Merry Humbug Christmas (26 page)

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Merry

Humbug Christmas

“Eli, Matt, and I are heading down to the main road to dig out

the car,” Damian told them. “If we can’t get it out, we’ll call Jacob in town and see if he can bring his winch and help us.”

“Reese and I will follow the boys in my rental car,” Reggie chimed in. “We’ll unload the bags and the gifts and bring them back to the house after we take a ride down the hill so I can show her around.”

“Sofia, Mom, and I are going into the village with the kids,”

Courtney said. “Why don’t you two meet up with us at The Teddy

Bear for hot chocolate, and we can all go to the square afterward to hear the carolers.”

“When are we going tubing?” seven-year-old Zeke cried. “Can’t

we just stay here and go tubing?”

“Tubing this afternoon,” Jeane mandated. “After your Grandpop’s

important phone call. Or else in the morning.”

“The morning,” he objected. “I don’t want to wait until the

morning. Daddy said we could go tubing.”

“Let’s see how things unfold with Uncle Damian’s car, buddy,”

Matthew said. “Maybe we’ll get back in plenty of time to do some

tubing today.”

“Who are you calling, Grandpop?” little Abigail inquired. “Who’s

the important person?”

“I’m just helping a friend back in Sedona with a decision he has

to make about his company.”

“Pop, you’re still consulting?” Damian said as he plucked another roll out of the basket across from him. “If you want to, we can have a talk later about the full meaning of the concept of retirement.”

“It’s just a favor for a friend, son.” Paul sipped his coffee and winked at Reese. “Now everyone has a plan, and every plan is in

place. Are we clear?”

“We’re clear, Grandpop,” ten-year-old Sarah piped up, and Reese

noticed for the first time that she held her little sleeping Chihuahua to her chest in a baby sling.

“Mom,” P.J. said as he leaned toward Courtney. “Do I have to go?

Grandpop won’t even know I’m here if I stay in my room and listen to music.”

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“This is a family vacation,” she replied. “We’re going into town

together.”

He blew out a puff of exasperated impatience, and he and his

sister Hannah both rolled their eyes.

“Can I at least go with Aunt Reggie then?” Hannah whined. “I

don’t want to spend the whole morning with the little kids.”

“What did I just say?”

“Family vacation, blah, blah, blah,” she replied. “But Aunt Reggie is family. And Reese
will be
.”

“Pass me the eggs?” Reggie asked her softly.

But when Reese reached out to pick up the platter, a strange

rumble drew her attention to Sarah. Paco had shifted in the little girl’s arms and stared at Reese, growling under his breath.

“Paco!” Jeane scolded to no avail, and the little dog snapped at

Reese’s outstretched hand. She jerked it back with a squeal.

“Really, Matthew,” Jeane said, and she stood up and grabbed the

platter of eggs, walking it around the table to Reggie. “That dog is a menace.”

“You just have to let him get used to you,” Courtney told Reese.

“He’ll warm up to you.”

She nodded and tried to smile, but Reese felt pretty certain

Paco’s warmer days had been left back in Colorado. Clearly the dog hated her.

“He’s really a sweetheart,” Matthew added. “Come on, the dog

wears a yellow slicker when it rains and a fur coat in the snow.”

“Daddy, he’s little,” Sarah pointed out. “He gets cold.”

“I know, honey. I was just making the point that, after a few years of wearing high fashion, he just needs to remind people he’s still a bad dude.”

“I think he just doesn’t like Reese,” Abigail, Sarah’s young cousin, said.

“Oh, don’t be silly,” Jeane said, smoothing Reese’s hair. “There’s nothing about Reese not to like.”

“Well, Paco sure found something,” Abigail said with a snicker.

“That’s enough, Abs,” Damian said. “Who wants more coffee?”

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Reggie leaned over from the chair beside her and grinned.

“Don’t let us scare you. Despite appearances we really don’t tear apart our prey.”

“Nah, I’m good,” Reese said with a chuckle. “I find it’s best to

approach the pack by first hanging back and observing. It’s easier to assess potential danger that way.”

“Well, if Hannah gets to go with Aunt Reggie,” Abigail told them

in her high-pitched six-year-old voice, “then Sarah and me want to go too.”

“You’re going with
mamá, mi hija
,” Sofia told her. “Drink your juice and finish your huevos, heh?”

“But I can go with you, right, Aunt Reggie?” Hannah exclaimed

in hope.

“It’s up to your mom.”

“Notice they never say it’s up to Dad. Only that it’s up to Mom,”

Matthew pointed out.

“Oh, please,” Courtney countered with a good-natured grin.

“Feel free to take this one, if it will make you feel better. Hannah, if you want to go with Aunt Reggie and Reese, ask your father.”

Hannah leaped upon Matthew and tugged his arm. “Please,

Daddy. Can I?”

The corner of Matthew’s mouth quirked as Courtney groaned.

“Yes, darling daughter. As your father, I declare that you may go with your Aunt Reggie and Reese and meet up with your mother for hot

chocolate in the village afterward. So it is written; so it is done!”

“What’s the word, Sofia?” Courtney asked her sister-in-law.

“Idiota.”

“Right,” she said. Turning to her husband, she repeated the word.

“Idiota.”

“Nice,” Matthew retaliated. “Very nice.”

“Play nice, children.” Jeane chuckled as she returned to her chair, and Matthew shared a smile with Courtney before reaching around

their daughter and touching her hand.

Reggie sighed as she leaned back against her chair and smiled at

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of like this weird familial magnetic pull, and we all have power surges at the same time. Do you know what I mean?”

Reese chuckled. “I believe I do.”

