by Gail Sattler
“Oh, Jeff, I love you, too!”
“But—” His words were cut off when at the same time Heather released him, then at light speed pressed her palms to his cheeks and covered his mouth with hers.
He struggled to reach between them to grab her shoulders. Just as he touched them, another voice sounded from behind him.
“What’s going on here? Heather? Jeff?”
Jeff pushed Heather off, and turned to look over his shoulder.
“Tasha!”
Jeff worked his jaw, clamping his mouth shut. He wanted to shout out that nothing was happening, but even though nothing had happened, at least nothing mutual, speaking too soon could be worse than taking too long.
He’d already learned the hard way to first think of what it was Tasha had actually seen and heard.
Trouble was, he didn’t know how long she’d been there.
Despite his words or protests, perception was the key.
He’d already made a mistake on that, and it had cost him dearly. He wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.
Worst-case scenario, she’d only walked in on the kiss that Heather planted on him. He had to start with that presumption, but couldn’t be guaranteed.
He cleared his throat. “It’s not what you think.”
The second the words came out of his mouth, he knew he’d said the wrong thing. When he caught Heather and her neighbor in the hall, locked together in a lovers’ kiss, the first words out of Heather’s mouth had been exactly what he’d just said—that it wasn’t what he thought.
Actually, what was happening had ended up being worse than what he’d thought at the time.
All he could do was look at Tasha, and pray she would believe him.
* * *
Natasha stared at the scene before her. She couldn’t believe what her sister had just done.
She had been home and she’d seen Heather pick up the phone to answer someone buzzing at the main door. Normally she didn’t pay attention, but Heather’s sudden drop in voice raised her suspicions that something was very wrong. Not only did Heather hang up quickly, she left the phone slightly off the hook so it wouldn’t ring again, then disappeared.
Maybe she’d just followed her instincts, but for some reason Natasha had looked out the window and seen Jeff’s car parked down the street. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the visitor was Jeff, and that Heather didn’t want her to know.
The question was to find out who wanted the secret meeting, Jeff or Heather.
Either way, if they decided to go back up to the apartment for privacy, Natasha had no intention of being there.
Normally she would have gone to the underground parking, but something in her made her want to torture herself and press the button for the lobby. She had to know the truth, to see it for herself, so she could tear her heart from his once and for all.
When the elevator door opened she’d seen them standing in the corner, away from the flow of people coming in or out. They appeared to be just talking, but Heather had a hold on Jeff’s jacket cuff. Then the second Heather saw her coming out of the elevator, she launched herself at Jeff.
Jeff hadn’t put up a fight, but he hadn’t acquiesced, either. It looked as if he’d been in shock, as if he hadn’t seen it coming. They’d broken apart before he really had the opportunity to kiss Heather back.
But it wouldn’t be unlike Heather to launch herself at Jeff because Heather had seen her coming.
She studied her sister, who looked to be gloating beneath her tears, then Jeff, who looked as if he’d just been run over by a truck.
Natasha glared into his eyes. “Tell me, what exactly do I think?”
“Uh...I don’t know. But I know what it probably looks like.”
She raised one palm to silence him. “Before you speak, I’m going to tell you what I know.” She turned and glared at her sister, the person she should have been the closest to in the world. “Heather, I don’t know who you are lying to, but I think most of all you are lying to yourself. I don’t know which story is true—the one you told me where Zac split up with you, or the one you just told Jeff where you split up with Zac.”
Heather turned to Jeff, ignoring Natasha completely. “I know I hurt you. The truth is that I split up with Zac. I know I’ve done wrong, and I promise to be faithful from now on. I want to mend things between us. Maybe after a while, we can decide everything is better and make new plans together.”
Jeff turned to her. “I’m sorry. I just can’t.”
At his words, Heather’s eyes welled up, and the tears flowed freely down her cheeks. “I don’t know why you two want to ruin my life.” She sniffled. “I can’t deal with this right now.” Her voice changed from whining to sarcasm. “I hope you two are happy together. You losers deserve each other.” She stiffened, strode to the elevator and pushed the button.
Neither of them spoke until the door opened and Heather disappeared.
Jeff turned to Natasha. “I don’t know where that came from, but I really do wish her well. She’s not a bad person. I just think she’s made some really bad choices. Now she’s got to deal with them. She’s hurt a lot of people, including you.”
His words stopped what she was going to say. The person Heather really had hurt the most was Jeff. She cleared her throat. “I believe she still loves you, despite what she’s done. She says she’s mending her ways.” Although Natasha really didn’t believe everything Heather had just said. In her heart she believed the version that Heather had told her earlier was the right one. Except it wasn’t her place to say so to Jeff. What he chose to believe was his decision. He had been gracious and forgiving, which made her love him even more.
Except he obviously still cared a lot for Heather.
She would always live her life in the shadow of her sister. But this was one place she couldn’t.
Natasha opened her purse, and reached inside. “Please don’t say anything. I’d bought you something for Christmas, and even though we’re not together I still want you to have it.”
She didn’t know why she’d wrapped it. She’d intended to take it back, but she just couldn’t and had kept it in her purse. She put the small box into his hand, then started to turn away.
“Wait,” he said. “Don’t go. Don’t you want me to open it?”
