Christmas with the Recluse

by Lieske, Victorine E.

  He smiled, his laugh lines crinkling. “I didn’t know I would get such a reaction.”

  She let go of him, suddenly embarrassed with the way she’d thrown herself at him. “Sorry. I’m just excited.”

  “Then let’s see what you do when you find out about the shrimp cocktail.” He gave her a devilish grin and her heart stuttered a bit in her chest. Why did he have to be so handsome?

  “Get. Out,” Charley said, hitting his arm playfully.

  “They’re chilling in the fridge,” Dorothy said.

  “You guys are the best.” Charley gave Dorothy a kiss on the cheek.

  “I just thought since I didn’t have any Christmas Eve traditions, that we’d take on yours.”

  “Then I guess we get to watch a Christmas movie tonight?”

  Alexander nodded. “Whatever movie you want.”

  “Even Die Hard?”

  He made a face. “Die Hard isn’t a Christmas movie.”

  “I beg to differ.”

  “I guess you can pick whatever you want,” he said, shaking his head. “We can stream it.”

  She grinned at him. “I’m feeling the power.” She turned to the cupboard. “Do you need me to set the table, Dorothy?”

  “That would be nice, dear.”

  Alexander reached up and grabbed the plates from the cupboard. “I’ll help.”

  Charley pulled open the drawer to get the silverware. As they set the table, she watched him. The change in him over the past nine days had been astonishing. When she first arrived, she didn’t think he’d ever smile. She wasn’t sure he was capable of laughing. And now, to look at him, he wasn’t the same person. He had a different countenance. And it made him even more hot. She had a hard time being in the same room with him without going weak in the knees. He could totally get a job as a fashion model.

  He raised his eyebrows at her as he set down a plate. “What?”

  Ooh, he caught her staring. Not cool. She casually walked around the table. “Nothing. Just thinking.”

  “About me?”

  Now what was she supposed to say? It had to be obvious. She was staring at him. She could feel her cheeks turn pink. “Maybe.”

  “Good thoughts, I hope.”

  Her face flamed. Maybe she should change the subject. “Yes. How about those Yankees, huh?”

  He gave her a weird look. “I don’t follow sports.”

  “Neither do I,” she said under her breath. “Is it hot in here? Because I’m a little hot.”

  “I can adjust the temperature.”

  “No, I’ll be fine.” She fanned her face. She just needed to stop staring at him and thinking about how good-looking he was. That’s all.

  Charley was able to control herself better during dinner. The food was delicious, as usual, and she gave Dorothy a huge hug afterward for being such a dear to make her family’s traditional meal. Then she and Alexander went down to his basement to watch a movie.

  “Have you picked what you want to watch yet?”

  “Let’s see what’s on Netflix.”

  Alexander sat down on the couch and picked up the remote. She sat next to him and tucked her legs under her. He scrolled through the holiday movies until Charley pointed to the screen. “That one.”

  “Elf?”

  “Yes. That’s the one. Haven’t you seen it?”

  “Nope.”

  “Then we definitely have to watch it. You’ll love it. You’re a funny movie guy, and this one is the funniest.”

  He grabbed the fleece blanket and put it over her before he clicked to turn on the movie. She snuggled into it. “Thanks. How did you know I was cold?”

  “It’s chilly in this basement.”

  “Do you want some of the blanket?” She didn’t wait for his answer but put half of it over him.

  “Thanks.”

  The movie was hilarious, but before she knew it, the early morning got to her and her eyelids began to droop. The next thing she knew, the room was silent and she was laying on something warm. Had she fallen asleep? She must have. She had that sleepy foggy head thing going on.

  Where was she?

  Oh, no. She remembered she was in the TV room. And the only thing she could be laying on was Alexander. She opened her eyes and he smiled at her, his arm on her shoulders. “Have a nice nap?”

