Despite his curiosity, Jordan didn’t ask what she’d said. He waited just long enough for her to get her seat belt buckled and for Daisy to make herself comfortable on the back seat before he gunned it, leaving his mother waving in the rear view mirror.
They didn’t speak on the way home. Each one of them too embroiled in their own thoughts to talk. But when Jordan reached across the center console to take Eve’s hand, she didn’t resist him. They rode the rest of the way like that, relying on that small physical comfort to relieve the anger and the pain of the afternoon.
Chapter 10
Eve presided quietly over that evening’s rehearsal. Despite the fact that Laurie came in too early on her solo, the wise men were chuckling during their lines, and Jordan had problems controlling Daisy on her leash, she couldn’t utter a word of criticism. Her mind was plagued with thoughts about her trip with Jordan this afternoon.
She’d never believed that her soft spoken, blond hair, blue-eyed angel of a man could be so utterly consumed with rage like that. The man she’d stepped in front of had been so out of control, it looked like he’d been ready to pummel someone. She didn’t know his step-father and certainly didn’t want to judge their relationship, but that rage had scared her a little bit. Okay…more like a lot.
That anger he’d felt had shown in every tense sinew and muscle in his body, hardening his limbs until they were solid rocks. She couldn’t believe what she’d seen. This wasn’t the same man she’d come to know. The same man she’d kissed on that balcony.
“You okay?” Jordan’s soft voice startled her from her thoughts. She looked up to find him gazing at her, his eyes full of worry. He held Daisy’s leash, the dog sitting happily at his feet. “You didn’t even say anything when I forgot my lines.”
“I’ve been distracted.” She shifted uncomfortably, smoothing down her leather skirt. “Sorry about that.”
He nodded his head and then slid into the pew next to her. Their shoulders touched for the briefest of seconds, still giving her a burst of heat. “I’m sorry you had to see that this afternoon.”
She shrugged, shooting him a half-hearted smile. “It’s fine. I butted into that family situation. You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“But I still am.” He reached for her hand, taking it in his. “Sometimes, all those old emotions from the past come rushing back and I lose control. I revert back to my fifteen year old self – a skinny little kid with nothing but his fists to protect himself. Seeing my mom like that…” He stared at the ground, his eyes unfocused.
“I know.” She gave his hand a squeeze and let go.
That black eye had been awful. Eve got to see it up close after Jordan had stormed back to his car. She’d given the woman her card, telling her to call if she needed anything. It didn’t sit right with her, leaving an obviously abused woman with her dangerous spouse. But there was nothing else she could do in that moment. Jordan was going to lose it and she didn’t want him doing something he’d regret.
“Alright, tomorrow’s the last dress rehearsal,” she said to the group with a clap of her hand. Two more days. That was it. Somehow, the importance of her play was beginning to fade. The events of the day had overshadowed her own little worries and fears. “Don’t be late.”
There were a few muttered acknowledgments and her actors began to shuffle out. Jordan was the last one to leave. He stood waiting for her by the doorway, his costume draped over his arm and his head bowed. The low light of the sanctuary accentuated his cheekbones and strong jaw. A miserable frown pulled at the sides of his mouth as he looked up at her.
“Can I walk you to your car?”
Eve hesitated. She needed alone time to think and clear her head. The expression on his face hurt her heart, but she needed him to leave. “I have a little set work left to do tonight. You go ahead. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Are you sure you don’t need help?”
She could see it in his eyes – the need for her to say yes. To act as if everything was fine and this afternoon hadn’t scared her. But, she just couldn’t give that to him. Not when she was feeling so twisted up inside.
“I’ll be fine. Go get some sleep.” She managed a small grin, enough to draw a hopeful smile from him. “You did really well tonight. I think you’ve just about got that romance part down.”
A proud smile tugged at the right side of his mouth, making her heart skip. That was the man she’d kissed – the man who made sarcastic jokes and flowed through the day with an easy confidence. She partly regretted not asking him to stay. Maybe, she was being overly dramatic, but she needed time to herself.
