Home for the Holidays: A Contemporary Romance Anthology

by Christine Bell

  Part of Joe wanted to protest that, but it was true that the last time he’d stayed up all night in Sapphire Falls he’d been making love to Phoebe all night. And they’d slept past noon the next day.

  Yeah, Sapphire Falls would be a good place to change most of Levi’s bad habits, if for no other reason than because there would be far fewer opportunities in Sapphire Falls to partake in those habits.

  Levi wouldn’t even be able to satisfy his addiction to Butterfingers after ten p.m. on weeknights.

  “A year, huh?” Joe asked. That was a long time.

  “It’s going to take more than a couple of weeks at Christmas to save me,” Levi said. “This will be better than rehab. Good healthy food, nice people, relaxed pace, nice women.”

  Ah, women.

  “So you’re giving up drinking and partying and junk food but not women?” Joe asked.

  His brother needed his help. But the women in his new hometown did not need Joe letting Levi loose on them.

  Levi actually chuckled at Joe’s question. “Give up women? I think that’s a little drastic.”

  Right.

  “Besides, I think it would be even better for me to date a nice country girl than it would be to give women up entirely.”

  “A nice country girl,” Joe repeated. He had a bad feeling about this.

  “A nice girl like Phoebe.”

  Joe was aware that Levi was intrigued by Joe’s wife. Phoebe had that effect on people. But she was so unlike the women Levi was used to hanging out with. She was what-you-see-is-what-you-get. She didn’t try to impress Joe. She dressed nicely but was never overdone. She was sweet and kind and caring, but she would always be in-your-face honest if you pissed her off. She was…amazing.

  There were no other women in the world like Phoebe. And she was all Joe’s.

  But there were other women in Sapphire Falls that could teach Levi a thing or two about how to treat a lady, who wouldn’t be bowled over by his money or his designer labels, who he would have to actually work to impress.

  That might be very good for him, come to think of it.

  “There’s got to be a couple of girls who would be able to teach me about a slow-moving, sweet, monogamous relationship,” Levi said.

  Joe blinked at him again.

  “What?” Levi asked.

  “I wasn’t aware that you knew the word monogamous.”

  “Ha, ha.”

  But Joe had been serious.

  “Well, there is a Christmas formal coming up.”

  “A formal?” Levi asked, using the word formal sarcastically.

  Joe nodded. “Yep. Formal dresses, tuxes, the whole bit.” It was new and definitely fancier than the little town was used to, but everyone was getting into the idea of dressing up and dancing the night away. The school’s gymnasium was slowly being transformed into a winter wonderland now that school was out for the holiday break.

  “So you can set me up?” Levi asked. “I need a nice girl who can teach me to be a gentleman and who will keep me out of trouble. Introduce me to one of Phoebe’s friends. Or a cousin.”

  Joe chuckled, going through the women he knew in Sapphire Falls that might be able to handle Levi. Sure, a nice girl would be good for Levi in some ways, but Joe refused to have Levi blow into town, make some sweet girl fall for him and then leave a broken heart behind. A broken heart that would blame Joe.

  So he wasn’t going to set Levi up with any of the really nice girls he knew.

  He thought about Phoebe’s closest friends.

  Lauren would be able to handle Levi for sure. She was a city girl who had turned country. She’d be able to see Levi coming from a mile away and would have him wrapped around her finger before Levi even used all his lines on her.

  But Lauren was married to Travis Bennett, and there was no way Travis would let Levi Spencer anywhere near Lauren. Travis would also see Levi coming a mile away.

  There was Phoebe’s best friend Adrianne. She would also be quite able to handle Levi. Adrianne was sweeter than Lauren and wouldn’t be quite as in-his-face with Levi, but she would absolutely be able to keep him in line.

  Of course, Adrianne was married to Mason Riley, one of Joe’s bosses, and they had a son now— an incredibly bright, curious little boy who was almost a year old. He’d started walking early and loved to dig in the dirt and get into anything and everything he could. Adrianne was running from sunup to sundown keeping up with him and keeping him from putting things.

