I'll Be Home for Christmas

by Lori Wilde

  Joe watched Gabi leave, feeling out of sorts. He hated this situation, but he didn’t know what to do about it. He felt obligated to look after Casey and looking after Casey meant putting up with Tatum, as distasteful as that might be. If Tatum was doing okay, then Casey was okay. Gabi didn’t deserve to get sucked into his personal drama. She’d be gone soon enough. Far safer to keep things low-key and easy than to start something he couldn’t finish.

  Still, a big part of him wanted to stalk across the road, throw Gabi over his shoulder, and take her to bed again. But he was an adult now, living with the consequence of the mistakes his youthful self had created.

  He had no right to stake a claim on her, absolutely no right at all.

  Just after sunset, Emma and her friends arrived for the knitting get-together, bearing yarn, cookies, and wine.

  Gabi quickly got to know the other three women. There was Meredith, a knockout brunette who worked as a registered nurse on the pediatric ward at Twilight General Hospital. Her husband, Hutch, was former Delta Force who now worked as a carpenter making custom cabinetry. They were raising two children, Ben and Kimmie, from previous relationships, but Meredith was now five months pregnant with their first child together.

  Shannon Deavers was slightly older than the rest of the group. She was married to Nate, the retired Navy SEAL who’d pulled over to check on Gabi the day she’d arrived. Shannon ran a pet-centric boutique on the square that had once been an ice cream store named Rinky-Tink’s. She was quietly pretty with a refined air that bespoke of money. Shannon and Nate had twin two-year-old boys named Quinn and Phin.

  Christine ran the Twilight Bakery. Christine lived in the neighboring town of Jubilee and was married to cutting horse cowboy Eli Borden. Christine was unable to have children of her own because of an accident that had also left her with a permanent limp, but she happily mothered Eli’s big brood of four.

  And event planner Sesty Snow had just gotten married to retired NASCAR driver Josh Langtree. Sesty was feisty and petite and knew everything about the Christmas events going on in town. Gabi had already met her in conjunction with the toy drive.

  They stuffed themselves on the canapés that Gabi had set out, cookies, and wine. Except for Meredith, who had sparkling cider. And then got down to the knitting.

  While they knitted and purled, they gabbed about everything under the sun. Who was dating whom in town. Who was having marital problems. Whose kids had come down with a cold. What stores had the best Christmas sales. What movies they’d seen.

  I miss this, Gabi thought. She missed hanging out with girlfriends swapping gossip, and she missed hobbies like knitting that she hadn’t touched in years. Her immersion in law school demanded she give up a social life and while, at the time, she’d willingly surrendered those other parts of herself, she’d secretly missed them. It was only now that she realized exactly how much.

  Me. She was finding me again.

  Newlywed Sesty kept holding her left hand out, admiring her wedding band as if she couldn’t believe it was on her finger. “The darn thing is so heavy,” she said. “How long did it take you guys to get used to the weight of his ring?”

  “Like a duck to water,” Emma said, holding up her own left hand. “But then again, I don’t have a honker like you, Sesty.”

  Sesty twisted the three-carat diamond around on her finger and grinned. “What can I say, Josh is a showman at heart.”

  “Any baby plans on the horizon?” Meredith dreamily stroked her extended belly.

  Sesty tossed her head and laughed. “I haven’t even written all the thank-you notes for the wedding gifts yet, so no.”

  “Don’t wait too long,” Meredith warned. “Fertility decreases the older you get.”

  “Jeez Louise, I’m not even thirty. Help, Gabi. You and I are the only ones here without kids.” Sesty cast a glance at her. “Please don’t tell me if you’re one of those who’s already got her kids’ names all picked out.”

  “Me?” Gabi blinked. “I was so busy with law school, kids never crossed my mind.”

  “You’re still plenty young,” Meredith said. “But you want kids someday, right?”

  Feeling a little weird about the direction of the conversation, she wrinkled her nose. After seeing Derrick suffer and die, she had mixed feelings about having children of her own. If you didn’t have them, they couldn’t die on you.

  “Sure,” Gabi said, because that seemed to be what they expected of her. “I guess so. When I meet the right guy.”

