One Kiss for Christmas (The Happy Holidays Series Book 4)

by Michele Brouder

“What about ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’?”

  “That’s crap.”

  “You would be against me being in a long-distance relationship with Brent?”

  Jim shook his head. “No, but I don’t want to see you get hurt. You’ll be in California living your own life, a life Brent has no idea about. And he’ll be here. I just don’t see how it could work.”

  “Well, thanks for your input, Dad,” she said sourly.

  “Leah, you know me by now. I’m not going to sugarcoat anything. Just giving you some things to think about.”

  But with the reminder that long-distance relationships didn’t work, he came to a conclusion about his own life.

  Chapter 13

  Donna had been home from work for an hour when she heard knocking at her side door. She laid down her knitting, muted the Christmas movie she’d been watching, and sighed. There were only a few days left until the festival and she was seriously behind.

  She was surprised to see Jim at the side door. When she opened it, he held up a plastic bag and said, “I’ve got two rib-eye steaks I was planning on grilling tonight, but Leah’s not going out and if I want to survive, I can’t grill steaks with my vegan daughter in the house.”

  Donna laughed and opened the door wider. “Come on in.”

  Once in the kitchen, Jim said, “I hope I’m not interrupting.”

  Donna shook her head. “Not at all. Actually, I was skipping dinner because I’m so far behind on my yarn-bombing project.”

  “Then I arrived right in the nick of time. If you don’t mind, I’ll cook dinner and you go back to knitting.”

  Donna smiled. She warmed quickly to the thought of a man cooking dinner for her. It was cold out and he was offering to cook a steak for her. It was an offer that was hard to refuse.

  “Do you have some salad or something?” Jim asked.

  Donna nodded. “Yes, in the crisper. In the pantry, there’s a bag of potatoes as well as a box of rice.”

  “Which do you prefer?” he asked.

  Donna thought for a moment. “Surprise me.”

  “Okay, I will.” Jim smiled. “How do you like your steak cooked?”

  “Medium,” she said. “The grill is out of propane but the broiler will do.”

  “Great. You sure you don’t mind me taking over your kitchen?”

  “Not at all,” Donna said truthfully.

  She sat back down on the sofa in her living room and listened to drawers and cupboard doors opening and closing in her kitchen as Jim searched for things to get dinner ready. It was such an alien sensation—someone cooking a dinner for her in her own kitchen—that she could hardly concentrate on her knitting. She turned off the television deciding she’d much rather listen to Jim puttering around her kitchen, instead.

  “Where are your plates, Donna?” Jim called from the kitchen.

  “In the drawer underneath the counter,” she answered.

  She did not say anything when he set up the dining-room table. She noticed he’d even brought a bottle of wine. He uncorked it, let it sit, and returned to the kitchen. He whistled as he worked, and Donna thought that this was something she could get used to.

  Donna lost track of the time, making serious progress with her knitting when Jim appeared in the doorway. “Dinner is served.”

  Smiling, she set her knitting aside. It smelled wonderful and her stomach growled in response.

  On the dining-room table were two plates of rib-eye steak, baked potatoes, green beans, and a fresh tossed salad. This was so much better than the ham sandwich she likely would have made for herself.

  “It’s perfect,” Donna announced, looking at it and then looking up at Jim.

  He smiled sheepishly, then clapped his hands. “Let’s sit down and eat before it gets cold.”

  Donna tried to ignore her sweaty palms and racing heartbeat. But that was the effect he had on her.

  There was a small pat of butter melting and pooling on her steak. She cut a piece and put it into her mouth.

  She groaned her approval. “This is absolutely delicious, Jim. Thank you,” she said.

  He smiled and winked. “My pleasure.”

  As they ate their meals, Donna was surprised at how hungry she was.

  “Have the kids had a falling out?” Jim queried.

  “I suppose by ‘kids’ you mean Brent and Leah,” Donna said.

