Just One Kiss: A heartwarming Christmas romance (Whisper Lake Book 4)

by Barbara Freethy

  "What happens now?"

  "No idea. The ball is in her court. And Hannah is so damn stubborn. She sees everything in absolutes. There is no gray area. People are good or bad, right or wrong. In her mind, I'm bad, and I'm wrong."

  "She wouldn't hate you so much if she didn't also like you. But this dance that's been going on between you and Hannah—it needs to end, Jake. It's gone on too long. Even when you're with other women, you're never really with them."

  "That's not true," he said, frowning at his brother's analysis of his love life.

  "Yes, it is. That's why no one lasts longer than a few months. No one is ever Hannah. If you want her, then go get her. Don't let the ball bounce around in her court. Take it, shoot it. That's what you do best. What you don't do best is wait."

  "You have a point."

  "You need to either get her back or let her go so you can move on with your life."

  "Since when did you get to be so smart?"

  "I've always been this smart. You just don’t usually listen to me," Paul said dryly.

  "Well, I hear what you're saying. It's good advice."

  "Are you going to take it?"

  "I think I will. But right now, I have to get ready to take a group down Skyhawk."

  Paul grinned. "That sounds like fun."

  "What are you doing this afternoon?"

  "Helping Mom pack up her cakes and cookies for the carnival. Want to trade?"

  "Not a chance," he said with a laugh. "But we should hit the slopes tomorrow or sometime this week."

  "Maybe. I have some studying to do."

  "It's Christmas."

  "And I have six months left in medical school. I can't blow it now."

  "You won't. I'm proud of you, Paul."

  "Even though I'm following in Dad's footsteps?"

  "You might become a doctor like him, but you are nothing like him," he said firmly.

  "I wish you and Dad would find a way to get along," Paul said, his smile fading. "It would be nice to spend a Christmas with the four of us happy together, like the old days."

  "We can't recreate the past."

  "Isn't that what you're trying to do with Hannah?" his brother challenged.

  "Actually, no. I don't want to go back to where she and I used to be. I want to discover where we can go now."

  "You could do the same in your relationship with Dad."

  He shook his head. "I don't think so."

  "It's my fault, isn't it?" Paul asked, a serious gleam in his eyes.

  He was shocked by his brother's question. "Of course it's not your fault. Why would you say that?"

  "Because when I was sick, I took a lot of attention away from you. I know you got shafted."

  "I did not get shafted. I wanted you to have everything you needed."

  "And I did, but somewhere along the way, you and Dad lost your relationship, and I can't believe it had nothing to do with me."

  "Well, it didn't." He didn't want to lie to his brother, but the situation between him and his father was much more complicated that Paul's illness.

  "Then what was it?"

  He let out a sigh. He was starting to realize that both his mother and his brother were losing patience with the situation between him and his father. They wanted him to fix whatever was wrong. He didn't know why it was on him to fix anything. "Let's not do this now. I don't have time, and it's Christmas."

  "The perfect time to get the family back together," Paul said. "It's not like you to just accept a bad situation and not try to change it. That's not who you are. You can't quit on Hannah. So maybe you should consider not quitting on your family."

  He frowned, wishing Paul's words weren't echoing his own thoughts. He could see a connection between the way Hannah treated him and the way he treated his father, but the situations were completely different. "I'll think about it," he said. "In the meantime, I have to get ready to take on a mountain."

  "Good luck, although I don't think you'll need it…unless the mountain's name is Hannah," Paul joked. "I still think that one might take you down."

  Hannah paced around the living room, wondering if she'd made the right decision in calling her mother. Usually her mother's assistance created more problems than it solved. But Adam wanted to talk to her mom, and the news of Brett's appearance and her sister's disappearance would make the rounds of Whisper Lake no matter how quiet Adam kept the investigation.

