A Kiss at Christmas

by Meg Easton

  Finally, the tears ran out, and she was still in one piece. She let go of her fierce hold on him, and he loosened his arms enough that she could’ve stepped out of his embrace if she wanted to, but close enough that they were still there if she needed them. She wiped at the tears on her face, horrified that he was seeing how awful she must look right now.

  Then she let out a breath of a laugh. “I am so sorry for doing this to your shirt.” She wiped at the massive wet spot on his shirt—a blue one, she noticed. A wet spot that also held a good amount of mascara.

  “The shirt’s fine.” He glanced the direction of the main room. “There’s an exit only about eight feet past the end of this hall. What do you say we get out of here?”

  She nodded and wiped at the remnants of tears on her face while he went back into the main room and grabbed their jackets, then came back and held hers as she slipped her arms into the sleeves. Then she stayed tight to his side as he put an arm around her and led them outside, where it was now dark and not filled with people she might see at work when she went back.

  “Who do you normally spend Christmas with?” His question was soft and concerned and felt like a warm blanket on a cold day.

  “My dad. He’s spending this Christmas with his new wife and kids.”

  Parker led them onto the path that she knew would take them around the gardens and up the road to the mansion. “And I’m guessing that you normally make gingerbread houses together?”

  She nodded.

  “It’s a tradition in my family, too. It’s hard not being with them.”

  She looked up at him, so grateful that he understood and that he was leading her away from the crowd.

  “Is your dad a Hallmark Christmas movie fan?”

  She shook her head.

  “Good. It’s not a tradition in my family either. Watching a movie and drinking peppermint hot chocolate are both on the list—how about we head back and have a marathon? Then we won’t need the two points from the group activity.”

  She smiled—something she wouldn’t have guessed she’d feel like doing at all tonight. “Deal. But only if I get to pick the movie.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Parker woke up to the most beautiful weather he had ever experienced over the holidays before. As much as he was dreading everything that was also a Christmas tradition for his own family, there were parts of celebrating the season that he was actually enjoying. He hadn’t seen that coming.

  And today, an excitement ran through everything. It was Christmas Eve, all twelve ZentCube employees were helping out at the Christmas village that ran through a huge portion of the resort grounds, and Graham was returning with his wife, Tessa, and baby Hope. The Christmas Eve dinner was tonight, and Kelli was back to smiling again.

  He had been curious last night and had definitely wanted to hear more about her family situation, but he wasn’t about to ask and have her go through more grief. But as they were making hot chocolate, she told about how it had just been her and her dad growing up, and that he recently got remarried and didn’t want her to spend Christmas with his new family.

  And if that wasn’t bad enough, she didn’t have a mom. He had assumed that her mom had passed away, but then Kelli told him that she’d left them when Kelli was thirteen. When he asked, she’d said she got a birthday card from her for the first three years, but she hadn’t seen her after that day, and she hadn’t heard from her in ten years. He thought back to how awkward he was at thirteen, and couldn’t even imagine having one of his parents leave at that age. It had to have been devastating to her.

  It made him grateful all over again that he had been lucky enough to have two parents who were both great people and who loved each other and loved him and Ethan. They had even been willing to cancel an anniversary trip that they’d literally been planning for decades just so he wouldn’t be alone at Christmas. And knowing them, if he hadn’t been invited on this trip, they might’ve canceled even after he told them not to.

  Last night, he’d been careful to pay attention and follow Kelli’s lead. As much as he would’ve loved to just hold her all evening, protecting her from harm, he hadn’t known what she’d needed. She’d been vulnerable, and it would’ve felt like a violation if he just stepped in and assumed that he knew how she needed to grieve.

  And, based on the movie she picked, a lighthearted, funny Christmas romance was her coping mechanism of choice. He had sat in the recliner next to her in the theater room, and they’d laughed hard and often. That laugh that he loved. That smile that he loved. That teasing back-and-forth banter that he loved.

  As he had been sitting there with her, feelings he hadn’t fully understood or even known he had burst to the surface. And now that they were fully noticeable, he realized that those feelings weren’t new. He had been falling for her since the beginning, when he first started working at ZentCube.

  He’d been falling through their awkward date, through the awkwardness of working together in the weeks afterward, and through all their office pranks over the years.

  He’d thought he’d pretty successfully suppressed all feelings he had for Kelli during the two years he’d been dating Stephanie, but now he wondered if, deep down, during all that time, he’d been subconsciously filing all his feelings for her in a storage box in his heart that he hadn’t even known he had. And coming here had opened that box, letting his feelings for her burst free, filling him with a happiness he hadn’t felt in a long time, and allowing him fall for her completely.

  Before long, they were joined in the theater room by Merit and Elise, and eventually by a handful of other ZentCube employees, and with all the laughing, it felt like a party. He didn’t know if Kelli was amazing at bouncing back after hard things, or if she was just excellent at putting on a happy face over inner turmoil. Whichever it was, she was obviously a lot stronger than he had given her credit for.

  And he very much wished that she was working by his side today.

