Christmas Magic on the Mountain

by Melissa McClone

  “I was nine.” Sean’s chin jutted out. “Two feet of fresh powder to ride, and I was stuck in bed.”

  “I’m sure he’ll behave better with you,” Connie said.

  Whether he behaved or not didn’t matter. Zoe started to tell them this was a really bad idea, but stopped herself.

  What could she say without giving everything away?

  She would have to wait for Sean to say something, to tell them why she shouldn’t be the one to take care of him.

  Zoe waited. The seconds on the clock seemed to tick as slow as minutes.

  Please, Sean.

  Her gaze bounced between him and his parents.

  What was taking him so long?

  There was no point—no need—to drag out the charade any longer. He was clearly recovering. With the worst of his parents’ worries allayed, it was time for Sean to tell them the truth about Zoe and his nonrelationship.

  But how?

  That question made her realize why Sean was hesitating. He must be trying to figure out what to say to his parents and how to explain all of this to them.

  A mix of emotion churned inside Zoe. Relief at not having to continue the lie. Regret at the thought of hurting the people she’d come to care about these past few days. But in her heart, Zoe knew this needed to be done, now, no matter what the fallout.

  Connie and Hank didn’t want a stranger looking after their son. Well, Zoe was a stranger. Even though she liked feeling needed by his family and by Sean, she was the last person they would want to care for him.

  She looked at Sean.

  He lay covered with a blanket in the hospital bed, so different from the man she’d met a few days ago on the side of the road. Stubble covered his face. A cut near his chin had scabbed over. The dark bruise on his cheek was fading. His hair was sticking up all over the place.

  Oh, he was still handsome. A few cuts and purple blotches didn’t change his amazing bone structure and his warm, hazel-green eyes. But his physical weakness, his vulnerability struck at her heart and her insecurities.

  Zoe’s chest ached.

  Sean needed someone who knew what they were doing, someone who could make sure he had everything he needed while recovering.

  That wasn’t her. She had the necessary skills to be his personal shopper, not his caretaker.

  Besides, no matter how vulnerable Sean Hughes might look at the moment, he wasn’t a man to play doctor or house with. She shouldn’t play with him period.

  She was vulnerable, too.

  Careful and cautious, remember?

  Zoe toyed with the edge of his blanket with her free hand. “Sean…”

  His gaze met hers.

  Something passed between them. She chewed on the inside of her cheek. They were in this little ruse together, but it had morphed into something neither had imagined.

  He squeezed her hand. “Mom, Dad, would you mind giving me and Zoe a few minutes alone?”

  Connie jumped to her feet. “Of course.”

  “We’ll wait outside,” Hank added.

  Sean’s parents exited the room. As soon as the door latched, he grimaced. “I’m sorry about all this.”

  “We have to tell them the truth.”

  “I know,” he agreed. “You must have some place else you need to be.”

  Zoe had no set itinerary, simply a list of places she couldn’t go: home, Los Angeles, New York, London and Paris. “Not really, but that’s beside the point.”

  “Your family and your boyfriend must be expecting you home at some point.”

  “Traveling was actually my mother’s idea. My brothers are older than me. We’re not very close. I’m actually estranged from my family right now,” Zoe admitted. “And I don’t have a boyfriend. A real one, that is.”

  “Where do you live?”

  She thought about the apartment in Los Angeles she’d been forced to give up before setting off on her own. “I don’t have a permanent address at the moment.”

  He studied her with an unreadable expression on his face. “What about a job?”

  “I’m between jobs.”

  His eyes locked on hers.

  She knew exactly what he was thinking. “No way.”

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “We’re not in a relationship.” She kept her voice low in case Hank and Connie walked back in. “We’re strangers.”

  “We’re past the point of being strangers, Zoe.”

  “Your family and friends have been so nice to me,” she said. “They’ve made me feel welcomed and accepted. I don’t like lying to them.”

