Cade’s lips compressed as he ran a hand through his hair. Instead of his usual athletic clothes, he was dressed like a cowboy in a thermal tee that buttoned halfway down the front and a flannel shirt, jeans and boots. She could tell that he’d showered, but he hadn’t shaved, and the day’s growth of beard gave him a ruggedly sexy look. “There’s still time for that to happen,” he predicted.
“Maybe,” Allison said, inhaling the unique masculine scent of him. “So what are you up to today?” she asked curiously.
The way his eyes twinkled indicated he appreciated her interest. “I’m going out to the ranch to help my dad put up the exterior Christmas lights. I’ll take Zeus with me.”
She watched him unsnap the dog’s leash and fill the water bowl for him. “That’s nice of you.”
Finished, he straightened. “We were going to do it tomorrow, but I moved it to today so I’d be around to help you with the girls this weekend when they aren’t in school.”
She met his gaze gratefully, no longer too proud to say, “I’d appreciate that.”
He touched her shoulder briefly. “In the meantime, I’ll bring Zeus by after school, so they can see him.”
Ignoring the tingling deep inside her, she drew a breath. “Great.”
“And maybe we can figure out something Christmassy to keep them busy, so they’re not so out of control?”
That was Cade. Always thinking ahead. She smiled, wishing she had the time to just go and hang out with them today. “I’ll see if I can come up with something,” she promised.
“Sounds good.” He gave her another long look, for a moment seeming to feel as reluctant to say goodbye as she did. But that was ridiculous. It wasn’t as if this were a date or anything. Or would even lead to one. They were co-babysitters, that was all. And drafted ones at that.
Allison put aside the desire to kiss him goodbye. Or at the very least give him a hug. “Well, I’ve got to go back to my place and work on a new blog posting.”
He held the door for her, locked up, and then he and Zeus walked her as far as her car. “Any special tasks from HITN?” he asked casually, his manner warm and supportive.
For a second, she let herself lean on him again before she put herself in work mode. “Not yet, but as they say, the day is young.” Who knew what would happen for either her or Cade before it ended?
* * *
It took five minutes to get to her cottage, and five minutes after that, she received the second task from the network. A holiday card featuring a photo of her home instead of family.
Luckily, it was something fairly easy to accomplish, and by two o’clock that afternoon, Allison had posted the greeting card bearing the photo of the gorgeous wreath on her front door under the What’s New This Holiday! banner on her website.
Relieved that was done, she began packing up what she needed to keep the girls busy after school. She was nearly finished when her doorbell rang.
Somehow, she wasn’t surprised to see Cade and Zeus on her front steps. “Hey. Saw you were still here and wondered if you needed help picking up the girls from pre-K.”
Her pride had her wanting to say, “No. I’ve got this.”
However, the previous day’s experience had her ushering them into her cottage instead. It was the first time he had been in the home she had been raised in since they’d broken up.
“Wow,” he said.
She flushed with pride as he looked around. Taking in the places where walls had been removed to allow for an open-concept living area on the first floor, with beautifully finished pine floors. The kitchen sported new stainless appliances, navy kitchen cabinets, open shelving and pristine white marble countertops, as well as an island sized exactly right for the space. She also had an antique table for four beside the bay windows in the breakfast room. And a cozy cream-colored L-shaped sofa, dressed with pastel throws and pillows, formed a conversation area in front of the pale rose brick fireplace.
“I mean, I saw the photos on your blog,” Cade continued, admiring the newly rebuilt open staircase to the second floor, “but they don’t do it justice. This is really, really nice,” he noted sincerely. “Very you.”
Allison beamed. She didn’t know why his approval mattered so much, only that it did. “Thank you!”
“Your mom would be impressed.”
She petted Zeus’s head, then watched him make himself at home and walk over to lie down next to the hearth. “I hope so. Although she was never one for decorating.”
“That doesn’t mean she wouldn’t still be proud of you.”
True.
He looked at the box on her kitchen island with cookie cutters, a rolling pin and baking sheets. “Is this for the kids?”
She nodded as the doorbell rang again.
“Expecting someone?” he asked.
Allison shook her head. Hoping it wasn’t another meal kit from HITN, she headed for the door.
On the other side of the portal was a statuesque blonde in a dove-gray cashmere coat, sophisticated sweater and slacks. Model pretty, perfectly made-up, she had a large holiday gift basket in hand with a card bearing the City Lights logo.
“Hello, Allison. I’m your competition, Jennifer Moore,” she said.
“All the way from Dallas.” Allison was stunned to find that the social influencer looked even more like Nicole Kidman than she did in the photos on her blog.
Jennifer pressed the gift into Allison’s hands. “I thought we should meet. And I wanted to wish you the best of luck.”
“Thank you!” Allison said cheerfully, wishing she’d thought to do the same. “Best of luck to you, too!” Exercising her best Texan hospitality, she opened the door wide. “Won’t you come in?”