  She opened her mouth to answer when she felt something down the side of her chin and she froze. Dear heavens, it couldn’t be, could it? Had she drooled? Please, no. Not that. She casually wiped her chin. Mortification heated her cheeks. It was, indeed, wet. She prayed he hadn’t seen the disgusting drool slipping down her chin. “Sorry. I didn’t realize how tired I was.”

  “That’s okay. I didn’t mind being your pillow.”

  She looked to make sure she hadn’t left a puddle of drool on his shirt. Luckily, there was nothing there. She breathed out a sigh of relief. “Did you like the movie?”

  “It was great. Thanks for suggesting it.” He looked like he was holding back a chuckle.

  She chose to believe he was laughing about the movie, and not the slobber on her face.

  Chapter 21

  Alexander paced in his bedroom, a dress shirt and a sweater on his bed. He had no idea what to wear. It was Christmas day. He’d put on his navy blue slacks, but he wasn’t sure if he should dress up or not. Charley seemed to like it when he dressed casually, but he didn’t want to be too casual on a special day. He scratched the back of his neck, undecided.

  A gentle knock came on his door. He opened it to see Charley standing there. Her gaze traveled to his bare chest before snapping back up to his eyes. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt. Just wanted to know if you were up for a game. Dorothy and Thomas and I are starting a game of Skipbo, and we’ll deal you in if you’d like.”

  He hadn’t played a card game in years. “Sure,” he said, taking in her sweater, skirt and striped socks. “I’ll be down in a minute.”

  She smiled and turned, walking down the hallway. “Great,” she called out.

  He decided to mimic Charley and slipped on the sweater. Then he jaunted down the stairs. He heard laughter coming from the parlor. When he entered, Thomas waved him over. “We saved you a seat.”

  He sat in the empty chair across from Charley. She pointed to the stack of cards in front of him. “You’ve played this game, right?”

  “It’s been a long time.”

  She quickly explained the game and he turned the first card over on his stack. A twelve. He groaned. “I’m already losing.”

  Charley laughed. “Don’t worry. We’ll build up the piles soon enough, and then it will cycle through.”

  They played the game for a while, Thomas taking the lead. Charley turned to him. “I didn’t know you were so cutthroat.”

  Thomas laughed. “Just paying the game, ma’am.”

  Alexander leaned back in his chair and looked at Charley. “I’m curious what these two would think about your question.”

  She gave him a puzzled look. “What question.”

  “About intelligent life on other planets.”

  “Oh, yes.” She pulled out her phone. “Let me find that.” She scrolled through her phone for a second. “Here it is. If evidence came out of intelligent life on another planet, would it change your core beliefs?”

  Thomas shook his head. “No. Not at all.”

  Dorothy made a face. “Seriously? I don’t believe in aliens.”

  “I’ve seen a UFO,” Thomas said.

  “Get. Out!” Charley slapped the table and everyone laughed. “When?”

  “I was in the navy in the seventies. We all saw it, flying over us. It had three bright lights and it looked enormous.”

  Dorothy raised her eyebrows. “And you think it was an alien spaceship?”

  “I know it was.”

  “How do you know?” Charley asked.

  Everyone stared at Thomas as he leaned forward in his chair. He paused before speaking. “It asked for directions.”

>   Charley laughed and slapped Thomas’s shoulder. “I never knew you were such a tease.”

  He chuckled. “But we did see the UFO. No one could tell what it was, and when we tried to find out if the air force had something flying around, everyone denied it.”

  “So, you think it was from another planet?”

  He shrugged and picked up his cards. “Could have been. I really don’t know.”

  Alexander pointed to Charley’s phone. “Can I look at that app?”

  “Sure.” She tossed her phone at him then drew her cards.

  Alexander scrolled through the questions. “Here’s a good one. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?”

  Charley laughed and then slapped her hand over her mouth. Alexander set her phone down. “Okay. Spill it.”

  Charley’s cheeks turned pink. “Do I have to?”

  “You do now,” Dorothy said, giving her a frown. “Or we’ll just imagine something much worse than what you actually did.”

