Hell on Heels Christmas

by A. P. Jensen

  “Say something,” Brooks said, brushing her hair back from her face.

  “I don’t have anything to say.”

  She tried to push off of him but he cursed and buried his face in her chest as his arms wrapped around her hips to hold her in place.

  “I don’t know what to do with you,” he said in a muffled voice.

  “You don’t have to do anything with me.”

  “Yes. I do. I can’t help myself.”

  He looked up at her and there was such want on his face it tied her stomach in knots. How did people stand to have someone look at them this way? Brooks looked at her as if she was his whole life and it terrified her. She wasn’t a good person for him. She was selfish, ambitious and she wouldn’t be the housewife he needed. Brooks needed an Allison. He needed a super nice bubbly wife who would put on an apron and make him cookies and lunch every day. She wasn’t that girl.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” she whispered.

  “I can’t help it.”

  “What do you want from me?” she whispered.

  “Everything.”

  “What if I can’t?”

  “I’ll take whatever you can.”

  She braced herself. “About marriage…”

  “Yeah?”

  “You know it scares me shitless.”

  “You were engaged to that billionaire,” he pointed out gruffly.

  “It made sense for us to be together. We worked well together and I put order into his company and his life and he likes that.”

  Brooks stared at her and she replayed her own words and couldn’t believe she would get engaged to someone for such coldblooded reasons. Maybe she had changed but when she caught Daniel cheating she had enough sense to break it off.

  “What are you so afraid of?”

  She let out a strained laugh. “I wish I knew. Before I was afraid of being trapped in White Mist, of not being able to see the world and now… I have no idea. I don’t know what I want.”

  “You seem happy. Are you?”

  She considered that. “Yes. I like the way things are going now but beyond that… I want to know I have a choice if I need to leave.”

  They sat in silence for several minutes. They were at a standoff and it was reminiscent of their past. He wanted marriage, stability and she wanted freedom. She pat his chest and kissed him on the cheek.

  “I need time. Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving. I’ll see you there.”

  Brooks didn’t try to stop her as she climbed over to the driver’s seat and let herself out. She walked back to the gym even as Brooks drove away. She walked over to the family and sat beside JC and leaned into him. He put his arm on the back of her chair.

  “What happened?” he asked quietly.

  “There must be something wrong with me. Brooks wants me and I keep holding him off.”

  “Do you love him?”

  She sighed and watched her nieces and nephews together. Did she want kids? A husband? What did she want and why was it so hard for her to decide?

  “I do but I don’t know if that’s enough.”

  “I’m not good at this love stuff either. Women say they’re okay with me taking off to go on shoots but then they start clinging and complaining. They don’t realize I have to travel to get the shots I need and I love it.”

  “You and I would actually be a great couple.”

  JC laughed. “Actually, you were irritated with me most of the time we were together.”

  She slapped his leg. “See! What the hell is wrong with me?”

  “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you. It’s just that you were so hurt by everyone turning against you when you left here that you’re overly cautious when committing to someone.”

  “You’re a good guy,” she sighed. “I’m happy you’re here.”

  “After Johnny told me about his trip here I had to see for myself. It’s bizarre seeing you in this setting but it fits.”

  “Regan, we gotta go,” Valerie said.

  Regan turned to JC and kissed him. “You’re coming tomorrow, right?”

  “Yeah. Around noon, right?”

  “Right.”

  The Delaney’s trotted out to the parking lot, bundled up against the cold. She rode in the back of Missy’s huge SUV and listened to everyone chatter. When she and Valerie walked into her house and hung up their coats Valerie touched her arm.

  “You wanna talk about it?”

  “Nah. I think I just need to sleep on it.”

  Regan went up to her room and pulled out her laptop. Her lips quirked in a smile when she saw how many items sold. She made a spreadsheet and uploaded more photos and checked her emails. Her brows rose when she saw that the emails weren’t from Daniel or Erica or her employees but requests for merchandise from her business contacts around the world.

