by Carol Rose
Her mother sighed as she placed a frosted giant glass acorn ornament near the top of the tree. “I just wish Levi wasn’t so worried about his father. I’d never do him like Rebecca did.”
Straightening from the ornament box, Holly frowned at her mother. “Who?”
Audrey sighed again. “Rebecca. She was the woman Michael married not long after Levi’s mother took off. She was a little younger than he was and poor Levi just bonded with her.”
Shaking her head at the jarring image of the dark sexy guy upstairs as “poor Levi”, she handed her mother the last ornament. “What do you mean?”
Her mother carefully hung the twig ornament—made by Holly when she was in grade school—before she turned back to her daughter. “Levi connected to this woman after his mom abandoned them and then when Michael and she had been married only two years, it came out that she was stealing money from his checking account and she’d run up a huge debt on his credit card. He’d given her jewelry, too. Expensive stuff, which was all she liked.”
Bracing the step stool for her mom, Holly said, “What happened?”
“She just left. Took the jewelry and left, without a word to Michael or Levi. It was in November, I think, and Michael had to pick up the pieces as best he could. I think it took him several years to pay off the debt.”
“No wonder,” Holly said, half to herself. “And did Michael and she marry quickly?”
Audrey cast her daughter a comprehending, admonishing glance before admitting, “I think they did.”
“Okay.” Holly just wondered if Levi could be convinced of the difference.
***
“Well”, Michael said a little awkwardly to Holly, “guess it’s just you and me…”
He placed his palms on his knees, sitting on the couch opposite her as if he wished he could be anywhere else.
Guilt did that to some people. She hadn’t seen him since the big blow up earlier and a constraint now settled between them.
“Yes, just us.” Holly tried not to sound forbidding, settling for cool. She and her mother were close, having faced the world together after her father’s death. Her mom might have forgiven the guy, but Holly hadn’t forgotten the nasty things she’d overheard him yell at her mother.
“Your mom made us a nice Sunday dinner for this evening. Rump roast. Peas. Mashed potatoes….” His voice trailed off. “Can’t imagine what’s keeping her and Levi. He said he had some phone calls to make back to the coast. Boy’s always making phone calls.”
As a teen, she’d both dreaded her mother remarrying and saw the value in it, not wanting her mother to go on being lonely. That was when she was a kid. Now, she had no question about it. She was out of the house and her mother’s marriage wouldn’t affect her directly, but she didn’t like her mom being upset the way she’d been with Michael earlier.
“Your mom said she was just going to change out of her slacks,” he said, sounding a little desperate.
Holly didn’t respond to this remark.
“Listen,” Levi’s dad said suddenly. “I know you heard your mother and I having our disagreement this morning—“
“Is that what you call it?” Holly lifted her eyebrows.
Michael had the grace to look ashamed and regretful. “Okay, we were fighting. I don’t know what your mom told you, but I took exception to—“
She waved a hand. “No need to explain. It’s between you and mom.”
“But I want you to understand,” he insisted. “I love your mother and I felt rejected by your her response to my Christmas gift.”
“The cruise?”
“Yes, yes,” he said eagerly, as if she’d said everything was forgiven.
He shook his head. “I tend to respond to things too quickly sometimes. Your mom was just being financially conservative. I can understand her response. I appreciate her money attitude. Not all women worry about what their husbands are spending. Your mom’s smart that way”
Holly wasn’t sure where to go with this. “Yes….”
“Levi was right. It’s crazy to spend a lot of money going on another cruise right now. We can do that later. Maybe for our anniversary or something.” Michael beamed a smile at her. “That boy of mine makes a lot of sense sometimes.”
“Mmm hm.” Where the hell was her mother? It didn’t take this long to put on a dress. Holly glanced back at the staircase. Even Levi’s presence would be a relief, at this point.
“I know you and your mom are close.” Michael leaned back against the couch. “She’s used to counting on you and I get that. But I just want you to know that I don’t intend to come between you.”
