Take Me Home for Christmas

30

Making love to Sophia was every bit as fulfilling as Ted had expected it to be. He knew in his heart that he should’ve waited, given her more time before getting physical. Their relationship had been progressing nicely, especially today. He would’ve been wise to nurture that a little longer. But it had been getting harder and harder to keep his hands to himself, especially because, as much as he hated to admit it, she’d been the one he really wanted when he’d slept with Eve.

“Everything okay?” he murmured when she stirred. They’d been dozing on the floor, lying naked in each other’s arms.

“Fine,” she mumbled and snuggled closer.

“You’re getting cold.” He rubbed a hand along the smooth skin of her side. “Let’s go up to bed.”

He wasn’t sure she’d agree to spend the rest of the night with him.

She never got the chance to say one way or the other, because the doorbell interrupted.

“Shit,” he groaned. “Do you think we can pretend we’re not home?”

She hid a yawn with one hand as she sat up. “I doubt it. You didn’t put the garage door down when we drove in, did you? And the lights are on.”

“Good point.”

He didn’t want to bother answering, wasn’t happy that Sophia had pulled away and was starting to put on her clothes. This was an intrusion he wouldn’t have welcomed no matter who was at the door. But then he heard his mother’s voice calling to him, and realized she’d let herself in through the garage.

“Holy hell!” he snapped and jumped up.

Sophia went white as a sheet and began to scramble, too.

As he yanked on his jeans, he wondered if he should yell out for his mother to stay put. But that would give them away for sure. He thought they still might have time to dress, but he was just reaching for Sophia’s sweater so he could help her get it on when his mother walked into the room. She was carrying a stack of presents—which she dropped when she saw him standing there bare-chested and barefoot. He hadn’t even taken the time to put on his boxers or fasten his pants.

“You can’t wait for me to answer the door?” he asked, thrusting Sophia behind him to shield her.

“I wouldn’t expect to find my son having sex in the living room!” she retorted. “Especially when he doesn’t even have a girlfriend.”

“Can you please go out and give us a chance to dress?”

He didn’t have to ask twice. No doubt she was as embarrassed as they were. Leaving the presents where they’d fallen, she pivoted abruptly and headed down to the kitchen.

He turned to Sophia. “It’s okay. No big deal. You don’t need to worry about this.”

“I’m sorry,” she said as if it was somehow her fault. “I should’ve known better. I did know better.”

“Better than what?”

She was so upset she was shaking, which made it difficult for her to get her sweater on. He saw that it was on wrong side out and stopped her to change it around.

“Relax,” he soothed. “This isn’t the end of the world. She’s the one who walked in. She shouldn’t have done that.”

“But it was my fault we were in the living room.” She started toward the door leading out to the deck, but he grabbed her hand.

“Stay. Don’t scurry off like we were doing something wrong.”

“According to your mom, we were doing something wrong. She’s not happy she found you naked with me. Eve can have sex with you because she’s a good person, someone she’d deem worthy of being her daughter-in-law. But me? Never.”

She pulled away but he went after her. “Sophia, stop! We’ve got to go in there together, or she’ll continue to treat you the way she’s always treated you.”

She cast a longing glance at the door. “Dealing with your mother is a no-win situation for me. She’ll never believe I’m not the terrible person she thinks I am. How could I convince her, anyway? With the embarrassing scene she just witnessed? I can guarantee she’s not impressed.”

“Maybe she can’t be convinced, but she’d damn well better respect my choices!”

“That’s between you and her. It has nothing to do with me.”

“It has everything to do with you,” he insisted.

When she started to dig at her cuticles, he stopped her.

“Fine. I’ll go in there if you want me to,” she said. “But...don’t get into a fight with her, okay? I don’t want to feel responsible for that, don’t want to ruin your Christmas.”

Christmas was the last thing he was worried about.

“Whether or not we get into an argument will be up to her,” he muttered and walked downstairs to the kitchen, gently tugging Sophia behind him.

The second they walked in, his mother glanced pointedly at their clasped hands, and Ted didn’t have to look at Sophia to know that her color had returned—with a vengeance.

“Well, wasn’t that a lovely surprise!” his mother said.

He shrugged off her sarcasm. “I’m not the one who walked into your house uninvited.”

“I apologize. When you told me you weren’t sleeping with your housekeeper, I made the mistake of believing you.”

“Why didn’t you wait until I answered the door?”

“I assumed you’d be writing. Last I heard, you had a deadline looming. I thought I’d slip a few gifts under the tree, since I’d gone to the trouble of hauling them over here.”

The fact that she’d been bringing gifts reminded him how much she loved him and helped keep his temper in check. “Mom, I appreciate what you do for me, what you’ve always done. And when I said I wasn’t sleeping with my housekeeper, I wasn’t. But...things change. At least, they did tonight.”

Her lip curled. “As I’m sure she’s been hoping all along.”