  Then he thought about Phoebe’s other close friend. The four women were kind of an unlikely bunch. They’d been brought together by various, strange circumstances for sure. But the friendship had evolved through the three romances—Adrianne’s, Phoebe’s and Lauren’s—and they never missed their weekly margarita meeting.

  Hailey Conner was the only one who was still single. And Hailey could most definitely handle Levi. Hailey was the Mayor of Sapphire Falls. A hometown girl who had always been popular, sort-of liked and sort-of feared as gorgeous, confident, mean girls always were. Hailey had gotten progressively less mean over the years. To hear Phoebe tell stories from high school, Hailey had never met a person or a situation she couldn’t manipulate to her own purposes. Still, Joe knew his wife actually liked Hailey now. As much as that surprised her.

  Hailey was actually very much Levi’s type. She was one of maybe half a dozen women in town who could tell the difference between Prada and a knock-off. She always looked amazing. She had a confident sensuality that had many men enamored. But she was still a country girl at heart. She’d spent her life in Sapphire Falls and loved her hometown more than anything. She was, actually, a very good mayor.

  Hailey was the perfect woman to set Levi up with. She could introduce him to small-town life, she would demand he treat her well, would keep him in line, but she wouldn’t fall for all of his charming bullshit.

  “You know what?” Joe said. “I think I have the perfect woman for you.”

  “Yeah? Great. I’ll be there day after tomorrow.”

  Joe nodded. “I’ll set it up for you two to meet that night.” Probably the sooner someone was keeping track of Levi, the better.

  “Great.” Levi actually looked happy. That was really nice to see.

  Joe smiled. Then he remembered a not-so-tiny detail. “Shit. Phoebe and I won’t be here.”

  “When?”

  “In two days. We’re heading to DC for some holiday get-togethers. But with travel and everything we’ll be gone about four days.”

  “That’s okay. If it’s okay with you, I’ll come anyway and get settled,” Levi said. “I’ll use the guest room through the holidays, but then I’ll look for something to buy.”

  Levi definitely had the money to simply plunk a wad of cash down on a house in Sapphire Falls that he intended to use for his year of rehab. “Yes, that’s fine, of course. I’ll be sure the fridge has something in it.”

  “Don’t worry about anything,” Levi said. “I’m a big boy with a massive credit limit. And I need to get to know my new neighbors, right? I’ll get some groceries, check out the local eating establishments. It will be fine.”

  Joe laughed. “Checking out the local eating establishments won’t take long. You can get a sandwich at Scott’s Sweets, a burger or wings at the Come Again, or breakfast, lunch and dinner at Dottie’s, the diner downtown.”

  Levi grinned. “Can’t wait.”

  Joe wondered for a moment if leaving and having Levi come to town and be on his own for a few days was a good idea.

  But really, what could happen?

  Besides, he’d fill Hailey in and be sure she was keeping an eye on him.

  “I am boycotting all things peppermint, red, green and joyful.”

  Phoebe Spencer laughed. “You don’t mean that.”

  “Oh, but I do. I’m going to get Chinese takeout and do a Netflix marathon of Marvel comic movies.”

  Phoebe was almost afraid to ask. “Why Marvel comic movies?”

  “I c
an’t watch TV without running into Christmas movies and specials, so I have to stick with Netflix where I can control what’s on. Marvel because there are no Christmas themes and they are full of hot guys doing the right thing for the greater good. Unlike real-life human men.”

  Phoebe grimaced and was glad she wasn’t skyping with Kate so her friend couldn’t see her. “I’m sorry you’re so bummed out.”

  “Christmas just kind of sucks for me. Always has.”

  Kate Leggot was twenty-nine and lived in San Francisco. She had never even been to Nebraska, not to mention tiny little Sapphire Falls. She was gorgeous, sophisticated and intelligent. She was an environmental engineer who was studying a number of climate change issues that required her to travel to DC to meet and educate politicians. Phoebe didn’t understand everything Kate was doing, but she was used to that being friends with brilliant scientists like Mason and Lauren. Phoebe’s husband, Joe, worked for Innovative Agricultural Solutions, a company that was developing new cutting-edge farming techniques for use in third-world countries and sustainable farming for poorer areas of the US. Phoebe and Kate had ended up seated next to one another at a fund-raising dinner in DC about a year ago and had instantly hit it off. They had very little in common and yet enjoyed each other’s company immensely.