“THERE THEY ARE!” HANNAH exclaimed, and Reggie tapped the

brake to slow the car before easing onto the shoulder of the road behind her brother’s minivan.

“It doesn’t look like they’ve had much luck yet,” Reese said,

pushing open the front passenger door.

She strolled up to the car where Damian and Eli pushed hard

against the rear bumper while Matthew sat behind the wheel in

hopes of steering it out. The grind of the spinning tires accentuated the problem as a shower of snow and ice sprayed them.

“Whoa, whoa!” Damian called out to Matthew who lifted his foot

off the gas pedal. “We need more muscle. Why don’t you let Reese

slide behind the wheel, and you come back here and help us push.”

Matthew cranked open the door and complied. “I’ll bet it pains

you to admit you need this impressive physique to accomplish any-

thing, doesn’t it, bro?”

“Just stand right here at the edge of the bumper. That’s where the spray of snow will pelt you the hardest.”

Reese chuckled as she slid into the car.

“Hannah and Regg, you stand back,” Damian called as they took

their positions behind the car. “Reese, put it into neutral and just keep control of the wheel.”

She did as he’d instructed, but the car barely budged.

“Okay, okay, ease up!” Turning to his brothers, Damian suggested,

“Let’s spread out to the sides and see if we can rock this thing out of the rut around the back tire.” As soon as they moved into place, he tapped the trunk three times. “Reese, we’re going to try again.”

She gripped the steering wheel tightly as the guys groaned in

unison, working together to create a rocking motion that seemed to make some meager headway. Suddenly Reggie and Hannah rushed to

the back of the car and pushed with all their might. Reese watched Merry Humbug Christmas.indd 209

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Merry

Humbug Christmas

the crown of Hannah’s dark, shiny hair bob in the rearview mirror.

Finally Damian’s Mercedes inched forward, and Reese cheered as

the car moved all the way onto the shoulder.

“Honey, shift into park,” Damian called out to her, and she waved her hand out the driver’s-side window.

The next couple of moments turned into a blur. She meant to

shift up into park, but instead she pulled down into drive, and the car lurched forward, bumped, and skidded slightly as she jammed on the brake. In the middle of the action, she heard a scream, and Eli threw himself to the mound of snow at the side of the road, writhing and howling.

“She ran over my foot!” he wailed. “She broke my foot!”

Reese threw the gearshift into park and dove from the car to find Matthew, Damian, and Reggie bent over him.

“I start training for the Puerto Rico Marathon in San Juan in a

few weeks!”

“Eli, I’m so sorry!” she cried as he yelped in pain. Both hands

clamped over her mouth, she continued to squeal. “I’m sorry, I’m

sorry, I’m so sorry!”

Once the initial panic had settled, she rushed toward him and

reached for his ankle.

“What are you doing!?” Eli cried.

“Let me get a look at your foot and see if anything is broken.”

“Of course something is broken!” he screeched. “You just ran

over my foot with four thousand pounds of car!”

Reese swallowed around the lump stuck at the center of her

throat. “I’m so sorry, Eli. But I’m a doctor. Let me take a look.”

“You just go over there,” he answered. “I don’t want you any-

where near me right now.”

“Elijah!” Damian exclaimed.

“Dude,” Matthew chastised him. “It was an accident, man.”

“Well, I don’t want to be the recipient of any more of her acci-

dents just now,” Eli insisted. “Just make her back away from me!”

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She felt the sting of pure emotion behind her eyes and down her

throat as she stood up and backed away. Reggie moved in and loos-

ened the lace on Eli’s boot.

“Don’t feel bad, Reese,” Hannah offered immediately from

beside her. “It was definitely an accident. Uncle Eli didn’t mean what he said.”

Damian looked up at her, and Reese burst into tears the moment

their eyes met. “I’m sorry,” she mouthed.

He rose from the ground and marched straight to her. In that

fraction of an instant, even though she knew the thought to be ridiculous, she wondered if he approached in anger. But the moment he

reached her, he pulled Reese into an embrace and rocked her from

side to side, smoothing her hair.

“I didn’t mean to . . .”

“Of course you didn’t,” he reassured her. “It was an accident.

We’ll get him down to the hospital in Big Bear Lake and get an X-ray.

He’ll be fine.”

After a moment, he let her go and kissed her head before return-

ing to Eli’s side.

“Mattie, let’s help him into the back of the van and drive down

the hill into town,” Damian said. “Regg, you drive Reese and Hannah and follow us to the hospital. We can come back for my car later.”

“No, I . . .” Reese began, pausing to wipe her dripping nose. “I

can drive your car.”

“You are in no shape to drive, Reese. We’ll pick it up later.”

She didn’t have the energy to argue, so she simply turned and

stalked toward the passenger side of his car.

As usual, Damian’s cool head prevailed in a crisis. He took

charge, told everyone what to do, and they all instinctively followed.

Reese loved that about him, and she also knew it to be one of those qualities that made a brilliant neurosurgeon.

Once she’d climbed into the passenger seat of the Mercedes,

Damian jogged over and tapped on the window. She lowered it, and

he leaned in and touched her arm.

“You okay?” he asked.

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“Me?” she said on a bitter chuckle. “I’m just great. After lunch I’ll look into which member of your family I can do in next.”

Hannah laughed from the back seat, and Reggie let out a soft

snicker while Damian kissed his finger and touched it to her lips.

“I’ll see you in a few.” He leaned in deeper and smiled at Reggie.

“I’ll call Mom. She can tell Sofia.”

Sofia hadn’t even entered Reese’s frame of reference until that

moment, and she groaned out loud. “Oh . . . no . . .”

“Take a few deep breaths. See you in town.”

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