Wish Upon a Christmas Star

by Darlene Gardner

  “C’mon, Maria,” he said. “You know what kind of person I am. I don’t jump into things.”

  “We were apart for fifteen years! How is that jumping into anything?” She shook her head, the movement pronounced. “If you really loved me, you’d take a chance on us.”

  “If you really loved me,” he countered, “you’d accept me for who I am instead of getting some crazy idea into your head and refusing to let it go.”

  She straightened her spine. “That’s what you think I’m doing?”

  “It’s what you’ve always done,” he said. “It’s the same thing as with that art school in Louisville. I never understood why you thought that me deciding against that school meant I was deciding against you.”

  “Because you wouldn’t take a chance!” Maria cried. “Because you can’t open yourself to possibilities. Look how hard it was for you to even consider that Mike might be alive.”

  “Oh, but I did consider it,” he said. “For a day or so, I let your optimism rub off on me. But he’s not alive. Because there are no miracles. Not even at Christmas.”

  “Then how do you explain what Billy said? About Mike not blaming me?” Maria asked.

  “I’m glad you got closure, Maria,” Logan told her. “I understand how hard it was to know your last words to Mike were angry ones. But just because a brother and sister argue, it doesn’t mean the love goes away. Of course Mike knew you loved him.”

  “Well, I think it was a miracle,” Maria refuted. “The Christmas season is full of them.”

  “You also think you’ll get what you want by wishing on a shooting star,” Logan said, then could have kicked himself for not keeping that to himself. He had no doubt she’d wished for Mike to be alive. “I wanted you to have your miracle, Maria. But if you were a bit more practical, you wouldn’t get hurt so much.”

  “How’s this for practical?” Her voice was strong, but her lips were trembling. “I’ve accepted things will never work out with us.”

  She whirled, turning away from the beautiful vista of sea and sky and walking blindly back toward shore. Water slapped against the pier and a bird cried overhead, the sound plaintive.

  Logan opened his mouth to call her back. He could try to convince her that everything would work out between them if she compromised just a little, that he wanted to be with her forever.

  In the end, though, he let her go. She’d had an emotional day. He needed to give her time to calm down so she was more apt to listen to logic.

  Logan stood alone on the pier, watching the distance between himself and Maria grow with every step she took.

  * * *

  “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE leaving,” Kayla exclaimed with all the fervor Maria had come to expect from her. The younger P.I. had expressed the same sentiment a half dozen times on the drive from Maria’s hotel to the airport.

  Maria had gotten a call on her cell from Kayla minutes after discovering she could fly out of Key West at six that night. The last-minute flight cost more, but she was so eager to leave that she’d booked it immediately. Since she’d turned in her rental car days ago, she readily accepted Kayla’s offer to drive her to the airport and fill her in on what had happened with her case.

  “There’s no more reason for me to stay,” Maria said. “I told you how Billy Tillman was pretending to be Mike.”

  They were inside the terminal between the airline counter, where Maria had checked her baggage, and the security checkpoint. People passed them on both sides, most toting carry-on baggage. Nobody seemed to be in a rush, as though the easygoing Key West spirit had spread to the airport.

  “What about Mr. Tall, Dark and Dishy?” Kayla covered her mouth with a hand and looked over at James Smith. Maria wasn’t terribly surprised that her friend had shown up to drive her to the airport with James in tow, considering the kiss she’d witnessed on the beach.

  “Sorry, Jimmy,” Kayla said. “Nothing to worry about, though. Logan and Maria have something hot and heavy going on.”

  “I’m not worried.” James slung an arm around Kayla, who grinned up at him. His answering smile transformed him from average-looking to something special in a heartbeat. Then he dipped his head and kissed her sweetly on the lips.

  James was perfect for Kayla, Maria thought. Their relationship was in its infancy, but she could already tell it would be a lasting one. Unlike her own with Logan. She blinked back the sudden moisture in her eyes.

  “Logan and I don’t have anything going on. Not anymore.” She had to choke out the words. “It’s over between us.”

  “Are you sure?” Kayla’s big, guileless eyes got even larger. “Did you even tell him you’re leaving?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?” Kayla asked. “You know he wouldn’t let you go!”

  Maria thought of her long walk down the pier and back to the hotel earlier that afternoon. She’d waited in vain for Logan to come after her and say that of course he was willing to take a chance on them, that their love was worth every risk.

  “You’re wrong,” she said. “He wouldn’t try to stop me.”

  “I don’t believe that for a second,” Kayla insisted. Her denial was to be expected. She was in a brand-new relationship brimming with promise. It was perfectly natural that she would believe in the all-consuming power of love.

  “Can we drop the subject?” Maria’s smile felt tight. “I only have a few minutes before I need to go.”

  She had been advised by the ticket agent to arrive at the airport early for additional screening, because she’d purchased a one-way ticket, an extra security measure that stemmed from 9/11. Strangely, though, Maria was not a nervous flyer. What had happened on 9/11 was an anomaly, the likes of which she had to believe would never be repeated.

