Merry Humbug Christmas (36 page)

get her horrendous first impressions? Could they eagerly accept her into the fold after such an awful first Christmas together? After the childhood she and Hersch had experienced, a family like the Palmers seemed like a dream come true. But once again Reese felt as if she stood on the outside, looking through a frosted window at the joy and celebration inside.

Suddenly she thought of her parents and smiled. The last

Christmas she’d spent with them had been the year they’d moved to Key West. They’d strung gaudy colored lights on the palm tree in the front yard, and her father had danced around in a Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops singing “Jingle Bell Rock.” A far cry from a Palmer family Christmas, that was for sure. Still . . . she missed them.

A sudden yearning for her mother’s embrace put a chokehold

on Reese, and tears stung her eyes. What she wouldn’t give for a

chunk of her father’s peppermint soy bark and a big glass of eggless nog, shared out on their screened lanai under balmy seventy-degree breezes, listening to Hersch’s latest tale of chorus lines in Peoria winter stock.

As one song ended and the singers embarked on a new one,

Reese dried her tears and resolved to call her family before the night concluded. She wished she’d been able to reach Joss earlier that day, Merry Humbug Christmas.indd 287

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and she wondered if she’d received the birthday cake Reese had sent to her cabin.

“O holy night, the stars are brightly shining . . .”

She smiled. “I love this song,” she told Reggie.

But just as she opened her mouth to sing along, her future sister-in-law touched her arm and gazed at her with a curious arch to her brow. Before she had the chance to inquire, Reggie shook her head of short brown curls.

“Uh-uh, honey. No.”

No? Why not?

“Let’s just quietly listen, okay?”

The sentiment stung a little, but Reese swallowed it just the

same. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t help softly humming

along, but she purposefully restrained the urge to sing out in her normal way.

She just wished she knew why.

At the close of the carol, a young reverend addressed the gath-

ered crowd. “We’re so happy you all could join us tonight on this holiest of nights and that you’ve chosen to leave your warm homes and shiny new gifts to bring honor and glory to the true meaning

of the Christmas season. I urge you—every one of you—to put the

thoughts and stress of the holidays behind you here, to leave them outside the door of the manger, and give a moment of reflection to the Child born so that you might be set free.”

Reese’s cell phone jangled out a notification that she’d received a text, and she handed Reggie her candle and pulled the phone out of her coat pocket as she stepped away from the group.

Vet says Paco will live. Come back to clinic? –Damian

“Let’s go down to the restaurant and gather the troops,” she mut-

tered to Reggie. “Paco’s ready.”

“Is he okay?”

“Damian says the vet thinks he’ll live.”

“Sarah must be so relieved. Let’s go.”

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Reese glanced at the manger one more time as they blew out

their candles and headed back. The little baby swaddled in a light blue blanket blinked at his mother before his eyes fluttered shut.

“Hey,” she said to Reggie as they marched up the walk again.

“Why did you tell me not to sing along back there?”

Reggie sighed and gave Reese an odd, crooked attempt at a smile.

Damian’s smile. The one that said he didn’t want to reply.

“I say this in love,” Reggie prefaced. “But even Mariah Carey is

challenged by a song like ‘O Holy Night.’” After a short pause, she added, “And I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, Reese, but you are no Mariah Carey.”

“DID DADDY MAKE HIS peppermint bark?”

“Of course!” her mother replied, and Reese pressed the phone

to her face and closed her eyes. “Would you like me to box some up and send it to you?”

“Would you? I’d love that.”

“Really! I didn’t think you’d want any. I’ll have to stop your

brother from eating every last crumb. You know how that boy can be when anything sweet is in the house.”

Reese chuckled. “Can I speak to Daddy?”

“Of course. In a minute.”

Her mother paused for a long moment. While Reese waited, try-

ing to figure out what might come next, she glanced out the window and gasped as her eyes met those of the large buck standing beneath the trees.

“Are things not going well with the future in-laws, Reese?”

She pinned back the curtain for a closer look at the deer as she

asked, “Mom. Why do you say that?”

“Just a feeling. You seem strange.”

“Do I?” Reese sighed as the deer tossed her a quick nod of his

antlers and bounded off into the woods without a trace of a limp.

“This is the first Christmas I’ve spent without you all or Joss. I guess I’m just feeling a little
tofu out of water
.”

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“You and Damian will make your own memories now,” she

reminded her. “And Herschel tells me Damian’s family is very

Norman Rockwell.” Reese laughed, and her mother put her amuse-

ment into words as she added, “But then, compared to us, they would almost have to be, wouldn’t they?”

Still chuckling, she said, “Mom, I really want you and Daddy to

come and visit us in California. What do you think?”

“I think that would be lovely,” she replied. “Hang on, honey. Your father wants to wish you
Mele Kalikimaka
.”

After she had a few minutes of conversation with her dad,

Damian poked his head through the open bedroom door and smiled

at her.

“Eli and Sofia are taking off for the airport.”

She nodded. “Dad, I hate to interrupt, but Damian’s brother and

his family are about to leave.”

“Go ahead, kiddo. You and Damian have a happy New Year, okay?”

“You guys too. I love you.”

As Reese and Damian reached the great room, Sofia knelt in

front of her two young children and helped them zip their jackets while Eli embraced his mom and dad.

“It was the most eventful Christmas we’ve ever had,” Eli told

them. “Thanks, Reese. I never liked the paint color in the kitchen anyway.”

