“Daddy, look!” George exclaimed, tugging on Lysander’s sleeve as he peered at a display of tablet cases. He looked up and saw Grace walking past the store, George waggling his finger in her direction.
“Grace!” Lysander called before he’d even given himself a chance to think about it. Why had his stomach clenched like that? Why had he been so eager to speak to her?
She turned her head in their direction, and her face split into a smile.
His heart began to beat rapidly. What was he going to say? Why had he called her over like that?
Grace walked in through the entrance to the store, and the kids launched themselves at her.
“Hi,” she greeted them, laughing as they both tugged on the ends of her jacket sleeves. “How are you guys? Doing some Christmas shopping?”
Lily and George began talking over each other, both trying to be the first to tell her what they had bought for everyone. Lysander laughed, walking over to her, too.
Grace was dressed like a southerner in the cold: jacket, boots, and gloves. She’d curled the ends of her hair today, leaving it down, flowing over her shoulders like auburn waterfalls.
There was no getting around it. She was lovely. More than that, Lysander had found himself thinking about her more often than he should. She was with someone else, and he’d be furious if he knew that some other man was thinking any kind of thought about the woman he was with.
“What are you doing here?” Lily asked.
“Probably the same thing that we are,” Lysander said, patting his daughter on the head. “Grace has a family, too, you know.”
“It’s true.” Grace smiled up at him. “I’m actually here looking for something for my mom and dad. Would you three like to help me?” she asked. Lysander’s voice caught in his throat. Both his kids cheered excitedly.
“That sounds fine to me,” Lysander said, “if you don’t mind getting dragged to look in every window as we walk by them.”
“Not at all,” Grace said, her hair bouncing as she laughed. “I don’t have anywhere I need to be today.”
Neither do we, thought Lysander. He reprimanded himself as he fell into step beside her.
Lily grabbed onto Grace’s hand, and George walked between her and Lysander. They left the electronics store and headed back through the crowded mall.
“What were you looking for in there?” Grace asked Lysander, turning her wide, blue eyes up at him. His face flushed. Why was it that the more he told himself to stop thinking about her, he just thought about her even more?
“Something for my business partners,” he said. “I haven’t really been here long enough to really know them, and I don’t want to just get them gift cards or anything, you know? That just seems lazy.”
“Well, have you thought about something they use every day?” Grace asked. “Sometimes practical things work great as gifts, too.”
Lysander thought about it for a second. “Well, I know that they all drink coffee.”
“Do you know what kind?” Lysander shook his head. “Well, what about some personalized mugs?” Grace suggested. “Maybe have them engraved with your firm’s name, and then put them together with something nice like a flavored syrup, or maybe some sort of blend that’s your favorite. Maybe something from Seattle?”
“Hmm,” Lysander said. “You know, that’s a great idea, Grace. Thank you.”
She grinned at him. “My pleasure. I work with food a lot, so my brain always goes immediately toward food-related gifts.”
“And who doesn’t like to get food?” Lysander asked.
“Exactly,” Grace said.
They spent half an hour or so wandering through the home goods store. It was packed inside, and at one point, Lysander had a small heart attack wondering where Lily had gone. It turned out she was holding tight to the back of Grace’s jacket while they wandered between the narrow shelves.
Lysander found that he couldn’t stop looking at Grace. There was so much beauty around, but it all paled in comparison to her. The way that the Christmas lights reflected in her eyes, glittering like stars, made his heart skip. The warmth of the Christmas season made him feel closer to her, and he was starting to care less and less about this other guy she was seeing. It was like being surrounded by magic, and Lysander was lost in the moment, never wanting it to end.
Lysander knew that he was a good man. He knew how to take care of a woman. He knew that a woman like Grace was way out of his league, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t want to try and make her happy. He loved watching her smile, and he found he was almost giddy whenever she interacted with the kids.
She let them help her pick out the colors of the gifts for her parents and told them how much help they’d been. Lysander kept catching her eye over their heads, and he felt like a kid in high school whenever he’d turn away, a smile curling up the side of his face.
“Well, I think that the two of you deserve something special today,” he said to Lily and George as Grace finished paying for her gifts. “How would you feel about going to meet Santa Claus?”
“Santa?” George asked, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head.
“I want to! I want to!” Lily cried, hopping up and down.
Grace appeared, folding her receipt into her wallet. “Want to what?”
“We’re going to meet Santa!” George answered. “You’re coming too, right?” he asked.
“All right, now, kids,” Lysander said. “Grace probably has other plans today; we don’t want to keep her from anything she’s doing.” He hoped that didn’t sound like he didn’t want her to stay. He did. He just didn’t want to seem desperate or clingy.
“No, that’s all right,” Grace replied with a smile. “As I said, I don’t have anything to do today, so I’d love to come with you guys.”
Perfect.
They wandered back through the mall, the kids singing along to the music on the radio. Lysander couldn’t help but think about what a happy little family they looked like.
