Decidedly With Mistletoe Page 8

  She smirked. “Good to know.”

  “But what happens if you don’t find this magical guy while you’re at the resort?”

  Did the idea kill me that she would be there tonight, kissing men she didn’t know just because of the so-called legend?

  Absolutely. For one, she had no idea what kind of asshole might take advantage of her.

  “And how will you even know if he’s the one you’re supposed to fall in love with?” I asked. “Will fireworks go off? Will a gong chime?”

  “She wasn’t exactly specific on that part. I guess I’ll just know. But fireworks or a gong would be helpful.”

  Well, there you go. I wasn’t the one. She would have known last night when we first kissed.

  “What about you?” she asked. “You said you’re ready to settle down if you found the right woman. Is there anyone you’re interested in?” She smiled. It wasn’t the smile that usually got my cock excited. It looked plastic, fake.

  I had no idea why.

  “Not yet.”

  Yes, my heart might have told me that I was an idiot. Could you blame it? Ava had given me the perfect opening, and I bolted in the opposite direction. But in my defense, the military had taught me how to fight the enemy. Emotions weren’t allowed. Emotions got you killed.

  Unfortunately, they weren’t so forthcoming when it came to teaching soldiers how to tell a woman what was in his heart.

  I checked the time on my phone. “You ready to do some more snowmobiling before we head back?”

  This time her smile wasn’t faked. “Absolutely. Do you think we can go faster? I have a past I need to escape for now.” Her smiled wavered slightly.

  “This snowmobile is just what the doctor ordered.” I patted the saddle. “It’s perfect for escaping pasts involving a shitheaded ex-husband.” I climbed on the seat and she joined me.

  I started the engine and revved it up, feeling the power between my legs.

  And we were off.

  The path I was following became narrower and narrower, the trees denser to the point where I had to zigzag between them.

  Ava’s arms were wrapped around me, but not as tight as before. That didn’t change the exhilaration zinging through me from her touch. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had this much fun.

  We eventually had to turn back.

  Disappointment rolled through me like a tsunami.

  I had been through worse compared to walking away from Ava. Hell, I’d survived SEAL training, been shot at more times than I cared to remember, and lived in hellish conditions while deployed.

  If I could survive that, then I could survive that this was the last time I’d get to hang out with her.

  Now I just had to convince my mule-headed heart of that.

  Good luck!

  Or there was always option B: convince Ava to allow me back in her life as her friend.

  But not her fuck buddy.

  And then, with time, I would hopefully regain her trust.

  Right—that would be about as easy as convincing her that the earth was made of blue cheese.

  Back at the shed, I parked the snowmobile and waited for Ava to climb off.

  “Can I see your phone for a second?” Still seated, I held out my hand for it.

  “Why? So you can listen to ‘The Imperial March’ again?” Her mouth slipped into a one-sided smile, and she handed me her phone.

  “Thanks.” I programmed my number into it and sent myself a text. I handed the phone back to her. “There you go. Now if you ever need anything or want to go for a hike with me at some point, you have my number.” And I had hers.

  Her gaze dropped to her screen, and she nibbled on her lip. “Thanks, but I don’t do booty calls.”

  “That’s good—because neither do I.”

  Smiling at me, she returned her phone to her pocket. “Good to know.”

  We walked back to the inn’s entrance. I was tempted to thread my fingers with hers, but I figured we needed to have that long-overdue conversation first. A conversation that would have to wait for another two weeks—until after her vacation.

  Assuming she was willing to go there.

  We were almost at the inn when Harold approached us.

  “Liam, I was wondering if you can help me. One of the families staying here is having trouble getting their car started. I think the battery might be dead. Thomas will be heading over soon enough with the tow truck, but they’d rather not wait that long if they don’t have to.”

  “Sure, I can have a look.”

  11

  AVA

  BETSY SMILED at me from behind the front desk. Strands of gray hair peeked from under her mop cap. “The roads out of here are finally cleared.”

  Remember when you were a kid and there was a toy that you wanted more than anything? The commercials made it sound like the ultimate in toys. No toy before it and no toy after it would ever be as great.

  But when you got it? It was an epic disappointment.

  I think you know where I’m going with this…

  “That’s great,” I said, doing my best to enthuse the proper amount of excitement in my tone.

  Betsy’s smile brightened. “You don’t sound all that happy about it.”

  I tried to stretch my lips in a replication of her smile. They refused to cooperate. Damn lips. “Oh, I am. I’ve been looking forward to this trip for several months now.”

  “And yet…?” She left the sentence hanging, but I had no idea what she wanted me to say. Or more likely I had no idea how to answer the question.

  When I didn’t say anything, Betsy decided to fill in the blanks for me. “You’re sad that you and Liam are going your separate ways now that you can both leave.”

  “Possibly. But I shouldn’t be. We were once engaged to each other. He dumped me, and we hadn’t seen each other for ten years…until yesterday.” And now he had my phone number, but that didn’t mean anything.

  He probably just gave it to me in case I needed to hire his company.