  “That’s exactly who I mean. For the last two weeks, they’ve been out every night together and then last night, Leah came home early, and tonight they didn’t go out at all,” Jim said.

  “I haven’t spoken to Brent since yesterday,” Donna said. “He said Leah was going over to his house and they were baking or something.” Donna paused, her fork midair. “But you say Leah returned early?”

  Jim nodded and chewed thoughtfully. When finished, he said, “Leah was kind of quiet today. Almost sullen.”

  “Maybe they had an argument,” Donna suggested, worry filling her. Brent had finally found a girl, and it sounded like it was over before it had even begun.

  “An argument?” Jim asked. “Already? They’ve only been seeing each other for a couple of weeks. What could they possibly be fighting about?”

  “Who knows?” Donna sighed.

  Jim took a sip of his wine. “I should confess that Leah mentioned she and Brent were considering a long-distance relationship when she returns to California after the holidays.”

  “Oh.”

  “I kind of told her my views on that. Based on personal experience.”

  “Oh, you didn’t,” Donna said, wincing.

  “I did, because I don’t want to see either one of them get hurt.”

  Donna fidgeted with her wine glass. “I understand that our own experience in that department may color your opinion, but they’re both grown adults who are capable of making up their own minds.”

  “Long distance in this age of immediate gratification? Please,” Jim countered.

  “Does Leah like Brent?” Donna asked.

  “Very much so.”

  This felt encouraging to Donna, but she’d have to find out if Brent felt the same way. If he and Leah had already discussed the possibility of continuing on opposite sides of the country, then he must feel the same way. Brent wasn’t an impulsive person. He would have thought this through. And as his mother, she would support his decision, whether she agreed with it or not.

  They finished the rest of their meal in thoughtful silence, and then Donna got up to clear the plates. “I got some Christmas cookies yesterday. Will you have some?”

  “Yes, please. Leah made some vegan shortbreads, but they’re not the same,” he said with a grimace.

  Donna put on a pot of coffee and laid out a variety of Christmas cookies on a platter. Once she poured the coffee and sat down, she took a frosted cut-out and bit into it. She noticed that Jim had already eaten three cookies. She smiled to herself.

  “I hope I haven’t put my foot in it,” Jim said thoughtfully, reaching for another cookie.

  Oh, Jim.

  Donna stopped at Brent’s house after work the following evening. She hated to ambush him but she needed to get to the bottom of things.

  “Mom, what are you doing here?” he asked.

  She held up a bag from Bed Bath & Beyond. “There was a sale. I picked up some bedsheets and towels for you.”

  “Um, okay,” he said. He wore a T-shirt and sweatpants. His bare arms made Donna feel cold.

  Donna followed him in and set the bag down on the kitchen table, which was set with a lone place setting. She looked around. There was a Christmas tree up in the living room, fully decorated.

  “Oh, you got your tree up,” she said.

  “Leah and I put it up the other night,” he said, but he didn’t look at it.

  He looked at his dinner plate. “Gee, Mom, I didn’t know you were coming over. I didn’t cook enough.”

  “I’m not hungry. Sit down and eat your dinner before it gets cold.”

>   She watched him eating his dinner all by himself and her heart ached.

  “Why don’t you turn on the lights on the tree?” she asked, thinking it would cheer things up.

  He didn’t lift his head up from his meal. “Nah, I’ll do it later.”

  Donna got a glass out of the cabinet, filled it with water, and sat down.

  “Where’s Leah tonight?” she asked. “You two seem to be seeing a lot of each other.”

  “Not anymore. It isn’t going to work out,” he replied, his voice trailing off.

  “Oh no, why not?” Donna asked. She could hear the hurt in her son’s voice.

  “She’s going back to California after Christmas,” Brent said. Donna thought he looked a little lost, and she was moved to help him.

  “Not ideal, but not impossible,” she said.

  “More like impossible. I’m tied to Orchard Falls—I can’t just uproot and move. I’ve got too much invested in the clinic.”

  “That’s true.”

