Holiday Affair

by Lisa Plumley

  Evaluator Notes: THIS MAY BE THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!

  “And that’s why I liked him so much.” Alexis drew up her knees, then hugged them close. She’d been sitting in the B&B’s snug window seat with Karina and Nicole for the past half hour, describing parts of her family’s monthlong stay in New Zealand. “It wasn’t the accent, I swear!” she emphasized. “It was that Liam was nice. And cute. And so good with his hands, too!”

  Surprised, Karina blinked. Alexis might be a little worldlier than was typical, but she was still an eleven-year-old girl. It couldn’t possibly be appropriate for her to be considering a particular boy’s, um, dexterity. Could it?

  “Liam could disassemble a cell phone in thirty seconds flat!” Alexis went on, her eyes shining with remembrance. “Or an engine, or anything! He was perfect for me. Totally perfect. My dad didn’t get that, though. Not like you did, Karina. You knew what I meant from the minute I started telling you about Liam.”

  Karina smiled. “Well, I have had crushes on boys before.”

  “It’s not just that,” Alexis insisted. “It’s that you like talking about boys. About me! My dad tries. He listens. But—”

  “But he’s pretty clueless about things sometimes,” Nicole confided in a cheerfully matter-of-fact voice. “Especially about us. I think it’s because he uses up all his energy traveling around and taking his clients into the Outback and stuff.”

  “Uh-huh,” Alexis agreed. “He gets busy, then poof! He quits paying attention. It’s like with Liam. Just when things were getting good, my dad had to go and get another job in stupid Timbuktu. He should have known I wouldn’t want to go there!”

  “It was Uzbekistan,” Nicole specified primly. “Amanda would be disappointed to hear you mess up geography like that.”

  “Oh yeah? Well…” Alex is waved her arm, her pert, pretty face turning newly truculent. “Amanda’s opinion doesn’t matter anymore, now that she’s deserting us to go to culinary school. And to stay here with Rodrigo! So who cares about geography?”

  “Oh yeah. That’s right.” Nicole gave a sad little sound. “I forgot…. Amanda’s staying here.”

  Both girls lapsed into silence, thoughts of Liam forgotten. Sitting between them with the wintery winds blowing snow at the windowpanes, Karina felt her heart go out to Alexis and Nicole. It wouldn’t be easy for them to lose their nanny/tutor.

  “Amanda must feel almost like family by now,” she said.

  The girls nodded. “She is our family. My dad and Amanda—they’re all we have. Most of the time, at least.” Nicole gazed out the window, looking past the jolly, cling-on Christmas decorations someone had affixed to the panes. “We don’t see our mom very much. She wants to spend more time with us, but—”

  “But she travels a lot doing biodiversity research. She finds rare species of plants and figures out how to preserve them.” Alexis poked at the knee of her jeans, keeping her head down. “It’s not her fault she can’t be with us more often.”

  “Sometimes that happens.” Karina nodded, commiserating with them. “Even families who all live together in one place don’t always get to spend as much time together as they’d like to.”

  Skeptically, Nicole looked up. “Does that happen to you?”

  Karina nodded. “I always wish I had more time with my kids. But I have to work and run errands and—you know—sleep once in a while.” She broke off, punctuating her statement with a grin. “Because, despite all the rumors, I’m actually not superhuman.”

  “You seem pretty good to us,” Alexis declared, glancing up from her jeans at last. “You seem awesome, Karina! You always have time to talk with people. You always try to help everyone. And you have cute scarves to share. That’s pretty good too.”

  “Yeah. Olivia, Josh, and Michael are so lucky.” Nicole flashed her newly painted fingernails. “My dad and Amanda never thought of doing my nails for me. I love this nail polish!”

  “Well…thanks, girls. I’ve been having fun with you, too.” It was true. Karina hoped Reid didn’t have some fatherly policy she’d violated with that DIY manicure. She doubted it. When it came to parenting, Reid seemed pretty freewheeling. “But I always want to do better, especially with Olivia, Josh, and Michael. Like with this Christmas. It’s our first one with just the four of us, and I want it to be the best one ever!”

  Both the Sullivan girls appeared mystified.

