“Speaking of looking… Do you want to see the basement or the grounds here before we leave? That way you won’t have any unanswered questions later.”
He let her finish showing him around, without further comment. He seemed to be planning something. She hoped it had to do with signing an offer on the house.
When they got in the car and headed down the long drive, he asked, “Do you like it?”
“It doesn’t matter if I like it.”
“It does to me.”
“Then I like it. I’d buy it myself if I could afford it, okay?”
“What was your favorite thing about the house?”
“The French doors leading from the master bedroom to the pool.”
“Umm… a romantic touch, I agree.”
Was he thinking the same thing she was? That it would be convenient for a late-night swim that would lead to skinny-dipping that would lead to—
“It’s been a long day and neither of us had lunch. Why don’t I take you out to dinner and then we’ll go back to your place?”
It was her. She’d been thinking of seduction and he’d been thinking of food. “We can’t go out to dinner tonight, because I’ve got plans.”
He was very quiet, then he sighed. “Oh, you’ve got a date, then.”
She nodded and pulled onto the service road to the highway. “Yes, with a four-year-old. Elena’s spending the night. I’m going to have to swing by now and pick her up because Sarah’s got a date.”
“So I’ll take you both out to dinner. I’ll even let Elena choose.”
“No, you won’t, unless you’d actually enjoy going to Honey Bear’s Pizza Cave to watch the dancing costumed bears.”
“I’m thinking letting her choose is not cool.”
Both had figured without the princess of whine. Elena had pestered them until they wound up at Honey Bear’s. It worked out okay because they were hungry and the food was fast and tasty, if a tad juvenile. The pizzas were shaped in bear claws and beehives. They even had a dessert pizza, which made Noel look a little green when it passed by on its way to another table.
When they left, Elena shoved all her paper goodies into her teddy bear backpack. In the car on the ride back to Hollie’s she was a chatterbox, happy at having gotten her way.
Hollie was going to be just as happy if she, too, got her way tonight and Noel made an offer on the house on Mistletoe Lane.
“Are we going to make a gingerbread house?” Elena, asked when they were back at Hollie’s.
Hollie ruffled Elena’s hair. “There’s been a little change in plans, sugarpie. We’re going to make snowflakes, instead, because Noel and I spent too much time looking at houses.”
“Snowflakes?”
“Yes, they’re these pretty powdered-sugar, snowflake-shaped cookies. I’ve got a snowman tin we can put some in and you can give them to your mom for Christmas, okay?”
“Yeah.” Elena scampered off to put her teddy bear on the bed.
Noel took Hollie’s hand, tugging playfully. “Hi, remember me. You were going to show me the house.”
“Right. But we have to be careful. I don’t want Elena getting upset about me moving again. Why don’t I let Elena show you the house?” she suggested just as the little girl came down the hall.
“Elena, would you give Noel a tour of the house while I get everything ready to make the snowflakes?”
“Sure,” Elena agreed, taking Noel’s hand and leading him back to the room she’d just come from.
“This is my room when I stay over with Auntie Hollie.” Elena went to the bed, sat on it and bounced up and down. “I helped her paint it my favorite color. She said it’s called straw color.”
Noel studied the pale yellow room. A full-length mirror leaned against one wall, and hats and purses and shoes with heels were scattered all around it.
“Those are Hollie’s old things she lets me dress up in when I come over. Do you like my new dress?” Elena tucked her fingers beneath the red-and-white gingham pinafore she wore with white long underwear. On her feet were hiking boots that lace-edged socks peeked over.
“I like your dress. Are those your favorite books?” he asked, nodding to a stack beside the bed.
“Uh-huh, these two are my very favorites,” she explained, handing him Gilly, the Seasick Fish by Susann Batson and Snickerdoodle Is Not a Cookie by Bonnie Jeanne Perry. “Will you read them to me?”
“Why don’t you show me the rest of the house and I’ll read them to you later, after you’ve made the snow-flake cookies with Hollie?” He had to get this kid to sleep.