  “And I don’t think Leah wants to settle here.”

  “Have you asked her?”

  “No.”

  Donna wanted to roll her eyes but refrained. What am I going to do with you? She wondered.

  “Do you like this girl?”

  Brent nodded enthusiastically.

  Donna sighed in exasperation. “If you like her that much, then tell her how you feel. Ask her to stay.”

  Brent seemed to consider this for a moment. His jaw clenched and unclenched.

  “But she could just stay. She doesn’t need me to ask her,” Brent said.

  Now Donna did roll her eyes. Sometimes Brent was too practical for his own good. “I don’t know much about Leah. But if you like this girl, maybe you should sit down with her and find out what she does want. Does she want to leave California?”

  “That’s ridiculous. She doesn’t need my permission to move to Orchard Falls,” Brent said.

  “Of course not,” Donna agreed. “But does she know that you would like her to?”

  “No,” he said.

  “Then ask her. Give her options. If she says no, then you’ll know for sure. I don’t want to see you spending the rest of your life wondering.”

  Brent nodded. He finished the last bit of his dinner and said, “Hey, she said something about you and her father dating back in high school.”

  “That’s true, we did,” Donna said quietly.

  “There was someone before Dad?” he asked incredulously.

  Donna nodded. “Yes.”

  Brent laughed. “It must have been a shock when you discovered he was living right next store.”

  Donna raised her eyebrows. “Just a bit.”

  “You’re both single. Any chance the two of you might reconnect?” Brent asked.

  “Actually, we have decided to take things slow.”

  Brent’s eyes widened. “Really? Wow, Mom, that’s great.”

  “I like him, but he’s also entertaining a job offer in California.”

  “Maybe you could go with him.”

  “How could I go with him?” Donna asked, looking at her son. “You’re here. I couldn’t leave you.”

  “Mom,” Brent started with a sigh. “You need to live your own life.”

  Donna didn’t say anything.

  “Since Dad died, I don’t ever remember you going out on a date. Ever.”

  Donna shrugged. “After your dad died, I just wasn’t interested. Plus, I was happy raising you.”

  “Mom, I’m raised,” he said pointedly. “And I can’t thank you enough for the sacrifices you’ve made. But you’re always so worried about me and my personal life when you don’t have a personal life of your own.” He paused and added, “Maybe it’s time to rejoin the land of the living.”

  Donna smiled at her son. “When did you get so chatty?”

  Brent laughed. “Leah must be rubbing off on me.” He looked off into the distance. “You know she talked me into performing at the talent show?”

  Donna gasped. “She didn’t!”

  “She did. We’re going as Captain and Tennille. She said I’d be perfect as Captain, as he was a man of few words.”

  “Do you even know who Captain and Tennille were?”

  “I do now,” he said wryly.

  Leah hadn’t known her son long, but she already understood him.

  Somehow, this had to work out between them.

  “Call her,” Donna suggested. “Tell her how you feel.”

  Brent smiled. “I will, Mom.”

  Chapter 14

  It was the day before the Snowball Festival was to kick off. Jim had offered to help Donna and her knitting group yarn bomb Main Street, but first he had a quick stop to make at Mr. Brenneman’s hardware store to see if the Christmas lights for the community center had arrived. He glanced at his watch and thought he’d better get a move on as he had to pick Donna up in an hour.

  There was a small crowd in the hardware store when he entered. He looked around for Mr. Brenneman but didn’t see him. The clerk at the till—a young girl—told him he was in his office.

  Whistling, Jim headed to the back room and found Mr. Brenneman at his desk with a ledger spread out before him. Mr. Brenneman leaned over it, writing figures neatly into the columns in black pen.

  Jim gave a knock on the door.

  Mr. Brenneman looked up and smiled. “Jim! Come in.”

  Jim did so and sat down in a chair next to the desk. “Just checking to see if those lights came in yet.”

  Mr. Brenneman shook his head. “I’m sorry, Jim. This is a different supplier than the one I usually order from.”

