A Christmas Affair (5 page)

“Say … anything about Lyfe Alton that you’re curious to know?”

“How … did he look? I mean—”

“Honey, let me tell you—that brother is sooooo freaking fine that the sheriff needs to be handing out tickets.” Tess roared to life. “I ain’t even lying. Tall as a mountain, muscle like POW! and POW! I mean, arms and thighs—but not like those gym muscleheads. I would give my right arm to drip some strawberry sauce all over Mr. Man’s body.”

“Have you forgotten just who in the hell you’re talking to?” Chloe snapped.

Tess cleared her throat. “Uhm … actually, yes.” Cough. “Sorry about that. But, Corona, I’m telling you. Out of the Alton six-pack, baby boy ain’t a baby no more.”

“Thanks.”

“I mean it. He’s—”

“I said thanks. I get it. He’s good looking. I kind of figured that much.”

“Can I have him?” Tess asked meekly.

“What?”

“Look, I know that there’s some unwritten rule about dating your sister’s exes. But hell. You don’t come around here no more anyway.”

“I’m about to hang up on you.”

“Is that a ‘no’?”

“Hell yes, it’s a ‘no,’” Corona thundered. If her sister was standing in front of her right now, she was certain that she would have wrapped her hands around the child’s neck and squeezed until she was the same color as a Smurf.

“Well, I don’t see what the big damn deal is. You’re about to get married and expand the family. Don’t you want to see me happy?”

“You so much as bat an eyelash at Lyfe, I’ll see you six feet under.”

“Ooh. Testy. Could it be that you’re not quite over your first love?”

“I’m hanging up now.”

“That’s all right. I know how to call back.”

“You’ll get the answering machine,” she warned.
When in the hell is that Excedrin going to kick in?

“I’d imagine that if you really cared about Lyfe’s feelings that you probably wouldn’t have left him standing at the altar.”

“There was no altar,” she grudgingly pointed out.

“Fine. You wouldn’t have left him standing in our backyard in a suit that barely fit and with Daddy pointing a shotgun at his back.”

“Oh, God, are you ever going to let me live that down?”

“Uhm, no. Can’t say that I will,” Tess said. “What you did was foul.”

“Well, excuse me. Shotgun weddings went out about a hundred years ago. My ditching Thomason to come live in New York was the right thing to do and you know it.”

“Humph!”

“Fine. I’m the bad guy. I get it. Foolish me. I thought
that you only called to remind me of that on Christmas and my birthday.”

“Consider today a special occasion.”

“Your snarky sarcasm is getting old.”

“And believe it or not, our worlds don’t revolve around you. Other people have feelings, you know?”

“Yes. I do know that!”

“Do you? Is that why you were all up on the television telling the world that you’re getting married but you didn’t even find time to call your family?”

“I said I was going to call,” she said.

“Uh-huh.”

“I was just … waiting for the right time. That’s all.”

“You had time to call a television crew, but not your own family? Right. You know, you usually only blow smoke up my butt on Christmas and your birthday, too.”

“I’m sorry. There. I said it. Again. I’m the bad guy. Got it. I’ll call Mom and Dad and just explain the situation.”

“Just explain? You’re not going to bring your Hollywood hunk down here to meet the whole family? What? Are you ashamed of us or something?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Didn’t have to. Your actions speak louder than words—and I have to admit I’m disappointed in you, sis.”

“You used to be proud that I escaped from that place,” Chloe reminded her. “You used to say that you were going to come live with me when you got old enough.”

There was an awkward silence over the line.

“Tess?”

“Corona Mae, it’s one thing to leave to go make
something of yourself. It’s another thing to act like you’ve forgotten where you came from.”

“I didn’t—”

“Look. We’ve gone around and around on this issue. I get it that you didn’t want to be forced into marriage at seventeen. You didn’t want to become a teenage housewife, have a house full of children and work part-time at Momma’s hair salon while Lyfe likely joined Daddy at the church and the restaurant. You made your point. But that was a long time ago. Things have changed.”

Silence.

“Corona Mae?”

“Yeah. I know. It’s not like I don’t
ever
call.”

“Rarely,” Tess corrected.

“It’s just that … “

“You’re scared of running into
him,
” Tess said, as if picking up her sister’s thoughts over the line.