“Okay. Come on, I’ll show you Hollie’s bedroom.”
Good, Noel thought, relishing finally seeing Hollie’s bedroom. Elena was a glitch in his plan for the evening, but the child had to go to sleep sometime. And then he’d have Auntie Hollie’s undivided attention.
Elena tucked her hand in Noel’s and tugged him along the hall until they reached Hollie’s bedroom. “It’s really pretty,” she declared.
The child was right. It was decorated in soft ice-cream shades. He chuckled when he saw the miniature Christmas tree with lights and tinsel on the night table by her bed.
Elena went over to it and plugged it in, her eyes lighting up. “Auntie Hollie has her very own bedroom tree. I’m going to have one, too, when I get big.”
“I bet you are,” Noel agreed.
There was a scurry on the roof and Elena’s eyes got very big. “Do you think it’s Santa’s reindeer already?”
Noel laughed. “No, I don’t think they make a practice run. Christmas Eve is pretty much it, as far as I know.”
“Oh.” She went to bounce on Hollie’s bed, seeming to find it impossible to pass a bed without bouncing on it.
“Auntie Hollie’s bed is the softest bed ever.”
It looked it, he thought. It was covered with a pale pink comforter, and at the head of the bed were mounds of plump white pillows with pastel embroidered borders. The old-fashioned bed sat high off the floor. Elena had climbed up a little set of stairs beside the bed to reach it.
Done bouncing, Elena climbed back down and went to the big pine dresser. “Auntie Hollie has lots of pretties. Want to see?” The little girl pulled open the drawer and displayed a jumble of pastel satins, silks and lace dainties. “She says I have to wait till I’m big to wear these.” The child pulled out some of the lingerie and dreamily laid her head against the soft materials.
Noel wanted to do the same thing.
But Hollie chased such thoughts from his mind when she called out, “It’s not that big a house. Come on, you two. Time to make snowflakes.”
He was making snowflakes? He’d rather make love. Had plans along that line by morning if Elena ever went to bed.
He was, Hollie informed him when he and Elena returned to the kitchen.
“We’ll get these in the oven and then we’ll write up an offer, if you’ve made up your mind,” she said, grating a lemon rind.
They spent the next hour making snowflakes, with Hollie frying the dough-covered iron in hot oil until the snowflakes were cooked, then Noel and Elena sprinkling the snowflakes with powdered sugar.
When they were finished, Noel and Elena were dusted with powdered sugar and looked like snowflakes themselves.
When at last the cookies had cooled it was time for Elena to go to bed. She cajoled Noel into reading her a story from one of her favorite books while Hollie cleaned up the mess.
Hollie was just hanging up a dish towel when Noel returned with the news that Elena was asleep. Finally they were alone.
“At least for now,” Hollie acknowledged. “So what have you decided? Are you ready to make an offer on the house on Mistletoe Lane?”
“You sure you won’t sell me this one?” he asked, taking a seat at the counter, where Hollie had brought out the papers to draw up the offer. “And I’m not certain about the street name now…”
“I’m
sure.”
“And you really liked the house we saw—you weren’t just saying you liked it to make a sale?”
“I told you—I’d buy it myself. I don’t know how to say I liked it any better than that. It’s a great house at a fair price. If you want a house by Christmas, it’s the one to buy.”
“Okay, let’s make an offer,” he said. “I can even live with the street name.” He frowned.
Hollie was relieved, excited and sad all at once. Relieved that Noel had given up on buying her house. Excited about the commission the sale would bring her. Sad that she would no longer be seeing Noel every day. Because as much as he drove her crazy, she’d grown used to the look of him, the smell of him, his company.
And there was still the matter of that kiss.
He could have given her a peck on the cheek. He could have buzzed her lips briefly. He could even have refused.
But he hadn’t. Instead he’d given her a real kiss. A very real, romantic kiss. The kind that led to… something. It hadn’t been a perfunctory kiss between real estate agent and client, happily sealing a closed deal.
