“Am I distracting you?” Krista asked.

“Ya think?” He vowed to keep his eyes on the road, but Alex’s mind was mired in the past. “To set the record straight, I didn’t break things off until after you accepted the job.”

“You had to realize I wanted to keep seeing you until I moved,” Krista said.

“What would have been the point?”

“We were having a good time together.”

“The good times had to end, sooner or later.”

“It would have been nice if it was later,” she said.

Were they really having this conversation? Alex didn’t know any other woman who talked so bluntly. Was that one of the reasons he’d been attracted to her?

“More time together would have changed nothing,” he said. “You still would have moved to Europe and I still would have stayed here. What’s over is over.”

“What if it’s not over? What would you say if I propositioned you now?” Krista asked, in the same low voice she once used when they were in bed together.

Just like that, remembered sensations assailed Alex. The smooth texture of her skin. The fresh smell of her hair. The sweet taste of her kiss.

Alex focused on another memory as he pulled the truck into the parking lot—the disappointment that Krista was leaving when things between them had barely begun.

“You won’t proposition me,” he said in an equally soft voice. “You won’t be here long enough.”

Dear Reader,

A few winters ago when the back-to-back blizzards that came to be known as Snowmageddon dumped record snowfall on the mid-Atlantic, I was stuck in South Florida.

I’d spotted a fantastic round-trip airfare and impulsively taken what I thought would be a short trip to visit family and friends. Then the snow hit, wreaking havoc and closing airports. My original return flight was canceled. So were two of my rebooked flights. Instead of staying in Florida for five days, I was there for twelve.

From that personal experience, the idea for The Christmas Gift was born. In my story, Krista Novak is snowbound in the Pennsylvania hometown she hasn’t visited in eight years. Flights that are repeatedly canceled because of snow force her to come to terms with the pain in her past and the man she left behind.

I won’t give away the meaning behind the title of the book but I will tell you what my gift was when I was stranded in Florida. While my husband shoveled a total of thirty-seven inches of snow from our driveway and sidewalks, I got to sunbathe at the beach.

Until next time,

Darlene Gardner

P.S. Visit me on the web at www.darlenegardner.com.

The Christmas Gift
Darlene Gardner

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

While working as a newspaper sportswriter, Darlene Gardner realized she’d rather make up quotes than rely on an athlete to say something interesting. So she quit her job and concentrated on a fiction career that landed her at Harlequin/Silhouette Books, where she wrote for the Temptation, Duets and Intimate Moments lines before finding a home at Superromance. Please visit Darlene on the web at www.darlenegardner.com.

To my husband, Kurt,

for telling me to have fun in Florida

and not complaining about digging

out of the Snowpocalypse.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

EPILOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

IF NOT FOR THE CALL from the hospital, nothing could have induced Krista Novak to return to this tiny slice of Pennsylvania she’d left behind eight years ago.

With eyes gritty from eighteen hours of traveling, Krista stared out the backseat window of the taxi cab at the modest neighborhood of mostly ranch houses.

Winter had robbed the trees of their leaves and frosted the barren ground and cars parked in the street. From almost every home shone Christmas lights, some hung haphazardly, others arranged in neat, colorful patterns.

“Which house?” the taxi driver asked, two of the few words he’d spoken since picking up Krista outside baggage claim at the Harrisburg airport. Not that he’d been silent. He’d hummed along to “White Christmas,” “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” and Alvin and the Chipmunks.

“The tacky place with Santa and his reindeer on the roof and the Christmas animals in the yard,” Krista mumbled.

She didn’t bother to add he couldn’t miss it. If there were life forms in outer space, they’d be blinded by the blaze from the lighted yard decorations and the tiny multicolored lights that covered every inch of her parents’ house.

“I love it!” The driver, who was probably in his late sixties, wore a red knit cap similar to the one outlined in lights on the candy-cane cat. “That animated dancing penguin is my favorite!”

The penguin was new, as were the seals that were tossing a wrapped gift back and forth. Krista had seen most of the other animals many, many times before. Her family had been collecting them for years.

“Are you kidding me?” Krista asked. “Don’t you think the display is excessive?”

The driver pulled up to the curb, turned his head and peered at her. In the darkened cab at nearly seven o’clock in the evening, it should have been hard to see his face. The glow from the yard illuminated his widened eyes. “Hell, no! It’s three days before Christmas, lady.”

Krista felt herself bristle. Not for the first time, she wished she’d thought to call ahead and reserve a rental car. This close to Christmas, none of the rental agencies at the airport had anything available until possibly tomorrow.

“I’m not as into the season as the rest of my family,” Krista said.

The decorations had probably gone up the day after Thanksgiving. Yard art, Krista’s grandmother called it. It used to take Krista’s father two full days to create the monument to the season. Krista’s heart clutched. This was somebody else’s handiwork. Since the accident, her father couldn’t so much as string lights.

Krista banished the harsh reality from her mind. She couldn’t think about her father now, not when her mother was the one who was ill, not even to note that he hadn’t bothered to call and tell her about it.

She let herself out of the cab and came face-to-beak with a flamingo wearing earmuffs. Swallowing a sigh, she met the driver at the trunk of the taxi.

“Home for Christmas, eh?” the driver said.

“Yeah.” Krista didn’t elaborate. She certainly wouldn’t tell him she hadn’t been home in eight years. Krista wouldn’t be here at all if her mother’s phone call hadn’t woken her up last night in Prague.

Her mother’s voice had sounded thin, reedy and very far away. “Krista, I’m in the hospital.”

Krista had bolted to a sitting position, coming jarringly awake. Her heart had thumped so hard it felt like the bed in her one-bedroom flat was shaking. “What’s wrong?”

“I was, um, bleeding,” her mother said.

A memory of Krista’s father lying bent and broken flashed in Krista’s mind. She imagined her mother tumbling down a flight of stairs, slipping on a patch of ice, accidentally gashing herself with a cooking knife.

“Are you all right?” Krista heard the panic in her own voice and tried to tamp it down. “Was it an accident?”

“No, no. Nothing like that,” her mother said. “It was, um, internal.”

Internal bleeding!

“Do you need me to come home?” Krista asked.

Her mother hadn’t hesitated. “Oh, yes, dear. That would be wonderful.”

A nurse had entered her mother’s hospital room then, cutting their conversation short. As soon as Krista hung up the phone, she’d booted up her computer and booked a flight to Pennsylvania that left at six that morning. Then she’d contacted one of the friends she was supposed to meet in a few days’ time for a skiing trip in the Swiss Alps to let her know what was going on.

The cab driver swung Krista’s suitcase from the trunk and told her how much the fare was.

“Could you wait for me? I need you to drive me to the hospital, too.” Krista’s mind was so fuzzy after a full day of traveling, she couldn’t be sure if she’d mentioned it. Although it wasn’t yet 7:00 p.m. in Pennsylvania, it was nearly 1:00 a.m. body time. “It’ll only take me a few minutes to drop off this suitcase.”

“The hospital?” the driver repeated, but Krista was already rolling the suitcase up a sidewalk lined with toy soldiers and past a hippo with a red bow tied around its neck.

Krista supposed she could have asked somebody, possibly her grandmother, to make the twenty-minute drive to the Harrisburg airport to pick her up when no rental cars were available. With her parents’ house in Jarrell en route to the hospital, though, it seemed to make more sense to hire a cab. Especially because Krista had discovered her cell phone was dead as she dashed to make her second connecting flight in Philadelphia.

Once Krista dropped off her luggage, the cab driver should get her to the hospital in plenty of time for visiting hours. The last she’d checked on her mother’s condition, during the layover that morning in Frankfurt, her mother was stable. Krista expected her family to be at the hospital although somebody was obviously home or the lights wouldn’t be blazing.

Krista dragged her suitcase up the handicap ramp and stopped in front of a door partially obscured by an enormous wreath. The doorbell was doubling as a snowman’s button nose. Should Krista ring it? What was the protocol when you were the prodigal daughter?

A blast of wind almost blew Krista over. She shivered, deciding she was being ridiculous. Drawing in a deep breath of pine-scented air, she pushed open the door and stepped onto the tiny tiled foyer that opened into the living room.

It was empty aside from a floor-to-ceiling Christmas tree wrapped in gold garland and cloaked by twinkling lights and ornaments. Holly and a strand of lit plastic Santa heads outlined the fireplace. About the only tasteful thing in the room was a gorgeous framed photo Krista had never seen before of a field of wildflowers under a clear blue sky.

The scents and sounds of Christmas past assaulted Krista: honey ham, freshly baked bread, apple cider, instrumental Christmas carols, voices drifting from the kitchen.

“Hello? I’m ho—” Krista stopped midshout. Pennsylvania hadn’t been home in a very long time. “I’m here.”

Nobody answered, which wasn’t surprising considering the noise level. Krista pulled her suitcase into the living room and headed for the large kitchen at the back of the house, her high-heeled winter boots clicking on the hardwood.

She passed under the mistletoe hanging from the archway leading to the kitchen and stopped dead.

Krista’s grandmother, considerably older and possibly even shorter than when Krista had last seen her, was at the stove stirring a pot of soup. Grandma had moved in with the family after she was widowed two decades ago to help care for Krista and her younger sister, Rayna, and never left.

Sitting on a chair at the butcher-block table overseeing the entire operation was Krista’s mother. For a moment, Krista couldn’t speak.

“Mom!” she finally blurted out. “What are you doing out of the hospital?”

Both women turned at the sound of her voice. Grandma gaped at Krista as if she’d materialized out of thin air. Her mother smiled and clapped her hands.

“Krista! You came!” Her mother opened her arms but didn’t get up. She looked wan, and a crocheted shawl covered her shoulders.

Krista crossed the room and bent down to embrace her mother, relief making her knees weak. Unshed tears burned the backs of her eyes. “Of course I came.”

Her mother hugged Krista tight, enveloping her daughter in warmth. A few seconds passed before it dawned on Krista that her mother’s grip was not that of a sick woman. She drew back, examining her mother more closely.

Aside from the paleness of her complexion, Krista’s mother seemed much the same as she always had. A tall, big-boned woman with dark hair showing no trace of gray, Eleanor Novak had always filled up a room with her presence.

“I thought you were bleeding internally,” Krista said.

