She waited until he made eye contact.
“I did it to get my point across. And I want you to listen clearly, too. I love that boy and would never hurt him. And if you think I’m going to let you waltz away—”
“Ally? Jake?”
Allison’s heart stopped. She dropped her hands and turned to face her godson. “What, honey?”
Caleb stood a foot away, a sand-filled plastic bucket in one hand and a shovel gripped in the other. “My tummy hurts.”
She was furious at herself—and Jake—for adding to Caleb’s worries. She looked skyward and noticed the pink hues on the clouds. What was a trip to the beach without experiencing a Pacific sunset?
“Ohmygosh,” she said, dropping to her knees to face Caleb. “Do you know what time it is?”
He shook his head.
“It’s almost time for the green flash.”
Caleb looked at Jake. “Huh?”
Jake put out his hands, indicating he had no idea what she was talking about.
As she hustled them into packing up, she said, “Actually, your daddy is the person who told me about this, Caleb. He said when the sun is sinking under the horizon—at the very last second—you’ll see a green light. He didn’t know what caused it but apparently people see it when conditions are just right.”
Jake and Caleb exchanged a look that made her laugh out loud. “Come on, you two skeptics. There’s a great place to watch the sunset just up the road.”
“These waves are incredible,” Jake said a few minutes later. “Look at that spray. Wow. I’d forgotten how impressive the Pacific could be.”
Half a dozen cars were parked around them. Some people braved the strong, chilly wind to wander along the rocks. Most, like Jake and Allison, remained in their vehicles.
“Aren’t we gonna get out?” Caleb asked.
“Not me,” Allison said. “Once that sun starts to set, it gets cold. I’m content to watch from here.”
Caleb made a huffing sound. Jake released his seat belt and turned sideways to look in the back seat. His knee bumped Allison’s thigh. She felt the tingle all the way to her toes.
“Do you want to sit up front with us? So you can see better?”
“Sure.”
Caleb clambered between the seats and settled in Allison’s lap. His small body was warm and cuddly. His hair smelled of salt spray and wind. Her arms closed around him automatically. She could feel Jake’s gaze on them, so she turned her head. His tender smile almost stopped her heart.
“Nice picture,” he said. “Better than any sunset I’ve ever seen.”
Allison felt a flood of emotions—hope, joy, love, fear—rush through her. She closed her eyes to keep the tears away. Caleb fidgeted a moment later and scooted forward to lean against the dash. “Look how red the sun is, Jake—like Santa’s belly.”
Jake laughed and leaned forward, too, resting his arms on the steering wheel. He’d left his jacket in the back and Allison’s gaze was drawn to his broad shoulders clearly outlined in the camel-colored shirt. What would it feel like to skim her hand across the soft material and explore the muscles beneath the fabric?
Absorbed in her fantasy, she missed what Jake was saying, until he turned her way. “Sorry, what?” she mumbled, finding it hard to swallow.
“I said, Caleb and I are supposed to help Cordelia move into a new, private room at the rehab hospital tomorrow. It’s in a different wing, I think she said. Do you want to meet us for lunch?”
Allison’s stomach produced an unpleasant grumble. “That’s right. I forgot. But I promised Caleb you’d take him to buy a Christmas tree tomorrow. It seems he’s a bit worried about Santa not knowing where to put his gifts.”
A look of comprehension appeared in Jake’s eyes.
“No problem. We can do both.”
As Caleb and Jake talked about what kind of tree to buy, Allison recalled her last visit with Cordelia. The poor woman was anxious to get home, but every time her doctor seemed close to releasing her, her white count would spike, indicating the persistent infection wasn’t quite beaten. Since all she could do was sit and fret, she spent a lot of time worrying about what would happen after she was released.
“You’ll stay, won’t you, Allison? I know Jake wants to get back to his life in Florida as soon as possible, but you’re not going anywhere, are you?”
Was Jake in a hurry to leave? He never acted that way around her. In fact, until the incident today, Allison had been under the impression that Jake might even be interested in exploring the attraction between them. Or was she being naive? Maybe his issues with his mother explained why he was still a bachelor. He didn’t trust women.
