Her Holiday Man

by Shannon Stacey

  As much as she wanted to share Nathaniel’s love for his blanket fort, Christina wasn’t so sure about squeezing into the space with Will. Her body was still tingling from the full-contact embrace, and she couldn’t take the chance of ending up in Will’s lap or something.

  “Why don’t you show your mom our fort while I take a break? Then you can help me work on Grammy Gail’s snowblower until dinner’s ready.”

  “Yeah!” Nathaniel yelled, and Christina laughed. She wasn’t sure her son even knew what that meant, other than an opportunity to do guy stuff and maybe even get dirty. “Come on, Mom!”

  She got down on her hands and knees to crawl under the blanket, but from the corner of her eye, saw Will most definitely checking out her butt. Even more self-conscious than when she’d been on the stepladder, she hurried into the fort. When she was in and turned around to help Nathaniel pull the couch cushion back into place, Will was gone.

  * * *

  Will had already told himself he was going be on his best behavior during Thanksgiving dinner and maintain a friendly distance from Christina. But past Will hadn’t known future Will was going to go and hug the woman and have to sit through the meal remembering just how good her body had felt pressed up against his.

  “It’s been years since I’ve had a blanket fort in my living room,” his mother was saying. “I have to say, that was a good one, too.”

  “That’s the first one I ever made,” Nathaniel said, his voice bright with pride. “And Will let my mom go in even though there’s not supposed to be girls.”

  But Will had been smart and found an excuse to not be jammed inside the small space with Nathaniel’s mom. It was getting harder to control his body’s reaction to Christina and brushing up against her in such close quarters could have been a disaster.

  “Did Will tell you what happened when he told his little sister she wasn’t allowed in his fort when he was a kid?” Gail asked.

  “No, I did not,” Will said.

  His mom laughed. “Erin built her own fort on the other side of the living room and it was so much better than Will’s, he wanted to play in hers. But she said there were no boys allowed.”

  “I think I’ll like Erin,” Christina said.

  “You’re both strong women,” Will agreed, and then regretted the words because she gave him a warm smile that threatened to turn him inside out right there at the dinner table.

  “Okay, it’s time for us all to share something we’re thankful for,” his mom said. “And I’ll start. I’m thankful...”

  She paused, obviously struck by a wave of emotion, and Will prayed she wouldn’t cry. He’d hoped having Nathaniel around and the impending arrival of Erin’s girls would help keep the sadness at bay for both of them. If his mom got too emotional, he might lose it, too.

  Then she took a deep breath and smiled. “I’m thankful that at a time in my life when my home could have been empty and sad, I have Christina and Nathaniel and my Will to fill it with love and laughter. Nathaniel, you go next.”

  “I’m thankful I get to visit Grammy Gail every day and I’m thankful I have new friends and that I get to ride a school bus and that my teacher’s nice and I have cool video games and my mommy got a job so we don’t live in the motel anymore and I get to have hot dogs sometimes and I have really cool sneakers and...I forgot.” He grinned. “Mommy’s turn!”

  Will snuck a glance at Christina and wasn’t surprised to see her eyes looked a little wet. He braced himself, but was relieved when she gave a shaky laugh.

  “If I start listing everything I’m thankful for this year, we’ll be here for days. So the short version is that I’m incredibly grateful my son is happy in our new home, that I have a job and that I’m lucky enough to have Gail and Will in our lives.”

  “Good job, Mommy,” Nathaniel whispered. “What are you thankful for, Will?”

  A couple of weeks ago, he would have said nothing. What the hell did he have to be grateful for? His wife and child were gone. His dad was gone. But somehow, sitting at this table, he was much more aware of what he still had.

  “I’m thankful to have somebody to build blanket forts with,” he said when the silence went on too long, and the boy beamed.

  Will got a short reprieve from the potential for womanly tears when he and Nathaniel were sent to put the living room back to rights before Erin and her family arrived. His mom and Christina worked on the kitchen so once it was pie time, they would be able to sit and relax.

  “This was the best blanket fort ever,” Nathaniel said while he helped Will turn his dad’s recliner back to its usual spot. It actually would have been easier for Will to do it alone, but the kid loved to help.

  “I agree,” he said. It had been simple as blanket forts went, and they hadn’t even had flashlights or Nerf guns, but Nathaniel seemed to thrive on things Will had taken for granted growing up.

  “I wonder if Mom will let me make one at my house.”

  “She’s pretty fun. I bet she will, but you’ll have to let her in even though she’s a girl.” Will handed Nathaniel one end of the blanket so they could fold it into some semblance of neat. Or at least end up with a small enough ball so he could shove it in the closet. “It’s fun to read in blanket forts, too.”

  “Mommy and I read a lot.”

  An hour later, a minivan pulled into the driveway, which made Will smile. It was hard to believe his little sister had a minivan now. And she also had two little dark-haired girls who practically launched themselves out of it when the side door slid open. He opened the front door and they each paused long enough for a quick hug before running off to find Grammy in the kitchen.

  “Will!” Erin met him on the porch and threw her arms around his neck. “I’m so glad you’re home.”

