She felt a sudden surge of warmth. It burned in her throat, her face. And she found she was unable to look away from those unfocused glacier-like eyes. They were the palest shade of blue she’d ever seen, yet they made her feel warm all over. There was such an intensity in his face, his gaze, that she felt as if he had become the world. She had no idea why she suddenly felt so lost in this stranger. Even odder was the thought that she wanted to be lost in him forever.
He was probably even more attractive when he wasn’t sloppy drunk, but he wasn’t bad that night. His brown hair fell just below the collar of his black fleece jacket. He was a little taller than Whitney, so that if she were to press herself to him, her head would get buried in his shoulder. Not that she was thinking of doing anything like that. He wasn’t too skinny, but he wasn’t bulky with too much muscle, either. He was solid. Well, physical appearance-wise anyway.
After seconds that seemed to last hours, he said, “Sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
“Really? I was right in front of your face,” Whitney said, backing away from the odor of his alcohol-soaked breath. She didn’t mean to be rude, but the drunken fool had nearly knocked her over, she hadn’t had the most fun Christmas Day, and she didn’t have time to find him intriguing and attractive.
“Oh, yeah, well, again. Sorry.” Chace’s eyes moved to his hands on her shoulders, making both of them acutely aware of the fact that they were still there. He pulled his hands away from her and she felt her cheeks roasting. At least she could blame the sudden rush of blood to her face on the cold.
“It’s okay. Just watch where you’re going from now on,” Whitney said.
“Sure thing. Oh. Yeah. I’m Chace. You?”
“Whitney,” she said. “Nice meeting you, Chace.”
“You, too, Whitney,” he said with a crooked grin that made her heart skip a beat. She bet that grin had gotten him far with the ladies and would continue to. But there was no way it was going to work on her. “I’m usually not this much of a loser. I wish you hadn’t met me this way.”
Whitney nodded, wondering if his words were true or not.
“Have a beautiful night. You’re so beautiful. Christmas is beautiful. Merry Christmas, Beautiful Whitney.”
“Merry Christmas.” Whitney fought a smile.
Chace saluted her and staggered over to Tim, who was sitting on the curb. Tim was something of the town drunk. He handed a brown bag to Chace.
“Thanks for watching my stuff, man,” Chace said to Tim.
“Any time,” Tim said before nodding a greeting to Whitney.
Whitney waved to Tim before hurrying into the 7-11. She needed to find a present and get away from the riff-raff. Even if the riff-raff was kind of sexy.
Whitney wandered up and down the aisles of junk food and trinkets and maps, unable to concentrate on the task at hand. Her mind was full of Chace. She couldn’t stop herself from making excuses to walk past the large windows and the glass doors at the front of the store to catch glimpses of the back of his head and occasionally his profile as he talked to Tim.
Whitney hadn’t had these grin-inducing, fluttery type of feelings for a guy ever. She’d had crushes. Been attracted to plenty of guys. But none of them had the impact Chace had on her. And not just because he’d nearly knocked her down.
There was something about him. She knew next to nothing about the man and, still, she felt like he was the type of guy who could make a girl forget everything else in the world. And it had to be nice to forget everything for a while except for something bright and beguiling like Chace’s smile. Not that she had any idea what it was like to be able to forget the world. She’d never really wanted to. She considered herself a pragmatist, and she liked being one.
But maybe it wouldn’t have been a bad thing to lose herself just once. For a little while. What she’d felt outside a few moments ago had been thrilling in a scary sort of way. For some reason, she couldn’t stop thinking the ridiculous thought that she’d been asleep for twenty-eight years until Chace had awakened her outside by putting his hands on her shoulders and looking into her eyes.
She hadn’t realized she was standing at the window, staring at the back of Chace’s coat until someone walked into the 7-11, setting off the door chime. Whitney shook her head slightly, bringing herself back to reality. Chace turned toward the store and she hurried away from the window, hoping he hadn’t seen her staring.