  “You’ve helped them get through this, Zoe. Me, too. We all appreciate that.”

  She liked feeling useful, but she had her trust fund, her future to consider. “If they knew the truth…”

  “They’ll never have to know.”

  “I can’t stay here forever.”

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  “That’s what you said before.”

  He smiled, as if a charming grin could make everything better. “I haven’t left the hospital yet.”

  Okay, his smile did help. A little. But she needed to be smart about this. She hadn’t been smart about so many other things in her life. “It’s too complicated. I haven’t dealt well with complications in the past.”

  “You’re selling yourself short.”

  “I’m not. If you knew…”

  “I know this is a better deal for me than you,” Sean admitted. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes. You’ll be paid a salary. You’ll also get room and board.”

  She didn’t know whether to be insulted or reassured. “You want to pay me to take care of you?”

  “Yes,” he said. “I’d have to pay for home health care.”

  “Insurance would cover that.”

  “I’d rather have you there.” He squeezed her hand again.

  Zoe’s heart bumped. That only added to her rising doubts. “I don’t know.”

  “There are easier ways to earn money,” he said. “You heard my mom. I’m not a good patient. But I’ll try to be better.”

  Zoe could try, too. She could—

  No, wait.

  She should forget about this. Going along with Sean’s proposal wasn’t a smart idea. She should say no and walk away, yet curiosity wouldn’t let her.

  “What would I have to do exactly? If I took the job,” she qualified.

  He eyes brightened at her apparent weakening. “Walk Denali. Pretend to be madly in love with me in front of my parents. Drive me to work and appointments. Wait on me hand and foot.”

  A couple of those didn’t sound too difficult.

  In fact, the job sounded perfect given her need to stay out of the spotlight for the duration of her mother’s campaign. A small town like Hood Hamlet might be the perfect place to hide. If she could live off her salary, her mother would see she had learned to manage her money. This sounded almost too good to be true. And in Zoe’s experience, that meant trouble.

  She’d learned nothing was ever as good as it sounded, but that hadn’t kept her from hoping, wishing, it would be. All she ever wanted was to be accepted for who she was—loved—and that had often led her to ignore warning signs and even her own gut instinct. She didn’t want to repeat the same pattern.

  Restlessly, she moved away from the side of his bed. Zoe couldn’t think when Sean was watching. She walked along the row of colorful, fragrant bouquets lined up on the windowsill. Roses, a mixed bouquet of fall-colored blossoms and Stargazer lilies. Reading the feminine names on many of the cards made her feel strange.

  Not that his social life was any of her business.

  “Why me?” she asked.

  “My family thinks you’re my girlfriend. Who else would I ask?”

  “How about Chelsea or Grace or Lulu?” Zoe read the names from the cards. Reading between the lines of one of the cards seemed to indicate a close, probably intimate, relationship. The knowledge unsettled her. “Seems to me, one of them
would be more than happy to help you out.”

  Unexpected color appeared on his cheeks. “They don’t know my family. And they would have certain expectations if I asked them to help me. You won’t.”

  “Because anything between us is pretend.”

  “Because we’re friends,” Sean said. “I don’t know too many people who would go to the lengths you’ve gone to for a person they’d just met. I’d tie in with you any day.”

  “Tie in?”

  “Climber term,” Sean explained. “It means I’d climb with you anytime, anywhere.”

  The compliment made Zoe tingle all over. She felt a little breathless. “Thanks, but you helped me first.”

  “You’ve done way more for me since then.”

  The sincerity in his voice brought a rush of warmth flowing through her. She returned to the side of his bed.

  Sean pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

  Zoe’s heart stuttered. His gesture felt so intimate, so natural, so right. The impulse to agree to take care of him was so strong she pressed her lips together. She couldn’t give in that easily. Sean Hughes wasn’t just some guy who needed help. He was dangerous to both her senses and her hormones. And his family had already touched her heart.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked.

