Mistletoe Bay (25 page)

“What's the Festival of Lights?” Jenni looked at Dorothy as if she might have the answers.

“Got me.” She'd never heard of it. “What's it got to do with Christmas Eve? Is it something to do with the church service?” She had seen in the church bulletin that the Christmas Eve service didn't start until nine at night. How would that affect their dinner?

“Wow, that's right, Felicity. You've never seen it.”

Felicity had tugged off her boots and was now peeling off the snow pants she had on over her jeans. “What is it?” Felicity dropped everything on the canvas cloths Eli and she had spread out earlier in the afternoon.

“It's the boats,” Faith said as she stood in the doorway with her sister, Hope.

Eli got down off the ladder as the boys dashed into the room from the kitchen. “What boats?” asked Chase.

“Can we go on them?” Tucker asked as he went to survey the room.

Dorothy watched as Coop moved closer to Jenni. Her daughter-in-law gave him a soft, dreamy smile. Something had happened last night on their date, and she really didn't want to think about it, but Jenni had had a certain glow about her when she came downstairs for breakfast this morning. Her daughter-in-law was moving on with her life. She should be happy. Jenni had been devastated by Kenny's death and had grieved for her son. Jenni was such a sweet, loving woman who deserved nothing but happiness in her life.

So why was Dorothy scared to death that Jenni was moving on without her? What was she going to do if Jenni found love with another man? Where would she fit in to Jenni's life? Where would she fit into her grandsons' lives? This wasn't even her house. Where would she go?

“Dorothy, did you hear?” Eli was standing right in front of her looking at her with concern in his pale blue-gray eyes.

“Hear what?” She rapidly blinked, hoping to hide the tears that had pooled.

“About the Festival of Lights?” Eli moved closer, protectively blocking everyone's view of her. “What's wrong?” he whispered. “Are you okay?”

God, she felt like such a fool. An old, selfish fool. The tears refused to be blinked away. For the first time, she admitted, “It's nothing, just a hot flash.” She turned and hurried from the room, straight across the kitchen and right through the sliding patio doors in the family room to the outside.

Dorothy stared up at the darkening sky and admitted to herself that she was scared. She was losing Jenni, and with her the boys. Where would she and Felicity go when it was time to leave?

It took her a moment to realize she was in her slippers standing in a snowbank. When she did, she started to cry in earnest.

Chapter Thirteen

Jenni snuggled closer to Coop on the couch. It was just after ten, and the television was on low. The boys were in bed asleep. Dorothy was up in her room either reading or watching her television, and Felicity was camped in her room probably talking to Sam on her phone instead of doing her homework. It had been a busy day, and the boys had been exhausted from all the fresh air and sledding. “This is nice.”

“What's nice—the peace and quiet or the company?” Coop nuzzled her neck.

She smiled and tilted her head to give him better access. “A little of both.” With all the creaks and groans in the house, they would definitely hear someone walking around upstairs and heading for the steps. Besides, they weren't really doing anything. She could feel Coop's smile against her skin.

“Are you sure you can't come back to my place for a couple of hours, or maybe a week?” Coop brushed aside her long hair and explored the sensitive area at the nape of her neck.

“That's the best offer I've heard all day.” She'd hated leaving the warmth and softness of Coop's bed last night to head back out into the cold.

“What about my invitation earlier? You remember, we were about to go down Suicide Hill alone. I told you I would get you down that hill.” He playfully nipped a tender spot.

She remembered his very casual invitation for her and the boys to spend a weekend up at his family's cabin in the mountains. She had had her arms wrapped around his waist and her thighs clamped around his hips. She had been holding on for dear life and debating if she should close her eyes or not. Coop had promised her the ride of her life.

They had crashed on the second turn, and she had ended up facedown in a snowbank, eating the white stuff. For the rest of the afternoon, she had refused to go back down the hill without the boys on the toboggan. Somehow Coop managed never to have the toboggan going too fast when the boys were on board.

“You were serious?” She had been playing that invitation over in her mind all afternoon, but since Coop had never brought it up again, she thought it was just one of those things. They had been talking about the toboggan runs that were up in the mountains with the ski resorts and he'd just casually thrown out that invitation.

Coop sat back and looked at her—really looked at her. “Why wouldn't I be? The boys would love it.”

“I'm sure they would.” She tried to think, but her mind was pulling blanks. Coop really wanted to go away for the weekend with her and the boys, just like a real family. It was too soon. Too fast. Oh, hell, they had just spent the entire afternoon like a real family and the boys had loved it. Of course, Sam, Felicity, and Hope and Faith had been there too. But at the cabin they would be alone. Just the five of them.