He was just about to walk out, when a thought came to her.
“Actually, wait.” He turned back to her as she held out the end of Daisy’s leash. “Why don’t you take Daisy with you tonight? I think it’ll help her to bond with you a bit more. She’ll be more likely to follow your lead on the stage if she spends more time with you. I know old Eddie allows pets at the motel and she’s already eaten her supper. Give her some water and you should be good to go until morning.”
His brow furrowed and he looked down doubtfully at the golden retriever. Truthfully, Eve wasn’t sure that the hyper puppy would ever follow directions on a leash. But she didn’t want Jordan going home alone tonight. Not with all of the weight on his shoulders.
“I suppose so...” He took the leash from her hand and patted the side of his leg. “Come on, girl. Let’s call it a night.”
Daisy hardly spared Eve another glance. She looked up at Jordan as if she worshiped him and trotted through the exit alongside him. Eve watched them go, a flurry of emotions beating at her heart. It wasn’t until a full minute later was she able to shake herself out of it and get back to work.
It took her nearly an hour to put all the finishing pieces on the set. A modern day manger setting took a surprising amount of work. By the time she was done, Eve had an overbooked motel, a broken down van to serve as the manger, and an ambulance to carry her modern wise men to the scene. Her musical was going to be fantastic; she could feel it. They just had to make it to Christmas Eve before Amanda gave birth to her own Christmas baby.
Easier said than done.
Picking up her paint supplies, she turned off the rest of the lights and headed to the kitchen to wash up. It seemed like everything in the last few months had been leading up to this weekend. She couldn’t remember a time when she wasn’t working on this play, spending every waking hour obsessing over the details. It would be strange to be done with it. Maybe even a little bit sad.
And even sadder to think that Jordan would be leaving at the end.
As she approached the swinging double doors to the kitchen, she heard the hum of low voices. One was a feminine whisper and the other, a hushed male voice. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but adrenalin coursed through her body, leaving her on edge.
The church was supposed to be empty. Pastor Steve had asked her to lock up tight when she left. The only kind of visitors that came at this hour of the night on a weekday were the kind with nefarious intentions. Instantly, she thought of the silver communion cups and crosses in the rectory. Something like that might catch a few bucks on the black market…or E-bay. She couldn’t let that happen.
Pressing a shoulder gently to the swinging door, she inched it open. The kitchen was dark, but the owners of the voices were clearly inside. Peering into the darkness, Eve waited for her eyes to adjust. She’d bust the thieves. She wasn’t afraid of them. No one stole from her church.
The voices grew louder. Listening hard, she realized with a start that she recognized both of them. Right away, the mellow baritone of her sister’s fiance came into focus. She could spot Aaron’s tall outline next to the sink, his characteristic striped leather jacket hanging on his shoulders. He faced a woman, someone with long dark wavy hair and darkened skin. She wore a schoolgirl style skirt with boots that reached her knees. Her hands were wrapped around Aaron’s neck and their faces
only inches apart.
Eve had to slap a hand over her mouth to keep herself from gasping. The woman with her sister’s fiancé was none other than Ashley Lynn. There was no doubt she’d let herself into the church, thinking no one else would be around at this late hour. Eve watched in horror as Aaron tucked a strand of hair behind Ashley Lynn’s ear and then leaned in to plant a kiss on her lips, drawing her hips closer to his.
Without a second thought, Eve backed out of the kitchen and ran to the exit, dropping her wet brushes in a heap at the door. Snagging her purse, she sprinted to her car, threw it in drive, and didn’t stop moving until she’d pulled up to her home. The lights shown warmly through the lacy curtains, inviting and comforting. Staring at her front door, she clung to the steering wheel, unsure what to do next.
She should tell her sister. That’s what any good sibling would do. Her fiancé was cheating on her, and with none other than that awful Ashley Lynn. It was the worst news of all. She would’ve rather given her the news that he’d died.
The familiar figure of her mother crossed in front of the living room window. Abandoning her purse in the car, Eve strode toward the front door and burst through it.