  Regan woke before the sun was up and carried her laptop downstairs so she could work while she drank her first cup of coffee. It was a blast from the past to see her mom covered in flour with at least ten pie crusts covering the table and lined up neatly on the counter.

  “Happy Thanksgiving!”

  Valerie rushed over to hug Regan and covered her in flour in the process. Regan smiled, dusted herself off and made herself a space on the counter to perch while she drank her coffee and read emails. Her mom bustled around, bursting with energy and excitement. When Regan offered to help, Valerie sent her a horrified look. Shrugging and content to wash dishes when the pile was in danger of overflowing the sink Regan answered emails while the kitchen filled with the smell of baking pies.

  Regan watched her mom over the screen of her computer as she bustled around, humming to herself and pouring pumpkin and custard into the crusts. For ten years she avoided anything to do with the holidays and yet here she was, watching her mom bake pies and partake in her first Thanksgiving dinner in years.

  “I’m going to head into the store for a while,” Regan said.

  Valerie was appalled. “You can’t work on Thanksgiving! It’s a holiday. We’re closed!”

  Regan smiled. “I just need to take care of some stuff. I won’t be gone more than an hour.”

  “Hurry up because we have to go to Paula’s and help her with the turkey and the rest of the food.”

  Regan changed and walked to the store, texting JC on the way. Regan pulled items off the shelves, wrapped them carefully and then typed labels online and slapped them on the boxes. She actually had to spread out the remaining items because the shelves were suddenly so bare. JC drove up as she pushed all the boxes to the front door.

  “I guess we can thank Daniel for teaching you about business,” JC puffed as he helped her carry all the boxes to his car.

  She took a break, sitting on the bumper of the car. “I’m not mad at Daniel.”

  “Why? Don’t tell me you’re thinking of getting back with him.”

  She glared. “Do you think I’m stupid? I’m not mad at him because if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be able to help my mom now. All those contacts he made me keep in touch with is paying off. Who knew when I came back my mom would need help?”

  “I guess,” JC said as they carried the next load. “But you must have felt something when you walked in on them. I heard Daniel’s a control freak in bed.”

  “When I walked in on him I was pissed because they were doing it on a report I wrote. That’s about it. I was engaged to him but I didn’t feel like his fiancé. You know it was more business than anything else.”

  “Yeah. That’s why I couldn’t believe you said yes.”

  Regan shrugged. “I didn’t have anything else.”

  JC gestured around the small town. “So you thought. Now look at you.”

  She shoved her hands in her pockets and looked around White Mist. Several weeks ago she drove into town, not sure if her mom was alive or if her family still lived here. Now she was living with her mom and she was helping out with the thing her mom cared about the most- her shop. Regan looked at all of the boxe
s in the back of their cars and felt like a gleeful elf. She hadn’t told her mom about the sales yet. She thought it would be a nice way to repay her mom for… everything. Knowing that she had a place to come back to was priceless and this was a small recompense for welcoming her back so easily.

  They drove to the post office and nearly maxed out the drop box with all of their packages. JC followed her to the Hawking’s house and it was a struggle to find a place to park. It was holiday tradition to have Thanksgiving at Paula’s house and Christmas at Valerie’s. There was an odd sense of déjà vu as she stared at the house and the familiar decorations and the men smoking on the porch while the women cooked inside. Teenagers and kids played football in the front yard while the guys kept score.

  Regan wiped sweaty hands on her pants as she got out of the car. She couldn’t figure out why she was so nervous. She saw Brooks truck and knew he was around and she still didn’t know what to say to him.

  “Who are all these people?” JC asked warily.

  They were both loners by choice and at the moment Regan felt a little out of her depth. People were turning to look at her, some with welcoming smiles and others with unreadable faces. Most of these people were Hawking relatives. Regan tilted up her chin as several kids rushed up to her. She didn’t realize she knew them until the boy wrapped his arms around her leg and looked up at her.