“So that’s how you got our Krista to come home, Ellie.” Krista’s grandmother addressed her daughter-in-law but hurried from the stove to Krista’s side. At about five feet tall and one hundred pounds with hair that was completely white, Krista’s grandmother had an elfish charm. She added to it by wearing a Rudolph-the-reindeer shirt.

“Hey, Grandma.” Krista bent down to hug the older lady while trying to make sense of her comment.

“I missed you, sweet girl,” Grandma said. “We all did.”

Krista felt her eyes grow moist except things weren’t adding up. She drew back from the hug and swung her gaze to her mother. “I don’t understand. Why aren’t you in the hospital?”

Her mother’s eyes shifted.

“Ellie was discharged this morning,” Grandma said. Great news, but Krista couldn’t make sense of it. “We’re having a celebration dinner. Now the only one missing will be Rayna.”

Krista’s sister had only been thirteen when Krista moved away. Krista wondered where Rayna was, but another question was more pressing.

“What about the internal bleeding, Mom?” Krista asked.

Her mother still wouldn’t meet Krista’s eyes. “It stopped a few days ago. The medication they have nowadays is amazing.”

“Most people with bleeding ulcers recover fast,” Grandma said. “The doctor told Ellie this morning she’s already almost as good as new.”

“This morning? But last night, you made it seem like you were really sick.” Krista collapsed into one of the kitchen chairs. “How could you do that? I thought you were dying.”

“Okay, so it wasn’t my finest moment.” Her mother did not sound sorry. “But it’s been eight years, Krista. How else was I supposed to get you home for the holidays?”

“You could have asked,” Krista said.

“I ask every year,” her mother said. “You never come.”

The radio tuned to the station that played all Christmas carols, all the time, was between songs. In the rare moment of silence, Krista heard the unmistakable sound of wheels rolling on hardwood. Krista’s body tensed.

Her father maneuvered the wheelchair into the kitchen, a blanket thrown over his useless legs. Although he was only five years older than his wife’s fifty-seven, what hair he had left was completely gray and visible wrinkles creased his face.

“Krista?” His thick gray brows drew together. “What are you doing here?”

Krista swallowed, aware those were the first words he’d spoken to her in years. The few times he’d answered the phone when she called, he immediately handed her off to her mother. She tried not to let it hurt that he didn’t seem glad to see her. “I thought mom was sick.”

“Ellie called Krista from the hospital and told her she was dying,” her grandmother said.

“That’s not so, Joe!” her mother cried. “I told her I was bleeding.”

Krista’s father set his mouth in a tight line. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“Why not?” her mother demanded. “Don’t you think it’s past time our daughter came home?”

“Our daughter can—” her father began.

“Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas!” The greeting was loud enough to drown out all sound.

A stranger about her father’s age came into the kitchen wearing a Santa hat, a fake white beard and red suspenders that were visible through his open overcoat. He was about five-nine with a wiry build, lessening the effect.

“Welcome home from the hospital, Eleanor,” the stranger said to Krista’s mother. “You look fantastic!”

“Thank you, Milo,” Ellie said. “You look great, too. I never get tired of seeing you in that get-up.”

“One of the fringe benefits of being a mall Santa.” Milo snapped the suspenders, then turned his attention to Krista. “And who is this pretty young lady?”

“Our daughter Krista. She’s the interpreter who lives in Europe,” her mother said. “Krista, this is our next-door neighbor, Milo Costas.”

Costas? Krista didn’t remember anybody named Costas living next door. She only knew one person with that surname, an unusual one for central Pennsylvania. Was this a relation?

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Costas.” Krista tried to convince herself she must be wrong. Not everybody named Costas was connected to each other.

“It’s my pleasure, young lady.” Milo Costas commented at the same time another male voice—a familiar male voice—called out, “Where is everybody?”

“In the kitchen,” Krista’s father yelled, his scowl vanishing.

Alex Costas strode into the kitchen, a bottle of red wine in his right hand, a bottle of sparkling apple cider in his left. A good five or six inches taller than Milo, Alex had thick black hair, an athlete’s build and strong, classic features. The first time Krista had seen him, she’d sworn her heart had skipped a beat. Right now it sped up.

“Did you know there’s a ca—” Alex’s voice trailed off midquestion, his dark gaze swinging to Krista.

Attraction rocketed through Krista, as hot and intense as when they’d been in bed together eight years ago and she’d told him about accepting a job in the Czech Republic.

He’d driven her home and told her he thought it was best if they ended things cold turkey, and she hadn’t seen him again until this moment. She took a deep breath and plastered on a smile.

“Hello, Alex,” she said. “Fancy meeting you here.”

ALEX COMPOSED HIS FEATURES to mask the jolt of sexual energy he felt. He’d known Krista would walk through her parents’ door one day but he hadn’t expected it to be today. Neither could he have predicted the way his body would react to her.

“Hello, Krista,” he said.

Eleanor Novak tilted her head, her eyebrows drawing together. “You two know each other?”

Alex and his father owned a landscaping business and had been buying plants and supplies from Novaks’ Nursery for years. They hadn’t become close friends with the Novaks, however, until Krista had already left home.

“You could say that,” Krista said. “We met before I moved to Europe.”

Eleanor’s gaze swung to Alex. She talked about Krista semiregularly, mostly to complain that her daughter never visited. “You never mentioned that, Alex!”

Alex’s father was watching him with interest. Alex had never brought up Krista to him, either.

“Wasn’t much to tell.” Alex shifted his weight from foot to foot.

“Where did you meet her?” Eleanor asked.

Alex zeroed in on Krista’s golden-brown eyes and recalled he could never tell what she was thinking. He didn’t see any way to dodge the question. “At the nursery.”

“The nursery! Oh, wait! I remember that day!” Krista’s grandmother had a wonderful memory, although Alex hoped it would fail her now. “The poinsettia incident!”

Nope. His elderly neighbor’s memory was working just fine.

“Alex came into the nursery for the first time,” Grandma Novak continued. “He was already working with his father in the landscaping business and wanted to buy two dozen poinsettias.”

“I think it was one dozen,” Alex murmured.

“No, two dozen.” Grandma Novak smiled so sweetly, it felt like she’d agreed with him. “Anyway, Alex was wheeling the poinsettias to his pickup when the cart overturned.”

“How does Krista enter into this?” Eleanor asked.

Krista’s eyes were still locked on Alex. “I was dropping by to say hey to Grandma when it happened.”

So she did remember.

Alex would never forget. Krista had been wearing black boots and a winter coat, much the same as the one she had on now, except the coat had been black instead of red. She’d flipped her long, brown wind-blown hair back from a face that was rosy from the cold. Then she’d spotted him and smiled.

That was when the wheels of Alex’s cart had bumped over a curb and the plants had slid off.

“That’s right, Krista,” Grandma Novak said. “You’d just gotten back from college for winter break. Dirt and poinsettia leaves went everywhere.”

Alex had insisted on cleaning up, and Krista had helped. By the time they were through sweeping up the debris, Alex had Krista’s phone number and a date for the next day.

“Why didn’t I hear about this before?” Eleanor asked.

Because Krista thought her mother was too involved in her life. Funny that Alex could remember the reason after all these years.

“You can’t know everything about everything, Ellie,” Grandma Novak said with a laugh.

“I like to be kept informed,” Eleanor muttered. “Alex, what were you about to tell us when you got here?”

The strange sight had completely slipped Alex’s mind. He snapped his fingers. “There’s a taxi driver outside singing Christmas carols.”

“Oh, I forgot!” Krista jumped up from her chair. Her hair was several inches shorter but otherwise the physical changes were negligible. Years ago Krista had told him she considered her looks average. She thought her nose was too long and her mouth too wide. Alex disagreed. Taken alone, none of her features were exceptional; together they were dazzling. “I better go pay him.”

Alex had to force himself not to turn and watch her hurry from the kitchen. He set down the bottles on the kitchen counter and shrugged out of his winter jacket while his father did the same.

“I’m surprised nobody mentioned Krista was coming home.” Alex’s father put into words what Alex was thinking.

“I didn’t know it myself until she walked in,” Joe said.

“So Krista surprised you?” Milo asked.

“Only because Ellie tricked her,” Grandma Novak said.

“For heaven’s sake! I didn’t trick Krista!” Eleanor cried. “My own daughter has a right to know I was in the hospital.”

“You shouldn’t have told her you were dying,” Joe said.

“I did nothing of the sort!” Eleanor denied. “You better watch what you say to me, Joe. If you stress me out, my ulcers will come back.”

“I talked to your doctor,” Joe retorted. “He said your ulcers were caused by bacteria.”

“Probably caused by bacteria,” Eleanor said. “Not definitely.”

“I’m gonna hang up my coat,” Alex announced before Joe came back with another zinger. It used to seem to Alex that the Novaks were on the brink of divorce until he realized they enjoyed arguing. They were actually the most devoted couple Alex knew. Eleanor acted as Joe’s nurse. Joe had cried when Eleanor had been admitted to the hospital. “Dad, can I take your coat?”

Alex’s father handed over his black overcoat, then slipped off his fake white beard and gave that to Alex, too. “Can’t risk getting food in my valuables.”

Alex smiled and headed for the coat closet in the foyer, one ear listening for Krista’s return. He admitted to himself he was angling for a moment alone with her. He stepped back to make room when she came in the front door.

In her high-heeled boots, she was only a few inches shorter than him. For a moment, they stared at each other and it seemed to Alex that electricity rather than blood flowed through his veins.

He finally found his voice. “How have you been?”

“Fine.” She cleared her throat, the sound a sexy purr. “Now that I’ve gotten over the shock of seeing you in my parents’ kitchen.”

“My dad and I are here a lot,” Alex said. “We couldn’t ask for better neighbors.”

She tilted her head quizzically. “You live with your dad? In this neighborhood?”

When she knew him, Alex had been renting a one-bedroom apartment in downtown Jarrell above a hardware store. Back then, his father had lived in an equally small condo he’d purchased after Alex’s mother died and he sold the house where Alex had grown up.

“I moved in when he bought the house next door,” Alex said.

“Recently?” Krista asked.

“Three years ago,” Alex said.

“Nobody told me,” Krista muttered.

Nobody should have to tell her. If she visited her parents even semiregularly, she’d know who their neighbors were.