Sophia tried to release his hand, but he tightened his grip, stubbornly believing that he could achieve some sort of truce. “If she was hoping for that, all she had to do was come to my bed,” he said.

“She would’ve been there long before now if she’d known that,” his mother said. “My God, Ted. You’re not some randy teenager anymore. Can’t you see what’s happening?”

“Whatever it is, it’s none of your business.”

“It’s none of my business that she’s using you?”

“You don’t even know her, not anymore!”

Rayma came to her feet, and her voice rose an octave at the same time. “What’s to know? Can’t you be objective enough to see the truth? Of course she’s going to cling to you, and put out for you and do whatever you want. How else will she survive? There isn’t another person in this entire town who gives a damn about her!”

Shocked silence followed this outburst. Even his mother seemed to realize she’d gone too far. He opened his mouth to tell her just how out of line she was, but before he could say a word, Sophia interrupted.

“You’re right,” she said. “You’ve revealed my whole diabolical plot. I’m the worst person ever born, and I wanted to sleep with your son so I could manipulate him into...what? Giving me money? Is that what you’re afraid of?”

He’d offered her a loan for that car just tonight and she’d refused. Although he wanted her to say that, she didn’t. Maybe she feared that it would only make his mother angrier at him.

Rayma started to answer, but Sophia cut her off.

“It doesn’t matter. I take full responsibility for what happened tonight, so there’s no need to be mad at him. But before you panic, I’m not trying to twist his arm into marrying me. I won’t be staying here long enough for that. My typing’s improved. I’ll have other options soon.”

When she walked out, Ted let her go. He regretted dragging her in here to be lambasted by his mother. Damn it! He’d known how fragile she was, how much she’d endured, but this encounter hadn’t turned out as he’d expected. For one thing, he’d thought it might do Sophia good to see that he felt enough loyalty to her to tell his mother that she needed to butt out.

Now he realized how stupid he’d been to put her through more of the same kind of bullshit she’d been contending with since her husband betrayed her....

The door leading to the deck slammed as Sophia left the house. “Happy now?” he murmured in the wake of her departure.

Taken aback that Sophia had given him up that easily, his mother blinked. “Is it true?” she asked.

“Is what true? She didn’t seduce me, if that’s what you’re asking. She’s lost so much and been put down by so many people that she has a problem with trust. It’s a miracle she let me touch her.” He waved Rayma off when she started to interrupt. “I’ve been watching for my opportunity to take her to bed, but it wasn’t there until tonight.”

His mother sank into a chair. “That’s more than a mother wants to hear.”

“What you saw is more than a son wants his mother to see, but here we are.”

“We’ve never let anything come between us,” she said, her tone conciliatory, as if she was beginning to understand that she was the one who’d be excluded from his life if she continued her behavior. “All these years, it’s been you and me against the world.”

“Then don’t let that change!”

She frowned. “I have to do what I can. She’s no good for you.”

“Then let me learn the hard way. Is that too much to ask? If you’re right, you’ll be able to say ‘I told you so’ later.”

“That won’t heal your broken heart.”

“If I lose her, my heart’s going to be broken anyway.”

“She said she’s leaving.”

“She’s planning to. As soon as she gets a car and earns enough money, she wants to put this place in her rearview mirror, and I can’t blame her—”

“She hasn’t been perfect, Ted.”

“And she knows that. But how much longer do you think she should suffer for the mistakes she made when she was a teenager? Another decade and a half? Would that be enough?”

“She was suffering when she had everything money could buy?”

“With the way Skip treated her? Yes!”

“That’s hard to believe. She was so cold and remote, always acting better than everyone else.”

“It was a defense mechanism, a way to cover for the fact that she was miserable and hanging on the best she could.”

His mother folded her arms. “So you’re hoping to convince her to stay.”

“I am. And I’m hoping you’ll accept her, for as long as she’s part of my life.”

“How can she be happy here? With the way so many people in town feel toward her.”

“If she has me and you and my friends and Alexa, she won’t need anyone else.”

“There’s a lot stacked against you.”

“Mom, do you need to hear me say it? I’m in love with her.”

With a sigh, she propped her chin on her fist. “I guess I’d better add her to my gift list, then.”

That broke the tension enough that he almost laughed. “Now you’re talking.” It wasn’t exactly an apology, but coming from his mother it was darn close. He walked over to massage her shoulders. “Having someone else to care for can’t be so bad, can it? Think of this—she comes with a ready-made granddaughter.”

She perked up immediately. “That’s true....”

“And before you ask, she’s the sweetest thing ever.”

“I know Alexa. She went to my elementary school.”

“There you go.”

“We didn’t have much interaction, but she seemed like a nice girl. A pretty one, too.”

He could tell she was sifting through all the possibilities. “She’s both,” he agreed.

“But...if Sophia doesn’t have any money, Alexa can’t be getting much for Christmas.”

Ted purposely didn’t mention that he intended to take care of that. His mother needed to be needed, and he was glad to let her focus on someone else for a change, someone who would enjoy the attention far more. “That’s true. And there’s not much time. Christmas is only four days away.”