  “Luke!” Regan leaned down to hug him and felt a little better when he wrapped his arms around her neck and let her pick him up.

  “Aunty Regan, why are you so late?” Sophie demanded.

  Regan frowned. “I’m not late.”

  “Mom said you’re always late so you don’t have to help,” Sophie reported.

  Regan opened her mouth to inform her niece about a few important facts but Bobby picked that moment to poke JC in the stomach.

  “My dad said you’re the third guy he’s seen Aunty Regan kiss since she came back,” Bobby said and stuck out his tongue in disgust.

  “That’s not true.” Regan set Luke down and pounced on Bobby. “I’ve kissed you too.”

  To punctuate her message she held onto his face and kissed him until he pleaded to be set free. When he got away his face was beet red and he wiped his face with his sleeve and glared at her.

  “That’s so gross!” Bobby hollered and stomped away.

  “I like kisses,” Luke said and turned his face up.

  Regan promptly covered his face in kisses, causing Luke to giggle and laugh. Sophie crossed her arms and tapped her foot in a good imitation of her mother.

  “Aunty Regan, mom’s gonna get mad if you don’t hurry up,” Sophie said.

  “Your mom’s always mad,” Regan said as Guy ambled over. “Hey there officer.”

  “From what I hear, you’re behaving yourself,” Guy said.

  Regan shrugged. “Don’t want to do too much too soon. I want to break you in easy.”

  Guy cracked a smile. “I can’t believe you and Missy are sisters.”

  “Me either.”

  Regan introduced JC and led him up the stairs to the porch where she made her rounds, kissing the cheeks or hugging the men assembled which included Uncle Al, Wade and Max. Regan glared at Max who rolled his eyes and sidled up to chat up JC so she could go in the house. Once inside she was bombarded by Hawking women.

  “I heard you and Brooks were back together, dear,” Mary Jo said archly, patting Regan’s hand. “I’m hoping for the best this time around.”

  “I heard you’re helping your mom with the store. Isn’t that nice?”

  “I hope you’re planning on staying in White Mist. You wouldn’t want to break your mom’s heart again, now, would you?”

  Regan broke through the mass of strong perfume and bony cheekbones only to run headlong into the second group of women who were tending babies and toddlers.

  “I heard you brought a rock star into town a couple of weeks ago. How did you meet him? Did you sleep with him?”

  “Are you really with Brooks? Seriously, I don’t think he ever got over you. I don’t know why he married Allison. We all knew he was still in love with you.”

  “Who’s that guy you came with? Is he married?”

  “I heard you were engaged to a billionaire! Is that true?”

  Regan finally made her way into the kitchen and passed Valerie, Paula and Missy. She opened up the back door and took deep breaths of cold, fresh air before she turned to face the kitchen.

  “Didn’t you miss all this?” Missy said with a fake smile.

  Regan glared at her. “Why is there so many of them? Damn.”

  “If you were boring no one would bother you,” Valerie informed her.

  Regan hitched herself onto the counter. “Don’t they have anything better to do than gossip about me?”

  Missy placed even slices of white and dark turkey on separate platters. “No.”

  “You said you weren’t going to be long,” Valerie said disapprovingly.

  “I had to take care of the last shipment,” Regan said airily and reached into her back pocket, pulled out an envelope and handed it to her mom. “Because this is the day of thanks I wanted to give you this. It’s a summary of the sales we’ve made from putting everything online.”

  Paula and Missy stopped what they were doing and crowded behind Valerie as she pulled out the paper, unfolded it and went ghost white. Valerie’s mouth dropped and Missy snatched the paper held it up to the light as if that might change the amount.

  Paula’s eyes were narrowed. “There must be some mistake.”

  Regan took a slice of turkey and popped it in her mouth. “Why?”

  “This isn’t possible.”

  “You’ve never tried it. This is how people are selling nowadays. This way you can work from home and you don’t need to pay for a lease.”