“Running into who?” She had no idea why she asked such a stupid question. Tess’s bark of laughter was so loud that Chloe had to pull the receiver away from her head in order to save her eardrum.

After a few seconds, she placed the phone back to her ear in time to hear her sister ask, “So are you a talent agent or are you a D-list comedian nowadays?”

“Ha. Ha.”

“You damn right,
‘ha, ha.’
I mean, really, Corona Mae. Don’t treat me like I’m stupid. You might have hauled your butt out of the state and got all your little fancy degrees at all those Ivy-league colleges up there, but I know damn well that you haven’t gotten Lyfe Alton out of your system. So play your little Jedi mind trick on someone who doesn’t know you.”

“I’m sure that Lyfe doesn’t spare me a second thought these days. We were just … kids.”

“Kids in love. You were each other’s first.”

“So what? Everybody had a first. It doesn’t mean that you walk around pining after them for the rest of your life.”

“Please,” Tess drawled. “Everyone is still a little in love with their first—especially women. I don’t care how awful or how much of a jerk the dude turned out to be, there’s still some part of us that’s always going to be in love with our first.”

“Yeah. Whatever.”

“That’s the best you got?” Tess laughed. “Pathetic. Why is it so hard for you to admit that you still have feelings for the guy? It’s not going to kill you or anything, you know?”

“Because it hurts too much,” she finally admitted. “Unless you’re telling me that Lyfe personally walked up to you and announced that he still has feelings for me, then I’m just going to assume that since he has never picked up the phone and called me that none of this means anything. I mean—did he even ask about me?

Silence.

The pain in her chest increased tenfold. “There. You see? Now can we drop it?”

“All right. Fine,” Tess finally agreed. “But what about Mel—”

“Drop it!”

“Fine. It’s dropped.”

“Thank you.”

“Well, I better go. Congratulations again on your engagement. Maybe one day you’ll tell me about this Rowan James—maybe even introduce him to me.”

“Tess—”

“I’ll talk to you later. ‘Bye.” Chloe was left holding the phone while the dial tone buzzed in her ear. “That went well,” she muttered.

“Y
o, Royce. I don’t know about this,” Lyfe said, climbing out of his F150 truck and then slamming the door behind him. “I really don’t feel like hanging out tonight.”

His oldest brother Royce waved his whining off his shoulders like a grain of sand. “Spare me. I think Mom or Dad can handle shoveling dog food into Sadie’s bowl for one night.”

Lyfe hitched up one side of his mouth.

“Seriously, bro.” Royce swung his arm around his brother’s neck as he led the way toward Henry’s Pool Hall. “You need to exchange that bitch for a real woman. I’m starting to worry about you.”

“Thanks, but that’s not necessary.” Lyfe tried to pry himself free from his brother’s tight hold, but Royce’s thick-muscled arm wasn’t having that tonight. He reached and got his older brother into a reverse head-lock
and a three-minute wrestling match ensued. It was clearly a draw.

“Whatever happened to that one chick you were seeing a few months back—Kayla, wasn’t it? Hennessey said that he thought you were going to finally pop the big question.”

“Nah. It was never anything
that
serious.” Lyfe chuckled, stretching his neck muscles.

Royce frowned. “You two were together for like two years.”

Lyfe’s hand stilled on the front door of the pool hall and he tossed his brother an incredulous look. “Wait. You want to give me dating and engagement tips when you’ve
never
broken your three-month rule?”

Royce shrugged. “And? We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you. And
you—
” he jabbed a finger in the center of Lyfe’s chest “—aren’t like the rest of us. You, unfortunately, inherited that monogamous gene virus that is all the rage with women nowadays.”

“You can’t be a gene and a virus.”

“See.” Royce thumped his chest again. “The mere fact that you know that makes you a freak.”

Lyfe rolled his eyes again—a habit he had whenever he engaged in these kinds of heart-to-heart talks with his brothers. “Let’s just drop it.” He jerked open the pool hall’s door and was greeted with a thunderous …

“Happy birthday!” everyone in the building shouted, holding up their beer bottles the minute the brothers strolled inside.

