His Holiday Crush

by Cari Z

  “You mind letting me get a word in edgewise?” Hal asked mildly before sipping his beer.

  Ugh. And I’d fallen prey to the oldest trick in the book—letting your opponent fill the silence when they couldn’t bear it. I needed to rein it in. “Of course. Go ahead.”

  “I’m not planning on warning you off of Nicky.” Hal took another sip then crossed his arms, his expression contemplative. “You’re both adults, and God knows you don’t have a mean bone in your body, so I know you’re not gonna say anything to hurt him. I think you could use a guy like him in your life, honestly. You’ve been in New York how many years, and you never once introduced us to a boyfriend or partner? Nicky’s good people, way better than those sharks you hang out with on a regular basis.”

  I frowned. “I feel like you’re jumping way ahead. It’s not like I’m looking for some grand romance here, just a guy to hang out with that I like and who likes me back.”

  “I know, I know. And I can’t speak for Nicky, but I’m not sure if he’s ready for anything serious, either.” Hal looked down at his beer for a moment. “He didn’t have the easiest time of things in the army. He was out before he joined the service, plenty of people are now, but he never found anybody there, either. When he returned home, he was…closed off, for a while. Being around him was kind of like seeing him through a window.”

  “Huh.” Dominic didn’t seem like that at all to me. “It looks like he’s gotten over it.”

  “He really stepped up when Ariel left.” Hal took another drink. “Only good thing to come out of that shitshow, honestly.”

  I wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up, but since he’d broached the subject… “Where is she now?”

  “I don’t know for sure. With her aunt in Jersey, maybe? Not too far. She still tries to call every now and then, but I told her if she wanted to talk, she could do it in person.”

  “That’s kind of harsh on the girls, isn’t it?” I ventured. It wasn’t that I didn’t think Ariel had been in the wrong in wanting out of the marriage, and she’d done it in the most brutal way, but there was no good reason to punish her daughters for her mistakes. They missed their mother; that much was plain. Marnie had compensated by going full speed all the time, and Steph had responded by shutting down.

  “It is, I know it is, but…” He sighed and ran his hand down his face. “You weren’t here in the aftermath, Max. You didn’t see them in the moment. The first few weeks were hell, especially after thinking their mama might be really hurt, might be dead. And she let them think that. She let them live with that, and then she calls up like everything’s fine and chats for all of two minutes before hanging up the phone. ‘Checking in,’ she said. Checking in and hanging up before her kids could be any more of a burden to her.”

  There was the bitterness again, bitterness and anger and a huge helping of guilt, if the way he was pinching his mouth shut was any indication. “Fucking cruel is what it was,” he spat. “I can’t let it happen to them again. If they get used to not hearing her voice, then maybe the pain will start to fade. Maybe they’ll be able to move on. And if she wants to reestablish herself in their lives? Then she needs to make more of an effort than a once-weekly call and a few emails. My lawyer is still figuring out where to send the divorce papers to, and I—”

  I took his beer out of his hand, put it on the counter behind him, and pulled him into a hug. Hal collapsed against my shoulder, just a little bit, enough to let me know that he really needed it. I held onto him tight, warmth flooding through my chest as I rubbed my hand over his back, and wondered when the last time he’d gotten a hug like this was. He was bigger than me, but I could carry his weight. For a little while, at least.

  We were quiet for a few minutes, just standing their leaning on each other, before the sound of Marnie singing “Let It Go” permeated the whole first floor, maybe the entire block, and broke the mood. Hal straightened up and, not quite looking me in the eye, said, “I’m fuckin’ glad you’re here, Max.”

  “I am, too.” I squeezed his shoulders with both my hands then gave him a little bit of space. “Thanks for not asking me to be your lawyer, by the way,” I said with a smile.

  He rolled his eyes. “You’re a corporate lawyer. You’re useless to me.”

  “I know. I’m not sad about that.” Hal seemed sad, though, about a lot of things. It was almost enough to make me wish I was a divorce lawyer, just so I could help him out more directly. “Is there anything else I can do?”

  Hal shook his head. “I’ll be fine. Eventually.” Then he raised his voice so the others could hear. “I’ve got my girls. You two get out of here.”

  Marnie looked up. “Where are you guys going?”

  “We’re going to go work on my house for a while,” Dominic said as he stood up from the table. I followed suit and got our jackets out of the closet then grabbed the pack that held my tablet. When I gave Dominic his, our hands touched, and I was pleased to see a familiar flush along his neck again.

  “Can I come?”

  “Not this time,” Dominic said, ruffling Marnie’s curls before leaning down and kissing her cheek. He kissed Steph as well, and then the girls looked expectantly at me.

  “Uh…”

  “Come on, Max!” Marnie patted her cheek, and I obliged with a kiss for both girls while their father laughed at me from behind his hand. For all that Steph looked more like Ariel, Marnie had so many of her mother’s mannerisms it was unreal.

  “See you girls later.”

  “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Hal called out as we headed for the door.

  “Gonna be a boring evening, then,” I called back.