Allison didn’t know why she was so surprised—and disappointed. After all, Pam always had maintained that Jake and Allison would make a poor mix.
“Look, Jake, look. It’s sinking fast,” Caleb said, his pitch an excited squeal.
Jake reached out to take Allison’s hand as if linking the three of them in the shared moment. She sat forward, too, peering through the windshield at the shrinking red-orange ball. Caught up in the moment, she squeezed his hand.
His answering caress made her glance sideways. Instead of watching the sunset, Jake was looking at Allison with a message that clearly telegraphed want and desire—a longing Allison recognized because she felt it, too. Her throat contracted and her breath stopped.
“I saw it, Jake,” Caleb cried, bouncing up and down. “Right there. Did you see it, Ally? Did you?”
The excited child crashed into her chest, making Allison expel the breath she’d been holding. “Wow,” she exclaimed. “That was awesome.”
Which wasn’t a complete lie. She’d missed the green flash, but she’d witnessed magic of another kind—the kind that fed her soul. If she believed in Santa Claus, Allison knew what her wish would be: Let Jake stay.
Chapter 11
Christmas Eve, Jake thought, closing the rear hatch door of Allison’s station wagon. Where did the week go?
He knew the answer without looking over his shoulder. The proof of his activity was on the lawn, windows and roof of the Rydell home. Jake—along with his helper, Caleb—had found a spot for every single decoration Pam and Kenny had collected over their years of marriage.
Allison threw herself—heart and soul—into everything she did. Her example, along with the good feelings he’d felt after delivering the Rydell Motors’ bounty to the food bank, had made him want to do more.
On Tuesday, he and Caleb went shopping. Jake had withdrawn four hundred dollars from a cash machine and told Caleb that they were going to buy presents for kids they’d never met. Padre Avila had supplied the children’s names, ages and general preferences in toys and books. Allison and her office staff volunteered to wrap and deliver the gifts.
Afterward, they’d eaten dinner—homemade tamales and all the trimmings—at the home of her assistant manager, the person who planned to rent Allison’s home after the first of the year. Jake had been impressed with Ernesto Flores’s intelligence and drive, and his wife’s cooking was some of the best he’d had since arriving in California.
The following day, Jake and Caleb had helped Cordelia move into her new, temporary quarters at the cardiac rehabilitation center. Although she’d preferred to come home, her doctor was concerned about her persistent infection and sporadic bouts of dizziness.
Cordelia wasn’t happy. “I want to be in my own home for Christmas,” she complained to anyone who would listen. “My grandson needs me. How hard is that to comprehend?”
The physician refused to release her, although he did agree to let her go home for the day—if her temperature was normal.
That meant Jake would have to pick her up early in the morning so she could be there to watch Caleb open his gifts. But right now, he and Caleb planned to bring a little Christmas cheer to her.
He leaned in the open door of the Subaru and asked, “Ready?”
A none-too-happy “Meow” was his reply.
“Rom won’t keep his antlers on,” Caleb complained.
“Yeah, well, he’s a spoilsport. Look how nicely Cleo is waiting,” Jake said, peeking through a slit in the large plastic animal carrier. “Maybe she thinks the antlers are a crown and she’s a queen.”
Caleb laughed, and Jake shut the door.
Thirty minutes later, they were approaching the post-surgical center. Jake was grateful to see Pam’s red SUV in the parking lot. He’d traded cars with Allison because he’d needed the flat cargo space her station wagon afforded. He hadn’t told her that.
All Allison knew was that they were meeting here to sing Christmas carols with Padre Avila’s youth group. Jake hadn’t mentioned the potted plants that he intended to give to every patient and to every nurse. A florist had delivered the majority of the pots earlier in the day, but Caleb had picked out a couple of special arrangements he wanted to deliver personally.
Jake backed the car into the receiving bay usually reserved for deliveries. As arranged, an orderly was waiting with an empty gurney to help unload the cellophane-wrapped gifts. Jake reached into the plastic bag he’d brought from home and pulled out a wad of red fleece, which turned out to be three plush Santa hats with fuzzy white balls on the tips.
