. “If you're comfortable with that.”

  “Yeah, that sounds fun,” I said. “You're going to have to be patient with me because I have hardly driven in the past five years or so, let alone driven a scooter, but-”

  “It's easy,” Gretchen said confidently. “And we can take it slow.”

  When we got to the waterfall, I could immediately see why she was so eager to show it to me. “Oh, wow,” I said as we walked up to it. We'd parked our scooters and had a short hike to get out to whatever it was that she had wanted me to see. Which I now saw was a cascading waterfall, with a beautiful little pool down at the bottom of it.

  “I brought lunch,” Gretchen also said, swinging off her backpack.

  I shook my head, struck by the sudden urge to kiss her. I pulled her into my arms for a moment, despite the fact that as warm as it was, we were both a little sticky from the hike. “This is amazing,” I told her.

  Gretchen smiled almost shyly up at me. “I'm glad you like it,” she told me. “I always love showing people around here.” She shrugged a little. “It's my home, and I'm proud of it.”

  “You should be,” I said, looking with wonder at the waterfall. Then, I stripped off my shirt. “Come on, let's go for a swim before we eat. I'm really hot after the hike.”

  Gretchen laughed and nodded. “Yeah, sounds like a good idea,” she said, stripping off her dress and revealing a sexy black swimsuit underneath it.

  We swam around a little and then pulled ourselves out of the water, sitting on some of the rocks next to the pool. “I can't believe there aren't more people here,” I said, looking around. To think that it was this beautiful, and yet we had it all to ourselves.

  “Yeah,” Gretchen said, smiling happily. “This is one of the best-kept local secrets, I think. During the summer, you sometimes will get tourists out here, but for the most part, I think they just stick to the beaches. So, it's a special place.”

  I munched on one of the sandwiches that she'd brought; Gretchen picked at hers a little. “I don't know for sure,” she said slowly, “but you seemed kind of down when I came to get you from the hotel. Is everything okay back home?”

  I blinked over at her in surprise. “Wow, you're good,” I said. Then, I narrowed my eyes teasingly. “How long were you watching me, anyway?”

  She laughed. “I wasn't creeping or anything like that,” she said. “But I guess as part of the massage stuff that I do, I'm pretty well-trained at noticing things like that from people's expressions and body language.”

  “That makes sense,” I said. “I guess I have that with people as well; it's what makes me so good at all the PR and stuff like that. And the actual selling part. I can always tell when a couple is ready to buy a house or not. Well, almost always.”

  “What's up?” Gretchen asked. Then, she blushed. “If it's okay that I'm asking. If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine too. But, I'm here to listen if you need.”

  I sighed. “It's nothing big,” I said. “Probably I'm just over-thinking all of it. But I have the ver
y real fear that the company doesn't need me, and the longer I'm away, the more I'm proving this to them.”

  “From everything that I've read, though, and that isn't that much, just Mina sent me some articles and told me that I'd better know at least a little about you if I was going to date you.” She paused, looking sheepish. Then, she forged onwards. “From everything that I've read, though, you're, like, the face of the company, aren't you? I doubt they're going just to get rid of you. If they were going to, they would have done it sooner; they wouldn't have just sent you on an extended vacation, right?”

  “Problem is, it's in the company's bylaws that if they want to get rid of me, they either need to disband the company entirely or buy me out. We all knew they weren't going to be able to buy me out, and of course they don't want to disband the company.” I sighed and ran a hand back through my hair. “The thing is, I always thought that they needed me. I thought that. But the longer I spend here, the more I'm starting to realize that that isn't the case.”

  “What do you mean?” Gretchen asked. “Did one of your coworkers say something to you?”

  “No,” I said. “Paul, he's one of the co-owners, one of my best friends, he keeps assuring me that they're definitely more than ready to welcome me back as soon as I've sorted things out in my life and got all the partying and stuff out of my system.” I frowned. “Thing is, I haven't even really been doing any partying here. I've gone out for a couple of nights.” I shook my head. “Anyway, that's neither here nor there.”

  “So, why are you so sure they don't need you?” she pressed.

  My mouth twisted. “It seems that in my absence, the company is doing better than it ever has with me there. I looked at the stocks this morning, and…” I shrugged.

  Gretchen shook her head. “But that could be because of anything,” she said.

  “Like the fact that I'm not there giving them bad press every week,” I said bitterly.

  “Or the fact that the country has been recovering from a recession for a long time and the economy is currently on an upswing,” Gretchen suggested. “I'm seeing better business at my shop now than I ever was before, and Mina is too. People are traveling more, and that also means that people are probably buying houses and things like that now that they actually have the money to do so.”

  I smiled over at her. “You could be right,” I allowed. “But what if-”

  “Even if you think that your bad press, as you called it, was tarnishing the company's reputation before, there's no reason why your going back to the company has to be detrimental,” Gretchen interrupted. “You gave your apology. You said that you were going to be going away for a while to get things out of your system. If you go back and you don't get yourself into those same messes that you've been getting caught up in…”

  I sighed and shook my head. “But that's the thing,” I said. “I'm not sure that I can promise that. I've been doing good down here, but once I get back, I'm afraid that I'm going to fall back into the same patterns that I've been falling into for years now.”

  Gretchen frowned at me. “That could happen,” she agreed. “Or, if you want to make a change, you know you can make that change. You just have to want it enough. If your company isn't motivation enough to clean up your act, then nothing is going to change.” She blushed. “Sorry, I know it's not my place to say that to you.”

