“I didn’t. Actually, it’s someone my next-door neighbor knows.”
“The old guy set you up?” Shannon sounded disbelieving.
“He said he’s nice. And he sounds nice.”
“Here’s hoping,” Shannon said, although she sounded dubious.
That didn’t stop Lexie from being excited. She fed Brock his dinner, then put on leggings and a long red tulip-edged sweater. It had a cute faux-fur trim and a scooped neckline. Sexy but not desperate. Perfect. She’d like to have worn some stylish boots with her outfit, but that wasn’t an option so she settled for a black ballerina flat. The shoe didn’t quite tie the sexy bow around her outfit, but oh, well.
Brock was playing with the vintage candles on the coffee table when she came downstairs. “You look pretty, Mommy,” he told her.
“Thank you, sweetie.” At least she passed a first grader’s inspection.
“I wish I could go meet your new friend,” Brock said.
“I’m going to see if he’s someone you’ll like,” Lexie said. No way was she bringing around any man she hadn’t checked out thoroughly. It would be a long time before Brock got to meet her new friend.
“This guy is going to fall crazy in love with you,” Shannon predicted before Lexie left.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” With her track record, Lexie would take all the votes she could get.
It was drizzling when Lexie’s Uber pulled up in the graveled parking lot of Smokey’s. It looked like a log cabin on steroids, with a big front porch. That was where the resemblance ended because the windows sported all manner of neon signs advertising different brands of beer. And dangling from the roofline was a neon cowgirl in a short skirt, holding a big glass, one booted foot kicking back and forth.
The minute Lexie got out of the car she heard country rock blaring out at her, and as she got closer to the door she could also hear loud conversation mixed with laughter. This was obviously the place to come for fun in Fairwood.
The inside was rough-hewn timber with pictures of mountain scenes and cowboys riding broncos hung on the walls, along with old Marlboro posters of cowboys smoking cigarettes. She could smell barbecue and grease.
Several couples already had taken over tables in the dining area, and the bar section was packed with singles—guys in jeans and T-shirts or casual shirts with the sleeves rolled up. Some of the women milling about wore jeans so tight Lexie wondered if they could even sit down. Others were in short, tight skirts and shimmering holiday-festive tops. Killer heels, stylish boots—totally on fleek, nothing like the ugly blue Frankenstein boot on Lexie’s right foot. She suddenly didn’t feel quite so sexy.
Speaking of sexy, here came a built-to-order guy in jeans, a gray T-shirt and a leather jacket—a real drool-maker with a perfect square chin, brown hair and eyes, and a mouth that she just knew would be capable of all kinds of amazing things. This couldn’t be Jayce Campbell. She couldn’t be that lucky.
He came up to her, smiled and asked, “Are you Lexie?”
Lucky Lexie. “I am,” she said and wished she could hide her big, booted foot.
The Frankenstein boot didn’t seem to bother Jayce. He looked her up and down and the smile went from friendly to bedroom ready. “Yaas.”
Her thoughts about him exactly. Wow.
One of her grandma’s favorite sayings popped into her head. If something looks too good to be true, it probably is.
No, no, Lexie wasn’t going to go there. It was important to give people a chance. Between Granny’s pearls of wisdom and her own past disappointment, Lexie was already prone to giving up on finding her Mr. Forever. She was not going to do that with this guy even before the drinks arrived, for crying out loud.
The host led them across a peanut shell–covered floor—peanuts on the floor, what was with that?—and seated them at a booth where a red candle bowl tried to cast some light on the scarred wooden tabletop.
He took off his jacket, slouched against the wall and put a leg up along the bench, making himself at home. He idly pointed in the direction of her foot. “What happened to your foot?”
“Chip fracture,” she said.
“Yow,” he said and made a face. “How long are you stuck in that thing?”
“I hope to be out of it by Christmas.”
“No dancing for you tonight, I guess,” he said and she felt that she’d disappointed him.
“You like to dance?” she asked.
“Hey, good foreplay,” he said with a wink.
No points in the suave department for Jayce Campbell. Lexie didn’t smile back, but he failed to notice. He was focusing on their waitress, checking her out from boobs to butt.
She set down water for both of them and a red plastic bowl filled with peanuts in the shell, obviously the source of the mess on the floor. “Can I get you guys started with something to drink?”
“Hale’s pale ale for me,” he said and looked to Lexie. “What do you want?”
Someone with a little more class. Maybe she should give Shannon’s dating app a try.
“White wine?” she asked the waitress hopefully. This didn’t look like a white-wine kind of place.
“You got it,” the woman said and left them.
Lexie took a peanut from the bowl and shelled it, searching for a conversation topic that might give them a fresh start on the right foot. “I like your sleeve,” she said, nodding at the herd of longhorn steers stampeding up his arm.
She put the shell back in the plastic bowl. He took it out and tossed it on the floor. “Meat’s my thing. So, you met very many people since you moved here?”
“A few.”
“It’s gotta be hard being new in town. Not that I ever had to move. I’ve lived here all my life. Went to Fairwood High. Lettered in baseball. My batting average was over three hundred.”
