Take Me Home for Christmas

17

“Once you drop me off, you can head home,” Ted told Sophia as he drove them back to his place. He probably should’ve let Sophia take the wheel. The Mercedes was, after all, her car—until the repo company took possession of it, anyway—but driving gave him something to concentrate on besides his new housekeeper and her daughter.

“I’ll finish that project you gave me first,” Sophia said. “And make dinner. Alexa can do her homework. We were planning to have her come over after school, anyway, so nothing’s changed.”

“Except that it’s been a rough day for both of you. Why don’t you go home and recoup?” He hoped to convince her, especially because he needed to do the same, needed to get her out of his system before Eve picked him up. The last thing he wanted was to be thinking of Sophia the whole time he was trying to talk himself into loving the person he’d chosen to pursue.

“No, I’ll finish out the day. I don’t want you to feel my problems are taking a toll on my work.”

“I don’t mind.”

She raised a hand. “Please, I need to finish...for me, if not for you.”

“Right. Okay.”

“I have to do my part,” she explained. “I hope you understand.”

“I do. And I appreciate that,” he said, but when they went into the house so she could get Alexa set up at the kitchen table, he saw her lunch and knew she was trying too hard. When she’d brought up his tray and he’d waylaid her without realizing she hadn’t eaten, she’d never said a word.

She should’ve spoken up.

“Get started with your math,” she told Lex. “I’ll be up in the office for a while, but I’ll come down and see how you’re getting along when I make dinner.”

“This is a cool place,” Alexa breathed as she put her backpack on the floor. “I really like it.”

Ted smiled. Lex seemed pretty damn sweet and down-to-earth for being Skip’s only child.

She sent him a shy glance. “You’re the author, right? I’ve seen your name. My mom reads your books all the time. She loves them.”

Sophia tried to duck out of the room and head upstairs, but Ted cut her off before she could reach the door. “Oh, no, you don’t.” He pointed at her waiting sandwich. “You might want to throw that away since it’s been sitting out for so long, but you need to eat something before you return to work.”

“I’m sure my sandwich is fine,” she said and nuked it before taking it up with her.

Ted sat at the table across from Alexa, who was busy getting out her books. “What kind of homework do you have? Just math?”

“I wish,” she said. “I’ve got social studies and English, too. Tons of English.” She made a face. “I have to write a persuasive essay.”

“Believe it or not, I hated English homework when I was a kid, too.”

“And you turned out to be a writer?”

“It’s a lot more fun when you get to decide what to write.” Sophia hadn’t offered her daughter an after-school snack; she was probably worried that would make her appear too free with his food. “Would you like some cookies and milk before you get to work?”

“Sure, if...if that’s okay.” She checked the doorway as if she expected her mother to pop in and tell her whether she was allowed to accept his offer.

“It’s okay,” he assured her and got some Oreo cookies out of the cupboard.

“Oh, my favorite,” she said when she saw them.

“We have that in common.”

“Do you ever put them in ice cream?”

“All the time.” He peered more closely at her. “I have some ice cream. Would you rather I made you a shake?”

“Oh, no. I was just saying they’re good that way, too.”

“I’ve got plenty of ice cream,” he said, tempting her.

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. As far as I’m concerned, you deserve ice cream after a day like today.”

“It was one of the worst,” she agreed. “But lots of days have been bad lately.”

“I can imagine.” He could feel her watching him as he worked. “I’m sorry about that.”

“You didn’t invest with my dad,” she said as if that was a given.

“No.”

“That explains it.”

He crushed several cookies. “Explains what?”

“Why you’re so nice.”

“What happened wasn’t your fault. I certainly wouldn’t take it out on you.”

She prodded her sore lip with her tongue. “I wish everyone felt that way.”

“They’re hurt and angry, and that makes them want to place blame. Things will get better.”

“We’re going to move, anyway,” she said.

Sophia hadn’t mentioned anything about leaving town. “When?” he asked.

“As soon as we get the money.” She took her shake with a smile. “My mom says we need to start over.”