  She liked him enough, trusted him enough, to tell the truth. Or as much of it as she could.

  “My mother thinks I’m too impulsive. She wants me to be more responsible.”

  “What could be more responsible than taking care of an injured friend?”

  Not even her mother could find fault with Zoe taking care of a friend. Except that Sean’s kiss on Thanksgiving before his surgery hadn’t been at all friendlike. “It might cramp your style.”

  “Huh?”

  “If we’re supposed to be having a relationship, you won’t be able to date.”

  “The same goes for you.”

  She shrugged. “I’m not looking for a relationship.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  She thought about his kiss, about the way he touched her. A part of her wanted to read more into his wanting her to stay. Then she remembered all the flowers from various women. “You sure about that?”

  “Dating is not the same as having a relationship.”

  Zoe bit the inside of her cheek. “I’m not qualified.”

  “You’ve been the perfect pretend girlfriend.”

  “I mean I’ve never taken care of anyone before unless you count Popcorn, my hamster when I was nine,” she explained. “He died.”

  “I’m going to be a lot harder to kill than a hamster.”

  “I don’t know about that.” She thought about growing up in the governor’s mansion with a cook and a housekeeper. “I’m not, uh, very domestic. I feel it’s fair to warn you I’m cooking and cleaning challenged.”

  “I don’t care if you burn water,” he said.

  “I’ve never burned water, but I ruined a pan trying to heat up soup,” she admitted, trying to discourage him. “I didn’t know you had to add water.”

  “We can order takeout every night. I’ll get a housecleaner to come twice a week if that makes you feel better.”

  “That will be expensive.”

  “I can afford it.”

  Still the cons seemed to outweigh the pros. She wished he would realize that so this would be easier. “I don’t have any references.”

  “I don’t need references,” Sean said. “You’ve showed me the kind of person you are these past few days.”

  Guilt coated her mouth. He had no idea who she was. He didn’t even know her real last name. Yet he was trying awfully hard to get her to stay with him.

  “You’re the one I want to take care of me.” His earnest tone tugged at her conscience. “You’re exactly what I need, Zoe.”

  No one had ever needed her before. Well, besides her hamster. And look how that had turned out.

  Still Sean’s words made Zoe feel as if she mattered, as if she wasn’t as useless as people had accused her of being.

  “Will you please come home with me?” he asked.

  Home.

  Emotion clogged her throat. If only she could go home…

  But Zoe no longer knew what home meant. The place she’d grown up seemed to have drifted farther and farther away. She felt rootless, adrift, alone.

  This time with the Hughes had given her a taste of both family and community. Something she hadn’t really experienced since her dad died. Every day since then, Zoe’s family life had been more like a job, one long PR event. That was why she’d tried to do more—to go places, see new things and bond with friends. But even then she never really felt like she was in the right place.

  Was this the right place for her? The right move?

  She needed to put her emotions aside and think about things logically. He was offering her a place to stay and a salary. Where else was she going to find those things without needing some sort of background check?

  If she accepted Sean’s offer, she could hide away in Hood Hamlet and help him out. She could show her mother she had changed, and at the same time spend Christmas with Sean’s loving, accepting family.

  She stared at him.

  A ball of warmth settled in the center of her chest.

  Christmas in Hood Hamlet with the Hughes family might help her figure out what she wanted and where she belonged. That appealed to her on multiple levels.

  “Okay,” Zoe said finally. “I’ll do it.”

  Damn walker. Sean hobbled from his mother’s minivan to his house. His mom had offered to drive him home while his dad took Zoe in the truck.

  Sean owed a six-pack to whoever had cleared the path to his front porch this afternoon. Making his way through the snow wouldn’t have been easy. It was hard enough with two bum legs and a device senior citizens used.

  He glanced at his mom. She walked at a snail’s pace next to him. No sense telling her to get inside before she got cold. She would only say no.

