She headed for the door.
Chapter Four
Linc watched her go. Through a supreme effort of will, he did not call her back or leap up and run after her.
Oh, but he wanted to.
He heard the front door open and then shut. She was gone.
And he had no idea if he would ever see her again.
He’d messed up so bad. Two nights ago, they’d agreed to keep it cool and professional.
And then tonight...
He really shouldn’t have done that, shouldn’t have pushed her down and crawled on top of her and let himself get swept away in the feel of her, the scent of her, the perfection of her sweet, curvy body in his arms.
It was wrong.
Wasn’t it?
God.
It hadn’t felt wrong. On the contrary, kissing Harper Bravo had felt right in a way that not a lot in his life ever had.
Had she really quit? He didn’t want her to quit. He missed her already, and she’d just walked out the door.
And what about the kids? He didn’t know how he was going to explain her absence to the kids. They would be hurt that she hadn’t even said goodbye.
No.
Wait.
She couldn’t have quit. Harper wouldn’t do that to Maya and Jayden.
She’d been yanking his chain.
Hadn’t she?
It was all way too damn confusing.
For a while, he just sat there by the fire and indulged in deep thoughts about his life and his choices.
He thought of his sister, of how he hadn’t spent enough time with her in the past decade or so—since their dad dumped their mom and married his twenty-eight-year-old assistant at Stryker Marine, followed quickly by their mom setting out, as she had put it, “in search of meaning.” Alicia Stryker had become a globe-trotter for a while. Recently, she seemed to have settled in a villa in Tuscany. She pretty much never came home to Oregon anymore.
A few years after leaving his mom, Linc’s dad had retired. Linc, young and untried, took over at Stryker Marine. The demanding work had given him yet more excuses for not spending time with his sister and her family. As for Linc’s dad, Warren Stryker was now on his third wife, a woman younger than either of his children.
Linc thought how there were always reasons not to do the things a man most needed and wanted to do.
Now Megan and Kevin were gone. He could never tell them he was sorry for all the time they hadn’t spent together, all the summer barbecues he’d missed, all the Thanksgiving dinners when he should have shared their table, all the Christmases here at the cottage, the ones he’d been too busy to show up for.
It all went in a circle, really. Bad choices created plenty of opportunities to make more bad choices.
Which led him back around to kissing Harper.
He was all over the damn map with her—desperate for a chance with her one minute, angry at himself for kissing her the next. Which was the bad choice?
The more he sat there and stared at the fire, the more he found himself thinking that the bad choice had been to stop kissing her...
* * *
Linc didn’t get a lot of sleep that night.
Sometime after three, he finally drifted off. It seemed he’d just shut his eyes when he heard knocking on the bedroom door.
Jayden called out, “Uncle Linc, it’s morning! Can we have pancakes and then go get our tree?”
The knocking and happy shouting woke Maya. On the nightstand, the baby monitor erupted with the sounds of her fussing.
“Uncle Linc, you know what?” Jayden called through the shut door.
“What, Jayden?”
“We should have blueberry pancakes. I really like them!”
Linc groaned and plopped his pillow over his head—but only for a second or two. Then he tossed the pillow aside and called, “Come on in, Jayden. The door’s open...”
At which point, Maya cried, “Unc Winc, I wet!”
And that had him worrying about potty training. Should he be on that with Maya by now? Had Jean left him a note about it on the list of how-tos that he still hadn’t found?
Didn’t matter, Linc decided. His niece would hardly be damaged for life if she didn’t start potty training until the new nanny he planned to hire when they returned to Portland came on board in January.
And just thinking the word nanny had his mind circling back to last night and what had happened with Harper.
In his measly few hours of restless sleep, he’d come to a decision. If she didn’t show today, he would track her down and get things worked out with her. Whatever she wanted, he would provide it.
More kisses? Definitely.
Strict respect for the accepted boundaries between boss and employee? Of course, if those were her terms.
A raise?
Sure, why not?
Jayden pushed the door open enough to stick his face in. Why did kids always look so happy and wide-awake in the morning? “Maya wants you.”
He shoved back the covers and grabbed for the pair of sweats he’d thrown across the bedside chair.
The diaper change took a while. Jayden wanted to help and that seemed like a good thing, but during the process, Maya peed some more, which horrified Jayden—at first. The look on his little face was so comical, Linc let out a snort of laughter. And Jayden thought that was funny, so he started laughing, too.
Maya lay on the changing table, kicking her fat little legs, staring up at them as she chewed on her blue teething toy. After a few seconds, she seemed to decide that if the guys were laughing, then fine with her. She pulled her blue toy from her mouth and chortled right along with them.
Eventually they all settled down. Linc cleaned up Maya and laid her on a fresh diaper. He showed Jayden how to position the tabs—not too tight and not too loose. Then he put Maya in her favorite pink fleece pants with the pink fleece top and the Minnie Mouse trim. Jayden helped with her pink socks and little white shoes.
