“She looks happy,” Savy said.
“Happy?” he asked. “She’s going to get squashed flat by one of those behemoths.”
Savy glanced at the phone and then back up at Quino. She turned it in his direction so he could see the post. “Is it possible to be snuggled to death?”
“I’m sure there are statistics,” he snapped. He took his phone back and dropped it onto the counter. He stared at her. “You probably think this is great.”
Savy wasn’t sure what to say. She could tell he was upset, and given the passing of Esther and having his sister so far away, she understood why, but it didn’t change the fact that Desi’s life was her own, to live her way. Savy needed to stand up for her even if it meant saying things Quino didn’t want to hear.
“I do think it’s great,” she said. “I’m proud of her and I’m pleased to have helped her.”
He gaped at her. “Do you understand what you’re saying? You’ve put her at risk. She could die over there!”
Savy frowned at him. “That facility looks perfectly safe. If they offer internships, I’m certain they are prepared to take care of the people who intern there. It won’t do their rescue organization any good to have people die on their watch, will it?”
“You don’t get it!” he said. He rose to his feet. “You can’t just meddle in people’s lives like this. If anything happens to her, I’ll never forg—”
He stopped himself before he said the words, but Savy knew what he’d been about to say, and she had no doubt it was the truth.
“I didn’t meddle,” she said. “I answered a request for help.”
“Which enabled her to do this trek into danger,” he said. “Do you really think she would have pulled this off without you?”
“If she wanted to go badly enough, she would have. What if it wasn’t going to Africa that she wanted?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“What if she had wanted to study art in Paris?”
“Pff.” He made a noise that Savy interpreted to mean that idea wouldn’t fly, either.
“All right, what if she wanted to learn winemaking in California?”
He made an impatient gesture with his hand. “What’s your point?”
“My point is that no matter where Desi wanted to go, you wouldn’t be happy about her leaving home,” she said.
“Of course not,” he agreed. He looked exasperated. “She can’t take care of herself. She’s fragile and vulnerable.”
Savy shook her head. “No, she isn’t.” She picked up his phone. “Look at her.”
“You have no say,” he said. He ignored the phone. “You don’t know her like I do, and if you hadn’t interfered, she’d be here—”
Savy blinked at him. There it was. “You blame me.”
“No . . . yes . . . no,” he said. “You had no right, Red.”
They stared at each other. Savy wasn’t sure how they went from grieving over the loss of Esther to yelling at each other about a grant for Desi, but here they were. Quino was never going to forgive her for helping his sister. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t known it was Desi and that her intentions had been good. He didn’t want his world to change and Savy had been the agent of change, something he clearly couldn’t bear.
“I think we’re done here,” she said.
He didn’t say a word. He just nodded, looking hurt and lost and angry. Savy wanted to turn back and hug him, but she didn’t. She grabbed her hat and coat and bolted from the house. She’d catch a ride back to town with Hannah or maybe she could get Luke or Lanie to give her a lift. Either way, as she shut the door behind her, she had no doubt that whatever coupledom she and Quino had shared, it was over.
* * *
* * *
HE should have gone after her. He knew it the minute the door slammed behind her, but he didn’t. Stupid pride. He just couldn’t believe that after all these weeks of trying to figure out how Desi had managed to get a grant, the person responsible for helping his sister turned out to be the woman he was crazy in love with.
He didn’t know what to do with all of his feelings right now. Maybe he and Savy just needed some space, a little time apart. He had to deal with Esther, which made his heart feel as if it were being squeezed by a giant fist. He needed to call Desi and tell her. And then, maybe he could talk to Savannah more calmly. He cleaned up the kitchen before he went upstairs to his bedroom.
The wall along the staircase had always been a rogues’ gallery of their family. His mother had put up all of the pictures. Quino had never taken any of them down or changed them. In fact, he hadn’t changed anything in the house since his parents had passed. He paused by his favorite picture of Desi, taken shortly before the accident. It was a close-up of her face and she looked so happy and carefree with her dark eyes sparkling as she grinned with deep dimples bracketing her mouth. After the accident, her eyes had stopped sparkling like that and her grin had become small.
The accident that had stolen their parents’ lives had changed Desi for good. She was never the same no matter how hard he’d tried to fix her world. And now she was a world away, and if she got into trouble, he wouldn’t be there to help her. The helpless feeling terrified him. No, he couldn’t forgive Red for helping her with that grant. Because even though he hadn’t said the words aloud, the truth was, if anything happened to Desi, not only would he not be able to forgive Savannah, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.
Quino waited until Esther’s body had been taken away before he called Desi. Much as he’d suspected, his sweet, sensitive sister fell apart at the news. She cried for a while, asked him for details, and cried some more.
“I should have been there. I should have been with her,” she sobbed. “Was she scared?”
“No,” Quino said. “I was with her the whole time and”—he paused to clear his throat before he could continue—“she looked at me in her particular Esther way right before she passed.”
