Revving Up the Holidays
A.S. Fenichel
Workaholic Isaac hasn’t been back to his hometown since his father’s funeral two years earlier, pushing his family away because of a painful secret. Hanukkah and a forced vacation lure him back to Atlanta, where he’s reunited with his two lost loves—an old motorcycle and his sister’s best friend Giada. While rediscovering his passion for both the bike and the woman, Isaac rebuilds his heart.
Giada has lost her Christmas spirit since returning home to care for her dying parents. Left alone, she struggles to return to her successful teaching career, choosing instead to stay in her hometown. Only the unexpected return of her high school crush Isaac brings any joy to the season.
The transitive nature of Isaac’s visit and Giada’s fear of abandonment keep them from sharing their whole hearts, but certainly not their bodies. Their desire for each other is hotter than the flames of a menorah and they take advantage of their limited time together by burning up the sheets. But once their secrets are revealed, their hearts will do all the thinking.
A Romantica® contemporary romance from Ellora’s Cave
Revving Up the Holidays
A.S. Fenichel
Acknowledgements
Writers never do it all alone, and a lot of people helped me along the way. Special thanks to Miki Glass and Shula Minsky for being such wonderful advisors. I also have to thank my fabulous beta reader Amanda for her wonderful thoughts and encouragement, my extraordinary critique partner Stormie Kent for all her efforts to make my books shine, and Karla Doyle for slapping me with tough-love whenever needed—I don’t know what I do without her. Special thanks and love to my sexy husband, Dave who continues to inspire me every day.
Chapter One
“I don’t need a vacation, Ben.”
“You do and so do I.” Ben Silverman raked his fingers through his thinning hair.
“Fine. You take a vacation and I’ll take care of things here.”
“No. You will take some time off. No one can work as hard as you do nonstop and not burn out eventually. Go visit your sister. I’ll bet Sadie would love to see you and you can spend some time with your niece and nephew. It’s Hanukkah, Isaac. Go home.”
“I don’t need the time off and we just got that new sporting goods account. There’s a lot of work to be done.” His boss was the same age as him but he felt as if he were a child whining about the forced time off.
Ben’s lanky form folded into his large leather chair. He leaned forward and steepled his fingers. “Isaac, you are going to take two weeks off, paid. Most of the people in those cubicles would kill to have me say that.”
“So give Jody some time off, or Sal.”
Ben shook his head. “Look, we grew up together. I know you. You need some time to regroup.”
Isaac’s heart beat faster. “Are you saying my work’s not good?”
“Your work is excellent. Just take some time, recharge. When was the last time you had a vacation?”
He started to think about it and couldn’t come up with an answer. “It’s been a while.”
“See, you don’t even know. I looked it up.”
Isaac’s eyes widened.
“Yes, as your boss, I have the power to look those kinds of things up. You haven’t taken your vacation days in two and a half years. In fact, you’ve only taken two personal days in all that time and not a single sick day. What’s wrong with you? Don’t you like to have fun?”
Defeated, he said, “I have fun.”
“You used to. When we were kids no one was more fun than you. Now all you do is work. Go home, Isaac, two weeks at least. We’ll manage and you’ll be surprised how refreshed you’ll feel when you come back.”
Isaac got up and headed for the door. He stopped and turned back. “Is it really Hanukkah?”
Ben nodded and smiled. “The first night is tonight.”
As Isaac walked out of the office with his briefcase stuffed full of marketing ideas to go over, he thought about the fact that he’d had no idea that the holiday had already come. Amazing that a tradition he’d grown up with and cherished could come and he’d not even noticed. And it was eight days long. Maybe Ben was right. Maybe Isaac did need a vacation. But returning to Atlanta, was that really what he wanted? The last time he’d gone home had been to attend his father’s funeral.
He ignored the woman in the elevator who stared at him. Normally the attractive brunette would be just his type, but he was lost in thoughts of his father’s death and his heart clenched. The bell of the doors opening snapped him back to the present.
In the building’s lobby he waved to Jake at the security desk and walked out into the chill of the New York City street. Instead of hailing a cab, he walked ten blocks to the ferry that would take him across the Hudson River to Jersey City where he lived. Wind whipped down the avenues and he barely noticed.
The ride was quick, but he continued to muse over how he could have missed the coming of a popular Jewish holiday. He pulled his phone out, found his sister in his contacts and pressed the call button.
“Hi there, stranger. How are you?” Sadie asked.
Sadie was younger by fifteen months. They had always been close, but in recent years they spoke less and less. My fault. The sound of her voice made him smile. “I’m fine. In fact, I have some time off and I was wondering if I might come for a visit. I can get a hotel room in the area.”
“You will do no such thing!”
“I won’t?” His heart jumped into his throat. Ben was right. He’d spent so much time working that his own family didn’t want him anymore.
“You aren’t going to stay in a hotel. You get down here and we’ll make up the guest room. I’m so excited I could cry. And for Hanukkah too. When will you arrive?”
