It depressed the hell out of him.
He had hoped to drink with his buddies, find a woman to help him get his mind off Grace, and spend a couple of days in mindless oblivion. No such luck. His buddies had given up their partying ways, and the only women he’d met were already married or engaged. So why had he stayed? Because being surrounded by a bunch of couples planning their futures was safer than being back at the inn with Grace sleeping right down the hall from him. A man only had so much self-control.
Letting himself into the inn, he saw a light on in the living room and spotted his mother sitting on the sofa with a book. How many times in his life had he witnessed this scene? His heart ached. This was home. This was a comforting sight to him. She was always there, always waiting for him to come home. Even when he didn’t want her to see him sneak in, she was there.
He smiled to himself. This was a good feeling, coming home to someone and knowing they were waiting for him. In the same moment, he felt a pang of disappointment that Grace wasn’t waiting for him, too.
Corrine looked up and spotted him. “Hey, you’re back,” she said warmly. “How was your visit with your friends?”
He sat beside her and told her how he’d spent his time. “Oh, that must have been terribly boring for you,” she said with a laugh. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. Why didn’t you come home sooner?”
“I stayed and helped Bobby finish his garage. He wanted it done before the holidays. I figured you had everything under control here, and he really needed the help.” It wasn’t a total lie.
“You’re a good friend, Riley.” She smiled and held his hand. “Are you hungry? Want some hot chocolate?”
She knew him so well. “As a matter of fact, I would,” he said and saw her eyes brighten. It took so little effort. Why had he been avoiding his mother for so long? She stood and walked to the kitchen, and Riley followed. “So, what’s been going on while I’ve been gone?”
Corrine filled him in on the progress with the cottages and their upcoming guests, and then she broached the subject of Ben. While she left out the more…intimate…parts of the story, she explained that she loved Ben and they were starting to plan their future. “I hope you’re okay with it, Riley,” she said carefully as she began mixing ingredients for their hot chocolate.
“Okay with it? Mom, are you kidding me? I’ve been hoping for this!” he said excitedly and wrapped his mother in his embrace.
“Are you sure? I know it’s been a long time since your father passed away, but…I’ll always love Jack.”
“Mom, seriously, I think it’s great. Ben has always been part of this family, and I can’t think of anyone else I’d want for you.”
“You have no idea how happy that makes me, Riley,” she said, tears forming in her eyes. “My goodness, I feel like this is all I do lately.”
“At least they’re happy tears, right?”
She nodded. “I never thought I could be this happy. Just a couple of days ago, I was crying to Grace because I thought I had lost everything, but she showed me I was wrong. Oh, Riley, I don’t know what I would have done without her. She’s been an amazing friend.”
Grace was both the last and the only person he wanted to think about right now. “I’m glad you have her as a friend, Mom.”
“I’m worried about her, though.”
“Why?” he asked, finding himself worried for her too, even though he didn’t know why.
“Well, the holidays are hard for her, and I think that even though she’s happy for me and Ben, she’s worried about what it all means. She told us how you think that I should sell, particularly if Ben and I are together, and well, she has no one, Riley. She’s all alone in the world.”
“Mom, you can’t keep the inn just for Grace,” he said and then realized what a jackass he sounded like and cringed. “Why not sell it to her?”
“She doesn’t have that kind of money. This place is a lot of responsibility. I tried to put her at ease, but I have a feeling that as soon as the holidays are over, she’s going to leave,” Corrine said sadly.
“Did she tell you that?”
She shook her head. “She didn’t have to. I’ve gotten to know her well enough to know what she’s thinking. She’s become more detached. We don’t talk as much, and some of the sparkle has left her eyes.”
Riley’s gut clenched. He loved that sparkle. “Why don’t you talk to her about it?”
“What would I say, Riley? I can’t give her any guarantees. I know she loves this place almost as much as I do. But I’ve been thinking about it, and I can see now that you were right.”
“I was?”
She nodded. “Ben and I want to get married, and while we could live here and run the inn together, we really want to travel and be able to have some privacy in a home of our own. We talked about Grace running the inn, and we even mentioned that to her, but I know her dream is to have a place of her own. She doesn’t want to be someone’s employee for the rest of her life, and I couldn’t ask that of her.”
“But, Mom—”
“We’ll talk about it more after the holidays. I want Grace to have the kind of Christmas she hasn’t had in far too long. I don’t want her to worry. I feel a little awkward saying this to you, but I’ve come to think of Grace like family, like the daughter I never had.”
Now his gut really clenched. He had done this. He had put the idea of getting rid of the Snowflake Inn in his mother’s head, and because of that, he was hurting Grace. He had to talk to her, had to make sure she was okay.
“Where is Grace right now, Mom?”
“She went to bed a while ago.”
Riley frowned. “You said she never goes to bed early.”
Corrine simply shrugged. “She was…different tonight. Quieter. We talked a lot today, and I think she just wanted time alone. I haven’t heard a peep out of her in hours. I’m sure she’s sound asleep by now.”
