'Tis the Season for Love: A Charity Box Set

by Maggie Dallen

  Regina couldn’t afford to change her ticket.

  So her perfect trip? The escape she’d been looking forward to in order to forget how lonely she was this Christmas, even with her mother and her friend in town…

  It would have to wait.

  Until next year.

  When she had a ticket.

  By the time Regina headed back to the parking deck where she’d left her car, depressed, cold, and exhausted, she realized it was too late to call her mom and tell her she was driving back.

  Both her mother and Norah Arnold went to bed ridiculously early and she didn’t want to wake them. Maybe in the morning she could laugh about it over breakfast, but for tonight…

  Tonight she just wanted to wallow.

  It was a mistake. A simple mistake. That’s what the airline employee kept saying.

  The problem was, it wasn’t the first. Nor likely would it be the last.

  Regina had made one mistake after another in her life, so why should Christmas Eve be any different?

  Her life was one big mistake.

  She groaned as she pulled into traffic and started the long trek back to Friar Hollow.

  At least she had her mom back home. And her friends. Callie would be thrilled to know she could make the holiday party she was planning for tomorrow. And she knew her boss Daniel and his girlfriend Leah would be delighted as well.

  She and Leah hadn’t clicked at first—not a surprise, really. Regina wasn’t the warm and fuzzy type. She didn’t click well with most people right off the bat.

  Words like cold and ice queen had followed her around since she was a teenager. Maybe even before then.

  Even as a kid she hadn’t been the type to smile and giggle.

  She’d had the sort of stern face and hard eyes that made her look like one of those kids in Victorian portraits. The ones who looked miserable and mean.

  The kind you didn’t want haunting your house.

  But, Leah had enough warmth and effervescence for both of them and she’d spent the better part of this past year forcing Regina to be her friend. Yes, forcing. Leah was sweet but persistent.

  And when you were friends with Leah…

  Well, her friends liked to adopt single women who were new to town, it seemed. Next thing Regina knew? She had a group of friends.

  She let out a huff of laughter at the thought.

  In one year she’d made more friends here than she had in her entire five years in San Francisco with her ex-husband.

  Moving to San Francisco with Dean? Yet another mistake. But her marriage was the biggest of them all.

  Nearly two years had passed since the divorce was finalized and she was only now starting to feel like herself again.

  Sort of.

  Somewhat.

  She was starting to feel like a new version of herself. She’d likely never go back to being the naive, optimistic idiot who’d married a near stranger because she’d had her heart broken by her high school sweetheart.

  But...lessons learned and all that, right?

  At least now she was in a town she loved, surrounded by friends she cherished, working at a job where she felt necessary and respected.

  All in all, life was looking up.

  A wet heavy snow started to fall and she gripped the wheel tighter with a sigh. At least, it had been looking up until tonight.

  Her latest mistake was a doozy, all right.

  By the time she pulled into her driveway she was exhausted. She left the luggage in the trunk for the morning and headed up to her familiar front door with her eyes half closed. She went through the motions of fishing out her keys and slipping the correct one into the lock.

  She opened the squeaky front door as quietly as she could so as not to wake her mother and Norah and shut it behind her as she tiptoed further into the house.

  She loved this town. She loved her home. But she really did need to take Cole up on his offer to do some maintenance on the old house. The floorboards squeaked as she shrugged off her winter jacket and tossed it over the back of her couch.

  She turned to head to the kitchen for a glass of water and stopped short, her mouth open but a scream frozen in her throat. Fear had her eyes growing wide as a dark shadow shifted, highlighted by the moonlight coming in from the window over the sink, all she could see was a tall form—a masculine figure.

  The silhouette of someone who was definitely not her mother or Norah.

  She shifted her weight backwards as her mind raced to think of what to do.

  Where was a weapon? Where was her phone? Was her mother safe upstairs? If she screamed would the intruder run or attack?

  The thoughts flew by in a matter of seconds, but the tense frozen silence felt like an eternity.

  She reached for the doorhandle, ready to bolt and scream her head off until a neighbor came running, but just as she shifted, the floor squeaked and he….charged her.

  “Who are you?” a low voice shouted.

  She shrieked, barely registering the words as she acted on instinct to protect her home and her mother, rushing the figure with all her strength and colliding into him with a thud.

  “Get out of my house! I’ve already called the cops.” She beat her fists on his chest, not stopping until he grabbed her arms and shoved her away.

  “Regina?”

  Her name pierced the adrenaline-fueled roar in her ears, the fog that had her in fight mode.

  She froze. She peered up at the dark, solid shadow before her.

  She knew that voice.

  She’d know that voice anywhere.

  A light from the stairway flipped on and her mother’s voice called from the top. “What’s going on down there? Tyler, are you all right?”

  The light from the stairs cast enough of a glow that she could see his face. She could see those eyes. Blue and beautiful and so achingly familiar because they haunted her dreams every single night.

  “Tyler?” she whispered.

  His lips quirked up at the corners. “Hi Reggie.”