“She gave you stink eye,” Desi said. The words came out as half a laugh and half a sob.
“She was the master,” he said. They were both quiet. “You okay, Des?”
“Yeah,” she sniffed. “I’m sorry you had to deal with it alone. I know it must be hard, given that she’s mom’s horse and all.”
Quino was surprised by the maturity in her voice. “It’s okay.”
“It has to be tough, though,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said.
“Is Savannah there?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Because Lanie told me you two are dating,” she said.
“When did you talk to Lanie?”
“I talk to her and Luke all the time, you know, to check on you,” she said.
“I don’t need you to check on me,” he said.
She snorted.
“I don’t!”
“Bro, I love you dearly, but you have a pathological fear of change and my being all the way in Africa has probably sent you into a tailspin,” she said. “Which is why I was thrilled to hear about you and Savy.”
“I don’t have a fear of change,” he insisted. It occurred to him that it sounded as if their roles were reversed, as if she were the wiser older sibling and he were the younger, more immature one. He wasn’t sure what to make of that.
“Yeah, you do,” she said. “You have not changed one thing in that house since Mom and Dad passed.”
“That was for you,” he said. He refused to acknowledge that he’d just had the same thought when he was walking upstairs. “So you wouldn’t feel their loss so much. I thought if I kept it all the same, you would feel as if they were still here.”
“Oh, Quino, I feel them with me every day,” she said. Her voice was so sincere and sweet, it almost made him weep. “They’re always with me just like they’re always with you. You know, I think th
ey’d like Savy. She’s good for you. She doesn’t fall at your feet like the rest of the ladies do.”
“Yeah, well,” he said. He was not going to mention their tiff.
“Oh, no, please tell me you didn’t mess it up already,” she said.
“I didn’t mess it up,” he lied. He didn’t want to get his ass chewed by Desi because while she was the sweetest person he’d ever known, she could also be very biting in her criticism if she felt he was being a dumbass, and he was pretty sure that in Desi’s opinion his dustup with Red would more than qualify.
“Good,” she said. “Then I don’t have to worry about you. Hey, I have to go feed the babies. I’ll call you tomorrow?”
“Yeah, okay,” he said. He tried to be cool. He failed. “Be careful, Desi. Please.”
“Always,” she said. “Don’t you worry about me. I’ve got this. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Quino ended the call. He’d paced the house while they talked and he was standing in the large living room in front of the cold fireplace. He’d put up the decorations just as his mother always had. He glanced at the photographs of their family. They were all from before. There wasn’t one that had been put up after his parents had died. Desi was right. He hadn’t made any changes to the house since his parents had passed. How had he not noticed this?
He thought about calling Red to tell her he was sorry, but he knew the only way to truly apologize was to look her in the eye and confess that he was wrong and then beg for forgiveness and hope she granted it.
He put on his coat and hat and drove his pickup truck to the bookstore. He spent the drive over practicing his speech. He wanted to have the right amount of grovel in it, sincerity without being pathetic. It was a fine line.
When he pulled up, he found the place overrun with reporters. No less than three news vans were parked out front. He elbowed his way into the gathered crowd to see what was happening. His heart beat hard in his chest. Had they been robbed? He scanned the crowd for Red but there was no sign of her. A nervous sweat broke out across his back and he strode into the shop.
The place was packed. People were in line buying every Destiny Swann book they could get their hands on. It was then that he remembered tomorrow was the signing. He’d agreed to escort Destiny; now he wondered if Red still wanted him to.
“Hi, Quino,” Maisy greeted him with a big smile from behind the register. “She’s in the office.”
“Thanks.” Two things hit him at once. One, Red hadn’t told Maisy about their tiff or she wouldn’t have beamed at him, and, two, they no longer needed to worry about the solvency of the bookstore. It was quite plain from the crowd that the Happily Ever After Bookstore was going to be just fine.
He made his way to the office and opened the door. Savannah was inside. She had her back to him and was on the phone. He settled against the door to wait, but her words. Her words hit him like stones to the chest.
“Archer, are you serious?” she asked. “They want me back? With a promotion and a raise? When?”
There was a pause.
“No, I can’t come back until after the signing,” she said. “That is my big moment, after all.” She laughed but it faded quickly and she paused as if listening. When she spoke again, her voice sounded sad when she added, “No, in a few days is fine—there’s nothing keeping me here.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
SAVANNAH could have sworn she heard a noise behind her, but when she turned around no one was there. She frowned. This drafty old building made so many creaks and shudders. If Jeri was here with her, she’d insist it was the ghost of Maisy’s auntie El. They’d been collectively trying to talk Jeri out of that notion for months.
She checked her phone. There was no message from Quino. No text, no phone call, no nothing. She thought about calling him but what could she say? She still believed that Desi had a right to live her own life. She also realized that Quino, being completely entrenched in the past, refusing to make any changes in their life, their house, even the way he celebrated the holiday, meant there was no room for her in his life.