“Love to.” Jennifer stepped across the threshold, waiting while Allison set the basket on the foyer table and shut the door behind her, then turned to Cade, who was standing there with Zeus at his side. There was no question she recognized him, Allison thought. And she sized him up with the ease of someone used to mingling with the rich and famous. “Cade Lockhart!” Jennifer smiled sweetly. “How’s that pitching arm these days?”
Allison was pleased to note that Cade seemed unfazed by her dazzling beauty. “Retired,” he said dismissively.
“I would ask how you two knew each other—” Jennifer waved an airy hand “—but my research showed you used to date.”
Research? Allison had taken a cursory look at the other woman’s website and social media when she had heard they were both in the running for the same slot. She hadn’t tried to pry into the other woman’s private life. Present or past. But maybe that spoke to her naivete rather than the other woman’s intentions, which at the moment were still a little unclear.
“Can I get you something?” she asked, determined to keep this competition civil.
Jennifer continued looking around, taking in the newly decorated interior. Her expression indicated she found the cozy-cottage style with the touch of rustic elegance all rather pedestrian. “Do you have...um...hmm...” She tilted her head as if searching for something that might be available out in this “provincial” small Texas town. “Tap water?” she finally asked in a mildly condescending tone.
If that was the best she could do with thinly veiled insults, Allison thought, it wasn’t much. While beside her, Cade snorted softly. It was all she could do not to elbow him in the ribs. “As well as sparkling and flavored,” she retorted with a nervous laugh, still using her best manners. Surely, this woman hadn’t driven two and a half hours just to try to intimidate her!
Jennifer wrinkled her nose, then said finally, “Actually...I think I’ll pass.” She paused as if tamping down her worst instincts, then leaned in conspiratorially and sighed. “I just wanted to tell you not to feel too bad when this is all over.”
So she was here to bully her! Nothing like having an agenda. Allison
did what she always did when initially confronted by a mean girl—she played dumb. “Why would I feel bad?” she asked, mirroring the other woman’s faux innocence.
Jennifer’s cool eyes narrowed. “I hate to say it, sugar, but I’ve got this locked up.”
Well, clearly Laurel Grimes didn’t think so. Feeling her own temper beginning to flare, Allison folded her arms in front of her and asked, “If that’s the case, then why are they interviewing me?”
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Jennifer cooed, still pretending she was on Allison’s side in all this. “It’s such a waste of time and energy. And, of course—” she shook her head in wordless lament “—they’re getting your hopes up only to have to break your heart.”
Cade’s jaw set and his eyes went flinty. “You must really want this,” he observed.
And then some, Allison thought, glad for Cade’s unwarranted protectiveness.
Seeming to realize she had met an unmovable wall in Cade, Jennifer sobered. “I do,” she confided. Then, turning back to Allison, she regarded her rival staunchly. “Which is why I’m not going to let anything—or anyone—get in my way.”
Cade stepped closer to Allison and wrapped a strong arm about her shoulders, his warmth and strength encompassing her like a thick blanket on a cold winter’s day. “Now, Jennifer,” he drawled, his voice dripping with disdain as he drew Allison in even closer against his side, “I’m sure you didn’t mean it that way, but that does sound like a threat.”
This time, Allison did elbow him lightly in the side. First of all, she was quite capable of defending herself. Even if she was secretly enjoying him going all caveman on her. Second of all, just because her competitor was unnecessarily aggressive did not mean they had to sink to her level.
Jennifer Moore gave Cade a look that said, one, she did not understand why he was not immediately slayed by her incredible sophistication and beauty, and two, she really wished he would stay out of this. “It’s advice,” she counseled sagely, looking him hard in the eye, then whipping her glance back over to Allison. “Walk away now, sugar, and you’ll still be able to grow your little brand, down-home Texas as it is. Don’t, and, well—” she shrugged and tossed her luxuriant mane “—the truth has a way of coming out. Especially when it comes to a person’s authenticity. And that can be oh so embarrassing!” She paused to let her words sink in before wheeling around and heading for the door.
* * *
Allison watched the other woman leave, with a mixture of confusion and resentment.
Cade’s gaze skimmed her face. “What the heck is she talking about?” he asked curiously. “Why would she think you, of all people, weren’t authentic?”
Trying to take what had just happened in stride, she attempted a casual attitude she couldn’t begin to feel. “I have no idea.”
Trying to decipher the cryptic message, Allison searched her brain for possibilities. What could possibly undermine the successful-single style she had worked so hard to cultivate? Never mind her decision never to pursue romantic love again after the end of her eight-year relationship with Cade. Because what really was the hope she would ever find the kind of all-encompassing, all-giving love she yearned for? She had given everything she had to making her relationship with Cade work. Sacrificed until not a single one of her own needs were met. While he had completely taken her for granted. Part of that was her fault, of course. She hadn’t told Cade how she was feeling. She had just expected him to notice and make amends. He never had. Not until she was past the point of ever forgiving him for his cavalier attitude.
It hadn’t been easy, breaking up with him, though. Not when she was so used to them being a couple, albeit an increasingly unhappy one.