  Practically speaking, it would also be impossible to hide Brett's existence with so many holiday events happening over the next several days. She had to work Santa's house at tonight's Christmas Carnival, which meant she would have to bring Brett with her, and she would have to tell people he was her nephew. She would try to keep the problems with Kelly private, but even those would probably leak out. She'd accepted friendly, concerned gossip as an integral part of small-town life a long time ago.

  As she waited for her mom's arrival, she went upstairs to check on Brett. She'd put him down for a nap earlier, and he was still fast asleep. She was grateful that he hadn't asked a lot of questions about where his mother was or when she was coming back, but she wondered if that just meant he was used to his mom disappearing. She hoped that wasn't the case. She hoped this was the first and only time that Kelly had abandoned her son.

  The doorbell rang. She quickly closed the bedroom door, and then went downstairs. She was greeted by her mother wearing an annoyed look on her face. It wasn't unusual to see that expression on Katherine Stark's face; Hannah got it a lot, usually because she was the one who forced her mom to deal with things she didn't want to deal with. Today was no exception.

  "Come in," she said, waving her inside. Despite her mother's unhappy expression, she had to admit that her mom looked healthier and younger than her fifty-nine years. She wore dark jeans today with a soft-blue sweater under a white and gray striped coat. Stylish black boots completed the look. Her blonde hair was styled, her skin was clear, and her green-eyed gaze was sharp. She was slender but not as thin as she used to be when she had made booze the center of any meal. Looking at her now it wasn't easy to see the drunk she'd once been. Hopefully, she'd never see that woman again.

  "What was so important that it couldn't wait, Hannah?" her mother asked. "I have so many things to do before the carnival tonight, and I would think you do, too. Isn't the hospital in charge of Santa's Workshop and the entire North Pole set?"

  "Yes, and I will be heading down there later today, but I need to talk to you, Mom. It's about the tenant who called yesterday."

  "Are we still on that? I don't have any additional information."

  "I know, but I do. Let's go into the living room. You should sit down."

  At her words, her mother gave her a wary look. "Really? I need to sit down?"

  "Yes." She waved her mom into the living room.

  "It's such a happy time of the year. Do I want to hear this?" her mom asked, as she took a seat on the couch. She'd always been one to prefer denial over awareness.

  "You may not want to, but you need to. When I got to the cabin last night, I found a little boy. He's four years old and his name is Brett. He'd been left at the cabin by his mother, and the hot water complaint was just a ruse to get me or you up to the cabin."

  "What are you talking about?" her mother asked, surprise and confusion flitting through her eyes.

  "There was a note. It said Brett was in danger and needed someone to watch out for him. With the note was a necklace." She paused, waiting for her mother's gaze to meet hers. "It had a unicorn charm on the end of it. It was Kelly's necklace, Mom, the one I gave her for her birthday." She wished she still had the note and the necklace, but she'd given them both to Adam.

  Her mother paled at her words. "No. That's impossible."

  "Brett is Kelly's son. She's the one who rented the cabin. She's the one who left the text message. She's the one who wanted us to find her son and take care of him."

  "Maybe you're wrong—"

  She cut her mom off. "I'
m not wrong. Kelly may have booked the reservation in a fake name, but she is Brett's mother. He confirmed his mom's name is Kelly. And he knew about our dog—Tiger. Plus, he looks just like Tyler did when he was small."

  "Kelly has a son?" her mom murmured in bemusement. "But she left him alone? That doesn't make sense. But then, Kelly did a lot of things that didn't make sense. It sounds like she's still irresponsible and impulsive."

  "I can't argue with that. I brought Brett home. He's taking a nap upstairs."

  "He's here?" her mom asked in surprise.

  "Yes. He's my nephew. He's your grandson. I couldn't let him go to anyone else. I did call Adam Cole. He's going to try to find Kelly. If we don't hear from her or he hasn't located her by Monday, then child welfare services may need to get involved. But I have no intention of giving Brett up. He's ours. He's family."

  "Your sister left our family a long time ago."

  "Brett didn't. He's an innocent child. He's very sweet—a little angel."

