by Hope Ford
Chapter 7
Candy
I’ve been looking forward to going to the tree farm since last night. Until I got the text from Cane telling me that he had something come up and needed to stay at the tree farm. I volunteered to drive out to help him, but with the snow coming down, he didn’t want me to risk it.
“What’s happened to you since this morning?” Tom asks, leaning against the door to his office.
I shrug my shoulders at him. I try to smile but I know he can tell it’s fake.
He walks over to my desk. “C’mon, Candy, you were all smiles this morning. Now you look like you’ve lost your best friend.”
I look up at him and my eyes tear up. I can’t help it. I thought this was going to be a great Christmas Eve. Now it looks like I’ll be spending it alone again. “Cane was going to come and get me to go to the tree farm, but he can’t get away.”
“Well, you can’t spend Christmas Eve alone. Let me take you out there,” he offers. “I need to get my mom a wreath anyway. I can just drop you off.”
I stare at him, wondering if it’s really that easy. “Are you sure you don’t mind? I could drive.”
“Not in your car with this snow coming down. I promise, I don’t mind at all. Let’s go ahead and close up shop.”
I start shutting down my computer and putting everything away. I can’t wait to surprise Cane. I’m actually excited to help out at the tree farm. I’m waiting on Tom and I pull my phone out and send Sugar a text.
Hey, I’m just checking in. Call me or text me. Let me know you’re okay. Merry Christmas!
I wait for her to respond. Usually she gets right back to me. I’m worried about her and I don’t know what I can do to help her. I hope she responds soon.
When Tom walks out of his office, asking if I’m ready to go, I put my phone away and follow him out to his truck.
Tom drives me out to the tree farm and when we park, he helps me down from his truck and we walk into the entrance. Cane sees us immediately.
Cane stops before he gets to me. I can see the hesitancy on his face, and I’m a little surprised by it. He’s eyeing Tom and I’m quick to make introductions. “Cane, this is Tom. We work together. He offered to bring me over to help you today.”
As I introduce them, I walk away from Tom’s side and stand next to Cane. He holds his hand out and shakes it, thanking him for bringing me.
“He’s going to pick up his mom a wreath while he’s there,” I explain further, still not sure what to make of Cane being so subdued.
“Great. Pick whichever one you want. It’s on the house. Thanks for bringing my girl to me.” He puts his arm around me and tugs me to him.
Tom’s eyebrows raise, but he merely nods approvingly. “Sure, anytime. Candy knows I’d do anything for her.”
Tom winks at me and tells me he’ll see me after Christmas before walking off. Cane’s hand grips me tighter. When I look up at him, he asks me, “Friends, huh?”
“Yes, just friends. He’s in love with our boss,” I assure him.
“That’s good, honey, ‘cause I have to admit, when you walked in with him, I didn’t like it.”
I interrupt him. “He offered to give me a ride.”
He nods. “I know, and I appreciate it, but I still don’t like it.”
His arms go around me and grip my lower back, pulling me against him. I should probably be bothered with how possessive he is, but I can’t get the smile off my face, because I actually love his overprotective ways.
I go up on my tiptoes, reaching for him. “Kiss me, Cane.”
“With pleasure, honey.”
His lips press against mine. I wrap my arms around his neck, trying to get as close to him as I can when we both have on bulky jackets. My mouth opens, granting him access, and his tongue sweeps through my mouth. My heart beats triple-time, and even though it’s cold out, heat fills me. He pulls me up until my feet are barely touching the ground. I turn my head to the side, deepening the kiss, and I feel almost dizzy with all the surreal sensations traveling through my body.
“DAD’S KISSING A GIRL! I’m going to go tell Mom!” I hear a scream from beside us and I rip my lips from Cane. When I look to where the noise come from, I see a little boy running away as fast as his little legs will carry him.
I gasp and jerk out of his arms, landing on my feet with a thud. “You’re married! You have a kid!”
He reaches for me, but I jerk from his grasp.
“Candy, wait,” he pleads. “It’s not what you think.”
I shake my head. I feel almost sick to my stomach and pain fills my heart. I start walking toward the entrance, hoping and praying that Tom hasn’t left yet. Wouldn’t that be something, getting trapped at the tree farm again?
When I walk to the parking lot, his truck is already gone. I pull out my phone and open the Uber app.
Cane comes out behind me, holding out a hand. “Candy, you have to listen to me. Just let me explain.”
I twirl around and can’t stop the tears rolling down my cheeks. I yell at him, hatred filling my voice. “No. I should have known you were too good to be true. You’re a cheater, Cane. And a liar. And I don’t ever want to see you again.”
He stares back at me and if I wasn’t so mad, so heartbroken, the look on his face would have me softening.
He responds in a soft voice, void of any emotion. “Uber is not going to come out here in this snow. I’ll have someone bring around a truck to take you home.”
He turns on his heel and walks back into the tree farm, leaving me standing in the falling snow.
I wipe at the tears on my cheeks and take a few deep breaths, trying to calm my sobbing. When a truck pulls into the parking spot next to me, a woman rolls down her window. “Get in, honey. I’ll take you home.”