  “I don’t think you can do anything to make Christmas better,” Alexis told her. “It’s not like an engine part you can tweak or a component you can swap out of something. Christmas is something that just happens. It just…is what it is.”

  Nicole nodded. “I don’t think you should worry about it too much. Alexis and I might not have had much experience with Christmas until now, but it seems like everyone loves it. Automatically! Everyone here at The Christmas House does, that’s for sure. So Olivia and Michael and Josh probably will too.”

  “I’m starting to love Christmas,” Alexis admitted.

  “Me too!” Nicole said, her eyes wide. “I didn’t know if I would. But wrapping up gifts and singing Christmas carols and eating cookies sure beats playing ‘Spot the Kangaroo.’”

  “Even my dad is getting into it,” Alexis added. “That’s something we never expected. Did you hear him singing?”

  “I sure did.” At the memory of Reid adding his deep, rough voice to the B&B’s rendition of “O Holy Night!” Karina smiled anew. When it came to Christmas, Reid had been a pretty hard-core holdout. But somehow, her impromptu caroling session had gotten to him…and things had blossomed from there. Ever since that night, Reid had begun participating in the B&B’s holiday activities with extra vigor. “Your dad was great.”

  He was pretty adorable, too. There was nothing quite like seeing a burly, bearded, six-foot-tall world traveler hunkering down with the kids to set up toy train tracks around the Christmas trees, laughing with the adults over the Pin the Tail on Rudolph game they’d established in the front room, or lingering on the front porch to point out Kismet’s multicolored holiday lights as they glowed across the ice-locked lake.

  “This morning, I caught my dad putting on Digby’s doggie sweater—and telling the dog how ‘Christmassy’ he looked.” Nicole flickered her fingertips again, still admiring her manicure. “If that’s not some kind of miracle, I don’t know what is.”

  “Love is a miracle.” Alexis waggled her eyebrows at Karina. “And I bet Karina agrees with me, don’t you? Especially now?”

  Catching a glimmer of movement outside the window, Karina gave a distracted nod. Then she squinted. A taxi glided to a stop along the icy, snowbank-bordered street outside the B&B.

  “I think my dad agrees with that too,” Nicole added in an equally meaning-laden tone. “Love is totally a miracle.”

  “Mmm-hmmm.” As the taxi’s doors opened and its passengers emerged, Karina twisted in the window seat to get a better view. The B&B was full. That meant the new arrivals couldn’t be guests of The Christmas House. So who could be out there?

  “…even though lots of women like him,” Nicole was nattering on, not noticing Karina’s distractedness. The little girl lapsed into silence, giving Karina an expectant look.

  Belatedly, Karina realized she’d lost track of the conversation. At the same time, it occurred to her that Chelsea might be out there. Chelsea, who’d been so upset about the situation with Eric that she’d threatened to leave the Bahamas early. Karina had been able to convince her that bailing on a luxury vacation with her own parents wasn’t exactly going to “show Eric a thing or two.” But you never knew with “C.”

  Envisioning herself sharing a room with her ex-husband’s girlfriend at the crowded B&B, Karina shook her head. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad, she told herself. She could glean more savvy dating tips—in person this time—like the one Chelsea had texted her a few days ago. MAKE HIM WAIT, K! MAKE HIM BEGGG!

  Beg, her? Preposterous. On the other hand…Karina imagined Reid pleading for a seduc
tive favor and realized the idea had a certain arresting appeal. Maybe Chelsea had something there….

  “So do you love him or not?” Alexis demanded, leaning sideways in the window seat to catch Karina’s attention. “We have a right to know, you know. We’re kind of involved.”

  The girls lapsed into a frustrated silence, clearly waiting for an answer from her—even as Karina realized it wasn’t Chelsea who’d shown up at The Christmas House. The first passenger to get out of the taxi was a woman, though. The next was a little boy. The third was a man. As Karina watched, he waved off the driver’s offer to give change for his fare. Then all three turned to face the B&B. At the sight of them, Karina gasped.

  “Well?” Nicole demanded. “Do you? Do you, Karina?”

  It was her sister, Stephanie. And Blake. And Justin.

  “Of course! Of course, I do!” Karina blurted. Whatever the girls were alluding to would have to wait. She grabbed her coat, then hastily dragged it on. A hat and scarf came next. “I’m sorry, girls. We’ll have to finish this later. Right now, I’ve got to go!”

