A Son For Christmas (West Coast Christmas Secrets Book 1)

by Tina Cambria

  She didn’t care what anybody might think. She didn’t care if she were making a mistake as big as keeping their baby a secret for so long.

  She was going to do what she thought was right.

  “You don’t have to sleep in your car,” Kendra said. “I have a pull-out sofa in the extra bedroom. It’s actually my home office, where I keep my computer.” Climbing the stairs, she cocked her head toward the second floor to indicate that he should follow her. “Come on up, and take your shower. I’ll set up the sofa bed with clean sheets and a pillow for you.”

  “You don’t know how much I appreciate this.” Shane trailed behind her as she pointed out the location of the bathroom and the spare bedroom. He helped her pull out the mattress frame of the sofa bed after she removed the cushions.

  “Seriously, you don’t have to try to find a hotel room tonight. It’s not a rush.” She turned to face him. “And I know Matt would love having you around for a couple of days.”

  He stared at her for a long moment and finally said, “You talked me into it.”

  She took note of the smell of smoke still clinging to Shane and told him to put his shirt and underwear outside the bathroom door after he was ready to get in the shower. “You don’t want to go out of the house smelling like that. I’ll toss your clothes in the wash.”

  “I hadn’t even thought about my suit,” he said. “Really, the only clothes I have are what I’m wearing. I wore this suit to the office when I went in yesterday—just in case one of the big shots happened to drop in. And I’d planned to be at the office a few hours from now.”

  Kendra scrunched up her nose and shook her head. “No way can you show up at work smelling like you just stomped out a campfire. Unless you’re starting a new job today as a park ranger.”

  They both laughed, and then she got an idea. “There’s a one-hour cleaner about a mile from here. I can drop your suit off after Matt gets up. They should have it ready for you to wear to the office later.”

  “You’re a lifesaver,” he said.

  Kendra smiled. “Good thing I took the day off to make it a four-day holiday weekend.” She walked toward Matt’s room to check on their son. Halfway there, she remembered she should warn Shane about the bathtub drain’s tendency to snap closed. She stopped and twisted her head back toward him.

  Was she imagining it, or had he been staring directly at her backside as she’d walked away? Whatever he’d been looking at, he sure had a satisfied smile on his face.

  “The drain tends to snap closed,” she said.

  “I’ll keep my eye on it.”

  She nodded, walked away and managed to resist the urge to turn around to see if his gaze followed her.

  * * *

  Shane undressed and put his clothes outside the bathroom door, as Kendra had suggested. Darn nice of her to help him out like this. He turned on the water in the shower and waited for it to warm up. The small linen closet was filled with clean bath towels, and he pulled one out and placed it on the countertop.

  Was it just last Sunday—hard to believe that was only five days ago—when he had initially misunderstood her and thought she was inviting him to move in? And now here he was, setting up shop in her spare bedroom, taking a shower in her bathroom, and even allowing her to wash his laundry. This had gotten dangerously close to domestic bliss.

  After catching only a brief nap in his car the night before, he wasn’t certain his brain was functioning at full tilt. But he sure was standing naked in Kendra’s bathroom, with their son sleeping down the hall, and plans arranged for him to spend the night. In a separate bedroom, of course.

  Keep this a ‘strictly friends’ kind of thing.

  Yeah, no doubt the woman was hot. She had the ability to send sparks of electricity through him, right where he enjoyed it the most, when she was a young college girl. No reason to think she couldn’t do the same thing today.

  But sex wasn’t what he was after. Not now. Not with her.

  Now that he knew about Matt and had a little time to think about it, he wanted to spend time with Kendra for one reason only. To get to know his son and establish a relationship with him. And right now, she held the cards. She could make it tough for him to spend time with Matt if she wanted to. He’d be better off working with her than against her.

  Sticking his hand under the flow of water from the shower head, he confirmed the water was sufficiently warm. He was about to turn and step into the tub when the bathroom door opened. Kendra stood in the doorway with a white terrycloth robe in her hands. She gaped at him, her expression reminding him of a baby bird waiting for a worm to be dropped into her mouth.

  “Can I help you?” Shane crossed his arms over his well-muscled chest and smirked.

  “Oh, um, I thought you were in the shower,” she spluttered. “I heard the water running and assumed you were behind the shower curtain. I–I brought this big robe, so you wouldn’t have to parade around with a towel wrapped around your waist while I’m washing your clothes.”

  “Well, thanks. Sure wouldn’t want to parade around in a towel and get you unnecessarily excited. Better to let you see everything right from the start. No secrets here.”

  Even in a bathroom that was steamed up with fog, Shane couldn’t miss the bright red splotches working their way up her neck. “Don’t know why you’re blushing, my dear. You’ve seen this before. Quite a few times, if my memory serves me.”

  “Shane, I’m sorry. It was an accident. I didn’t mean to burst in on you.”

  “Hmm, I’m trying to remember who said there are no accidents. I’d like to get his take on this situation.”

  “Shane, I would never—”

  “Kidding, my dear. Kidding.”

  Kendra put a hand to her throat as though she were trying to cover up the scarlet tinge spreading across her skin. “I’ll have all your clean clothes ready by the time you finish your nap.” Backing out of the bathroom, she closed the door behind her.

