The Christmas Kiss

by Virginia McCullough

  Still trying to find Ruby, Emma headed toward the event tent set up to hand out brochures and regional tourist guides and serve hot chocolate and cookies. With a heater near the tables, it was probably the warmest place on River Street.

  “There she is.” The familiar voice came from behind. When she turned around Nicole was hurrying toward her with Parker following. The three of them ducked inside the tent and out of the cold wind.

  “I wonder where the organizers want us.” Nicole bounced on the balls of her feet and rubbed the palms of her mittens together. “Looks like the goody table is covered. Lots of kids to pour the hot chocolate.”

  Emma added, “Our string of Christmas festivals is providing the high school kids a chance to earn a slew of community service credits, I hear.”

  Parker scoffed. “More people already showed up here than we managed to lure to the sanctuary over a three-day weekend.”

  Nicole waved him off. “Don’t be jealous. Dad. You were right in the first place. The open house was a dumb idea with no hope of working.”

  Emma let a hearty laugh escape. “Don’t sugarcoat it, Nicole.” She glanced at Parker. “Wouldn’t the board love to hear that assessment?”

  “They did,” Parker said. “I was just a little more diplomatic.”

  “Let’s not be Scrooges about it,” Emma said dryly. She pointed around her. “For a Bluestone River native, it warms my heart to see a crowd like this on River Street.”

  “Will Rivera was telling me this is a big deal,” Parker said. “His family used to take him to the mall in Clayton to do the Santa thing.”

  “Will, huh?” Emma said, giving Parker a quick glance.

  Nicole tilted her head. “He’s cute, but he has a girlfriend. He’s off the market.”

  Emma groaned. “Off the market? I thought that expression died ages ago. Deep-sixed in the past.”

  “Seems it’s made a comeback.” Nicole lifted her hands. “Like Bluestone River.”

  Parker caught Emma’s eye and they both laughed.

  “It wasn’t that funny,” Nicole said, turning to look in all directions. “I’ll go see what they want us to do.”

  “Mike said something about keeping an eye on the donation jar,” Parker said.

  “No fair,” Emma shot back. “Ruby offered me that job.”

  Nicole rolled her eyes. “Are you two really going to fight over it? Let me go find someone in charge, so we can settle this.” She pretended to go off in a huff.

  Emma shook her head. “Your daughter is such a funny girl.” When she looked into Parker’s face, she saw pride, but something else, too. Nostalgia, maybe?

  “I know. She throws me sometimes. She joked about us fighting over the donation jar. An hour ago she was pointing out that her mom and I never had loud arguments. That’s why telling her we were splitting up came as such a shock.”

  “As shocking as her mother’s affair?” Emma immediately grabbed Parker’s arm. “I’m so sorry. Forget I said that.”

  Parker gave her a pointed look, but then his expression softened. “I guess you don’t sugarcoat anything, either.”

  “Really, Parker. I apologize.”

  All she got was a quick nod before he used his height to advantage to get a good look around. “I see Nic found Mike. She’ll come back with news.”

  “I’m surprised I haven’t seen Ruby,” Emma said, puzzled. “She was supposed to be here and we always find each other at things like this.”

  “Mike showed me some old video of all of you at the resort and the covered bridge. You two almost always turned up together.”

  Emma wasn’t sure she liked Parker seeing her that young and fit.

  As if they were standing alone rather than in the midst of a crowd, he leaned in and whispered, “You’re a really good dancer.”

  Her cheeks suddenly caught fire. She patted them with her gloved hands as if she could hide them. “I wasn’t expecting that. You and your daughter are experts at taking me by surprise.”

  “But it’s true. You were in your own world in those videos.” Parker smiled, as if remembering something. “One was down by the bridge. The other was on the grass at the resort.” He paused. “And here I didn’t know you not only were the best dancer, but the cartwheel queen, too. You really were a jock girl.”

  “No, no, I’m not going there.” Oh, but doing those cartwheels was so much fun. She could almost feel the strength in her back and legs turning end over end. “So what about you? How are you on the dance floor?”