  Betsy’s eyebrows disappeared under her mop cap. “And yet you’re still in love.”

  Was I?

  I was attracted to him. But what female wasn’t?

  Sure, the sex the previous evening had been earth shattering, and we’d spent a lot of the night and the morning talking about our lives over the past few years. And yes, while we were talking, it’d felt like we had never really been apart all this time, but there was no hiding from the past. It was still a pesky storm cloud overhead.

  The emotions from earlier stirred deep inside, pointing out that despite what had happened ten years ago, there was still a good chance—a very good chance—I wasn’t completely over him.

  Well, doesn’t that just suck rotten apples?

  My heart voiced its opinion—siding with my emotions.

  But it didn’t matter what they thought. I had trusted my feelings for Liam once before and look where that had gotten me.

  “It doesn’t matter if I am or not,” I said, “he dumped me ten years ago ’cause he had a better offer.”

  “Did he cheat on you?”

  The laugh? It wasn’t so much a bitter laugh than a pity-party one. “No, that honor went to my ex-husband.”

  “You know what? Hold that thought. It sounds like what you need is a nice mug of peppermint hot chocolate, then you can tell me everything.” Her smile was sweet and held a strong undertone of “don’t even think about saying no” that made it impossible to decline her offer.

  She put up a sign saying she would be back in twenty minutes, along with the bell in case someone couldn’t wait that long. Then I followed her through the dinning room into the kitchen.

  A few minutes later, we were sitting in the lounge chairs in the quiet corner of the dining room. No one else was there.

  I took a sip of the drink. Wow. Betsy had been right. It was the best peppermint hot chocolate I’d ever tasted. The Peppermint Schnapps might’ve had something to do with it.

&n
bsp; “So you were previously married?” she said, recapping our previous conversation.

  I explained about Chris. Don’t worry, I kept it PG rated. No need to give Betsy nightmares.

  “Did Liam ever tell you why he was breaking up with you?” she asked once I had told her about Chris’s wedding tomorrow.

  “He told me he didn’t love me anymore. And then he told me that it was for the best that we ended things because of his job with the military. It was dangerous and there was a good chance he wouldn’t come home alive, or as the same man he had left as. But there was one other reason for breaking up with me that he didn’t tell me about. It was my grandmother who gladly spilled the proverbial beans.”

  “What reason was that?”

  “My grandmother bribed him. If he walked away from me, she would give him hundred thousand dollars.” I shrugged. “Turns out he loved money more than he loved me.”

  Betsy’s expression resembled how I imaged the real Mrs. Claus’s expression would look if Santa announced he was giving up milk and cookies…and hitting the gym and taking steroids.

  “You want to hear something crazy funny?” I grinned because I knew this was something Betsy would get a kick out of.

  She grinned back. “What’s that?”

  I told her about Zoe’s family legend when it came to mistletoe.

  “There you are, Ava,” Harold said. I turned in my seat to find the workshop version of Santa in the doorway. “Thomas called. He’ll be here in five minutes.”

  I scrambled up from my seat. “Thank you.” I turned back to Betsy. “And thank you for the delicious hot chocolate and for listening to me.” I glanced between her and Harold. “I should go get my stuff.”

  “I’m sorry we didn’t have longer to talk, dear,” Betsy said. “But I will tell you that love works in mysterious ways. Don’t give up on it because of what happened in the past.”

  I hugged her and Harold. Then I raced upstairs and grabbed my suitcase. When I returned to the lobby a few minutes later, Liam still wasn’t there. I went to pay for the room, but Harold just brushed me off, saying it had already been taken care of.

  Another thing I owed Liam for.

  A man in his forties entered the front entrance wearing jeans and a ski jacket. “I’m looking for Ava Versteeg,” he announced to the room, which consisted of just Harold and me.

  “I’m Ava,” I said, walking toward him.

  “I’m Thomas. I’ve come to tow your car to Mike’s Garage. That’s close to where you’ll be staying.”

  I waved bye to Harold, and Thomas grabbed my suitcases.

  Outside, I looked toward the parking lot. Liam wasn’t there either. Neither was his truck. Guess he must have already left—without saying goodbye.

  My heart squeezed tight and I did my best to reassure it. Next time I fell in love it would be as real for the man as it was for me.

  And the next man I fell in love with would never ever meet my family.

  Good plan, my brain said.

  Sure, my heart mumbled, brilliant plan—now you just have to forget about the man who you are still in love with.

  12

  LIAM

  I ENTERED THE INN LOBBY. The only person there was Harold, his gaze on the computer screen. Like yesterday, he was dressed as I imagined Santa would be while tinkering in his workshop on Christmas Eve—prior to traveling around the world.

  He even looked like he was double-checking his naughty and nice list…via modern technology.

  As if sensing me watching him, he glanced up. “Were you able to get the Jenkins car started?”

  “Yes. The interior light was left on and the battery died. But it’s all good now. Do you know if Ava is in our room?”

  “She left about five minutes ago.”

  “Left?”