Flooded with relief and embarrassment, he said, “Late tomorrow. I’m driving.”
* * * * *
He tried to work on the reports and ideas he’d stuffed into his briefcase. Finally he gave up, packed a suitcase and went to bed early. At two in the morning when he woke and couldn’t get back to sleep he got up, showered and started the drive south.
Halfway down the New Jersey Turnpike rain splattered his windshield. The wipers’ serpentine path lulled him into thoughts he preferred left in the darker corners of his mind. Unfortunately, those memories rarely stayed locked away. Work was the only thing that kept his demons at bay. An idle mind was his worst enemy. Bad weather, a woman’s laugh, even her favorite ice-cream flavor could bring it all back in a rush of unwanted emotion.
It had been rainy and cold the night he lost Leslie. Three years later, it was as if the November night had happened yesterday. Every muscle in his body tightened with those memories. Leslie’s smiling face filled his vision. Then he saw her long blonde hair matted with blood on a cold metal table.
The loud screaming horn of an eighteen-wheeler and screeching tires rocketed him back to the present. He swerved to get out of the path of the fast-moving truck. His own speed had slowed to the point where he was a danger on the highway.
“Shit. Don’t end up a statistic, man.” He pulled into the next rest stop and got himself a cup of coffee.
Driving into Atlanta was as if he were driving into the past. It had been two years since his dad’s stroke and the unexpected death had rocked Isaac. Why hadn’t he come home more often? His father had never even met Leslie and now they were both gone.
His chest clenched at the thought that he hadn’t given his family the chance to meet the woman he had planned to marry. Would his parents have liked her? How could they not? She was bright, charming and everything they could have wanted in a daughter-in-law.
He pressed the brake when he saw th
e flashing lights of emergency vehicles. A fender-bender, but the image of twisted metal flashed in Isaac’s mind. His knuckles stood out white on the steering wheel. Turning left away from the accident, he had to wipe the beads of sweat from his brow.
He brushed the horrible thoughts aside as he approached the house his sister and brother-in-law shared with their two young children.
Mark Haber’s blond hair stuck straight up on his head as he struggled in the fading light to put blue and white lights around the picture window on the front of the house. Two small faces stared out the window, watching their father’s every move.
Isaac pulled into the driveway. He got out of the car and crossed the yard. “Do you need a hand?”
“I do, but your sister will never allow you to stay out here with me. She’s going to batter you with questions about your personal life and drive you nuts.”
Laughing, Isaac put his hand out. “Good to see you, Mark.”
His brother-in-law shook his hand, smiling. “You too. Go on in. The kids will have already told Sadie you’re here. I’ll be in shortly.”
The little faces had disappeared from the window. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
He didn’t bother to knock. As Mark had said, his sister would already know he was there. The typical middle-class home hadn’t changed much since his father’s funeral. It was comfortable, lived in and neat. Two sets of running feet could be heard as soon as the door closed.
“Uncle Isaac,” they screamed in unison. At five, Abigail was older than her brother Daniel by two years. Even though they couldn’t possibly remember the last time they had seen him, they rushed him, clinging to his legs as if they were a pair of boots.
He laughed and crouched in the foyer. Putting down his suitcase, he lifted them both, one in each arm. “Well, hello you two. I can’t believe how big you’ve gotten.”
“I’m bigger,” Abigail said.
“You are and very pretty.” He kissed her cheek and was rewarded with a sloppy wet kiss on his. “One day, this little man will be bigger than you, you know.” He jiggled Daniel and the boy giggled before hugging him around his neck.
Abigail sighed and wiped a stray bit of dark-brown hair out of her face. “I know. Mommy keeps telling me.”
“Where is your mommy?”
“In the kitchen with Gigi.”
“Who is Gigi?” He knew they called his mother “grandma”. Maybe that’s what they called Mark’s mother.
Daniel shrugged. “Gigi.”
Abigail nodded in agreement.
“Let’s go and find them, shall we?”
He walked down the hall and turned left into the large open kitchen. His sister sat at the high island counter that separated the working kitchen from the eating area. She had a glass of wine halfway to her lips when she saw him. Next to her was a woman who made all the air rush out of Isaac’s lungs.
Both women stood up.
“I thought the children must be playing a game with me. How on earth did you get here so soon?” Sadie asked. She crossed the marble tile and wrapped her arms around him.
The top of Sadie’s head came to his chest. He kissed the top of her head. “I left early.”
She pushed away and looked at the slim gold watch around her wrist. “It must have been really early.”
He smiled at her disapproving look, then returned his gaze to the stunning woman next to her. “Giada Leone?”
Her heart-shaped face brightened with a stunning smile. “I can’t believe you remember me.”
“Are you kidding? Of course I remember you.” He remembered those brown and gold streaks in her wavy mahogany hair. He definitely remembered her soft curves and the way she had made him feel as a teenager. As an adult, she was even more appealing.
“Gigi,” Abigail said with her hands outstretched as if she had magically produced the woman.
“So I see,” Isaac said.