“Good,” Holly stuck in, “because you couldn’t.”
“Of course not. I wouldn’t want to. I love your mom very much and I just want to make her happy.”
She felt like she should respond to this, but she couldn’t find anything to say and Michael went right on as if he didn’t need anything from her.
“She’s a wonderful, intelligent woman. I don’t know if she told you, but we knew each other way back in grade school.” His smile was boyish and bashful. “I liked Leanne Milgrove back then and your mom was going steady with a kid named Rocky. Geez, that was years ago.”
Holly understood the fun in meeting old friends, she just wished her mother hadn’t felt the need to marry within a month of reconnecting with a man she hadn’t seen since they were in grade school.
“Quite the looker, your mom.” Michael mused, clearly lost in reflection. “Of course, she’s still beautiful now, but even back then all the guys were jealous of Rocky.”
He frowned into space. “I wonder whatever happened to him. I think he moved away—yes! He and his family moved to Milwaukee the summer before we all were headed to high school.”
Her step-father seemed to shake off his nostalgia, saying with a smile, “We all had crushes on you mom back then. She was quite a girl. I’m a very lucky man.”
Watching him talk about her mother left Holly feeling a little shaken, not stirred. He seemed to genuinely appreciate her mother. Holly wasn’t sure what to do with this impression.
“Of course,” Michael smiled at her, “she’s lucky to have such a good daughter, just like I’m lucky to have Levi. Not all parents have such loving, successful children.”
Holly wondered with a sudden shade of guilt if he’d still have this conviction if he knew that she and Levi were doing their best—well, she was doing her best!—to break them up. She couldn’t vouch for Levi after his woodpile failure.
Maybe they were both wrong…. Holly wove her fingers together on her knee and registered the sinking feeling in her stomach that had nothing to do with lunch being delayed. Were she and Levi all wrong about this? No, no. Their parents’ marriage had been sudden and impulsive—two things marriages should never be in this day of more than half of them failing. You needed to think about that kind of commitment carefully. Look before leaping, that was Holly’s motto, at least when it came to marriage.
“Here they are!” Michael hailed his new wife.
Both he and Holly swiveled around just as Audrey came down the stairs.
He jumped up to give her a peck on the cheek. “Oh, that’s a pretty dress.”
Her mother was wearing forest green shirt dress with tiny red Christmas balls dangling from her ears. “Thank you, sweetheart. Oh, good,” she smiled as Levi sauntered down the steps. “Now we’re all here and we can start dinner.”
Chastened by the possibility that this marriage might not be a bad thing, she followed them in for dinner.
* * * * * * * * *
CHAPTER SIX
Wiping her mouth with a cloth napkin, Audrey said, “Holly, guess what I saw when I got the ornaments out of the shed yesterday?”
“I have no idea.” Holly lifted her head to look at her mother and her reddish hair glinted in the light streaming from the dining room’s bay window.
Levi found himself wondering if she’d ever succumbed to a natural desire
to see what blonde hair did for her. It would be a shame to tame that wild fire on her head, but he knew from something his girl cousin had said once that kids could be cruel to anyone who was different.
“…maybe Levi would like to go with you.”
The sound of his name jerked Levi back to the moment and he realized that both Audrey and Holly were looking at him—the one with smiling encouragement and the other with skepticism.
“Mom,” Holly chided, “Levi grew up in California. He’s never been sledding. I’m sure he has no interest in it and he probably doesn’t even have the clothes for it.”
If he thought she was really concerned for his well-being, Levi might have appreciated her intervention, but from the look on her face, she clearly didn’t think he was capable of a little simple sledding. The realization fired his competitive spirit.
“I have some warm things that might fit you, son,” his dad spoke up eagerly before Levi could respond. “We’re about the same size.”
“It would be a shame not to try out your old sled,” Audrey insisted. “I saw it and your spare one hanging in the shed rafters. Remember how you used to love sledding when we came on our holiday visits?”