“I’ll go back to the mall tomorrow,” she said, suddenly energized as she collected her purse. “What kinds of things does she like?”

Chuckling, he dropped a kiss on her cheek. “You’re leaving?”

“I know when I’m beat.” She managed a wry smile. “Go after your girl.”

“You’re not going to apologize to her?”

“I’ll have to work up to that,” she said.

When headlights crested the hill behind her, Sophia ducked into the weeds at the side of the road, so whoever was driving wouldn’t see her. It was cold out—windy and dark, too—but she needed to get off by herself so she could think. And since she hadn’t been able to buy a car earlier, she had no choice except to walk.

Ted’s mother passed her once. Ted passed her twice. She recognized the Lexus. He’d tried phoning her several times, too.

When his calls and texts came in, she’d stare down at her cell phone, think about what they’d shared in his living room tonight and wish her life was less complicated. But she wasn’t ready to talk to him. His last text said he was worried about her, so she texted him back that she was fine. Then she shoved the phone in her pocket and kept trudging toward town.

When she spotted the Gas-N-Go, with its Christmas lights and plastic sleigh on the roof, complete with waving Santa, she thought of the liquor store only a block away, but she didn’t turn in that direction. She circled wide to avoid even getting close and trudged up the hill to her old house.

It’d taken over an hour to walk this far, but the solitude helped her focus. She had to come to grips with all the sudden reversals in her life. During the past few weeks, she’d felt like a phoenix, rising out of the ashes. She’d begun to feel stronger, to feel some pride in her accomplishments and some hope for the future, which was why she was so afraid of what she’d done tonight. Getting involved with Ted might just destroy her again.

Once she reached the top, she kicked a pebble as she walked. Even from a distance, the house looked empty, soulless. She’d never particularly appreciated Skip’s taste in architecture or furnishings. He’d insisted on overdoing everything, making it too big or lavish or ornate. She preferred design that was classic, understated. But seeing the state of the house made her sad all the same. Since she’d moved out, the yard had become overrun by weeds, several more windows had been broken and graffiti covered the porch.

“Look what you caused,” she muttered to Skip. She was still angry with him, didn’t know how long it would take to get over that. Maybe she never would. He’d stolen so much from her—fourteen years of her life, her sense of security, her self-esteem, even her front tooth.

But he was gone now. Their daughter was hers alone. And the future could be anything she had the courage to create.

So what did she want it to be? What risks was she willing to take?

Was Ted one of them?

She wanted him to be. Just looking at him made her happy. She couldn’t imagine loving any man more than she loved him. But that meant putting her heart on the line and risking her daughter’s heart, too. It also meant facing down the people of Whiskey Creek and his mother, easily the sternest school administrator she’d ever encountered. Could she do all of that while she was trying so hard just to survive?

Wouldn’t she be crazy to make the attempt?

Restless, she wandered around the property. She didn’t want to go inside. The utilities had been turned off, so she wouldn’t be able to see anything, and she didn’t know what she might find. The bank hadn’t taken it back yet. That process took several months, leaving the house vulnerable while it sat empty. Some homeless person might’ve moved in. At least if she stayed outside, she could run if she needed to.

She meandered down the drive, kicking that pebble again, and opened the mailbox as she had so many times over the years. She hadn’t really expected to find anything inside, but there was a stack of mail. The dates indicated that these letters had arrived after Skip’s business had been “frozen” by the government and before she’d moved to Ted’s. When they packed up, she hadn’t even thought to check the box. All she got were bills anyway and she didn’t have the money to pay them.

Sure enough. These were bills, too. And turn-off notices. There was a letter from the IRS that looked ominous. No telling what Skip had done with his income taxes. She didn’t dare open it. Making a mental note to bring it to her bankruptcy attorney, she continued to sort through the envelopes. She was about to stuff all of it in her purse when she came across a letter that seemed different. According to the return address, it came from S. Hoover Fine Jewelry in Sacramento.

“What’s this?”

She opened it and as she read, she felt her jaw sag.

Dear Mr. DeBussi,

Enclosed, please find the appraisal of your ring. The diamond is nearly flawless, one of the most perfect I’ve ever examined, especially for a stone its size.

As you requested, I have been in touch with several of my contacts and have found someone who is interested in purchasing it. They are coming in with an offer $30,000 below appraisal, but you mentioned you were in a hurry and they have cash.

Please let me know if you would like to pick up the ring or proceed with the sale.

Sincerely,

Sam Hoover

Numb with shock, Sophia stumbled back to the porch and sank down on the step. Her wedding ring. Skip hadn’t absconded with the money. She had no doubt he would have, given the opportunity, but this letter suggested he hadn’t been able to liquidate it fast enough.

Had Sam Hoover, the man who’d signed this letter, seen the news and recognized Skip’s name? Did he know about the probe? Had he contacted the FBI?

Or did he still have the ring—and the buyer?