She unbuttoned her coat and slipped it off to reveal a long blue sweater worn over skinny black jeans tucked into her boots. The clothes were wrinkled from traveling, but the jeans outlined the shape of her lovely legs and the sweater hugged her breasts. He took the coat from her and missed the rod on his first attempt at hanging it up.

“How long are you home for?” he asked.

“Now that I know Mom’s okay,” she said, “just until the day after Christmas.”

The news hit Alex like a snowball to the face. Holding back his reaction would have been impossible. “You’re kidding me! That’s only four days. You haven’t been home in eight years!”

Krista’s spine stiffened and her chin lifted. “I wasn’t going to come at all. I made other plans.”

“Are your plans more important than being with your family?” Alex had witnessed Eleanor’s tears when she talked about how much she missed her daughter. “Look at the lengths your mother went to get you here.”

“You’re out of line,” Krista said tightly.

“Why?” Alex shot back. “Because I’m telling you something you don’t want to hear?”

She glared at him.

“Alex! Krista!” Eleanor’s voice drowned out the Christmas carols drifting through the house. “Time for dinner.”

Alex swept a hand in front of him, calling himself a fool for maneuvering to be alone with her. “After you.”

With a toss of her head, Krista preceded him into the kitchen. He fought to keep his eyes from dipping to the sway of her hips, reminding himself that what had happened between them had been very brief and very long ago.

He’d been right to break things off the instant Krista told him she was moving to Europe, no matter how wrenching the decision had been.

A woman who could stay away from her family for eight years, returning home for a few days only because she thought her mother was gravely ill, was not the one for him.

KRISTA COULD BARELY taste the honey ham she was chewing, although she was sure it met her grandma’s excellent standards. Her body was still on Prague time, where it was 2:00 a.m. That wasn’t all.

The mother she thought was dying sat at one end of the long dining room table, her paralyzed father at the other. Grandma smiled and laughed like nothing had changed and the only man Krista had slept with after one date was seated next to her in silent disapproval.

Krista felt like she was caught in a snow globe after it had been shaken. Her vision seemed hazy and her equilibrium off. Her temper, though, was still broiling. How dare Alex judge her when he didn’t know the whole story?

“Nobody’s said why Rayna isn’t here.” Krista and her sister weren’t close. Krista had made some overtures over the years and the miles, but Rayna seldom responded.

“She’s working,” Alex answered. He would have been easier to ignore if he didn’t smell better than the food. “The dentist is open late for the next few days.”

Did that mean Rayna already had her associate’s degree in dental hygiene? Krista was relatively sure her sister was still taking classes at a community college near Harrisburg but could be wrong. Krista certainly wouldn’t ask, not with Alex in the room.

“Why didn’t you bring your girlfriend, Alex?” her father asked.

Krista refused to acknowledge her sense of disappointment. It didn’t matter to her if Alex was involved with someone. Come to think of it, why wasn’t he married? Even eight years ago, it had seemed to Krista he’d been in the market for a relationship with a future.

“Alex broke up with Cindy before Thanksgiving,” Krista’s mother answered before Alex could. “Don’t you remember, Joe?”

“How am I supposed to remember all Alex’s women?” Her father sat in his wheelchair instead of one of the dining room chairs, a constant reminder that he was paralyzed from the waist down. “Seems like he has a new girl every year.”

Krista thought a year was a long time. She couldn’t remember the last guy she’d dated for more than a few months.

“He’s looking for the right woman so he can settle down and raise a family,” Ellie said. “Aren’t you, Alex?”

Grandma wagged a finger at her daughter-in-law. “Don’t put Alex on the spot like that, Ellie. I’m sure he doesn’t like it.”

“I wouldn’t keep coming over here if I minded.” Alex smiled at her mother, but Krista noticed he hadn’t answered the question. She wondered if both Krista and her mother had Alex pegged wrong. He was thirty-two, after all. Maybe he was a serial dater, like Krista.

“You can ask me about Charlie,” her grandmother said.

Krista felt like someone had just shaken the snow globe harder. Who was Charlie?

“He’s auditioning to be my new beau.” Grandma addressed Krista, answering one of her unspoken questions but raising others. Auditioning? “Your grandpa’s been gone a long time so I figured it was time I got myself one. You’ll never guess where I met him.”

“The senior citizen’s center?” Krista guessed.

“The internet!” Grandma announced. “Alex set up one of those computer profiles for me.”

Krista gaped at him, glad for an outlet for her residual displeasure. “You got my grandma into online dating?”

“Hey, don’t look at me like that.” Alex waved both his hands in the air. “Online dating was Grandma Novak’s idea, not mine.”

Alex called her grandmother Grandma Novak?

“In my day, we went on blind dates. That’s how I met my wife,” Milo Costas said. With his olive complexion, dark hair and angular features, he resembled a smaller, older version of his son. Milo’s dark eyes fastened on Krista. “She died when Alex was nineteen.”

Why hadn’t Krista known that? She searched her memory but couldn’t remember Alex mentioning his mother in the past. Then again, they’d probably known each other better in bed than out of it. “I’m sorry,” Krista told Milo.

“Don’t be sorry for me,” Milo said. “I have my memories, my son and great next-door neighbors. It’s a wonderful life.”

Grandma laughed. “Milo works that line in every year. It’s his favorite Christmas movie.”

“It’s his favorite movie, period,” Alex said. “The dogs we had when I was growing up were named George and Bailey after the Jimmy Stewart character.”

“That’s right,” Milo said. “I got your grandmother to stock it at the store, too. The holiday movies are big sellers.”

Krista put down her fork, the better to concentrate on the conversation. “People buy movies at the nursery?”

“Not the nursery, the Christmas Shoppe,” Milo said.

Krista blinked, trying to dispel the haze clouding her brain. “What Christmas shop?”

“The one your grandmother runs next door to the nursery,” Milo said.

The fog Krista was trying to plow through got even thicker. Beside her, she could almost hear Alex asking why she hadn’t known about the store.

“We opened November first.” Grandma seemed to sit taller in her seat. “Our specialty is lighted yard art.”

Considering her grandmother’s love of Christmas, the shop was a logical extension of the nursery business. Had Krista really been so out of touch that the new venture hadn’t come up in conversation? She talked to her mother every month or so, although lately Krista made excuses to get off the phone when her mother started pressuring her to visit.

“Why don’t you come see the shop tomorrow, Krista?” Grandma asked. “If you want, you can even help. We have a lot going on.”

“Sure,” Krista said through a tight-lipped smile. She would prefer avoiding the nursery altogether but would never admit that to her grandmother.

“Great!” Her grandmother clapped her hands. “I’m going to love having you home! I might not let you go back after the new year.”

“If she stays that long,” her father muttered.

“Of course she’s staying!” Krista’s mother exclaimed. “It’s the holidays. There’s no reason for Krista to hurry back to Europe.”

Krista avoided looking at Alex. “Actually, there is. I’m supposed to meet friends in Switzerland the day after Christmas for a ski trip.”

“You can’t go back that soon!” Krista’s mother insisted.

Krista steeled herself against her mother’s protests. As soon as she was through with dinner, Krista intended to book her return flight. She wouldn’t be in Pennsylvania at all if her mother hadn’t manipulated her. “I already paid for the trip, Mom. The reservation’s nonrefundable.”

Krista’s mother stuck out her lower lip. “What if I were still in the hospital?”

“You’re not,” Krista’s father interjected. “Leave the girl alone, Ellie. If Krista has to go back, she has to go back.”

Krista reached for her glass of water to wash down the tight feeling in her throat. Next to her, she was aware of Alex watching her silently.

So much had changed since Krista had left Pennsylvania, yet one thing remained constant—her mother didn’t want her to leave, but her father couldn’t wait to shove her out the door.

Krista didn’t blame him, especially because she was the one who’d put him in the wheelchair.

CHAPTER TWO

KRISTA WOKE TO THE SOUND of silver bells.

As a child snuggled under her warm blankets, Krista used to listen for the bells until she fell asleep. They’d dangled from the wreaths that hung from her bedroom window, tinkling together with every gust of wind.

Krista’s room had been her refuge while she was growing up. She’d never tired of the glow-in-the-dark yellow stars her father had put up on the ceiling, insisting that one day she’d travel to the moon. In her teens, she’d plastered the walls with posters of more realistic places to visit—Venice, Paris, Rome, London.

Now that bedroom was a home office, and Krista was sleeping on the sofa bed in the basement recreation room. So why had she still heard the bells?

They jingled again. Pushing the cloud of hair from her face, Krista sat up in bed. Something sleek and white leaped onto the chair opposite the sofa bed and stared at Krista from glistening green eyes. It was a cat with bells on its red collar. Since when did her family have a pet?

“Where did you come from?” Krista asked aloud.

With sinewy grace, the cat jumped down from the chair and disappeared, the bells tingling together in its wake. Krista was about to lie back down when she caught sight of the bedside alarm clock.

Nine o’clock!

She didn’t even sleep that late in Prague, where it was already partway through the afternoon. Krista should have asked what time to be ready to leave for the Christmas shop and set an alarm.

She scrambled out of the sofa bed and hurried to her open suitcase. Since it was carry-on size, her wardrobe choices were limited. She yanked out dark slacks and a plain red sweater that was as Christmassy as her wardrobe got.

Ten minutes later, after using the bathroom in the basement that was adjacent to her sister’s empty bedroom, Krista hurried up the stairs. The smell of brewing coffee assailed her before she reached the kitchen.

A young woman sat at the kitchen table, her hands wrapped around a coffee mug, her long blond hair parted in the middle and tucked behind her ears. A newspaper was spread in front of her but she didn’t appear to be reading it.

If they’d been anywhere but inside the house, Krista might not recognize the woman as her sister, Rayna. The twenty-one-year-old’s face was thinner and her hair much lighter than when Krista had last seen her.

Feeling her mouth curving into a smile, Krista started toward her sister. “Rayna! You’re so grown up!”

Rayna lifted her large dark eyes from her coffee mug. Her lips were unsmiling, her body language distant. “I heard you were home.”

Krista stopped midstride, her hands dropping to her sides. She blinked sudden moisture from her eyes, annoyed with herself. Only a fool would expect a warm welcome after so many years apart. “I got here last night but crashed early because of the time difference.”

Rayna said nothing.

Krista cleared her throat. “I came because Mom called me and made it seem like she was really sick.”