“Mom?” If anyone knew what to do, it was her mother. “Mom, I need you!”
“I thought you stopped needing me when you became a teenager.” Her mother rounded the corner to the hallway and fixed her with a warm smile. “I’m glad to know I was wrong.” She got one look at Eve’s horrified expression and the smile melted from her face. “What happened? Where’s Daisy?”
“Daisy’s fine. She’s staying with Jordan tonight.” Eve looked around wildly, poking her head into the kitchen. “Is Brianna here?”
“She’s at work.” Her mother ushered her in, parking her at a kitchen bar stool. “Your father’s at bowling league. It’s just you and me. What’s going on?”
“Good, good.” It would be a lot easier to get mom’s opinion without her sister here, pressing her for information. “I need to ask you a question. A hypothetical question.”
Her mom gazed at her with one eyebrow lifted in amusement. “Hypothetical, huh? I’ll see what I can do.”
Grabbing a paper napkin from the tray, Eve twisted it in her hands and began to tear it into tiny pieces. She wanted to come right out and confess what she’d seen, but she had to know if she was doing the right thing. She didn’t want her sister to blame her – to hate her for giving her the news. But it didn’t feel right to keep this from her, either.
“I have this friend…” she began, the way all hypothetical stories started. “And, let’s say that this friend had another friend in a committed relationship with a boy.”
“Uh huh…” Her mother sat in the stool next to her. She nodded her head slowly, her tight curls bouncing with her every move.
“And let’s say that one day, this friend of mine happened to walk in on this boy kissing another girl. What should she do? She doesn’t want her friend to hate her for breaking the news.”
“That’s a very serious problem.” Leaning back in her stool, her mother clicked her tongue and considered. “But I think it would be best for this friend of yours to confess to her other friend what she saw.”
“That’s what I was afraid you were going to say.” Eve buried her head in her arms. She missed Daisy at that moment and her sweet kisses. She could use a furry friend, but she knew Jordan needed her much more tonight. “But my friend thought these two were meant-to-be. They’re perfect together. Practically soul mates. It’ll destroy her.”
Raising a single eyebrow, her mother didn’t ask any questions about the identity of this friend, but frowned and reached for her hand. “You know, dear, love is messy. Even the best couples have hard times.”
Eve gestured at her. “But look at you and dad. I mean, you’re perfect. It was as if heaven predestined you to be together. I honestly don’t think I’ll ever find anything like that.”
“You won’t find anything like that because it doesn’t exist.” She frowned again and stared hard at her daughter. “Did you know there was a time when your father and I were split up?”
Eve gaped at her. That had to be a misunderstanding. Her parents were the strongest couple she knew. “What? No! When was that?”
“When you girls were very little. I’m not surprised you don’t remember. I got the house and your daddy went to live with a friend. We were split for a good six months.”
Eve never would’ve guessed her parents had split. The thought was too awful to imagine. Even now, with her mom confessing it to her, she didn’t believe it. “But, you guys made up.”
“It took some time.” Her mother smiled weakly and placed her hand to her neck. “But your father and I had to come to an agreement. He couldn’t put work above family and I had to find a way to deal with his long hours. It took dozens of counseling sessions and more tears than I care to admit, but we made it through.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Eve asked, swallowing hard. Her parent’s near split certainly had nothing to do with that dirt-bag cheating Aaron. And she wasn’t sure she liked knowing that her parents weren’t the picture perfect couple she’d always imagined them to be.
“I just think that sometimes you put us on a pedestal and I want you to know that no relationship is perfect.”
Eve wrinkled her nose in anger. “So, what? Does this cheating guy get a pass then? Because no relationship is perfect?”
“Absolutely not,” her mother shot back, her eyes flashing. Deep lines formed around her mouth as she frowned. “This friend of your friend needs to decide what she’s willing to forgive. But the point I’m trying to make is that relationships take work. They’re not perfect all the time. We’re humans, after all. We’re all deeply flawed. If you can find someone to counter those flaws, I’d say then you have a match made in heaven.”