Okay, maybe not
that
alone.

“I think you would like it there too.” Coop straightened up and released her hair. “It takes some getting used to; it's on the primitive side. There is no cell phone service, and the electricity is supplied by a generator.”

The boys would love going to the mountains. None of them had ever been on an adventure before. They had all been too small when their father had died. Vacations back then had consisted of a couple days on the coast, and once when she was five months pregnant with Corey, they had taken Chase and Tucker into Boston for a couple days. Neither of the boys remembered the trip. “What about a bathroom?”

Coop grinned. “Indoor plumbing. My mom wouldn't have it any other way.” Coop reached out and covered her hands. “Showers have to be quick, and you have to wait about fifteen minutes for the water tank to heat back up, but it's beautiful up there. Not another soul in sight, and if we're lucky, we might spot a moose.”

“Really?” Now, that the boys would love.

“What has you hesitating, Jenni? The sleeping arrangements?” Coop softly raised her hand and placed a kiss in the center of the palm. “There's one bedroom there, Jen. It's yours. As much as I would love to be sharing it with you, I understand. The boys and I will be bunking down upstairs. The entire second floor of the cabin is wall-to-wall beds, and an occasional dresser thrown between them for clothes. If I was looking for a romantic weekend getaway, I wouldn't be inviting the boys.”

Okay, that answered that question. But there were still a million more. She gazed into his dark brown eyes and tried to find those answers. She couldn't.

“What is it, Jen?” Coop squeezed her hand. “What has you so concerned? The fact that we haven't known each other for that long of a time? What's it been, six weeks?”

“Halloween. I met you on Halloween.” She remembered that horrible afternoon when she had been covered in pink shaving cream and dirt. “You fixed the porch post.” He was right, it had been only six weeks, but it seemed longer. What would she do without him in her and the boys' lives? He had rescued Tucker from the roof and found Corey when he had wandered off. Coop had even helped Chase with his homework tonight while she gave Tucker and Corey their baths.

For the first time in over two years, she felt like a woman. A desirable woman. Cooper Armstrong had given her that gift.

“The roof was about to cave in on your heads.” Coop brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. “I couldn't allow that to happen.”

“You were very sweet.”

“Were?”

“Are. You
are
very sweet.” She leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on his mouth. “Did I ever thank you properly for fixing that post?” She loved the way Coop's eyes darkened when he stared at her mouth, something he did all the time.

“No, but Dorothy gave me cookies.”

“So you're satisfied with sugar cookies?” Her fingers teased their way up his arm. Coop had rolled up the sleeves of his green flannel shirt, and she toyed with the dark feathering of curls on his forearms. Her breath hitched as she remembered the way the hair on his chest had felt beneath her fingers last night.

“I was satisfied last night”—Coop leaned forward and brushed her lower lip with his mouth—“twice.”

She smiled against his mouth. “Hmmmm.” She remembered every vivid detail of their first night together, including the part where she'd had to leave his warm bed to go back home to her boys. Her boys needed her. They were her top priority in life, but darn, it had been so hard to step back outside into a snowstorm. “You do know that can't happen very often.”

“I don't know about that.” Coop's mouth skimmed her jaw. “With you in my bed, I think it has a very good chance of happening quite often.”

She chuckled. “I wasn't referring to that, even though that's a very nice compliment.” Coop did amazing things to her self-confidence in that department. She'd never considered herself a sexy or desirable woman before. She had a mirror; she knew she wasn't ugly or repulsive. But sexy? Never. Jennifer Wright was a typical girl next door, or in reality the mother of three hooligans who lived next door.

“What were you referring to?” Coop gave a playful nip to her earlobe and then moved away.

“The boys.” She curled her feet up under her and reached for her now-cold cup of coffee. She drank it anyway. She was used to drinking it cold. “I don't like leaving them like that, Coop. They don't understand dating and being left at home with Dorothy or Felicity. This morning Tucker wanted to know why he couldn't have come to dinner at your house with me. He thought you didn't like him.”

“Of course I like him.” Coop frowned. “What did you tell him?”

“That of course you liked him.” She grinned. “I tried explaining how adults like to have some alone time, to talk about things only adults like to talk about, and to watch adult movies, but I don't think he got it.” She twirled the empty coffee cup around in her hands. “I know you understand that I come with three boys, Coop. Do you
really
understand what that means?”

“I will be the first to admit that I never dated a woman with children before, Jen. But, then, I never met you before.” Coop brushed her mouth with a slow kiss. “I understand they are a huge part of your life.”