  “Christmas is my favorite,” Phoebe said. She grabbed a bag of diapers from the shelf and added it to her shopping cart. “Why don’t you like it?”

  Kate sighed. “My mom never liked Christmas, so we never celebrated when I was a kid.”

  “You never had Christmas as a kid?” Phoebe asked. “That’s terrible.”

  Kate laughed softly. “Well, I didn’t know what I was missing for a long time. But obviously as I got older it was pretty hard to miss all around me, all the kids talking about it at school and stuff.”

  “I’m sure.” Phoebe knew, of course, that Christmas was not celebrated by everyone, but she’d grown up in Sapphire Falls. It was a wonderful, accepting place but it was not a very diverse place. Everyone in Sapphire Falls celebrated Christmas. “Is your family Jewish?” That hadn’t even occurred to her. That was terrible.

  “No,” Kate said. “My mom just hates Christmas. So we left for Hawaii every year before Thanksgiving and didn’t come back until well after the New Year.”

  “Mid-November to mid-January in Hawaii?” Phoebe asked with a laugh. “You poor thing.”

  “Yeah, I know it sounds great. But Hawaii isn’t Christmasy, you know?”

  “Honey, you live in California. It’s not like you guys sing “Let It Snow” right?”

  Kate sighed. “I know. I guess I always wished that I had a grandmother or aunt or something that lived somewhere that it snowed. I used to watch those Christmas specials on TV and think that Christmas was so much cooler for people who had snow.”

  Phoebe snorted. “It’s definitely cooler.”

  Kate actually laughed softly at that. “For years, I begged my parents to go skiing or something instead of to Hawaii. Even if we didn’t do Christmas, I just wanted snow. But they never went for that idea.”

  “Wow. Your parents had money?” Phoebe asked, adding eggs to her cart and then taking them back out. She and Joe were going to be gone for four days. She should stick with non-perishables for now. They’d have to eat cereal for breakfast in the morning. She did grab milk though. Kaelyn would need milk tonight and tomorrow morning.

  “My parents had—have—lots of money.”

  “Now that you say that, I can see it. You have that sophisticated I-ride-in-limos air about you,” Phoebe said.

  “I’m not going to ask if that’s a good thing.”

  “It’s not good or bad. Joe grew up with money and limos too,” Phoebe said. “I grew up with pickup trucks. Pros and cons to both.”

  “I guess.” Kate sighed.

  “So you hate Christmas because you never got to have snow? Surely you’ve traveled to places with snow?” Phoebe asked, adding coffee to her cart. She also grabbed a box of wheat flakes that she knew she should eat, pushed the cart about three feet, then backed up and exchanged the wheat flakes for the sugary fruity O’s she loved. Next time she’d buy the healthy cereal. Or maybe the time after that.

  “I have and I love it,” Kate said.

  Phoebe shook her head. “Try scooping it out of your driveway and scraping your windshield every morning for about four months, you’ll get over it.”

  “Isn’t that what you have that gorgeous, hunky husband for?” Kate teased.

  Phoebe grinned. “Well, yeah, now. But I had to teach him to scrape and shovel. He grew up in Vegas.”

  And he’d been darned cute the first time he’d tried to maneuver the snow blower. Phoebe grinned, remembering him banging into the house, proclaiming he was about to die of frost bite if she didn’t warm him up immediately. They’d been naked and very, very warm within minutes.

  “So get on a plane and go somewhere with snow,” Phoebe said. “If that’s all you need to feel better about the best holiday all year, then that’s easy.”

  “Oh, it’s not just the Hawaii and snow thing,” Kate said. “The past three Christmases, I’ve had boyfriend issues. This year, I’m staying inside. Away from Christmas and guys and any thoughts of combining the two. I’m going to hunker down with junk food and Marvel until New Year’s is past. Then I’m going to get up, go back to my regular routine and forget there even was a Christmas this year.”

  “You can’t do that,” Phoebe protested. She loved Christmas. Everything about it. And Sapphire Falls did Christmas big. It was like every holiday movie, song or story ever told. She hated the idea her friend would be down on Christmas.