  Missy looked at Regan as if she had never seen her before. “You sold all that junk?”

  “You mean treasure!” Valerie said, snatching the paper from her.

  Regan frowned at Missy. “You think it’s junk because you don’t have any taste. That shirt is so ugly-” Regan yelped when Valerie slapped her hand when she tried to snatch more turkey. “Hey! I’m going to make you rich!”

  “That’s great but keep your hands out of the food.”

  Regan slipped off the counter and was caught up in a tight hug from her mom. She could feel her mom shaking so she wrapped her arms tight around her.

  “You deserve it,” Regan whispered in her ear.

  “I’m glad you’re home.”

  “Me too.”

  Valerie took a deep breath and shoved a platter in her hands. “Take this out and put it on the table.”

  “You’re sending me out there by myself?” Regan protested.

  “Be a big girl.”

  “If someone has to go to the hospital tonight don’t get mad at me.”

  Regan started out of the kitchen and came face to face with Kerry who had an adorable little girl on her hip with missing teeth. Kerry’s face hardened and Regan went around her and set the platter down on the table. She looked up and saw Allison sitting on the couch with the elderly women and her daughter. Could this get any worse? She saw women turning towards her and she backed up, wondering if she should make a dash for it when she came up against something hard and unyielding. She turned and looked up at Brooks.

  “Happy Thanksgiving,” he said quietly.

  “Happy Thanksgiving.”

  On the periphery of her vision she saw the women pausing, not wanting to interrupt. Even as she opened her mouth to say something Paula, Valerie and Missy came out of the kitchen with the rest of the food.

  “Let’s eat!”

  The men shuffled in and suddenly the room was filled to the brim with people. Someone turned the Christmas music down and everyone stood in a circle, hand clasped as Uncle Al called for silence so he could bless the food. Brooks grabbed one of her hands while Angel made her way to Regan’s side and took her other hand. She could hear An
gel humming as Uncle Al prayed. At the end of the prayer Brooks squeezed her hand and released her. Regan made her way over to the food and somehow got stuck helping her nieces and nephews make their plates and forced the older kids to turn off a horror movie so the younger ones wouldn’t be permanently scarred. She ended up in the hallway sitting with her back against the wall with the kids.

  Angel fell asleep with her head in Regan’s lap while she watched Bobby and Luke play with Kerry’s son. She felt pleasantly drowsy and was happy to see JC deep in conversation with Uncle Al. Brooks came over with a slice of pie and sat on the floor beside her.

  “Enjoying yourself?” Brooks murmured.

  She took a forkful of custard and moaned in delight. “Hell yeah.”

  One side of her body pressed against him and she could smell his cologne. Her body heated and she would have edged away from him but Angel was splayed over her. Desire heated her blood and she tilted her head up to look at him and felt her breathe seize.

  “You’ve had time to think,” he said.

  The front door opened and a gorgeous man dressed in a gray suit with a red silk tie and black trench coat stepped into the house. Regan stared even as Missy walked out of the kitchen with another pie and stopped dead. Missy stared at Daniel who smiled charmingly at her. Missy raised the pie to throw at him and Daniel’s eyes widened in alarm. Regan gently rolled Angel to the side and got to her feet.

  “Missy,” Regan snapped and Missy froze. “I got this.”

  Even as Regan started forward people were turning to examine the newcomer and those that knew who Daniel was gaped or threw accusing glances Regan’s way. JC barreled out of the crowd, French spewing from his mouth. He shoved his cousin who staggered back a step.

  “How dare you come here! Haven’t you done enough?” JC demanded.

  “I need to see her,” Daniel said calmly.

  “She made her decision,” JC snapped.

  “I want to talk to her.”

  When JC took another aggressive step forward Regan stepped between the two men. JC grabbed her arm and squeezed.

  “You don’t have to talk to him, Regan. You don’t owe him anything,” JC said.