“I see.” Lina arched an eyebrow. “And those times you kept Kaylee at your place while you were dating Justin? You and he never...?”
Elisabeth’s face heated as she recalled a frenzied and unexpectedly intense late-night encounter in her laundry room.
“Uh-huh. That’s what I thought,” her sister said smugly.
“Completely different situations. For one thing, he and I had already established a physical relationship. And Kaylee wasn’t having nightmares then.” Those began after Michelle’s death. Elisabeth couldn’t think of a less sexy first time than to have her and Steven’s lovemaking interrupted by a sobbing child. All three of us would need therapy. “Steven’s offered to sleep on my couch while he’s in town. He’s a real gentleman.”
Lina gave her a smile so dubious it bordered on pitying.
“Stop looking like you feel sorry for me.” Elisabeth held up her left hand and waggled her fingers. “I’m the one with the good-looking fiancé and the diamond on her hand, remember? Living the dream.”
“Funny.” Lina squinted at her, the mischief fading from her gaze. “I was always the one with the dreams of becoming the princess of a tropical island or running off to join a rock band. I thought your dream was to take over the lodge eventually and raise kids of your own in Cielo Peak.”
“Yeah, well.” Elisabeth glanced toward the dining room. “Dreams change.”
* * *
OCCASIONALLY, AFTER JUSTIN helped save someone, he received a thoughtful thank-you note or baked goods. On Friday afternoon, he helped save a freaked out twelve-year-old girl and received some minor bruises and lacerations. He discovered that trying to handle a panicking adolescent was a bit like trying to bathe a cat. Since he ended up with a gash courtesy of the girl’s ski, his supervisor sent him into town for a tetanus shot and told him they’d see him tomorrow.
After swinging by the doctor’s office, Justin intended to go home. He didn’t have any ulterior motives. But when he spotted the sign for the locally owned Christmas tree farm...
He glanced at the digital clock in his dashboard. It was four o’clock. Had Elisabeth made good on her promise to take Kaylee tree-shopping? There was another place out by the highway they could have gone, but that lot hosted a temporary vendor who would be gone by December twenty-sixth and had no real ties to town. If he knew Elisabeth, she’d want to support the community.
As if his SUV had a will of its own, the vehicle made an unscheduled turn. A moment later, he found himself on a bumpy road leading to the customer parking lot. Sure enough, there was Elisabeth’s car. She must be here somewhere, with Steven. Was the man worthy of her? He heard Kaylee’s voice in his head. He doesn’t like me. Having grown up with a younger sister—and dealing with a shrieking girl this afternoon—Justin knew that there were some instances of melodrama. Was Kaylee’s aversion to the man a knee-jerk reaction to the news that she was leaving? Or was there any real basis for her complaint?
He stepped out of the SUV into the bracing cold. Nearby was a large striped tent with electric cords running beneath the canvas, most likely for space heaters. He supposed he should start there and get information on how selecting and purchasing a tree worked. Until now, he hadn’t considered buying one, but why not? He was here; he might as well support the local economy, too. Nothing that would eat up too much space in the house he rented, just a simple, modestly sized tree.
As he entered the tent, he immediately spotted a dozen people he knew. Including Elisabeth. She stood out like a beacon in a bright blue coat. Kaylee was similarly eye-catching in lime-green and a headband with felt reindeer antlers. With them was a short man with hair the color of wheat. Steven?
Only one way to find out. He strode in their direction.
Elisabeth’s eyes widened when she saw him, and she hurried to meet him. It might have been flattering if she didn’t give the impression that she was trying to run him off. “What are you doing here?” she hissed. “Stalking me?”
Pretty much. “Of course not. I’m here to get a tree, like everyone else.”
“Justin!” Kaylee launched herself at him in what was probably intended as a hug but was executed as a tackle worthy of the Denver Broncos. He knelt down to return the embrace. “We got a tree, a real big one. Are you gonna come over and see it? Did you pick one out?”
“Not yet. You got any advice on what to look for?”
She tilted her head, giving his question earnest consideration. “Something extra, extra wide on bottom so lots of presents will fit under it.”
He chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He rose, extending a hand toward the blond man. “You must be Steve Miller. Justin Cade. Nice to meet you.”
“Ah.” The man shook his hand. “The Justin Cade? I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“You have?” Elisabeth looked startled. Apparently, she hadn’t been the one volunteering information about him.
“All day while you were at work,” Steven confirmed. “Did you know that Justin can imitate the voice of every single character on SpongeBob SquarePants? Alas, the best I can do is a passable ‘ruh-roh’ from Scooby Doo.”
Justin laughed, liking the guy despite himself.
“It was nice to see you,” Elisabeth said, “but we were just leaving. Good luck finding—”
“Leaving?” Kaylee wailed. “We haven’t even got hot chocolate. You promised. And Justin doesn’t have a tree. He needs our help picking a tree.”
Steven was glancing at the little girl with alarm. Justin recognized some of the same trepidation he’d experienced the other day, when Kaylee had almost started crying and he hadn’t known what to do.
“Don’t you want my help?” Kaylee asked Justin. “I’m very good at picking trees.”
“I... Of course I want your help,” Justin said, not meeting Elisabeth’s gaze, “but I can manage on my own if you have to go.”
Steven lowered his voice. “Elisabeth, could I speak with you for a minute?”
“I’ll keep an eye on Kaylee,” Justin promised, waving them to the side. He valiantly ignored the temptation to eavesdrop. In part because Kaylee’s animated chatter made it impossible.
“Wanna go throw snowballs?” she asked.
“I think we’re supposed to stay in the tent. Patience. They’ll be right back.”
She made a face. “I was stuck inside all day. I like outside.”
Her conviction made him laugh. “Me, too, kiddo. That’s why I have the best job in the world. I get to spend a lot of it outside.”
“Steven has a boring job,” she complained. “He was babysitting me, but he sat at the computer all day.”
“You have to give him a chance,” Justin told her. “He seems nice.”
She twisted her mouth into a contemplative scowl. “He let me play a video game. But it was too hard.”
“We may have a solution,” Elisabeth said, rejoining them. “If Justin is willing to give Kaylee and me a ride home.”
Steven’s tone was apologetic. “My company is about to roll out a new version of our software, and there are still bugs. I hate to work while I’m visiting Elisabeth, but—”
“Hey, I’m the one who worked all day while you watched Kaylee,” she reminded him with a smile. “Teamwork.”
He kissed her on the cheek. “You’re the best. Justin, what do you say? Any chance you could give the girls a lift?”
“Please!” Kaylee begged.
Looking into her big brown eyes, he knew there was no way he could refuse. “No problem. Now, what’s this I hear about hot chocolate?”
He let Kaylee drag him toward the line at the concessions table while Elisabeth and Steven said goodbye. It only took a moment or two before Elisabeth fell into step with him.
“Elisabeth, can we get a cookie with our hot chocolate?” Kaylee asked
.
“Okay, but only because it’s the holiday season. And no dessert after dinner tonight,” Elisabeth warned. “This is it for the day.”
Undisturbed by thoughts of the dessertless future, Kaylee skipped ahead to check out the cookie selection and stood at the front of the line talking to a pigtailed girl she seemed to recognize.
Elisabeth’s shoulders slumped. “This was probably a mistake.”
“What, her inevitable sugar rush? Don’t worry. Colin and I never paid enough attention to nutrition, and Arden turned out great. She willingly eats vegetables all the time.”
“I meant staying here with you. Steven thought it would earn him points with Kaylee, but they’re having a difficult enough time as it is. How’s she supposed to bond with him while he’s at my place and you’re here being charming?”
He grinned. “You think I’m charming?”
“No. But I can see how a six-year-old might make that mistake.”
“Ouch. I don’t remember you being this mean.”
“With as many women as you date,” she said matter-of-factly, “I’m amazed you remember me at all. Do you have some kind of spreadsheet to keep track of us?”