I struggle to climb up into the cab of the truck and can’t help but wonder why nobody seems to have any normal-sized vehicles around here. I no sooner put my seatbelt on than we are pulling out onto the main road.
“Thanks for taking me. I live downtown,” I tell her. The woman is beautiful. Even under her bulky jacket, I can tell she’s thin. Her blond hair is peeking out of her toboggan and her blue eyes are expressive.
“Yea, Cane told me where you lived,” she says before she turns to me and smiles.
And when she smiles, it hits me. “Oh my God. You’re his wife, aren’t you?”
I put my head down in my hands, trying to figure out what I did to deserve this. I mumble to her apologetically, “I promise I didn’t know he was married.”
“Probably because he’s not.” She grins. “I’m his ex-wife. We’ve been divorced for four years.”
“Ex-wife?” I ask, wanting to make sure I heard her right.
She nods. “I cheated on him. It was the worst mistake I’ve ever made in my life. But we’ve worked through it. We’re friends now. Well, as much as we can be.”
Oh my God, she cheated on him… and I just called him a cheater.
“And you have a son together?” I ask, trying to figure it all out.
“Yes, Mason. Have you not met Mason?” she asks me.
I shake my head, and when I remember she’s not looking at me, she’s concentrating on the road, I mumble, “No, I didn’t know about him. Why wouldn’t he have told me?”
She’s quiet for a minute. “Now, I’m not sure about that. Mason is everything to him. I’m a little surprised he didn’t tell you either.”
I go back through all of our conversations, trying to see if he ever hinted at it, but I know I would have remembered that. I think back to our conversation last night, and I remember telling him about my “Mr. Right” list and wanting a man without any kids. Oh my God, I totally fucked all of this up.
The cab of the truck is silent the rest of the drive. I point to my house and she pulls into the driveway. I turn to her, thanking her for the ride, and she stops me from getting out by reaching over and touching my shoulder.
She stares at me for a mi
nute, and I can tell she’s trying to see what kind of person I am. “Honey, if you feel anything for him at all, he’s worth it. I know he was really hurt by whatever y’all were fighting about. I don’t know or understand everything that’s going on, but I do know he’s a great man and a great father. You can’t just throw something like that away.”
I inhale deeply, trying not to cry, not sure how I’m going to fix this. “Thank you. For the ride, and well, everything.”
“Sure, honey. No problem.” I start to shut the door, but I stop when she says, “Cane volunteers at the soup kitchen on Christmas every year, so he’ll be there tomorrow morning.”
She smiles with a gleam in her eyes. I nod, shut the door and walk into my empty house.
Cane
I stand in the entrance of the tree farm watching my ex-wife pull out of the parking lot with Candy in the passenger seat. She had struggled to get into the truck and I had to force myself to stay put and not go over to help her.
Mason tugs on my pant leg. “Hey, Daddy! Where’d your girlfriend go?”
I bend over and lift him up on my hip. “She had to go home.”
He nods his head, like he’s got it all figured out. “Oh, she had to go be with her family for Christmas Eve, didn’t she? Will I get to meet her, Dad?”
His words gut me, because I know she’s not going home to family. She’s going home to an empty house and no one. I know how hard Christmas is for her, but I also know she doesn’t want to see me. She made that perfectly clear.
Chapter 8
Candy
I stand outside the soup kitchen wringing my hands, nervousness coming over me.
When I finally get up enough nerve, I walk in and instantly my eyes are drawn to Cane spooning up mashed potatoes and putting them onto the plate of the man standing in front of him. The smile he has for the man and every person after him melts my heart, but also makes me remember all the nasty things I said to him.
“Hey, you were the one kissing my dad yesterday.”
I look over at the voice and the little boy from the tree farm is standing there with a rag, wiping down a table. He walks over and stares up at me.
“Uh, yeah, that was me,” I tell him.
“Cool. Are you going to spend Christmas with us?”
“Uh…” I start, but before I can answer, I see Cane walking toward us.
He bends down and puts his arm around his son’s shoulder. “Hey, buddy, Joseph is in the back and says he has some extra chocolate chip cookies if you want any.”
“Yippee!” he hollers and takes off running.
“No running,” Cane calls out to him.
His son slows down, but barely.
“What are you doing here, Candy?” He stands back up and turns to me.
I’m so happy to see him, but I know he’s still mad at me. I can’t say that I blame him.
I tug on the bottom of my jacket. “I wanted to come and tell you that I was sorry. I shouldn’t have said what I said to you yesterday.”
He hesitates briefly, then admits slowly, “I should have told you I had a kid.”
I tilt my head to the side. “Why didn’t you?”
He grimaces and slightly shakes his head. “I wanted to. I tried to. That’s what I was going to talk to you about, but then we started talking about your ‘list’ and you said you didn’t want kids now. I should have told you right then. But I figured that would’ve run you off… So pure selfishness kept me from telling you.”
I shake my head. That damn list. It’s done me more harm than good!
I look at the door that his son ran through. “How old is he?”
He smiles wistfully. “He’s five going on twenty-five.”
“He seems like a great kid. Did he get upset about us kissing?” I worried about that all night. I know kids can get upset about stuff like that.
