A Wright Christmas

by Linde, K. A.

  “Yeah, well, that’s all about to change,” Jensen said confidently. “Last week, Wright Construction got the green light to build a soccer facility for a Division II professional league.”

  My jaw dropped open. “Seriously? That’s…incredible. I never thought that would happen in Lubbock.”

  “Honestly, neither did I,” Jensen agreed. “But since I know you have the most experience with the sport and my architecture company is running the design specifics, I want to get your input on design, and Morgan agreed to put you in charge of the project team.”

  I nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, of course. I’m happy to help.”

  I’d been recruited all over the country for soccer right out of high school and played two years of DI soccer at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. But nothing had really panned out like my dreams had always hoped they would, and I’d quit the team before my junior year, moved back to Lubbock, and graduated from Texas Tech. I still had mixed feelings about the whole thing.

  “Excellent. We’re in early stages, of course, but let’s put you on the books for all the main planning meetings with me, Morgan, David, and Jordan.”

  “Will do.”

  I could just imagine myself in a room with all the most important people at Wright. Morgan, CEO of Wright Construction, was a total badass at her job. David had come in from San Francisco to be our newest CFO. And Jordan was a Wright cousin. He and his father had been in charge of the Canadian division of the company, headquartered in Vancouver, but he had moved down to Lubbock with his mom and younger brother three years ago. He was a total shark, and I could see why they wanted to bring him in on this new project.

  And while I’d worked my way up at Wright straight out of college and been the project lead on the new Buddy Holly Center downtown, this felt different somehow. I wasn’t just implementing what others had created. I was in the room where it happened.

  I stayed in Jensen’s office for the next hour, going over everything that I would want to include in a professional soccer stadium. Of course, we already had a baseline for what we had to include, but the Wrights never did anything half-assed. So, this had to be the biggest and best.

  “God, is it already four thirty?” I asked, checking my watch. “I have to get out of here. I have to pick up Aly.”

  Jensen leaned back in his chair and laughed. “I do tend to get a little carried away. Emery is probably going to want me home at some sort of reasonable hour today.”

  “That seems likely. When is she due?”

  “Not until the spring.”

  “Well, congrats, man,” I said, shaking his hand. “Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?”

  He sighed heavily. “Girl.”

  I tried to cover my laughter at his dismay. “You’re going to do great. Girls are easy.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think anyone can say children are easy.”

  “True.”

  “Well, get out of here. I’m going to finish this up.”

  I tipped my head at him and headed out the door. I was probably going to be late. Again. I dashed across the parking lot and into my truck. My mom usually picked Aly up from school and took her to the studio, but I was responsible for picking her up after work. I didn’t normally get caught in philosophical discussions with Jensen Wright.

  Luckily, no cops caught me speeding through downtown Lubbock to pull into the Buddy Holly Center parking lot. I’d actually managed to arrive two whole minutes early. I loosened my tie and tossed it onto the seat next to me, unbuttoned the top button of my shirt, and ran a hand back through my auburn hair. Good enough.

  With a sigh, I exited my truck and headed inside the Lubbock Ballet Company’s studio. Aly had been dancing here for the last three years. Everyone thought I was crazy for putting her in ballet at only two years old, but honestly, the kid had come out dancing. She cried if she didn’t go straight to the studio after school. It felt a bit like a curse to me, but she loved dancing so much, so how could I ever deny her?

  The lobby was full of parents that I recognized from Aly’s classes. I tipped my head at a few of them. I knew basically everyone in the city. In my line of work, it was hard not to know everyone. But it was Angelica and Bart Lawson, Lubbock’s resident high-profile lawyer team, who approached me. Kill me now.

  “Angelica,” I said with a head nod. I took Bart’s hand. “Bart.”

  “Isaac, just lovely to see you,” Angelica said.

  “You too.”

  “How’s Aly?”

  “You know Aly. Always happy to be in dance tights.” I laughed with the couple. “How’s everything going with Katelyn?”