  He pulled his mouth down in a silly expression. “I can find my way around.”

  “Aren’t you smug?”

  “You asked.”

  “I did.” Her inner imp wanted to grab the flirtatious moment and make it last, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jason hurrying toward them with Nicole in tow. “Look who’s here,” Emma said. “Did you see Santa yet?”

  Jason shook his head. “My mom has a stomachache.”

  “But his dad said it wasn’t serious.” Nicole stood behind Jason with her hands resting lightly on his shoulders. “Uh, I’m going to take Jason to Santa right now and look after him today. Mike is driving Ruby to Clayton to have her stomachache checked out. He wanted me to ask if it’s okay if I watch him at your house.”

  Emma kept her voice casual. “It’s fine. I’m always happy to have Jason around,” Emma said, forcing a smile at the boy, whose attention was fixed on Rudolph’s blinking nose. “I’ll wait for you.”

  “Wait, Nic. Did Mike say who’s in charge here at the festival?” Parker asked.

  “A couple of town council people are taking over, so it’s covered.” Nicole looked down at Jason. “What do you say we see Santa?”

  Jason ran ahead toward the line. Nicole took off after him.

  “Could the baby be in trouble?” Parker whispered.

  “I’m trying not to jump to that conclusion, but there’s always that chance,” Emma said, nervously rubbing her hand across her mouth. “But I’m a little concerned Jason might get scared if Ruby’s gone for very long. I don’t think Ruby’s had so much as a cold since she first met Jason over a year ago. She’s like a rock, you know, always there for him.”

  Parker’s tone was thoughtful when he said, “You wouldn’t ever think she was his stepmom, and for only a year.”

  Emma had told Parker about Jason not speaking for months after his mother died in a fire. Peach and Ruby helped Mike and a therapist get Jason over the hump of trauma and grief. “He only started calling her Mom this summer. She’d assured him he could call her Mommy when he was ready, but he told her that’s what he’d called his first Mommy, so she was Mom. That was that.” She remembered Ruby’s eyes going soft when she talked about it.

  Parker’s mouth dropped open. “Yikes. Such a grown-up way to think about it.”

  “Jason loves to play around with words, so it made sense to me.” Her phone buzzed in her jacket pocket. Emma pulled it out and glanced at the screen. “Ruby...oh...they’re leaving for the emergency room in Clayton.” She looked at the screen and read, “Just in case.” With the next line her shoulders slumped. “Oh, no...”

  “What?” Parker asked.

  “She wrote ‘I am so scared.’ Knowing Ruby, she’s probably trying to put on a brave front. But we don’t do that with each other.” Emma sighed, remembering that she confided her fears to Ruby when she faced her surgery.

  Parker put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “You two are so lucky to have each other.”

  “We are.”

  “Okay, time to go.” Nicole’s voice surprised them and they quickly moved apart.

  Jason hopped up and down. “Emma, Emma, guess what?”

  “What, sweetie?” Emma said, avoiding Nicole’s amused expression.

  “Santa said maybe we could get a frien
d for Peach.”

  Now, that was pretty hard to believe. “Is that so?”

  “A puppy?” Parker asked, incredulous.

  Jason shook his head. “Dad said babies and puppies are a lot of work, especially if you get new ones at the same time. Santa said that maybe I could get goldfish for Peach. She could watch them swim.”

  Parker clapped a hand over his mouth to stifle his laugh.

  “Now there’s an idea for you. Very special.” Emma couldn’t resist adding, “Just think, Jason, you could have fish the same color as your dog.”

  Jason’s eyes grew big in surprise, and so did Nic’s. “I never thought of that,” she said with a giggle.

  “Speaking of Peach...” Parker cleared his throat. “Why don’t I swing by their house and get her? I could bring her to your place to be with Jason.”

  “Good idea.” And maybe he’d want to stay a while.

  * * *

  JASON LINED UP cars and trucks in neat rows in front of the TV in the office. That kept him occupied until lunchtime when they polished off a large pizza. Now Nic and Jason were making three miniature snow people in the back with Peach having fun getting in the way.