  “No, that's fine,” I said, stopping her apologies. I reached over and squeezed her hand. “Honestly. It's easier said than done, I guess.”

  “Of course, it is,” Gretchen said. She smiled at me. “But I do think that you can do it.”

  “I appreciate that,” I said. I turned back to the water for a moment, considering. Then, I shook myself a little. “I know I'm just over-thinking things. I'm sure things will be fine when I get back there, but… Yeah.” I glanced over at Gretchen. “Thanks for listening. And seriously, thanks for bringing me here.” I laughed, feeling a bit self-conscious to admit, “I didn't think I was ever going to see you again, and that was also bumming me out this morning.”

  Gretchen rolled her eyes. “Come on. You don't have to lie to me,” she said. “I know you could get any girl on this island. You would have forgotten about me by the end of the week, if not by the end of the day.”

  I frowned over at her. “Like I said, the ‘me’ who's here is not the ‘me’ who I have been back in New York.”

  “Good,” Gretchen said, even though I could see in her eyes that she still wasn't sure that she believed me. She paused. “You know, in the spirit of continuing to see one another, there's going to be a luau on Monday that you might want to come to.” She paused. “It's going to be mostly locals. I'm going to know everyone there, and you're definitely going to be the outsider, but it will be great.”

  I snorted. “What, you don't think that the famous Christian Wall can handle a crowd of people?”

  Gretchen laughed with me. “Sorry, that's not what I meant to imply,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s just we don't get many tourists over to our luaus. But they're a ton of fun, and I like showing you my Hawaii.”

  I reached over and caught her hand in mine, lightly stroking my thumb over the back of her hand. “I like seeing your Hawaii,” I told her. “I really do.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Gretchen

  Mina hopped up onto my porch the morning after I had taken Christian to the waterfall. She wrinkled her nose when she saw me. “Reading again,” she sighed, shaking her head.

  I laughed and put a bookmark in my book, setting it off to the side. “Reading again,” I confirmed.

  Mina frowned at me, peering over at me. “You're happy,” she accused.

  I raised an eyebrow at her. “Should I not be?”

  Mina rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean,” she said.

  I laughed again and rolled out of the hammock. “So, I guess we're having brunch?”

  “Of course, we are,” Mina said, as though it was a given. “You have the day off, and I didn't see you at all yesterday. Where did you disappear to, anyway? I came all the way over here to bother you on my lunch break, and you weren't even here.”

  “Sorry that I can't always be there for you, darling,” I said.

  “But where were you?” Mina asked. “Running errands?”

  I paused. “Well, actually.” I led her through the house to the kitchen and began pulling out yogurt and fruits and some frozen hash browns that I had cooked up a few weeks before, in a massive batch. “I was with Christian,” I told her.

  Mina's eyebrows shot toward her hairline. “You were, were you?” she asked, smirking. “I thought you weren't going to see him again. How did you explain to him about having kicked him out of bed?”

  I sighed. “We didn't discuss things. I just went over there to his hotel and apologized.”

  “I can guess how eloquent that apology was,” Mina said, a grin tugging at her lips. “And then?”

  “I took him out to the waterfall,” I told her, shrugging a little. I paused. “We had a nice day together.”

  “Sex?” Mina asked, always straightforward.

  I shook my head. “No,” I said. “I don't know if I want to yet. I just want to show him the real Hawaii, if he's going to be here for a while. I can tell that he needs that.”

  “So, you're going to see him again?”

  I blushed. “Yeah, actually,” I told her. I popped a piece of peach into my mouth, chewing slowly. “I invited him to the luau on Monday night.”

  I expected Mina to look excited at that, but instead, she frowned, narrowing her eyes at me. “Are you sure that's a good idea?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “I know there are probably going to be people there who recognize him and whatever, but I don't think that's going to matter, is it? Our parties are pretty low-key, and it's not like the media are going to pop up and surprise him or something like that. I'm surprised because I don't think there's been any coverage of him since he came down to Hawaii. It's like the media
is respecting him or something.”

  “Are you stalking him?” Mina’s eyes twinkled. She was back to frowning after just a moment. “The thing is, you know that Lino is probably going to be at the luau.”

  I frowned as well. “I hadn't thought about that.” I shrugged though. “Aren't you the person who's always telling me that I need to get over Lino?” I asked. “Nothing is going to show him more clearly that we are over as me showing up with another guy, right?”

  “It's not about showing him that you're over him,” Mina said, still thinking about what she wanted to say. “Doesn't it seem kind of like you're throwing it in his face? The last thing you want is to start a scene.”

  “What, you think he's going to start a fight or something?” I asked incredulously. “I know that we have history and whatever, and I know that you think he's an asshole, but I don't think he's about to deck Christian or anything like that.”

  “Probably not,” Mina agreed. “Just…” She sighed and shrugged. “I can't tell you what to do, and you obviously know Lino better than I do. Maybe everything will be fine. But be careful. There are a lot of people on the island who still don't know why the two of you broke up and all of that.”

  “They shouldn't have to know why we broke up,” I snapped.

  Mina held up both hands. “Hey, I know that,” she said. “I'm just trying to remind you that everyone thought you guys were perfect for one another. There are a lot of people who aren't going to understand why you're gallivanting around with Christian Wall and bringing him to our local luau.”

  I frowned and then shook my head. “I just want to show him my Hawaii,” I finally said, shrugging. “Anyway, I've already invited him. I can't un-invite him now.”