Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses: A feel good Christmas romance novel (17 page)

Abbey was already worrying about missing Nick. Her mother would help her through this. As she drove, Abbey wondered exactly what
this
was. She wanted to see Nick. She didn’t want him to go to New York. Those were the facts.

They pulled into the drive, and sitting on the front porch was Señor Freckles. He darted across the yard to the car, which was surprising. Abbey got out and walked around to make sure Max could get out all right on the ice. When she did, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Señor Freckles was at Max’s door, purring. Max reached down to pet him, and the cat ran away. Didn’t that ridiculous cat know that if he would just hold still, and allow it, they’d cuddle him and pet him?

Abbey’s mom opened the front door, that motherly expression on her face. “Have you been snowed in this whole weekend?” she asked, tiptoeing her way across the icy porch to greet them.

“We stayed at Nick’s house!” Max answered for Abbey, and she felt her face go white.

It was silly to make a big fuss of it. Her mom had always said Abbey picked the wrong guys, and what Abbey didn’t ever tell her was that she knew that. Nick wasn’t like the others at all. He was far from it. And she knew what her mom would be thinking. She knew that her mom would be thrilled beyond belief if something were to happen between them. And if her mom got excited, it would only get Abbey thinking about how much she liked him. She looked over at her mother who was eyeing her, her eyebrows raised in anticipation.

“It was so fun, Nana,” Max said. “We built a snowman and watched TV on a giant screen, and I played ‘Hide and Seek’!”

Her mother flashed an excited grin.

“It was very fun,” Abbey said for Max’s benefit but her face told her mother something else. “I’ll fill you in when we get settled.” Abbey opened the door, Señor Freckles darting between them into the house. Max rushed in after him, trying to catch him, but Gramps intercepted Max in the hallway.

“Hiya, buddy,” Gramps said, tousling his hair.

“Hi, Gramps!” Max said as he wrapped his arms around Gramps’s waist.

“Come on in and get warm,” Abbey’s mom said as she put her hands out to take their coats.

“Where did Señor Freckles go?” Max asked as he plopped down on the sofa and crossed his legs. “He ran too fast for me to catch him.”

“He doesn’t want to be caught,” Gramps explained, gingerly lowering himself down beside Max, his knees wobbling with the movement. “He’s a wild cat. He’s used to being strong all on his own. When you see him again, just talk to him. He likes that.”

Max nodded.

As Gramps began a conversation about how he’d originally found Señor Freckles, Abbey’s mother ushered her out of the room.

“Tell me!” she said. “What were you doing at Nick’s all weekend?”

“My power was out. He offered for us to stay with him.”

“How did he know your power was out?”

“He was shopping with us.”

Her mother’s face lifted, the interest building. So much had happened that Abbey didn’t really even know where to begin.

“Why was he shopping with you?” she asked, her words elongated to denote her delight in the idea of Nick spending time with her daughter.

“I asked him, and he came.”

“Will you see him again?”

Abbey chewed on her lip, trying to figure out the answer to the question herself. In what capacity would she see him? She wanted to be near him again, feel his lips on hers, his arms holding her, but she didn’t know if that would be a possibility.

“He’s going out of town tomorrow for the week. We’ll see what happens after that. Actually, I need to text him something before he goes out of town. Do you mind if I step out for just a sec?”

“No, not at all. I’ll keep an eye on Max.” Her mom leaned in to take a peek at him and then she made eye contact with Abbey. She looked hopeful, and Abbey wanted to tell her mom everything, but she wanted to call Nick too.

“I won’t be long.”

“I’ll make us some coffee,” her mom said.

Abbey took her phone into her childhood bedroom and lay on the new comforter. Nervousness ran through her fingers as she typed his number, and opened the text screen. She got straight to the point.

She texted:
I forgot to tell you the painters came. They did the other rooms. You won’t need to help me paint, but thank you so much for your help and for the offer.

He responded:
That’s great news. May I call you?

