by Nancy Thayer
Margaret was drowsy, almost limp. Carley called Cisco, hefted her little girl in her arms, and they went up the stairs and out to the mudroom where Cisco dug through coats and helped Carley get Margaret into her fluffy white fleece jacket and hat.
At the house, she got Margaret mostly undressed before tucking her into bed. Cisco had climbed into bed with her clothes on and was snoring. Carley went into her own bedroom and stood for a moment looking at herself in the mirror. She really did look great in the dress. She hung it carefully on a padded hanger. She pulled on her comforting flannel pajamas. She brushed her hair and smoothed some moisturizer on her face. She was so tired, she almost didn’t hear the knock on the front door.
Her heart thudded with alarm. She wiped her face, pulled her robe on over her pajamas, went down the stairs, and opened the door.
Wyatt. Wearing khakis, a blue button-down shirt, and an old leather bomber jacket with fleece cuffs that made him look so sexy she almost keeled over. His brown hair obviously hadn’t been cut for weeks and curled over his ears and shirt collar. His skin was flushed with a healthy tan from a month outdoors, and his smile blazed.
“Wyatt! You’re not due back for two days.”
“I couldn’t wait. I flew back early. I’ve called you four or five times. You never answered your cell.”
She stared at him, stunned. She couldn’t think. Her cell? She’d turned it off sometime in the afternoon and left it on her desk in her office when she went into party mode with her daughters.
“Look. Can I come in? It’s cold out here. And I want to kiss you.”
“Me, too.” Smiling, she held the door open.
Wyatt stepped inside, shut the door, reached out, and drew Carley against him. He held her tight with both arms, stroking her hair, cupping her hip with one hand and her head with the other. She felt the rise and fall of his strong chest against her cheek, the warm stir of his breath against the top of her head, the firm muscles of his back beneath her hands. They fit together perfectly.
He took her face in both hands, tilted her head back, and kissed her for a long time.
He pulled back, looked at her, and said, “Carley. God, I missed you.”
She put her hands on his chest to steady herself. “I missed you, too.”
He said, “Could we go upstairs?”
She said, “Yes, please.”
She cried when they made love.
Wyatt raised himself up on his elbows. “Am I hurting you?”
“No,” she assured him. “I’m just so happy. This is so … rich.”
Afterward, she lay on her side, Wyatt against her, his arm curled around her waist, his hand resting on her abdomen.
“That was nice,” he said.
She laughed deep in her throat. “Nice.”
“But that’s not all between us.” He tugged the down comforter up over her shoulder.
“Yes, I know that.”
“We have fun together doing other things. Things not in bed.” She pressed her back against his chest, loving the warmth. “That’s true.”
“And I like your daughters.”
Her heart stopped beating. Here it was, time for a decision. She wasn’t sure she was ready to make it.
“I did a lot of thinking while I was hiking, Carley. I don’t want to move too fast for you. I don’t want to upset or confuse your daughters, but what would you think if you and I started openly dating?”
Dating. The word lowered the volume on her anxiety. This would help the girls get used to Wyatt’s presence in their lives gradually.
“I think it’s a good idea.” Thinking it through aloud, she said, “People in town will gossip. What about Annabel and Russell?”
“They leave in three days for Guatemala,” Wyatt reminded her. “What do you think?”
“They’re pretty overwhelmed with getting ready. I think it would kind of pressure them or even panic them to make them deal with this so close to their departure. Let’s wait until they’ve had some time in Guatemala. We can email them.” She cocked her head. “Or does that seem cowardly?”
“No, it’s good.” Wyatt shifted, turning on his side, pressing against her. “What about Christmas?”
“Christmas?”
“I’d like to spend Christmas with you and your girls. I’d like to get your girls really nice presents.”
“We always go to my parents’ for Christmas, Wyatt. It’s a family thing. We’ve made plans to go this year.”
He was silent for a long while. He cleared this throat. He shifted on his back. “Okay. Well, a friend has invited me out to Hawaii for Christmas. I wasn’t planning to go. I was hoping to be with you.”
