Happily This Christmas--A Novel

by Susan Mallery

  She wasn’t too old to have more children. Lots of women her age got pregnant. The concept shouldn’t be startling, but it was. Somehow she’d decided that part of her life was over without asking herself if that was what she wanted.

  Not a conversation to have with herself right now, she decided, but something to think about later.

  “What about plants?” he asked.

  She had no idea what he was talking about. “Plants instead of kids?”

  He chuckled. “No. What about getting some plants for the house? Don’t women like that? Something—” he waved his hand “—I don’t know. Leafy and green. For Joylyn. Can pregnant women be around plants?”

  “They can, and if you’d like, we can go to the nursery after we empty out your SUV. I’m sure they have a nice selection of leafy green things.”

  “You’re making fun of me.”

  “Only a little.”

  * * *

  “CAPTAIN, DO YOU have a second?”

  Garrick looked up from his computer and saw Phillips, a relatively new officer, hovering outside his office.

  He waved the younger man in and saved the email he’d been working on. His recent promotion had come with a lot of paperwork and responsibility. He disliked the former, enjoyed the latter and knew that if all went according to plan, both were going to increase.

  After he’d returned from his last task force assignment in Colombia, he’d taken a few weeks to clear his head. He wasn’t going to say he had anything like PTSD, but weeks of being held hostage by an angry, vicious drug lord had left a few scars—some physical, some less visible. His job in Phoenix had been waiting for him, but Garrick had felt he wanted some kind of a change. The call from Frank Dineen, known to all in Happily Inc as Grandpa Frank, had offered an unexpected career path.

  The current chief of police was looking at retiring in a few years, and the town wanted to hire an heir apparent. Garrick was a known entity with the right skill set. He’d been recommended by his boss in Phoenix and the task force commander. Three regular-length interviews and one two-day-long interview later, he’d been hired and had moved back to his hometown.

  He’d come in as a sergeant and had been promoted to captain about six months ago. His “career development plan” included him getting more involved with community outreach, including the city council and other governing boards.

  He wasn’t excited about the politics in the position, but understood that a part of good policing was understanding how government worked and knowing his department’s place in the overall structure of the town. He’d just wrapped up an online college course on city management. Last year he’d studied human resources as it related to law enforcement, and he still had three or four more courses he wanted to take. So much for his homework days being behind him.

  He motioned to the chair next to his desk and waited until the young officer took a seat before asking, “What’s up?”

  Phillips was a good kid—maybe twenty-five or twenty-six. Married with a two-year-old. He had a four-year degree in criminal justice. A year into law school, he’d decided to become a cop instead.

  He was decent officer—a little impatient, but that came with his age. He was well liked and had no trouble working with female bosses. That was one of Garrick’s tests of new recruits—have them report to a woman. New hires tended to come to the job either cautious and willing to learn or arrogant as hell. Garrick wanted to weed out the jerks as quickly as possible. Happily Inc wasn’t a big metropolitan area. The force was meant to be part of the community, not an adversary.

  Phillips had done well with everyone he worked with. The only negative reports were that he kept to himself a little more than was socially acceptable for such a close-knit group.

  Phillips glanced at his hands, then up at Garrick. He cleared his throat. “I wanted to let you know that I’m, ah, gonna be moving out of my house. I’ll be staying with a friend for a few weeks while things get straightened out at home.”

  Garrick’s radar lit up and his body tensed. Trouble on the home front was never good, but in a kid this young, with a baby, it could be a disaster.

  He got up and closed the door, then resumed his seat. “I’m sorry to hear that. What seems to be the problem?”

  Phillips looked startled by the question. “Just some personal stuff.”

  Garrick waited. Phillips had come to him. He could have moved out without saying anything, but he hadn’t, which led Garrick to believe he wanted advice rather than to make an announcement.

  “Angie’s being so difficult,” he said, his jaw tightening as he spoke. “When I get home from work, I’m tired. All she wants to do is talk to me. I need time to unwind, but I don’t get a second. She’s always asking me questions and wanting me to take care of the baby. It’s not that I don’t love her and Bailey, it’s just, I can’t be her entertainment every second I’m not working. She’s complaining we’re not going to have any family with us for Thanksgiving. It will just be the three of us.” He looked away. “Maybe marrying her was a mistake. It’s too much.”

  Garrick took in the information, trying to decide how to handle the situation. With some men, it helped to berate them into seeing sense. Others needed to be led to the truth.

  “You and Angie moved here from where?” he asked.

  “New Mexico.”

  “That’s a long way from home. Does she have a big family there?”

  Phillips nodded. “A couple of sisters, her folks, all her friends. She was a nurse there, but with Bailey and all, she hasn’t had time to get her license here.”

  Garrick leaned back in his chair, his posture relaxed. “You moved your wife away from her family, her home and her job to a town where she doesn’t know anyone. She’s caring for your daughter twenty-four hours a day, and when you get home, she wants to have a conversation with you and have you take part in raising the child that is half yours. At the same time, you have a new career that is interesting and meets all your social needs. You’re going and doing all day long, so much so that when you pull into the driveway, you just want to be left alone. Do I have that right, Phillips?”