  Relief rushed through her at the realization that she wasn’t under attack and against her will she found herself melting against him as her knees gave way.

  He held her close. “Sorry for the scare.”

  She shook her head. “What—? How—?”

  The sound of her mother and Norah padding into the hallway to join them cut off her questions. For the best, probably, since she couldn’t quite form them into words anyway.

  Her mother must have flipped on the kitchen light and now she and Tyler were blinking at one another as their eyes adjusted to the glow.

  It was Tyler’s mother who broke the stunned silence. “Well, would you look at that… You two are under the mistletoe!”

  Chapter 3

  She was in his arms.

  After all these years, Regina was back in his arms.

  And his mother and hers were watching.

  He cleared his throat as she tipped her head back to look up above them. He glanced up too.

  Sure enough, a mistletoe hung directly overhead.

  He dropped his gaze at the same time she did and their eyes clashed. He caught a flicker of amusement there in those brilliant brown eyes he remembered so well.

  “Well, would you look at that,” she murmured. Her lips were twitching with mirth and he grinned down at her.

  “Merry Christmas?” he offered.

  She snickered.

  He laughed.

  Their mothers stood by with matching looks of baffled confusion as they both doubled over with laughter. The movement meant he had to let go of her, and he felt the loss even as laughter claimed him.

  It felt like this laugh had been buried for centuries. Or at least several years.

  The tension between them broke like a dam after so many years of being held together, palpable even from a distance.

  Her eyes shone with tears of laughter as she clapped a hand over her mouth with a shake of her head. “I’m sorry,” she gasped when she r
emoved her hand. “I’m just...tired. And the shock of seeing you and…”

  “I get it,” Tyler said, his own laughter dying down as well. “This was...not how I expected to see you again.”

  She straightened and looked around like she was seeing her kitchen for the first time, her brows drawing together in confusion. “What are you doing here?”

  “Didn’t your mom tell you?”

  They both looked to Deborah and his mother in unison and watched as the older ladies shared a comical look of chagrin before backing up toward the doorway.

  “I meant to text you earlier, Regina,” her mother said.

  Meanwhile his mother was giving him a beseeching smile. “We would have told her eventually.”

  He gaped at his mother. The subtext was clear. They would have told her when it was too late to say no.

  Because they knew, just like he did, that she would not want her ex-boyfriend staying at her home.

  Humiliation flooded him, along with a decade of regret. The regret he was used to. The embarrassment of being caught in his ex’s kitchen unwelcome and in his pajamas?

  This was new.

  “What are you doing home, honey?” Deborah asked.

  “It’s a long story,” Regina muttered.

  Tyler couldn’t see Regina’s expression but he imagined she was giving her mother the same gaping stare of horror he was giving his mother because Deb turned and scurried back to the stairs leading upstairs. “You two get reacquainted and we’ll all catch up in the morning.”

  “It’ll be Christmas!” his mother added.

  Like that helped.

  When the older women had disappeared he turned back to face Regina. “I’m so sorry—”

  “I didn’t realize—”

  They’d both started and stopped at once and the ensuing silence was deafening. He cleared his throat again. “I’ll get out of your hair first thing in the morning.”

  “You think I’m going to kick you out on Christmas morning?” She arched a brow, and there was the cool, composed woman he remembered. She’d always been like this, even as a kid. Hard to read, cool as a cucumber—except for those moments when she wasn’t.

  Like just now when she’d given in to a hysterical fit of laughter.

  Or the last time he’d seen her when she’d given in to rage and thrown a cellphone at his head.

  She crossed her arms, her expression filled with curiosity. “Where would you go?”

  He scratched the back of his head in discomfort. “Well, I suppose I could go to a hotel...or…”

  She tilted her head to the side. “You could always go to Callie and Cole’s. I’m sure they’d love to see you.”

  He let out a rush of air. There it was. The truth he wasn’t sure she knew. “Yeah, you’re friends with them too, right?” He rocked back on his heels. “Small world.”

  She arched a brow, her eyes lit with amusement at his expense. “Not really. I mean, Callie’s house is the reason you and Cole came to Friar Hollow in the first place, right? And you’re the one who told my mom about this place so…” She shrugged.

  He felt like a fool. “Right.” He bobbed his head. Of course she’d have figured out the connection between him and this town, and it wouldn’t be difficult to piece together that he’d been the one to recommend she check it out.

  And yet...here she was.

  “What?” she asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  He shook his head. “It’s nothing. It’s just… After the way we parted last time, I’m surprised you came to a town that I’d suggested.”

  Her smile was small and enigmatic. “Yeah, well...that was a long time ago. I’m not sitting around stewing over ways to kill you in your sleep if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  He let out a huff of laughter at that. “Yeah, actually, that’s sort of what I feared.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Get over yourself, Tyler. We had a fight. It was years ago. I’m over it.”

  What she meant was...she was over him.

  He swallowed down a familiar pain. It was the stab of regret he should have been used to by now.

  It still hurt like heck.