But, unlike her widowed mother, who had never really adjusted to life on her own, Allison had known her life could be better. Even without a man in it. And she had made the decision to embrace instead of lament her singleness and celebrate her ability to do whatever she wanted, how she wanted, when she wanted.
As well as encourage other independent-minded women to do the same. By creating happiness in every way and buying a home—or, in her case, inheriting one—and fixing it up with panache instead of waiting for some man to come along and do it for you.
“Unless—” the next possibility hit Allison with destabilizing force “—she’s talking about my childhood.”
Cade’s brow furrowed.
Allison sighed, thinking of the stark contrast between then and the outward trappings of success she had worked so very hard to earn and enjoy now. With a sigh, she explained, “I guess she could be calling me a fraud because, unlike her—who, according to her blog postings has apparently always had wealth and lived a certain way—I haven’t.”
Aware Cade still didn’t get it, Allison continued, “She could be referencing the five or six years after my dad died. When I was in elementary school and money was so tight, and the paint was falling off the cottage. My mom and I had to buy our clothing at the secondhand stores.” Even at a young age, she had been able to feel the humiliation that came with being proud and poor. And wanted instead for everything to be enviably nice, the way they were for her now.
“I don’t remember that,” Cade said, frowning.
Allison was glad. “By the time you moved to Laramie County, I was in middle school, and my mom had a job as a secretary. So things weren’t great, but they were better. And we were finally able to get the exterior of the house painted.”
“But you never did anything much to the interior back then,” he recalled, referencing the worn-out furniture and appliances, and wallpaper so old and ugly it was yellowed with age.
“No. Although I found out when my mom passed, and saw how much she had in savings, that she certainly could have lived a lot more comfortably.”
Cade took her hand and led her over to sit on the sofa next to him. “Why didn’t she, then?”
Allison relaxed into the curve of his arm. Realizing she probably did need to talk about this, she admitted, “I think my mom was just afraid after barely being able to hang on to the house after my dad died. She didn’t want to be living hand to mouth ever again and the only thing that made her feel safe was having as much as possible set aside.”
He nodded, understanding. “I felt the same way after foster care. I wanted money...lots of it...”
“The kind you get playing major-league baseball,” Allison guessed, loving his warmth and his strength.
He tightened his grip on her hand. “It seemed like the only way.”
“Except, unlike my mom,” she teased, “you spent a lot of yours.”
“Yeah, well—” he grinned, apparently not really regretting the flashy cars he’d bought and the lavish vacations he’d taken “—I also wanted to enjoy every day to the fullest.”
Another thing that bonded them. “Same here.” Allison smiled. “Which is why my blog celebrates being happy on your own and giving yourself the nicer things in life.”
Even though she secretly wished sometimes that her life had turned out differently. That she’d been able to find her happily-married-ever-after.
But she also knew after eight years in a relationship with Cade, the man who had always felt like the one love of her life, that if they hadn’t worked out, no other union likely would, either...
Cade misunderstood the source of the worry behind her frown. “Maybe that’s why Jennifer Moore feels so threatened by you,” he said.
Threatened?! Allison turned to better see his face, her leg inadvertently brushing up against his. “You think that was behind her visit?”
Protectiveness came and went in his expression. She had the feeling he wanted to pull her all the way onto his lap and hold her close, but also had the common sense not to take them back to a time when heartbreak had been the prevailing emotion between them. “One hundred percent,” he said in a gruff-tender voice that sent
shivers ghosting over her skin.
Suddenly realizing how easy it would be to lean on him and find herself in his arms again, Allison forced herself to focus on the one thing that had mattered to her in the years since she and Cade had split up. Her blossoming career.
“Well, I don’t care what her motive was. I am not going to let her intimidate me. I’m going to win this thing, no matter what it takes.”
* * *
Cade hoped that wasn’t the case.
Mostly because he knew better than anyone that unchecked ambition could lead to poor decision-making...and unimaginable sorrow...when outside pressures trumped one’s lifelong dreams.
He also knew that just because he had screwed up his life, professionally, out of a desire to succeed no matter what the obstacle, it did not mean that Allison would do the same.
Of the two of them, she had always been the more practical. He had to believe, for both their sakes, that that was still the case.
“So what’s next?” he asked, forcing himself to put his worry aside.
Allison checked the time, all relaxed efficiency once again. Rising, she headed for the kitchen, Zeus at her heels. “We pick up the girls at school and go back to their house and make cookies.”
We. Cade liked the sound of that. He also knew Allison was quite the perfectionist when it came to her baking. “Does that mean Zeus and I get to help cook?” he teased. “Or will we just be around for the cleanup?”
She laughed. “Are you kidding? We want you both there from start to finish.” Allison leaned down to scratch Zeus behind the ears. Then looked at Cade and smiled. “The girls and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Chapter Six
Four hours later, the spicy scent of freshly baked gingerbread and rich vanilla buttercream filled the Bailey kitchen. “Mr. Cade, you are terrible at this!” Jade said.
Her face dotted with equal parts flour and confectioners’ sugar, Amber pointed at the gingerbread Santa made out of dough. “It’s all wrinkly!”
Four Christmas Matchmakers Page 6