  Jim stretched his legs. “Don’t worry about it.”

  Mr. Brenneman closed the ledger and set his pen down. “Let’s go out and look on the floor and see what we can substitute.”

  “That’s not necessary,” Jim said, getting comfortable in the chair.

  But Mr. Brenneman was already standing up. “Of course it is! You’ve got to have lights for the festival.”

  Jim followed him back out to the store. Once they’d gotten some lights, Jim sat down with his former boss in his office for some conversation and a bottle of cream soda. Forty minutes later, he emerged from the hardware store with a bagful of lights. It was an assortment of interior and exterior lights. And there were only single sets of each kind. But it was all they had, and Jim thought it would have to do.

  Donna was just stepping out of her house when Jim pulled into her driveway. She carried a box in her hands and laid it on a short tower of containers already stacked on the pavement. As they loaded the boxes of knitted items into his car, Jim told Donna about the fact that the Christmas lights had never arrived.

  Donna groaned. “No Christmas lights?”

  “Mr. Brenneman and I managed to get some lights anyway,” he explained. “Now, they’re not all the same ones, they’re different varieties but you will have lights.”

  Donna reached out and laid her hand on his arm. “Thanks, Jim, I appreciate your effort. It will be fine.”

  Once the car was loaded up, they hopped in the front and pulled their seat belts on.

  Donna’s eyes were clear and bright on the ride over as she chatted about the evening ahead. She stopped talking to look at him. “Are you laughing at me?” she asked, tilting her head.

  “Of course not. I’m enjoying your enthusiasm,” he said.

  Donna’s exuberance was tempered when she suddenly thought about Brent. “Brent told me that there was no sense in continuing the relationship with Leah, as the distance is a problem.”

  Jim sighed. “Leah more or less told me the same thing.”

  Neither said a word for a moment, but Jim finally spoke. “Why, then, is Leah so miserable?”

  Donna shrugged. “I got the same impression from Brent. That he was very disappointed that it didn’t work out.” Donna paused and looked at Jim. “I told him to call her and sort it out.”

  “Playing matchmaker?” He grinned.r />
  Donna sighed. “I don’t know. Their obstacles are legitimate.”

  Jim looked over at Donna. “There is no such thing as an insurmountable obstacle. If you can’t get over it, you go around it.”

  Donna raised her eyebrows. “Is this some kind of military lingo?”

  “No, it’s from the Jim O’Hara belief system.”

  She couldn’t help smiling. “That’s worse.”

  By the time Jim parked behind the library, they had decided not to meddle any further and to let Brent and Leah figure it out themselves.

  The members of Donna’s knitting group were all assembled inside the library, including Alice. All eyes drifted to Jim when he entered with Donna.

  Betty smiled at Jim and asked, “Are you here to help?”

  “Yes, ma’m,” he said.

  “What can you do?” she grilled.

  “I’ve never met a ladder I couldn’t climb,” he said.

  There was a babble of laughter from the group.

  It was decided that Alice and another member of the knitting group would remain inside the library while the rest of the members went up and down the street for the yarn bombing. Everyone had their assigned targets.

  It turned out that Jim did indeed have a handy skill. Donning his reading glasses, he became the expert at threading yarn through yarn needles so the items could be stitched together around trees and lampposts. As Donna worked on her tree trunks, she watched with amusement as Jim ran up and down Main Street, helping each member of the knitting group with their intended targets. Sometimes it was something as simple as reaching the top of the lamppost rather than always pulling the ladder out. For the trickier, out of reach targets, he walked, with the ladder slung over his shoulder going from one target to the next. He started with the lampposts and ended with Horace. Each time, he took direction from the member of the knitting group before climbing the ladder to affix the knitwear.

  When they were finished and the group dispersed, Jim drove Donna home. When he dropped her off, she asked, “Would you like to come over for some hot chocolate?” she asked.

  “I’d love to but I can’t,” he said.

  She looked at him expectantly.