  Shane couldn’t help noticing she had never taken her eyes off the lower part of his torso.

  * * *

  What just happened?

  Kendra thought she popped her head into her own bathroom. Instead, it was like she’d ended up in a strangely foggy art museum looking at a statue of a Greek god.

  A quick glance into Matt’s room confirmed he was still sleeping soundly. And why wouldn’t he be? The sun wasn’t even up yet.

  Five minutes later, she had put Shane’s clothes in the washing machine and made her bed when her cell phone dinged. Who would send a text so early? A glance at her phone showed a cryptic message from her college friend, Olivia, simply saying ‘Call me.’ When she looked closer, she saw the message had actually been sent late the night before.

  How had she missed seeing the text message when her alarm went off? Probably too focused on getting the darned buzzing to stop.

  Worried that her friend was in trouble and wondering why it had taken so long for the text message to show up, she quickly pulled up Olivia’s number from her list of contacts to call her. Olivia answered right away

  “Hey, happy Thanksgiving, girlfriend,” Olivia said in a sleepy voice.

  “You too. Where are you?”

  “At my parents’ house. I’m down here from Seattle for Thanksgiving weekend.”

  “Why didn’t you let me know you were coming?”

  “My mom has non-stop family activities planned from dawn to dusk. Seriously, I think the next event starts in about ten minutes. Right after sunrise.”

  “When I saw your text, I thought something urgent happened.”

  “Well…” Olivia’s long pause made Kendra wonder if her friend was in some kind of trouble. Before she could probe further, Olivia continued, “I went through a stack of newspapers in my parents’ house last night, and I saw something shocking.”

  “What?” Kendra’s stomach lurched.

  “A photo of a guy named Shane McCarthy who looks just like your Shane. It was in the business section, wh
ich I don’t usually read.”

  She sucked in a long breath and then said, “That is my Shane. He’s been back in the area for a week or two.”

  “Unbelievable. Have you run into him yet?”

  “Believe it or not, he’s taking a shower in my bathroom right now,” Kendra said, purposely leaving out the part about the surprise encounter with him in the buff.

  “Wow, he works fast. The same as he did back in the day.” Olivia cleared her throat. “Be careful, Kendra.”

  “It’s not like that, Olivia. We’re strictly friends.”

  “Uh huh,” Olivia responded, with a note of doubt in her voice. “But does he know about Matt?”

  “He does. And he wants to be a father to him.”

  “And how do you feel about that?”

  “I’m fine with it.” Kendra was mostly fine with it, but she didn’t think now was the time to run through all of her concerns.

  “That’s great, but I meant…well, you said you were just friends. What’s that about? Is Shane married now?”

  “Nope, single. And I guess you didn’t read the article next to his picture in the paper. He’s actually working at the same company where I work.”

  “Holy crap. It almost sounds like fate is conspiring to bring you two back together.”

  “I don’t know what fate’s trying to do,” Kendra said. “But, Olivia, you know you can’t snap your fingers and make everything that went down seven years ago disappear like nothing happened.”

  “Especially when there’s a six-year-old boy as a result of what ‘went down,’ as you said. Your words. No pun intended.”

  “Whatever.” Kendra knew she could always count on Olivia to turn an innocent remark into a joke or a double entendre. “He’s mad because I didn’t let him know about the baby, and I’m mad because he forgot about me like I didn’t mean a thing to him.”

  “Sounds like you both have a right to your feelings,” Olivia said. “But somebody’s got to budge.”

  “Now we’re trying to co-exist, so Shane and Matt can have a relationship.”

  “You know, I’ve never once heard of former lovers who can end up as friends later. Once you cross that line, you either go for the whole thing or nothing at all. I’m just saying.”

  “I’m really not worrying about crossing any lines, imaginary or otherwise.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “One-hundred percent. Right now, all I’m thinking about is my son and making sure his new relationship with his father gets off to a good start,” Kendra said, hoping she sounded convincing as she wound up her conversation with Olivia by making tentative plans to touch base at Christmastime.

  Because even though her primary goal was to do whatever she could to get the father-son relationship off the ground, she couldn’t deny she had some thoughts about crossing back into that old familiar territory with Shane.

  And what she’d seen in her bathroom a few minutes earlier made those feelings even stronger.

  * * *

  A few minutes before eleven, Kendra heard the sound of Shane moving about in her spare bedroom. “Sounds like your dad’s awake,” she said to Matt, who’d been playing with action figures since they’d returned from the dry cleaners with Shane’s now smoke-free clothing.

  Matt had easily accepted her explanation that his dad would be staying with them for a while because there had been a fire at his apartment building. Hearing his mother say that no one had been hurt in the fire appeared to erase any worries from Matt’s head, and he said he was eager to see his father.

  When Shane came downstairs a few minutes later clad in the oversized robe Kendra had provided, he greeted Matt with a friendly pat on the head. Smiling and winking at Kendra, he said, “Don’t even ask. I’m properly attired underneath with the freshly-washed underwear you put outside my door. So, no worries about anyone fainting from a shocking sight.”