“A few days ago, she was really sick. Her skin was gray and she was so run-down she could barely stand.” Rayna’s eyes didn’t waver from Krista’s face. “Then she started vomiting blood. Nobody knew why when we got her to the emergency room.”

Krista hugged herself, disturbed by the frightening scenario her sister was describing. “The doctors must have figured it out pretty quickly.”

“Not until the endoscopy. Even after they put her on medicine, she was too weak to get out of bed. They kept her in the hospital for three days.”

Some of the annoyance Krista had felt at her mother the day before faded. “I didn’t know any of that.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not like you live around here,” Rayna said.

Even though the statement was true, it felt like a criticism.

Rayna’s eyes dipped to the newspaper. It was open to the sports page, the section Krista usually skipped. Was Rayna into sports? She hadn’t been as a child. She didn’t have a cat, either, although Krista’s guess was that the one downstairs was hers.

“Where is Mom?” Krista asked.

Rayna didn’t look up. “She and Grandma left early for the nursery.”

Krista had missed her grandmother, just like she thought. She hadn’t considered her mother would be working at the shop today, too.

“Shouldn’t Mom be resting?” Krista asked.

“Sure should,” Rayna mumbled, eyes still on the page.

The topic was too important to let her sister’s lack of response dissuade her. “Then why isn’t she?” Krista persisted.

“Mom promised she’d take it easy,” Rayna said.

“Will she?” Krista asked. “Probably not.”

“Maybe I can make sure she doesn’t overdo it,” Krista said, thinking aloud.

Rayna’s eyes finally flickered upward. “Yeah. You do that.”

Krista tried not to take offense. She couldn’t expect her sister to instantly trust her. “Is Dad still here? Maybe I can hitch a ride with him.”

“Dad doesn’t drive, Krista,” Rayna said dryly.

Krista should have expected that. Her parents had purchased a handicap-accessible van before Krista moved to Europe but it hadn’t been equipped with hand brakes. Once again Krista wished she’d thought to reserve a rental car. “How will he get to work?”

“The Christmas Shoppe isn’t his thing.” Rayna waved an arm in a dismissive gesture. She wore a sterling silver bracelet with a heart-shaped charm dangling from it. Inside the charm was the name Trey. Was he Rayna’s boyfriend?

“But the nursery’s still open, right?” Krista asked. Her parents typically closed the business in January and February and reopened in March.

“They shut down early because of the Christmas Shoppe,” Rayna said. “Good thing, too. We’ve had a lot of ice this month. It’s hard for Dad when the weather’s bad.”

The first winter their father had been in a wheelchair, he’d struggled to get around. Krista hadn’t expected him to become a wheelchair whiz since then, but it hadn’t occurred to her that he’d be housebound.

“Where is Dad?” Krista asked.

“In his office,” Rayna said. “But don’t go in there. He doesn’t like being disturbed.”

So their father wasn’t only housebound, he was also a recluse. Suddenly in need of sustenance, Krista moved across the kitchen to the coffeemaker and poured herself a cup. Rayna closed the newspaper and stood up. At thirteen, she’d been as tall as Krista and spindly. Now she topped Krista by a few inches and her figure verged on voluptuous.

“I’ve gotta get to work,” Rayna said.

“So you got your degree?” Krista ventured.

“No.” Rayna’s head shook slightly as she regarded Krista. “I got a part-time office job at a dental practice while I finish school.”

The implication was that Krista should have known that. In reality, Krista wasn’t even sure how Rayna had escaped getting roped into going into business with their parents at the nursery. “That’s great.”

“Whatever.” Rayna started to walk out of the kitchen.

“Rayna, wait,” Krista called. Her sister stopped but didn’t turn, making it even harder to ask for a favor. “Can you drop me at the shop on your way to work? Or someplace where I can rent a car?”

“The rental agency’s too far away,” Rayna said, “and work’s in the opposite direction.”

Before Krista could figure out where that left her, dogs started barking to the tune of “Jingle Bells.” The doorbell.

“That’ll be Alex,” Rayna said.

“Alex?” Some of the coffee in Krista’s cup sloshed onto her hand. If it hadn’t been lukewarm, she would have gotten burned. “What’s he doing here?”

“Grandma asked him to pick you up.” Rayna walked the rest of the way out of the room, leaving Krista to answer the summons.

The irony didn’t escape her that the man who’d criticized her last night was willing to give her a ride to the shop when her own sister was not.

THE FIVE MILES BETWEEN the Novaks’ house and their business traversed a rolling stretch of rural road that led to the sprawling downtown of Jarrell.

Alex drove his company pickup past a diner, a dry cleaner, a hardware store and a bank branch clustered within a few blocks. Giant fake snowflakes decorated the light poles, which he thought provided a nice festive touch.

“Not much has changed around here, has it?” Krista asked.

Jarrell’s population was less than five thousand but the town was only thirty minutes south of the city center of Harrisburg. Anything Alex needed, he could get without driving more than a half hour, including streams to fish, trails to hike and mountainous scenery to photograph.

“Some of us think that’s a good thing,” Alex said.

“I was never one of them,” Krista said. “When I left, I felt like the town was smothering me.”

“You said you’d suffocate if you didn’t leave.” Alex braked at a red light at the intersection where his favorite bakery was located. Sometimes in the mornings, he dropped in for a cinnamon-raisin bagel topped with cream cheese, one of the simple pleasures of life.

“I’m surprised you remember that,” Krista said.

Alex could call the moment instantly to mind. They’d been lying naked in each other’s arm, having just made love. Her cheeks had been flushed, her hair awry, her lips well-kissed. Alex had been about to surprise her with tickets to a concert at the Forum in Harrisburg, but he’d never gotten around to it. There wasn’t any point. The concert had taken place the day after she left town.

“Probably because it’s the opposite of how I feel about Jarrell,” he said. “The clean air makes breathing easy for me.”

“Lots of places have clean air,” Krista said.

“Only one of them is home,” Alex said, then felt frustrated at himself for getting in the last word. They weren’t arguing. He liked living in Jarrell and she preferred Europe. End of story.

The light turned green and he stepped on the accelerator, but not before noticing she’d lost none of the vibrancy that had first attracted him to her. She filled up the truck with her presence, her skin glowing with health, her hair shiny clean. Dressed in the red coat, she looked even more alive.

“I’m surprised you agreed to drive me,” Krista remarked.

“Happy to do it,” Alex said.

“Oh, come on,” she drawled. “Why don’t you just admit Grandma twisted your arm?”

Alex’s eyes left the road. She gazed back at him, her expression challenging. For a woman who should be suffering from jet lag, she was surprisingly lucid.

“You believe in speaking your mind, don’t you?” Alex asked.

“You didn’t mince words yesterday. Or just now, for that matter,” she pointed out. “It’s obvious you disapprove of me.”

Alex focused in front of him, unwilling to be drawn into an argument. “You were right last night. I shouldn’t have criticized you.”

“But you meant what you said?”

“I did,” he confirmed. In his rearview mirror, Alex noticed a black SUV that was following too closely. The driver had a cell phone to his ear. “But I heard your mom at dinner. She doesn’t need me to speak for her. She does a pretty good job herself.”

Krista laughed, the last thing he expected.

“I guess my mother and I have something in common, after all,” Krista said. “So while we’re being outspoken and clearing the air, let’s hear why you dumped me.”

Alex abruptly turned to Krista, not able to determine from her expression if she were joking. “I didn’t dump you! You moved to the Czech Republic.”

“You dropped me like a hot potato two weeks before that.” She gasped and pointed at the road. “Red light!”

They were approaching a traffic light that was turning from yellow to red, but Alex only had one choice because of the SUV on his bumper. He kept his foot steady on the gas and went through the intersection. Behind them, the SUV came to a screeching stop.

“You ran that red light!” Krista said.

“It was safer than stopping.” Alex counted himself lucky he didn’t hear a police siren. How could he explain missing the red light when he’d driven this route thousands of times?

“Am I distracting you?” she asked.

“Ya think?” He vowed to keep his eyes on the road, but his mind was mired in the past. “To set the record straight, I didn’t break things off until after you accepted the job.”

“You had to realize I would have liked to keep seeing you in those two weeks before I moved,” Krista said.

“What would have been the point?” he asked.

“We were having a good time together.”

“The good times had to end, sooner or later.”

“It would have been nice if it was later,” she said.

Were they really having this conversation? Alex didn’t know any other woman who talked so bluntly. Was that one of the reasons he’d been attracted to her?

“More time together would have changed nothing,” he stated. “You still would have moved to Europe and I still would have stayed here.”

“I suppose,” she said, a sigh in her voice. “But it’s not like we had a commitment.”

The few weeks they’d known each other had been enough time for Alex to suspect he wanted more from Krista than sex. Her surprise announcement that she was leaving had forced him to conclude he hadn’t known her at all.

“Why didn’t you mention you were considering moving to Europe?” Alex posed the question he should have asked back then.

“I wasn’t,” Krista said. “The job offer came from out of the blue, and I accepted on the spot.”

Alex hadn’t seen it coming. One day, he was dating a woman with a semester left at a college less than three hours away in Philadelphia. The next, she was moving across the Atlantic Ocean.

Looking back on it, Alex had envisioned the same future for Krista that her mother had. She was a business major at the University of Pennsylvania and her parents owned a nursery. It seemed a given that she’d eventually join the family business, perhaps because that was the choice Alex made.

No, he hadn’t known Krista well at all.

“You sound like you have no regrets,” he said.

“Not about moving,” Krista replied. “But if I had it to do over again, I’d wait a lot longer before telling you I was taking the job.”

The last mile before they reached the nursery was on a fairly steep road with a narrow shoulder. Krista didn’t sound as if she were teasing, but Alex couldn’t risk a glance at her to find out.

“We still would have had an expiration date,” he said.

Krista agreed. “But think of the fun we could have had in the meantime.”

Alex would rather not. “What’s over is over.”

The paved parking lot that served both Novaks’ Nursery and the adjoining Christmas Shoppe came into view, half-filled with cars even though it was barely past ten o’clock. Alex switched on his turn signal and slowed down.

“What if it’s not over? What would you say if I propositioned you now?” Krista asked in the same low voice she once used when they were in bed together. Just like that, sensations assailed him. He could recall the smooth texture of her skin. The fresh smell of her hair. The sweet taste of her kiss.