  “So you and Joe.” Emma giggled. “How’s that going?”

  Gabi held up both hands like two stop signs. “Whoa. Hold the presses. I’ve only been in town a week and you guys already have me married and pregnant. Pick on Sesty, she’s the newlywed.”

  Sesty’s mouth dropped open in faux dismay. “That’s right. Throw me under the bus. Some friend you are.”

  “Hey,” Gabi teased. “With this bunch of rampant matchmakers, every woman for herself.”

  “What is going on with you and Joe?” Christine asked. “He’s happier than I’ve seen him in a long time.”

  Gabi met Sesty’s eyes. “They really don’t let up, do they?”

  “Nope. I might as well start picking baby names,” Sesty said. “And you and Joe might as well book the chapel.”

  “We just met!” Gabi protested.

  “When it’s right, it’s right,” the women said in unison, and then burst out laughing at themselves.

  “I think it’s time to cork the vino.” Gabi made a move to clear the coffee table. “Too much vino for you guys. Next thing you know you’ll be telling me you believe in love at first sight.”

  “We do!” they exclaimed, including Sesty.

  Gabi thought about the first time she’d seen Joe in Perks and her body heated up. She couldn’t deny she’d felt something out of the ordinary when their eyes met, but she wouldn’t go so far as to say love at first sight. More like lust at first sight.

  Lust that just kept growing stronger every day.

  “How …” Gabi paused, unable to believe she was asking this. “How do you know it’s love at first sight and not just strong sexual attraction?”

  “Well …” Shannon confessed. “It probably is mostly sexual attraction in that moment, but there’s also something more, something underneath the chemistry.”

  “Yes,” Gabi said, feeling uncharacteristically urgent. “But what is that something?”

  “It’s the whisper of your heart,” Meredith murmured. “That says this is right. Your heart knows the truth. All you have to do is listen.”

  Gabi placed her hand over her heart, felt it beat. She thought of her first night in the yurt, how Joe had kissed her to scare away her hiccups. How he’d made her feel like she was special. “But how can you be sure?”

  “Does he look at you like you’re his entire world?” Christine asked.

  “I can answer that,” Emma said. “Yes, yes, Joe does.”

  Gabi blinked at her friend as her chest filled with a fizzy lightness that stalled her breath. “He does?”

  Emma’s smile turned knowing. “He does.”

  Gabi’s heart quickened, a racing gallop at the thought Joe felt so much for her.

  “Does he appreciate you for who you are?” Sesty asked.

  She thought about how much fun they had together, how easy things were between them. How he did not judge her or question the choices she’d made in life. Unnerved, Gabi put her knitting aside, reached for her wineglass, and took a big sip.

  The women all stared at her.

  “Well?” Sesty prodded. “Does he?”

  “Uh-huh,” Gabi said, both thrilled and scared by the implication.

  “Does he enjoy making you happy?” Meredith smiled inwardly as if thinking of her man and the ways he enjoyed making her happy.

  Gabi remembered the care Joe had taken to give her an orgasm, and the pride in his face when he’d achieved his goal. She closed her eyes against the pelt o
f memories—Joe teaching her how to start a fire, Joe anxious to cure her hiccups, Joe bringing her a flashlight and soothing her over the coyote howls, Joe showing her how to collect eggs and take care of the animals, Joe dancing the “Electric Slide” with her at Froggy’s.

  “Look at her face,” Christine said to the others. “Clearly, the answer is yes.”

  Gabi reached a hand to her face. Could they really tell just by looking at her how bowled over she was by Joe? “Doesn’t matter. I’ll be gone back to LA in two weeks.”

  “I hate to break it to you,” Emma said, “because you seem set on not believing it’s possible to fall in love in such a short time, but Joe’s feeling it too.”

  “What?” Gabi leaned forward, excitement causing the pulse at her temple to pound. “Did he say something?”

  Emma shook her head. “No. Joe’s a guy’s guy. He’s not going to get touchy-feely and start talking about his feelings. But he doesn’t have to. Anyone who knows Joe can see the changes in him. He’s more settled, relaxed.”

  “Over the course of the past week?”

  Emma nodded. “That’s how I know you’re the cause.”