He blows out a breath. “No. He was upset that you left. He was hoping you were going to spend Christmas Eve with us… I was too.”
I cringe. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”
There are several people sitting around us, but in my mind, it’s only me and Cane. He takes a step toward me, but there’s still a wide space between us. “Can I ask you a question?”
I bite my lip, and then nod my head.
His hand grips the chair back next to him. “Do you not want a man with a kid because you can’t imagine loving one that wasn’t your own?”
“No, God no! Of course not,” I tell him adamantly.
I look down at his hand and his knuckles are white from clinching onto the chair. “Then why? Why do you have on your list that you don’t want a man with a child?”
A tear rolls down my cheek and I wipe it away before I mutter to him, “Because I’m afraid they couldn’t love me.”
He releases the chair and steps toward me. “That’s crazy. How could they not love you?”
My eyes drop to the floor in front of me. “Because my own parents don’t love me. How could a child that’s not even mine love me?”
Cane
I reach out and cup her shoulder. “Oh, honey.”
She won’t look at me and I can feel her body trembling under my hand. I can only imagine what she’s been through. I want to kiss her and hold her to me, assure her that we can work this out.
A commotion from the kitchen has me looking that way. It sounds as if a bunch of pots and pans have fallen. Mason opens the door and hollers, “Dad, we need you in here!”
“I’ll be right back, Candy.” I hate to leave her with the look of despair on her face. “I’ll be right back.”
She nods and I take off jogging to the kitchen. I help pick up everything on the floor and then tell them I’ll be right back. I take Mason by the hand and walk out to the dining hall to introduce him to Candy, but she’s gone. I look out into the parking lot, but her car is not there.
I take a deep breath and then go back to my station at the serving line.
Two hours later, I have Mason belted into the truck and I finally have a plan. Mason’s mom spent Christmas Eve with him and came over early this morning to see him open presents. I have him the rest of the day.
We go to the tree farm and I let Mason pick out a tree. I grab the leftovers from Christmas Eve, clothes for Mason and me, and the present I got Candy and load everything into the truck.
It only takes us an hour before we’re back on the road, headed to Candy’s house.
We pull into the driveway, and I help Mason out of the truck.
When Candy opens the door, she gasps at seeing us on her porch.
She’s staring at us, and I can tell she’s happy to see us.
“Merry Christmas!” Mason yells, jumping up and down, all excited.
His excitement is contagious and I laugh at his antics. I put my hand on the door frame. “Can we come in?”
She’s still staring at Mason, but she opens the door farther. “Of course. Please come in.”
Mason runs into the house. “I’ll be right back. I have some stuff to carry in.”
She smiles at me and follows Mason into the house. I make several trips bringing everything inside and when I’m finally done, I come to a halt when I see Mason sitting cross legged next to Candy on the rug. There’s a video game on the tv that they’re both playing.
The racing game has them both squealing and when Mason ends up the victor, he jumps up and turns around to me. “Dad, Candy has the best game. Please, please, please can we get me one?”
Candy smiles over at me, and in that smile, I realize that everything is going to be okay. She ruffles Mason’s hair. “You can have this one, if your dad’s okay with it. I hardly ever play it.”
She looks at me questioningly and with a little worry on her face, like maybe she overstepped.
Mason’s already jumping up and down. “Can I, Dad? Can I?”
Laughing, I walk over to him and squat down in front of him. “How about when you come over here you can play it?”
Mason starts to say something, but I finish by telling him, “We’ll be spending a lot of time here or Candy will be coming to our house. So we’ll see where we are most of the time and figure it out then. Okay?”
He jumps up and down. “Yes!”
I look at Candy out of the corner of my eye. She’s smiling from ear to ear and I know right then that I made the right decision. Even though I’d sworn off relationships, I’m happy that I took a chance on her.
I pick up the tree that I laid down behind the couch. “So, now, it looks like we have a tree to put up! Where do you want it?”
She jumps up and down, clapping her hands together. “You got me a tree?”
I stand it up next to me and hold it with one hand. I encircle her waist with my other arm and bring her close to me. “I thought since this is going to be our first Christmas together, the first of many, we should have a Christmas tree.”
And because I can’t wait a second longer, I bend down and kiss her lips softly.
Chapter 9
Candy
I thought that I was going to be alone for Christmas. I was sad, but I was prepared for it. Now I’m sitting on the couch with Cane’s arm around me and Mason’s asleep already with his head on my lap. My fingers are stroking through his hair, and I can’t help but smile at how fun today was.
We put lights on the tree and Cane helped me find my granny’s box of ornaments and we put those up. We ate a full Christmas dinner and Mason and I played around twenty racing games on the video game player. Cane gave me a Christmas present and it was a beautiful ornament that had our names, including Mason’s, and the words “First Christmas” on it.
Now the house is silent and we’re sitting here with only the lights from the tree illuminating the room.
I turn toward Cane, as much as I can without disturbing Mason. Looking into his eyes, I lean in and softly kiss him. “Thank you, Cane. This has been the best Christmas. And it’s all because of you and Mason.”
The side of his mouth lifts up. “So I guess I checked off everything on your ‘Mr. Right’ list?”