Coming around the counter, Riley hugged his mother and forgot all about the hot chocolate she had been making for him. “Maybe I should go and talk to her,” he surprised himself by saying out loud.
Corrine pulled back and looked at him. “Not tonight, Riley—really. Just let her be for now. She needs her rest.”
He wasn’t so sure. Corrine poured him a mug of chocolate and then kissed him on the cheek. “Speaking of rest, I need mine too. I’ll see you in the morning, sweetheart.” Riley watched her leave the room and listened for the sound of her door closing. A lot had happened in his short absence, and while some of it was good, some of it clearly wasn’t.
Grace had been honest with him from the beginning about how he would be hurting her by pushing Corrine to sell. He just hadn’t realized that until now. Picking up his mug, he headed down the hall to his room but stopped at the door to the basement. He couldn’t remember the last time he had gone there; certainly not since he’d been back. Quietly, he opened the door and contemplated talking to Grace. Listening carefully, he found it was very quiet. Maybe his mother was right—Grace was sleeping and he should just let her be.
He was just about to close the door when he heard it. A sob. Taking another second just to make sure, he listened intently and heard it again. Riley closed the door behind him and carefully made his way down the stairs. Fortunately, a small light made it easier to find his way.
Grace’s bed was tucked away in the far corner of the room, and for a moment, he could only stop and stare. She was asleep, he was certain, but she was having some sort of bad dream. She was tossing and turning, and every once in a while, she would let out a cry of despair.
Placing his mug on the nearest surface, Riley approached the bed. He called Grace’s name softly, but she didn’t respond. She thrashed around a bit more and cried out, “No!” and his heart jumped into overdrive.
“Grace,” he said a bit more firmly, but she didn’t hear him. Sitting on the
bed, Riley reached over and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. She was wearing a tank top from what he could tell, and her legs were tangled in the sheets.
“Grace, sweetheart, wake up,” he said carefully. He watched as her eyes fluttered and opened slightly.
“Riley?” she said quietly, but her body was trembling. “What…what are you doing here?”
“I got home a little while ago, and I heard you crying out. You were having a bad dream. Are you okay?”
Grace pulled away from him and sat up, pushing her long hair away from her face. “I…I’m fine, I think.”
“What were you dreaming about?”
She shook her head. “I don’t remember.”
“Grace…”
“I normally dream about my parents and…the accident. I’m sure that’s what it was, but I normally remember it. You must have caught me at the beginning of it.” She looked up at him and gave him a weak smile. “Thank you.”
“Are you going to be okay?”
She nodded. “I always am,” she said with a sigh and then seemed to take in her surroundings. “Is that hot chocolate I smell?”
Riley smiled and stood. “Freshly made.” He walked over to where he had placed the mug and picked it up and brought it to her.
Grace shook her head. “No, that’s yours. I’ll be fine.”
He sat beside her. “We can share,” he said softly and held the mug out to her.
His blue eyes mesmerized her. She had missed him, and right now it was a nice feeling to have him close by. “Thanks.” Carefully she took a sip of the hot beverage and sighed with pleasure. “I can cook a meal fit for a king, but your mom’s hot chocolate blows me away.”
When Riley pictured himself in bed with Grace—and he pictured it often—they weren’t discussing his mother’s skill at making cocoa. Grace held the mug out to him, and he took it from her hands, his eyes never leaving hers. He took a sip and then placed the mug on the bedside table. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”
“You’d think after ten years I’d stop having the dreams,” she said with a mirthless laugh. “They don’t come as often, and I find I have them more when my life is unsettled or I’m upset.”
“What are you upset about?” he asked quietly, moving closer to her.
Grace wanted to look away, she really did, but his gaze held her captive. “I miss my parents the most during the holidays,” she said so softly he almost didn’t hear her.
“What else?”
She swallowed hard. “I’m upset that this will be my only Christmas here at the Snowflake Inn.”
“Why?”
Shifting away from him, Grace adjusted the pillows behind her. “It’s just that your mom and Ben are starting their lives together. I’m sure by this time next year they’ll have gotten a place of their own and will be enjoying their retirement and freedom.”
“That’s not a bad thing, is it?”
“For me it is,” she sobbed. “I don’t know where I’ll be a year from now.”
Riley lay beside her. “Neither do I,” he admitted. “I hadn’t planned on being a civilian at this point in my life. I thought I’d be a marine forever. But now? I don’t have a job, I don’t have a home, and I have no idea what I’m going to do with myself.”
Grace rolled onto her side and looked at him. “But you do have a home. This is your home. Don’t you know how lucky you are? I had no choice but to sell my family home when my parents died, and since then, I’ve been wandering from place to place trying to find someplace to actually call home. They’re not easy to find.”
He smiled sadly at her. “I’m so sorry, Grace,” he said gruffly. “I’m so damn sorry for all that you had and all that you lost.”