  “You give me too much credit,” Gabi said, feeling inordinately pleased.

  “Not you per se,” Christine added. “Love.”

  “You guys, this is silly, crazy …” And yet, even as she said it, Gabi couldn’t help wondering if they were right.

  CHAPTER 20

  In the eyes of children we find the joy of Christmas. In their hearts we find its meaning.

  —Leland Thomas

  After her knitting party, Gabi was extra nervous about attending Joe’s family Christmas party. So nervous that she almost called him and bailed. What if what Emma said was true? What if Joe was falling in love with her?

  What if the thrill that idea put into her heart ended up breaking it?

  It would be so easy to fall …

  She dressed in skinny jeans and a kitschy Christmas sweater she’d bought in one of the boutiques on the town square. It was red and green and appliqued with elves and reindeer working out to get in shape for the holidays and it made her smile.

  Just before seven, Joe showed up on her doorstep wearing a larger version of the exact same sweater. Their eyes met and they burst out laughing.

  “Great minds—” he started.

  “Or silly ones.”

  “You ready to go?”

  She nodded. “Nervous.”

  “But no hiccups.”

  “No,” she said, surprised.

  “Too bad.” His gaze hung on her lips.

  “Maybe you cured me for good.”

  “Aw rats.”

  “You could kiss me anyway.” She pointed upward at the mistletoe Emma had impishly taped to the doorway before she’d left the previous evening and Gabi had just left it up.

  “Gotta love mistletoe,” Joe said, and pulled her into his arms.

  Ah! It had been too long. Like a desert plant starved for water, Gabi wrapped her arms around his neck and drank him up.

  After a long minute, Joe broke the kiss. “We better go, or I can’t be held accountable for my actions.” He cupped her head in his palms, rested his forehead on hers. “You’re so damn hot.”

  “In this sweater?” She laughed.

  “Sweetheart, you’d look hot in a tow sack.”

  Her cheeks flushed happily and when he held out his hand, she took it. He interlaced their fingers, and guided her out to his pickup.

  Joe’s parents lived in an adorable Victorian in an older part of Twilight with big stately trees lining the block. Even before they turned into the driveway, from what Joe had told her about his family’s over-the-top celebrations, Gabi knew which one was theirs. Clark Griswold had nothing on the Cheeks. Every inch of the house was covered in lights, every square foot of the yard claimed by Christmas decorations.

  “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation come to life.” Gabi breathed.

  “Told you,” Joe said, pride vibrating in his voice.

  A happy thrill raced up Gabi’s spine. What must it have been like to be raised in a family that so embraced the holidays?

  They’d no more stepped up onto the porch than the door opened as if someone had been on the lookout waiting for their arrival. A pretty older woman wearing a Christmas sweater with Mrs. Claus on it, a finger to her lips, and a caption that read: “Shh, I won’t tell Santa you’ve been naughty, if you don’t tell him I misplaced the cookies.”

  She pulled Joe into her arms for a hearty hug.

  “Mom,” Joe said. “This is Gabi. Gabi, meet my mother, Lois Cheek.”

  Lois threw her arms open. “Bring it in,” she said, and enveloped Gabi in a hug as warm and friendly as the scent of cookies and the sound of Christmas carols wafting from the open door.

  After the hug, Lois stepped back and waved at their matching sweaters. “Look at you two. Twinsies. Was this planned?”

  Joe and Gabi grinned at each other. “No.”

  Lois Cheek’s eyes twinkled as bright as the Christmas lights winking around them. “How adorable is that? You have the same taste in terrible Christmas sweaters.”

  At that moment, a man with salt and pepper hair, who looked a lot like Joe’s brother Sam, appeared in the doorway behind Lois.

  “Is this Gabi?” the man asked.

  “Yes.” Lois leaned back against the man. “Isn’t she cute as a button? Gabi, this is my husband, Bill.”

  Bill Cheek, who was wearing a sweater with Santa on it that said: “Shh, I won’t tell Mrs. Claus you’ve been naughty, if you don’t tell her that I ate the cookies,” thrust out a hand. When Gabi took it, he pulled her over the threshold. “Come on in. Glad to have you.”