  Like it or not, Connie Hughes knew what needed to be done. She’d nursed his father back from spinal surgery and her mother after a hip replacement.

  “Who plowed?” Sean asked.

  “Jake.”

  Of course, Jake Porter would make sure the path was plowed. The guy did everything for everybody while running the Hood Hamlet Brewery, one of Sean’s favorite haunts.

  He glanced down at his legs and grimaced. Too bad he wouldn’t be stepping in there for a pint anytime soon.

  “Jake left some bottles of Twelfth Night, his new winter brew, for you in the fridge,” Connie added. “But I wouldn’t mix alcohol with pain medication.”

  Ever since the accident, people kept telling Sean what he should and shouldn’t do, as if he couldn’t figure things out for himself. He was a Wilderness First Responder, dammit. He had EMT training. He knew his family and friends meant well, but the constant admonitions only increased his feeling of helplessness. He wished they would keep their mouths shut. “I know, Mom.”

  Sean already felt off balance due to the boot on his left leg and the air cast on his right ankle. He hated feeling so fuzzy and wobbly, not knowing when a wrong step with the walker might send him flat on his ass. Falling had always been a risk when he climbed, but he’d never feared falling as much as now. He didn’t want to hurt himself more.

  “Sometimes pain medication can lead you to make bad decisions,” she said.

  Like cajoling Zoe to continue as his pretend girlfriend?

  Nope, that was a good decision even though his desire to have her stick around had surprised him. He wanted to chalk it up to attraction or desperation at wanting to be home, but wasn’t quite sure what compelled him. Sean had gone with his gut, and it still felt like the right move. Keeping Zoe around made him feel better. “Don’t worry, Mom.”

  “I’m your mother,” Connie said. “It’s my right to worry.”

  Too bad, because he was worrying enough for the both of them.

&nb
sp; Sweat beaded on Sean’s forehead, even though he was wearing shorts and the temperature was in the mid-thirties. Each step took concentration, as if he were climbing in the death zone on Everest, not the front steps of his house.

  He grunted. His warm breath rose on the cold air.

  His mother stayed at his side, making him feel more like a four-year-old at a crowded mall than a grown man. “Sean—”

  “I’ve got it.”

  With a deep breath that chilled his lungs, he managed another shaky step.

  Almost inside.

  “There’s no rush,” she said gently.

  “I don’t think I’ll be rushing anywhere soon.”

  Unfortunately.

  The doctor had told Sean he would need the walker before moving on to crutches. He’d laughed, thinking he could ditch the walker as soon as he arrived home. Sure he could ditch the stupid thing, but only if he wanted to crawl.

  The realization was both humbling and disheartening.

  He’d been an athlete his entire life and suffered his share of injuries, but nothing this serious. Now he couldn’t even walk on his own.

  Sean exhaled on a sigh. A lifetime of ignoring discomfort in his athletic and rescue pursuits tempered his grousing.

  He was alive. He needed to concentrate on the positives.

  Sean took another step. All he had to do was string a bunch of these together. No different than a steep ascent, except without using the rest step.

  “You’re doing great, honey,” Connie encouraged, sticking close to him.

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  Sean was glad she was here with him instead of Zoe. Maybe he would feel less wrung out by the time she arrived.

  Standing on his front porch, he waited while his mom unlocked and opened the door.

  He crossed the threshold and stepped onto the hardwood entry. Sean expected Denali to pounce on him, but he heard no barking, no sounds of four paws against the hardwood floor. Then he remembered. She would stay with Hannah and Garrett until Sean was steadier on his feet.

  “Happy to be home?” Connie asked.

  He nodded. “But I miss my girl.”

  “Zoe will be here soon.” Connie removed her coat and hung it on the rack next to the door. She slipped off her shoes. “They were stopping by the motel to check out.”

  Zoe. Sean bit back a smile. He’d meant Denali, but he wouldn’t mind calling Zoe his girl, too.