She had to concentrate. She was there to get a gift for her stepdad—ex-stepdad? She never knew what to call him since everything seemed awkward, and she usually just went with his first name. Anyway, she needed a gift for him and his girlfriend. She wasn’t there to ogle some stranger she’d shared a momentary weirdness with. Maybe she was just horny. That was it. She hadn’t had sex in over a year and Chace was hot. Just hormones. That was all.
Whitney walked past the wine, Boone’s Farm and Sutter Homes and the rest of the wide selection. So many choices. Yeah. Right. Not that she could get alcohol, anyway. Quinton was a recovering alcoholic, and Whitney didn’t think his sponsor would appreciate that gift.
Next, she went down the trinket aisle. She spied a few Christmas-themed trinkets. She ran her fingers lightly over a deck of playing cards, thinking of nothing in particular. Trying not to, anyway. It was a shame. She couldn’t even concentrate on one simple task. It wasn’t like she had many gift choices in front of her. It shouldn’t have been so hard.
She sighed, scanning the magazines in front of her with half-interest. She wanted to go back outside and talk to Chace. Escape her family for the rest of the night and see if she could figure out what about him had jolted her so much. She knew all of that was out of the question, though.
She glanced up at the bored-looking cashier. She needed to get out of the store. Above all else, being close to Chace for too long would lead to her doing stupid things. Yeah, it was time to go.
Whitney walked up to the counter and smiled at the yawning cashier. “Do you have anything I could give as a Christmas present?”
“Talk about your last-minute shopper.” The cashier laughed at himself as if he’d cracked the funniest joke ever told.
“I can’t argue with you there.” She forced a smile. “So, do you have anything?”
“We have some Christmas CDs, uh, a few holiday things over in the back there with the souvenirs. Not much, though. Sorry.”
Whitney nodded. She’d noticed those “holiday things” he’d mentioned. A baby bib informing the reader that “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer,” a Frosty the Snowman pen, a couple of dusty snow globes, some Christmas candy in dented boxes, and a red and green “Season’s Greetings” baseball cap.
“Thanks,” she said.
“No problem.”
Whitney circled the store again, forcing herself not to look outside even though her eyes sought out Chace independent of her will.
A few minutes later, she carried an armload of junk to the front of the store. She didn’t have time to be selective and there wasn’t much to select from anyway. She had to get away before she did something stupid like ask Chace if he had anywhere to go for Christmas and invite him home with her if he didn’t.
She dumped a flashlight, copies of Jet and People magazines, several packages of gum, a snow globe, batteries, a generic Christmas card, the Christmas baseball cap she’d seen earlier, and a gift bag onto the counter. Reaching for her purse, she wondered if everything would fit into the bag. The only gift bag she’d been able to find that even remotely looked Christmas-like was a red medium-sized one. Looking at the bag and her stash again, she picked up the magazines, took them back to their shelf, and then went back to the counter. That was better. It would probably all fit now.
After paying for her purchases and stuffing everything into the gift bag, she left the store. Her traitorous eyes strayed in the direction of where Chace sat on the curb next to Tim. Tim waved and said hello to her and wished her a merry Christmas. She returned Tim’s greeting, and then Cha
ce turned toward her. He caught her eye and smiled.
He lifted his brown bag to her in a wave. “Merry Christmas, Beautiful Whitney.”
She smiled. Her family issues shouldn’t make her be rude to this guy who may have just been having a bad day. After all, he hadn’t done anything but run into her, and he’d already apologized a million times for that. It wasn’t his fault she was trying to avoid being attracted to him because it was crazy to think she could feel a connection with someone moments after seeing him for the first time in her life.
She waved to him. “Merry Christmas, Chace.”
Maybe it was her imagination, but she thought that his grin widened and his face brightened a little.
She walked to her car, a smile playing at the edges of her lips.
Chapter 4: And As He Watched Her Walk Away…
Chace watched Whitney walk to her car. He knew the smile on his face was a goofy one even though he couldn’t see it. She had the sexiest walk. She had the most sexiest everything. Beautiful Whitney. The word didn’t even do justice to her. He’d probably never see her again, though. He didn’t know anything about her other than her first name. Slowly, it dawned on his alcohol-soaked brain that Tim had said something to Beautiful Whitney.