  He looked away, focusing on the tidy but tiny kitchen and the colorful watercolor paintings that dotted the walls. “I can be out of here first thing in the morning.”

  She gave a little snort. “And get me in trouble with our moms? I don’t think so. You’re welcome to stay.”

  Her tone was polite. Cool.

  This was the Regina who had married a politician and moved to the big city.

  He preferred the one who threw phones at his head.

  “Okay then, I’ll stay.” He shifted. “But I won’t stay long.”

  “I’m sure you have a lot of work on your plate,” she said evenly.

  He didn’t deny or confirm. “So…” He went to shove his hands into his pockets and then realized he was wearing flannel pajama pants.

  This was so not the way he’d imagined running into Regina again.

  And he’d thought he’d imagined every scenario possible over the years.

  “So…” she said, a hint of a smile playing over her lips, no doubt at the awkwardness of it all.

  “What happened to your trip?”

  She winced. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

  “Bad night?” he guessed.

  “Terrible.” She leaned back against a counter and for a second, it felt like no time had passed. It had always been like this between them—as kids when they were best friends, as teenagers when they were sweethearts, as early twentysomethings when they’d been madly in love and ready to conquer the world together…

  They’d always slid into this easy companionship and he was both elated and terrified to find it happening now after years of not seeing one another.

  Being in the same room with her was just as heady and homey and intoxicating and sweet as he remembered.

  “Tell me about it,” he said.

  She gave a huff of laughter. “It’s embarrassing.”

  “More embarrassing than being caught in your ex’s house uninvited in the middle of the night?” He glanced down at his faded T-shirt and flannel pants. “In your pajamas?”

  She laughed and the sound warmed him. “Touché.”

  “Come on, spill.” He moved toward the cupboard where he guessed the cocoa would be. “I’ll make you a cup of hot chocolate if you do.”

  “No fair,” she teased. Hot chocolate had always been her Achilles heel.

  He glanced over his shoulder. “Tell me you still drink it with marshmallows.”

  She bit her lip and crossed her arms but after a second she sighed and pointed to a cabinet to his left. “Top shelf of the pantry.”

  She moved to the stove as he snatched the marshmallows and found the mugs. As he did she told him her story.

  She swung around with the spoon she’d been holding in front of her like a knife. “I swear, if you laugh at me right now—”

  He held his hands up in defense. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  She narrowed her eyes but her lips were twitching with amusement.

  “Besides,” he said as he leaned against the countertop beside her. “Europe’s loss is my gain.”

  He’d meant it to sound teasing but...he missed the mark.

  A ring of earnest sincerity made him flinch and for a second he wished he could call back the words. But then she was eyeing him oddly, studying him like she could read his mind. “Yeah?”

  Her voice was soft. Gentle.

  Vulnerable.

  He swallowed a wave of emotions that made him want to pull her close and run out the door in terror all at the same time. “Yeah.” He gave in to the urge to push a stray lock of dark brown hair back from her face. “I’m glad I get to spend time with you.”

  Her lips trembled a bit and he found himself leaning in. To kiss her felt like the most natural thing in the world, but he hesitated.

  It wasn’t hi
s right. Not anymore.

  She blinked and the moment was gone. She pulled back quickly and turned to the pot of chocolate, stirring it with vigor. “It’s almost done.” She glanced over. “So what about you?”

  “What about me?”

  “How’d you end up here?” She gestured at the room around them. “In my house on Christmas Eve?”

  So he told her the tale, not bothering to sugarcoat how lonely he’d been, how tiresome his life on the road had become.

  “But you’re living the dream, right?” she asked.

  He peered at her, trying to see some hint of the anger that used to be there when the topic of his career came up.

  After college he’d ditched all their dreams to pursue a life in Hollywood, and she’d resented him for it for years. But now…

  He didn’t sense anger, just curiosity. She wanted to know if he was happy. If he’d made the right choice…

  The honest answer was, “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I’m proud of the career I built, but it’s not what I’d dreamt it would be. I mean…” He laughed ruefully as he handed her a mug to fill. “I had these big plans to change the world with documentaries and instead I’m filming unhappy couples pretending to be in love for the camera for some reality show.” He shook his head and gave her a wry smile. “Not exactly a noble endeavor.”

  She shrugged. “But you pursued your dreams and are doing something you love, even if it’s not perfect. That’s something, right?”

  He nodded. “I guess.”

  She sat at the kitchen table and he followed suit. “What about you?”

  She grinned so suddenly he forgot how to breathe. Her smile was even better than he remembered. The fact that she didn’t smile often had always made it more special. Like a glimpse of a falling star or a rainbow on a rainy day.

  Or like hot cocoa on Christmas Eve.

  “I wouldn’t say working at a veterinary clinic is my dream come true either,” she said as she lifted the cup to her lips and blew on the hot liquid. “But...I’m happy there.” She looked around her kitchen as if seeing it with new eyes. “I’m happy here. I love this town and my friends…” She lifted one shoulder. “It’s been a rough few years, but life is good these days.”