Once she was fully dressed, Linc scooped her up, kissed her forehead and set her on her feet as Jayden pushed the chair he’d been standing on back under the kid-sized table in the middle of Maya’s room.
They all three went downstairs to the kitchen, where Jayden headed straight to the freezer drawer.
“We got blueberries, Uncle Linc!” he crowed, holding the bag high.
“Excellent,” Linc replied as he put Maya in her booster seat. He probably shouldn’t be surprised about the blueberries. Harper had done the shopping, after all, and Harper thought of everything.
“Miwk, pwease?” asked Maya.
“You got it.” Linc gave her a sippy cup of milk and some dry cereal to keep her busy while he got the pancakes going.
As usual, Jayden wanted to help. He stood on a step stool and poured the ingredients into the mixing bowl after Linc had measured out the right amounts of everything.
After mixing the batter, Linc put the dishes and flatware on the table and asked Jayden to set the places. Linc got busy at the griddle. He was flipping the first batch when he thought he heard a noise in the front hall.
Glancing that way, he saw Harper standing in the open arch that led back to the front door. He was so happy to see her, he almost flipped a pancake over his shoulder.
“Harper!” cried Jayden as Maya called, “Hawp!”
“Hey, guys. What’s cookin’?”
Jayden launched right into how there were pancakes and he’d found the blueberries and he couldn’t wait to go get the tree. In the meantime, Maya waved her sippy cup and brandished a fistful of cereal.
Jayden collected more flatware from a drawer and set a place for her as Harper took a couple of juice boxes from the fridge, putting one at Jayden’s place and offering Maya the other. The little girl handed over her empty sippy cup in exchange.
> Linc became so absorbed in watching them, he almost burned the pancakes, but got them off the griddle and onto the serving platter just as Harper came toward him again. She stopped a few feet from him to pour herself a cup of coffee from the coffee maker on the counter near the cooktop. Their eyes met. She gave him a devilish smile, and he almost dropped the plate of pancakes.
“Nothing going on at the theater today,” she said. “Thought I’d come early.” She set down the pot, picked up her mug and had a slow sip. “If that’s all right...”
He couldn’t agree fast enough. “Yeah. All morning, all afternoon and into the evening.” The words came out low and rough, though he’d meant to sound easy and carefree. “We really need you today. There will be lots of overtime.”
* * *
Harper tried not to grin too widely. Last night had been awkward, but this morning he talked about overtime. It could have been worse.
“I love overtime,” she said. “Here. Give me that.”
He passed her the platter. She carried it to the table and began helping the kids with butter and syrup and cutting the pancakes into bite-size bits.
It had been a cold night—no snow, but frost glittered on the porch railings and rooftops. After breakfast, they headed out to find the right tree. Harper knew the best tree farm. By eleven, they were strapping a gorgeous, thick Fraser fir onto the rack atop the Range Rover.
Back at the house, they brought it in and put it in the stand in front of one of the big windows in the living area. Jayden stood awestruck, gazing up at it, declaring, “It’s even bigger than last year!”
After a break for sandwiches and chicken noodle soup, Maya took a nap. Jayden, Linc and Harper trooped down into the storage area off the garage to bring up the endless boxes of decorations stacked under the house over the past thirty-plus years of Stryker and Hollister family Christmases.
Maya woke up after an hour or so and Harper brought her out to join the fun. The afternoon was spent decorating. In addition to the tree, there were snow scenes, a manger scene and a lot of fake greenery. Fat candles, shiny balls and lights had to be arranged on the mantel and on various tables and sideboards.
By late afternoon, Maya was content to lie on the floor. With her chew toy in one hand and Pebble cuddled close in the other, she stared up, wide-eyed, at all the lights and bright decorations.
Jayden was hyped. “Wait! We have to do the outside lights before it gets too dark.”
“The handyman is going to put those up tomorrow,” Linc said.
Jayden did not approve. “But the handyman isn’t family and it is only family at the cottage.”
Linc crouched down and gave Jayden’s shoulder a squeeze. “We’re making an exception in this case. The way we did for Harper.”
Jayden was doubtful. “Is he a nice handyman?”
“Well, I haven’t met him yet, but he has excellent references.”
“What’s ‘references’?”
“References are when other people someone has worked for say he’s a good worker and you can depend on him.”
“Hmm.” Jayden remained unconvinced. “What’s his name?”
“Angus McTerly.”
Harper knew she should probably stay out of it, but she stuck her nose in anyway. “I know Angus. He lives nearby, two cottages south of my cottage. He is genuinely nice. And he has a friendly dog named Mitsy.”
Jayden folded his arms across his little chest and pondered that information. “I like dogs. Will he bring the dog named Mitsy?”
Linc caught Harper’s eye. She read his expression. It said, Your move. Make it good.
She smirked at him and then suggested to Jayden, “I’ll call him and ask him to bring Mitsy along.”
“Okay.” Mitsy had tipped the scales for Jayden. “The handyman can put up the outside lights this year and bring Mitsy.”
“Excellent.” Linc rose.