She tried to shrug dismissively, but the quiver in her voice gave her away. “You learn to deal with it.”
Reaching out, Riley wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to his side. She put her head on his shoulder and a hand on his heart and sighed. Carefully, he kicked off his shoes and socks and tucked her as close to him as she could get with her under the blankets and him on top of them. “Sleep, Grace. I’m here, and I promise there won’t be any more bad dreams tonight.”
“You promise?” she asked sleepily and promptly yawned.
Riley kissed the top of her head. “I promise.”
* * *
Grace woke up some time later with a sense of confusion. The light she always kept on was still lit, so it didn’t take long for her to figure out what was different.
Riley was sleeping beside her.
She racked her brain, trying to remember why he was here, and then remembered how he had heard her crying out in her sleep. A wave of embarrassment washed over her. Great. Score yet another point in reasons to run screaming from Grace. His arm was banded tightly around her, and when she raised her head from his shoulder, he instantly came awake.
“Grace?” he whispered. “Are you okay?”
She kind of liked the fact that his first thought was to see about her feelings, and she just let that warm, fuzzy feeling stay with her for a moment before he said her name again. “I’m fine,” she finally said. “I just woke up and realized you were still here.”
Riley pulled back slightly and looked at her face. She was so beautiful. Her skin was a little flushed; her eyes had a sleepy, dreamlike quality to them; and she felt so warm pressed up against him. He sighed with contentment. “Do you want me to leave?” he asked, although he really wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.
Grace shook her head. “No,” she said firmly, sounding more awake than she had a few seconds ago. “I don’t want you to go.”
A slow smile crept across Riley’s face. “Good.” He started to tuck her head back on his shoulder, but she stopped him. “What? What’s wrong?”
Sitting up, Grace tugged at the blankets he was lying on top of. “I can’t move under there.”
He chuckled. “Do you want to move under there?”
“If I didn’t, would I have said anything?” she asked sweetly.
Riley wasn’t sure if she was just playing with him or if she was serious, so he figured he’d better clarify. “If I’m not on top of the blankets, and you don’t want me to go, then that means I’ll be under the blankets with you.”
“That was the plan, Ace,” she said with a sassy grin.
Standing up, Riley pulled his shirt up over his head and let it drop to the floor before looking at Grace. His expression dared her to stop him.
She sat up a little straighter and folded the blankets over on his side of the bed.
He reached for the button on his jeans.
Grace fluffed his pillow.
His zipper rasped.
She smoothed the fitted sheet.
Denim dropped to the floor.
Grace reclined against her pillows and raised her hands above her head and smiled when she heard Riley groan.
“You’re killing me. You know that, right?”
“Me?” she said innocently. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” And then she stretched, arching her back so her breasts were firmly outlined in the ribbed tank top she wore.
“That’s okay,” Riley said, climbing in the bed beside her. “Two can play at that game.” He pulled the blankets up and over the both of them. “Oh, should I turn out the light?” he asked.
Grace shook her head. “No,” she said a little too quickly. “I mean…um…I usually keep it on.”
He wanted to know her reasons, just not right now. He had to clear one last bit of the air before he could do what he had been dying to do for what seemed like ages. “I spent the past few days with my buddies,” he began and watched as Grace registered what he was saying. She slid away from him, and he felt the wall come down between them.
Moving closer to her and d
oing his best to stop her before she completely pulled away from him, he said, “There was no one, Grace. It’s you I want. No one else.”
“Really?” she whispered.
Riley nodded solemnly. “Really.”
“Thank you for telling me that,” she said as she reached up, curved a hand behind his neck, and pulled Riley to her. But before he kissed her, she pulled away one more time.
“What?” he asked, barely masking his frustration.
“Why did you stay away so long then?”
He smiled, loving her barely veiled admission that she missed him. “I was trying to show some self-control. But it turns out, I don’t have any where you’re concerned.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. We’re still talking, aren’t we?”
He gave her a sexy smile that made her purr as he aligned his body over hers. “Not anymore.”
Chapter 8
Thanksgiving came and went in what seemed like a flash, and the inn was bustling with activity like Grace had never imagined.
Her days were filled with cooking and decorating and interacting with their guests, while her nights were filled with Riley. They were trying to be discreet because he didn’t want his mother getting too attached to the idea of him and Grace together, and although they hadn’t actually talked about it, Grace seemed to be taking her cues from him.
While Grace was busy playing hostess, Riley found himself wandering the grounds with Ben and helping to clear a couple of acres for a project Corinne and Grace had come up with—an event barn. Riley wasn’t sure he was on board with the idea yet, but the plan was to clear an acre or two and build a barn to hold one hundred to one hundred and fifty people at weddings or parties the inn would host. Ben talked about adding a garden where ceremonies could take place in the spring and summer—a time that was usually slower at the inn. Additions like this would be a way to keep business strong, possibly year-round.
Mistletoe Between Friends / The Snowflake Inn Page 20