  Angelica pursed her lips. “Well, they gave the Clara role to Bebe.”

  She made it sound like it was an affront. I knew enough about ballet to know that Bebe was the best dancer we’d seen in over a decade. My heart panged at that thought. Being here always reminded me of Peyton. I tried to hide it all away, but there was a reason I knew how the ballet world worked.

  “They should have given it to our Katelyn,” Bart said.

  “She’s worked so much harder for this,” Angelica agreed. “Don’t you think so?”

  There was no winning here. I couldn’t say that Bebe was the better dancer. Katelyn did work hard, but she had the added advantage of parents who cared way too much.

  “What part is Katelyn playing?” I asked instead.

  Angelica waved her hand. “She’s a soloist in the snow scene, and she’s one of the flowers. But it’s not the same as being Clara, especially the way that Kathy choreographs the role.”

  “Of course. Those are both great parts.” I glanced over their shoulders. The baby class hadn’t let out yet. “Excuse me. I’m going to go check on Aly.”

  I brushed past the couple and headed toward the studio space. Just as I was nearly to Aly’s class, Kathy stepped out of the costume room with another woman.

  I stopped dead in my tracks, my stomach dropping to the floor. It couldn’t be. This made no sense. I was having a hallucination. That was the only possible explanation for this. Because what would Peyton Medina, a principal dancer in New York City, be doing in Lubbock?

  But there was no denying it.

  No one else had her grace or poise. The slicked-back bun that had wisps of brown curls constantly escaping, no matter how much hairspray or gel she applied. The lithe frame with her tan complexion. The dimple that appeared just on her right cheek when she really smiled, as she was now. The widening of her big brown eyes as she saw me for the first time, too.

  “Isaac?” she gasped.

  Her eyes swept up and down my form, just as I had done to her. Something ignited inside me. She’d left so long ago, and still, that connection between us sparked. I took a half-step forward for a moment, remembering all the times I’d held her perfect body and kissed her perfect lips.

  Before I ripped myself away from who we’d been at seventeen and back to the present, an ache settled in its place. An old, familiar feeling of missing her. One that had never truly gone away.

  “Hey, Peyton.”

  3

  Peyton

  Isaac Donoghue was standing in the Lubbock Ballet Company lobby.

  I blinked and blinked again. This wasn’t going away. He was really there. Right there. As if I had conjured him out of thin air. I’d anticipated seeing him but not on my first day back. Not here, like this, where I was so unguarded.

  God, I had been so hopelessly in love with him. And looking into those green eyes, I could see it happening all over again. Just how easy it would be to get lost in my first love.

  He was somehow even more gorgeous than I remembered. He towered over me, as he always had. And while he’d been tall and lanky in high school with his intense soccer schedule, plus running cross-country, he had completely filled out. His shoulders were broad and defined in his suit, his waist tapered in, and his chest had expanded considerably. But it was the bright green of his eyes, the red scruff alon
g his defined jawline, and the warmth of that smile that had always drawn me in. Just as they did now.

  “Hi,” I said, flustered.

  He laughed softly, and something in my chest eased at the sound. “It’s good to see you. What are you doing in town?”

  “I’m…well, Kathy invited me out to perform as the Sugar Plum Fairy for the season.”

  Kathy deviously grinned at us both. “We’re so lucky to have her. If you’ll excuse me…”

  “That’s incredible,” Isaac said. “You’re not performing in New York?”

  “I rearranged my schedule to dance the last week of the year in New York so that I could be here for the entire LBC Nutcracker season.”

  “Wow. So, you’ll be here for a month?”

  I nodded. A whole month…and Isaac was here.

  He stepped forward, shedding the distance between us. Fire shot through me.

  “That’s amazing. I’m sure your family is glad to have you home.”