“Uncle Linc?” Jayden stared up at his uncle hopefully. “I’ve been thinking. I really want a puppy for Christmas.” Linc frowned. Jayden, as usual, just kept on talking. “And that ’minds me. I need to write my letter to Santa. You and Harper can help and then you can help me write one for Maya, too.”
“One Christmas project at a time,” Linc replied. “Today we did a lot. Let’s save the letters for another day.”
“Tomorrow? Please?”
“Sure. Tomorrow.”
“And what about a puppy? Can I have a puppy?”
Linc kept his mouth shut and gazed down at his nephew patiently.
As for Jayden, he was a very bright boy who knew when not to push his luck. “Maybe you could just think about the puppy, Uncle Linc?”
“I’ll do that.”
“O-kay!”
Linc paused. “You know what, Jayden?”
The boy wrinkled his button nose. “What?”
“If we do get you a puppy, it will be next year, after we’re back home in Portland.”
Jayden stuck out his lower lip. “No puppy for Christmas?”
“Sorry. No puppy for Christmas.”
“But maybe sometime later?”
“We’ll see.”
Jayden seemed to realize that was as far as he was getting on the puppy question today. His “okay” wasn’t quite as enthusiastic as before, but he gave a little nod with it that seemed to say he’d accepted Linc’s decision.
On the floor nearby, Maya took her chew toy out of her mouth. “I hungwy,” she announced to no one in particular.
Harper bent and scooped her up. “Let’s head on into the kitchen and see what we can do about that...”
* * *
For the rest of the afternoon and evening, both kids were fussy, which was no surprise to Harper. All the excitement had exhausted them.
But when Harper mentioned bedtime, both of them objected.
Maya stuck her lip out. “No. No bed.”
Jayden argued, “It’s still early.”
Harper and Linc tacitly decided not to fight them on it.
Five minutes later, for no discernable reason, Maya started crying and wouldn’t stop. Jayden complained that she hurt his ears and couldn’t they make her be quiet, please?
Then, in the middle of a long, sad wail, Maya dropped to her bottom on the floor, toppled to her side and went to sleep.
Harper bent down and felt her forehead, just in case. “No fever. I think she’s just worn out.”
Linc carried the little girl upstairs to get her ready for bed while Harper herded Jayden up there, as well. The boy spent a good half hour in the bathroom washing his face and brushing his teeth, after which he announced he would read to Harper—meaning he would choose a book he had pretty much memorized and “read” it by turning the pages and telling it from memory.
Harper cuddled up with him on his Star Wars quilt and Jayden began “reading” her the Me and My Dragon Christmas book.
Linc stuck his head in the door and mouthed, “Wine?”
She probably shouldn’t. Wine was dangerous. Then again, last night they’d only had cocoa and look what had happened. Maybe their chemistry was just too powerful to ignore. She gave him a nod. Why not? She deserved a nice glass of red and a hot guy to drink it with.
“Uncle Linc, come let me read you a story,” Jayden commanded. “It’s the one about the dragon and the Christmas spirit.”
“Can’t miss that.” Linc joined them, circling around to Jayden’s other side. It was kind of a tight fit, the three of them on the single bed, but Jayden looked pleased as he continued with the story of the little boy who taught his dragon all about what Christmas really means.
When he closed the book, Harper suggested that maybe he would like his uncle to tuck him in tonight. Jayden agreed that he would like that a lot, and Harper left them to it.
She was in the kitchen put
ting the last of the dishes in the dishwasher and tidying up when Linc joined her.
“How about champagne tonight?” he offered.
“Feeling festive?”
“Hey. We decorated the tree today. That’s something to celebrate.” His eyes got softer, more gold than brown. “And you came back.”
“Linc.” She dropped the sponge in the sink and moved a few steps in his direction. “I was only joking about quitting.”
“Good.”
She’d reached the marble-topped island, and he was near the fridge by then, almost close enough to touch. “I was annoyed with you.”
“Yeah.” He glanced down and then back up into her waiting eyes. “Got that.” Energy seemed to vibrate in the air between them, an electric feeling, impossible to ignore.
She admitted, “I, um, felt a little guilty for being so hard on you. I know you were only trying to do the right thing.”
He looked solemn suddenly. “I was, yes.”
“I actually researched the harassment question last night, when I got home.”
“You did?” Now he seemed cautious. “So then, you do think I was harassing you?”
She exerted great effort not to roll her eyes. “No. I was interested, so I looked it up online.”
“Ah.” He gave her a slow, wary nod.
“I learned that sexual harassment really is a particularly bad problem for housekeepers and nannies. It’s different, working in the home where the employer lives. Domestic workers aren’t formally covered by the same laws that protect most employees.”
He watched her steadily now. “At Stryker Marine, the employee manual has a whole section on harassment. Anyone in a supervisory capacity is required to take an online course so we know they understand what is and is not harassment.”
“And you’re telling me that you took that course?”
“Yes, I did.”
“But, Linc, you really weren’t harassing me.”
He put up both hands. “There’s no need to go on and on about this.”
A Temporary Christmas Arrangement Page 7