She refused to allow herself to cry. “If you want,” she said, swallowing against the lump in her throat. “It might be a little girlie, so just do what you want with it.”
“I need to know, what do you want? Is this what you want? To just go our separate ways?”
“No.” She gulped. “Of course not.”
He stepped closer. “Why are you leaving me, then?”
“Because I understand how you feel about Heather. I can be second choice behind her for a lot of things, but not with you.”
“You’re not second choice. Yes, you were second, but not in that way, only in the timing. It took spending time with you for me to realize what a big mistake I almost made. I got you a gift, too. I want you to have it, and to know the meaning behind it. If you still aren’t totally sure that I can love you for who you are, not as a copy of your sister, then there’s nothing I can do except try to change your mind.”
Natasha gulped. “Did you say that you love me?”
He cupped her cheeks in his palms. “Yes. I did. I bought you a gift, too. I’d like you to have it. I picked it out special for you. For us.”
Her heart pounded in her chest as Jeff slipped his hand in his jacket pocket, and withdrew a small bag. He held it out to her, but when she touched it, he didn’t release it. “I had plans to ask you to marry me. What I wanted was to pick out a ring, but I thought that was moving a little too fast. So don’t be afraid to open it.”
Her head swam with his
words of love and marriage. She blinked several times to clear her eyes, and her thoughts. That was exactly what she wanted. To spend the rest of her life with Jeff. But only if his heart was really free of feelings for Heather.
She stared at the little box in her hands.
“Open it. It’s okay.”
She looked up at him. “Only if you open my gift at the same time.”
“Okay.”
Slowly, she picked off the bow, then tried to slide the ribbon away from around the box.
In front of her, Jeff sighed. “Why do women do that? Just cut the ribbon off and tear the paper. Please don’t tell me you’re going to save it and recycle it for next year.”
Her cheeks flamed, but she laughed. “My mother sometimes does that with the large presents, never for something this small.” She pulled the ribbon until it snapped, then ripped off the paper.
The box looked familiar. She didn’t open the lid.
Jeff snapped the ribbon and tore the paper off the gift she’d given him with no hesitation, then crumpled the paper and tossed it into the nearby garbage bin.
Under the paper was an exact duplicate of the box she held in her hands.
He stared at his box, then hers. “I’m not sure if I should be nervous or not,” he muttered.
They opened both boxes at the same time.
In unison, they both lifted out the same thing, two halves of a golden heart, each on an individual chain.
“Wow,” they said, also in unison.
“What are the chances?” she asked.
“I don’t know. But I’m going to take this as a sign and ask you, anyway.” He lowered his chains into the box, and covered her hands with one of his. “I love you, Natasha Brickson. With both halves of my heart. You, and only you. If you feel the same way, if you love me, if you trust me, will you marry me?”
She looked into his eyes. Big, honest eyes. She did trust him, and she did feel that all the love that shone in his beautiful blue-gray eyes was for her.
“Yes. I love you, and yes, I’ll marry you.”
He leaned forward and brushed a tender but short kiss to her lips, then straightened. Even though she wanted more, she didn’t want to be a spectacle for the constant stream of people walking by; after all, they were in the lobby of the building where she lived. Although she suspected that wouldn’t be for very long.
Before she could ask any questions, Jeff picked up one hand, then began to run his thumb up and down her ring finger.
“Originally I wanted the woman who would be my wife to wear my granny’s heirloom ring, but things have changed. Now that Heather’s worn it, even though I’ve got it back it doesn’t mean the same thing anymore. I still want you to have it, but not as an engagement ring. Wear it when you want, on a different finger, because it’s still important, but in a different way now. I want to buy you a unique and special engagement ring, just for you, and I want us to pick it out together.”
Her throat became tight. “I’d like that,” she whispered, while she could still talk.
He enclosed her small hand in his large one. “I happen to know a great jewelry store, too. A store where I think a duplicate gift is going to get returned, in exchange for a deposit for a really nice engagement ring. What do you think of that?”
Practical. She liked that, too. All she could do was nod.
“I have another idea. I don’t think we should know which set we keep, and which goes back.” He released her hand and took her box, so he was now holding both, then he put his hands behind his back and mixed the boxes up. “Pick one.”
She picked the one in his right hand. He tucked the other set back into the bag. “Which half do you want?” he asked as he offered her the choice.
“Are you really going to wear one of these? I know it’s kind of girlie, so I was thinking you’d probably put it on your key chain or something like that.”
“Gold? Banging around with my keys? No way. I’ll probably get a longer and thicker chain. And I’d dare any of the guys to bug me about it. I think once they meet you, they’d stop bugging me, anyway.”
This time her eyes welled up, and she couldn’t stop them. “I love you so much,” she choked out.
“Hold that thought. I’d like you to come home with me and spend Christmas with me and my parents. I know they’re going to love you, too.”
“And Daffodil?”
He smiled ear to ear. “Daffodil loves you already. You spoke to her over the phone.”
“I can hardly wait.”
“That’s fantastic.” He kissed her again. “This is going to be the best Christmas ever.”
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781460344255
The Best Man’s Holiday Romance
Copyright © 2014 by Gail Sattler
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