“Sledding sounds like fun.” Levi sent her a challenging look.
Holly flashed him a glance that conveyed both annoyance and doubt. “Mom, it’s not polite to insist on Levi sledding. He didn’t have the benefit of regular visits here. He’s probably never ridden a sled before in his life.”
“How hard can it be?” Levi placed his napkin next to his plate, feeling as if his manhood was being challenged. He’d seen the old Hollywood movies—people laughing as they sailed down hill— and it didn’t look that hard. Daring her with a grin, Levi waited.
“That’s my boy!” His dad got up and came around the table. “Let’s go get you suited up.”
“Mom…? I don’t think….” Holly stopped, seeming to realize no one was listening.
Michael chortled. “Levi’s always been an athlete. Good at everything he tried in high school and college. You better watch out, Holly, he’ll leave you in the snowy dust!”
“Thanks, Dad.” Levi got up from the table, following his dad, and throwing Holly another smile.
“Holly’s been sledding at Christmas since our first visit back here when she was eight!” Audrey championed her daughter as she started to clear the table.
Holly looked even more irritated. “Mom, I’m sure those old sleds are rusted and unusable and I should stay to help you clean up.”
“Nonsense. They looked perfectly fine. The cobwebs probably protected them.” Her mother started stacking the plates. “Michael will help me. Besides, I bet you could easily beat Levi down the hill. After all, you’re the one who’s been sledding since you were eight. You can wear my snowsuit.”
“I’ll get bundled up and meet you on the porch in ten minutes,” Levi promised. “Remember, I still owe you for the snowball incident this morning.”
Twenty minutes later, Holly stood at the bottom of the snowy hill that rose behind her mother’s home, clutching an old wooden sled that looked way smaller than she remembered. The sun was a watery yellow above them. She hadn’t been sledding since her first year of college, but she remembered the basics. She was a little surprised that Levi agreed to this. He had no idea what he was getting into here and the thought made her giggle to herself. The first few times she’d tried to control a sled, she’d struggled to get the pull just right to direct the thing. From hard experience, she’d learned that fluffy white snow didn’t always feel as soft as it looked.
The hill wasn’t large, but it had a smooth path between stands of trees and emptied right behind her mother’s house. It had enough pitch to make this exciting. She just hoped Levi didn’t hit a bump and go sailing through the plate glass window at the back of the house or land in the hot tub her mother had installed two years ago.
“You could have just said you’re not into winter sports.” She mentioned as she and Levi continued up to the top of the hill.
He flexed his hands inside his father’s borrowed gloves, reaching up to pull his knit cap on more tightly. “Scared I might beat you?”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” she scoffed, surprised at how different he looked in his dad’s old knit cap. Much less Hollywood-tough, but still mouth-watering. He should have borrowed that and the gloves before he’d gone up to attach the string of lights to the roof. She looked down at the sled he towed behind him. “Look at how small that sled is. You’ll hang off the sides.”
“You just don’t want to meet me on the field of battle.” His sled beside him, he danced on the snow in front of her. “You need to throw snowballs from a hiding place around the corner of the house or go behind my back to get my actors to work with you.”
“That does it!” She started stomping up the hill, her little sled trailing after her. “I’m rubbing your face in it and I did not go behind your back with Mac Toledo. You’re going down, Harper.”
“What do you call it then? Getting him to do your documentary without even talking to me?” Levi followed her.
“I call it talking with an actor to see if he’s even interested.” She threw the words over her shoulder.
“I’ve been on the phone since I got here,” he puffed clouds of foggy air as he climbed behind her, “trying to get him that big job. That’s my job. I help grow his career. I get him jobs that pay him more and more money with every film.”
She reached the top of the hill a little short of breath, standing for a moment with her hand pressed to her side. “Don’t you mean that you make sure you get more and more money?”