  “All right.” Charley leaned forward. “My best friend and I were bored one night, so we were out looking for something to do. It was a warm evening, so we went to the park. We heard music. It was innocent enough at first. We just wanted to know who was playing our favorite song.”

  “What happened?” Alexander asked.

  “We found where the music was coming from. A large group of people were milling about. There was punch and some people were dancing on this raised platform. A guy came up to me and asked me to dance. What was I supposed to do? Say no? And then my friend got asked and we decided just to go with it.”

  “You crashed a party?” Alexander tried not to laugh but was unsuccessful.

  “A wedding. We didn’t know what was going on until someone asked if I knew the groom or bride. No one was dressed up. There weren’t even any flowers.”

  “That’s funny,” Dorothy said. “What did you do?”

  “My friend said we were friends of the bride and we just stayed and danced.”

  “Did anyone find out?” Thomas asked.

  “Nope. The couple never noticed us. And we never saw any of them again afterwards. So, it ended up being a crazy thing without us meaning to do it.”

  “I think it’s funny you just stayed and danced.” Dorothy played a Skipbo card. “I’ve never crashed a wedding, but I did once go on a blind date, and I ended up sitting and talking to the wrong guy.”

  Everyone laughed. Thomas drew his cards. “How did that happen?”

  “We were meeting at a coffee shop. He said he’d be the one reading a book. I guess there are more guys reading at coffee shops than we thought.”

  They played games until lunchtime. Alexander enjoyed the time spent with the staff, which surprised him. He’d never done anything like that before Charley came around. She was a breath of fresh air. And she was leaving the next day.

  The thought soured his stomach. He didn’t want her to go. But what could he do about it? There was no way to keep her there. She would leave no matter what.

  CHARLEY SQUIRMED ON her chair as Alexander pulled the next present from under the tree and looked at the tag. “That’s for Thomas. You should know that; it’s from you. Would you hurry up?”

  He gave her a scowl before his lips twitched, betraying him. “Let me pass them out, will you?”

  “Maybe I should do it. If we want to open them before New Year’s Eve.”

  He waved his hand at her. “You’re such a child.”

  When he’d finally passed all the gifts out, he sat beside her on the couch. “Why don’t you open one first? Since you’re so antsy?”

  “We should just rip into them. All open at once.” Charley couldn’t help it. She wanted to get into the gifts. She gave him a sly grin.

  “We can’t do that. That’s anarchy.”

  “Anarchy? Seriously?” She made a face at him.

  Alexander pointed to the gift on top of her pile. “Open this one. It’s from Dorothy.”

  She rolled her eyes but did as he said. It was a book they’d talked about that Charley had wanted to read. “Did you get this from Amazon? Did Paul deliver this per chance?”

  Dorothy blushed. “Maybe.”

  “Well, I love it. Thank you.”

  Everyone took turns opening gifts. When Alexander opened the bird-identifying book she’d picked out for him, he swallowed and clenched his jaw. She could see the emotion playing across his face. Everyone sat still, waiting for him to react. But when he didn’t say anything, Charley jumped in.

  “If you don’t like it, I can take it back,” she said quickly, worried she’d made him upset.

  “No.” He turned to her. “I love it. I’ve always loved bird watching. And this will be perfect.” He put his arm around her and pulled her close. “Thank you.”

  Charley opened the gift from Alexander next. He’d bought her a set of twelve socks, a pair for each major month of the year. They featured all of the holidays and seasons. She squeaked and gave him a hug. “These are awesome.”

  “I thought of you when I saw them.”

  “They’re perfect.”

  After they opened all of their gifts, Charley got up to get a drink from the kitchen. On her way back to the living room, she turned the corner and ran into Alexander in the hallway, bouncing off his chest.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, reaching out and catching her before she fell. “I didn’t realize you’d be coming back so quickly.”

  “Sorry.”

  He stared down at her, his expression growing sober. “Charley, I wanted to tell you...”