Alex focused on another memory as he pulled the truck into the parking lot, found a space and shut off the ignition—the disappointment that Krista was leaving when things between them had barely begun.

“You won’t proposition me,” he said in an equally soft voice. “You won’t be here long enough.”

KRISTA COULDN’T IMAGINE what had possessed her to say those suggestive things to Alex.

Sure, the abrupt way he’d cut things off with her eight years ago had stung. And, yes, he’d crept into her thoughts over the years. He remained the one and only man who’d ended a relationship before she had.

Maybe that was why whatever was between them didn’t feel as though it were over.

She pulled on the fur-lined black leather gloves she’d taken off during the drive and prepared to be gracious. With only a few days remaining before she left Jarrell, Krista wouldn’t be spending much time—if any—with Alex.

“Thank you for the ride,” she said.

He dipped his dark head in a formal little bow. “Like I said, it was my pleasure.”

No wonder she’d fallen for him, Krista thought. She’d always been a sucker for guys with good manners.

“See you around,” she said and got out of the pickup.

Almost immediately she heard the driver’s door open and shut. Alex strode around the pickup, joining her on the path leading to the nursery.

“You don’t need to walk me to the door,” Krista said.

“I’m not.” Alex’s breath was visible in the frosty air. “I’m working at the shop today, too.”

She noticed that he was carrying a black athletic bag over his shoulder. “Doing what?”

“You’ll see soon enough,” he said.

“A mystery,” Krista said. “You know how much I love them.”

Years ago they’d discovered they shared a passion for true-crime books and classic whodunits. They both considered Alfred Hitchcock to be a genius.

Up ahead, the blooms that added color to the nursery yard in the spring and summer were gone. A few empty crates and leafless trees in burlap bags added to the barren feel. A few steps farther, however, the atmosphere underwent a dramatic change.

A charming wood sign hung suspended from a post. It was painted red and featured a winking elf and white lettering that spelled out Novaks’ Christmas Shoppe.

Past the sign was a covered entranceway lined with poinsettias that transported Krista back to her first sighting of Alex. He hadn’t been the only one who was gobsmacked. If Alex hadn’t overturned the cart, she would have found another reason to talk to him.

He looked even better now than he had then. With his height and broad shoulders, he still cut an impressive figure. But he’d let the black hair that went so well with his olive complexion and dark-as-night eyes grow a little longer. His hair curled at the ends, a soft touch that made his lean face appear even more masculine.

Alex placed his hand at the small of her back. She nearly jumped, even though there was a coat and a sweater between his hand and her skin.

Who was she kidding? She was still as sexually attracted to Alex as she’d been as a twenty-one-year-old. Her candid talk when she’d propositioned him in the car had been more than just talk.

“Your family decided not to use the nursery’s retail space,” Alex said, then indicated the expansive structure that was just past it. “The Christmas Shoppe is in the old storage building.”

The revelation drove all other thoughts from Krista’s mind. Though sizeable, the storage building was dank and dark. It had been her least favorite place whenever she worked at the nursery, which was saying something.

“Both your mom and grandma are proud of the job they’ve done with the place,” Alex said.

Was he warning her not to hurt their feelings by making a tactless remark? As though she’d do such a thing. Krista schooled her features while he opened the door to the strains of the Christmas song about grandma getting run over by a reindeer.

Alex chuckled, and Krista felt the warmth of his breath on her neck as she preceded him into the shop. “Grandma Novak plays that song at least a couple times a day,” he said.

Krista stopped dead. She’d expected the place to be lit up like a candelabra. She hadn’t anticipated the place to be tasteful. The ceiling was gold, the walls red. Gaily bedecked artificial trees competed for space with shelves neatly packed with colorful ornaments and holiday decorations.

“Krista! Alex!” Grandma Novak must have been watching for them. She rushed to their side, wearing a long red skirt and a matching jacket trimmed with white fur. “What do you think of the store, Krista?”

“It’s fantastic,” Krista said truthfully. “Really impressive.”

“Grandma Novak drew up the plans herself.” Alex sounded like a proud grandson. “She knew exactly how she wanted it.”

“Today I’m not Grandma Novak.” She pushed her glasses up her nose. “I’m Grandma Claus.”

“You look the part,” Krista said. “Love the outfit.”

“I’ve sold four of these getups this week.” Grandma lowered her voice. “You wouldn’t believe the kinds of things customers buy. Get a load of this.”

She led them to the end of a nearby aisle and picked up one of an identical stack of boxes. It contained a mechanical Santa holding together the edges of a fur-trimmed red cape. Grandma pressed a button, and Santa gyrated to the tune of “Santa, Baby.” He opened the cape wide. Underneath he wore nothing but green boxer shorts adorned with twinkling Christmas lights.

“It’s a flashing Santa!” Grandma exclaimed. “It’s a bestseller!”

A deep, inviting laugh bubbled up from Alex that Krista felt reverberate down to her toes.

“Are you going to buy one of those for Charlie?” Alex asked in a teasing voice.

“No! Never!” Grandma exclaimed. “But I can’t think about Charlie. Not when Burton’s stopping by the store.”

“Burton?” Krista said. “I thought you were interested in Charlie?”

“I am.” Grandma threw up her hands. “But what was I supposed to say to Burton when he saw my profile and asked to meet me?”

“No,” Krista suggested. Her grandmother really did not have the hang of online dating.

“On that note,” Alex said, “I’m gonna change.”

Change into what? Krista wondered. Before she could ask the question, she got distracted watching Alex leave them with his sexy, hip-rolling walk. The attraction was still going strong, she admitted.

Her grandmother grabbed Krista by the hand. “I’ll give you a quick tour before I put you to work.”

Talking so fast her words nearly ran into each other, Grandma showed Krista sections of the store that contained lighted yard art, personalized ornaments, collectibles and Nativity scenes. The biggest surprise was the ball crawl tucked away in a far corner, its pit filled with green and red balls.

“What a good idea!” Krista exclaimed. “If you get children into the store, you’ll make sales to their parents.”

“It was Alex’s idea,” Grandma said. “He got us to make up flyers and post them around town. I don’t know what we’d do without him.”

Even when Alex was out of sight, Krista thought, someone brought him to mind.

“We’re starting the children’s activities soon,” Grandma said. “Do me a favor and try to convince your mother to run the ball crawl. We’ve got a chair over there.”

Krista’s mother was at the cashier’s desk, fur-trimmed reindeer antlers sticking from her head. She didn’t have much color in her face aside from the splotches of rouge on her cheeks, but her eyes were bright.

“Darling, you made it!” her mother cried. “We can use the extra hands today. I’ve got a feeling our Santa Claus is going to be very popular.”

She indicated a point over Krista’s shoulder. The tall man in the red suit heading their way was lean and muscular instead of soft and round. His posture and manner of walking were familiar. Krista squinted to see past the white beard.

“Is that Alex?” Krista asked.

“Isn’t he a dear?” Grandma replied. “Milo was already booked at the mall so Alex said he’d step in.”

“After you begged him,” her mother said.

“I didn’t beg. I bribed him with Christmas cookies.”

Her grandmother went to meet Alex, who was already gathering a small group of children in his wake. Taking him by the arm, she led him to a thronelike chair that hadn’t been on Krista’s tour of the shop. The children talked excitedly and jostled for better positions in the line that was forming.

“Time for me to switch places with your grandmother. I’m on crowd control.” Krista’s mother emerged from behind the cash register, preparing to enter the fray.

Krista laid a hand on her mother’s arm, waylaying her. “Let’s trade jobs, Mom. If you run the ball crawl, you’ll be able to sit down.”

“I don’t need to sit down.”

“Yes, you do,” Krista said firmly. “You just got out of the hospital, and you promised Rayna you’d take it easy.”

“That snitch!” Her mother crossed her arms over her chest, gnawing thoughtfully at her lower lip as she openly surveyed Krista. “If I let you manage the line, you can’t do it looking like that.”

Krista sighed and stuck out her hand. “I’ll put on the antler ears.”

“I’ve got a better idea.” Krista’s mother crossed to a nearby display, plucked a package from the shelf and held it up. The illustration on the front showed a curvaceous model wearing green tights and a short red dress. “You can be Santa’s elf. Won’t that be fun?”

CHAPTER THREE

THE BABY WAITING IN LINE to see Santa Claus was seriously lacking in Christmas spirit.

No more than six months old, she was an adorable little thing with wisps of dark hair and big brown eyes that dominated her face. She’d be cuter if her fists weren’t clenched and her wails weren’t loud enough to drown out the holiday music.

“That baby has an excellent set of lungs.” The speaker was a beautiful blonde in an eye-catching burgundy coat who Krista had noticed browsing the store aisles.

“Good stamina, too,” Krista said.

The little girl refused to be soothed no matter how much her mother cooed to her and bounced her. With a start, Krista recognized the mother as an acquaintance from high school. Once upon a time, before Krista had lost touch with everybody in Jarrell, she and Tracy Timmons had served on the high-school-yearbook committee together.

“I’m sorry.” Tracy apologized to the children in line and their waiting parents, not for the first time. “I’d leave but my little boy is next.”

Her son was a serious child of about four years old who kept his eyes straight ahead, probably for fear Tracy would pluck him out of line before he got his turn with Santa Claus. He rushed forward the instant the child ahead of him was through.

“Don’t move ’til I get a picture.” Tracy balanced the wailing baby on one hip while attempting to focus her camera. Before Krista could offer to hold the baby, Tracy thrust the child at Alex. “Would you hold her, Santa? That way I can get both kids in the shot.”

Alex didn’t have a choice. He took the baby and settled her on his knee, his hand supporting her back, his white teeth showing through his beard. The baby stared up at him out of watery eyes and quieted.

“Would you look at that?” Krista remarked to no one in particular. “It’s a Christmas miracle.”

Laughter sounded from behind Krista. The blonde. Tall and slender with the bone structure of a fashion model, the other woman was even prettier when she was amused.

“It’s no miracle,” the woman said. “It’s Alex.”

“You know Santa?” Krista asked.

“I’m here because of Alex,” the woman said. “See the blond boy in line? That’s my five-year-old son, Derrick. He chickens out every time I take him to see Santa. I’m hoping this time will be different.”