  With the image of her sister’s family filling her mind, Karina headed for the front porch. She was excited to see Steph, Justin, and Blake, of course. But she had to intercept them. She had to make sure they didn’t blow her cover. She had to make sure everything was okay, everyone was happy, and things were good—with her family and with the Edgware evaluation.

  As Karina left the window seat, Alexis’s voice trailed after her. “Well, you heard her,” the little girl said, her tone distinct. “I guess that means our next step is clear.”

  “I guess it does,” Nicole agreed. “We’ll have to—”

  But Karina didn’t hear the rest. She opened the B&B’s front door and stepped onto the snowy porch, calling out a greeting to Stephanie, Justin, and her adorable, beloved nephew.

  Standing at the B&B’s snow-covered corral fence, Karina wrapped her scarf more tightly around her neck. At the edge of the corral, little Blake held out a carrot to Holly (or maybe Ivy). The Clydesdale bit into it, sending horsey spittle flying.

  Blake laughed, delighted. Justin’s eyes went wide. Making a face, he whipped out a bottle of hand sanitizer. He squirted some in his son’s palm. Beside Karina, Stephanie turned her face to the sky, idly trying to catch a snowflake on her tongue.

  “I’m happy to see that Blake is feeling better.” Karina strived to sound as though her heart weren’t still galloping in her chest like a hyperactive hamster on a wheel. It wasn’t easy. Stephanie had given her a shock by arriving in Kismet. “He seems fully recovered. And he seems to like feeding the horses, too.”

  “Yes, he does like the horses.” Her sister nodded. “Is that why you hustled us out here to the corral? We didn’t even have a chance to see the inside of The Christmas House! I’m dying of curiosity. So what if they’re at one hundred percent occupancy right now? It’s not as if we plan to stay here tonight, so—”

  “So that’s why we can’t go inside!” Karina interrupted, her sister’s frequent-traveler/evaluator lingo ringing in her ears. “The Sullivans might find it suspicious if you started quoting statistics about their B&B’s occupancy rates, insurance premiums, and staff turnover rates for the past decade.”

  Also, they might find it suspicious to discover that the spy in their midst was someone they trusted and welcomeed like a family member.

  “Oh. You think so?” Stephanie caught a snowflake at last. She gave an elaborate gulp, then grinned at Karina. “Come on. I’m a professional. I’m not going to do something stupid.”

  Something stupid…like not file the Edgware reports.

  Her sister didn’t have to say it. The observation hung between them all the same, implicit but no less troublesome.

  It seemed pretty obvious to Karina that Stephanie had arrived to make sure the evaluation she’d entrusted her with—the evaluation Karina felt less and less enthusiasm for as she grew closer to the Sullivans (and to Reid)—was getting done.

  She edged closer, keeping her face turned toward the B&B’s barn instead of Stephanie, feeling like a character from a cheesy spy movie. “I have filed most of the reports,” Karina revealed, moving her lips as little as possible. “You don’t have to worry about that. And the checklists are almost done too.”

  “Oh, I’m not worried.” Stephanie gave her a curious look. In a surprised, animated tone, she asked, “Is that why you think I came here? Because you think I don’t trust you to file the Edgware reports in time?” She sighed. “Oh, Karina…”

  “Shhh! Keep your voice down.” Anxiously, Karina glanced around the picturesque grounds. She peered behind the sleigh. “Someone might overhear you and realize what’s going on.”

  “Yes. Hmmm. ‘What’s going on.’” With a puzzlingly enigmatic frown, Stephanie leaned on the corral fence. She didn’t strive for the least bit of surreptitiousness. “Yes, I’d like to know ‘what’s going on.’ In fact, that’s why I’m here.”

  “What’s why you’re here?” Karina frowned. “If this is because nobody thinks I can get anything done because of my very minor procrastination tendencies,” she said, remembering the caustic way Eric had pointed out her shortcomings when she’d told him about the Edgware job, “you should know that I recently had a breakthrough about that. I think I know how to lick it.”

  Focus, came Reid’s sexy voice. Are you focusing now?