They reached the “North Pole” area of the mall, an empty room that had once been a jewelry store and was now being used for pictures with Santa. A burly man in a white beard sat on a red throne, posing for pictures with kids and asking them what they wanted for Christmas. There were elf helpers around and stacks of presents beside Santa.
“Wow, it’s like Santa’s workshop in here,” George said.
“It is Santa’s workshop,” Lily said. “And there’s Santa!”
Lysander and Grace stepped in line behind another family and waited their turn.
“You know, Lysander, I’ve been meaning to apologize,” Grace said, somewhat sheepishly.
“For what?” he asked.
“For my friend Nora’s incessant questions at my parents’ party,” she said.
Lysander smiled. “Oh, I didn’t mind. It was kind of fun, really.”
It had been fun, because every time Nora asked him a question, she’d turn and answer the same question about Grace. It was clear she was up to something, and Lysander realized that was probably part of the reason why he was so caught up in his thoughts about Grace. Had she been trying to set them up together or something?
“I just hope she didn’t embarrass you,” Grace said.
“Not at all,” Lysander said. He turned and gave her a warm smile. “It was fun getting to know more about you, Grace.” He hoped she could hear the sincerity in his words.
“Yeah… I enjoyed that, too.” She looked up at him, and for a brief moment, their gazes were locked. For a brief moment, Lysander felt like she was the only other person in the whole world.
“Daddy, we’re almost up,” George said, tugging on the sleeve of his jacket. Lysander blinked and looked away, the blood rushing in his ears.
“You’re right, buddy. Just another few minutes, okay?” He turned back to Grace, who was now trying to avoid his gaze. “So, how is your boyfriend feeling?”
“What do you mean?”
“Wasn’t he sick or
something?”
“Oh, yeah,” she said. “I guess he’s fine.”
“Haven’t been brave enough to see him?” Lysander asked. “Don’t blame you. This is the worst time of the year to be sick.”
“No, I just haven’t really talked to him much,” Grace said. Lysander’s heart skipped, and he debated with himself for a half a second before he chanced voicing his thoughts.
“You know,” he began, his stomach twisting into knots. “It doesn’t really sound like you’re all that into the guy. I heard your parents mention him in passing, and they don’t seem all that sure about him, either.” He knew he was probably stoking a fire he didn’t have any place being near, but he had to know. He had to. Was there any reason to let these feelings that were starting to develop continue to do so?
Grace sighed, shaking her head. “I know they aren’t. And it’s been a long time. Aaron and I have been through a lot together. But lately, I… I don’t know, it’s just—”
“All right, you two, you’re up next,” said one of the elves, ushering Lily and George forward.
Lysander gave Grace an apologetic look and went to stand beside them as they met Santa. His eyes kept wandering over to Grace, though, and he found himself strangely pleased. He didn’t want her to be upset, but if things were going south in her relationship, then maybe that meant it wouldn’t be all that long until she was single. He wasn’t even really sure why that thought made him as happy as it did, but he could’ve sworn he’d seen something in her eyes during that moment they’d confessed how happy they’d been to have gotten to know each other better.
There might be hope for something happening after all.
8
Grace picked a bottle of water out from the cooler, pulling it free from the partially melted ice. It was so wet that it looked like it was dripping back into the cooler. She sighed as she picked up a thin, green and red striped napkin from the top of the cheap plastic tablecloth and wiped down the bottle until she was sure it wouldn’t drip all over her when she tried to drink from it. She turned around, surveying the room.
She never really liked office parties much. They always felt so phony and forced. People were standing together in groups around the room, and “Santa, Baby,” was coming out of the tiny speakers that had been hooked up to someone’s laptop in the corner. She felt way overdressed in her black cocktail dress and heels, and she’d spent way too long getting her makeup just right. Part of her was angry with herself for putting so much effort into something for Aaron when he had done literally nothing to impress her lately, but she still felt obligated to be the doting girlfriend.
Grace looked around for his dark hair and red shirt. She had hoped he would’ve worn the shirt she’d bought him for his birthday back in September, since it matched his eyes, but he’d worn something old that he’d wear to work every day. He was nowhere to be seen.
A prickle of fear ran down Grace’s spine as her eyes fell on a group of Aaron’s co-workers she had met a few times over the years at picnics and other parties. She recognized the one guy Aaron was closest to, Mike, and decided that instead of standing by the drinks table like a wallflower, she could just go and ask where Aaron had gone to.
“Hey, Grace, how’s it going?” Mike said as she walked up.
She smiled at him. Mike always had a smile on his face and a joke to share, and Grace had always liked him for that. “Hey, Mike. I’m doing okay.”
“That’s good to hear,” he said.
“You wouldn’t by any chance know where Aaron is, would you?” she asked. “He said he was just going to the bathroom, but that was almost fifteen minutes ago.”
“Maybe he got what you had,” Mike said.
A red flag popped up in Grace’s mind. “What do you mean?”
“Yeah, he said it was some kind of bug?” added the guy standing across from Mike. Steve, she thought his name was. “Sorry you had to miss out on last weekend, though. We had a great time.”
