Trading Christmas - Debbie Macomber [59]
“Happy with me?”
She nodded.
“Could we…you know, call each other after the holidays?” He seemed almost afraid of her response.
“I’d like that.”
His eyes sparkled with undisguised pleasure. “I was recently approached by Berkeley about a teaching position,” he confided. “Is that anywhere close to you?”
“It’s very close.”
He took in that information with a slight nod. “Good. That’s good.”
The doorbell chimed, and Faith dropped her napkin on the table, rising to her feet. “I’ll get it.” She suspected it was one or more of the Kennedy kids, coming to thank Charles for the gifts. She wondered what he’d bought her; from all the hints he’d been dropping, she suspected it was something special. She’d found a small antique paperweight for him, and that, too, was under the tree.
When she opened the door, it wasn’t the Kennedy kids she saw. Instead, there stood Sam with the six dwarfs crowding around him. The dwarfs looked as if all they needed was a word of encouragement before rushing inside and attacking Charles en masse.
“Sam!” she cried and was instantly crushed in a big hug.
“We came to check up on you,” Tony said, peering inside the house.
“Yes,” Allen added. “We wanted to make sure Scrooge was good to you.”
“Everything’s fine,” she assured her friends, bringing them into the house—and bringing them up to date. By that time, Charles had joined them in the living room.
Santa’s elves peered up at him suspiciously.
Tony took a step closer. “She said you’ve had an attitude adjustment. Is that true?”
Charles nodded, a solemn expression on his face. “Faith won me over.”
Sam chuckled. “We thought we’d give you a ride back to Seattle, Faith, so you can catch your flight tomorrow afternoon.”
“I’ll drive her.” Charles moved to her side, placing his arm around her shoulders.
“We’re just finishing breakfast but there’s plenty if you haven’t eaten.”
“We haven’t,” Sam said promptly, and the seven of them rushed into the kitchen.
“Can you stay for dinner?” Charles asked, surprising Faith with the invitation.
“No, no, we don’t want to intrude. Besides, we have to head out soon for flights of our own. The only reason we came was to make sure everything was all right with Faith.”
“I’m having a wonderful Christmas,” Faith told her friends.
And I’m going to have a wonderful life.
TWENTY-SEVEN
“I’ve never eaten at the Four Seasons in my life,” Emily said anxiously, “Christmas or not.” She was sure there’d be more spoons at a single place setting than she had in her entire kitchen.
“It’s where Mother always stays when she’s in town,” Ray told her. His hand rested on the small of her back as he directed her into the huge and elegantly decorated hotel lobby, dominated by a massive Christmas tree.
Emily glanced around, hoping to see Heather. Her daughter had been shocked to find her and Ray together. Although mortified that Heather had caught her half-undressed—well, with her blouse unfastened, anyway—Emily had hurriedly introduced them. Then, summoning all the panache she could muster, she’d announced that she hadn’t slept with him.
Her cheeks flamed at the memory of how she’d managed to embarrass all three of them in one short sentence.
“Do you see Heather?” Emily asked, scanning the lobby.
“No,” Ray murmured, “but I’m not looking for her.”
The two people she held so dear hadn’t exactly gotten off on the right foot, and Emily blamed herself.
Ray had tried to explain that the condo actually belonged to his brother, Professor Brewster, but Heather had been too flustered and confused to respond. The scene had been awkward, to say the least. Complicating everything, Heather had immediately stumbled out.
She’d rushed after Heather to invite her to the hotel for Christmas dinner. Her daughter had pretended not to hear, then stepped into the elevator and cast Emily a disgusted look. She’d shaken her head disapprovingly, as if the last place on earth she wanted to be was with her mother and that…man.
Emily had gone back into the apartment with her stomach in knots.