  “They are,” I said at once, fidgeting with the loose curl at my temple that I still couldn’t get into place. I dropped my gaze and then lifted it to his again. I wet my lips. “I thought we might run into each other.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Kind of a small circle.”

  “True.”

  “I just…didn’t guess it’d be on my first day,” I said with a small shrug.

  “Yeah, what are the chances? So, you just got in?”

  “Yeah, Piper picked me up from the airport. I’m kind of beat, and I’m still supposed to have dinner with Peter and my parents.”

  “Oh, well, don’t let me keep you.”

  “You’re not,” I insisted, a faint blush touching my cheeks. “I just mean…this is nice. It’s good to catch up with old friends.”

  Something shifted in his face.

  Friends. Why had I said friends? What was I even thinking?

  “Sure. Definitely. It’s been a long time.”

  I wanted to say more. Being around him felt…right. It always had. Fate had twisted us together again. Could I even deny that I’d wanted it to?

  “It has.”

  “Do you need a ride or something?” he asked, always the gentleman.

  “Oh, no. I took Piper’s Jeep. I’m sure she’s counting down the minutes until I bring it back. You know how she is.”

  He laughed. “I do. I was just surprised to see you.”

  Me too.

  Just looking at him, I could tell that it had been so very long since I’d seen him. We weren’t teenagers anymore. Things had changed. And ballet still stood between us…as it always had.

  He seemed to be willing to let me walk right by and out of his life again. And for a second, I decided that I didn’t want that.

  “Maybe we should meet up,” I blurted out.

  My blush only deepened. There was no reason not to get a drink with Isaac. We hadn’t seen each other in sixteen years. It wasn’t like I wanted to start a relationship or anything. I was going back to New York in a month anyway.

  “Sure,” he said with a half-smile. “My number hasn’t changed.”

  I swallowed. “No. Mine hasn’t either.”

  “Then, call me or send a text. We can figure something out.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  His smile never wavered.

  Then the door to the baby ballet room opened, and a surge of little dancers in pink tights and leos and skirts came bounding into the lobby. A smile crossed my face at the excitement on all the little dancers’ faces. I loved this moment. Not all, probably not even very many, of these little ones would make it past the next couple of years. But for the few who loved dance so much that it was in their very bones, they’d keep dancing. And it was in their faces that I saw myself and boundless opportunity. Any one of them could be the next star.

  “Daddy!” a little girl with ginger-red hair screamed as she rushed toward Isaac.

  My heart stopped.

  I hadn’t even wondered what Isaac was doing in the lobby of the ballet company on a Thursday afternoon. It didn’t even occur to me. I’d been so dumbstruck by his presence that I didn’t even consider his real reason for being here—he had a daughter.

  “Aly Cat!” he cried, scooping up the little girl and pulling her in close. He covered her face in kisses until she squealed with delight.

  And as much as my heart ached to see it, it also glowed. Isaac was a great father. Just as I’d always known that he would be. My own disappointment clouded my mind.

  For a second, I was seventeen again and standing at a crossroads. In one direction was everything I’d ever wanted—New York City, principal ballerina, dancing in front of thousands in Lincoln Center. And in the other direction was Isaac, a family, a life. I’d chosen one, and standing before me now was the other. But it wasn’t my family or my life. He had made that with someone else. As he had every right to.

  I stepped back, a lump forming in my throat. I was happy for him even if, outwardly, I struggled to show it. He deserved a beautiful child and wife and the life he’d always dreamed of for us. But it didn’t hurt any less.

  “Aly, let me introduce you to an old friend of mine,” Isaac said, swinging the little girl around. “This is Peyton Medina.”

  “Hi, Peyton,” Aly gushed, wiggling out of Isaac’s arms to stand next to me. She only came up to my hip, but she was full of energy. “I’ve heard all about you. You’re a ballerina. A real ballerina.”

  I startled out of my own melancholy. “You’ve heard about me?”

  “Of course! My daddy only knows one real ballerina. One day, I’m going to move to New York and dance on a stage, just like you!”