“Where will you go?”

“Anywhere but here,” she said with a roll of her eyes.

He could tell she was repeating the words and sentiments of her mother. “I see.” But, somehow, he didn’t like the idea of their leaving, despite all the reasons he’d been hoping for just that.

“How many books have you written?” she asked while she shoveled ice cream into her mouth.

“Fifteen so far.”

“Maybe I could read one.”

He finished mixing his own shake. “You’re a little young.”

“So they have sex in them?”

He hadn’t expected her to be quite so blunt—not at thirteen. But now that he was faced with that question, he had to be equally honest. “Sometimes.”

“That’s why my mom had to hide them!” Her laugh suggested she finally understood a great mystery.

“From you?” Ted asked.

“No, from my dad.”

Ted was pretty sure there were other reasons. His name on the cover, for one. But it was good to know she’d been interested in his work. He’d often wondered. “Was it just my books or other people’s, too?”

“I don’t know. But once he found your book on the nightstand and got so mad. After that, Mom could only read books he approved of. He’d give her a list.”

Ted felt his jaw tighten. “Really!”

“Yep.”

“What types of books would be on that list?”

“Books about God and cookbooks mostly.”

He jammed the spoon through another cookie to break it up. “Hard for those kinds of books to lead you astray.”

Again, she missed his sarcasm. “Except the cookbooks.”

“How can cookbooks be harmful?”

“They can make you fat if you cook and eat all the food!”

“Did she get in trouble for eating too much?” He was being facetious but Alexa took the question at face value.

“If it was dessert.”

“Your mother’s never been fat.”

She was scraping the sides of the glass when she answered. “Because she didn’t want to get in trouble.”

“Would you get in trouble if you gained weight?”

“Probably,” she said. “My dad hated fat women.”

Ted remembered Skip as having a paunch. He longed to point out the double standard but bit his tongue. “You and your mom are going to get by just fine. You know that, right?” He wanted to add that at least they didn’t have anyone policing what they ate or what they read these days, but that would be out of line.

“My mom’s doing better than she was at first,” she conceded. “I think it’s because you gave her a job. So...thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Sophia appeared as he was carrying their empty glasses to the sink. She seemed surprised to find him still in the kitchen, but she spoke to her daughter. “You haven’t started your homework?”

“Not yet. Mr. Dixon made me an Oreo shake. It was delicious.”

Alexa’s smile made him glad he’d taken the time.

“That’s very nice of him,” Sophia said, “but Mr. Dixon has a book to write. I hope...I hope you didn’t detain him by asking for anything.”

“I didn’t!” she said. “I promise!”

He put their glasses in the dishwasher. “I offered.”

Sophia rubbed her hands on her thighs. “I’m sorry if you felt you had to look after her.”

“Calm down,” he responded. “I’m not criticizing you.”

He thought she might ask what he meant by that, but she didn’t. She waited for him to head to his office. Then, a few minutes later, she joined him and worked silently at her own desk.

Somehow, he managed to write a few pages—a marvel considering how distracted he was. “It’s five,” he told her when he noticed the time. “You can quit.”

She kept working. “I have a few more names.”

“You can enter them tomorrow.” He scowled, hoping she’d hear the firmness in his voice. He was ready for her to leave. He’d been so conscious of her sitting behind him for the past couple of hours. It was almost as if he could hear her breathe. And if he wasn’t focusing on that, he was thinking about the fact that she was planning to move.

But Sophia was so determined to finish, she didn’t even glance up. “It’ll just take a minute.”

Once she returned the mailing-list additions to his desk, he thought that was that. But no. She went to the kitchen and prepared dinner. If he listened carefully, he could hear her downstairs. He knew she had to be tired, with everything she’d done today. He considered going down and ordering her to go home. But he refrained because he knew she was struggling to feel good about herself, and she’d indicated that her work here was part of that.

An hour later, she brought up a steaming bowl of the most delicious broccoli-cheddar soup he’d ever tasted.