Chace turned to Tim. “You know her?”
Tim nodded. “That’s Whitney Jones. Jo’s child. Known her all her life, I reckon.”
“Whitney Jones.” Chace said the name slowly, letting the syllables roll around his tongue. He was drunk, sure, but he knew perfection when he saw it. For a moment, looking into her eyes, he’d almost forgotten all about Kelly and the giant mess that had brought him there—drinking malt liquor on a curb outside 7-11 with Tim. On Christmas night. Tim could always be seen around town with a paper bag. Mostly right out in front of that 7-11 where they were sitting.
Chace stared at the car she’d gotten into. “How come I’ve never seen her around?”
“She’s not here much. Lives in D.C. Works at some big, fancy law firm. She doesn’t come home much anymore.” Tim took a swig from his bottle and wiped his mouth.
“What else do you know about her?” He wanted to know everything about that woman. Whitney Jones.
“Oh, not much. She went to college at some fancy school up north. Harvard or one of them. Then she went to Howard Law School. Now she’s making the big bucks.”
“She married?”
“Not that one. Far from it. I’ve never even known her to bring any man home with her when she comes to visit.”
“Hmm.” Chace watched the sleek black sedan pull out of the parking spot in front of the store and glide onto the road. He’d caught her watching him from the store a few times. He’d thought about going in to say hi, but, even in his inebriated state, he realized he hadn’t made the best first impression on her, and he didn’t want to freak her out.
“What you thinking about, boy? I know you not thinking about Whitney. Didn’t you say you had a girl?”
“ ‘Had’ is key. She left.” Chace upended his bottle and chugged down half of what was left in it.
“Aw, you young kids. Always breaking up for nothing. Y’all probably be back together by tomorrow.”
Chace didn’t say anything. He hadn’t told Tim why he and Kelly had broken up.
“You know I’m right, boy. I’m always right. I’ve seen it all, know it all, just about.”
Chace felt something special for her already. The thought struck him as odd. Love at first sight? Nah. That didn’t exist in real life. But didn’t some people say they just knew? Wasn’t that what his brother had said about his wife? Chace hadn’t “just known” with Kelly, but eventually things had started to click with her. Kelly. Oh, Kelly. He buried his face in his hands and moaned.
“You all right, boy? You not gonna be sick all over my curb, is you?”
“No. I’m fine.” Chace looked up and smiled at the man with coarse, curly gray-black hair, a mustache that reminded Chace of a gray broom that had seen better days, and kind brown eyes.
Chace sighed. “You know where she lives? Whitney?”
“Boy, you think you gone over her. That’s just the liquor messing with you.”
It wasn’t. He’d felt a connection with her he didn’t know how to explain. He had to see her again. He didn’t know how he’d make it happen, but he had to. “Tim, it’s not the alcohol. Really.” He put down his bottle. “Please. Just tell me where she lives. I promise not to do anything crazy like just show up there.”
“Her family don’t live in town. Live out near Bedford’s farm somewhere. That’s all I know.”
Chace nodded, drawing his knees up to his chest and staring at the spot where Whitney’s car had been parked.
His cell phone rang and he took it out of his pocket and stared down at the screen. He pushed a button and held it to his ear. “Hi, Cliff.”
“Bro, were you going to call to wish anybody in this family a happy Christmas?” Cliff had taken to saying things like “happy Christmas” ever since he’d married his British wife.
“Mom and Dad are in Maui. They’ll call when they get around to it. You know how they are when they go on one of their vacations. And I was getting around to calling you.”
“Dude, it’s nine o’clock at night. Exactly when were you gonna call?”
“I dunno.”
“Are you drunk?”
“Maybe.”
“What, you and Kelly boozing it up for the holidays? Shouldn’t you be at her parents’ place right now?”
“Kelly and I broke up. Yesterday.” The words didn’t feel right on his tongue. They felt kind of heavy. And dead. But they seemed to hurt a little less than they had before he’d run into…Beautiful Whitney.