  He squeezed her tight and then pulled away so he could shake her husband’s hand. Erin and Corey had gotten married the summer before Emily’s accident and he’d always liked the guy. He was more white-collar than the rest of the family, being an investment banker in the southern part of the state, but he loved Erin and was a good dad.

  After everybody was inside and his mom had made introductions, Will didn’t miss the speculative glances Erin sent his way. Nathaniel, who was a bit shy around the very rambunctious girls, was sticking close to him, and it must have been obvious Christina was very comfortable in their home. Erin was adding two plus two and coming up with seven.

  “She’s very pretty,” Erin whispered when she caught him alone in the living room. He’d managed to avoid being cornered up to that point, but now he was stuffed with apple and pumpkin pie slathered in ice cream and his mom’s homemade whipped cream.

  “Don’t go getting any ideas.” He had enough bad ideas of his own. He didn’t need his family adding to them.

  “Mom loves her, and it’s obvious her little boy worships you.”

  “I’m not looking for a family, Erin. Leave it alone.”

  He could see her desire to argue the point written all over her face. It had been years. He should move on. Emily would want him to be happy. He’d heard it all and none of it mattered.

  Then she sighed. “Fine. Go out to my van and grab the pink paisley zip-up bag out of the back. Once they get the pies covered, I’m going to trim her hair.”

  After obeying his sister’s command because she’d always been bossy and he’d learned young it was easier just to do what she said, Will joined Corey in the living room for some football. Nathaniel had not only warmed up to Dani and Alicia, but calmed them down enough to play a reasonably quiet game of Candyland in the middle of the floor.

  Almost an hour later, Will heard the women’s voices growing louder and looked up in time to see Erin and Christina step into the living room. His sister laughed at something Christina said, but Will barely noticed. All he saw was Christina.

 
Her hair danced around her face in soft layers that moved as she walked, freed from the split and processed ends. With her hair out of her eyes, her pretty eyes sparkled, and he could see from the way she held her head that she felt better about how she looked.

  She was beautiful, and he couldn’t help watching her as she and Erin joined the kids on the floor to see how the game was going.

  For the first time, Will wished he didn’t feel so broken inside. Christina tempted him in ways that went beyond the physical attraction, but he was never going back to the hell he’d suffered losing Emily. Sometimes he wondered if whoever had said it was better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all had ever actually lost somebody.

  When Christina laughed at something Dani said, Will wrenched his gaze from her and forced himself to focus on the television again before Erin caught him looking.

  But he couldn’t stop himself from looking over from time to time and, when Christina happened to be looking at him at the same time and smiled, he smiled back.

  Chapter Four

  The first Saturday of every December was reserved for the town’s Christmas parade, and Will woke that morning with a ball of mixed emotions knotted in his gut.

  His mother loved the holiday parade, with the tree lighting at the end, followed by hot cocoa and fireworks in the park. He’d loved it just as much growing up, and he’d shared that love with Emily. It had been the last fun thing they’d done together before the accident.

  This would be his first Christmas parade since Emily’s death and his mom’s first parade without his dad, so it was going to be an emotional day. There was no way around that. He wanted to make sure the sadness didn’t overwhelm the joyous atmosphere, though, and ruin the day for his mom.

  And then there were Christina and Nathaniel, who his mom had invited to join them. This would be their first Christmas parade in town, and if he had to guess, he’d bet money this was their first small-town Christmas parade ever. He doubted the bastard she’d been married to had made it a point to take them to a park for hot cocoa on a chilly December day to celebrate the holidays, if they even did such quaint things in the circle they’d run in.

  So after he’d filled up on caffeine and showered, Will dug through his closet for his sweatshirt. It was kind of a thing in town to wear goofy Christmas sweaters or reindeer antler headbands or blinking Christmas tree light bulb jewelry—or all of the above at the same time—but Will wasn’t really a flashy kind of guy. He favored an old sweatshirt with the words Griswold Family Christmas printed on it, along with a picture of a Christmas tree-laden station wagon, from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

  When he finally went downstairs to see what his mom was up to, he wasn’t surprised to find Christina and Nathaniel in the kitchen with her. Nathaniel had on jingling reindeer antlers he was pretty sure had been Erin’s, and Christina was wearing a sparkly red sweater that draped over her body and made his mouth water. Dammit.

  “You guys know the parade doesn’t start until four o’clock, right?” he asked as he walked into the room.

  “Somebody’s a little excited,” his mom said, tilting her head toward the boy who was probably going to need a nap in a few hours if he didn’t sit still.

  “I’ve never seen a Christmas parade,” he said. “Grammy Gail said there will be tow trucks!”

  “Tow trucks are his favorite,” Christina said, as if it needed explanation. Tow trucks were very cool, but maybe only guys knew that.

  “And we’re going to go down a little early,” Gail said. “Since we’ll eat supper late, we’re going to have a late lunch in town and then scope out the best spot for watching the parade.”

  Will nodded and headed for the coffee pot. They knew the best place for watching the parade. They’d been standing in that spot for as long as he could remember, back when he’d been so little his dad had hoisted him up on his shoulders so he could see everything.