  “The mama, papa and baby bear.” Parker stood by the patio doors watching Nic help Jason create his snow family. Emma was at the table checking her phone again. Two texts so far, but nothing for an hour or so.

  “No news?” Parker asked.

  “Not since I checked ten minutes ago.” She got up and joined him. “This is silly. I’ve got to stop staring at the screen. The doctor is just being careful. Mike said so himself.”

  Parker was aware that Mike and Ruby had plenty of help. His presence wasn’t essential, but he wanted to be there for Emma, Nic and Jason. He’d made himself useful picking up the dog and gathering a few toys in the kitchen. And he could take charge of bringing food in.

  He was at home in Emma’s house. They moved easily around each other at the sanctuary and here, too. Like a dance. It amused him to know Nic had been keeping an eye on him with Emma. Trying to not be obvious about it. Ha! He knew that maneuver from trying to study Emma without getting caught at it. He failed every time.

  “They’re almost done out there,” he said. “The second head is in place. One more to go.”

  “Nicole is so patient. It must be getting cold,” Emma said. “I’m going to start making soup for Mike to take home. And we’ll need dinner, too.”

  “I’ll go on home,” he offered just to be polite. With any luck she’d squash that plan. “You don’t need to feed me.”

  Emma rolled her eyes. “I meant dinner for all of us.” Then she frowned, “But don’t feel like you have to stay if you don’t want to. I’m sure Mike will run Nicole home later.”

  Parker rolled his eyes and smiled. “I was offering to leave so you wouldn’t think I was inviting myself.”

  “All right, let’s get this straight. I want you to stay,” Emma said. “Take it or leave it.”

  “I’m taking it.”

  “And anything you can do to keep my worrying mind off Ruby is appreciated. If I don’t stay busy I’ll stand here wringing my hands.”

  He squeezed her shoulders. “I know this is hard.”

  Parker found a quiet corner while Emma lined up sauté pans and mixing bowls, but then joined her at the counter to chop vegetables for soup. They could watch the antics going on outside. With the snow family complete, Nic and Jason were doing jumping jacks. Peach’s paws were in constant motion, jumping and prancing in the space between them.

  Parker chuckled. “She’s showing Jason what I taught her about staying warm on the few icy cold days we had in North Carolina.” Parker scraped the pile of celery into the pot Emma put between them. “Seems so long ago now, but we used to do jumping jacks in the yard and count out loud. Fifty was the goal.”

  Emma perched her hip on her stool. “They look so carefree. But I know that’s not true for Nic. She has challenges. She’s good with Jason.”

  “Jason’s quite the little character, isn’t he?”

  Emma grinned. “Pretty clever of Santa to talk about a goldfish.”

  “Cute. Seemed to satisfy Jason, too. As for Nic, I think she’s done letting her mother pull her one way or another. Maybe Jackie’s less confused or something. I’m not sure.”

  Emma looked like she was about to say something, but the door opened and Jason came in still jumping and excited.

  “Wow, that’s quite a snow family you made.” Parker’s words were lost in the flurry of getting Jason out of his coat and boots before he paraded through the kitchen, dropping clumps of snow. Nic corralled Peach and rubbed her down with the towel Emma tossed to her. She passed a smaller one to Parker to use on Jason’s hair.

  “You got wet out there,” Emma said, gathering up the dripping things. “It’s taking three adults to dry off one child and a dog.”

  Emma went off to get some dry socks for Jason and Nic.

  When Emma came back, Jason sat on the kitchen floor to put on his dry socks and kicked his feet in the air and made the fabric flop around. “Too big,” he said, laughing.

  “They’ll do,” Nic said. “Uh-oh, here comes Peach.”

  The dog sniffed around Jason before flopping down next to him.

  “You’re a pushover for that dog.” Nic playfully shook her head.

  “Peach snores,” Jason warned, but he got a big kick out of announcing it as he jumped up and pulled a chair closer to the counter. “Sometimes I wish I was a dog.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Parker said, getting back to work on Emma’s soup. “Sometimes I wish I could be a bird.”