  “Gu—not like that, you asshole. I’m talking about on the repairs.”

  “Daddy! Language!”

  I shut the door with a chuckle. “Time to make a break for it.”

  “Don’t run,” Dominic cautioned me as we walked down the driveway toward his Jeep. “I don’t want to have to catch you again.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  Dominic looked at me with a glint in his eye. “I mean, don’t leap into my arms or anything, but maybe you could fall onto my bed?” He immediately put a hand on his face. “Oh my god. I’m not smooth. I’m sorry.” He unlocked the doors and got inside, and I followed him.

  “That was actually pretty smooth. Maybe we can start with you showing me around the house and putting me to work. There have to be some two-person jobs around the place, right?”

  “A few,” he admitted, starting up the car and glancing into the road before he pulled out. “If nothing else, you can act as my backup against any unwanted guests in the walls.”

  I snorted. “I can do that.”

  …

  We headed away from the center of town and took a turn down the road that ran closer to the train tracks. The tracks were defunct now, a remnant of the logging industry that nobody had bothered to remove. Kids liked to go down and smash bottles against them while high schoolers liked to go there to hangout and drink. At least they had when I lived here. It was the opposite side of town from where I’d grown up, in a historic two-story Colonial on an acre and a half of land. My father had had to sell it when my mom divorced him. I wasn’t sure who lived there now—hell, I wasn’t entirely sure where he lived around here anymore.

  I blinked away the memories and said, “You get called out to scare people down there?”

  He rolled his eyes. “At least once a week from a parent asking me to check and see if their kid is there and bring them home if I catch them. As if they don’t scatter the second I show up.”

  I knew how it was. I’d been one of those kids more than once. “That’s part of the thrill of going to the tracks.”

  “Yeah, I guess so. I just never thought I’d be the one doing the scaring, you know? I didn’t see myself ending up as a cop when I was in school
.”

  I sensed a new avenue of conversation opening up. “What did you think you’d do?”

  “I don’t know for sure. I figured I might become a teacher. I like working with kids.” His expression was easy now, probably thinking about his nieces. “I’m the one they always send to the schools to do the ‘stranger danger’ and drug talks.”

  “I could see you being a teacher.” Or at least, I could see shy, gentle Nicky being a teacher. Dominic was a bit rougher around the edges, but it wouldn’t be impossible to go back to school for it.

  He shook his head. “Nah, I needed something I could make money in fast, and it doesn’t take as long to become a cop. Besides, with them, my military experience counts for something. It’s a good enough fit for me.” He glanced my way. “What about you? Did you always want to be a lawyer?”

  “Basically.” I’d had this heart-to-heart with myself numerous times, and I was pretty secure in my choices at this point. “Mom is a lawyer, and she always seemed to enjoy it. She had a different kind of practice here in Edgewood, of course, mostly wills and property disputes and a little bit of family law when she had to, but she usually walked out the door in the morning whistling.”

  At least, she had until my father shattered things irreparably and my mother had completely broken down, unable to continue her practice—unable to step foot out of the house, the shame was so severe. It was worse because my father had tried to act like nothing had happened, like it could all be fixed.

  “The stuff I do in the city is different, but I like it well enough.” Practicing law didn’t get me whistling a happy tune every morning, but that didn’t make it drudgery. The office was lively with Marcus, and every client was a challenge that kept me learning and on my toes.

  “Huh.” With that noncommittal answer, Dominic turned down Broward Street. “I’m at the end of the block here.” It was a slightly rundown row of houses, but I didn’t see anything I’d call out as particularly decrepit. When we stopped in front of a small but neat Victorian, I was kind of impressed. Sure, the paint was peeling and the driveway was cracked, but it didn’t look all that bad.

  “I think you’ve exaggerated your problems with this place.”

  Dominic chuckled as he turned off the engine. “Wait until you see inside of it.”

  I followed him up to the door and onto the small porch, which had clearly been redone. “This was one of my first projects,” he said, stomping both his feet clean against the welcome mat before unlocking the door. “I almost fell through it when the realtor brought me around to look at the place. I knew I had to make it strong enough to hold some weight first and foremost.” He entered and flipped on a light, and I followed behind him. And…

  Huh, yeah.

  Okay.

  This place was definitely a fixer-upper.

  The front hall was small, and it had a newly laid hardwood floor which seemed increasingly out of place the farther into the house I looked. To the right was a room that might once have been used as a dining room but was currently a receptacle for tools, lumber, and sawdust. On the left was a long room that stretched adjacent down the length of the hall, with multiple doors entering into it—somebody else’s remodel, probably. And it had…no floor. Nothing but bare concrete foundation over most of it, actually.

  A few of the walls were stripped all the way down to the exterior, with only the frames and siding keeping the outside from being inside. Well, that explains why it’s so freaking cold in here. Other walls had insulation, but no drywall in front of them. None of them were painted. There was a door on the right side of the hall that I figured led into a bathroom, and further down on the right, I assumed there had to be the kitchen. Right in front of me was a staircase leading up, looking rickety enough that I wasn’t really sure I wanted to risk it.

