Christmas in Eternity Springs (21 page)

“Looks to me that by telling her no, you've taken the first step towards fixing that.”

“Yeah. Well. I guess.” Brick gave his head a shake, shrugged his shoulders, and then a sly look come over his face. “Maybe you're right. Maybe I do have room now, and I should start looking for her. Maybe I should start with a certain shopkeeper with an affinity for red and green.”

Jax knew that Callahan said it as a friendly dig. Nevertheless, that didn't stop his hackles from rising. He snapped, “Claire is taken.”

Callahan smirked. “Is she now?”

“Yes.” Honesty made Jax add, “I think so. I hope so. We have a date tonight.”

“Oh, yeah? Where are you taking her?”

“The Yellow Kitchen.”

“Points for that.” Brick's pole bent and he yanked and set the hook. Reeling in his catch, he added, “Best place in town.”

“So I understand. I haven't been there yet.”

“How did you get a table for tonight? Town is bursting at the seams with all the visitors for the big event tomorrow.”

“I guess I'm living right.”

“I guess you are. Treat her good, Lancaster. Miss Christmas is special.”

“I will. I know. She's … right.”

Brick pulled his catch out of the water. Not a trout, but somebody's lost sneaker. “Story of my life, Lancaster,” Brick lamented, staring at the dirty, dripping shoe. “Story of my life.

*   *   *

Friday at five after three, Claire rang up a sale for an Advent calendar purchased by a former crew member of Chase's TV show who was in town for the wedding. She slipped the calendar into a bag, thanked him for his business, and told him not to miss the Italian cream cake at the wedding reception the following day. Once the customer left, she flipped her
OPEN
sign to
CLOSED
.

Yes, she was closing two hours early. Yes, she'd likely miss some sales because the streets were busy with visitors, but that's okay. She had bigger fish to fry today.

She needed to go back to Mama Bear and prepare for her date.

Her date.

She couldn't believe she had a date tonight. A first date.

The last first date she'd gone on had been with Landon. She'd worn a little black dress and stiletto heels and carried the Jimmy Choo evening clutch bag she'd bought at a resale shop for the occasion. He'd taken her to a five-star restaurant and ordered five-star wine and entertained her with tales of the sports stars his firm's entertainment division worked with.

“Need a new train of thought,” she scolded herself. She refused to spoil the excitement of her mistletoe fling by dwelling on the past.

She
was
excited. Jax had a dinner reservation at the Yellow Kitchen. She'd been surprised by that bit of news when Jax shared it this morning, since she'd assumed the restaurant would be closed for Chase and Lori's rehearsal dinner. According to Jax, the Timberlakes were hosting that event in their home at Heartache Falls. With so many people in town for the wedding, they wanted the restaurant available to accommodate the visitors.

“Ali took my reservation when I called,” he'd told Claire. “When I told her I was taking you out on our first date, she said she'd give us her best table.”

“That was nice of her.”

“That's what I told her. She said she's always happy to further the cause of romance.”

Claire had almost challenged him on the word “romance.” After all, a fling did not a romance make. The opportunity passed when Nicholas came running downstairs in a panic because he'd forgotten to study his spelling words and the test was that morning. Jax had calmed him down and quizzed him, and Nicholas had sailed through the list, stumbling only on one of the words. “Remember, ‘
i
before
e,
except after
c,
' big guy.”

Nicholas had hit his head with the palm of his hand and said, “D'oh!”

Then the pair traded lines from
The Simpsons
TV show until Claire and Nicholas left for school.

She smiled at the memory of the exchange throughout the day. The more time she spent with Jax, the more she liked him. He was such a good dad, and his doubts about that only made him more endearing. He was smart and witty and hardworking. Sexy. My oh my, the man was sexy.

Which was why after her shower, she spent a ridiculous amount of time choosing which body lotion to smooth onto her skin.