  “You could be like the owl and fly away into the woods and hide.” Jason looked to the window.

  “I could. Or I could be one of the little birds that flit around through the trees,” Parker said, using his hand to do a pretty fair imitation of flitting about. “What about you? If you were a dog, would you swim in the lake? Chase sticks?”

  Jason shook his head. “I’d let everybody pet me and in between I’d take naps.”

  “You’d get tired of that in a hurry,” Nic said.

  “No, I wouldn’t.”

  With the same singsong lilt, Nic said, “Oh, yes you would.”

  It was like listening to music, Parker thought, almost embarrassed by the bittersweet emotions taking over. He stole a glance at Emma, who was looking down at her cutting board, but an amused smile had taken over her face. Her pretty face, with all her features set off by her big brown eyes.

  “I know where the movies are,” Jason said. “Wanna see?”

  Nic squinted and pursed her lips in teasing disapproval. “I don’t know. Did you ask Emma?”

  “Can we watch movies, Emma?”

  Emma grinned at Jason. “Of course.”

  The next couple of hours passed quickly. Emma made a triple batch of vegetable soup and the house was filled with the scents of garlic and oregano and the yeasty aroma of the rolls Emma heated. Parker was lifting the second of two pans of baked chicken out of the oven when Emma’s phone rang.

  She grabbed her phone. As Parker listened to her side of the conversation, her face got brighter and she glanced his way and gave him a quick thumbs-up.

  Relief shot through Parker, the power of it surprising him.

  “Nic and Jason are in the office watching movies,” Emma said. “Shall I bring him to the phone. Oops, too late. Here he comes.”

  “Is that my mom?” Jason asked. He slid across the floor in his stocking feet.

  “It’s your dad.” Emma handed him the phone. “Here you go.”

  “Is Mom coming home?” Jason frowned as a couple of seconds passed. “When are you coming to get me?” A couple more seconds went by. “Why?” His voice got smaller with the question. Jason looked at Emma. Then he said, “Okay.” Silence. “I will
. Can Peach stay, too?” A little smile appeared. “She’ll behave. She always does, Dad.”

  Parker stifled a laugh and shook his head. Three pairs of eyes, four if he counted the dog’s, were fixed on Jason and hanging on his every word.

  Jason handed the phone to Nic. “He wants to talk to you, Nicole.”

  Her conversation was a series of one-word responses, but ending with, “Don’t worry. It’s all good.” Then she handed the phone to Emma, who said goodbye and ended the call.

  “So, Jason, I get to have you as my houseguest tonight. You can sleep in the big bed in one of my guest rooms or on the couch where you watch movies. Then your dad will pick you up in the morning. The best news is your mom is just fine.”

  “Sounds like fun,” Parker said. “It’s very grown up to be a houseguest.”

  “I want to sleep on the couch.” He didn’t look happy about it. “If my mom is okay, then why can’t my dad bring her home?”

  “Doctors like to keep an eye on things,” Nic said, raising her hands in a helpless gesture. “Go figure. When I was about your age, I had a bad sore throat, so bad the doctor made me stay in the hospital overnight.”

  “I remember. We were scared at first, but Nic spent most of her time sleeping.”

  “I’m not tired,” Jason said.

  “Well, then, you can stay awake and play.”

  “I suppose we can go, Dad,” Nic said.

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” Emma crossed her arms over her chest. “No one gets out the front door before we have dinner.” She glanced at the clock. “Like in the next fifteen minutes. Parker and I have been cooking all afternoon. I’ve got plenty for us and to send leftovers home with Mike.”

  “O...kay. Looks like I don’t dare argue. Not that I want to.” Nic steered Jason out of the kitchen and down the hall.

  “So, Ruby’s okay?” Parker asked.

  She nodded. “Seems so, but they’re being extra-cautious. Mike wanted to stay with her. Jason will be fine here with me.”

  “Seems you’re all set up for him. You can pull cars and books out of a hat. And his choice of movies and games.”