She grinned. “Thank you. I do pride myself on my cleverness from time to time.”
“As well you should. And since we’re right here at the hardware store, I should be able to ask and find out who’s available in town and who’s moved on.”
They got out of the truck and climbed the stairs to the porch, where old-timers Jake and Tommy sat in their rocking chairs on either side of the door like stone lions set to guard the place.
Jake pulled his pipe from his mouth and looked at the two of them with astonishment. “Well, well, well—our two local celebrities showing up at the exact same time. That’s right handy—we don’t have to hunt you down to say howdy.”
Angela smiled at the idea of them hunting anyone down. They only left the porch for meals and bedtime.
“Jake, Tommy,” Austin greeted them. “What’s this I hear about you becoming Wave fans?”
“It’s like this.” Tommy leaned forward. “I’ve gotta put my loyalty where it’s gonna do me the most good, see. I used to be able to count on the Rebels to bring in those wins, but you let me down.”
“Things are going to turn around, though, right?” Jake said. “This isn’t your new normal, is it?”
Austin smiled. “Well, I don’t know about the rest of the team, but I’m going back a changed man,” he replied. “And Tommy, you’ve got to stop betting on football. It’s not good for you.”
“Betting? I never said anything about betting,” Tommy replied, looking overly innocent, and once again, Angela smirked. Everyone knew Tommy gambled—it was one of those impossible-to-hide secrets.
“I tell you what. You stop betting, and I’ll dedicate the next game to you.”
Tommy’s eyes grew wide. “You’d do that?”
“Sure would.”
Tommy scratched his jaw. “Well, I’ll try. I’ll definitely try. It’s hard to stop something, ya know, when you’ve been doing it so long.”
“I know, but I believe in you.”
He shook each man’s hand, then they went inside. “Do you think he’ll do it?” Angela asked.
“I don’t know, but I’ll keep up my end of the bargain. It would be fun for him to get some recognition for his good choices instead of constantly being criticized for his bad ones.”
They found the extension cord they wanted rather quickly and were ready to check out in just a couple of minutes, but that time was just enough for word to spread that Austin was there, and when they reached the front of the store, it seemed the whole town was waiting to say hello. Austin took it all in good humor, signing autographs and answering questions. Angela pulled out her phone and took a little more video, thinking it would be nice to show his adoring hometown fans making a big deal over him.
Then someone got the idea to buy their son a football for Christmas and have Austin sign it. The next thing Angela knew, every football in the store had been snatched up, and Austin had another long line to get through, signing footballs left and right.
By the time he made it back to her side, he looked worn out.
“Should we sneak you out the back door to avoid the next onslaught?” she asked.
“I sure wasn’t expecting that,” he replied. “I feel bad for that first kid, though. Here he was, getting a signed football, a special thing, but now every kid in town has one too.”
“I wondered about that, but there wasn’t much you could do.” She tucked her arm through his. “Come on—let’s get that cord back to your mother before she thinks you’ve been eaten by pterodactyls or something.”
Melinda didn’t think Austin had been eaten by pterodactyls, but she had wondered what was taking so long, and she was glad to change out the faulty cord with one that worked. “Are you staying for dinner, Angela?” she asked, dusting off her hands after crawling around under the tree.
“I wish I could, but I need to work tonight—I’ve got to go through the footage I’ve taken of Austin so far and see what I’m missing for a feature.”
Melinda nodded. “That sounds like fun, actually—tedious fun.”
“It will be. I’m sure I’ll be taking out lots of extraneous things, but I know we got some really good moments in there too.”
Austin walked her out to her truck, but she was hesitant to get in. Being with him had felt like old times, back before everything got so complicated, back when her heart and her mind were clear and she knew what she wanted. “I wish I could stay,” she said. “This has been such a great day. Weird and froggy, but great.”
“I feel the same way.” He reached out and took her fingers. His touch felt right, familiar, but foreign at the same time. It had been so long since the last time they’d touched like that. “Thanks for heading out to the swamp with me. I know you hated every minute, but it meant a lot to me.”
“And I didn’t even ruin my manicure,” she said, her breath starting to come quicker. He was so close . . . If she just took one step, she’d be in his arms.
“Maybe not, but I still owe you one.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “It’s getting colder—you’d better head off before the storm hits.”
She looked up, glad for something to break the tension of the moment. “You think one’s coming?”
“Oh, definitely. I can feel it in the air.”
“Okay. Going.” Time to get her bearings and to get her heartbeat back under control. “I might not be around tomorrow—I need to see how long it takes me to sift through this footage.”
He nodded. “Just let me know.”
A half dozen times as Angela drove home, she nearly turned around and went back. Temptation was definitely working hard on her that day.
Chapter 9
When Angela walked into the house, she found her mother engrossed in her game shows again. She said hello, then went upstairs, knowing that it really didn’t matter if she’d said hello or not. The things Austin had said played over and over in her mind, the things about her mother being broken too. Did realizing that help her understand her mother better?