It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her she wasn’t like any of the others, that she’d been special. But what good would that do? Part of her distinction was how uncomfortable she’d made him. She would forever be off-limits to him even if she weren’t engaged to be married.
Her mouth rounded in a surprised O. “You’re hurt.”
“Because you insinuated I’m a man-ho? No worries, my skin’s thicker than that. Arden says horrible things to me all the time.”
“Your cheek,” she clarified. “It’s hurt. Physically, literally. Injured.”
“Oh, that.” He raised a hand and pressed below his cheekbone, wincing. There would definitely be a bruise there. “Battle wounds from rescuing a damsel in distress. She—”
“Spare me any details of how she offered to kiss it all better,” Elisabeth said, her tone withering.
There was an awful lot of disdain in her voice for someone who shouldn’t care about his love life. Could she possibly be jealous? Of course not. Just as he was not bitter about her becoming Mrs. Elisabeth Miller.
“You misunderstand,” he said. “The damsel in question was twelve. There was some flailing—she caught me with both an arm and a ski—but the physical pain wasn’t nearly as bad as the loss of hearing she probably caused. Do all preteen girls shriek like banshees?”
At that, Elisabeth smiled. “I have news for you, it’s not just the tweens. I was in Denver for Kaylee’s fifth birthday. She was overstimulated and overtired and threw an epic fit. I thought my ears would actually start bleeding.”
“And now? Any tantrums since she moved in with you?”
“Not at first, but she’s getting there.”
“Why do you sound like tantrums would be progress?”
“In some ways, it would be a relief. I think all normal kids throw one or two. Lord knows Lina did. But when Kaylee first moved in with me... She was far too solemn for a child her age. And painfully tentative, as if she was afraid I’d make her leave if she did anything wrong. She needs to know this is permanent, that I’ll love her no matter what.”
Her tone was fiercely maternal. She made a damn good mother, even if she’d only been on the job for a few months.
Did her fiancé have what it took to be an equally capable father? And what kind of husband would he make? The man seemed like a decent, likable guy, but what was with that kiss on Elisabeth’s cheek? Obviously, they weren’t going to make out in front of Kaylee and a bunch of Christmas-tree enthusiasts, but shouldn’t there be some chemistry between them? Justin knew firsthand how passionate Elisabeth could be.
“Stevie wasn’t what I expected,” he said.
“Don’t call him ‘Stevie.’ It’s patronizing.”
“Can I call him Maurice?” he teased. “Or how about ‘the space cowboy’? From ‘The Joker’? Oh, come on, that was funny.”
Kaylee bounced back toward them, waving goodbye to the girl with pigtails. “That was Marissa. She’s in the class next to mine. Marissa’s mom says maybe I can come to their house after Christmas. They have a rabbit!”
“That sounds like fun,” Elisabeth said, but Justin noticed the concern in her eyes. Was she worried about Kaylee finally starting to make friends just as the time came to leave Cielo Peak?
They moved to the front of the line, ordering three cocoas with extra marshmallows. As he stirred his, he felt Elisabeth’s gaze on him and caught her staring at his cheek again.
“Don’t worry,” he told her. “It looks worse than it is.”
“I forget sometimes how dangerous your job can be,” she admitted. “You take care of yourself out there, okay?”
“Always.” As he’d demonstrated when he broke up with her, looking out for himself was what he did best.
* * *
ELISABETH’S RESERVATIONS ABOUT staying with Justin at the tree farm were no match for Kaylee’s delighted giggles as the girl darted between scotch pines and blue spruces. Justin played “Marco Polo” with her, pretending not to know exactly which row she was in until she jumped out to surprise him, eliciting comical shrieks.
It was bittersweet to watch them together. He was so damn good with her. Probably because he himself is a big kid at heart. She had to remind herself that knowing how to have fun wasn’t the same thing as being reliable. There was a man back at her place who would never let her down or break her heart.
“Okay, you two, you seem to have forgotten why we’re here. Justin needs a tree,” she reminded Kaylee. “Any suggestions?”
The girl offered opinions ranging from “that one might make Santa sneeze” to “this one’s got a bald spot, like our principal.”
