“Did he indicate where this pool of gifts was located?”
Crawley let out a sigh. “Yes sir. He said they were at the North Pole.”
“Was it your understanding this was a euphemism for his home?” Carson asked.
“I assumed so.”
“No further questions, Your Honor.”
Judge Warren explained to the jury that they were dismissed for the day, but were expected back at 8:45 in the morning.
Rena played with the cross she wore around her neck. Her mind buzzed. Was that all? The state rests already? It was clear the guy did it, but the present-swapping was strange. What had happened to the other gifts? Did John Smith think he was Santa? If so, why hadn’t he pleaded insanity?
They filed out of the courtroom and into the jury room. The bailiff repeated the instructions about returning to court at 8:45 the next morning. She reminded them not to discuss the case with anyone.
That was too bad. Rena itched to talk about it, especially with Ryan.
Should she wait to walk with him or would that look too obvious? She needn’t have worried. He was right beside her as they entered the lobby. “Should we take the stairs?” he asked as if it were a foregone conclusion that they would go together.
“Sure,” Rena said.
He held the door for her, and they began their descent down the stairs.
“What’re you doing now?” she asked.
“Going home. I promised Morgan we’d get a tree tonight. Before you say anything, I know it’s only three days until Christmas.”
She laughed. “I didn’t say anything.”
“What’re you up to tonight? Night out with girlfriends?”
Hardly. I can’t afford to go out on the town. “I’ll just head home.” She would open a can of soup. Try to stay warm.
“Why the sigh?” he asked.
“Did I sigh?”
“You did. You don’t want to go home?”
“Not really.” She sounded pathetic. “It’s fine, though. I’ll have a quiet night. Maybe read a little.”
They had reached the ground floor by then. As they headed toward the exits, she willed her feet forward. She didn’t want this day to end. The minute they walked out to the sidewalk, it would be over. Ryan would walk away, back to his real life.
Outside, they both pulled their coats tighter. It was almost dark. The shortest days of the year were upon them. The ice on the streets and sidewalks had slickened with the disappearance of the sunshine. Holiday lights twinkled on the trees and shop windows.
“Holy crap, it’s freezing,” Ryan said.
The cold had already seeped through her thin jacket. She shivered. “It’s pretty though.”
They stood on the sidewalk, gazing at one another. “Where do you catch the bus?” he asked.
“Up the street at the transit center. It’s about two blocks from our office building.” She glanced at her watch. “Next one’s in thirty minutes over to Ballard.”
“It’s too cold out here to wait that long. Especially with that coat.”
He’d noticed how thin it was. She plunged her hands into the pockets.
“Let me give you a ride home.”
A ride? In his car? This was the best day ever. But no, she couldn’t accept. He wouldn’t want to take her all the way to Ballard from—where? She didn’t know where he lived. “It’s not convenient. I’m all the way in Ballard.”
“I live in Queen Anne. It’s not a problem.”
“You have a house in Queen Anne? Lucky.” That came out of her mouth before she could stop it. Envy was not a good quality.
“I am lucky,” he said softly. “I don’t remember to feel as much gratitude as I should.”
“No one does.”
They made their way up Fourth Avenue. “You need a thicker jacket,” he said.
“I know.” She smiled up at him. “I’ve been good this year, but Santa never comes.”
“Maybe this year you need to be a little naughty.” He smiled at her with a hint of wickedness.
Her stomach turned over. The spot between her legs throbbed.
When they reached Fifth and Union, the shops were alight with holiday decorations. They came upon a women’s high-end boutique. The display window drew her attention, and her pace slowed. Dressed in the most beautiful red wool coat and shiny black boots, the mannequin seemed to beckon her closer.
Ryan, obviously seeing her attention to the coat, stopped. “Speaking of coats, that’s a pretty one.”
“I love red. It’s so festive this time of year.”
“My sister would like it if it were in black or dark blue.”
“I bet they have one. Should we go inside and see?” It would give her an opportunity to touch the fabric and warm her hands.