Yes
,
she texted back. The phone rang and she answered it.

“I wanted to make sure you’re okay. I was hoping to break the news about me planning to move in a better way. I didn’t have a chance to get my thoughts together first. Will you be able to find a job in a month’s time? Does that sound reasonable?”

“It’s fine,” she said. “I’m going to really miss Caroline, though. I really enjoy spending time with her.”

The line was quiet for a while. “I’m in too deep with the business to consider staying,” he finally said.

“I’d never ask you to.”

Abbey didn’t want to be some kind of anchor, a weight, keeping him in a place he didn’t want to be. He wasn’t going to change his plans for her, and that was understandable, given that they’d just met, but it made her so sad. She’d just found him and now she was losing him.

“Who will care for Caroline?” Abbey asked quietly. She’d grown attached to Nick’s grandmother. Even not seeing her some weekends was really hard. Caroline was fond of her too, and she might be all alone in New York.

“Robin is there with her family. She’s going to find a suitable nurse to take care of her.”

“Will you sell the house?” She was grasping for anything. Maybe they’d come back. Maybe he wouldn’t like New York.

“Maybe.”

Abbey’s mom poked her head into the room. “Coffee,” she mouthed. The coffee being ready was a legitimate reason for peeking in, but Abbey knew her mother was just checking on her.

Abbey held up one finger and smiled her best smile as she whispered, “One sec.” Her mom closed the door but left it open a crack and walked back toward the kitchen.

“Do you need to go?” Nick asked.

Abbey rubbed her forehead. “I have to go shopping for Max. I haven’t bought any Christmas presents yet and Mom’s going to watch him for me. Why don’t you come with me?” The truth of the matter was that, after Christmas, he’d be leaving Richmond and too far away from her, so there was no use in seeing him again. But she couldn’t help herself.

“I’d love to.”

“What time?” she heard herself ask. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t stay away because, when it came down to it, all she wanted was to see him.

“What time were you planning on going?”

“In a few minutes.”

“I’ll pick you up. You’re at your mother’s—at Maple and Ivy?”

He remembered. She smiled. Of course he remembered. “Yes.”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

Abbey ended the call and made her way to the kitchen where her mom had two steaming mugs of coffee made. One of the mugs was painted with finger-paints—it had been an art project of Max’s that he’d made for her. She could hear Max playing a card game with Gramps in the other room.

They sat there quietly for a while before her mother spoke. Her mom had been wiping counters, her back to Abbey, but Abbey could feel the questions hanging in the air.

“Want to tell me what all this is about?” her mom finally said, sitting down next to her. She picked up her mug and blew the steam off the top.

“It’s so… hard to explain,” she said, feeling her worry settling in her shoulders.

“You like him,” her mom noted.

“Very much. I think there’s so much more to him than he allows anyone to see. I can feel it. I used to think that I was the one with few experiences, but I wonder sometimes if he’s got fewer than I have. …Or maybe just not very rich experiences. No pun intended,” she smiled. “Did you know that he’s never been to a baseball game?”

“Really?”

“Really! And I took him to The Crazy Corner,” she smiled wider at the memory of him dancing.

“Alma’s restaurant?”

“Yeah. He loved it! He even danced with me.”

“He seems to like you.”

“I think so.”

“Then what more is there?”

“A lot. He said he isn’t having any kids, and I’ve got Max.” Her mom was about to respond, but Abbey stopped her. “And he’s moving to New York after Christmas.” She took a sip of her coffee and held on to the mug, warming her hands.

Her mom was still, her head tilted, her eyes wide. “Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Well, to start, I’m going to go shopping with him today,” she said, huffing out a little laugh of disbelief. She put her head in her hands and covered her eyes. With her voice muffled by her fingers, she said, “He’ll be here in ten minutes. After that, I don’t know.”

“Ten minutes?” her mom nearly shrieked.