She shook her head and walked over to him. “Yeah, I wasn’t wild

about your foot either. I do what I can.”

Eli let out a hearty laugh as he embraced her. “Welcome to the

family. I’ll see you at the wedding.”

“I wish we could have got another flight,” Sofia said. “Christmas night with the children.
Ai yi yi
!”

“Have a good trip,” Reese said, and she hugged Sofia.

When they parted, Jeremy walked right up to her and stretched

out his arms for a hug of his own. “
Feliz Navidad
, Jeremy,” she said.

He giggled, and she kissed him on the head as he and Abigail

moved into her arms.

“Happy to meet you, Reese,” Abigail said. “Even with everything.”

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Damian chuckled, and he grabbed Reese’s hand. “Safe travels,

guys!”

Reese hadn’t noticed until the rest of them settled into the living room, but the layers of black soot the flames had left behind in the kitchen were all but gone except for a light gray glaze over the sage-green wall.

“The smoke damage,” she commented, and Damian sat down

next to her on the loveseat.

“Pop knows a guy. He came over while we were at the animal

clinic.”

“That’s wonderful,” she said.

It didn’t look nearly as horrible as it had before. A couple coats of paint, and they might actually have some shot at forgetting.

“While you were on the line with your folks,” Damian said, hijacking her thoughts, “Regg got a call from her neighbor in Vermont.

They got more than a foot of snow last night, and they’re expecting another two. Flights are going to be backed up for days.”

“Oh, that’s terrible. How will she get home?”

“Well, I’ve talked her into coming back to L.A. until after the

New Year.”

Reese gasped, and she and Reggie exchanged grins. “You can stay

with me,” Reese exclaimed. “And we’re having our tailgater . . . well, it’s held in my living room, but we treat it like a tailgater . . . on New Year’s Day. Oh! And you can meet my friend Joss!”

“Can I go with them, Daddy?” Hannah cried. “It would be so

much fun.”

“Afraid not,” Matthew answered. “We’re all going back to

Colorado together.”

Hannah’s face bunched up like an angry fist, and she stomped her

foot and fell back into the sofa cushions. When another idea dawned, she sprang forward with a gasp. “Well, maybe I could come and see you over Easter break?” she asked Reese.

“Sure, if your parents say it’s okay. You’re always welcome,

Hannah. And you know what? I can take you into Hollywood, and we

can get matching tatts!”

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Courtney looked as if she’d been shot. “Somebody please tell me

she’s joking.”

“Hey,” Reese teased. “Paul isn’t the only one who knows a guy. I

know a guy too.”

Damian and Matthew howled, and Hannah followed up with

laughter of her own. “I’m so happy you’re joining the family, Reese.”

“I’m just glad you all still want me,” she said.

And in the very next moment, a true Christmas miracle occurred

to seal the deal on all of that joy and good tidings.

Paco tiptoed across the floor and looked up at her for an instant before hopping up to the loveseat and curling into a ball in her lap.

“Well, now I’ve seen it all,” Jeane chimed in.

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“You’re back!”

Reese flew down her driveway and collided with Joss

before she even closed the car door behind her.

“You missed me, huh?” Joss teased. “Sorry you blew me off for

that fiancé of yours?”

“Hush and hug me again.”

When she noticed two complete strangers rounding the car,

her grasp on Joss loosened. The only thing more surprising than the platinum blonde with Christmas wreath earrings and bright coral

lip gloss was the really handsome guy who followed her. He raked

his hand through his shaggy hair and smiled. His deep hazel eyes and rugged face lined with stubble seemed to revolve around one deep

dimple at the center of his chin.

“Uh, hi,” Reese greeted them.

“This,” Joss told them with the wave of her arm, “is my best

friend Reese Pendergrass. Reese, this is Connie Rudolph. We met on the cruise, and she’s spending a couple of days with me.”

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“Hi, sugar!” Connie said with a painfully white smile. “Pleased to meetcha.”

“And this is Patrick Brenneman,” Joss told her. No matter how

hard she tried to disguise it, the excitement over the introduction simmered over into a full boil.

Patrick reached for Reese’s hand and shook it. “Happy to meet

you. Joss has told me a good bit about you.”

His Irish brogue took the Score-O-Meter well over the top, and

Reese locked eyes with Joss in unspoken and heartfelt congratula-

tions, easily translated between two such close friends.

“Damian’s sister is with us too. Come on in so you can meet her

and say hello to Damian. We have a ton of food, and lots of great people.” Slipping her arm through Joss’s, she grinned. “I want to hear everything. Don’t leave one thing out.”

Damian greeted them at the front door and hugged Joss. “Happy

New Year. How was your cruise?”

“Surprisingly great!”

“And she brought souvenirs home with her,” Reese said with

a chuckle. “Meet Connie and Patrick. This is my fiancé, Damian

Palmer.”

While Damian took drink orders and went off to fill them,

Reese borrowed Joss from her new friends and tugged her into the

bedroom and closed the door.

“That’s the guy you said is
me on steroids
?” Reese asked her.

“Because I haven’t looked that good even in my dreams!”

“I know,” Joss said on a bumpy giggle. “He’s gorge, right?”

“Beyond gorgeous. Status report?”

“Delirious.”

“Joss. Really?”

“Reese, it’s crazy. We’ve known each other for a week. But I am