“I do need a gift for her. You don’t mind?” he asked.
“Not at all.”
They entered the store. It was surprisingly empty considering the time of year. The clerk greeted them with a smile.
“Do you have the coat in the window in black or blue?” Ryan asked.
“What size?” she asked.
“Medium. I think.” He looked at Rena. “What size are you?”
“Small, probably.” Rena had a petite frame and was barely 5’5”.
“My sister is about five inches taller than Seven and definitely has wider shoulders. I’ll say a medium, but I’m not sure,” he said.
“Your sister can exchange if it doesn’t fit.” The sales lady chose a black one from the row of displayed coats. “Would the young lady like to try it on for comparison?”
“Sure,” Rena said, already slipping out of her coat.
“This is a medium,” the clerk said.
Rena allowed the clerk to help her into the coat. She held out her arms. The sleeves were several inches too long, and it hung loosely over the shoulders. “Too big.” She looked over at Ryan. “So it’s probably perfect for your sister.”
Ryan held her old coat and leaned against the wall, watching.
“Much too big.” The clerk turned back to the rack. “Let’s try a small one for comparison.”
“Make it a red one,” Ryan said. “Seven likes red.”
“Excellent.” The clerk pulled one from the rack.
Rena exchanged coats with her. Ryan had moved over to help her into the smaller coat. For a moment, she felt as if they were getting ready to go somewhere and he was helping her into her coat like a real couple would do. There’s no use in going into a fantasy world. This was not real life. In a moment, they would step out the door into the cold. This was a little moment of happiness that she must savor. Soon she would be back in her old coat.
Oh my. The heavy wool material wrapped her in warmth. It fit well through the shoulders, although the arms were still an inch too long. “I must have short arms,” she said.
The clerk shook her head. “No, these coats tend to run long. They seem to think everyone is built like runway models. But we can have it taken in with no extra charge. Our seamstress is excellent.” She knelt next to Rena. “The bottom hem should probably be taken up several inches as well. It should fall at your ankles.”
Rena turned to examine herself in the mirror. The clerk was right; it was a tad too long. Regardless, she loved it. The red complemented her dark hair and porcelain skin. Her cheeks, flushed from their brisk walk, gave her a healthy glow. Her eyes sparkled back at her like she was a different woman than the one on this side of the mirror. Not to be full of herself, but she looked good in this coat. She glanced at the price tag—$725! What was it, lined with gold? It was either the jacket or her rent. Maybe the jacket was the better choice. She’d look great amongst the other homeless people down by the courthouse. She almost laughed. She’d last one night out there, tops.
She tore her gaze from the mirror. Ryan had returned to leaning against the wall and stared at her with an indulgent expression. “You’re right about the red, Seven. The cut of the coat works too. It’s almost as
pretty as you.”
Her body flushed with heat. No need for the coat. She might burst into flames at any moment.
“I feel like a movie star in this jacket. I better take it off, or I might decide to run for it,” Rena said.
The clerk smiled as she helped her out of the coat. “Perhaps your husband will buy it for you for Christmas.”
Rena flushed. “He’s not my husband. I just met him today.”
“Really?” She cocked her head to one side and looked from one to the other. “I thought you were newlyweds.”
No ring on this finger, lady. Whatever would give her that idea? Rena glanced over at Ryan, worried he’d feel embarrassed. But he’d wandered over to a display case of gloves. He looked over at the clerk with a grin. “I should be so lucky.” He winked at Rena. “Maybe by next Christmas.”
A hundred lights twinkled in her chest and exploded into a thousand more. A vision of the two of them sitting next to a Christmas tree played before her eyes. She blinked. Goodness, she needed to get a grip. Her fantasies were out of control.
The sales lady beamed. “Is this your first date, then? Did you meet online?”
“Something like that,” Ryan said.
“I’m Julia, the owner. If you decide to get married, come back to see me,” she said. “We can outfit you for your honeymoon.”
Apparently, Julia was a dreamer too.