“Who’s coming in ten minutes?” Max asked, entering the room and nearly tripping over Señor Freckles. The cat, who’d come out of nowhere, darted away before Max had regained his balance, and he dropped the deck of cards on the floor. “I have to
keep
picking up cards,” Max said, a slight frustration to his voice.

“Nick’s coming in ten minutes,” Abbey answered his question, taking her mug with her to sip her coffee as she helped Max with his cards. “Where’s Gramps? Did you two finish playing your game?”

“Yes. He’s tired and wants to go to sleep. He kept dropping his cards.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. She worried for Gramps. Was he really tired or just annoyed at having a tough time holding the cards?

“Were you patient with Gramps?” she asked. “You know things like holding cards are difficult for him, and it aggravates him.”

“Yes. I was. …Nick’s coming?” Max said with a smile, and Abbey could feel the tension in her body as she saw his excitement. She didn’t want him getting close to Nick only to have him leave. It hurt her enough to think about him leaving; she didn’t want to have Max’s disappointment to deal with.

“I don’t think he’s coming in. He’s just picking me up to go shopping.”

“May I go?”

“No, but you can see him when he comes to the door. Okay? Why don’t you look out for him?”

“Okay!” Max ran to the living room to watch through the window.

“Max sure does have a fondness for Nick,” her mom said, a cautiousness to her voice.

“I know. Nick has been wonderful with him. Max seems to have connected with him so quickly. I’ve never seen him like this.”

“Nick’s a great guy. Maybe Max just senses that. He hasn’t had a lot of great guys in his life.”

The doorbell rang, and she heard Max opening the door. “Hi, Nick!” she heard him say.

“Hello, Max… Oh,” she heard Nick say. She got up to see what was going on.

Abbey entered the room to find that Max had wrapped his arms around Nick and given him a hug, but what surprised her most was the complete adoration on Nick’s face as he looked down at her son. He liked Max—it was clear—and she had to cough to keep the lump out of her throat.

Nick looked up, and as soon as he saw her, he smiled.

“We’ll be back in a few hours,” Abbey said to her mom, trying to keep the butterflies at bay. She grabbed her coat and handbag as Max stepped back and allowed her to exit.

The Mercedes was purring in the drive. It looked out of place against the small homes surrounding it. Nick put his hand on her back to guide her down the icy steps and into the car. She slid inside and waved goodbye to her mother and Max through the window.

“
L
et
’s start at the sports memorabilia shop,” Abbey said as they walked the open-air mall. A group of carolers was singing “Deck the Halls” at the entrance, their voices like angels as Abbey and Nick walked by. Along the bricked walkways, they passed life-sized nutcrackers, towering Christmas trees, and more white lights than there was snow outside. Abbey took in the large swags of greenery, the lights, the bows on every shop door—it was like a Christmas wonderland. The weather was freezing outside, and she could feel the numbness in her nose and cheeks. There was a slight breeze that felt like an icy stab every time it hit her face.

“You don’t have a scarf,” Nick said. “Aren’t you freezing?”

She was freezing. “I’m fine,” she said. They were there to shop for Max and, since it was the first year she had a sizeable amount of money coming to her, she was eager to get started. She didn’t care in the slightest if she had on a scarf, even if she was shivering.

“I’ll feel better if you’re wearing a scarf. Do you want gloves?”

“No, I’m fine.”

They kept walking. Everywhere she looked the surfaces of the giant Christmas trees and wreaths were still covered in snow and ice. The walks had all been shoveled, but the white snow on the edges of the paths, the grounds, and the branches of the trees gave it all such a festive feel. As she looked at Nick in his tailored coat and scarf, she wished she could remember like he did. She wanted to keep this moment forever.

“I know. Come with me,” he said, warmth in his eyes. She didn’t want to notice it, but she had. Nick placed his hand on her back again and led her to the coffee shop where he opened the door and motioned for her to enter. He found a table, nestled along a dark wood windowsill that was big enough to double as a bench, and pulled out her chair. “Tell me what kind of coffee you like.”