  “I don’t recall anyone fainting,” she replied, flashing a sassy smile as she cocked her chin downward and blinked her eyes.

  She definitely hadn’t been anywhere close to fainting. Eyes wide open, heart rate on the uptick, there hadn’t been any chance she would turn away from a sight she had honestly enjoyed. Enjoyed so much that she thought she might want to see it again.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Enough with the teasing banter.

  Shane was receiving some kind of signal from Kendra, but he wasn’t sure how to interpret the message. Was she interested in picking up where they’d left off seven years earlier?

  It didn’t matter. Any intentions of spicing up their relationship were gone. His primary objective had to be getting to know his son. “All kidding aside, thank you for helping me out. I’m totally grateful for the shower and quick nap. And especially for the offer to bunk here until I straighten out my living situation.”

  “No biggie.” She motioned toward the clear plastic bag hanging from the doorknob of the closet near the front door. “Your suit is all ready for you. And there’s a new tie for you in the bag.”

  “You didn’t have to go shopping for me.”

  “Didn’t have to. I guess sometimes the dry cleaner can’t get food stains out of neckties, so they have replacements for sale for a few bucks.”

  “I’ve heard that tomato soup is the leading cause of death for neckties,” he said, concentrating on keeping a straight face.

  She smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “Anyway, I didn’t see your tie when you came in, so I thought you might need one if you happen to run into Clint Wheeler or some other big shot today.”

  “You think of everything,” he said. Maybe he could go for this wife thing. But he dismissed the thought as quickly as it had come. One thing at a time. He had to focus on the kid. That was the primary goal.

  “How about a turkey sandwich before you go? Plenty of leftovers from yesterday.”

  Okay, she really was acting like a wife. Could be worse things, though.

  As he looked at Matt holding an action figure, his thoughts returned to everything that had happened over the past six years. Everything that he hadn’t known about. A baby being born. His own son! And his son taking his first steps, learning to talk, getting comfortable catching a ball, going to kindergarten, and now being in first grade. All without his dad being around.

  Pushing his rising anger back down, he took a calming breath and said, “A sandwich sounds terrific. It’ll be my breakfast and lunch rolled into one.” He started to ask about Matt’s action figure but stopped and turned to Kendra. “Oh yeah, how much do I owe you for the dry cleaning? And the new tie?”

  “The dry cleaning was five dollars. Forget the tie. Let’s consider it making up for a few Father’s Day gifts you didn’t receive over the years.”

  And whose fault was that?

  Shane tried to forget about missed Father’s Day celebrations and turned back to his son for a few minutes of play before he had to leave for the office.

  * * *

  After Shane left for QJV headquarters, Kendra used a good part of the day bringing Christmas decorations inside from the garage. Matt enjoyed helping to place figures of elves, snowmen, and Victorian carolers on tabletops and low shelves in the living room.

  “What about the tree, Mom?” His eager eyes shone with anticipation. “When can we put that up?”

  “Hmm,” she said, thinking about the Christmas tree for the first time, even though she’d walked right by the big cardboard box where it was stored near her other holiday decorations. She’d never been one of the folks who liked to put up their Christmas tree on the day after Thanksgiving, or even Thanksgiving weekend. “Maybe your dad would like to help us decorate the tree this year?”

  “That’d be so cool.” Matt’s eyes turned dreamy. “Can we have cookies and hot cocoa too?”

  “Sure, buddy. And I’ll play all of our favorite Christmas songs. Maybe next weekend…I’ll have to check with your dad about his schedule first.”

  “This is gonna be the be
st Christmas ever.”

  Nice that he thought so. Because she wasn’t so sure. If the sparkly lights, scents of freshly-made holiday treats, and joy of watching his son decorate the tree and open gifts were too appealing to Shane, he might come up with ideas about having more solo time with Matt next Christmas and in the years ahead.

  She’d spent almost her entire adult life as a mom. Matt was the center of her world. How could she wake up on Christmas morning and not have her son in her own home?

  And what about other times of the year? Shane had been very nice to Matt since they’d met. But she really didn’t know that much about his parenting style. What if he reacted completely differently than she did when Matt misbehaved?

  Stop it! Just stop it! Kendra forced her inner voice to reprimand herself. Pop had said yesterday she should stop worrying all the time about things that might happen. She should make a major effort to concentrate on the here and now. If only it were that easy to control her thoughts…

  * * *

  Shane returned from the office around seven that evening and politely rapped on Kendra’s front door. He fought back the urge to call out, “Honey, I’m home.”

  “Hope you don’t mind turkey again,” Kendra said as she opened the door and stepped aside to let him in. “I’m warming leftover turkey slices and gravy for hot turkey sandwiches.”

  “Definitely not a problem.”

  “Oh, and I got you a spare key to the house. Figured you might need it until you figure out what your new living arrangements will be.”

  He stepped over the threshold. The mention of leftovers for dinner and a key to the house propelled him right into old-married-couple terrain. Glancing into the living room, he spotted Christmas decorations. Did he even belong here? It had barely been a week since he ran into Kendra and found out he had a son. Now, here they were acting as though they’d been a family for years.