She had plenty from which to choose. Claire liked fragrances. Luxurious body lotions were one of her personal indulgences. Ordinarily, she chose her scents by what mood she was in. Tonight, she had Jax on her mind as she surveyed her selection. Would he like spicy? Floral? Exotic? Something heavy? Light? Which would make her feel good? Pretty? Sexy?

For her mistletoe fling.

Her teeth nibbled at her lower lip. Was she really going to do this? She'd never had a fling before, never gone to bed with a man unless they were in a committed relationship.

As far as you knew at the time, anyway.

Yeah, well, she wasn't going to think about the Lying Lizard Louse tonight now, was she?

She chose a fragrance that made her think of summer nights in Hong Kong and slathered her skin with lotion and pulled on a robe before facing her closet. Deciding what to wear proved to be a significant challenge. Only a couple pieces of the limited wardrobe she'd brought with her to Eternity Springs had survived smoke damage in the fire, and when she'd sat down and ordered an entire new wardrobe from her favorite retailer, she'd gone a little overboard with “date night” clothes. This was Eternity Springs, after all. With winter just around the corner. She didn't have much use for little black dresses and four-inch heels when there were four inches of snow on the ground.

So why did she have three of them hanging in her closet?

“Too much mistletoe,” she murmured as she debated between an off-the-shoulder gold blouse that brought out the streaks of summer sunshine in her hair or a green V-neck with an after-five plunge. She finally settled on the green blouse and her black silk bolero pants and chose filmy, emerald-green silk lingerie to wear beneath them.

She finished dressing, touched up her lipstick, then turned toward Tinsel. “Well, sweetheart. How do I look?”

Tinsel's ears perked up and she abandoned her chew toy to come stand at Claire's feet. “I'll take that as a positive response.”

Claire took the puppy outside for one more potty break, then tucked her into her crate with a rubber chew toy stuffed with peanut butter and settled down to wait for Jax. She'd heard him leave with Nicholas half an hour ago. He should be back soon.

The ringing of the doorbell a few minutes later initially surprised her, but then she smiled.
He's treating this like we aren't living together.
The gesture made her feel special.

Excitement hummed through her as she took one last glance in the mirror. She wiped her suddenly damp palms on her slacks, reminded herself that flings were meant to be enjoyed, and opened the door saying, “Good evening … oh.”

Two strangers stood on the front porch of Mama Bear. Both were in their sixties, she'd guess. Both were handsome people, both expensively dressed. The expression on their faces was as confused as hers. “Can I help you?”

The man spoke first. “I'm afraid we've taken a wrong turn. We were looking for Three Bears Valley?”

“This is Three Bears.”

“Oh. Well.” They shared an unreadable look, then the man said, “We were told our grandson is living here?”

“You're Nicholas's grandparents?”

“Yes. I'm Brian Hardcastle. This is my wife, Linda.”

“I'm Claire Branham.” She stepped back, opening the door wide. “Please, come in.”

They stepped inside Mama Bear and both made a quick scan of the room. Linda's voice held a note of censure in her tone as she asked, “Our grandson is living with you?”

“Yes, he is.” Claire recognized that the optics here weren't good, but she didn't figure it was her place to explain it. So she said, “Jax will be here in a few minutes. May I take your coats?”

“Thank you,” Brian said.

He helped his wife off with hers, and when he handed both coats over to Claire, she added, “May I get you something to drink? Something to warm you up, perhaps? It's chilly out this evening.”

“No, thank you,” Linda said.

At the same time, Brian said, “I'd love a cup of coffee.”

Claire could have kissed him, so grateful was she for his having provided an excuse to flee the room. Thank goodness Mama Bear's floor plan wasn't “open” with the kitchen part of the great room like Papa Bear's and Baby Bear's. “Please make yourselves at home, and I'll be right back with your coffee.”

She hung up their coats and retreated to the kitchen where she instantly regretted not detouring by the mantel where she'd left her phone. Jax should have a heads-up that he had company.

It was obviously a surprise visit. A surprise visit with impeccably poor timing from her point of view. Nothing like having former in-laws pop in for a first date.