Justin made a show of weighing her sage advice as he steered her away from any tree over four feet. “My house isn’t very big, so I need a small one. Those are the best, anyway, because it’s easy to reach the top.”
“We always had an angel at the top of our tree,” Kaylee said shyly. “The angel’s pretty, but not as cute as my teddy bear snowman. That’s my favorite of all.”
Elisabeth inhaled sharply, cursing her lack of foresight, and Justin met her gaze over the top of Kaylee’s head. Michelle’s Christmas decorations were amid the many boxes stacked in a storage unit in Denver. Elisabeth had brought all of Kaylee’s belongings with them and sold Michelle’s bigger pieces of furniture. But there were tons of items Elisabeth hadn’t been able to face. She’d planned to sort through it all with Kaylee when the girl was older.
They were supposed to decorate their tree tonight, their first together as a family, and she suddenly suspected that Kaylee wasn’t going to be very impressed. Throughout Elisabeth’s childhood, the Christmas trees had always been gaudy affairs, strewn with a mishmash of school pictures in painted macaroni frames, funky knit snowmen made by Grandma Donnelly and all of Lina’s favorite ornaments clumped together in one group.
Once she moved out on her own, Elisabeth was free to have an elegant, color-coordinated tree. All of her ornaments were blue and silver, many of them crystal and not very kid-friendly. She didn’t even have an angel. She used a three-tiered Waterford topper made of blown glass. It was exquisite, but it was no teddy bear snowman.
“I think I saw some ornaments for sale in the tent,” Justin said. “Maybe you could pick one out before we go, a souvenir from Cielo Peak.”
“What’s a ‘souvenir?’” Kaylee asked.
“An item that helps you remember special places or events,” Elisabeth explained.
The little girl looked indignant. “I would never forget Cielo Peak! It’s my home.”
Not for long. Elisabeth bit her lip, torn between reminding Kaylee that th
ey had lots of new, wonderful things to look forward to in California and simply letting her enjoy the moment. It was wonderful to see her smiling.
“Snowball fight!” Justin called his announcement at the same time he lobbed a ball in Elisabeth’s direction. It thudded against her shoulder, distracting Kaylee’s attention and putting an end to Elisabeth’s internal struggle. For the moment, anyway.
Elisabeth bent to pack some snow between her gloves, making Kaylee laugh with her vows of retaliation.
But the impromptu snow battle highlighted why Justin Cade had never been the right man for her. He excelled at temporary distractions, not long-term solutions. When relationships got too intense for him, he slipped away faster than a snowball would melt in the summer sun. Kaylee might be too young to understand that, but it was Elisabeth’s job to remember it for both their sakes.
Chapter Six
When Elisabeth arrived at Arden’s studio Saturday morning, she expected to encounter a few reminders of Justin—after all, he was Arden’s brother. But she hadn’t been expecting to encounter Justin himself. She drew up short in the doorway, sucking in her breath. You have got to be kidding me.
He smiled ruefully over the head of the infant he held against his shoulder. “I’m not stalking you, I swear.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” she asked, finally remembering to move so that Kaylee and Steven could also come in from the cold.
“I’ve got an odd shift today. Don’t go in until after lunch since I’ll be working abnormally late.” He reached down to tousle Kaylee’s curls when she hugged him. “I’m teaching a first aid class around seven and leading a moonlight snowshoe tour. Meanwhile, Arden had a last-minute change of child-care plans so I agreed to meet her here and take my gorgeous niece off her hands for a few hours.”
“He’s a lifesaver,” his sister added. She stood a few feet away, stirring a packet of creamer into a mug of coffee. “My normal weekend sitter is a schoolteacher. She’s taking advantage of the two-week vacation to visit some cousins in Texas. My backup sitter is Jill Dennis, but she called this morning to say she was coming down with a bad cold. I couldn’t risk leaving Hope with someone who’s sick.” There was a note of anxious apology in her voice, as if she worried her clients would think her unprofessional for having her baby at the studio.
Second Chance Christmas (The Colorado Cades) Page 6