“We’ll be home before New Year’s Eve,” Carley told him. She swiveled around, so that her head was on his arm, her hand on his chest. It was too soon to invite him to her parents’. Surely he must understand that. “Let’s have a little Christmas for the four of us before we go to my parents and you to Hawaii, okay?” She felt his chest rise and fall as he sighed deeply.
“Okay.” He took her hand in his. “You know I’d like to sleep with you all night, Carley. I’d like to wake up and have breakfast with you and the girls. I’d like to live with you. But I’ll stick to your timeline.”
“Oh, Wyatt, thank you for that.” She nuzzled against him, kissing the side of his neck, and soon they forgot all about words and Christmas and plans.
37
• • • • •
In a flurry of lists, packing, good-bye parties, and last-minute visits to the pharmacy, Annabel and Russell left for Guatemala. Carley and the girls drove them to the airport and the small plane that would fly them to Boston for the first leg of the trip. They all kissed and hugged a thousand times. They waved and waved when the Winsteds’ flight taxied down the runway. It was a cloudy, windy day, but Carley and her girls stood outside looking up at the sky, watching the little plane ascend, head to Boston, and disappear.
“Lexi, can you meet me for lunch?”
“I’d love to, but I’ve got to keep the store open. Here’s an idea—can you stop by Annye’s and get some salads and sandwiches?”
“Absolutely!”
It cheered Carley, thinking of walking into Moon Shell Beach, but when she entered the store with her bags of food, she was surprised to see how stripped down it was.
Lexi noticed her reaction. “End of season, honey. It’s worth keeping open until Christmas, because some people wander in looking for a present, but after the twenty-fifth, it’s dead here.” As she talked, she cleared a space on her counter for the food and gestured to a stool like the one she sat on.
Carley hung her coat and shoulder bag on a hook in a changing room. She climbed up onto the stool. “What will you do when you’re closed?”
“Tris and I are leaving right after Christmas for Bali.”
“Bali!”
“I love it there! The sun, the white-sand beaches, and the water is amazing. There are minerals in the sand that swirl, making these gorgeous free-form designs. I relax and get ideas for my shop. The silver work and the textiles—”
Carley forced a perky look of interest as Lexi raved on, but inside she felt melancholy. When Lexi stopped to catch her breath, she asked, trying to sound casual, “How long will you be gone?”
“Only three weeks. Back by the end of January. But then we’re taking off again in February, during school vacation. We’re taking Jewel to the Caribbean.”
“Cool.”
“Carley.” Lexi put down her salad and straightened on her stool. “This is a shit time for you. You lost your husband and started a new business. You’re raising two young children by yourself. You don’t exactly have the most helpful friends in the world, and I lump myself in with Maud and Vanessa. But we all have times like that. Things will get better.”
Carley tore off a bit of bread and chewed it thoughtfully. “Annabel and Russell are gone. It’s the first time I’ve ever been on the island without them around.”
/> “Do you feel a bit lost?”
“Not lost, no.” Carley took a moment to consider her words. “But I’m beginning to think that, in a way, I’ve lived my life as if performing for Annabel and Russell. Certainly I kept their opinions in mind whenever I made a decision. Annabel was my role model. She was who I wanted to be.”
“Annabel is charming.”
“Yes. But more than that—I’m not sure how to express this. It was their conviction that the meaning of life resides within the home and family. I guess I just feel a bit daunted by this sudden change of theirs, this flight to Guatemala.” She shrugged. “The truth is, it’s kind of turned my world upside down.”
“Carley, your world is already spinning like a snowball.”
“Ha! You think?”
“I think it’s great that your in-laws are gone. Good for them, first of all, and even better for you. This town is enough of a fishbowl without having your relatives watch your every move.”
“That’s true.” Carley knew a crazy jack-o’-lantern grin was spreading all over her face. “Lexi, I want to tell you something. In fact, you’re the first I’m telling. Wyatt and I are, well, seeing each other.”