  Filled with inappropriately seductive memories, Karina fidgeted. She felt her cheeks heat, even as the rest of her grew increasingly chilly. Standing outside, she knew she would never become accustomed to the wintery weather here in the Midwest.

  “Please. Your procrastination issues are not why I’m here.” Appearing amused, Steph gave a dismissive wave of her gloved hand. “Besides, your need to help everyone all the time is a far bigger issue than procrastination ever thought of being. You just can’t say no.” She paused. “Thankfully, not even to me.”

  “Gee, thanks for the pop psych analysis.” Feeling slighted, Karina shook her head. “I’m glad you’re benefiting from my weak spots. Any other flaws of mine you want to point out while you’re here? You did take a plane all this way….”

  Her sister appeared to realize she’d overstepped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come off so critically. I think you’re wonderful.” Stephanie held out her arms. “Hug it out?”

  Karina relented. They shared a sisterly hug—a big, awkward, bundled-up, sisterly hug. As they made contact, their padded and weatherproofed coats nearly caused sparks to fly. Their wooly scarves and hats crackled with static electricity. They both laughed, holding out their arms like two Michelin men.

  “Yikes! We are such California girls!” Stephanie said.

  Karina agreed, still smiling. And all at once, she felt much better. She wasn’t used to fending for herself yet. With Steph here, she realized, maybe she wouldn’t have to anymore.

  “Thanks for coming,” Karina said, genuinely meaning it. She gazed at her sister, feeling grateful for her presence. “It wouldn’t have occurred to me to ask for help with the evaluation, not in a million years. But now that you’re here—”

  “Oh, I can’t help with the evaluation.” Stephanie held up her gloved hands, shaking her head. “I wouldn’t know where to start. I’m not the one who’s spent the past week here. It wouldn’t be fair. I can advise you or help with paperwork, but—”

  “But you can’t take over?” Karina’s heart sank.

  “No. It doesn’t work that way. If an evaluator can’t finish an assessment, the whole thing is scrapped. The company doesn’t like doing that, though. Obviously, it costs them money.”

  “That makes sense.” Karina had only glanced at the full set of Edgware company guidelines. Most of them hadn’t applied to her, she’d decided. Overall, the company’s rules had seemed lengthy, comprehensive, and painstakingly intricate. They’d appeared to provide for every possible eventuality—corporate bureaucracy in triplicate. “But if you didn’t come here to check u
p on me, and you didn’t come here to take over the evaluation, then why did you and Justin and Blake come to Kismet?”

  Stephanie grinned. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “No.” Karina thought about it. “Although Josh, Olivia, and Michael will be thrilled to see you. The only part they didn’t like about having Christmas here at The Christmas House this year was not getting to see their aunt and uncle and cousin.”

  “Aww. That’s sweet!” Steph gazed toward the B&B, as though hoping to spot her niece and nephews there among the sparkling holiday lights, swags of evergreen garlands, and tall, decorated Christmas trees that were visible from the windows. “We’re looking forward to seeing them too.”

  “Right. I’ll get them in a sec. And…?”

  “And…?” Stephanie gave an overly innocent arch of her eyebrow, obviously playing dumb.

  “And why else did you come here?” Karina pressed.

  “Oh. Right.” Amused all over again, Stephanie nodded. She gazed across the fence as her husband offered another carrot to one of the Clydesdales. Her very-healthy-seeming son looked on, clapping his mittened hands with glee. Nate Kelly stood to the side, just out of earshot, supervising snack time. “I came here because you’ve been so distracted over the phone. Because you’ve been filing reports late, even though, most of the time, you’re relentlessly punctual. I’m here because you’ve been calling less and less as the week’s gone on. And I’m here because”—here her sister paused, clearly relishing the next item in her baffling list—“one of your texts to ‘C’ went astray.”

  Uh-oh. “You got one of the texts I sent to Chelsea?”

  “That’s right.”

  Double uh-oh. “And you’re, um, wondering…?”

  “I’m wondering”—her sister’s smile broadened mischievously—“how things went when you wore Chelsea’s leopard-print camisole the next time you had some ‘private time’ with ‘Mr. Wonderful.’”

  Hearing the nickname she’d bestowed on Reid—purely to protect his anonymity, of course—Karina felt her face flush. On the occasion in question, things had gone well. Very well.