  The officer flushed. “It’s not like that.”

  “Isn’t it? Tell me what I got wrong.”

  “She wanted to come here, too. It wasn’t my decision.”

  “And why is that? To further her own career?”

  Phillips looked away. “To help me with mine.”

  “Do you love her?”

  Phillips pulled his head back to stare at Garrick. “What?”

  “Do you still love your wife?”

  “Of course I do. It’s just—”

  Garrick held up a hand. “No. Whatever you’re going to say, don’t. It’ll only make you look bad.” He leaned close. “Here’s the thing. You’re an idiot. You’re married to a smart woman who had a great career. She gave that up for you. She moved to a strange place where she has absolutely no support system, for you. The way I see it, the woman gave up pretty much all she had and here you are, complaining like a little boy.”

  “I’m not complaining.”

  Garrick let the words hang there for a second before speaking.

  “Don’t move out like some indecisive whiner. Man up or let her go.”

  Phillips’s eyes widened. “Let her go? You mean divorce her?”

  “Why not? It would solve all your problems. She could move back home and be with people who actually love her. You won’t have to deal with your wife and kid. Didn’t you just tell me getting married was a mistake? So undo it. Sure, your daughter will grow up without you, but hey, that’s the price of freedom, right? Besides, if Angie is all you say she is, she won’t be single long. Bailey will have a new dad, and you won’t have to worry about her at all.”

  Phillips balled his hands into fists. “Sir, I don’t want a divorce. I don’t want he
r leaving. Why would you say that?”

  “I think the bigger question is why aren’t you on your knees every damn day saying a prayer of gratitude that you have a woman willing to do what she did for you? A woman raising your kid, taking care of everything while you live out your dream job. She wants to talk, then you talk. She wants you to take care of your daughter, you say thank you for the privilege of spending time with the most amazing human being you’ve had the good fortune to have in your life. Give Angie flowers, hire a babysitter and take her out to dinner. Talk to some of the guys you work with and find out who would like to have you three with them for Thanksgiving. I’d say invite them to your place, but that’s just more work for your wife. Take time off work so Angie can do what she needs to do to be licensed in California. Make this right, Phillips, or I will start to think you’re not the man I thought you were.”

  Garrick waited, not sure if he’d gone too far or not. He knew that a few of his HR professors wouldn’t approve of his style, but he was okay with that. He had a feeling Phillips didn’t want a divorce—he just needed to see what he was so blithely tossing in the trash. And if Garrick was wrong, well, he would deal with that, too.

  Phillips stared at him. “I’ve screwed up with her, haven’t I? I messed up everything. I made her feel awful. You’re right. She’s been so great this whole time. I know she’s lonely—anyone would be. I have to do better.” Tears filled his eyes. “I don’t want to lose her. I don’t want her to leave me.”

  Garrick pointed to the door. “Then go fix this. Take the rest of the day off and make things right with your wife. I’ll see you tomorrow, Phillips.”

  The kid nodded as he sprang to his feet and ran to the door. “Thanks, Captain.”

  Garrick nodded, watching him go.

  Hopefully the situation would work out between them. Thinking about Phillips and his wife made Garrick feel old and maybe a little bit broken. It was easy to give someone else advice, but much harder to know what to do yourself. He’d screwed up with his daughter, and he still had no idea what had gone wrong. His marriage to Sandy had failed, although there it was easier to see how things had turned and why they didn’t make it. As for Raine...

  He drew in a breath, determined not to get caught up in the past again. It was done and there was no do-over allowed. Knowing what he knew now, he would have walked away as soon as he figured out the truth—assignment be damned. But he hadn’t had the benefit of foresight, so he’d gone on thinking he could handle it. That somehow he would keep it all from being a disaster. And then she’d died.

  She’d died because she’d broken the rules. Their undercover fake relationship was never supposed to be more than a means to an end. They weren’t supposed to cross that line, and while he hadn’t, she had and in the end, she’d paid with her life.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “IT WAS SO GROSS, Mom,” Hunter said cheerfully as he unpacked pots and pan from the box and put them on the counter. “Jimmy threw up everywhere. His desk, the floor. He barfed all over Penny and she started crying. Then a couple of other kids barfed, and everyone started screaming and running out of the classroom.”

  Wynn did her best not to picture the event. She was feeling perfectly fine and wanted to keep it that way. “What had he eaten?”

  “An egg salad sandwich he’d had in his locker for three days!” Hunter sounded both shocked and impressed. “He said it smelled funny, and I told him to throw it out because you always said stuff with mayonnaise has to be kept cold, but he didn’t listen.”

  “While I live to be proven right, I’m sorry about what happened.”

  “The room still smells. We had to move to another classroom. They took Jimmy to the hospital. Byron texted and said he’s okay. They’ll keep him overnight and let him go home in the morning.”

  “I feel sorry for your teacher. That isn’t something anyone wants to deal with.”

  Hunter finished emptying the box. He flattened it and added it to the pile. “The person we should feel bad about is the janitor. He has to clean it all up.”

  “An excellent point,” Wynn said, making a mental note to stop and get the janitor a Starbucks gift card on her way to work in the morning. “That’s not an easy job.”