“Alex is really that good with kids?” Krista asked.

“Look how that baby loves him.” The blonde gestured to the little girl, who was laughing and tugging on Alex’s white beard. “When Alex and I were together, my nieces and nephews couldn’t get enough of him. Neither could I.”

That didn’t sound like something a married woman would say. Krista checked the blonde’s left hand for rings. It was bare except for the faint outline of pale skin on her fourth finger.

“Alex is an ex-boyfriend, not my ex-husband.” The woman had misinterpreted Krista’s look. “It never went far between us, probably because he was on the rebound.”

Krista couldn’t stifle her curiosity. “I didn’t realize Alex had been serious about anyone.”

The woman’s expertly made-up eyes widened. “Do you know him well?”

Krista squashed a sudden impulse to lie. “Hardly at all.”

The blonde seemed to relax. “Alex and I knew each other in high school but we didn’t date until a couple of years after graduation. I was crazy about him, but some woman did a number on him. I think she moved to Paris or someplace like that.”

Krista inhaled sharply. It would be easy to confuse Prague with Paris after so many years had passed.

“Funny how these things work. I married the very next guy I dated. Our divorce was final last month,” the woman continued. “Oh, look! Derrick’s next!”

The woman dug her camera from her stylish black leather purse and hurried past Krista. Derrick hung back, his feet frozen in place. Alex patted his knee.

“You’re a pretty big boy,” Alex called to him. “Just promise not to squash me. Okay?”

“Okay,” Derrick parroted, a giggle in his voice. He ventured forward and climbed on Alex’s lap.

A flash went off and then another as the blonde snapped photos. Tracy spotted Krista and they exchanged pleasantries before her baby started crying again. It wasn’t much quieter after Tracy left the store. Conversation hummed and carols played, making it difficult for Krista to puzzle through what the chatty blonde had told her.

Krista didn’t think she’d “done a number” on Alex. But who else could the blonde have meant?

The timing was right, but everything else about the blonde’s theory seemed wrong. Krista and Alex had only dated for two weeks. If he’d had strong feelings for her, wouldn’t he have asked her to reconsider moving to Europe?

“Excuse me, but could you tell me where to find Leona Novak?” The man asking the question was roughly her grandmother’s age. He’d lost most of his hair, but not his appeal. His chin was strong, his cheekbones high, his forehead wide.

This had to be Burton. His smile and the hint of mischief in his eyes made him immediately likeable. Grandma, it seemed, had made a good decision.

Krista shoved aside her questions about Alex and gave Burton her full attention. “She’s behind the cash register.”

“Oh, yes. I see her now,” he said. “She’s even lovely dressed as Mrs. Claus, isn’t she?”

Krista had been under the impression her grandmother and Burton had never met. “You already know my grandmother?”

“Your grandmother? Then you must be Krista.” He affected a bow. “I’m Charlie Crosby, your grandmother’s suitor. I stopped by to surprise her.”

Charlie? Not Burton?

“Nice to meet you, Charlie,” Krista said, the wheels in her brain turning. Burton could show at any time. “I’ve heard about you, too.”

“That’s a good sign.” Charlie winked at her. “Hopefully your grandmother is as smitten with me as I am with her.”

He tipped his nonexistent hat and sauntered away. The blonde was finally through snapping photos. She lifted her son from Alex’s lap, planting a lingering kiss on Alex’s cheek before she straightened.

It very much seemed like the blonde wanted Alex back. Krista couldn’t worry about that now, not even to puzzle through why she was concerned about it.

She needed to figure out how to keep her grandmother’s men from bumping into each other.

“IT’S LOVELY TO SEE YOU again, Alex.” Julia Merrifield lingered beside the Santa display when it was time to break for lunch. “I’m so glad I ran into your dad and he told me you’d be here. You were awesome with Derrick.”

Alex returned his attention to Julia from where Krista was talking to an elderly man in a trench coat. His white hair stuck up like the mad scientist in the Back to the Future movies.

“Derrick must have been ready to sit on Santa’s lap this year,” Alex said. “Look how eager he was to get to the ball crawl with that friend of his.”

“That could be true.” Julia leaned toward him. “But you are pretty great.”

“Thanks.” Alex wasn’t sure what else to say. Julia was warm, caring and indisputably gorgeous. He had no desire to get involved with her again, though. Eleanor Novak had been on the mark about his desire to settle down and raise a family. On some level, he’d always wanted that. As the years went by and he got older, the realization had grown stronger.

Considering Julia’s numerous positive qualities, she should have been the perfect woman for him. Alex still couldn’t explain why she wasn’t.

Neither was Krista, who’d be thousands of miles away in just a few days. That fact didn’t stop Alex from thinking about her proposition every time he looked at her. The elf dress didn’t help. Even wearing green stockings, she looked damned sexy.

“Will I see you at Timeout after Christmas?” Julia named a local sports bar popular for its happy hours and the variety of beers it served. “You’ve probably heard Malt Green is getting the old crowd together.”

“I didn’t know Malt was in town,” Alex said slowly. He and Malt had once been as close as brothers, sharing a love for mountain bike riding and landscape photography. “How is he?”

“You two didn’t keep in touch?” Julia sounded surprised. “He’s doing fantastic. His company’s really taken off so he says he can afford better than malt liquor.”

“Good for him.” Alex had to force out the words, although he wished Malt nothing but the best.

Julia wrinkled her nose. “Am I remembering wrong or didn’t you used to talk about going into business with him?”

Together Alex and Malt had dreamed up a company that sold calendars and date books depicting professional-quality landscape photographs. Malt now ran Greenscapes Ltd. alone out of Toronto.

“I joined my dad’s landscape business instead.” Alex reminded himself it was the right decision.

“I imagine you’re great at it.” Julia affixed a bright smile to her face. “I better get Derrick out of the ball crawl. Hope to see you at Timeout.”

Alex nodded but didn’t commit. “Catch you later.”

The moment Julia was gone, Alex zeroed in on Krista. She was still with the man in the trench coat, but it now seemed as though they were dancing. When the man stepped to his left, Krista countered by moving to her right. When the man went right, she stepped left.

Whatever was going on, it was too intriguing to resist.

“I keep telling you I don’t want an artificial tree!” the man exclaimed, loud enough that Alex could hear him as he approached.

“How can you be sure until you look at them? If you don’t care to buy now, pick one out for our after-Christmas sale.” Krista noticed Alex and grabbed him by the arm. “We have a fabulous selection. Don’t we, Santa?”

Alex felt like a conspirator who didn’t know what the end game was. “We sure do.”

“I’m not here to look at trees,” the man protested. “I’m here to see Leona Novak.”

“I’ve already told you,” Krista said, “I’m not sure where she is.”

As far as Alex knew, Grandma Novak hadn’t budged from the cashier’s station. “I think she’s—”

An elf shoe kicked Alex in the shins.

“Ow,” Alex said.

“Why don’t I try to find her for you? In the meantime, Santa, will you show Burton the trees?” Krista put emphasis on the man’s name.

“But he doesn’t want—” Alex began. Krista squeezed his arm hard, causing him to lose his train of thought.

“Excuse us a moment,” she told the man and pulled Alex aside. Her hair smelled great, as clean as a winter breeze. Alex was tempted to take her in his arms and breathe in the scent. He doubted she’d be amenable to that at the moment.

“You’re not taking the hint,” she hissed. “I want you to distract that man, not take him to Grandma.”

“Why?”

“It’s Burton.” Krista obviously expected him to know who that was. He shrugged to convey that he didn’t. “Come on! Burton! The man she met online and told he could stop by the shop.”

Oh, yeah. Now Alex remembered. “So what’s the problem?”

“Charlie Crosby’s here,” Krista said. “I need to get Charlie out of the store before he sees Burton.”

Her logic still didn’t compute. “What’s the big deal if the two men run into each other?”

Krista settled her hands on her hips, in the place where the hem of the elf dress started to flare. She shook her head, and her long brown hair swung. “Burton could mess things up for Grandma with Charlie.”

“Or he could start a healthy competition,” Alex countered. “Maybe Grandma Novak even arranged to have both men here at the same time.”

“Charlie told me he came by to surprise her. Besides, Grandma hasn’t dated in twenty years! Believe me, the woman doesn’t know what she’s doing.” Krista narrowed her eyes. “Now are you going to help me or not?”

The fire in her expression warned Alex what she’d think of him if he refused. “Okay. I’ll distract Burton.”

“Thank you.” She smiled at him and bustled off, taking a circuitous path, probably so Burton wouldn’t gaze in the direction of the cashier’s station.

Alex adopted a helpful expression. He rejoined Burton, whose face was pinched underneath his wild mop of white hair.

“Don’t you dare try to show me any trees,” Burton said.

“Hey, I’m Santa Claus,” Alex tried reminding him. “I aim to please.”

Burton seemed to relax. “Between you and me, I met this Leona Novak on the internet. Didn’t realize how old she was ’til after I put on my reading glasses. By then, I’d already emailed her.”

“Excuse me?” Alex injected his tone with heavy disapproval.

Burton kept on talking. “Would’ve canceled but I figured why disappoint the old gal.”

“That old gal is younger than you,” Alex said. “What makes you think she won’t be disappointed in you?”

“It’s different for men,” Burton said. “Everybody knows we get better looking with age.”

Grandma Novak would see right through this guy, Alex thought. Krista was across the store, ushering Charlie Crosby toward the exit. Showing Burton the door would have been the better move.

“Go ahead and share that theory with Leona,” Alex suggested. “She’ll enjoy it.”

Burton perked up. “You think so?”

“Sure do,” Alex said. “She’s behind the cash register. You can’t miss her.”

“Got it.” Burton strutted off, a lamb to the slaughter.

Alex spotted Krista the instant she reentered the store. She looked well pleased with herself, her smile lighting up her eyes as she walked toward him. He was proud of himself for noticing her eyes, considering how much willpower it took not to let his gaze dip to the rest of her.

“Mission accomplished,” she said. “I think Charlie’s a keeper.”

“Burton’s not.” Alex gestured to the cashier’s desk in the distance where the elderly man was talking to Grandma Novak. “Your grandmother’s sure to send him packing any moment now.”

No sooner had Alex uttered the words than Grandma Novak shook a finger in Burton’s face. He reeled back, pivoted and walked quickly toward the exit with his head down.