Ryan helped Rena into her old coat. It looked like rags in this beautiful shop. Back to the cinder section of Cinderella.
“Would you like to buy the coat for your sister?” Julia asked.
“I would. That’ll be at least one gift down.” He asked that she have it ready for him the next day and handed her a credit card from his wallet. “Could you wrap it for me too?”
“I’d be happy to.” Julia handed him a business card. “Give me a call if you need anything else. It’ll be ready for you tomorrow.”
* * * * *
Rena warmed quickly in the haven of Ryan’s Range Rover. Seat warmers toasted her buns. The scent of leather, as sexy as the driver, filled her senses. She should play it cool, but it was almost impossible. All she wanted to do was stare at his profile. Traffic, unfortunately, was light. They would be home before she knew it.
“I’ve never been this behind on preparations for Christmas,” Ryan said. “I host Christmas dinner for my mom and sister. We always have enchiladas and tamales, which take forever to make. I promised Morgan she could help me this year, but I don’t even have the ingredients bought.”
“I love tamales.”
“Morgan wants this Barbie Townhouse and it was sold out at every toy store I called yesterday. Jury duty’s killing me.”
“What about Amazon?” Rena asked.
“Aren’t I too late? It won’t get here in time.”
“Hang on.” Rena pulled her phone from her bag. “Let’s see if they have expedited shipping.” She put Barbie Townhome into the search engine. “They have it. There’s only one left. Pull over. You have to order it right now.”
“Pull over? Now? Do you think it’ll still be in stock when I get home?”
“No, I do not,” she said. “We have to order it now. Santa has to come through.”
He grabbed his phone from his jacket pocket. “Here, do it on my account. I have the Amazon app. It should have my credit card stored in there.”
She took the phone from him. His background was a selfie of him and Morgan cheek to cheek. “Cute photo.”
“That was at Thanksgiving. I’d had a little wine, and Morgan started snapping selfies. It was pretty funny.”
She’d like to give him too much wine and take a selfie with him. She’d like to give him too much wine and do a lot of things with him. Focusing. “Okay, don’t talk for a minute. I have to concentrate.”
“I thought women were supposed to be able to talk and text at the same time,” he said.
“Quiet.” She smiled as she pulled up the Barbie Townhouse. “You have Prime. We can totally get it in two days. That gives you one day to wrap it.”
“No wrapping. It’s from Santa.”
“Your family doesn’t wrap Santa gifts?” She added the gift to his cart.
“No. Santa just pulls them from his bag and leaves them next to the tree.”
“I see.” She clicked on two-day delivery and hit order. “Okay, it’s done.”
“You’re magic.”
She sighed. What a gift to have a little one at Christmas. “I love Christmas.”
“What do you do for Christmas in your family?” Ryan asked.
“I don’t have any family now that my mom’s gone. I just hang out. Relax.” Relax was code for sit around feeling sorry for herself. Her tradition on Christmas was to eat an entire large frozen pizza and drink an entire bottle of wine while she watched holiday movies on the Hallmark Channel. She wouldn’t tell him that. He would think she was pathetic and probably feel sorry for her. Stiff upper lip, Idaho style, was her motto. She never confessed to anyone how sad she felt during the holidays. She would rather die than have someone pity her.
Regardless, the facts were the facts. Christmas was hard. No matter what, though, she had hope. Someday, God would bring her a family of her own, and she would make cookies and listen to Christmas music and wrap presents on Christmas Eve.
“What about friends?” he asked.
“My friend Celia usually invites me for Christmas dinner. She and her husband always have stray cat types over for the holidays. It’s usually me and a few of the geekiest guys you’ve ever met. Friends of Celia’s husband from work. Most years, Celia has this ridiculous idea that I’ll fall for one of them.”
“Hasn’t happened yet, huh?” asked Ryan.
“Not yet.”
“What makes you love Christmas so much?” He was too polite to say, but she knew what the subtext was—why do you like Christmas when it sounds miserable?