  Her mother stared back at her with pain in her eyes. "Kelly was a sweet child, too. But then she got older, and she lost that angelic quality. She was sassy, always talking back and thinking she knew better. She was reckless, impulsive, and very self-centered. By the time she was a teenager, it was all about her, all the time. Never mind that I had two other kids to raise, Kelly seemed to need more and more and more. Whatever I gave her was never enough. And your father felt the same way."

  "Really?" She couldn't help but interrupt her mother's rant. "I always thought Kelly was Dad's favorite. Even when she was getting into trouble, she could make him laugh. They'd be fighting and then suddenly they were smiling at each other, and he couldn't remember what she'd done wrong."

  "She did have the ability to get her way with him." Her mom drew in a shaky breath. "He adored her; that's why he went out to find her that night."

  "But it was an accident, Mom. It was raining hard. Visibility was low. I know you blame Kelly because he went to look for her, but the car crash wasn't her fault. I just don't understand why you had to pin it all on her."

  "I know it was an accident, but she was the reason he was in that storm, and that's a fact," her mother argued. "If she'd come home on time, we wouldn't have lost him."

  She gave her mom a long, pointed look. "You have to find a way to forgive her. Not just for her sake, but for yours. It's important for your recovery."

  Pain filled her mother's eyes. "You're right."

  "I am?"

  "Yes. It's difficult for me to admit that I took my grief out on Kelly. But I didn't kick her out of the house. She left. I tried to find her, and I couldn't."

  She was glad to see her mom taking some responsibility, but there was still a lot of defensiveness in her answer. "You didn't try that hard to find her. You couldn't, because you were drinking all the time. You fell apart after she left. You were wasted by four in the afternoon. I know you think you tried, but you didn't."

  Hurt filled her mom's eyes. "You can be so harsh, Hannah."

  The criticism stung. Maybe she was harsh when it came to her mom's alcoholism, but there was a part of her that hadn't yet been able to forgive her mother for everything that had happened to her. And she knew she had to follow her own advice and find a way, but today wasn't about them.

  "Let's focus on what's happening now. Have you ever heard from Kelly? Has she ever sent a postcard, dropped you a text? Have any of her friends' mothers told you they know something about her life?"

  "She has never reached out to me or my friends. I'm sure if she was going to contact someone in the family, it would be you or Tyler."

  She'd tried calling her brother earlier, but she hadn't reached him yet. Hopefully, he'd call soon. "I've never heard from her. I don't think Tyler has, either."

  "Well, there you go. Kelly doesn't give a damn about any of us until she needs something."

  In this instance, it was difficult to argue with her mother, although she could tell her mom that the apple didn't fall far from the tree, because her mom tended to take a lot more than she gave.

  "I have to go," her mom said, getting to her feet.

  She stood up, surprised by her mom's words. "Go? Just like that? I need your help."

  "To do what?"

  "Don’t you want to meet your grandson?"

  Indecision played through her mom's eyes. "You said he's asleep."

  "You could peek in."

  "I—I don't think I can." Her mother shook her head. "Kelly really hurt me, Hannah."

  "Kelly did, but Brett didn't."

  Her mom swallowed hard. "I'm just afraid, Hannah. I don't want to go back into the past. I've finally gotten to a good place in my life. You know how hard I've battled to get here."

  "Which means you're strong enough to deal with this now," she said, wishing desperately that for once her mom would step up and be the strong one. Maybe she just didn't have it in her.

  "Well, perhaps I could do it later today or tomorrow. I need a little time. I have to meet Marty now. We have things to do before the carnival."

  "So do I."

  "I'm sure your coworkers will cover for you," her mom said, dismissing her comment with an airy wave, as she practically ran toward the door. "I'll see you later."

  Her mom was out of the house before she could get another word out.

  Shaking her head, she walked quietly up the stairs to check on Brett. He was still asleep in her guest room, a small figure protected by pillows on either side of him as he lay in the middle of the queen-sized bed. His cheeks were rosy red, and he was the picture of innocence. He had no idea what was going on his life and how bad it might get.