“How did you know she was going to do that?” Krista asked.

“Lucky guess,” Alex said. “I’m gonna grab a quick lunch. There are sandwiches, chips and drinks in the back room. Want to join me?”

“I can’t,” she said. “I’m going to relieve my mom at the ball crawl. She needs the break more than I do.”

“Good luck convincing her of that,” Alex said.

“Oh, I’ll do it,” Krista vowed. “I can be very persuasive. It’s a Novak family trait.”

She sashayed away from him, her elf dress swishing as she walked. He watched her until she rounded an aisle and was out of sight, helpless to look away.

If she carried through on her threat to proposition him, he wasn’t entirely certain he’d be able to resist.

Especially if she added persuasion into the mix.

RAYNA NOVAK HURRIED through the parking lot to the flat gray building, her scarf shielding her face from the wind. She pushed through one of the double glass doors, expecting to be enveloped in warmth. Then she remembered.

An ice hockey rink was not the place to go in the winter if you wanted to be cozy. She unwrapped her scarf, slipped off her gloves and followed the sounds of men’s voices and blades sliding on ice.

Peering through the glass that partitioned off the rink to the scoreboard, she determined the ice hockey game was tied at two goals a piece in the third period.

A team of men in mismatched dark hockey sweaters, some with numbers affixed with masking tape, skated against players wearing white.

The swiftest of them wore the number seven because he claimed it was lucky. He stole the puck at the center line and streaked toward the goal with two much slower defenders in pursuit. He faked left, shot right and missed the goal entirely.

He swore, loud enough that Rayna heard from off the ice.

“Showing off for your girl doesn’t count unless you finish, Trey,” one of his teammates yelled.

Trey ignored him and narrowly lost out to an opposing player as they both chased down the puck.

Trey Farina’s girl.

Rayna supposed that was who she was. They’d been dating for about a year even though neither she nor Trey had ever discussed where their relationship was headed. They hadn’t agreed to be exclusive, either. They just were.

Rayna shivered. She hugged herself, not sure whether her tremble was from the cold or from what she had to tell Trey. Rayna had only found out herself that morning, a few minutes before her absentee sister woke up. The revelation had consumed Rayna so that she’d barely been able to perform her duties at the dentist’s office today.

In an alternate universe, she would have confided in Krista. An alternate universe where her sister was a friend rather than a stranger she hadn’t seen in eight years.

“Rayna, over here.” A petite woman in her twenties with a mass of curly red hair motioned to Rayna from mostly empty silver bleachers. Her name was Mimi. She moved over, patting the metal surface beside her.

“Trey’s having a good game,” Mimi told Rayna as she sat down. “He scored one of the goals and assisted on the other.”

“How about Bob?” Rayna asked, referring to the woman’s husband.

Mimi laughed. “Scoreless, the same as always. What are you doing here anyway? I thought you were too busy at the dentist’s office to come to the games.”

Rayna wouldn’t be here today, either, if she didn’t need to get Trey alone, a nearly impossible feat. He lived in a house with three other guys, one of whom was always around.

“The office closed early today,” Rayna said. “I stopped by to remind Trey he’s supposed to come Christmas caroling tonight with my family.”

“Smart girl,” Mimi said. “There’s already talk of going drinking after the game. You’ve got to keep your guy in check. That’s why I’m here.”

A tremendous shout erupted from the ice. Arms up-raised, Trey stood in front of the net and a sprawling goalie. The referee signaled a good goal with a tomahawk chop of his arm. Trey’s teammates on the ice mobbed him with hugs.

“Applaud,” Mimi told her. “That way Trey will think you saw him score the winning goal.”

Less than a minute remained in the game. The trailing team pulled its goalie to get an extra skater on the ice, but this was low-level ice hockey. The offensive players weren’t skilled enough to keep control of the puck. The buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the game.

Trey let out a victory whoop. He skated past Rayna, stick raised in the air. She smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. While Trey went through the postgame handshake line, Rayna walked to the spot where the players came off the ice.

Trey finished shaking hands with the opposing team members first and skated full tilt toward her, executing a hockey stop before he reached the exit. Ice shards sprayed in the air.

“Woooo-hoooo!” he cried.

He stepped onto the threadbare carpet. Trey wasn’t the best-looking man Rayna had ever dated, but his looks were compelling. Thick brown hair, blue eyes that danced with excitement, well-shaped lips that were almost always smiling.

Rayna thought she’d fallen in love the first time she’d seen him, when he’d sauntered into the dentist’s office for a checkup.

“Did you see that goal?” Trey yelled.

Before she could answer, Trey bent down, swept her into his arms and kissed her. She had to stand on tiptoe because in his skates, he was about three inches taller than normal. His cool lips sent hot sensation sweeping through her—nothing new. She always reacted to him that way. She never wanted his kisses to stop, either, though they inevitably did.

“Mimi said you had two goals today,” Rayna said.

“It was a good day at the office!” Trey didn’t actually work at an office. He was twenty-two, a year older than Rayna but not as sure what to do with his life. He was currently working as a manager at a trendy clothing store and talking about going to bartending school. Sometimes when Alex and his father were particularly busy, Trey helped out at Costas Landscaping.

“I’ll shower and change clothes,” Trey said. “Wait for me, okay?”

“Sure.” Rayna moved toward the now-empty bleachers and took a seat. She wasn’t sure where Mimi was but Trey had stopped outside the locker room to drink at the water fountain.

Trey’s teammates skated off the ice, laughing and talking. None of them looked toward the bleachers, probably because they typically had so few fans in attendance.

“You’re really not coming with us, Bob?” the stockiest player asked Mimi’s husband.

“Can’t,” Bob said. “Mimi has plans.”

“Cancel ’em,” the stocky guy said. “A guy should do what a guy wants to do.”

“Unless he’s married. Then he’s screwed,” another of the players joked as they duck-walked on their ice skates to the locker room. Trey held the door open for them. “You’re coming with us, right, Trey?”

“Damn straight,” Trey answered.

“Your girlfriend won’t mind?”

“She’s cool,” Trey said as he disappeared inside the locker room. Rayna could just make out his next words. “We’re not serious or anything.”

“But—” Rayna started to protest but nobody could hear her. She probably wouldn’t have finished the sentence anyway. If Trey didn’t want to go caroling tonight, she wouldn’t force him.

Not after finding out he wasn’t serious about her.

Rayna got up and headed for the exit, vaguely crossing paths with Mimi. She called to her friend to let Trey know she’d had to leave, then rushed out of the arena, tears already streaming down her face.

She wouldn’t tell Trey she was pregnant, either.

CHAPTER FOUR

IN ALL HER YEARS OF caroling, Krista had never heard a more off-key rendition of “Silent Night.”

Not everybody in their group of eight was hitting sour notes. Krista, her mother and her grandmother could sing a little. Charlie Crosby had a pleasing baritone, Milo Costas was more or less on key and the neighbors who’d joined them were mainstays in the church choir.

That left Alex.

He was singing about sleeping in heavenly peace, confidently belting out the word peace so it sounded as though it had two syllables.

The elderly man and woman just inside the threshold had been smiling since they opened the door to a care basket and a choir. The man’s smile grew. He laughed. The woman poked him in the side with her elbow.

Mirth rose from Krista’s diaphragm, begging for release. She stopped singing and clamped her hand over her mouth. Her chest rose and fell in silent guffaws.

The song ended, and the couple applauded. The elderly man caught Krista’s eye and winked.

Alex was standing next to Krista at the rear of the group. He edged closer and whispered, “Are you and that man laughing at me?”

Krista removed her gloved hand from her mouth to issue a denial, leaving nothing to hold back the laughter. It burst forth, like a car horn. She swallowed it back, only half-successfully.

“No,” she said on a half giggle.

“Yes, you were.” Alex placed a hand over his heart. “I’m wounded.”

“You sounded like it when you were singing,” Krista quipped in a voice only loud enough for Alex to hear and broke into more laughter.

The flat line of Alex’s lips crinkled. Then he laughed, too.

“Shall we sing another carol?” Krista’s mother sent Krista and Alex a withering look. “Mr. and Mrs. Dombrowski enjoy the religious ones.”

Krista clamped her lips together. So did Alex. They exchanged a guilty look, and Krista felt about ten years old. She giggled again. Her mother looked more stern.

“Let’s do ‘Angels We Have Heard on High,’” Grandma Novak suggested.

Krista caught Alex’s eye and placed a shushing finger to her lips. “Not as loud this time. It’s okay to hear the angels, but not you,” she whispered.

“Smart aleck,” he said without heat.

With Krista’s mother directing frequent warning glances in their direction, Krista got through the carol without laughing. It helped that Alex took her advice and turned down the volume.

While the couple thanked them, Krista grabbed Alex’s hand. “Let’s get out of here before my mom has a chance to scold us. I know the way to the next house.”

Krista wasn’t so much afraid of her mother as she was eager for an adventure. Caroling had never been so much fun. “Faster,” she said over her shoulder, smiling at Alex.

He smiled back. He wore gloves and a brown winter jacket made of a fabric that retained heat. He was hatless, his thick black hair rustled by the wind. With his skin ruddy from the cold, he looked vital and alive.

For the hundredth time that day, Krista thought about what the blonde had said at the Christmas shop. Was it really possible that Krista had broken Alex’s heart? She couldn’t put much credence to it. Their relationship, however intense, had been too brief. Neither could she get the possibility out of her mind.

“Krista! Alex! Wait!”

They’d barely made it twenty yards down the sidewalk before Krista’s mother hailed them. She was securely wrapped in order to fend off the cold, with only her face showing through an ice-blue scarf. “What got into you two back there? The seniors want to hear you sing, not laugh.”

Krista remembered the delight in Mr. Dombrowski’s eyes when his gaze met hers. “I think Mr. Dombrowski liked it.”

“Only after you started to behave,” Krista’s mother said. “I know you haven’t been home in a long time, Krista, but you know how important this program is to your grandmother.”

Krista did know. Grandma had come up with the idea years ago to deliver holiday care baskets accompanied by Christmas carols to the elderly and shut-ins of the community. Grandma got lists of names and addresses of the willing from area senior centers and assigned caroling teams routes, with most of the stops within walking distance. This year, the Novaks’ group had five destinations.