After tugging his own on, he looked at his godson. “Ho, ho, ho. Ready, Santa?”
“Yup,” Caleb said, scrambling to his knees.
Jake hadn’t been able to find a child’s size cap, so the hat was too big. It drooped over one eye. “I never been Santa before.” Caleb tapped on the plastic cat carrier. “And Rom and Cleo are our reindeer.”
Jake wasn’t sure the cats would cooperate, but the administrator had told him that animals were always welcome to visit. “Many of our residents are elderly. Pets are a wonderful healing tool,” she’d said. “Especially during the holidays.”
Jake had his digital camera ready. He planned to take photos of each patient with the cats to give to them as keepsakes. Allison was supposed to be bringing a printer that could hook up to his camera.
“Okay, Mr. Junior Claus, let’s get this show on the road.”
Caleb exited the car and hurried to the door. Jake directed the unloading of the flowers then picked up the cat carrier by its handle and touched Caleb’s shoulder. “Are you ready?”
Caleb nodded, but stopped suddenly and asked, “Is Ally a Santa, too? Or an elf? She’s a girl, you know.”
Jake knew all right. She’d been in his dreams for the past two nights. “We’re all Santas today,” he said, his voice gruff. “I brought her a red hat, just like ours.”
“Good,” Caleb said. “I didn’t want her to feel left out.”
Jake’s heart swelled. Did you hear that, Kenny? You raised a pretty great kid who thinks of others. That’s your doing, my friend. Yours and Pam’s.
“What’s this all about, Allison?” Cordelia asked.
Allison’s heart went out to Cordelia. Her recovery seemed a jerky dance of forward and backward steps. Even two rounds of intravenous antibiotics hadn’t completely cleared up a persistent infection. And a new course of stronger drugs had made her nauseous. She’d lost weight she couldn’t afford to lose and struggled with shortness of breath and dizzy spells.
“I don’t know, exactly,” she answered, striving for a light-hearted tone. “Jake asked me to meet him and Caleb here, and bring a printer.”
“Sounds rather bossy. Doesn’t he know you have work to do?”
“I let everyone go home at noon today since it’s Christmas Eve. I’d planned to do a little packing at my house, but I’ll have time this weekend. Ernesto and his family have until the middle of the month to move. His landlord is going to do some work on the place before he rents it for almost double what Ernesto is paying now.”
Cordelia moved restlessly between her chair and the window. “Are you sure you want to do that? Rent your place to someone else? What if they trash it?”
Allison frowned. “Ernesto is a great guy. His wife is one of the sweetest people I've ever met. I’m not worried. They’ll be great tenants.”
Allison had made the decision to rent her home as a way to save money. Plus, it was increasingly obvious that even when Cordelia returned home, she wouldn’t be able to handle Caleb without help. Privately, Allison was worried that Jake could be right. Maybe she wouldn’t be able to handle Caleb without his support. But she didn’t tell him that.
Cordelia took a seat in the cushioned rocker facing the window. Her sigh sounded as if it carried the weight of the world. Allison walked to her and squeezed her shoulder. “Thanks for your concern. My parents were worried, too. They’d heard horror stories about how difficult it could be to get renters out if things turned ugly. But the Flores’s will probably take better care of the place than I did.” She laughed ruefully.
“So you’re planning to stay at Pam’s then? Even after I move home?”
They’d been over this a dozen times. Why the questions? “Yes. Jake will be here until you’re completely on your feet, then he’ll return to Miami. And you and I will take care of Caleb.”
Cordelia sighed. “You’re a young woman, Allison. Things change. People fall in love—”
Her words were cut off by the sound of footsteps coming from the hallway. Before Allison could give the woman’s comment much thought, Jake and Caleb walked in, both wearing red hats. An orderly paused outside the doorway beside a gurney loaded with poinsettia plants. “Jake,” Allison exclaimed, “what’s going on?”
“We’re here to spread some holiday cheer. You two ladies need to accompany us to the reception hall. We have goodies, gifts and song. But first—” Jake set down the animal carrier in his hand and walked to Allison “—you need your hat.”