However, the kiss hadn’t led to anything.
True, their relationship had grown more relaxed… less formal and more teasing… but it hadn’t developed beyond that.
Now it was over as quickly as it had begun. She would show Noel’s offer. The seller would haggle a little, maybe make one or two counteroffers before accepting Noel’s price, and then Noel would be off to the islands for Christmas.
“How long do you think it’s going to take to close the deal?” Noel asked, interrupting her thoughts as she filled out the offer. His romantic plans didn’t fit her plan to close the deal. He was hot and she was all business.
“Why? Did you want to use the phone to call the airline and make your reservations?” He was really in a hurry to get away.
“There’s that,” he agreed, disappointed at his thwarted plans for the evening.
“Go ahead and call,” she said, not looking at him. “With any luck, we can settle everything tomorrow. And if need be, you can finish up by phone from your island.”
Without much effort, he’d managed to ruin her hope of a very Merry Christmas.
This time her daydreams had been way too fanciful.
The ones she hadn’t even admitted to herself.
Till now.
Meanwhile, back at the North Pole…
“HOW COULD CLAUDIA GO away and leave me nothing to eat but a freezer full of Lean Cuisines,” Santa muttered, pushing away his second empty container.
Santa hated how people who reformed their bad habits lost their senses of humor. Or was his workaholic schedule the reason Claudia didn’t laugh anymore the way she used to?
He went back to the test in one of Claudia’s glossy women’s magazines he’d been checking for a hint to what spa she might be at. The test was to see if your marriage was in trouble.
He finished tallying his answers and found out what Claudia’s absence had already told him.
He was going to have to make some changes.
A diamond tennis bracelet might be a good way to start. And an indoor tennis court.
Claudia would look sexy in one of those short white tennis skirts… if she came back.
8
December 23
“SO HOW WAS your date with the fireman last night?” Hollie asked, sitting on Sarah’s striped sofa with her stocking feet up on the oak coffee table.
“He’s coming over tomorrow night to celebrate Christmas Eve with us. Why don’t you bring Noel?” Sarah hinted.
“Because Noel will be long gone.”
“You didn’t sell him your house, Hollie, did you?”
“No, but I finally found one he liked. We put in an offer early this morning and I’m waiting to hear,” she said, patting the beeper she was never without. “It’s weird. One minute he’s gung ho for my house—the next minute he’s buying another one. Not that I’m not thrilled to get a big commission and to keep my house… but still…”
Sarah took a sip of the honey-and-lemon tea she’d made them. “Here’s some dime-store analysis—for what it’s worth. Have you ever considered the fact that Noel was attracted to your house because he’s attracted to you? Maybe it was his way of getting you in his life—symbolically, that is.”
Hollie laughed nervously. “Thanks, Ms. Freud. If I believe your analysis, why has he decided to buy another house?”
Sarah shrugged. “Got me there. Maybe…” She paused and gave Hollie a mischievous look. “Because he wants a house big enough for the both of you.”
Hollie blushed. “Go on! I hardly know the man. He hardly knows me.”
“Yeah, right.” Sarah harrumphed. “You’ve spent day in and day out with him for over a week. What don’t you know about each other? And besides… let me tell you, there’s some heavy-duty intensity and spark-flying going on between the two of you. Why don’t you see where it can go? Maybe it you ask real nice Noel will stay for Christmas.”
“Not a chance. He’s a grinch, remember? And furthermore, he can’t wait to get away to a hot Caribbean island.”
“Come on, Hollie. Give it a chance. And give Noel a chance. Surely a Christmas freak like you can convert him. Make him want to celebrate with us. I know Elena would like him to be there. She came home all chirpy about how Noel read her stories from the books you’re constantly collecting for her.”
“Did he ever read her stories!” Hollie said, with a laugh. “She kept getting up when we thought she was asleep and begging Noel to read to her. We were both falling asleep by the time she did.”