  Something above caught her attention and she looked up. “Hey, we’re under the mistletoe.” The second the words were out, she wished she could take them back. What was she doing? Flirting with him? She swallowed the lump in her throat, suddenly nervous he was going to kiss her. But at the same time, a growing part of her longed for it.

  He glanced up as well. “Did you put that there?”

  “No. Must have been Dorothy.” Oh, no. Why was her voice so breathy? How embarrassing. It sounded like she was being sultry on purpose, which was not the case.

  He leaned closer. “What should we do about it?”

  Warmth traveled over her. He was asking her for permission. And for some insane reason, she wanted to give it to him. “It’s tradition. We might not have a choice.”

  A smile played on his lips. “You’re right. We don’t have a choice.” As he bent his head closer to her, she found herself rising up on her toes to meet him.

  His lips captured hers and she closed her eyes. The first thing that flitted through her mind was that this was what love felt like. The thought took her aback and she almost broke the kiss. Love? She couldn’t be in love with Alexander. She barely knew him.

  But as her thoughts swirled around in her head, she knew that wasn’t true. She knew his demons. She knew he had been hurting. And she knew what his heart longed for. Connection. Stability. And love. She had felt it this last week-and-a-half. She knew he wanted to find love again. And she longed to show him he was worth loving.

  His kiss was slow and thorough, sending jolts of electricity though her bones. She didn’t want him to stop, but fear wormed its way into her heart. She shouldn’t be thinking this way. She couldn’t heal his broken heart. She was leaving tomorrow.

  She had plans. Had a life back home. She couldn’t leave it for...what? She had no place in Alexander’s world. She was just the hired girl. The one he took advantage of to get her to clean out his garage.

  The realization hit her and she pulled back from him. Was he taking advantage of her? Why was he kissing her? She stared up at him, suddenly needing answers. “What are we doing?”

  He seemed confused by the question. “Kissing.”

  “I know.” She stepped away from him, unable to express her feelings correctly. “But what are we really doing?”

  He straightened up, plastering on a reserved smile. “Nothing. Sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
r />   And that’s what she knew deep down inside. He didn’t mean anything by it. And she needed to get out of there before she started to care more for him than she already did. She nodded. “Right. Just mistletoe.”

  Saying those words made her realize just how much she’d allowed herself to get wrapped up in this whole situation. She was there to clean the garage, nothing more. How had she made it her mission to bring Christmas back into his life? Why had she inserted herself in as the role of the person who was to heal him of his broken heart?

  She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “We’d better clean up.”

  He nodded. “Yes. There’s wrapping paper everywhere.”

  Charley turned away from him, her heart in her throat. She couldn’t keep doing this. Kissing him and then regretting it. She swallowed, thankful that this was going to end tomorrow. Her heart couldn’t take any more of it.

  Chapter 22

  Alexander awoke the next day to the sound of someone outside scraping ice. Was that Charley? Was she leaving already? He jumped out of bed and quickly dressed. Had she purchased plane tickets? He had thought maybe she was staying another day.

  He rushed outside, not bothering to put on a coat. Charley blushed when she saw him and held up the ice scraper. “I borrowed this from your truck. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “You’re leaving?” He didn’t mean to sound angry. It just came out that way.

  “Yes. I’m sorry. My flight leaves in three hours, and I don’t want to have to rush in the Denver traffic. I hope I didn’t wake you.”

  She had, but that wasn’t the point. He stared at the exhaust puffing out of the tailpipe. Why was he feeling so blindsided? He knew she was going to leave. “I didn’t realize you’d already purchased a ticket.”

  She nodded. “I got one last night. It was the last seat on the plane. I was lucky to get it.”

  “I see.” He folded his arms. He had a sudden urge to beg her to stay, but that was stupid. She’d only been there for one reason. He had no hold on her. He couldn’t even get upset that she was leaving. He knew she would leave all along. He peered into the passenger seat and saw the cat carrier. “You have Milly all ready to go?”