  “Sorry about the mess.” Dominic took his hat off and smoothed down his hair, a tired look in his eyes. “I kind of forget how this place might look to someone else. I’ve done a lot of work on it, I swear, but there’s still a lot left, and I haven’t had the time to focus on it because Hal’s needed me with the girls. Not that I mind!” he emphasized at the end.

  I wasn’t about to call him out. “Of course you don’t mind it. You’re one of their favorite people, anyone can see that, and they’d be able to tell if you resented them in some way.” The best way to get past the weirdness, I figured, was to forge ahead like nothing was wrong. “So, what can I help you do first? Insulate the front room so you don’t freeze to death this winter?”

  Dominic looked at me, seriously at first, then with more of a sense of play. “You mean you don’t want to run screaming?”

  “Where would I run? Back out into the snow? That seems counterproductive.” I shook my head. “I’d rather stay and help, thanks. But first, you’ve got to tell me—where do you sleep? Because it can’t be up front here.”

  “Oh, no. Come this way.” He led me down the hall to the last door on the left, which opened into a little bedroom beside the kitchen. “I think it might have been a mud room or storage room originally, but this spot is the first thing I fixed up,” he said, shutting the door behind us and turning on the space heater in the corner. “It was something doable that I could single out, you know? And it was small enough that I could finish it fast.”

  I glanced around. It was a pretty small room, for sure, but there was space for a double bed and a dresser, plus a little end-table covered with novels and a lamp. Two of the walls were cream-colored, with a gray accent wall at the back. The green bedspread and pillow gave the place color, and the light oak dresser and table made it feel warm. There was a picture of Hal, Dominic, their sister Christine, and the girls all together hanging on one wall, along with another of a group of soldiers in their BDUs, smiling at the camera. I couldn’t immediately tell which one was Dominic, but I finally recognized him at the end of the line. He was the only one not beaming.

  “It’s not much, I know—”

  “I think it’s great.” I didn’t want to hear a hint of shame come out of his mouth. I was the one who’d basically invited myself over—it was too late in the game to get prissy just because his bottom floor was a work-in-progress. Besides, this little room was totally fine. “It looks homey. Gives me an idea of what the place will look like once you’ve finished it.”

  “Thanks.” He grinned, relaxed again, and he looked so damn handsome that I couldn’t resist reaching out and taking his hand. I tugged him in close to me, my touch light and unassuming, and smiled when he came right along.

  “I would really love to kiss you right now,” I said, completely honest.

  “Maybe you should, then,” he replied.

  Yeah, maybe I should. I grinned and leaned in, Dominic’s lips parting in readiness, and we—

  Something crashed from down the hallway. We froze, then Dominic groaned and said, “Oh man, not again,” pulled away and headed toward the living room. I followed him back down the cold hallway and to the front room and found him crouched down, staring into a corner that was filled with stacked floorboards and edging. “They’re back,” he said quietly. “Damn it.”

  “Who’s back?” I asked, bending down next to him.

  “The raccoons.”

  “You have rats and raccoons?” I was on the verge of laughing at the weirdness of it, but I refrained when I saw Dominic’s embarrassed look.

  “Yep. I evicted this family a week ago—believe me, it was not easy—and spent an entire night covering all the holes I could find that they might have crept in through.” He frowned. “I must have missed one.”

  “I don’t see—oh.” No, wait, there was the glow of an eye. And another eye. And another… “How many are there?”

  “Three, all juveniles.”

  I snickered. “Are you going to arrest them, officer?”

  “I’m going to serve them with an eviction notice,”
he replied. “The problem is getting them to run outside instead of deeper into the house.”

  I could see that. Nobody wanted one of these little guys to make it upstairs. “Okay, I’ll go open the front door and block off the hall. You uncover them and encourage them to run for the nearest exit.”

  “Got it.”

  Operation “Raccoon Eviction” was pretty successful, if I do say so myself. After Dominic shoved the boards covering them away, all three of the home invaders scattered. Two of them did cut for the stairs, but a few steps in that direction from me made them rethink it. As soon as one finally ran outside, the other two followed.

  “Okay,” I said once Dominic had shut the front door, holding the freezing wind back once again. “Well, I think I know what we’re doing tonight.”

  Dominic blushed. I don’t know where he got the heat for it—I was so cold I couldn’t even feel my hands. I’d have to get the gloves I borrowed from Hal on in a hurry. “Patching holes?”

  “Patching holes.”

  We spent two more hours out in the main rooms of the house, looking for crevices that were open to the outside and—sure enough—hanging drywall over the spots where he’d already laid insulation. By the time we finished, I was tired and Dominic was clearly exhausted.

  “I should get going,” I said, oddly reluctant to leave even though I knew anything athletic was out of the cards for tonight. “Do you feel up to driving me back?”

  “I…could,” Dominic said judiciously, glancing out the window by the front door, “but I think you better take a closer look outside right now.”