“Allison and I are going to take a video, too,” Cade soothed when the call had ended. “So we will all be able to look at it later,” he finished, his low, sexy voice generating a tsunami of need deep within her.
Not daring to look him in the eye, Allison picked up where he had left off, instructing, “In the meantime, we need to eat an early dinner and then go upstairs and begin getting ready.” The girls were due to arrive back at the school by 6:15 p.m., with the performance starting at 7:00 p.m.
Unfortunately, they didn’t want their grilled cheese bites and apple slices any more than they had wanted to taste the sweet treats.
The process of getting ready went even worse. “I don’t want my hair brushed!” Sienna shouted.
“These shoes hurt!” Hazel said.
“They won’t stay on! They keep falling off!” Sienna agreed.
“I don’t want to wear all the same dresses!” Jade said.
“And I’m not going unless Zeus can go with us!” Amber pouted.
Cade let out a whistle worthy of any athletic coach. The shrill sound stopped everyone in their tracks. “Enough,” he said sternly, commanding the room as easily as he commanded a baseball field. He paused to look each one of the girls in the eye. “I know you’re upset. I’m sorry about that. But we are going to go tonight. And we are going to have a good time, because that is what your mommy and daddy want us to do.” He paused to let his words sink in while Allison breathed a silent sigh of relief. “Got it?”
The girls nodded glumly but did not argue further. While Allison rushed to get ready to go, too, and Cade took Zeus outside, the girls huddled on the sofa, pouting and talking softly among themselves. Luckily, by the time they were out the door and on their way, the girls seemed to have come to the conclusion that whether their parents were present or not, the show was absolutely going to go on.
* * *
Parents and other family weren’t allowed backstage, so Allison and Cade dropped the quadruplets off with their teacher and then took their seats. The performance wasn’t going to start for another twenty minutes, yet Allison’s pulse was racing. Cade struggled to fit his big tall body into the too-small seat and smiled over at her.
Where their knees and shoulders aligned, they also touched. “Excited?”
Aware all over again how warm and strong his body felt when pressed against hers, Allison nodded. “Yes,” she said, smiling over at him. She couldn’t say why exactly, but she sensed this was going to be a night they remembered. Partly because in getting the girls here tonight, they’d had a hand in it. And partly because, she acknowledged wistfully to herself, had she and Cade not broken up eight years prior, they would have taken a very different path. And in fact, could have very well had their own children in this celebration, too.
But they hadn’t, so...the only thing that was left between them was the electric chemistry and kindhearted friendship they shared now.
Abruptly wondering if that was going to be enough, for either of them, Allison noted how handsome he looked in his sport coat and tie. How ready to be a father, too.
And if that was true, too. Was it possible? Could they build on what they had now? Dare to pursue more?
Maybe the real question was, how could they not?
Swallowing around the sudden knot of emotion in her throat, she struggled to get her thoughts back on track. “What about you?” she asked, turning toward him slightly and feeling her knee nudge his thigh through the fabric of his slacks. “Are you excited?”
He squeezed her forearm affectionately. “Surprisingly so.”
Not surprised to find them similarly affected, Allison waved at old friends who were coming into the other side of the auditorium, then turned back to Cade and leaned in close. “Thanks for being with me earlier. I don’t think I could have managed that on my own tonight.”
In an effort to get more comfortable in the too-small space, Cade rested his arm along the back of her chair. He tilted his head toward hers and squeezed her shoulder lightly. “Sure you could have,” he countered easily. “But you’re right. We are much better as a team.”
He was right about that. Individually, they might make good stand-in parents. But together, they made great ones.
So, if family and Cade was what she wanted...and she was beginning to see it was...why was she still holding back? Especially in this season of giving. No one had ever made her feel as happy and complete as Cade did. Yes, he could still hurt and disappoint her, and she could do the same to him. But she could also trust that they were older and wiser and would do much better this time, as a couple. And honestly, wasn’t faith and hope what Christmastime was all about?
Ready finally to take the next step toward a happily-ever-after with him, she looked him in the eye. “You asked me about a hot date when our babysitting gig is all done,” she reminded him in a soft, confidential tone. And she had delayed giving him a decision. No longer. “My answer is yes.”
His grin widened, but he did not look surprised. He squeezed her shoulder again, promising, “I’ll start planning for a night out, just the two of us, as soon as Shawn and Sarabeth get back to Laramie.”
And knowing him, Allison suspected it would be spectacular.
More people filtered in. Near the stage on the other side of the room, his old baseball coach took a seat. His brother Gabe and his wife, Susannah, were also in attendance, to see their quintuplets perform, too. Cade nodded at them both when they waved. “Mind if I say hello?” he asked.
“Not at all.” It would give her a chance to check her messages. Which was something she hadn’t had an opportunity to do.
As she’d half feared, there were several from Laurel Grimes. The last said, Call me ASAP!
Happy that Cade was otherwise occupied talking to family and old friends, she left her sweater on one seat, her bag on the other, marking them as taken, and then took her phone out into the far end of the hallway for privacy.