Lexi squealed. “Oh, Carley!” She hugged Carley, jumping up and down like a schoolgirl. “Oh, I was hoping that would happen, I thought that would happen. Wyatt’s a truly good guy. When he looks at you, Carley, well, he seems absolutely smitten.”
“We’re both smitten,” Carley admitted. “And I’m terrified.”
“Of course you are. You’ve been on an emotional roller coaster. Don’t look so worried. Enjoy this honeymoon period. It seems we’re always rushing toward the next thing. Women think marriage means the happy ending, and believe me that’s not true.”
“You’re right,” Carley agreed solemnly. “The thing is, Lexi …” She took a deep breath. “What if I’m really in love with Wyatt?”
“Savor every minute of it,” Lexi advised.
38
• • • • •
Carley and the girls were going down to New York to her parents’ for Christmas, but Carley still put up a Christmas tree and decorations, still made sugar cookies shaped like snowmen and bells, still filled the house with the music of choir boys’ angelic voices and the triumph of trumpets. She wrapped the banister to the second floor in fresh greenery tied with red tartan bows and hung mistletoe everywhere. She probably always would, even when she was eighty years old.
After the Christmas Stroll this weekend, no guests were booked for the B&B until New Year’s Eve, but to her surprise, a number of her summer guests sent her Christmas cards, wishing her happiness and good health and thanking her for making their vacation on the island extra-special. She even received a completely unexpected present from Melody, the woman she’d driven out to rescue in the middle of the night. Too curious to wait, Carley cheated and opened the package—a silver link bracelet from Tiffany’s! As Carley fastened it on her wrist, she thought: I helped that young woman. I provided safety, comfort, and even wise advice. A small sun of pride bloomed in her chest. She allowed herself a moment to feel it there, glowing.
Several of the guests mentioned in their cards that they’d love to have the recipe for her cranberry muffins or blueberry tarts. I could put together a cookbook to sell, Carley thought. Maud could illustrate it! What a fun project to work on during the winter. By summer she could have it ready!
The weekend of the Christmas Stroll the B&B was full. Three couples, friends from Connecticut, had come to enjoy the weekend and shop for presents. Carley prepared a delicious egg, cheese, cream, and veggie casserole for breakfast that she served with cinnamon coffee cake shaped like a wreath, decorated with cranberries and homemade green marzipan leaves. She set out bowls of candied walnuts and platters of decorated Christmas cookies—reindeer, Santa Clauses, bells, stars, snowmen, and Christmas trees—in the living room and in the middle of the kitchen table.
At breakfast, Cisco balked at joining her and Margaret for the Christmas Stroll. “It’s not that exciting for me, Mom, to see Santa Claus arrive by boat.”
“Oh!” The guests all lit up. “Santa arrives by boat?”
Margaret answered fervently. “Yes, and Mrs. Claus is with him! And there are Victorian carolers, and kids get to talk to Santa!”
Carley stared at Cisco, daring her to not join her little sister when Margaret was so thrilled about the day.
“Wyatt’s going to walk down with us,” Carley said casually. “He’s going to Hawaii for Christmas, so he wants to get in as much old Nantucket holiday spirit as he can before he leaves.”
“Yay!” Margaret bounced in her chair. “Maybe he’ll carry me on his shoulders so I can see everything!”
“Maybe he will,” Carley agreed.
The guests hurried off to get ready for the day. Carley tidied the kitchen quickly, then raced upstairs to pull on a red wool sweater. She dug out her special holiday earrings, shaped like Christmas ornaments, and while she was admiring herself in the mirror, Cisco sulked into her bedroom.
“You look pretty.” It sounded like an accusation. Cisco wore a baggy sweatshirt to camouflage her changing body. An adolescent zit blemished her chin. But she’d braided a section of her black hair with festive red and white ribbon.
“Thank you. You look pretty, too. I like the ribbon.” Carley braced herself. She guessed what was coming.
“So Wyatt’s going to the Christmas Stroll with us?”
“That’s right.” Carley sat on the bed and patted a place near her. “Come sit down.”
“I don’t think so.” Cisco folded her arms over her chest. “Are you going out with him?”