Lyfe laughed, then gave everyone a quick two finger salute. “Thanks, everybody. I really appreciate that.” He and his brother strolled deeper into the bar toward the back where he knew his other four brothers, Dorian,
Hennessey, Ace and Jacob would be teamed up for their fierce pool competitions.

It was always Dorian and Jacob versus Hennessey and Ace as far back as anyone could remember. Only Royce and Lyfe could either take the game or leave it.

They were all competitive, a trait that had helped both Dorian and Ace to become lawyers and Hennessey to become a music executive. Royce was a farmer like their father, and Jacob worked as an architect in the same firm as Lyfe.

Bragging rights fluctuated from game to game and the obscene amount of money that they would bet was never actually collected by either side. That was true whether it was a game of basketball, football or even, sadly, Monopoly. One thing all the boys had equally mastered was the art of trash talking.

“Well, well. You finally found the runt,” Dorian said, sending his custom-made pool stick slamming against the cue ball and causing a thunderous
whack
for the break. “Where did you find him? At home proposing to his main girl, Sadie?”

The Alton brothers laughed.

Ace cut in, “Don’t worry. You’ll make an honest woman out of that bitch yet.”

Lyfe dusted off his shoulders. “Whatever.”

“I’m just saying,” Ace said.

“One beer for the birthday boy,” Leanne announced as she strutted toward him with a single bottle on her tray. “Compliments of the house.”

“Why, thank you.” He smiled and accepted the gift.

“Annnnnd … “ she said, tucking her tray under her arm and producing a blue ribbon and clip.

Lyfe moaned. He hated this part of the tradition. “Aww. Do we have to?”

“C’mon, you know the rules.” Leanne winked at him and proceeded to make a bow and pin it to his shirt. “And to get things started, I’m pinning my phone number here first. Now you just make sure that you don’t leave me waiting like you did back in high school when you were chasing after Corona Mae.”

He smiled at his old high school buddy and senior prom date, who had recently returned to town from Atlanta to help her father run the bar. She had also been a good friend and bridesmaid to Corona Mae. When her friend blew town without a word, she had been hurt as well.

“Hell, if he doesn’t call, I most certainly will,” Jacob said, assessing her short hemline.

Leanne leveled the charismatic playboy with a withering smile. “No offense, Jacob, but I’d rather put my heart through a meat grinder. It’s faster and to the point.”

The Alton boys winced at the jab.

“Damn. I guess she told you.” Royce laughed, covering his mouth with his fist and shaking his head.

Leanne’s no-nonsense gaze shifted to the other brothers, and they all held their breath to see who she was going to take aim at next. “Don’t think that just because most of you boys have moved to the big city that everyone has forgotten about your reputations,” she warned, waving a finger. “Every woman knows about your ridiculous three-month rule.”

The brothers had the good sense to drop their heads and pretend to look busy.

“Uh-huh.” Leanne’s gaze turned back to the birthday
boy. “Lyfe is the only Alton that’s worth a girl getting her hopes up.” She winked. “Now you make sure that you call me.”

Feeling the spotlight, Lyfe smiled through his wave of embarrassment. At the same time, he felt five distinct holes being burned into his forehead by his glaring brothers.

“I’ll be back to bring you another beer when that one gets too low,” she informed him with another wink before she sashayed off to take care of her other customers.

“Hey! What about us?” Ace called out, holding up his empty bottle. “We’d like beer, too.”

Leanne gave no indication as to whether she’d heard him or not. She just shook her hips as she made her way through the growing crowd.

“It might just be me, but I don’t think that she likes us too much,” Hennessey concluded.

“Maybe not us, but she clearly loooooves Mr. Romantic here.” Ace jutted his thumb at his youngest brother. “It’s a good thing that he doesn’t visit too often.”

Lyfe laughed and thumped on his chest. “What can I say? The woman knows a good thing when she sees it.”

His five brothers turned around and pretended to barf all over the floor.

Lyfe opened his mouth to respond, but then a petite beauty in painted-on blue jeans walked up to him smiling. The Alton boys jumped to attention. Dorian attempted to shove Hennessey out of the way, but that was like trying to shove a California Red Oak.

“Well, hello there,” Dorian said, leaning against the table and cheesing like the orange cat on a bag of Cheetos. “I know that you’re not from around here.”