  “You haven’t even finished telling me about what happened with the case,” Maria pointed out.

  Kayla had already filled her in about why she’d kissed James at the beach. Not only had the photographer gone to bat for Kayla with the president of the merchants association, he’d also called her uncle. James had made sure both men knew they should believe Kayla over Alex, his own cousin.

  “You know how I told you Alex has a girlfriend?” Kayla asked.

  “Vanessa, right?”

  “Yes. She’s an absolute sweetheart,” Kayla said. “Turns out she thinks one of her employees is stealing from the beauty salon she owns. She called a short while ago and hired me to look into it.”

  “Alex recommended Kayla,” James said, his voice full of what sounded like pride. “He knows the stunt he tried to pull on Kayla was bogus. Dude is already trying to make amends.”

  “Vanessa wants me to go undercover!” Kayla added. “Isn’t that cool?”

  “Very cool,” Maria said, “but can you cut hair?”

  “No, but I can wash hair. I’m going to be the shampoo girl!” Kayla grinned. “A very well-paid shampoo girl.”

  “If you need someone to bounce ideas off when you’re working the case, you have my number,” Maria said.

  “Thanks! You’re the greatest.”

  “You’re not so bad, either,” Maria said. “Just remember to believe in yourself.”

  Kayla nodded, blinking rapidly. “Oh, Maria! We have to keep in touch! I’m going to miss you so much.” Kayla hugged her, holding tight for several minutes.

  Maria hugged her back, realizing that she was going to miss her young friend, too. They both were blinking back tears when they drew apart
.

  “I wish you were staying, too.” James came forward and also hugged Maria, though briefly. “Any friend of Kayla’s is a friend of mine.”

  James really was one of the good guys, Maria thought.

  “Promise you’ll come back and visit,” Kayla insisted. “You and Logan could even make it a Christmas tradition.”

  “I told you, Kayla,” Maria said. “There is no more Logan and me.”

  Kayla pursed her lips, claimed the arm of her new boyfriend and said, “We’ll see.”

  If Kayla truly believed things would work out between Maria and Logan, it seemed the younger woman was another one who believed in miracles.

  Too bad the man Maria loved—the man she was afraid she’d always love—didn’t.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  MARIA HAD CHECKED OUT of the hotel.

  Logan stood at the front desk of the Blue Tropics, angry at himself for missing her. He’d returned to his hotel room after their heated talk on the pier and made the mistake of catching up on email. How could he have overlooked the possibility that Maria would leave Key West sooner rather than later?

  He’d suspected Maria was gone after getting no answer either on her cell phone or at her hotel room door. The front desk clerk had just confirmed it.

  “Anything else I can help you with?” The clerk had prematurely gray hair he wore loose to his shoulders. He flipped it back. “We’ve got some rooms available if that’s what you’re wanting.”

  “No, thanks.” Logan shook himself out of his stupor. “That’s all I needed.”

  “Okay, then.” The man smiled. “You have yourself a happy holiday.”

  “You, too,” Logan said.

  A happy holiday? Was that even possible? he wondered as he turned away. He’d be in New York City for Christmas, while the woman he loved would be seven hundred miles away, in Kentucky.

  The lobby door swung open and Kayla breezed through, infusing the lobby with a mix of energy and purpose.

  Logan looked behind her, hoping Maria was with her. Nobody else came through the door.

  “Logan!” Kayla hurried over to him. He’d noticed she didn’t do anything at half speed. “What are you doing here?”

  “Looking for Maria,” he said. “Have you—”

  “I knew it! I told that girl you’d try to stop her from leaving Key West. But would she listen to me? No.”

  Logan focused on the key point in her torrent of words. “Can I still catch her?”

  “Her plane left probably an hour ago,” answered Kayla. “I can’t even imagine how much her ticket cost, booking it at the last minute like that. She was in a real hurry to get out of town.”

  To get away from him, Logan thought.

  Kayla held up one of the large, old-fashioned keys the hotel issued its guests. “She took the key by mistake and asked me to run it by the hotel. Can you believe this place still uses these things? Wait till I text her and tell her I ran into you. Then she’ll know I was right.”

  Logan tried to keep up with Kayla’s lightning-fast change of subjects. “You mean you were right about me trying to stop her from leaving?”

  “Yes! That’s what you would have done, isn’t it?” Kayla gestured at him with the big key. “I knew things weren’t over between you and her.”

  “She said things were over?” Logan asked.

  “She most certainly did,” Kayla declared.

  That wasn’t good. Logan wasn’t ready to give up on Maria. Maybe he never would be. He’d have to come up with some strong arguments to persuade her why a long-distance relationship was infinitely preferable to going their separate ways.

  “She hardly listened to my suggestion about you and her coming to Key West every year in Christmas week,” Kayla said. “That might be getting ahead of things, though. You’ve got some work to do to get Maria to understand where you’re coming from.”