  The Christmas village that Elise and her team had set up was amazing. A big North Pole archway led into the village, and a train ran around the outside of the grassy area, enclosing the village within. A pathway led through a sugarplum forest, another led through Bethlehem to see a living nativity, and another led through Santa’s workshop, complete with Santa and his elves at the end. There were tables with crafts, booths with food, and kids and parents everywhere.

  Each of the ZentCube employees were helping with different parts of the village, and he and Kelli were, sadly, not assigned at the same place. Parker was helping get kids onto the train, letting it run around the track, then helping one group of kids unload and the next ones get on board. But from where he worked, he could see Kelli at a table, helping kids to make headbands they could wear that had reindeer antlers wrapped with little blinking lights.

  Just as he was getting a new group of kids on the train, Merit, Graham, and Tessa—who he had first met at a ZentCube Christmas party—came into the village. Graham was holding his wife’s hand and cradling their baby with the other arm, looking blissfully happy.

  As soon as Parker got the train started, he turned to them and said hello, shaking hands.

  “Parker,” Graham said, “I’d like you to meet my daughter, Hope.”

  “Wow,” Parker said, leaning in closer at the perfect child in Graham’s arms. “She is beautiful.”

  “Would you like to hold her?”

  His eyes flew to Graham’s, then Tessa’s. They both looked like they were saying yes, so he looked around, hoping to find somewhere to wash his hands—he’d been around a lot of kids today—but he didn’t spot anything. Tessa opened her bag and pulled out a wipe. He quickly cleaned his hands, and then carefully cradled the baby as Graham transferred her into his arms.

  The baby was sleeping, so her eyes were closed and her face was perfect and peaceful and so beautiful. Silky soft brown hair curled on top of her head, and as he cradled her in his arms, she snuggled into him. Holding her was like holding a
bit of heaven.

  He knew that most guys his age or younger didn’t spend their time dreaming of starting a family, but Parker had been dreaming about it for a while. He couldn’t wait until it was his own child he was holding. When he’d been engaged to Stephanie, he thought he’d get that chance before long. When she had broken it off, losing not just her, but the family he’d thought they’d one day have, had been hard.

  But she had revealed a part of herself during the breakup that he hadn’t seen before. Or that he hadn’t wanted to see. He was grateful that she’d broken it off, because he never would have. And now, holding this baby, it hit him all over again what a mistake marrying her would’ve been.

  He smiled at the baby. He still hoped for this one day. There was something about holding this beautiful bundle that made him feel like any worries or troubles he had just washed away. He felt as peaceful as she looked, and he could’ve stood there holding her for hours. He shifted his arms a bit so he could pass her back, but when Merit stopped the train as the kids came back around and started loading and unloading the next group, he took the opportunity to hold her longer.

  “You two must be in heaven every second of the day,” he said, looking up at Graham and Tessa.

  “We are,” Graham said.

  Then Graham’s eyes shifted from him and baby Hope to his left, so he turned to see what had pulled Graham’s attention. Kelli was watching him with a curious expression on her face. She smiled when their eyes met, and he held her gaze for a moment—long enough that he was sure that Graham would ask about the two of them, but he didn’t. The man just looked down, like he was trying to hide a smile.

  When Graham looked back up, he actually looked to the sky. “Beautiful weather, isn’t it?”

  Parker nodded, keeping his eyes on the baby.

  “A cold front is supposed to blow in later tonight, though, and there’s actually a chance of snow, if you can believe it. So we might get a white Christmas even on the beach.”

  This time Parker did look up. That was too bad; he had been hoping that Christmas would be very unlike the snow he was used to having at Christmastime.

  When the train full of kids came around the second time, he figured he really should get back to work. He reluctantly passed the baby back to Graham, and the proud parents went to show off their baby to the rest of the ZentCube employees. He figured Merit would go with them, but he stayed and helped get the next group of kids onto the train.

  Once the train pulled away, Merit nodded over at Kelli, who was now fawning over the baby herself. “How are things going with you two?”

  Parker flinched in surprise at the question. He hadn’t realized that Merit had witnessed his silent exchange with Kelli, too. “Um, fine?”

  Merit looked back at Parker. “You like her then?”

  “So much more than I should.”

  Merit shook his head, chuckling. “Graham really does have a gift.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He can...” Merit looked up, like he was trying to find a way to explain. “It’s like he can see connections between people, even if they’ve never met each other. It’s helpful when you’re negotiating between companies, and ZentCube wouldn’t be where it’s at without him. But he has an uncanny ability to tell when two people have happily-ever-after potential.”

  Parker just stared at Merit, not fully understanding what he was trying to say.

  Merit glanced toward another part of the village, smiling, and Parker suddenly wondered if that’s where Elise was currently. “Graham needed to send me on vacation—long story—and he chose here because of Elise. I hadn’t even met her yet, and he knew.”

  “That’s actually pretty sweet. And helpful.”

  He chuckled. “Yeah. Even if it feels anything but when he makes you take a break from the company. But he didn’t only do it for me. Even if you don’t see all of it, he knows the people in our company pretty well, and he keeps a list of people he’d like to bring on this trip. Then he just hopes they’re free over Christmas. Some of them get recommended by their managers, and some he specifically asks the managers to check on.”