“Thank goodness!” the HITN producer said. “I’ve been trying to get you all afternoon.”
Embarrassed to have been caught neglecting her work, in favor of her personal life, Allison murmured, “Sorry. What’s up?”
“Tripp Taylor...”
The HITN programming director.
“...saw the salad post you put up. He had the same question I did. Why so much food? No single woman would eat that much in one sitting. And if your plan was to make enough for two meals, why didn’t you show how to store the rest separately?”
Allison winced. “I...” The truth was, she had no reason. Other than her thoughts had also been on Cade and his interview, and how he might be feeling afterward, instead of just on her assigned task.
“Do you realize how tight this race is? You can’t afford to be off-brand like that!”
Allison rubbed at the new tension in her temples. “I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“Good, because Jennifer Moore is doing everything perfectly. You still have a slight edge, thanks to the Dos and Don’ts holiday decorating advice you put up. Tripp Taylor thinks your blog is more relatable to the average viewer, and that the upscale audience City Lights targets might be more drawn to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Lab on Netflix than anything on HITN. But...if you slip up again, in any way...or fail to live up to your brand...”
Allison’s whole body tensed. “I get it. I’ll do better,” she said, feeling a little panicky. Why had she convinced herself she could spend equal amounts of time on her personal life and her career, and still be just as successful?
Laurel warned, “Whatever you turn in tomorrow for the Scents of the Holiday post needs to be fabulous.”
“It will be,” Allison promised.
Aware the performance was about to start, she ended the call and headed back to find her seat. Cade scrutinized her. “Everything okay?”
She nodded. �
�Small problem at work. Nothing to worry about.” Because she was going to fix it. Even if it meant staying up all night to do so.
The music started.
Slowly, the curtains parted.
The stage was filled with thirty pre-K students arranged in a single line, facing the audience. The quadruplets were all standing together toward the center of the group.
And Allison realized with a sinking heart that despite the way they had seemed to calm down after Cade’s “pep talk,” they still had not really regained their holiday spirit. As they sang “Deck the Halls,” all four seemed to be scanning the audience, looking for their parents. They scowled as their gazes fell on Allison and Cade, and they continued looking as the first song ended and “Jingle Bells” began.
The audience oohed and aahed as the kids used handheld jingle bells to accentuate every note, giving the song an extra holiday feel.
Everyone, it seemed, but Sienna, who was wiggling her foot around in her sparkly too-stiff new shoes. Then, frowning, she toed one off.
Amber noticed and stopped singing long enough to give her sister a goading look.
Which compelled Sienna to toe off the other one, with even more force this time.
It flipped upward, went airborne, then sailed over the edge of the stage onto the floor. Fortunately, the combination of vigorously shaken jingle bells, the children’s voices and the piano music muffled the splat of leather hitting tile. In fact, Allison noted with relief, most parents were so focused on their own kids that no one in the audience save Cade and herself really noticed. But Jade had seen, and she could not stop giggling. As “Silver Bells” started, she put both hands on her hips and easily kicked her own shoes off. They sailed out into the audience, causing several parents to chuckle, others to gasp in surprise and several more to frown.
“Oh, no,” Allison whispered, clasping Cade’s arm in horror.
“‘Oh, no’ is right,” he murmured back, trying in vain to signal the girls to behave.
One of the “stage help” moms tried to get the attention of the girls from the wings, also with no luck. A grinning Hazel, no longer interested in the Christmas show at all, had decided to sit down, right where she was, and then do her favorite bicycling trick, with her hands holding up her hips, her skirt around her waist and her white-tight-clad legs pedaling hard and fast and high in the air.
Amber stepped closer to Hazel and began dancing ballerina-style around her as “Silver Bells” came to an end.
Worse, other students were seeing the quadruplets wildly misbehaving and were now off task, too, in the way only extremely excited four-year-olds could be. And just like that, it was like something out of the scene from A Charlie Brown Christmas where the play rehearsal abruptly spins out of control, and everyone was dancing and singing to their own tune.
The pianist started playing “Linus and Lucy,” the music from that scene.
Amber went from pirouetting to rocking out. Hazel stopped bicycling and shot to her feet, grinning. Jade and Sienna joined in, too. And that was all it took. Without exception, all the kids began mimicking variations of the Snoopy and Linus and Lucy choreography.
The parents, thinking it was a planned part of the performance, oohed and aahed in delight until the song ended and the curtains were closed.
Midshow!
“Should we go back?” Allison whispered, upset. Surely, they wouldn’t end the program on account of the quadruplets when only half the slated songs had been performed!
Cade shook his head. He reached over to put his hand on her forearm, his warm, solid strength transmitting through her cardigan to her skin. “Let the teachers handle it.”
Reluctantly, Allison did.
A very brief unplanned intermission was held. Finally, the drapes opened again and the performance continued, this time without interruption. Thunderous applause followed the last song. Feeling responsible for the melee, Allison and Cade went to collect the kids and take them to the cafeteria for the reception.