She didn’t know. And she wasn’t ready to think about it. Instead, she changed out of her thick winter clothing and put on a flannel shirt and yoga pants, then sat cross-legged on her bed to watch everything she’d filmed of Austin over the last few days.
What a roller coaster of emotion. She went from laughing to sobbing and back again—laughing because he really was a goofball, and then sobbing as she was reminded over and over again what a good man he was and how much she’d loved him. That might have ended years ago, but his goodness had only grown along with him, and with every minute of footage, she was more impressed.
Of course, it didn’t hurt a thing that he was still one of the best-looking guys she’d ever seen, and that in the few years they’d been apart, he’d taken on new maturity that was even more attractive.
As she listened to him talk about the importance of family, her mind sobered again, and her thoughts drifted down the stairs. Her feet followed them a moment later.
Elaine Dingle had put her evening’s yarn project to the side, and now she was dozing in front of Wheel of Fortune. Angela was going to turn and go back upstairs, but then she heard her mother’s voice.
“Did you come to choose a vowel, or are you just going to hover in the doorway?”
Angela came into the room and sat on the couch. “I’ll take an E,” she said just as the contestant said the same thing. Five Es lit up on the screen, and Elaine nodded. Then she picked up the remote and muted the volume.
“You know you’re not supposed to interrupt Wheel of Fortune unless there’s an emergency, so what’s going on?”
Now that she had her mother’s attention, Angela wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it. “We’re invited for an early Christmas at the Mayhews’,” she said. “Both of us are.”
“Well, I won’t be going, so send along my apologizes.” Elaine reached out and turned the volume up again, and Angela sighed. She’d tried—she really had. She didn’t know what it would take to break down this wa
ll her mother had built around herself.
“Mom, have you ever held a frog?”
“What? No, of course not. Slimy things—why would I want to do that?”
“No reason. Goodnight.”
Angela left the room and went back upstairs, shaking her head. Someday her mother would love her. Someday Angela would understand why things were the way they were. Someday they’d forgive each other for all the little fights—and the big ones. “Someday”—the day that never actually came. It was worse than “tomorrow” for that.
Angela hadn’t been in touch with Austin for a long time, and he was getting fidgety. Maggie pointed out that it actually hadn’t been that long, but he’d banished her from his presence. Anyone who couldn’t appreciate his angst wasn’t welcome, and he had quite a lot of angst to be shared.
He wandered into the kitchen, where Chad was helping lift down the punch bowl and Trevor had been put to work dicing celery for the stuffing. Melinda looked up when he leaned on the counter.
“If your face gets any droopier, you’re going to look like a basset hound,” she told him. “Sulking’s not like you—what’s going on?”
“I’m not sulking,” he replied. “I’m lonely. They’re quite different.”
“People sulk because they’re lonely,” Chad pointed out.
“And sometimes people leave them alone because they can’t stand the sulking,” Trevor finished.
Austin shook his head even though he was smiling. “All right, yes, maybe I’m sulking. I texted Angela this morning and she said she’d be getting back to me soon, but that was hours ago.”
“So you’re impatient and you’re sulking,” Melinda said. “That’s a dangerous combination.”
“Agreed.” Trevor stood up. “I’m going to flee the scene of the crime before a bomb gets tripped or something. Austin, keep an eye on the vegetables.”
“Just what will they be doing?” he asked. “Dancing or something?”
“Probably—whatever it is, we don’t want to miss it.”
Chad left the kitchen as the same time as Trevor, and Austin and his mother were alone.
She took a seat at the table and looked at him expectantly until he joined her. “You invited them for Christmas?”
“I did. She said it was a terrible idea to invite her mother, but what’s glory without a little hard work, right?”
“And she hasn’t said what her mother thought about it?”
“Nope. Haven’t heard a word.” Austin played with a napkin someone had left on the table. “Things were going really well between us. The chemistry was back, and we were talking and opening up to each other . . . What if we’ve lost all that progress? What if everything we’ve worked to overcome these last few days has been ruined?”
Melinda shook her head. “You think it’s been ruined because she hasn’t texted you . . . when she told you she was going to be working? Oh, son, you’ve got it bad, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, I think I do.”
“I’m happy for you, but you’ve got to give her some room to breathe. Let her work—that’s what she’s here for. When she’s done, she’ll let you know.”
“And in the meantime?”
“In the meantime, you can dust the floors with that long face.” She picked up the wadded-up napkin and lobbed it at his head.
When Angela finally showed back up at the Mayhew ranch, Austin was more than ready to see her. He hadn’t realized how much he’d invested in making this relationship work, and that worried him because she could still choose to send him to the friend zone. He didn’t want to be in the friend zone—it was the worst zone there was.
As soon as he looked at her face, though, he knew she wasn’t there to break his heart.
“I have a present for you,” she said before she even came inside, holding up her laptop.
“Really? For me? That’s so sweet of you. But what will you do without it?” He held the door open wider and invited her in.