  “I can,” Kate assured her. “I’ll be okay.”

  “Tell me about these guys that have ruined Christmas for you.”

  Kate sighed. “Three years ago, I caught my boyfriend kissing one of the girls I work with at our Christmas party. Cliché, I know, but it hurt.”

  “Of course it did,” Phoebe said sympathetically.

  “The next year, my boyfriend dumped me on Christmas Day. We were supposed to have dinner with his family, and at the last minute, he decided that he wasn’t serious enough about me to introduce me to his parents. We’d been dating exclusively for six months at that point. I decided if he wasn’t serious by then, he wouldn’t be serious.”

  “I think that was a good choice.” Phoebe mentally thanked Heaven for Joe. She’d found the man of her dreams and she was never going to have to be back out there dating ever again.

  “And then last year, my boyfriend stole two of my credit cards and my car. On Christmas Eve.”

  Phoebe gasped. The two women in the aisle with her—one of them the mother of one of Phoebe’s students and the other her aunt Karen—both looked over. She gave them a smile and a wave.

  “Wow, honey, you have had a rough few Christmases.”

  “I’ve never had a good Christmas.” Kate sounded totally dejected. “I can’t handle watching it all happen around me. People are walking along the sidewalks, holding hands, picking out gifts. I turn on the TV and it’s all these movies about falling in love at Christmas. I turn on the radio and it’s all about it being cold outside—which it’s not here—and how people are rocking around the Christmas tree. While I’m here alone wishing I could be rocking under the Christmas tree. I can’t take it.”

  Phoebe snorted. “You have a Christmas tree fantasy?”

  “I do,” Kate said with feeling. “I really do. The room’s dark, the only lights on are from the fireplace and the lights on the tree…” She trailed off. “But I don’t even have a fireplace.”

  Phoebe stopped with a bunch of bananas in hand. “Tell me you have a tree, Kate,” she said. “Please tell me you have a tree.”

  “Nope. No tree. I told you, no Christmas here this year.”

  Well, that was unacceptable.

  “You need to go buy a plane ticket,” Phoebe decided. “I have snow, a tree, a fireplace and…” She thoug
ht fast. She couldn’t let this sweet woman spend the holiday alone ignoring that there even was a holiday. What Kate needed was Sapphire Falls. No one could not be in the Christmas spirit in Sapphire Falls. “And I have a nice, sweet, cute country boy to make you feel all better.”

  Her wheels were turning. She needed to set Kate up with someone. Someone nice. Someone who would be a gentleman. Someone who could give her a good romantic Christmas memory to erase all the bad ones.

  It wouldn’t have to be true love. A fun holiday fling would be perfect.

  “You do?” Kate asked. “Are you kidding?”

  Phoebe was really glad they weren’t on Skype where Kate might be able to tell that Phoebe was making this up as she went. “Yes, of course. You can’t breathe the air or drink the water here without getting in the Christmas spirit,” Phoebe said. “And I was wondering what to get you as a gift.”

  Kate laughed. “You’re giving me a sweet country boy as a Christmas gift?”

  “I’m giving you one perfect Christmas. We have it all here, honey. You’ll feel like you stepped into a movie.”

  Who was she going to set Kate up with though? She thought through the single guys in town.

  “You’re going to make a guy take me out for Christmas?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Phoebe scoffed. “What a hardship. I bring a beautiful, classy, smart, sweet girl to town and ask him to take her to the Christmas formal. I’m sure he’ll never forgive me.”

  “Well…”

  Phoebe detected a definite note of interest. Kate wasn’t shooting her down anyway.

  “I do love snow. So much. And I’ve never been to a small town at Christmas.”

  “I’m telling you, it’s like falling into the North Pole here,” Phoebe said. She unloaded her cart onto the conveyor belt at the checkout and smiled at the cashier. She’d had Tiffany in class last year.

  “So who’s the guy?” Kate finally asked.

  Yes, who indeed? The most eligible bachelors in town forever had been the Bennett boys, but Travis was definitely no longer single, and TJ was way too grumpy to give a girl a nice sweet Christmas.