  An overwhelming feeling of protectiveness swept through her. Brett might not have his mother or his grandmother, but he had his aunt, and she would take care of him. She would give him everything he needed and more. He deserved nothing less.

  But she still felt a little alone in her resolve. She wished her mother had stayed. She wished her brother would call her back. She even missed Jake, which was the craziest feeling of all, and one she could not allow to seep into her soul.

  She'd had such a hard time getting over him when she was seventeen. She'd probably cried for a year straight. Every time she'd thought about him, she'd been filled with a deep pain that came from her soul. It shouldn't have hurt so much. It should have just been her first teenage heartbreak, but the feelings had lasted long beyond her teen years. And now, when she'd finally gotten to a good place, those emotions were coming back.

  Why did Jake have to come home?

  It wasn't as if this town had ever been enough for him. She'd certainly never been enough for him, which was why his sudden desire to have her forgive him, to welcome him back into her life, seemed ridiculous.

  Was she just a challenge that he had to prove himself against? Did he just want her back to prove he could get her?

  As the questions swirled around in her head, she told herself to stop thinking about him. She had enough problems without worrying about him. If she just kept enough space between them, he'd give up. He'd probably even leave town eventually. He wanted everything in his life to be extreme, to be exciting and thrilling, and he'd run out of that excitement in Whisper Lake.

  Wouldn't he?

  Chapter Eight

  The mountain almost kicked Jake's ass, not just because it was a tough run, but because the three college buddies who had booked the trip were nowhere near as good as they thought they were. Jake managed to coach them through some of the toughest and steepest parts of the trail, and while one of the guys had taken a hard fall, he'd only ended up with a broken finger and a big story to tell his friends who had stayed back on the less challenging slopes.

  When he got back to his apartment, he took a long, hot shower and thought about the night ahead. While he was physically tired from both the skiing and the near-sleepless night, he also felt amped to see Hannah again. He'd been thinking about her all day and wondering if there was any news about Ke
lly. He hoped she would text him or call him with an update, but even though she'd taken his number, he wasn’t sure she'd actually use it.

  But it wouldn't be difficult to find her tonight. She'd go to the carnival. Everyone in town would be there. The hospital always hosted Santa's Workshop, which involved an elaborate set featuring Santa's house, his toy shop, a barn with a live reindeer and a grand throne upon which Santa, played by his father, would grant small children their most heartfelt wishes.

  His mother's bakeshop, which was hosted by the hospital's volunteer group would be next to the North Pole, providing baked treats, hot chocolate and cider as well as some very Irish coffee.

  While he'd avoided that particular part of the carnival last year, this year he was willing to risk running into his father if it gave him a chance to see Hannah again.

  After hopping out of the shower, he dressed in jeans, a sweater, and a heavy coat. While it wasn't snowing, it was damn cold. He walked into town. The carnival was set up only about a mile from his apartment, and he enjoyed walking the streets of Whisper Lake. The town had grown a great deal since his childhood years. There was more of everything: business, retail, restaurants, homes, and, most of all, people. The resort community had tripled in population in the years he'd been gone.

  His father now ran a state-of-the-art hospital. The police and fire department had also expanded. His volunteer search-and-rescue team had doubled in size in the past six months. And his business had taken off. He was booked solid through February.

  Despite the growth, Whisper Lake had still retained its charm. Some of the buildings dated back a hundred years and the more modern structures had been designed with a taste of the old and the feel of the mountains and the landscape that surrounded them. Nothing was more than three or four stories high, and there were plenty of wood structures with large bay windows offering views of the lake and the mountains.

  He sidestepped a group of pedestrians who were trying to get into the Fudge Shoppe. The stores were busy tonight with holiday shopping, the retailers taking advantage of the tourist traffic and the winter carnival that would officially kick off at five, which was in about fifteen minutes.