“Ha, ha—your present is on the laptop.” She came in the kitchen and set the computer on the counter. “First, though, you should see this.” She tapped a few keys and pulled up her email.
“I’m seeing it, but I don’t know what I’m looking at.” It was hard to concentrate on her computer when he’d missed her like crazy, and when her hair smelled like coconut shampoo.
“When I finished piecing together your interview, I knew that the only way to do you and your family justice would be if the piece aired as is, or at least, with as few changes as possible. So I emailed Mr. Wiltbank and told him that I had the interview, but he could only have it if he’d send me a contract stating that I have full editorial control over it, and it will not air unless it has my stamp of approval.”
Austin blinked. “That must have made him mad.”
“It did, but only for about an hour. Then he called me and agreed to my terms.” Angela grinned. “It was fun, hearing him grovel. I felt powerful and mighty.”
“Mighty, huh?” He was amused.
“Yes, mighty. So, do you want to see it?”
“Of course.”
They sat next to each other at the counter, shoulders touching, and she brought up the video. Austin cringed at some parts—just how cowboy did he sound, anyway?—but overall, he was pleased.
“You did a great job with that,” he said at the conclusion. “And thank you for protecting me and my family. That’s the best Christmas gift you could have given me.”
“You’re welcome,” she replied. Then she looked at him expectantly.
“Now, normally, this is where I’d bring out your present, but it’s not ready yet,” he said. “And I swear, you do have one coming and I’m not making that up just to get out of trouble.”
“You’re sure?” She raised an eyebrow.
“I’m sure, and stop pulling that face at me.”
She laughed. “All right, I’ll trust you. But I do need to know if you approve of this interview—if there’s anything you want me to change, tell me now.”
“It looks great to me. You’re a skilled reporter, and I think this is really going to turn some heads.”
“Thank you. The editing department is going to work their official magic on my files, so things will look a little different, but only as far as picture quality and so forth. They know that if they mess with any of the content, I’ll sue them for everything they’ve got. And maybe even some stuff they haven’t got.”
Austin put his arm around her shoulders and brought her in for a quick hug. “Thanks again, Angela.” Maybe he shouldn’t have pulled her so close—it was too hard to let her go. “Are you coming over tonight?”
“Yes, I am. I wouldn’t miss Pretend Christmas Eve. It’s my second-favorite holiday, topped only by Pretend Christmas.”
“Good. Be here around five, all right?”
“You’ve got it.” She flashed him another smile, gathered up her laptop, and was gone, leaving him breathless in her wake.
Yeah, he had it bad, all right.
Chapter 10
Angela didn’t know what to wear to Pretend Christmas Eve—she should have asked. But it couldn’t be that different from Real Christmas Eve, so she chose out a red turtleneck and black slacks, then put a few curls here and there throughout her hair. She didn’t know why, but she felt a little nervous. She was going to the same house she’d visited hundreds of times to see the same people she’d seen hundreds of times, and yet it was different, like something had shifted.
She felt like an actual part of the Mayhew family now, and she couldn’t help but think what that meant about her relationship with Austin. Her heart beat a little faster, and she had to take a breath to calm it. One thing at a time, one step at a time. This wasn’t a race.
She gathered up her coat and purse, then headed down the stairs. As she walked past the living room, she walked quietly, not wanting to spoil her evening out by calling attention to the fact that she was leaving, but something stopped her from putting her h
and on the doorknob. A feeling, a foreboding—she didn’t know what it was, but she had to turn around.
“Hey, Mom?” she said, standing in the living room doorway. “I’m heading over to the Mayhews’ house now.” The next words came at tremendous cost. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?”
“I’m sure.” Elaine didn’t even turn her head.
Angela hadn’t expected anything different, so she didn’t know why she felt disappointed. “I love you, Mom. Merry Christmas.”
She turned and walked away, closing the door softly behind her. She hadn’t said those words to her mother since she was a little girl, and she didn’t know why she’d said them now, but they felt right, important.
When she pulled up at the Mayhews’, though, she forgot all about her mother because Austin was waiting for her on the porch, and her heart started to pound again when she saw him.
“Hello there,” he said as he opened her door for her. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas to you too,” she replied. “Your mother wouldn’t tell me what I could bring, so I picked up a cheeseball. Is that too dumb? A cheeseball?”
“You’re asking if a cheeseball is cheesy?”
She smirked. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
“Well, I don’t think so. Come inside—it’s starting to snow.”
The house was filled with the hum of chattering voices, as usual, and someone had turned on some Christmas music in the background. Cinnamon potpourri simmered on the stove, the family room smelled like pine—it was perfect. Every element that went into the perfect Christmas was there, and suddenly Angela was thinking about her mother again. She would have liked to share this, but she knew she couldn’t make her mother do anything she wasn’t ready to do.
Austin took her coat, then tugged her fingers. “I have your present now,” he said, looking as eager as a little boy. “Come out on the back patio with me.”
She followed him willingly, dodging people as they walked down the hall. Once out on the patio, he stepped over to the small table in the corner and picked up a package that had been left there.
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