  But Nathaniel had never seen a Christmas parade, so obviously his mom was going to go all out and give him the full experience, even if she had to subtly nudge him toward the best location.

  Since there were still several hours to kill, Will took his coffee out to the garage and looked for something to do. For want of anything better, he pulled the tarp off of Big Red and gave the old three-wheeler a good looking over.

  He and his buddies had had one hell of a good time with the machine back in the day, and he found himself wanting to fire it up. But it would need fresh gas. And he should break it down and clean the carburetor first. It had been sitting a lot of years.

  Sitting on the bumper of his mom’s SUV, he wondered what Christina would say if he asked permission to take Nathaniel for a ride on it. He’d have to get the kid a helmet, of course, but the backyard was big enough so they could run the machine around. It would be a while before he was tall enough to learn to drive it, but...

  Will frowned. It was stupid to sit around thinking about the future. For all he knew, Christina could find a better job and move next week. Or the Porters could hate Florida and Nathaniel wouldn’t live across the street anymore.

  Pulling open the third drawer on his dad’s big toolbox, he looked for the right size wrench. Time to start pulling Big Red apart so he could put her back together again. Unlike people, engines didn’t have what ifs and if onlys.

  Time flew by when he was getting his hands greasy so, before he knew it, Will was scrubbed up and walking toward downtown with the two women and a very excited little boy. Parking would be a nightmare on the streets, so they’d always walked to the parade, even though it was a bit of a hike and it would be chilly on the way home.

  Because his mom and Nathaniel were talking about all the exciting things he was going to see, Will found himself walking behind them, with Christina. She seemed a little subdued, and he hoped she wasn’t tired already. They hadn’t even gotten started yet.

  “You okay?” he asked, mostly because it was awkward to walk in silence.

  She nodded, but the smile she gave him didn’t light up her face. “Yeah. Just watching Nathaniel and...thinking.”

  “Good thinking or bad thinking?”

  That made her laugh, but it was brief. “When the investigation started, I thought it was the worst thing that could happen, and then it got worse. His arrest. The divorce. Losing everything I owned. My son and I essentially being homeless.”

  “Well, that is pretty bad, you know.”

  “You would think so. But look at him. He’s thriving.”

  He looked over at her, then bumped her elbow with his. “You are too, you know.”

  “We’re really happy,” she said. “I mean, obviously he loves being with your mom, but we’re happy with ourselves, too. We play games and now, thanks to you, we have a reading fort. It’s scary sometimes, because I’m not used to worrying about things like money and how to do things, but I got thrown right into the deep end of that pool, I guess.”

  “And you taught yourself how to swim.” He admired her for that.

  “I’m actually very blessed. We’re lucky to have what we have, and to have each other.”

  Will nodded, but he didn’t speak. He’d learned the hard way that it was the people in your life that mattered, but he didn’t want to say that. He didn’t want to bring sadness into the day or make her feel uncomfortable.

  “Put new snow tires on a customer’s car the other day,” he said, wanting to change the subject. “Her old ones were still in decent shape and they’d fit your car. Let me know if you want to stop by and I can mount them for you.”

  “Thanks. I’ll think about it and let you know.”

  In other words, she’d look at her budget and try to figure out if she could afford it. “It only takes a few minutes and we’d be saving Tony the disposal fee, so I wouldn’t charge you anything.”

&nbs
p; “I can pay,” she said too quickly, her chin coming up.

  “Fine. You can bake me some of those brownies you packed in Nathaniel’s lunch last week. He saved some to share with me after school and half wasn’t enough.”

  “Done. And thank you.”

  They were quiet for a while, and Will realized his mom and her chatty sidekick were pulling ahead. Maybe they’d both need a nap. But Christina seemed content to let her son go and walk at Will’s more leisurely pace.

  “When I took the garbage out, I saw that you had the engine out of your ATV thing.”

  “She’s been sitting a long time, so I figured it was time to give her a good cleaning.”

  “I know you’ve been out of town for a while, but did you ride it a lot before?”

  “Not really. She was fun when I was younger, but then there’s work and it gets hard to find the time. And that suspension’s not exactly easy on the body.”

  “Why don’t you sell it and buy something else?”

  “Sell Big Red?” Will frowned, even though it was a perfectly reasonable question. “Scottie Bloom, who owns the hardware store, has been trying to buy it for years, but it’s not going to happen. I paid my entire savings for her, even though she didn’t run, and that money was supposed to pay my share of the car insurance. My parents made me take the bus to school until I saved up enough again.”

  “Ouch. That’s a big sacrifice for a broken three-wheeler.”

  “My dad and I spent the whole winter rebuilding her, until she was as good as new. You can have a lot of great conversations while cleaning engine parts.” The memories of the many hours he’d spent with his dad in the garage over the years piled up in his head and Will cleared his throat to keep it from getting clogged up with emotion. “I’m not selling Big Red.”

  “It’s probably a good thing you like working on engines, then,” she said, which made him chuckle.

  “Of all the jobs I’ve done, I prefer engine work. Small engines, ATVs, trucks. I don’t have the certification for all the newer models with the computer systems and all that, but other than that, I can make pretty much anything run.”