Carley hesitated. “Yes. Does that bother you?”
Cisco made a face and dug her foot into the rug. “It makes me feel kind of funny.”
“He’s been a really good friend to us, Cisco. He’s a nice man.”
“Do you kiss him?”
Carley hadn’t been prepared for this level of questioning so soon. She equivocated. “I’d like to. But I won’t kiss him in front of you and Margaret.”
Cisco narrowed her eyes. “Did you wait till Grandpa and Nana were gone before you started dating him?”
Well, damn, Carley thought. When you grow up, you can work for the CIA.
“Cisco, we are only going to the Christmas Stroll together. In the broad daylight. You weren’t upset when we all went sailing with him this summer. What’s the problem?”
“Nothing.” Sullenly, Cisco left the room.
Wyatt arrived, wearing his bomber jacket and a Santa Claus cap that made Margaret squeal with delight. Margaret was a picture-book child in a red velvet coat and hat her grandparents had given her. The day was perfect, cold but not uncomfortably so; the sky was blue and for once the wind behaved itself.
“Cisco,” Carley called up the stairs. “We’re leaving.” She bit her lip, praying, please don’t make an ugly scene.
Cisco came lumping down the stairs, expressionless. “I’m ready.”
“Hello, Cisco,” Wyatt said.
To Carley’s relief, Cisco offered him a lukewarm smile. “Hi. Nice hat.”
They walked into town and joined the crowds thronging down to the wharf where Santa and his crew would arrive. The air shimmered with excitement. Elves, angels, wise men, and sheep adorned the windows of the shops lining the cobblestone streets. Carolers in Victorian dress sang out all the holiday classics. People wore red coats and green scarves, opera capes and top hats dug out of the attic, hats shaped like reindeer antlers or snowmen or Christmas trees. Laughter rang out like bells.
“Hello!” someone yelled.
Carley looked over to see Lexi, Tris, and Jewel weaving their way through the crush. Oh, good, she thought, Cisco will cheer up.
“Carley!” another voice called out, and here came Maud. She held Spenser’s hand. Percy rode on Toby’s shoulders.
Wyatt hefted Margaret up onto his shoulders so that Margaret and Percy could give each
other a high five. Maud hugged Carley and whispered in her ear, “Well, well.”
Wyatt’s presence with her family at this event was better than taking out a full-page ad in the newspaper: Wyatt Anderson and Carley Winsted are a couple.
A cry went up. The Coast Guard patrol boat motored up to the dock, bringing Santa and Mrs. Claus and the elves who would all ride up Main Street in a horse-drawn carriage. Carley joined the crowd cheering and applauding. Both her daughters were cheering and clapping, too.
Christmas Stroll was always magical. Main Street was blocked to traffic so people could stroll down the wide avenue, greeting friends, pausing to hear holiday music spill out of shop windows. Whimsically decorated stores offered mulled cider and cookies, Joe Zito and his enormous puppet Grunge sent the girls into giggling fits, and Margaret got to ride the Dreamland Train in the library garden, while everyone waved. So much excitement, such a surge, so much to see and taste and buy! She had to admit to herself that the richness was deepened by Wyatt’s presence.
In the evening, Wyatt brought Carley and her girls home and with a grin and a wave left to catch up on work at the office. Carley served her daughters an easy meal of homemade pot pies and apples. Exhausted by their day, both girls curled up on the sofa to read. Carley stood in the doorway for a moment, just soaking in the satisfaction of seeing her daughters safe, quiet, and together—they lay with their bare feet touching, like a pair of bear cubs in their cave.
The B&B guests were all out at dinner and a concert. Wyatt was coming by later. Carley went into her office and listened one more time to the message Vanessa had left.
“You’d better call me, Ms. Sneaky Pete. Or I’ll sic Beth Boxer on you. She’s already called me three times today!”
Carley put her feet up on her desk and settled in as she called Vanessa.
“Carley! How could you not tell me about you and Wyatt? I had to hear it from Beth Boxer!”
“Vanessa, slow down. We only took the kids to the Christmas Stroll.”