“You two need to get ready for bed,” Sadie said in a voice that reminded him of his mother.
He crouched and placed his niece and nephew on their feet. "Go on. I’ll see you both in the morning.”
After a bit of complaining they ran from the room and could be heard a moment later on the steps. They might have been a herd of elephants rather than two small children.
He walked over to Giada and put out his hand. When she took it, he clasped her delicate fingers between both of his hands.
“I figured a big football hero, motorcycle-riding popular boy like you never gave me a second thought.” She was still smiling. Her dark-brown eyes were lit from within.
He couldn’t look away from those huge eyes. He longed to reach out and see if her skin and hair were as soft as they looked, but he managed to be a gentleman and only touched her hand. “You figured wrong.”
Sadie cleared her throat. “Giada came for Shabbat. We’ve already eaten dinner but I can make you up a plate, Isaac.”
He forced himself to release her hand and look at his sister. He hadn’t even considered that it was Friday night and his sister would be celebrating the Sabbath. On the other side of the kitchen he could see through to a large formal dining room. On the sideboard a pair of candles had been lit for Shabbat along with three menorahs, each one with two candles. “No need. I ate on the way here. I’d love some of that wine if there’s any left.”
Sadie smiled and went to the cupboard for another glass. “I’m going to get those two into pajamas. Help yourself to the wine.”
The expression on his sister’s face as she looked at the two of them put him on guard. He picked up the bottle and poured. Sadie was still watching. “I thought you said you had something to do?”
She laughed and left the kitchen.
He sat on one of the cushioned stools and sipped the wine. “I didn’t think you were Jewish, Giada.”
“I’m not. Your sister just feels sorry for me so she invites me for dinner all the time. We work together at the university.”
She took a sip of wine and a drop lingered on her bottom lip. He couldn’t help wanting to kiss it off. The tip of her tongue peeked out and grabbed the drop.
He was losing his mind. She was the one who got away. Actually, he’d been too stupid to try to catch her. Giada had deserved to be properly courted, and he’d been too busy running around with other girls, ones who hadn’t required much effort. However, not having seen Giada since high school, all the sexy thoughts of his youth returned with force. “What do you do at the university?”
“I’m a professor of literature.”
“At Georgia State? I didn’t think they had much of a literature department.”
She shrugged. “I was up at George Washington, but I came down here last year when my mother got sick. I took care of her before she died and after that my dad didn’t last long.” She sighed. “I guess I could have gone back, but here I am.”
He wanted to ask a lot more questions. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was about her parents.
“Ooh, wine.” Mark walked into the kitchen, got a glass and poured the last of the bottle.
They both chuckled at his enthusiasm for the wine.
“Did you get those lights up?” Isaac asked.
“Yup. They should have gone up two days ago. Your sister kept reminding me. Hopefully she’ll be happy now. I promised they’d be up before the party and now they are.” Mark smiled, obviously pleased with himself.
“What party?”
“She throws a Hanukkah party every year. Usually she tries to make it on the first or last night but since Saturday falls on the third night…”
“The party is tomorrow.” Isaac finished Mark’s sentence.
A few minutes later Giada left and his sister spent the following hour peppering him with questions about his job and his love life. By ten o’clock the previous night’s sleeplessness and the long drive caught up with him and he begged to be allowed to go to sleep.
“I assume you’re not coming with us to temple in the morning.” Sa
die’s voice was just shy of a reprimand.
“I think that’s a fair assumption.”
“Fine, then go and visit Mom. I didn’t tell her you were coming but you should see her before she arrives for the party.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Sadie looked away from him and her shoulders slumped. Taking a step forward, he pulled her into his arms. “What is it?”
She wrapped her arms around his middle. “I’m just happy you’re home. I’ve missed you. Nothing is the same since Dad passed. Mom is worse than ever.” She pushed away and put a fake smile on her face. “I’m just glad to have my big brother home for the holiday.”
“I’ll go see Mom in the morning. Is there anything else I can do? Help with the party or something?”
“No. It’s all under control.”
He stared up at the white ceiling for an hour, thinking about visiting the house where he’d grown up. He couldn’t remember the last time he thought of the place as home. He guessed it had been when he left for college. Really, he didn’t think of his apartment in Jersey City as home either.
When Leslie had been there it had been warm and homey. Now it was just a place where he slept between working.
Trying to brush the unpleasant past from his mind brought Giada to the forefront. She’d looked just as he remembered her. No, that wasn’t true. She’d looked better—curvier and sexier.
His body’s immediate response meant he would never get the sleep he needed if he continued to fantasize about her. He’d known a long time ago that he should keep his distance from the beautiful Italian girl. He’d managed to do just that all through high school. If he was smart, he’d do the same thing while visiting Atlanta. But something told him he wasn’t that smart.
Chapter Two
The house where he’d grown up was a two-story colonial with a sloping front lawn and a curved driveway. An old oak tree near the street brought back the vivid memory of breaking his arm at seven years old. The brick stoop reminded him of simpler times, sitting there with his father talking about everything and anything.
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