Sophia had stayed longer than she was supposed to. But she was finally satisfied with what she’d accomplished today. She’d even finished the data entry project he’d given her.

“Your boss is really nice, isn’t he?” Alexa said as they climbed into the car.

She tried not to envision Ted from behind as she’d seen him all afternoon. She’d memorized the size and shape of his shoulders, taking note of every change in his body—a body she’d once been so familiar with. “He’s a good man.”

“He doesn’t have a wife?”

When Sophia looked over at her daughter, she saw that Alexa was playing with the zipper on her backpack. “No, but he has a girlfriend. You know Eve.”

“He’s with Eve?”

“He is.”

“Wow. She’s nice. But...it’s a bummer that he’s taken. He’s so cute, don’t you think?”

Sophia rested her hands on the steering wheel instead of starting the car. “Lex, I think maybe it’s time I explained something. I heard you tell Ted that Daddy got mad when he found his book on the nightstand.”

“He did!” she said, suddenly defensive.

Sophia knew she expected another lecture on keeping quiet about what happened inside their house. Skip had been so obsessed with maintaining a certain image that they weren’t allowed to reveal anything that might not show him in a positive light. He’d been so adamant about that, and got so angry if they ever made a mistake, they’d both been afraid to say anything.

She softened her voice to let her daughter know this wasn’t one of those conversations. “That’s true. But it wasn’t the genre of the book he objected to.”

“It wasn’t?”

“Not entirely, although he tried to make a big deal out of that, too.”

“So what was it?”

She’d caught her daughter’s interest. “Ted and I used to be friends before your daddy and I got married. Actually, for about two years, we were...more than friends.”

Her eyes grew wide. “Ted was your boyfriend? Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

Because just mentioning his name would’ve been enough to start a fight with Skip. “There was no point. Ted wasn’t part of our lives. But now...”

“Now he is.” She seemed happy about that.

“Yes, but I need you to be aware of the past and how that might make Ted and me feel awkward if you...if you say the wrong thing.”

She was silent as she considered that. Then she said, “I’ll be careful.”

“Thanks.”

“But do you think you two might ever get back together?”

“I told you, he’s seeing Eve.”

“That doesn’t mean he’ll marry her.”

“You want me to start dating?”

“Why not? You don’t owe Dad anything. Not after what he did.”

This was an interesting twist. Alexa had always been a daddy’s girl. “We have to try to remember the good things about your father, Lex. He loved you. He—”

“Was desperate when he jumped ship. I know. You told me before. But...”

She didn’t sound impressed. “What?” Sophia prompted.

“How could he love us and do what he did?”

“He was confused on top of everything else.”

“Confused? About what? About whether he wanted to be part of our family? Look at what happened at school! I’d still have my friends if he hadn’t hurt so many people.”

Sophia couldn’t argue with that. “True, but—”

“Why do you always defend him? He wouldn’t have said any nice things about you if you’d jumped off the yacht.”

No doubt that was true. But she wasn’t Skip—and she didn’t want to be anything like him. “That’s beside the point.”

Alexa slumped in her seat. “So why?” she asked again. “Why do you defend him?”

“I don’t do it for him. I do it for you. I’d do anything for you.”

“Even give up drinking?”

“That’s right.”

She reached over to take Sophia’s hand, and Sophia couldn’t help smiling. Maybe the past weeks had been pure hell, but there was something new and fresh and exciting being forged in that fire. For one thing, she and Alexa were pulling together, growing closer than they’d ever been. It made Sophia feel good to be the parent to come through for a change—made her feel better than she had in years.

“You’re a good mom.”

Hearing the conviction in Alexa’s voice filled Sophia with warmth. For a second, she was glad that Skip had shown who he really was. Without that, maybe she wouldn’t have found out who she really was.

“And you’re a wonderful daughter.” She gave Alexa’s hand a squeeze. But that special moment didn’t last much longer than it took to start the car and drive home. As Sophia crested the top of the hill where they lived, she saw that the battle they were waging was far from over.