She delayed her return to the living room as long as she could manage by putting together a plate of cookies. She placed it, along with Brian Hardcastle's coffee and paper napkins, on a serving tray and carried it into her guests.

She almost dropped it when Brian demanded, “So, what's going on here? You're shacked up with our grandson's father? That's a damned poor example for the boy. How long has this been going on? Did he bring you with him from Seattle?”

Claire was saved from answering because halfway through the man's diatribe, the door opened and Jax stepped into the room. Claire had never been so happy to see someone in her life.

He wore a dress coat and a suit, and he looked so handsome that under other circumstances, he'd have set her heart aflutter. The thunderous scowl on his face distracted her from everything else, even the bright bouquet of flowers he set down on the entry table.

“That's enough, Brian,” he snapped, his voice as cold as a snowdrift. “You've stepped way over the line.”

“Oh, have I? Have I really? Nice flowers, Lancaster. Where's my grandson?”

His arms at his sides, Jax fisted his hands. “Claire,” he began.

“Excuse me,” Claire said. “I hear my dog crying. I should run up to my room and check on her.”

“A dog?” Linda asked, aghast. “You've forced Nicholas to live with a dog?”

Oh, for heaven's sake.

Claire heard the echo of her mother's voice.
If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
She continued upstairs without responding to Nicholas's grandmother.

There, she sat on the edge of her bed and waited. She heard raised voices downstairs, but she didn't try to eavesdrop. She was too busy brooding. She was so disappointed. She'd been looking forward to their date so much, and now it was ruined. The fact that she was thinking about herself right now made her feel small and petty and mean.

This was one night. Her date. Her fling. It was Jax and Nicholas's life.

“Pity parties are so unattractive,” she muttered aloud.

Finally, she heard the front door open and close, and moments later, car doors slammed and an engine started. She waited a few minutes before opening her bedroom door in case Jax needed time to settle himself.

She was surprised to find the great room empty.
He's probably in the kitchen raiding the above-the-refrigerator liquor cabinet and pouring himself an extra-tall bourbon on the rocks.

She'd taken two steps toward the kitchen when the doorbell rang for the second time that night. “What now?” she murmured. Had the Hardcastles forgotten their coats?

She considered darting back upstairs to hide, but sympathy for Jax stopped her. She noticed that the flowers were missing just as she reached for the doorknob.

Jax stood on porch, the flowers in his hand, an easy smile on his face and a determined glint in his eyes. “Hello, gorgeous. Sorry I'm a little late. I was temporarily held up by a little unimportant family business.”

So he thought to pretend that she hadn't been party to the drama of the past twenty minutes? “I appreciate the effort, but that didn't sound like unimportant family business to me, Jax.”

“I have a first date with a fascinating woman tonight. I'm not going to let uninvited visitors spoil it. Tomorrow is soon enough for that drama.”

He sounded so certain that Claire's heart soared. He wasn't going to allow their date to be ruined.
Works for me.

Playing along, she said, “Not a problem. I was running a little late myself. Would you like to come in and have a drink before we go?”

“Absolutely.”

He stepped inside and handed her the bouquet. “For you.”

“Thank you. They're beautiful. I love peonies. Would you like to fix the drinks while I put these in a vase?”

“Happy to. What's your preference?”

“Whatever you're having is fine.”

She all but floated into the kitchen. When she returned a few minutes later with a vase filled with flowers, he was pouring drinks into a pair of crystal martini glasses. “How many olives?”

Might as well go wild. “Three, please.”

He handed her a vodka martini with three olives and lifted his in a toast. “To mistletoe.”

Her pulse went thud-a-thump and her mouth went dry.

He held her gaze over the top of his glass as they sipped their drinks. “Mmmm…” Claire said. “I haven't had one of these in a long time. I'd forgotten how delicious they are.”

She licked her lips, and he abruptly set down his drink. “Okay, that's all I can take. I tried, Claire. I really tried.”

Then he dragged her beneath the mistletoe and kissed her senseless.