Given that she was now leaving after Destiny’s signing, perhaps it was for the best that they parted ways now. She refused to acknowledge how much the thought of not seeing him again, not being with him, crushed her. She’d gotten attached. Damn it. She felt as if she were Aline Marsden in Lisa Kleypas’s Again the Magic. She knew better than to have fallen for the stable boy, but she’d done it anyway.
The fact that he’d been so furious that she’d helped Desi might be a good thing. It would make their breakup more bearable. Even as she thought this, she knew it was a lie. The past few days had been crazy busy but when Hannah called this morning and said that Quino needed her, Savy hadn’t even hesitated but had run to Quino’s side to help him in any way she could.
She thought of Esther and she sighed. She really was going to miss that old gal, but now the words she’d whispered to the old horse seemed like a lie. She’d promised to look after Quino for Esther. How was she going to do that all the way from New York?
Her heart hurt. New York seemed so far away, an impossible distance to keep her eye on him. While his loud Christmas sweaters made him easy to spot in Fairdale, they weren’t quite loud enough to be seen from Manhattan. Ridiculously, she hated the thought of never seeing one of his hideous sweaters again. It was then that she knew for certain, she was never ever going to get over Joaquin Solis.
“Hey, everything all right?” Maisy poked her head around the door.
“Huh?” Savy turned to face her. “Yeah, I’m good. How’s the horde out there?”
“Crazy!” Maisy said. “Do you mind jumping in?”
“Not at all,” Savy said. She knew the best thing she could do to keep the heartache at bay was to stay busy. It’s what she’d always done and when she headed home to New York, it was what she’d do again. She debated telling Maisy about her impending departure but she didn’t want to dim Maisy’s joy at Destiny’s signing. She’d wait until after the big day.
They spent the afternoon in a state of chaotic preparation. The decorations in the shop were ramped up. Two massive tents with heaters were put out on the front lawn. Guide ropes to keep the crowds back were installed, along with a red carpet that led from the curb to the front door.
Savy had found an event planner who was happy to tap their resources to set up a camera crew to film Destiny’s talk, not only for the screens stationed throughout the bookstore and the front yard, but also as a live feed on the bookstore’s social media platforms, as well as their webpage.
Because of the nature of online trolls, Savy had Perry and her crew of technology-smart teens on board to shut down, block, or mute any mean commenters who might pop up in the live feed just to harass Destiny, since she was out of seclusion for the first time in years.
They finished all the prep work by midnight that night and Savy gratefully climbed up to her apartment to get ready for bed. She checked her phone one last time by the light of the Christmas tree in her living room. She’d sent a text to Quino earlier asking if he was still able to escort Destiny. A curt Yes had been his only response, so they were clearly still at odds.
Once she was in her pajamas, she curled up on her couch and stared at the twinkling tree. It was the first time she’d felt this lonely since the night she’d met up with Quino in the park and gone ice-skating. It was an old familiar feeling but the familiarity didn’t comfort her, rather it just made her feel the loneliness more acutely. She missed him. She missed them. She missed the infusion of Christmas spirit she’d been enjoying with him, but now she knew it for what it was.
She hadn’t been feeling the Christmas spirit as much as she’d been falling in love. Well, that was over now, obvy. Quino was furious with her for helping Desi and there wasn’t anything Savy could do to make it right. She was torn between groveling for his forgiven
ess because she hated that she’d caused him distress and being furious that he wasn’t embracing how amazing a thing it was that Desi was doing. Honestly, the girl had gotten herself all the way to Africa and was coddling orphaned baby elephants. What was not to love about that?
She stared at the tree, her beautiful tree, until the lights became blurry and she fell asleep.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
A fist pounding on her door woke Savy up. She shoved off the blanket and blinked. It was still dark but her tree glowed, showing her the way to the door.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
“I’m coming! Keep your shirt on!” she called.
She staggered, her muscles tight from the bunched-up position she’d slept in on the couch. She crossed the room, not bothering to ask who was at the door, unlocked it, and yanked it open.
Maisy was standing there with two industrial coffees. “Good morning! Are you ready for the most exciting day ever?”
Savy squinted at her. She took the coffee held out to her and took a huge swallow. Then she took a deep breath and shook herself from head to toe. “I’m getting there.”
“Good,” Maisy said. “Come here.”
She took Savy’s hand and led her to the window that overlooked the front of the property, where the tents had been set up. She pointed and Savy looked out. She didn’t see anything.
“What?” she asked.
“Look at the curb,” Maisy said.
Savy’s jaw dropped. “No way.”
“They’ve been camped out for hours,” Maisy said.
Savy pressed her face up against the glass, trying to get a better look. The line of people went as far as she could see all the way down the street. While she sipped her coffee and watched the growing crowd, news vans began to arrive. She glanced at the clock. The signing wasn’t for another five hours. This was madness and she really hoped Destiny was up to it because there was no turning back now.
The Christmas Keeper Page 28