“Just a regular coffee is fine,” she said with a smile. True, it was cold out, and a coffee sounded wonderful, but there was a buzzing energy to him that made her think he wasn’t just there to get coffee. He was grinning at her, his eyes full of some sort of insider knowledge. What was he doing?

“Cream and sugar?”

“Just cream, please.”

“Be right back,” he said with another grin.

As she watched him standing in line, making his order, she wondered why he’d asked to come today. He knew as well as she did that any connection they had wasn’t going anywhere. So why was he doing this? At that moment, as she caught him stealing glances at her, she didn’t care. She didn’t want to think about anything other than him and her right then.

“Here you are,” he said, returning and setting her coffee in front of her. “Sit tight for just one more second. I’ll be right back.”

To her surprise, he left the shop. Where was he going? As she sat by herself, with her thoughts, she wondered if she was being too careful, worrying about how everything would play out. As a young girl, she’d thrown caution to the wind and she’d done whatever she felt in that moment. Should she jump in with both feet and do that now? Max had changed her;
he’d
made her more careful about things, and now she had her family—Gramps—to think about. She just wasn’t that young, naïve girl that she’d been. But that girl was still there. She could feel the impulsiveness lingering under the surface, telling her to just go for it. The only problem was the grown woman that she’d become was reminding her of how badly all those impulsive acts had turned out. All but one: Max.

Max was that one light in her life, that one good thing that had come in the midst of all her troubles. And when she looked at him, she didn’t mind the money struggles, the job juggling, or the fact that things hadn’t worked out with his father. None of it mattered because she had Max. And she felt so lucky and blessed to have him in her life.

Nick walked past the windows carrying a paper shopping bag. She didn’t recognize the store name. She hadn’t been to this mall very often—most of the stores were out of her price range—but given Max’s Christmas list, it had been the most logical place to come. Nick came inside and sat down, a look of satisfaction on his face. He reached into the bag and pulled out the most gorgeous pearly white scarf Abbey had ever seen. It looked so soft. He stood up again and wrapped it around her, then sat back down.

Abbey ran her hand along the luxurious surface of it. It
was
soft, softer than anything she could remember feeling. Her fingers slid down to the very end where the price tag still hung. She caught sight of the numbers just as Nick reached across and grabbed it, obscuring it in his fist and pulling it off into his hand.

“Did that say one hundred fifty dollars?” she asked in horror. There was no way she was letting him spend that kind of money on a scarf that, given her lifestyle, would get stuffed in a handbag, dragged on the floor, or lost in a closet.

“No,” he said, but his eyes gave him away. “It said a dollar fifty.”

“It did not.” She reached for his fist.

He squeezed it tighter and then threw the balled paper behind him over his shoulder. She watched it land across the room. He was looking at her playfully, clearly enjoying the fact that he’d just spent a ton of money on her and she couldn’t do anything about it. Then he leaned close to her—too close. His face was right in front of hers. “Let me buy you something, and just enjoy it,” he said softly. “I know you’ll be just fine without it, but I
wanted
to buy it.”

When he showed her his playful side, he was irresistible, and she knew that if they just had enough time together, she could bring that side out more than his working side. It made her long to try. “Why are you doing this?” she asked suddenly. She couldn’t play these games. She needed to know.

“Doing what? Buying you things?”

“No. Why are you here with me today?”

He leaned away from her, righting himself. “I don’t know, honestly,” he said, looking at the floor as if the answer were there. “I just wanted to see you.”

“I won’t see you once I’m done working on your house. This…” she wagged a finger between them, “will amount to nothing.” She could see disappointment on his face. “I’m just being brutally honest.”

“Let’s not think about the future,” he said. “You and I are both here until Christmas. Why don’t we just enjoy the holiday?”

“I agree,” she said. “Let’s get Max’s presents and have fun.” She smiled. “Thank you for my scarf. It’s beautiful.” She ran her hand down it one more time.