“Huge?” She tried not to roll her eyes. “They
are
my life.”

“What about Dorothy? Isn't she part of your life?”

“Of course she is.” What a stupid question.

“And Felicity?”

“Don't be stupid.” What was Coop trying to say?

“What about your company, Mistletoe Bay? They are all
part
of who you are, Jen. You're not just the boys.”

Okay, he'd made his point. “Aren't you afraid to date a woman with three kids?” Any sane man would be running in the opposite direction as fast as he could. And that would be before he met Tucker.

“I knew you had three kids before I asked you out. I would have asked you out if you had ten kids, Jen.” Coop's palm cupped her cheek. “Don't you understand that what I'm feeling for you is that strong?”

“The boys don't scare you?”

“Spitless, but they are part of you.” He leaned forward and kissed her. “They aren't a complication, unless you make them one, Jen.”

“Okay.” She grinned. “If you wouldn't mind being spitless for the weekend, we'll go.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. But we can't go until after Christmas. There's just too much to do before then. There's the house to decorate, baking to be done, the business, Chase has to practice his role of an elf for the school play, shopping, the—”

Coop's kiss not only effectively stopped her from listing the thousand things that had to get done, it shut down her brain, leaving only the sensations of touch and desire.

 

 

Dorothy bustled around the kitchen singing along with the radio playing in the other room. Eli had turned his radio to a channel that was playing nothing but Christmas songs while he repaired the plaster walls, getting them ready for the wallpaper she and Jenni had picked out. It was the perfect evening to start her holiday baking and admire a strong set of shoulders.

Things were really shaping up in the Wright household. The dining room was being done, and Pete had finished all the tile work in her bathroom. The room was going to be gorgeous and she couldn't wait to use it. Showering with Buster the turtle staring at her bare bottom was unnerving, to say the least.

Eli had brought the girls over to help with the baking while he worked on the walls. Hope and Faith were lovely girls, but they wouldn't be much help in the kitchen. Neither knew anything about cooking, except what they had learned in school in home economics class, or whatever they were calling it nowadays. Although both girls knew there were three teaspoons in a tablespoon, neither knew how to sift flour.

Well, they'd come to the right place. It wasn't their fault that their mother had deserted them, horrible woman that she must have been. What kind of mother sent her kids off to school one morning, packed her bags, and left behind a hastily scribbled note and arrangements with a neighbor to watch the kids until their father got home from work? Eli had been blindsided by the desertion and the knowledge his wife had been having an affair for the past two years, but he'd held it together. It had been poor Faith, the younger girl, who had been traumatized by the whole thing. It had been Faith's first day of school.

Dorothy yanked her baking sheets out of the top cabinet with a little more force than necessary. If she ever met up with Eli's ex-wife, she'd throttle the woman.

“Can I help you get them?” Hope, who was taller than Dorothy, tried to take the trays from her. Hope had her father's height but probably her mother's coloring, like Sam. Sam and Hope both had rich brown hair and deep brown eyes, while Faith, who also inherited their father's height, had his coloring of blond hair and blue eyes.

“Thanks, but I've got them.” She pushed those dark thoughts away and got down to business—cookie business. “Okay, you two, you each get to choose what kind of cookies you want to bake tonight.” She pointed to the counter. “See that list? Each of you pick one.”

This morning she had dropped the boys off at day care, and then spent the next three hours shopping. Her first stop had been Krup's General Store, where she had made a very impulsive buy. She had purchased eight plastic reindeers, a sleigh, and Santa himself. Thankfully a stock boy had come out and secured a couple of the boxes to the top of her SUV because they all couldn't fit inside.

Her grandsons had loved them on sight and wanted them up immediately. They all lit up and were supposed to go on the roof of the house. That idea had been vetoed by every male at dinner. The reindeers and Santa were going up on the porch roof this very minute. Coop and Sam were on the roof, with Felicity and Jenni doing the supervising from the front yard. The boys were all outside completing a snow fort by spotlight and keeping an eye on the grownups.

Not that Jenni and Coop would be doing anything questionable in front of the boys. It was Dorothy's own daughter and Sam who were turning her neatly highlighted hair grayer. They were growing entirely too close. They were too young to be in such a serious relationship. Both had their entire lives before them. It was time to have another serious talk with her daughter, or else she would be spending every free moment for the next several years in Estelle's Beauty Salon getting rid of the gray.

“Wow!” gushed Faith. “You can make all these kinds of cookies?”

“I can bake any kind of cookie that has a recipe, and some that don't.” She wasn't tooting her own horn, but when it came to her passion, cooking, she knew her stuff.