“It was a special time for my mom and me. She loved Christmas even more than I did. All of it. The tree, the food, the gifts, the way our little town was decorated. She was a teacher, so she had the same time off from school as me. We had the best Christmases. We’d bake cookies and watch sappy movies and sit around and read Christmas romance novels. This was in Idaho, so we always had tons of snow. When I was young, I used to play outside with the neighbor kids. Snowball fights and snow angels. My mom was that mom in the neighborhood who invited the entire neighborhood of kids in for cocoa and cookies when we got cold. It was the best.”
“Sound like one of those Christmas movies you watched.”
“Kind of. Only there was no romance. My mother never remarried after she left my dad left. She never seemed interested. It was like she lived in the pages of the books we read.”
“What about you? For real, how come there’s no one special in your life?”
“I’m not sure there’s anyone out there for me. I’ve been thinking about getting a cat.” She flashed him a facetious smile. “Give in to my crazy cat lady destiny.”
He glanced over at her as they turned left on Denny Avenue. “I think everyone fears that there’s no one for them.”
“Like God forgot to make someone for us?”
“I think that sometimes,” Ryan said. “Actually, a lot of the time.”
“Me too.”
“I don’t think you need to worry about becoming a crazy cat lady. You’re the full package. Intelligent, pretty, humble. How you haven’t been snatched up is beyond me.” He slowed for a red light. While they waited for it to change, he turned to look at her, his left arm draped over the steering wheel. “Don’t think for a second I’m letting this trial end without getting you to go out with me.”
She stared at him. Had she heard him right? “You mean a date? With me?”
His eyebrows raised in obvious amusement. “What? You think I just offer any girl a ride home because I’m a nice guy?”
“Maybe.” She flushed, suddenly shy. And hot. Her buns were on fire. Was it the se
at warmers or the man across from her?
“I can assure you I’m not that nice. I didn’t offer pushy Juror One a ride, for instance.”
It took her a moment to realize what he was saying. “Oh gosh, he is a bit overly assertive, isn’t he? He’ll nominate himself head juror during the deliberations. I just know it.”
He slapped the steering wheel. “I thought the exact same thing.” They continued north along Elliott Way. Across the water, the lights of Magnolia brightened the landscape. “Now, about that date. How is tonight?”
She swallowed. Tonight? Was he asking her out for tonight? “I thought you were getting your tree tonight?”
“We are. You should come with us. We’ll get a little one for you too. Brighten up your apartment.”
“No, I don’t want a tree.” That was the last thing she wanted. A tree to clean up and no presents under it. No thank you.
“Come on. Make up your mind. If I turn at the light, we can head up the back way to my house.”
“What about Morgan?” Rena asked.
“I have friends join us for stuff all the time. She’ll love it.”
“Fine. Okay, I’ll go.” She grinned. “If you can’t do it without me.” Oh my god, oh my god. A date with Ryan. Oh my god.
“I can’t do it without you.”
They headed up the hill.
* * * * *
Ryan was sure he’d lost his mind. Rena had cast a spell on him. He never asked women he dated to spend time with his daughter. Especially not women he hadn’t even had an official date with. No, that wasn’t true. Lunch counted as their first date. That’s it. The loophole.
Somehow, regardless of how odd it was, a force beyond his own logic and sense of caution propelled him to keep this woman by his side for as long as possible. It was as if a spell had been cast on him. He didn’t care. For once he would go with his instinct. It felt right to have Rena next to him in the car. She had a mixture of humor and vulnerability that put him at ease. Not just at ease—awesome, like there was nothing he couldn’t do.
His house was a remodeled craftsman on a narrow street on the top of Queen Anne Hill. What was once a working-class neighborhood had become upper middle class in the 1990s with many homes expanded from their original bungalow plans to beautiful two-story homes. The lots were small without much room for gardens, which suited him fine. As busy as he was, the flowers and shrubs he had now were more than enough.
Romancing the Holidays: Twelve Christmas Romances - Benefits Breast Cancer Research Page 56