“You’re welcome. So. What is on little Max’s list?”

“He wants a Willie Mays baseball card,” she said. “I’m not so sure I can get him one, but we could look and see.”

“Shall we take our coffees and have a look?” Nick suggested.

Abbey nodded, standing up, and he followed. As they neared the door, Nick reached around and pulled it open for her. Then, with her new scarf and her coffee to keep her warm, she headed out to the shop to find Max’s present. Nick stepped up beside her and, as she walked along the cobbled pathway to the shop, she noticed that he was walking slowly to keep her pace. She peered up at him, and he was already looking at her, a small smile on his lips.

She worried about shopping for this baseball card. It could cost a lot of money and she might have to leave the shop without buying it. While she wanted to get a good card for Max, she wasn’t going to spend upwards of a thousand dollars on something that small for her six-year-old to lose. Nick would certainly offer to pay for it because, to him, it was probably nothing. But the trouble was, Abbey didn’t want him to buy it. Every time she saw Max look at that baseball card, she wanted to remember how she’d used her own hard-earned money to buy it for him. It would have sentimental value then. She didn’t know if Nick would understand that.

When they reached the shop, Nick opened the door for her, and they walked in. Abbey approached the counter, a glass structure that had every baseball card she could imagine displayed inside it. There were so many.

“May I help you?” a stout man with thinning white hair and round glasses asked from behind the counter.

“We’re looking for a Willie Mays baseball card,” Nick explained.

The clerk pulled out two cards and set them on the counter. Abbey studied them, unsure of what qualities to look for in a collectible baseball card. She wished she had Gramps there with her. He’d know.

“How much is this one?” Abbey asked the clerk as she pointed to one that looked as though it had a portrait on the front.

“That’s a 1952 mint condition Topps card. It’s five hundred.”

She felt her cheeks heating up with the answer.
Don’t try to buy it
, she thought, hoping that Nick had mindreading skills to match his memory. Surprisingly, he didn’t say a thing.

“What about this one?” She pointed to a green card with three photos side by side of Willie Mays catching a ball.

“That’s also Topps, mint condition. It’s not nearly as rare. It’ll run you fifty dollars.”

“I’ll take it,” she said, digging in her purse for her credit card. Fifty dollars was still a lot of money for a baseball card, but it was a lot less than the other one.

Nick had remained very quiet the whole sale. Whenever she looked at him, he smiled sweetly at her, but he hadn’t said anything more than his original comment to the clerk. She signed the receipt and the clerk put the card into a small handled shopping bag.

As they exited the shop, Abbey turned to Nick. “I was worried you’d offer to pay for it,” she admitted.

“Yes.” He placed his hand on her back to steer her around a couple that had stopped to look in a store window. She was getting used to the feeling of his guiding hand. “I figured that, so I didn’t offer. Although,” he smiled again, sending her heart soaring, “I would have.”

“Why would you have bought it?” she asked.

“Because I make a nice amount of money and I don’t have anyone to spend it on. I like spending money on people I care about.”

For so many years, she’d cared about people, she’d tried to show them what love was, but she never really got that love in return. This time, she felt something for someone, and he cared about her too. Why did he have to go to New York?

She knew what it was like to need a job, and she didn’t want to judge him. Just because he had a lot of money didn’t mean that he didn’t need to keep making that money to make ends meet. But at the same time, couldn’t he downsize a bit and make his life what he wanted?

“Why are you so insistent on making your father’s company profitable?” she asked, feeling like he was making the wrong decision by moving.

“Because he trusted me to do so.”

“Yes, but I doubt he wanted you to do it at the expense of the rest of your life.”

“You don’t understand,” he said as he walked.

She shuffled up in front of him and stopped him. “Then make me understand.”

“I don’t think I can.” He politely moved around her and she walked up beside him. “Let’s work on getting Max’s Christmas presents. I still have to tie up a few loose ends before I get on a plane in the morning.”