Allison laughed out loud. She would have clapped, but her hands were hampered by Jake’s proximity as he tucked her hair behind her ears and placed the fuzzy cap on her head. His breath was sweet and warm. His eyes twinkling. Allison wanted to kiss him, but she knew Cordelia was watching. Maybe this closeness, this attraction, was what the older woman sensed...and feared. Was she worried that Allison would fall in love with Jake and go back to Miami with him? Impossible. For one thing, Allison’s closest friend, the person who’d known her best, had insisted that Ally and Jake would make a lousy couple.
“You’re crazy, but in a good way,” she said, stepping back. She faced the mirror above the dresser to adjust the little white ball so it was hanging to one side instead of down her back like a ponytail. As she pivoted, she spotted the carrier. “Please tell me those aren’t my cats.”
Caleb rushed forward. “They are, Ally. Only really they’re our reindeer. Look.”
He dropped flat to the tile and peered sideways to look at Cleo and Rom. “Caleb, get up off that dirty floor,” Cordelia cried.
Caleb ignored her. “Cleo’s still wearing her antlers, Jake.”
Jake hefted the boy to his feet. “That’s great, champ. But your grandmother asked you to stand up. Remember this is a hospital. Why don’t you wash your hands before we go to the community room?”
Caleb made a face, but a second later dashed into the adjoining bathroom.
“Antlers?” Allison asked, holding her hat on her head as she leaned over to peer inside. She opened the little door, half expecting Rom to bolt, but the animal—sans antlers—merely looked at her. “Did you drug them?” she asked suspiciously.
“No, of course not. Caleb and I introduced them to the antlers this morning. Rom wasn’t wild about his so I took them off, but Cleo seemed to like hers. I’d planned to ask you if it was okay to bring the cats, but Caleb wanted to surprise you. Was that a mistake? They are your cats, of course, but they seem to have gotten quite close to Caleb.”
Allison agreed. For the past week or so, both cats had taken to sleeping with the little boy. Even though she paid the vet bills, Allison knew that cats set their own rules. If they weren’t bothered by this little excursion, why should she care?
“No, I’m
fine with it. But...” She looked at Cordelia and winked. “Jake’s obviously never heard of payback. I hate to think about the little gift Rom is going to leave in his favorite loafers tonight.”
Jake laughed and picked up the carrier by the handle. “Let’s get this show on the road. Who wants to take photos and pass out plants?”
“I do. I do,” Caleb shouted, racing back into the room.
“Do you have enough of those for everyone in the place?” Cordelia asked.
“I sure hope so. And you get a special one that Caleb picked out just for you.” The attendant who had been waiting patiently beside the gurney handed Caleb the largest plant, dense with ruddy red and off-white leaves. The shiny foil and gold bow around the pot looked festive.
Since the child couldn’t see over the top of the vegetation, Allison steered him to a low table. “Merry Christmas, Gramma,” the little boy said, rushing to give her a big hug once his arms were empty.
Tearfully, Cordelia hugged him back. “Thank you, dear.”
“We knew you felt bad about not being home and we were hoping this might brighten your day,” Jake said. “Here’s to a happier new year.”
Allison was all for that—even though this was shaping up to be one of the most memorable Christmases on record.
“Coming, Ally?” He offered his free hand to her. Allison was powerless to resist.
“Cordelia?” he asked, pausing in the doorway. “Will you join us? Father Avila will be here with a choir to sing carols. And we ordered refreshments.”
Allison could see that the woman was trying hard not to cry. She dabbed her eyes with a hanky and nodded. “I need a few minutes to freshen up a bit.”
“Don’t be too long,” Jake warned. “We need you to sing. Caleb says you know all the Christmas carols by heart.”
Cordelia waved them on then slumped back in her rocker. Allison didn’t want to cast a pall on the festive occasion by expressing her worries, but she felt compelled to say, “I’m worried about her, Jake. I think Cordelia might be slipping into depression. Do you think it would be okay to ask Father Ray to talk to her?”
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