  “Yes, Thomas picked her up. Sorry, I thought you knew…considering you and Ava were once engaged to each other.” He winked at me as if he’d personally stolen the secret from Fort Knox and couldn’t wait to tell me.

  Betsy stepped through the dining room doors, a stack of green napkins in her hands. “Although I must say, the kiss you gave her under the mistletoe last night was definitely hot. I would never have guessed you two weren’t still involved.”

  She then shook a head the same way a mother does at her child who ate cookies before dinner. “It’s just too bad you valued money over love.”

  Huh? What the heck is she talking about?

  “Money isn’t everything, Liam. Just look at Scrooge. He was a miserable old man even though he was rich. Why? Because he valued money over love and family and kindness.”

  “Not that you aren’t kind,” Harold said. He lovingly placed his arm around his wife’s waist.

  Inwardly, I scratched my head, still wondering what the heck they were talking about. “I know money isn’t everything. But I also knew if Ava lost her trust fund because I married her, she wouldn’t have had the money to attend a prestigious law school. I just didn’t realize at the time the money hadn’t been important to her. And that she was willing to give it all up if it meant getting to pursue her education degree. Had I known that, I would never have lied and told her I no longer loved her. I wouldn’t have let myself believe I didn’t deserve her because I couldn’t afford to give her the lifestyle she was used to.”

  Now it was Harold and Betsy who were confused. Both frowned.

  “What are you talking about, son?” Harold asked.

  “Ava’s family is wealthy, but she didn’t care about the money like they did. That’s what first caused me to fall in love with her. She was beautiful and selfless. She still is.”

  “But you did care about the money?” Betsy said.

  “Not at all. I’d rather marry a woman without money than a woman whose family manipulated her every move because of it. That was Ava’s family. They saw money as power, and they weren’t afraid to wield it like a sword.”

  Betsy’s perplexed frown deepened. “So you never ended the relationship because her grandmother bribed you with a large sum of money?”

  “Not at all. Where would you get a crazy idea like that?”

  “That’s what Ava told me happened.”

  The realization of what really did go down ten years ago suddenly hit me. Hard. My stomach clenched. If it could have, it would have punched something—preferably a wall.

  The fucking bitch. Not Ava. Her grandmother.

  “I can’t believe it,” I muttered to myself. “She played us both.”

  “Let me see if I got this straight,” Harold said, scratching his beard. “The reason Ava thinks you broke up with her isn’t the real reason you ended things? You did it to save her trust fund and not so you would walk away a hundred thousand dollars richer?”

  Shit. It was bad enough she had thought I no longer loved her, but to think I walked away from her because I was easily bribed.…

  “I have a question—if I may?” Betsy asked, interrupting my thoughts.

  “Sure. Go ahead.”

  “You still love her, don’t you?” She smiled as if she already knew the answer—and hoped it was the right one.

  “Yes. I never stopped loving her. But unfortunately, she doesn’t feel the same way about me. But can you blame her?”

  Betsy snorted a laugh. “I swear, young people these days are too thick to see what’s right in front of them.”

  My gaze shifted to Harold to see if he understood what she was talking about. He just shrugged apologetically.

  “Look, her grandmother did a bad thing by misleading you both and manipulating you to end the relationship,” Betsy said. “But you can’t let that stop what’s meant to be.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “You two are meant to be together. I would stake my life on it. Did she tell you about her best friend’s belief in the power of mistletoe?”

  I nodded.

  “Maybe there’s something to it after all. The sparks between you two when you kissed under the mistlet
oe were bigger and brighter than Lake Tahoe’s New Year’s Eve fireworks. And they’re pretty impressive.

  “The question is, do you want something more between you and Ava? Or are you willing to walk away from her again?”

  As if that was even a question. Of course I wanted more. I wanted a lifetime with her.

  “If you leave now,” Harold said, “you’ll make it to her resort before she does. And if I were you, I’d take some mistletoe with you.” He pointed at the bunch hanging in the doorway to the dining room. “You never know when it might come in handy.”

  He winked.

  13

  AVA

  THE GOOD NEWS? My poor baby hadn’t been smashed by a truck that might have lost control on the icy roads last night.

  Thomas examined the front end that had been partially buried. It had taken him half an hour to get my car out of the snowdrift.

  The bad news? The tire had still been flat—but at least that was the extent of the damage.

  The drive to town wasn’t too bad. Thomas was friendly and excited for Christmas. What did we do the entire trip? Sing Christmas carols.

  Yeah, yeah, I know—my singing sucked. But Thomas didn’t care. He wasn’t much better than me.

  We could belt out “Jingle Bells” and not give a damn about what anyone else thought.

  It was great.

  After the garage replaced my tire (which they fortunately had in stock), I drove to the resort where I was staying. But instead of climbing out of my vehicle and checking in, I just sat in the parking lot, already missing the cozy inn.

  Who else was I missing?

  That’s right. But there was nothing I could do about that.

  In time, my heart would fully get over him.

  Maybe not for another hundred years, when I was already dead and buried. But it would happen.

  Eventually.