“Yes,” he said, reaching the spot next to her. “That’s how it works. I get him more money; I get a piece of his income.”
“Vulture,” she taunted, shifting her sled in front of her.
“I’ve been called worse.” His breath made a foggy puff in front of him. “By better paid people.”
“Ohhhh, you’re going down, Harper!” Furious, she turned to look down the hill. She was gonna crush him.
Preparing to dive on the sled and cruise in ahead of him, she stopped. Sledding could be dangerous for the novice. Knowing he’d never attempted this sport, Holly felt a certain responsibility for him. Dammit. “Listen up, Vulture.”
He grinned at her.
“This is a runner sled.” She nudged it with her mother’s borrowed snow boot. “You pulled it up here by the rope that’s attached to the steering rod.”
“You sound sexy when you’re bossy.” Levi shuffled to the side in the deep snow, regaining his balance quickly.
Holly glared at him as she continued. “Sometimes when you’re sledding down the hill, you need to steer—“
“Why? I thought we just sit on it and slide down.” He put one foot on the sled, nudging it back and forth on the snow.
“Steering can be important if—for instance—you find yourself heading for the hot tub deck or for a clump of trees. You’ll want to avoid a head injury, right?”
He grinned again. “Right. Avoid the hot tub, no trees.”
Rolling her eyes skyward, she went on. “Pull on the left side of the rope if you want to go left. Right, if you want to go right. Just like riding a horse or turning a car’s steering wheel. This first run will be the slowest because the snow isn’t packed. So even you can probably handle it.”
“Umm, bossy and bitchy. Kind of sexy in a dominatrix way.”
“Okay, Vulture. You’re on your own.” Without giving him a chance to reply, she flopped on the sled and raced down the hill.
The powdery snow blowing up in her face, she kept her grasp on the sled rope, shifting to adjust her balance on the rails. It had to have been ten years since she’d felt the sting of the icy wind on her cheeks and as she pelted down a snowy hill, it all came back to her. Behind her, she could hear Levi shouting, his words getting louder half way down the hill.
A bump in the ground—hidden by the blanket of snow�
�threw the sled up and she came down hard, trying to steady the frame under her. Throwing the toe of one boot out in an automatic movement, she steered the racing sled to the side of the house where the ground rose slightly.
Her ears still ringing from the icy rush of air, she staggered to her feet near the deck that held the hot tub and spotted Levi off to the opposite side of the yard, on his knees in the snow three-fourths down the hill, hollering.
Walking through the powdery snow, she went to where he’d finally staggered to his feet.
“What the hell?” One side of his head had apparently smashed into the snow. His hat was rucked up on that side and packed with snow, and a glove lay on the snow about three feet in front of him. “What was that? You just took off down the hill.
“You were waiting for a light to flash Go? Like in the Olympics?” She looked at him with amusement.
“No.” He took off the cap and tried to shake off the snow. “I expected something like ready-set-go. Not you just flying down the hill.”
“It wouldn’t have made any difference.” She gave him a smug smile
“Yes, it would.”
Standing there, a challenging smirk on his face, his cheeks red from the cold and his dark hair snow-ruffled, he looked even better than the GQ guy at the airport. Holly looked down at the snow and told herself to get a grip. She’d seen him at movie openings, looking sleek and tough in his tux. She knew the real guy, even if this one seemed sexy as hell.
“If you’d have given me a warning—“ he started, still brushing the snow off his jeans.
“Admit it, Harper.” She reached a foot out and nudged his sled. “You just suck at this.”
“Not at all. Given a fair shot, I’d be just as good at this as you.”
“Okay.” She took up his dare. “You’re on. And this time no whining when I beat you.”
She started back up the hill, pulling her sled behind her.
“Whining? No one’s whining, Ms. Snarky Puss.” Grabbing his glove off the snow, Levi started after her.
Grinning at his trash talking, Holly stopped when she reached the crest of the hill.