  I squatted down to her level. “I believe that you will.”

  “Of course I will. Daddy tells me that I can be anything I want when I grow up.”

  “He’s right.”

  “I’m even going to be a mouse in The Nutcracker this year.”

  “That’s quite impressive,” I encouraged. “And how old are you?”

  She held her hand out. “Five. But I’m going to be six in April.”

  “Wow. That is quite an accomplishment for a five-year-old.”

  “I know. I’m smart and a good listener,” she boasted.

  I cracked a smile.

  “And modest, too,” Isaac said with a laugh, ruffling Aly’s perfect ballet bun.

  “Dad, don’t mess up my hair!”

  “Do you want to know something, Aly?” I asked.

  She nodded vigorously.

  I tried not to laugh. “I am going to be the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker here in Lubbock this year.”

  Aly screamed in delight. Isaac shushed her with an eye roll as the parents who were still nearby looked over in shock. “That is going to be ah-may-zing! Daddy, did you hear?”

  “I did, Aly Cat. Now, you should probably let Peyton go. I’m sure you will see her around a lot at rehearsals.”

  “I can’t wait,” she said, clenching her hands into fists and shaking with joy.

  I straightened up and hauled my dance bag back over my shoulder. “Well…I’ll see you around.”

  Isaac nodded at me. “Looking forward to it.”

  I swallowed back my disappointment and all the questions I wanted to ask. First and foremost among them: Where’s her mom?

  I was deeply regretting not being on social media. For so long in my career, it had meant direct access to my critics, and I just hadn’t been able to handle that. Now, I was wondering how I could be so out of the loop.

  With one more backward glance at Isaac holding Aly’s tiny hand, I hastened out of the Lubbock Ballet Company lobby and away from all my what-ifs from the past.

  4

  Peyton

  “You will never guess who I ran into at the Lubbock Ballet Company,” I said to Piper later that day as I drove with her and Blaire to my parents’ home on the south side of town.

  “Isaac Donoghue,” Piper guessed.

  My eyes
widened. “How did you guess?”

  “Because his daughter is obsessed with dance. She’s there almost every day.”

  “What?” I gasped. “You knew this and didn’t tell me?”

  “Everyone knows that, Peyton,” Blaire said from the backseat.

  I turned around to glare at her, but Blaire just laughed. She was Piper’s roommate and best friend from college. They’d been inseparable ever since they first met. She had a baseball hat low over her wide blue eyes, and her nearly black hair whipped around her face in the wind with the Jeep’s top down. It was too cold to have the top down at the end of November, but Piper always liked to push boundaries.

  “Well, I didn’t know that. It was quite a shock to meet his daughter.”

  “She’s so cute though, isn’t she?” Piper said.

  “She is. Is her mom…in the picture?” I asked as nonchalantly as I could.

  But Piper’s smile fell off her face. “She died…in childbirth.”

  “Oh.”

  I flushed and looked out the window as the streets of my parents’ neighborhood zoomed past. Christmas lights dotted the houses as everyone prepared for the upcoming holiday. For so long, that had only meant extra hours in the studio and endless Nutcracker performances. Not that I’d ever minded. But in that moment, I minded.

  “Yeah, he’s doing okay now, as far as I know,” Piper said. “It was pretty traumatic at the time.”

  “I can only imagine.” With a sigh, I turned back to Piper. “So, he’s a single dad? Not…attached?”

  Piper’s smile returned. “Are you interested?”

  “No,” I said automatically. “I’m only here for a month. I’m just trying to digest everything I missed.”

  “Liar.”

  Blaire cackled from the backseat. “Yeah, he’s single. His parents and sister help take care of Aly a lot.”

  “Oh, wow, Annie,” I said, remembering his sister’s name. “I haven’t seen her in forever. She was just a little kid when I left.”

  “She’s in med school now,” Piper said.

  “That’s amazing.”