“You what? Whoa. Really? On Christmas Eve?”
“That’s what I said.”
“What happened exactly?”
“I don’t want to get into it right now.”
“Ethan’s gonna love this. He never did like her.”
Chace groaned. “Yeah.” He didn’t want to even think about telling Ethan, his best friend. Ethan often referred to Kelly as ‘devil without the blue dress.’ He didn’t want to hear the I-told-you-she’d-break-your heart crap Ethan was going to give him. Luckily, Ethan was in New Zealand at the moment. Chace had wanted to go on the trip, but Kelly had guilted him into staying at home and getting serious about his career. Or rather, the career she’d picked out for him. She hadn’t considered his career path a real one. They’d had a huge fight over it.
“The kids loved their presents from Uncle Chace,” Cliff said.
He grinned. One thing had gone right that Christmas, at least. Well, really, two, but he wasn’t going to bring up Beautiful Whitney. There wasn’t even anything to tell. “That’s good. I’m glad.”
“And Emma asked about you.”
“Tell everybody I wish them a ‘happy’ Christmas and give ’em big, fat, sloppy kisses for me.”
“I definitely will. Hey, man, you coming up for New Year’s?”
“Maybe.” Being around his brother so soon after what had happened would make him more miserable. Their dad had retired, and Cliff had taken over the family business and started turning a huge profit with it.
He was almost certain Kelly wouldn’t have left him if he’d been more like Cliff. Stable income. Big house. Cliff had done everything he was supposed to. He was the typical provider. Chace had tried that route, but it wasn’t for him. He knew he’d made the right decision, but he couldn’t help but second guess himself that night. The second guessing would only get worse if he went to Cliff’s house for New Year’s Eve.
“Really try, man. We miss ya. Ethan’s out of town. You don’t have any family down in Podunk where you moved to for—uh, anyway, you should come visit. Emma and I are going out that night. We have a sitter. Come with, it’ll be a blast.”
“I’ll think about it. I promise.”
“Do.”
“Okay, I gotta go.” Chace rubbed his th
umb and index fingers across his eyebrows.
“All right, but call me sometime, okay?”
“I will. Catch you later, Cliff.”
“Bye, bro.”
Chace tucked his phone into his jacket pocket.
“Family problems?” Tim’s eyes crinkled at the edges when he smiled.
Something like that, sure. “You know it.”
Tim slapped his knee and laughed. “Don’t I? Boy, don’t I ever.”
Chace smiled, only half-listening to what Tim said next. His mind went not to his family, not to Kelly, but to Beautiful Whitney. And the grin she’d flashed at him before walking away. The image was lodged in his mind and he hoped it stayed there.
Chapter 5: A Train Wreck, or Another Jones Family Christmas
Once Whitney got home with the present, she could tell things were going sour. It was inevitable with the whole family together. Whitney slipped the gift to her mom who handed it over. Quinton and Dawn thanked them. Not long after, the feature film Jones Family Drama started.
Aunt Cheryl rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t know why you still buy him presents. He owe you money.”
Whitney’s mother’s smile grew thin. Aunt Cheryl had been chipping away at her all day. Jo didn’t like people analyzing her relationship with Quinton. They were still friends. It was Jo’s choice to stay friends with him and her mistake to worry about if it was one. That was what she always said.
“What, Jo? You know it’s true,” Aunt Cheryl said while glowering at Quinton.
“It’s none of your business either way. You know I don’t like you talking about my family like that.” Jo took a deep breath.
“Quinton ain’t none of your family anymore.”
Jo shook her head. “He’s Devon’s father and he’ll always be family.”
Aunt Cheryl smirked at Shorty. “What you think about that? Your wife calling that no-good scum family?”
Devon’s jaw tightened. Whitney put a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged away from her.
The living room grew silent except for the occasional crackle of logs in the fireplace. Shorty and Jo refused to switch to a gas fireplace.
Holding Her Breath (Indigo) Page 4