“Aha, so there was courting going on. He lingered after you wrote up the offer. I’m sorry about Elena putting the damper on things for you two.” Sarah’s laugh was husky and girlish. “Well, not that sorry. Otherwise Rick and I wouldn’t have been necking—”
“Sarah! It was your second date!”
“Well, I had a child with me on the first one. I couldn’t very well lock lips at the Nutcracker.”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it, you hussy. You’re not supposed to neck until the third date.”
“Midnight, get down,” Sarah scolded as the little dog snitched a snowflake cookie from the open snowman tin on the coffee table. “Tell me where it says you’re not supposed to neck until the third date, Hollie.”
“I know I heard it somewhere.” Hollie sniffed. “Besides, Noel wasn’t courting me. He was just lonely and didn’t want to go back to his room. I think he gets a charge out of Elena’s antics. He certainly did try to get her to sleep.”
“I’ll bet,” Sarah said beneath her breath. “Well, I think you should at least ask him if he’ll come Christmas Eve. Maybe if he has somewhere to go, he won’t leave St. Louis at all.”
Hollie folded up her list of things to do and put on her shoes to head out and finish her last-minute errands. “Think about it, Sarah. A sunny beach, warm sand, ocean breezes…he’s not staying. And neither am I. As much as I’d like to laze away the day with you, I’ve places to go, crowds to shoulder through. Want me to pick up anything for you now that I’m finally officially on vacation and don’t have to show Noel any more houses?”
“I’m all set. All the catering is done for now, and by the way, the Witmers were very complimentary about the dinner, thanks.”
As Hollie stood to leave, her beeper went off.
“So much for the best-laid plans. It’s the offer. Can I use your phone?”
“Like you have to ask. Go, girl.”
SARAH RANG the doorbell on the Victorian gingerbread house. She felt Hollie could use all the help she could get, so she’d decided to pay Hollie’s visionary a little visit as soon as Hollie left and while Miss Nosy Elena was still playing at a neighborhood chum’s.
It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she felt a little foolish.
The woman who answered the door banished her reser
vations. Ms. Claudia was completely charming as she ushered Sarah into the living room, urging her to be seated near the fireplace.
“What is it you’d like to know?” Ms. Claudia asked, taking Sarah’s hand. “Do you want to find out how your catering business is going to go, or if that sweet little Elena is going to have brothers and sisters?”
“Well, I ah—” Sarah supposed she shouldn’t be surprised Ms. Claudia knew so much… she was a psychic.
“Oh, you want to find out about that fireman of yours, I bet, from the way you’re blushing.”
“He’s not mine. I mean—”
“Oh, he’s yours for the taking, honey.” Ms. Claudia patted Sarah’s hand.
“Really?”
Ms. Claudia nodded. “You do like him, don’t you?”
“Yes, but he’s a little…”
“You need someone younger to keep up with you and Elena. Besides, with all his brothers and sisters, he’s a very mature young man.”
“He does seem to be. But that’s not really why I stopped by. I wanted to ask you about my friend Hollie. Hollie Winslow. She came to see you and you told her Santa was going to bring her a six-foot-one-inch beau for Christmas.”
“I know she doesn’t believe it, does she?”
“I believe it. I think she’s already met him, but she’s too stubborn to act.”
Ms. Claudia leaned forward and smiled. “They’re both too stubborn.”
“Then how—”
“I know you want to help your friend, Sarah,” Ms. Claudia interrupted. “But they have to work it out for themselves. Hollie will have to come to understand that Noel needs what she has to offer.”
“There’s nothing I can do?” Sarah asked, wanting to bring her friend the happiness she deserved.
“They’ll work it out,” Ms. Claudia assured her.
Sarah smiled. “In that case, how is my catering business going to do?”
“I think if your fireman has his way, you’re going to be catering to him and…”
“More children!”
“If you want them.”
“Elena will be thrilled. She’s been pestering me for a little sister. Oh, by the way, you wouldn’t know where I could get a Barbie in a pink dress, would you?”
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