by Brenda Novak
Fortunately, Harper had known better than to attempt anything too tricky, going on so little sleep. She’d kept hers small and simple with a “thatched” roof made of Frosted Mini-Wheats, a path through the yard made of crushed Life Savers, peppermint sticks for a handrail and a cute gingerbread man stepping out of the door.
“Yours is so pretty, Aunt Karoline,” Everly gushed.
Harper hid a smile when Karoline thanked her. Her sister was driven to be the best and do the best no matter what challenge she was taking on, so Karoline’s had turned out like a cathedral, and the girls’ had turned out like something occupied by the Three Little Pigs. One breath from the Big Bad Wolf and down they’d go. But they were proud of them, and that was all that mattered. Harper’s was somewhere in between—more like a bungalow than a cathedral.
“I’m going to give mine to a homeless person,” Everly announced. “So they get something for Christmas.”
“That’s very nice of you, Everly,” Harper said.
Amanda and Miranda both picked friends to be the recipients of theirs, and Terrance said his wife could do whatever she wanted with his.
Harper doubted his would be leaving the house. Karoline would never want to be associated with something that sloppy. He probably could’ve done better if he’d been truly interested, but Harper kept seeing him try to catch a glimpse of the college playoff game on TV in the other room.
“We’ll let the kids eat yours,” Karoline said, and Harper nearly laughed out loud. She’d known her sister wouldn’t deem it good enough to be given away.
Once that was established, the conversation came back around to who should receive Harper’s.
“There are a lot of people in our church who’d like it,” Karoline mused. “Do you want me to pick someone?”
Harper almost agreed. She was flattered hers had, at least, passed muster. But then she remembered Tobias talking about buying a Christmas dinner for his mother and Uriah, which sounded like a dismal way to spend the holidays, and decided—if she could do it without raising too much curiosity—she’d like to take it to him. “I think I’ll give mine to the guy who handed me that rose at the Eatery,” she announced as if she didn’t know him a whole lot better now.
Karoline’s and Terrance’s heads came up. They’d seen her talking to Tobias at the bar and had questioned her when she got back to the table. She’d insisted that it meant nothing, she’d just been saying hello, and the fact that Tobias had left the group and walked out only a few minutes later certainly lent her story some credibility.
Still, she could tell that her sister and brother-in-law were curious about him.
“What rose?” Piper asked.
Harper took the frosting bag so she could retwist the back end. Otherwise, all the frosting they had left was going to squish into her daughter’s small hands. “The one that was here on the island in a vase,” she replied.
Piper frowned. “I don’t remember it.”
“It was before you left for Disneyland.” Harper gave the decorator bag back to her. “It died, so I had to throw it out.”
Miranda wrinkled her nose. “Someone gave that to you? I thought you didn’t know anyone here—other than us.”
Harper finished her house by sprinkling green sugar on various parts of her landscaping. “I didn’t know him.”
“So why did he give you a rose?” Amanda asked.
“He could tell that I was sad and wanted to cheer me up. Nice, right? And now maybe we can do something nice for him.”
“Sounds good to me,” Miranda said.
Once the decision had been made, Harper felt excited about stopping by Tobias’s house with a plate of cookies and her gingerbread house. She wanted to see him again, and if she had everyone with her, she couldn’t stay overnight, like she knew she would if she went over later.
With a far greater interest in making her house as cute as possible, she added a tiny Christmas tree in the front yard and a few other decorations. She was eager to get her coat and set off—until Karoline insisted they would also sing Christmas carols at each stop.
“I don’t want to sing,” Harper said. “We won’t have any accompaniment, and it’s not like we’ve practiced or anything.”
“We don’t need to practice. I’ve got booklets with the lyrics. And you, especially, have a great voice. Caroling isn’t about skill, anyway. It’s about making someone smile.”
This was coming from her perfectionist sister? The one time Harper knew that what they were planning wouldn’t turn out to be good, her sister said it didn’t matter? “It’ll be hard for anyone to smile if we suck.”
“We won’t suck,” Karoline said.
Harper considered how uncomfortable it would be to stand outside Tobias’s door and sing to him with her girls, her sister, her brother-in-law and her nieces. She’d probably been too hasty when she suggested paying him a visit. But she couldn’t back out now. That would only draw more attention to how she might or might not feel about him. “I don’t know...”
“Don’t be a scrooge, Aunt Harper!” Miranda said.
“Yeah, we want to sing. Don’t we, Piper?” Everly pleaded.
“I want to sing,” Piper dutifully replied.
Harper sighed. She was outnumbered. “Fine. Maybe one or two songs.”
As soon as the girls were finished, Karoline sent them to get bundled up.
“Do I have to go?” Terrance asked when it was just the three of them.
Karoline arched an eyebrow at him.
“The game’s on,” he said by way of complaint.
“You’re recording it, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” he said with a sigh.
“Then...” Her look grew even sharper.
“Oh, fine,” he grumbled and went to get his coat.