Even though Lexie wasn’t into baseball she assumed that was a big deal. “Did you play in college, too?”
“Didn’t go. Too expensive. Just as well. I’m not a college kind of guy.”
Lexie had been a college kind of girl. She’d loved taking classes, enjoyed all the social aspects. She’d especially enjoyed taking English lit and history classes.
“I wanted to get out and start earning money. Wound up working at the store, and that’s fine with me.”
Okay. Earning money was good.
“What do you do when you’re not working?” she asked.
“Same as anybody else, I guess. I work on my car. I’m fixing up a Dodge Charger I found in some old guy’s field a couple years ago. That thing is going to be dope when I’m finished.” He gave her a grin. “Maybe I’ll take you for a ride when I get it done.”
She wasn’t into cars any more than she was into baseball, but she knew he thought he was offering her a big treat, so she smiled politely and said, “Thanks.”
“When I’m not doing that I like to game, like to watch TV.”
“What do you watch?” She had a suspicion the Hallmark channel didn’t make his top list.
“Cop stuff. Game of Thrones. Anything with some action. How about you?”
“I like mysteries, rom-coms. PBS always has something good on.” Everybody liked PBS.
“Boring,” he sneered.
Okay, it was now official. This date was going to end up in Nowhere Land.
Their drinks came, and they ordered barbecued ribs and steak fries. Ribs. Something in common. Oh, boy, what a stretch.
“So, nobody in your life right now?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Maybe we can fix that.”
No, they couldn’t.
He talked some more about himself—his job, his favorite sports team, the Christmas cookies his mom made every year. Then he actually got around to asking Lexie about herself. Did she bake? No hidden agenda the
re.
“I like to bake.”
He flashed her that sexy grin again. Except now the sexy shine had worn off.
“Well, whaddya know? I like to eat,” he said.
Oh, boy. How soon could she leave?
They finished their meal, and the waitress offered dessert.
“I’ll pass,” Lexie said.
“Guess we’re done here,” Jayce said to the waitress.
The bill came, and Lexie offered to pay half.
“Nah, it’s on me,” he said and whipped out his plastic.
Okay, he wasn’t stingy. That was a good thing.
But it wasn’t enough.
Lexie quickly took out her phone to request an Uber.
“Hey, I can drive you home,” he offered once he realized what she was doing.
“No, that’s okay. But thanks.”
By the time the bill was paid her ride was five minutes away. It couldn’t get there soon enough.
As they walked out the door, she started to make her escape, but he said, “I’ll walk you to the car. Where is it?”
“Looks like it’s over there.”
At the dark end of the parking lot. Ugh. Was he going to want to kiss her? Of course he was, and the last thing she wanted was to waste time smearing lips with this tool. Funny how, when she’d first seen him, that had seemed like a great idea. Now, uh, no. And what if he got pushy? She mentally prepared to knee him in the groin.
“Next time I’ll pick you up,” he said as they started off the porch.
Not a chance. She quickened her pace, and clumped off the last step. “Thanks again for dinner.”
“Whoa, what’s your hurry?” He edged her against the wall and moved in close to her and slid a hand around her middle.
It might have been a turn-on if he hadn’t already turned her off permanently. “The driver’s waiting,” she said crisply.
“He’ll wait,” Jayce said, edging closer. “How about a little taste to tide me over until next time?” His mouth went for her lips and his hand went for a boob.
Okay, enough of this. She dodged his mouth and gave him a shove. “No. I’m done here.”
He stumbled back, half-laughing. “Oh, I get it. Next time we party. You can come to my place or I can come to yours. I’m easy.”
But she wasn’t. “No next time,” she informed him.
He frowned. “I thought you wanted to hook up.”
“What?”
“That’s what the old man said. Sounded like you were thirsty, looking for some action.”
“I’m not that thirsty,” she said firmly.
He looked at her in total disgust. “Well, sooorry. Guess I got it wrong.”
“Somebody sure got it wrong.” And that somebody was going to get an earful.
19
Shannon had just gotten Brock into bed when Lexie walked back in the house. “Hey, Cinderella, midnight’s a long ways away,” she greeted Lexie. “Was Prince Charming that big of a frog?”
“Afraid so. Nothing in common at all, and on top of that he was ready for a parking-lot sex party.”
“Wow. Locked and loaded, huh?”
Lexie shook her head. “Stanley Mann apparently told him I was looking to hook up.”
“So your neighbor is some kind of dirty old man pimp?”
“I don’t think so, but he sure isn’t a very good judge of character.”
“Oh, I don’t know. He’s latched on to you, and I’d say that makes him a pretty good judge of character.”
“Aww, thanks. Since you’re here, how about some popcorn and Hallmark?” Lexie suggested. There was no point in having the whole evening be a waste.
“Sounds good to me,” Shannon said. “Let’s find a Christmas movie. Even if we haven’t met the perfect man in real life, at least we can pretend they exist.”
Lexie made popcorn and brought out the eggnog Stanley had picked up for her at the store, and they settled in to watch a movie. She found herself actually feeling jealous as the perfect romance played out before her. The hero wasn’t full of himself, and the couple’s first meet was sweet and involved no mention of good foreplay.