Eve nodded her understanding, although the pressure on her temples made her feel like she’d aged a few decades in those five minutes. “Thanks, Mom.” She slid off the stool, ready to head to bed. A good night’s sleep was all she desired. That would make things clearer. “I’ll think about what you said.”
Her mother kissed her goodnight and then she headed down to her apartment, the day’s events heavy on her mind.
Love was messy, that much she’d found out. Between Jordan’s relationship with his mother, the shocking revelation about her parents, and the crumbling relationship of her sister and her fiancé, she wasn’t sure she wanted love anymore. It had a way of stripping you down to nothing, exposing your weak spots. Eve didn’t like feeling weak.
Maybe she didn’t want this thing called love after all.
Chapter 11
Not even the annoying chirp of the singing elf with the dying batteries could ruin Jordan’s Saturday morning. He strutted around his motel room in his boxer shorts, belting a Journey song into his toothbrush. Daisy was side-eyeing him from the bed, where she laid still curled up tight. Today was a brand spanking new day. He and Eve were hitting up the Christmas parade in town. Yesterday was nothing but a bad memory.
He was determined to move on.
Even Eve’s distracted and distant mood at yesterday evening’s rehearsal couldn’t pull him down. Things rolled off his back as easily as a skee ball on ice. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve and the day of their big event. He wanted nothing more than to enjoy his last two full days with Eve before he had to head back home and prepare for his interview with the Minnesota Vikings.
Maybe they couldn’t have forever together, but he was going to savor the time they had left.
He glanced at his phone and blinked at the screen. No calls, no messages. Not even from his boss. He shouldn’t have expected his mother to call. She never did unless she wanted something from him, but he couldn’t help but to hope. Hope that maybe she’d come to her senses and left his step-father once and for all. That she’d beg him to come pick her up and help her start a new life. He’d do that for her. More than anything, that’s what h
e wanted for her.
But, that wasn’t happening today. And he was determined to forget his troubles and focus on the gorgeous woman who tasted like spicy cinnamon candies and kissed like an angel. He threw on a pair of jeans and a thick chorded sweater before heading out into the brilliant winter morning. The bright sun shone down on Snow Pines as if it had forgotten it was December. He waved goodbye to Ed, who lounged on a bench outside his office with a cigarette dangling from his lips, before putting Daisy into the backseat of the Grand Am and speeding toward Eve’s home.
His heart sped up as he parked alongside her curb and put the car into park. There she was, walking toward him in black leggings, an over-sized sweater that draped to her thighs, and brown boots. He tried not to stare at the way she’d twisted her braids on top of her head that morning or how her purple lipstick on made her mouth look so tempting. The moment she slid into his passenger seat, he leaned over and placed a hand on her cheek, gently pressing his lips against hers.
It was a slow, passionate embrace. Nothing rushed or harsh about it. She sighed into his mouth, her hands finding the front of his sweater. Electricity zinged between them. He ran his hand down her cheek and lingered for a moment longer, before pulling away.
“Good morning,” she said breathlessly. Her eyes were wide, staring up at him. He could almost detect a bit of desperation in them. “That was unexpected.”
“I’m full of surprises,” he joked, leaning back into his seat. Yep, today was going to go a million times better. He was sure of it. “Ready for the parade?”
She nodded silently and then turned to pat an excited Daisy on the head. Jordan took them to the middle of downtown, parking across from the Blue Stem Bistro, and hopped out of the Grand Am to open the door for Eve and Daisy. Eve took his hand and smiled weakly at him.
Finding Laurie and Rhiannon wasn’t easy in the Snow Pines crowd. It seemed that every single family in town had shown up for the big event. Santa was making an appearance at the end of the parade. Little children with sparkling eyes hopped up and down on one foot, eager to spot the big man himself. Eve and Jordan finally found their friends down the block, each clinging to a cup of coffee in their hands.
'Tis the Season for Love: A Charity Box Set Page 38