  He ushered her into the living room packed with guests, many of them people Gabi had met—Belinda Murphey; Shannon and her husband, Nate; Emma and Sam. They called out greetings. A wide seven-foot Christmas tree loaded with ornaments stood in one far corner.

  Bill gave her a pencil and slip of paper. “Write down your name and your guess and put it in the candy dish.”

  Gabi accepted the pencil and paper, not understanding what she was supposed to do.

  Joe leaned over her shoulder. “Guess how many ornaments are on the tree, and at the end of the night, whoever comes closest wins one of my mother’s handmade Christmas quilts.”

  “Oh, how fun!” Gabi turned her head to glance at him. “Any hints?”

  “I have no idea,” Joe said. “They add more ornaments every year. Last year I think the winning number was around four hundred.”

  “No kidding.” Gabi moved closer to study the tree, made her guess, and put the slip of paper in the candy dish. “You’re not playing?” she asked Joe.

  “I have more homemade quilts than I can sleep under in a lifetime,” he said.

  “Lucky you.”

  “Yeah,” he said glancing around the room at his family and friends. “I guess I am pretty lucky at that.”

  Gabi couldn’t help contrasting his lively, loving family Christmas to her own and immediately felt disloyal to her parents.

  “Joe,” his mother said, “get Gabi some refreshments. Your dad made his famous brandy eggnog.”

  “This way,” Joe said, guiding her through the crowd to the dining room beyond.

  Gabi stood back, taking it all in. The table was laden with all manner of food—cheese logs, bacon-stuffed mushrooms, deviled eggs, hummus, artisan crackers, guacamole, crab dip, and desserts. So many desserts! Thumbprint cookies and iced sugar cookies, lemon bars and brownies, red velvet cake and chocolate mousse in clear plastic containers shaped like sleighs.

  Scented cinnamon candles burned, flickered romantic shadows over the thick crown molding. On one wall hung a queen-sized, red and white candy-cane striped Christmas quilt. This must be the one Lois was giving away. Bing Crosby was singing “White Christmas.” From another room came the happy laughter of children.

  It was a glorious assault to the sens
es.

  This is it, Derrick, she thought. Christmas nirvana.

  “I’ll get us something to eat,” Joe said. “Share a plate?”

  “Sure.”

  “Eggnog?”

  “When in Rome.”

  “I’m going in,” he said, and headed toward the table ringed with people.

  “Be safe.” She laughed. “I’ll call out the militia if you’re not back within the hour.”

  “You should see this place at Halloween,” Emma said, appearing at Gabi’s elbow. “That’s when I first met Bill and Lois.”

  “They go nuts for Halloween too?”

  “All the major holidays and birthdays too. There’s always a celebration in the Cheek home.”

  “It sounds nice,” Gabi said wistfully.

  “It is,” Emma admitted. “Make sure and get some of the crab dip. Delish!”

  “Thanks for the tip.”

  “Have you met the rest of the Cheeks?” Emma asked.

  “Just the parents and you and Sam.”

  “Follow me.” Emma crooked her finger and headed toward a dark-haired man in his late thirties standing with a blond woman. Both wore matching sweaters. Emma introduced her to Ben, the oldest Cheek sibling, who was a pharmacist, and his wife, Polly, a midwife.

  “I see you’ve been shopping in Twilight.” Polly laughed and pointed to her own garish clothing. “They have the best hideous Christmas sweaters.”

  Next, Emma introduced her to Joe’s second oldest brother, Mac. He was the third man Gabi had seen outside the yurt the morning after she and Joe had had sex. Mac’s wife was a sloe-eyed, caramel-skinned beauty named Coco, who was at least eight months pregnant and wearing an oversized Christmas sweater stretched over her baby bump.

  “Does everyone wear a Christmas sweater?” Gabi asked.

  “Oh yes. Lois loves it and we love Lois. So …” Coco swept a hand at her ensemble.

  Joe’s older sister, Jenny, and her husband, Dean, came over to chat. “Hi, Gabi,” she said extending her hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  “You have?”

  “Are you kidding? The town is buzzing about the LA girl who’s lassoed our Joe.”