17
Tobias showered and threw on a T-shirt and some gym shorts. With the game over and Maddox gone, he was going to New Horizons to use the weight room. He hadn’t gotten out to hike this morning, but he could lift before the day was over. That was part of his training, too.
A knock sounded while he was looking for his keys.
Setting his gym bag on the kitchen table, Tobias opened the door to find a group of seven people.
One of them was Harper.
He would’ve said hello, but her sister—he recognized Karoline from the Blue Suede Shoe—burst into “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” and soon they were all singing, including Harper, who was holding a gingerbread house and seemed massively embarrassed.
Every time he looked at her, her gaze slid down to the concrete, but Tobias couldn’t help smiling. These four girls, two women and one man, all bundled up and carrying holiday treats, looked like they’d stepped right off the front of a Christmas card. He’d never had carolers come by to sing to him, even before he went to prison.
They sang “Do You Hear What I Hear?” and “O Holy Night,” before Harper called it quits by muttering something like “That’s enough,” and stepped forward to hand him the gingerbread house.
“This is for me?” he said.
“Yeah. It’s just a little something I made.”
“That’s real candy. You can eat it.” The smallest and clearly the youngest of the girls piped up. She had to be Harper’s. With long blond hair and cornflower blue eyes, she was the spitting image of her mother. “But it probably won’t taste that good,” she confided, “’cause the frosting is sort of like glue.”
“It’s more for decoration,” Harper explained as Tobias chuckled.
“That’s why we brought you these, too.” Another little girl, this one with auburn hair and freckles sprinkled across her nose, stepped up to give him a plate of cookies. “They’re sugar cookies,” she announced. “My favorite. Only, we were running out of frosting so Aunt Karoline said I could only put on a little, and we were
saving our sprinkles for the houses.”
“You must be Harper’s oldest,” he said.
Harper rested her hands on her daughter’s shoulders. “Yes. This is Everly.”
Tobias squatted down. He was holding the gingerbread house and the cookies, but he managed to hang on to both. “How old are you, Everly?”
“Eight.” She pulled the smaller child, who’d spoken before, closer to her. “This is my sister, Piper. She’s six.”
So he was getting to meet Harper’s daughters, after all. “Thanks for singing to me. And for the treats,” he said as he stood.
“I don’t believe we’ve ever met,” Karoline said. “I’m Harper’s sister, Karoline Mathewson.”
Tobias set what they’d given him on the kitchen table so he could shake hands. Harper’s worried expression told him that she’d hoped to swing by, give him the treats and move on. But Karoline was set on being properly introduced.
“Karoline, this is Tobias Richardson,” she said.
Karoline held out her hand. “It’s very nice to meet you.” Her fingers clasped his tightly, confidently, before she released him so he could shake hands with her husband. “This is my husband, Terrance, and my twins, Amanda and Miranda, who are twelve,” she added.
“It’s a pleasure,” Terrance said as their hands came together.
Tobias nodded. “Likewise.”
“Harper tells me you’ve only been in the area for a short while,” Karoline said.
“That’s true.”
“Where were you before you came here?”
Tobias felt himself tensing. He didn’t want Karoline to pepper him with questions until he was forced to either reveal his past or lie about it. If he was ever going to tell Harper, this wasn’t how he wanted it to come out. “I was born and raised in LA,” he said, skipping the part in between.
“What brought you to Silver Springs?”
“Karoline, this isn’t Twenty Questions,” Harper muttered.
“My brother lives here,” Tobias volunteered. “And there was a job I thought I might enjoy.”
Undaunted, Karoline continued, “Harper told me you work at New Horizons.”
“I do.”
“What do you do there?”
“Karoline, that’s enough,” Harper complained but, again, Tobias felt it would be rude not to answer.
“I maintain the grounds and the equipment,” he said, feeling a bit self-conscious. His job was steady and paid fairly, but it couldn’t compete with the fame and fortune of being a successful rock star.
“Who’s your brother?” Karoline wanted to know.
Clearly exasperated, Harper made an impatient sound and rolled her eyes.
“I’m just thinking that if his brother’s been in town longer than he has, I might know him,” Karoline explained to her.
“His name is Maddox,” Tobias said.
“He’s the principal of the girls’ side of New Horizons,” Harper added. “You don’t know him, do you?”
“No,” Karoline admitted.
“Well, there you go.” Harper motioned toward the drive. “Now, we’d better keep moving. It’s only going to get darker and colder.”
Tobias wondered if it had been rude of him not to invite them in. He’d never had carolers, so he didn’t know the protocol. In case it wasn’t too late, he said, “It is getting cold. Would you like to come in and warm up before you go somewhere else? I could make some hot chocolate.”
Thanks to Harper he had some in the cupboard. But he wished he’d cleaned his house today. If he’d known that Harper and her family would be stopping by, he would’ve washed the dishes he had stacked in the sink.
“No, thank you.” Harper spoke quickly, trying to get ahead of her sister. “We just wanted to wish you a merry Christmas.”
When their eyes met, he felt a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach. Was this goodbye? Her way of saying, It was fun while it lasted. Here’re some cookies.