“We’ll be good from now on.” Krista caught Alex’s eye and waggled her brows. “Won’t we, Alex?”

He did a nice job keeping a straight face. “We will.”

“You have to hold up your end of the bargain, too, Mom,” Krista said. “One house and then you go home.”

Her mom had only struck the deal after the Novaks threatened en masse to call off the caroling.

“I know your tricks, Krista Novak.” Her mother wagged a finger. “You’re trying to deflect attention from yourself. If you think that will work, you—”

“Look, there’s Rayna,” Krista interrupted, nodding toward her sister, who was walking toward them with the rest of the group. “Didn’t you say she was bringing her boyfriend, Mom?”

“Why, yes. Trey’s supposed to be with her.” Her mother’s forehead creased. “I’ll go find out what happened.”

She left Alex and Krista and headed for Rayna.

“Nice misdirection,” Alex said.

“Thank you.” Krista executed a little bow. “I learned that from my Grandma. Anytime Mom says something Grandma doesn’t like, Grandma changes the subject. That’s probably how she’s been able to live under the same roof with my mom all these years.”

“I think it’s because Grandma Novak doesn’t take herself too seriously.” Alex had resumed walking toward the next house on their list, and Krista fell into step beside him. “She keeps things in the house light.”

“You mean because my dad’s in a wheelchair?” Krista couldn’t hold back the question, both wanting to hear how her father was coping eight and a half years after the accident and not wanting to know. Except couldn’t she make an educated guess? Her father had been mostly sequestered in the office by himself since she arrived. That didn’t paint a picture of a well-adjusted man.

“Well, yeah,” he said, “but not only because your dad’s paralyzed. Rayna’s twenty-one going on thirty-one, and your parents…how can I say this…? They like to agree to disagree.”

Krista couldn’t have summed up her family more succinctly than that, especially Rayna. She didn’t know her sister well enough to make an astute observation.

“Diplomatically put,” she said.

“Eleanor and Joe don’t put anything diplomatically,” Alex said with a grin. “Used to freak me out until I caught on that was the way they interacted.”

It had taken Krista most of her childhood to reach that realization. “You know my family awfully well.”

“That happens when you live next door,” he said.

Even though he openly disapproved of her own dealings with her family, Krista couldn’t pass up this chance to find out more about her sister’s life. She already knew Rayna had five months of school left. It was the personal stuff that interested Krista more.

“Do you know what the deal is with Rayna’s boyfriend?” she asked. “Any guess why he didn’t show tonight?”

“Trey? It’s hard to sum him up. He’s a bit of a free spirit.”

“So he’s irresponsible?” Krista asked.

“More like irrepressible. It’s impossible not to like the guy. If there’s a good time to be had, Trey will find it,” Alex said. “But he’s not the caroling type.”

“Neither are you,” Krista pointed out.

“Hey, I come every year,” he said.

“Do you always sing so loud?”

“Pretty much. I fake confidence.” He laughed. “That’s what us guys do when we’re in over our heads.”

“Good thing I’m here to keep you in line,” Krista said.

“Oh, yeah. I just love having a woman around who’s blunt enough to tell me I sound like I’m dying.”

“Not dying—wounded,” Krista said. “The wounded have greater lung capacity.”

He threw back his head and let out another deep chuckle. Krista joined in. They’d laughed a lot in the past, too, including over the spilled poinsettias. She found it attractive that he didn’t take himself too seriously.

Grandma Novak caught up to them on the sidewalk with Charlie Crosby next to her. “We’re sticking with you two. You’re having more fun than everyone else.”

“It does the heart good to see a young couple enjoying each other,” Charlie remarked.

Krista shook her head. “We’re not a couple.”

“Really?” Charlie wore a long black coat with a top hat that might have looked foolish on anyone else. On Charlie, it looked dignified. “You’ve never been a couple?”

Krista exchanged a look with Alex, silently requesting help in how to handle the situation. He shrugged.

“Aha! I saw that look!” Grandma cried. “I knew something went on between you after the poinsettias dropped!”

“It was a long time ago, Grandma.” To Charlie, she clarified, “Eight years.”

Charlie tipped his top hat. “Bully for you for managing to keep the spark alive.”

Charlie could tell there was still fire between them? That could only lead to problems. “Alex and I didn’t keep in touch.”

“So the spark reignited?” Charlie asked.

“There is no spark,” Krista lied. She tugged on Alex’s arm. “Tell them, Alex.”

“No spark,” he agreed.

“Can both the lady and gentleman protest too much?” Grandma asked.

Krista was about to object more vigorously when her grandmother laughed. “You should see your face, Krista. We’re teasing!”

“I wasn’t,” Charlie stated. “I really think they look like a couple.”

The rest of the carolers were gaining on them. Krista expected her mother to be leading the way, demanding to know what they’d been discussing. Her mom, though, must have kept her word and returned home.

“Appearances can be deceiving,” Krista told Charlie with more levity than she felt.

At the next house, Milo was deputized to ring the doorbell because he carried the care basket corresponding to the address.

Alex stepped aside so his father could move to the front of the group. “It’s come to my attention that it’s better if I keep to the rear,” Alex remarked.

Milo patted his son on the shoulder. “Somebody finally told you that you can’t sing, huh?” He nodded at Krista. “Good girl.”

“I took it like a man,” Alex said. “Didn’t even cry.”

Krista grinned at him. Alex smiled back.

“You two are the cutest couple!” the neighbor lady who sang in the church choir remarked as she passed by with her husband to their rightful place at the front and center of the carolers.

“Did I hear right?” Rayna was the last to arrive. She addressed her question to Alex, not even glancing at Krista. “Do you and my sister have something going on?”

“Nope,” Alex said. “Not a thing.”

Krista listened to Alex’s casual denial with dismay. He seemed to think this troubling development was no big deal. If she were a member of just about any other family, she’d be inclined to agree. Priority number one was getting Alex alone so she could explain the precariousness of their situation.

It was either that or suffer through a couple days of hell.

ALEX HAD NEVER BEEN more glad for a song to be over.

The temperature seemed to have dropped at least ten degrees since they’d started caroling, although there was no sign of the snow that was in the forecast.

Grandma Novak had invited everybody to her house for hot chocolate and eggnog. The group made excellent time traveling the few blocks back to White Point Road, possibly because the wind was at their back.

“Mulled wine would be good, too,” Grandma remarked before she went into the house. “I know we have mulling spices but I’m not sure how much wine we’ve got.”

“We have some wine,” Alex offered. “I’ll stop by next door and get a bottle.”

“I’ll come with you,” Krista offered.

Alex wondered at her change of heart. Since they’d been mistaken for a couple, Krista had maneuvered to keep one caroler between them at all times.

“I’m anxious to see what Alex and his dad have done with the house. I used to play over there all the time when I was a kid.” Krista broadcast her reason as though she were a politician addressing an assembly. It gained her curious looks.

“We haven’t done much.” Milo stomped his feet and rubbed his hands to keep warm. “Why do you think we always hang out at your parents’ house?”

“Go on, you two.” Grandma Novak swept her right arm toward the house next door. “And take your time. There’s no rush on the mulled wine.”

The inside of the one-story ranch-style home where Alex lived with his father was nearly identical in layout to the Novaks’. A living room, kitchen and dining room accounted for one side of the house. A hall leading to the bedrooms and bathroom took up the other. The warmth from the radiator heating system made it feel cozy after the chill of the outdoors. Alex cocked an eyebrow at Krista’s scarf, hat and red winter coat.

“If you take all that off for the tour, you’ll just have to put it back on again,” he said.

“I’m not here for a tour!” Krista sounded as though she were stating the obvious when the situation was anything but.

“If I didn’t know better,” Alex said, slowly drawing out the words, “I’d think you were trying to get me alone.”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

Alex’s muscles tensed, and the temperature in the room seemed higher than it had mere moments ago. Was Krista finally following through on the hypothetical she’d posed in the car? Was she propositioning him?

“We need to put a stop to this couple nonsense straight away,” Krista said.

Alex felt like a fool. The entire caroling group knew he and Krista were alone in his house. Of course she hadn’t been about to propose they make wild, passionate love. “And here I thought you were open to the idea.”

“To having another fling! Not to being a couple! Can you imagine what my mother would make of that?”

Alex wasn’t looking to build a lasting relationship with Krista, either, but hearing her reject the idea so forcefully stung. “Hate to break this to you,” he said, “but you added fuel to the fire by insisting on coming over here.”

Alex headed for the rear of the house and the wine rack he’d had built into the cabinetry a few years back when they’d had the kitchen remodeled. He examined the selection, aware without turning that she was close behind him.

“How else could I get a private moment with you?” Krista asked. “We need to discourage people from thinking we’re an item.”

The twelve-bottle wine rack was half-full, with a number of different types of red wines represented. “Any idea what kind of wine is best for mulling?”

“What? No,” Krista said. “I don’t have the faintest idea.”

“Maybe a merlot.” Alex had a choice of two brands, pulled out the less expensive bottle and held it up to her. “I got this one at the grocery store. I’m no connoisseur but I wouldn’t put mulling spices in fine wine.”

“Neither would—” Krista stopped talking midsentence. “Why are we talking about wine? We’re wasting time. We need a strategy.”

She’d taken off her hat, the only concession to being indoors, and the static electricity in her hair caused it to frizz. Her nose, the one he disagreed was too long, was red from the prolonged exposure to the cold. So were her lips. She’d looked so put together since arriving that he enjoyed seeing her frazzled.

“Why?” he asked. “What does it matter what your mother thinks?”

“You know what she’s like, Alex,” Krista said. “She’ll use any means possible to get me to move back to Pennsylvania. If she believes we have something going, that’s leverage.”

“I still don’t get it,” he said. “If you know you’re staying in Prague, what’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that she’ll make my life miserable!”

“So tell her there’s nothing going on,” Alex suggested.

“It’ll have to be the truth.” Krista touched him on the sleeve of his jacket. “This flirting we’ve been doing, it can’t go any further.”

“We’ve been flirting?” he asked.

“I have.” She squeezed his arm. “I can’t forget how great we were in bed together. You were there. You must remember, too.”

Oh, yeah. He remembered.

“The past is the past,” Alex said. “The present is a whole new ball game.”

“So you’re not attracted to me anymore?” she demanded.

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