Seeing them, Gabe teased, “Well, you two babysitters clearly have everything under control.”
Susannah, who’d had her own embarrassing moments with their quintuplets, elbowed her husband. “Hush. Hi, Allison. I hear you’re up for a big new job.”
Allison blushed. She hadn’t told anyone in Laramie about the HITN opportunity, so this had to have come from Cade. “It’s just a possibility,” she allowed, not wanting to jinx it.
Sobering, Gabe asked Cade, “Speaking of new jobs... Have you heard anything yet?”
Cade shook his head, his expression solemn. “Maybe by Monday. At least that’s my hope.”
Gabe clapped him on the back. “Good luck, bro.”
He smiled. “Thanks.”
“You really want it, don’t you?” Allison murmured, while they threaded their way toward the kids, who were with the rest of their classmates, standing in line for treats.
Cade briefly wrapped his arm about her waist. “I need to go back to who I really am. A small-town guy with a big family, who grew up loving baseball.”
Which begged the question, Allison thought, as she leaned into his warm, compelling touch. Who was she really? A blogger destined for fame? Or a small-town gal who was tired of being alone? And most important of all, wanted what Cade had with the big, loving Lockhart clan.
* * *
The girls were so exhausted by the time they got them home, it was all Allison could do to get them into their pj’s, while Cade helped them brush their teeth. Together, they tucked them in.
Their eyes shut as soon as the lights were out. Five minutes later, all were sound asleep.
“I know you planned to work this evening,” Cade mentioned, as he walked downstairs with her.
She thought about what Laurel Grimes had said. How unhappy she had been with Allison, and how unhappy Allison had been with herself. Figuring Cade didn’t need to know that she had been more concerned with being there for him than properly fine-tuning her latest work challenges, she forced herself to get her ambition back on track. “Yes. I do.”
To her relief, he understood completely. He tucked an errant strand of her hair behind her ear. “How can I help?”
She watched Zeus rise and amble toward the front door, where he sat, waiting to go out. “Take Zeus for one last walk for me and then head home, so I can proceed without distraction?”
He eased her beneath the mistletoe the quadruplets had insisted on putting up. Seeming not to mind at all that she was kicking him out, he kissed her tenderly. “I think I can handle that.”
Allison wreathed her arms about his neck. “I’m happy to hear that,” she teased in return, aware all over again how very glad she was to have him back in her life. Even if she was going to have to be careful to keep things in balance professionally, after they started casually dating. And not let her love life upend her career goals, or her overly romantic notions cause her to misrepresent the facts to herself.
Yes, she and Cade had always made a good team when it came to being friends and lovers. It was when they let themselves expect more than that from each other, while they both navigated the career issues in their lives, that they’d hit a rough patch.
So, even if part of her still wanted marriage and a family with Cade, still wanted that dreamy happily-ever-after, there was another part of her that knew she could be content with things just as they were. And so could he.
At least through the holidays... Now, if she could just get the job she wanted, it would be a very merry Christmas, indeed.
Chapter Fifteen
“Are you sure you’re not mad at us?” Amber asked the next morning before school.
Jade ate a spoonful of cereal. “So mad you have to leave?”
A hopeful expression on her face, Sienna played with her toast. “And Mommy and Daddy have to come back early?”
Allis
on looked at Cade as a light bulb went off in her head. So that was what all the chaos on stage had been about! The girls had developed what they’d clearly felt was a surefire plan and then executed it during the performance.
Cade met her eyes and grinned in rueful acknowledgment. Clearly, they’d been had! Sobering, she turned back to the girls. “Your parents will be home as soon as the doctors give your dad permission to fly,” she promised.
In unison, the girls sighed, clearly disappointed their antics hadn’t worked. “We miss Mommy and Daddy,” the usually comical Hazel said glumly.
“I know,” Allison said gently.
“We all do,” Cade agreed.
The meal over, he stood and held out his arms. “Group hug.”
The girls sighed again but slid out of their chairs and moved toward him. He beckoned Allison over their heads, and she moved in to join the huddle.
It was moments like these, she thought, that made her long for a family of her own. With Cade. Which in turn made her wonder if her perfect single-woman life was going to be sustainable.
Fortunately, duty called. And she didn’t have any more time to think about it.
Together, she and Cade dropped the girls off at school.
He had just emerged from the car-pool line, onto the street, when Allison’s phone dinged, signaling a FaceTime request from Sarabeth coming in. Worried how they would take what had ultimately happened, she said, “Here we go,” and put her phone on speaker. The quadruplets’ parents appeared on-screen. “Hi, Sarabeth. Shawn.”
“Hey,” Sarabeth said cheerfully. “How did the performance go last night?”
Allison turned the phone toward her companion. Cade waved and continued driving.
“Shawn and I are dying to hear,” Sarabeth continued.
“Well, there were a few hijinks,” Allison said slowly. And then she explained.
To her relief, the quadruplets’ parents found it as amusing as most of the audience had. Especially when they understood the reason why, as had been revealed over breakfast. “Can we see it?” Shawn asked.
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