He hated how that made him feel. In prison, he’d gotten damn good at defending himself against any and every threat. As rough an environment as that was, he could navigate it. But nothing there had prepared him for how easily he could be hurt when it came to love—or whatever it was that made him want a real chance with Harper. Every time he saw her, he felt like he was standing there with his heart in his hand. “Thank you,” he said. “Merry Christmas.”
Harper grabbed her girls’ hands and started to march off, but the younger daughter pulled away just before they could round the corner. “My mommy told us in the car that you taught her how to ice-skate,” she said with a shy smile.
“I did,” he said. “Would you like me to teach you?”
“I would!” Her older sister spoke at the same time Piper said she’d like it, too.
“Have your mother give me a call, and we’ll set up a time to go to the rink before you leave town. Your cousins and aunt and uncle can come, too.”
“Mom?” Everly asked. “When can we go?”
Harper didn’t seem to like being put on the spot. “We’ll have to see,” she said vaguely.
They began to complain but she continued to lead them away.
Tobias hoped Harper really would ask him. But he was pretty sure that “we’ll see” was her way of saying no.
* * *
Fortunately, Karoline didn’t say anything once they got in the car. They finished caroling and dropping off treats, and then they left the kids at home with Terrance, who was eager to finally watch the game he’d recorded, so they could get some Christmas shopping done.
But Karoline hadn’t forgotten about Tobias. That became apparent as soon as they were alone. “Why didn’t you tell me the guy who gave you that rose was so freaking good-looking?” she asked as they pulled out of the drive.
Careful not to take the bait, Harper turned on the radio. “Tobias? He’s not bad.” She’d managed to pull off an indifferent tone, but had to avert her gaze to avoid giving her true opinion. Tobias was gorgeous. And he seemed to get better-looking every day. But his looks weren’t the only reason he appealed to her. She liked almost everything about him—so far. The way he talked, the way he laughed, the way he kissed, the way he made love. He was street-smart. Savvy. Unpretentious. Real. He was also completely unaffected by his own good looks, humble in a way she’d never encountered.
“Not bad?” her sister echoed. “He’s so tall. And what a body!”
Harper shot her a quelling look. “Stop.”
“I may be married, but I still have eyes!” she joked. “He’s about as masculine a guy as I’ve ever met. You should go out with him again. If having his attention doesn’t help rebuild your self-esteem, I don’t know what would.”
“He hasn’t asked me out again,” she fudged.
“He said he’d take us all ice-skating. That’s an invitation right there. Why not accept it?”
“Because I’m not ready to introduce Everly and Piper to a new love interest. It’s too soon. And even if it wasn’t too soon, why would I get involved with someone who lives in Silver Springs when the girls and I will be leaving in a couple of weeks?”
Karoline slowed to make the turn that would put them on the winding highway to the coast. “There’s nothing holding you in Colorado, Harper.”
Harper wished she’d never suggested taking that gingerbread house to Tobias. She wouldn’t have if he hadn’t been on her mind so much. “What are you talking about?” She put some slack in her seat belt, which suddenly seemed to be choking her. “That’s where my house is. That’s where the kids go to school. That’s where my in-laws live, and the girls are close to their grandma and grandpa Devlin—a lot closer than they are to our mom and dad, who are so involved in their careers they don’t have time for grandkids.”
Karoline turned down the music. “Axel should’ve thought of
what it would do to the relationship between his kids and his parents before he asked you for a divorce. It’s not your fault that your marriage didn’t work out. You were a great mother and an even better wife. So why should you be the one staying put like a dutiful daughter-in-law while he’s off singing and making millions God knows where? Especially if there are places, like Silver Springs, where you might be happier?”
“You barely met Tobias!” she cried. “Now you think I should move here so I can date him?”
“I’m just saying you should keep your options open.”
“And I’m trying not to do anything I might regret. I need to think of my kids. This past year hasn’t been easy on them.”
“I can’t argue with you there,” she relented. “But damn. You’re not going to find a guy like that around every corner.”
Harper didn’t say anything.
“Although...I can’t imagine he makes a lot of money,” Karoline continued. “How much could someone who maintains the grounds and equipment of a correctional school earn in a month, anyway?”
“Will you stop?” Harper said. “I’m not going to evaluate him on his earning potential!”
Obviously annoyed by her reaction, Karoline fell silent, but at least she backed off and, by the time they reached Santa Barbara, seemed to have forgotten about Tobias. They talked about who would make what for Christmas dinner and whether Harper should get Axel a Christmas gift. The last time he’d called he’d mentioned that he was getting her one.
“I say no,” Karoline said as she ducked into the dressing room of a cute little boutique to try on a dress for a friend’s party on Saturday.
“I think you’re right,” Harper said. “After everything I’ve been through this year because of him, I’m not in the mood to shop for him. Gifts are supposed to be heartfelt, not obligatory.”
Feeling released from the pressure of that decision, Harper continued to wander around the store. She was still waiting for Karoline to come out when she received two texts in rapid succession.