  “I do,” he agreed.

  “Good,” she said with a sharp nod of her head. “So are you headed to the airport?”

  He might as well go there. If he could get a flight out today, he’d definitely arrive in time for that party at the Waldorf. The thought was depressing.

  He’d spend Christmas Eve with clients instead of the woman he loved.

  “I sure hope it works out between you two.” Kayla held up the key again. “I’ve gotta return this. James is waiting in the car. We’re going to his cousin’s house for dinner.”

  That sounded nice. Logan’s own parents would have loved to spend the holidays with him and the woman he loved, but they were cruising the Caribbean. Not because they needed to take expensive trips to be happy, but because Logan had insisted.

  He’d never heard his parents complain about not making enough money to enjoy the finer things in life, the things that Logan had been working so hard to afford these past eleven years.

  All his parents had ever needed, he realized, was each other. And possibly him.

  “Merry Christmas, Logan,” Kayla said, oblivious to the thoughts that were crowding his head.

  “Merry Christmas, Kayla.”

  She walked to the counter, her step even bouncier than usual. Because it was Christmas and she was in love.

  Logan was in love, too.

  The question was, what was he going to do about it?

  * * *

  MARIA BARELY CALLED OUT a greeting and shrugged off her coat before Jack barreled into the living room and wrapped her in a bear hug.

  “You’re back!” her brother said, lifting her clear off the floor.

  “Put me down!” she ordered. For the first time in more than twenty-four hours, however, she cracked a smile.

  “Not until you say, ‘Jack knows best,’” he retorted, just as she’d known he would. Never mind that they were both in their early thirties. He’d been greeting her this way since she’d told him—okay, nagged him—not to aggravate his shoulder by lifting heavy things.

  “No way am I saying that,” she teased.

  He spun her around once. The rat knew going in circles made her dizzy. He started to do it a second time.

  “Okay! Okay!” she said. “Jack knows best.”

  He put her down, gave her the full wattage of the grin that made him look as handsome as sin, and punched her lightly on the arm.

  “Seriously, sis. I’m glad you’re here.” His statement carried an air of sincerity. She’d already filled him in over the phone about Billy Tillman posing as Mike.

  She nodded, not quite able to respond that she was glad to be here. Her emotions were too jumbled, although she supposed it didn’t make sense for her to be anywhere else. Her family spent every Christmas Eve and Christmas Day together.

  Maria spotted Jack’s girlfriend behind him. Her brother had fallen in love with Tara Greer last summer, when he’d been recuperating from his shoulder injury on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. They’d met, ironically, because Maria had asked Jack to run down a lead on a missing person’s case she’d been working.

  “Tara,” Maria said by way of greeting. “I’ve asked you this before and I’ll ask it again. Are you sure you’re willing to keep putting up with my little brother?”

  “Positive.” Tara laughed and came forward to give her a hug. “I’m glad you’re home, too.”

  “Where’s Logan?” Jack asked. “I thought he’d be with you.”

  “You thought wrong.” Maria ignored the pang in her heart and changed the subject. “Let me
guess. Annalise and her family are in the game room. And Mom and Dad are in the kitchen.”

  Jack crossed his arms over his chest. “I take it you’re not going to tell us what happened with you and Logan?”

  “There is no me and Logan.” Maria pointed to the kitchen. “I’m going to say hi to Mom and Dad.”

  “You do that,” Jack said, apparently giving up on the topic of Logan. “Just know that you enter at your own risk.”

  Maria didn’t need to ask what he meant. Their parents prepared an extravagant Christmas Eve meal every year and kept the menu a surprise.

  “Want us to put those under the tree for you?” Tara gestured at the bag of presents Maria had brought with her. She’d picked up most of them at airport gift shops.

  “That would be great. Thanks.” She followed the delicious scent of what she guessed was a seafood dish into her parents’ spacious kitchen. They both were at the stove with their backs to her, working away.

  “Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad.” Maria made her lips curve into a smile she knew wasn’t reflected in her eyes.

  They turned from the stove in unison, blocking her sight of the burners with their bodies. Her father wore the same red-and-green-checked sweater he put on every Christmas Eve. Her mother was dressed head to toe in red. Even her cheeks were flushed.

  “Welcome home, darling!” she intoned. With her slim build, thick brown hair and virtually unlined face, she looked a decade younger than her fifty-five years. “Did everything go okay with your case?”

  “What kind of case is so important you had to go out of town at Christmas?” Her dad was a few years older than her mom but just as fit. He had the same black hair and blue eyes as Maria. He also had a tendency to grumble.

  “You heard Annalise,” her mother told him in a slightly scolding tone. “Maria can’t talk about the case. Her client demanded discretion.”

  So that was how Annalise had explained her absence in order to shield them from the knowledge that Maria was looking for Mike. Maria was grateful to her sister for not resurrecting their pain.