“Doing what?” Grace demanded, her face turning hot as she looked around the group.
“At the Santa Pub Crawl,” Mike answered. “It was such a blast on Friday night, that we planned another one for Saturday. The whole weekend was so much fun!”
Grace was just opening her mouth to speak when Steve cut her off. “Oh, my gosh, you should have seen it. Aaron decided to try this place’s hottest wings ‘cause their sauce is made from Carolina Reapers. He ate three of them before he took off to the bathroom to throw it all up!” Steve smacked his leg, he was laughing so hard.
Grace just blinked at him. “Aaron was with you guys last weekend?”
“Yeah!” Mike nodded. “He said you couldn’t come because you weren’t feeling well.”
“No,” she said, her hands starting to shake, “he told me that he wasn’t the one feeling well, and that was why he had to miss my family’s Christmas party.”
Mike and Steve gave each other frightened looks. Steve let out a whistle between his teeth. Grace felt like a bucket of ice had been poured on top of her. Her mind was racing, and her legs were growing weak.
“So he was lying to me…” She shook her head to herself.
“I—I’m sorry, Grace. I had no idea,” Mike said. “If I had known, I would’ve—”
“No,” Grace told him. “It’s okay. Thanks, Mike. I need to go find Aaron.”
“Oooh, someone’s in trouble,” Steve mumbled as she turned and walked away. She heard him let out an oof as Mike elbowed him in the ribs.
So. Aaron thought it was okay to blatantly outright lie to her like that, did he? He thought it was no big deal to skip out on something that was important to her just so he could go and do a bar hopping thing with his buddies? Not only that, but he’d lied to his friends, too. He wasn’t even man enough to tell her the truth. That would have at least been better than the choice he had made.
Lysander would never have done that to her.
Wait. Where did that thought come from?
Grace shook her head again, her anger boiling her insides, and decided that she didn’t even want to see Aaron right now. She was going to send him a text to tell him that she wanted to speak with him, and then she didn’t know what was going to happen.
She walked into the office that was being used as a coat room, which happened to be Mike’s, and picked her jacket and purse up off from the stack that had been carelessly tossed in there. She checked to make sure she had everything: keys, phone, wallet. She had to check three times, though, as her fingers were shaking too much, and she was getting far too worked up over what Mike had said about Aaron.
She knew she’d have to talk to him, but she didn’t even want to see his face. It was one thing to not want to go to a family party, but to lie about it? And not just to her, but to everyone else? Was he that ashamed of her?
Grace’s heartbeat pounded in her ears as she shrugged her coat on and stormed out of the office. She thought she heard her name somewhere behind her, but she didn’t turn back to make sure. She took the next left down another hall of offices, not even paying attention to where she was going. She’d find the elevators eventually.
Her eyes stung with tears, but her jaw was set with determination. She was not going to let a man walk all over her like that. And he was a fool if he thought that she wouldn’t ever find out. How long was Aaron going to keep up this charade? What hurt the most was knowing that parties and going out with his friends was more important to him than being with her. If that wasn’t a clear picture about their relationship, then she didn’t know what was.
Tears spilled out onto her cheeks, and she brushed them away angrily. He wasn’t worth her tears. He wasn’t worth an ounce of her care the way he was treating her.
Grace found herself at a dead end, windows on her left and offices on her right. She groaned, realizing that she’d taken another wrong turn. She turned around and started marching back down the way she’d come. Just as she was about to turn down another hall, she heard voices coming f
rom one of the dark offices that she’d passed. She normally wouldn’t have given it a thought, but she recognized the voice that was speaking.
“I know, baby, but please don’t cry. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
Her stomach dropped. Time ceased, and she was floating alone in her mind, the reality of the situation falling into place like chunks of meteors striking the earth and tearing it to pieces.
Grace turned around and slowly made her way back toward the office with the open door. In her haste to get away, she hadn’t even realized that it was Aaron’s.
“You said that things were going to change,” came a feminine voice.
Grace’s blood ran cold, shooting through her veins like needles of ice. Her head swam, and a throbbing started at the base of her skull.
“And they are, baby, they are,” Aaron said. “You just have to trust me, okay?”
“You keep saying that!” the girl exclaimed. She was crying. Grace could hear the strain in her voice. “But you’re still with her, aren’t you?”
“I know, but it’s not that easy, you know? It’s almost Christmas, and it would break her heart if I were to leave her now. Let’s just wait until the beginning of the new year, and then I’ll gently break it off with her.”
“You promise?” the girl asked in a pathetic, weepy sort of tone.
“Of course,” Aaron told her. “Besides, I think that she’s as ready for this relationship to be over as I am.”
Grace had to grab onto the wall for support, her mouth gaping as she stared at the ground. It was as if someone had ripped out her insides and tossed them aside. She was hollow, yet every inch of her felt as if it had been turned into lead. She could barely hold herself up.
She heard the rustling of fabric, followed by the girl’s muffled voice. “I love you, Aaron. I want to be with you forever.”
A Family For Christmas (Hearts In Georgia; Harmony Cove) Page 5