  “He uses the Christmas trip to set people up on dates?”

  “Nah. He doesn’t like to meddle like that. He’s always confident enough in the connection he sees that he figures all he needs to do is get the two people in a place where they can interact and magic will happen.”

  “And does it?”

  “A lot of times, yes. It’s his goal that whoever comes to this won’t be alone the next Christmas. They rarely are.”

  Parker stared off at the ocean, blown away. “He’s got that good of a track record?”

  Merit nodded.

  “I’m not sure why he brought me here, then—I’m too flawed. And I just got out of a serious relationship at the beginning of October. I’m not exactly the person you can set up with someone and expect a successful happily ever after.”

  “Graham has had both you and Kelli on his list since last Christmas.”

  Parker drew back in surprise. “But he met Stephanie at the Christmas party last year. Did he not know I was engaged?”

  “He knew.”

  Parker’s eyes flew to Merit.

  “You brought her to the summer social, too.” Merit studied Parker’s expression, which he guessed was showing something close to bewilderment. “He’s talked to both of you enough to know that the connection between you and her wasn’t right, and he was really hoping you’d figure it out before this trip.” Merit studied him cautiously before carefully adding, “Because he also saw a connection that was right between you and Kelli.”

  Parker’s mouth went dry. He tried to swallow. “I think he was wrong about me. I’ve got too many issues to ever be good enough for her.”

  The train came back around again, and Parker stopped it. He and Merit got the group of kids off and a new group on, and then started the new group around the village.

  “What makes you think you’re out of her league?”

  He let out a huff of a humorless laugh. “My ex-fiancée spelled it out for me.”

  “How?”

  Parker hadn’t told anyone the specifics. Not Sam, not Adam, not any of his other friends, not even his parents. He had no idea why he felt compelled to tell Merit. Maybe he just needed it off his shoulders for a bit.

  “She said she was just going to walk away, but she cared about me, so she gave me a list of all the ways I didn’t measure up. Apparently she’d been adding to the list from the start and, without telling me, had given me a date to overcome those flaws. The day she ended it was that date.

  “I guess she should’ve added ‘Not self-aware’ to the list, because not only had I not guessed that she had a list, but I hadn’t figured out what was on it, and I definitely hadn’t been working on fixing them.”

  “Ouch,” Merit said, wincing. “That’s harsh. What kinds of things were on it?”

  It still hurt to even think about it, and he was embarrassed about every item on it. “Some little things, like the way I pronounced some words, that I didn’t have the content of the notifications on my phone hidden, that I didn’t use an umbrella in the rain, that I danced in the car, some of the clothes I wore, stuff like that. And then some bigger things, like getting too focused on projects and not putting her as my number one priority.”

  The list was long. Some of the things he stopped doing immediately. Others he didn’t understand what he’d been doing wrong, so he’d had no idea how to fix them. Those had been the most maddening ones. The ones that brought him down the most. The ones that he didn’t even let himself think about, because they stabbed him in the heart too painfully if he did.

  And out of all the people he could’ve listed his flaws to, he couldn’t believe he just told the CEO of the company he worked at.

  Merit shook his head. “It sounds like a list only someone who didn’t have that connection would make. I wouldn’t put too much stock in it.”

&nbs
p; Merit was assuming too much. He hadn’t seen the list. He hadn’t seen the look on Steph’s face when she’d given it to him. He hadn’t heard them in her voice.

  Parker had.

  “Let me ask you this, then,” Merit said, studying him. “Is Kelli very similar to your ex?”

  Parker looked over to where Kelli held Hope, who must’ve woken up, because Kelli was making faces at her. He watched her smiling and laughing for several long moments. Kelli was every bit as bright, happy, and nonjudgmental when she was entertaining a baby as she was talking to a stranger, a coworker, or a homeless woman.

  He shook his head. She very much wasn’t.

  Maybe Kelli would actually be able to look past all of his faults and shortcomings and see the man who had fallen for her so completely.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kelli had imagined that the Christmas Eve dinner in the mansion would be idyllic. That the sixteen of them would all eat amazing food and talk and laugh and even if you were on the outside looking in and couldn’t hear what was being said, you could tell that it was a happy group, enjoying each other’s company.

  In a lot of ways it was. The food was fantastic and there was definitely lots of talking and laughing. There were also hilarious stories of Christmases gone wrong, a few spontaneous bursts into song with everyone joining in, a dish of roasted butternut squash spilled, Davis and Addison looking at each other like maybe there were some sparks between the two of them, some impressions of actors in Christmas movies saying iconic lines, a couple of people who had a bit too much to drink and became quite entertaining themselves, and some sharing of favorite Christmas traditions. It felt more than idyllic; it felt like a family.

  The best part, though, was sitting next to Parker through the whole thing. He was funny and sweet, and for as long as she had been working on the same floor as him, nothing at all like she had assumed. And he kept looking over at her in a way that made her heart somehow melt and do flips at the same time.