  “Especially when teenagers do dumb stuff like that.”

  She held in a smile. “I’m glad you see it that way.”

  Her handsome, fourteen-year-old son grinned at her. “I’m maturing, Mom.”

  “I can tell.”

  Hunter reached for a box of flatware. They were spending the afternoon at Garrick’s house, unpacking all the purchases while she waited on the furniture delivery. She had an easy week and had offered to accept the delivery scheduled between three and six. She already had the sheets in the dryer and a load of dishes going through the dishwasher.

  She didn’t mind being neighborly, but she had to admit it felt a little strange to be in Garrick’s house, which was why she’d asked Hunter to help her with the unpacking. Having her kid around made the situation a little less weird. Plus now that he was, as he’d put it, “maturing,” she didn’t see him as much as she used to.

  “Aside from the throwing up thing, it was a good day?” she asked.

  “Uh-huh. I did great on my algebra test. I might even get an A.”

  “Impressive.”

  He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “I was thinking, I need to be more responsible around the house and stuff.”

  Wynn carefully put down the mixing bowls she’d just unpacked and tried not to shriek, You are an alien! What have you done with my son?

  “In what way?” she asked, careful to keep her tone conversational rather than incredulous.

  “Like I said, I’m older now and I should be a more well-rounded human being. Maybe help out in the community.”

  She busied herself flattening the box so her shock wouldn’t show. “Okay, what does that mean in English?”

  Hunter laughed. “I want to start volunteering, Mom. You know, doing some good. I want to talk to Carol and see if she needs help at the animal preserve. My science class went there last semester after the baby giraffe was born. It was supercool.”

  “Carol always has work for volunteers,” she told him. “She holds orientation classes every few months, and people sign up to help feed the animals or clean up after them. It’s not glamorous work.”

  Hunter surprised her by smiling. “Mom, if it was glamorous, they wouldn’t need volunteers.”

  “Let’s go there over the holiday break,” she said. “You can talk to her and get a feel for the work. If you still want to volunteer after that, we’ll look into the necessary steps.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  The dryer buzzed. Wynn left Hunter unpacking the rest of their purchases. She walked into the laundry room and put the clean sheets into the basket and moved the towels from the washer to the dryer.

  Once she’d started the dryer, she went into what would be Joylyn’s room and started making the bed. The sheets were soft and the pillows fluffy. Wynn smoothed the blanket into place, then tucked in the edges and reached for the comforter. She’d just flipped it onto the bed when Garrick walked into the bedroom.

  “Hi,” he said, smiling at her.

  He looked good, she thought, taking in the dark hair, gray eyes and the perfectly fitting uniform. Really good. Swoon-worthy good.

  Nerve endings started a conga line in her belly and began hopping and cheering all through her body. Heat flared, not wanting the nerves to get all the attention.

  “Hi, yourself,” she managed to say, pleased that her voice didn’t crack.

  “I was able to move a few things around on my calendar and get home a little earlier than I’d thought.” He smiled again. “I still can’t believe you took off work to help me with the delivery.”

  She smiled. “Happy to do it. So far, no
large truck has pulled into the driveway, so you haven’t missed the excitement.”

  “Let me go change my clothes, and I’ll join you to finish up what needs to be done.”

  She nodded, afraid that if she tried to speak she would offer to help with the whole changing thing, and that would just be embarrassing for both of them. Well, not if he didn’t say no, but what were the odds?

  Once he’d left, she drew in a couple of deep breaths to calm herself, then went back to work on the bed. With the throw pillows in place, she folded a blanket across the foot and smoothed it.

  The space was calming, she thought. Light came in through two large windows. The bed frame was beautiful, the bedding complementing the exquisite carving. There was plenty of storage space in the dresser, and Wynn had remembered to buy hangers on Sunday so the closet was good to go. Joylyn had a TV on her dresser and a nice desk in the corner where Wynn had placed a couple of paper turkeys along with a little fabric gourd to remind Joylyn of the season.

  Across the way, the bathroom looked welcoming. There were new rugs in front of the sink and the toilet. Soap, body wash and a loofah were placed on the shelf in the walk-in shower. She still had to hang the prints they’d bought and add the towels when they were out of the dryer, but otherwise, the bathroom was practically picture perfect.

  She returned to the kitchen. Hunter had finished unpacking everything.

  “I’m going to take the boxes out to the recycling bin,” he said, picking up the stack.

  “Thanks. After that, would you like to head home?”

  He glanced longingly toward their place. “I have homework I want to do before dinner.”

  “Then go do it and thank you for your help.”

  He grinned at her and bolted for the back door. Wynn chuckled as she began measuring shelf paper.

  “Put me to work,” Garrick told her as he walked into the kitchen.

  She ignored how good he looked in jeans and a T-shirt. “Hunter and I have unpacked all the kitchen stuff.” She motioned to the stacks of dishes, pots and pans and utensils on the counter. “The first load is already in the dishwasher. Once that’s done, these have to be put through a quick wash cycle. The bed is made, the towels are in the dryer and I’m about to put shelf paper in the cupboards.”