It’s fiction, she reminded herself. Real life was always messier. And boy, was hers a mess. What had Stanley Mann been thinking when he set her up with Mr. Meat Market?
She spotted her neighbor taking Bonnie for a walk the next afternoon and called him over for a front-porch visit. “Mr. Mann,” she began.
“Stanley,” he corrected.
She ignored the correction. “I met your friend from the meat market.” Her tone of voice was a dead giveaway that her neighbor’s good deed was not going to go unpunished.
He looked at her warily. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“You two didn’t hit it off?” he guessed.
“No, we did not. What did you tell him about me?”
He picked up his dog as if for protection. “Nothing. I told him you were new here and that you were nice.”
“What else?” she prompted.
“Nothing. Like I said, that you were new here and you were looking to hook up.”
“You really told him that?”
“Well, yeah.” Bonnie was starting to lick his face, and he put her back down, patting her head. An avoidance tactic if ever Lexie had seen one.
“Well, that’s what he was ready to do,” she said with a frown.
Stanley straightened and mirrored the frown. “So what’s the problem?”
“I don’t have sex the second I meet someone,” she informed him. Had she just said that to a man old enough to be her father, a man she barely knew? She could feel her cheeks heating up.
Stanley’s bushy eyebrows shot up toward his receding hairline. “Is that what he thought?”
“That’s the impression you gave him.”
Now he was nonplussed. “I don’t understand.”
Okay, what they had here was a generation gap, and Lexie had fallen right through it. “Mr. Mann—”
“Stanley,” he corrected. He was starting to sound grumpy now.
“I don’t know what hooking up meant in your day but in mine it means sex.”
His eyes doubled in size, and his cheeks flushed pink.
He dropped his gaze and mumbled, “Well, uh, all you kids do that. Right? Maybe that’s how he got confused.”
All you kids? Now she was offended.
“Not all of us,” she informed him. “I’m an adult and I have standards. I have a son to think of. I’m not going to fall in bed with somebody I have nothing in common with.” Hmm. That didn’t quite come out right.
He took a step backward as if fearing she might slap him. “I thought he was an okay guy. My wife liked him. Thought I was doing you a favor.”
It was the thought that counted, she reminded herself. And Jayce probably wasn’t such a bad man when it came right down to it. It wasn’t his fault that Stanley Mann had accidentally painted her out to be the thirstiest girl in Fairwood, so there was no point scolding Stanley.
“I appreciate the thought,” she said, opting for magnanimity. Still, the words came out as stiff and cold as an icicle.
“I’ll have a talk with him,” Stanley said, now looking ready to flay the meat man.
Lexie sighed and shook her head. “Never mind. It was just a miscommunication.”
Stanley looked relieved. Then embarrassed all over again.
He nodded. “Okay, well, uh, that’s good,” he said. Then he turned and fled down her steps and down the front walk.
Lexie felt bad as she watched him go. Poor Stanley had simply been trying to do a good deed, and she’d verbally smacked him. She could see that wall he’d had around him when they first met going right back up.
* * *
Stanley did go
to the store first thing Monday, ready to punch Jayce’s lights out, only to discover that the kid felt the same way toward him.
“Jeez, Mr. Mann. You set me up with an iceberg.”
“I set you up with a nice girl,” Stanley protested. What was wrong with this kid? Didn’t he know a great woman when he saw one?
“I don’t want a nice girl. I wanna have a good time.”
Jayce was looking at Stanley like he was clueless. Maybe he was. Or maybe this young fool didn’t know a good thing when he saw it.
“You’re just lucky I don’t clobber you,” Stanley said. “And I will if you ever come around her,” he muttered as he wheeled his cart off. Without so much as a package of hamburger in it.
“That’s why you don’t mess around in people’s lives,” he grumbled that night, turning his back on Carol, who was hovering by the bed. She’d at least had the good sense to abandon the Cupid getup.
“You tried,” she said. “It’s not your fault you had a little miscommunication.”
“Little?” He pulled the covers up over his ears.
He could still hear Carol, though. “I think it was sweet of you to try.”
“Well, I’m done with that stuff.”
“Everything we do in life doesn’t turn out perfect, you know that.”
He acknowledged her observation with a grunt.
“But other things do, so it all balances out.”
He wasn’t going to acknowledge the truth of that. It would only lead to her thinking up more things for him to do. He kept quiet.
“Good night, darling. Pleasant dreams,” she whispered.
He didn’t have to turn over to know she was gone. He felt her absence. Just as he’d felt it the moment he lost her.
He did have pleasant dreams, though. He dreamed they were in the Cascade Mountains, walking hand in hand on the bank of the Wenatchee River. He was carrying a wicker picnic basket in his other hand. The sun was out, the birds were singing, Carol was smiling at him.
“Life can be a beautiful thing,” she said. “Every minute of it.”
He set down the picnic basket and drew her to him. “I like this minute,” he said and kissed her.
“Oh, yes,” she said happily. She pointed to a flat, grassy spot. “Let’s have our picnic right here.”
A Little Christmas Spirit Page 19