McDonald_NoELFngWay_GEN_Dec2015 (8 page)

“Wow… you’re dumping me even faster than you did last time. Guess Tuesday wasn’t as good for you as it was for me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Tuesday was great. What are you talking about?” Dash demanded, frowning over her attitude. “All I’m asking is for us to wait a little while before we see each other again. If there’s a meltdown coming, I don’t want you caught in it.”

Vixen laughed wryly as she shook her head. “Right. It sounds so noble when you say it with conviction, doesn’t it? Don’t let the door smack your ass too hard on your way out of my life.”

“Vixen, please hear me. Don’t twist my suggestion into something bad because of what happened between us before.”

“Oh, I think I’m hearing you just fine, and what I’m hearing is a rejection. I don’t see how you can spin it otherwise.”

“This is definitely not a rejection. It’s a… it’s a request for a pause…
just
a pause,” Dash insisted.

Vixen snorted as she shook her head. “
A pause
is only a polite way of saying you’ve had second thoughts about the value of our relationship. I’m obviously still of limited use to you as a person. Maybe all you wanted was for me to make you feel better for an evening. If so, my mission has been completed for two days. It’s Thursday now, you can move on.”

“Vixen…”

“No. Don’t say my name like I’m the bad guy in this scenario. Me not telling you about Nicky’s request for a mother is just a handy excuse for you to put emotional distance between us. Forgiveness magic doesn’t work like that. I let you back into my heart. You’re the one who’s ruined our second chance.”

Dash ran a hand through his hair. “Maybe I’m not explaining it right. This problem is all I’ve thought about for two days.”

“Funny—
you
are all I’ve thought about for two days. Why are you not asking me how I think we could deal with this together? I’ll tell you why… because just like before, my feelings don’t really matter to you.
I
don’t really matter to you. Tuesday’s total win of my affections was just as undeserved as the A you got on the paper I wrote for you in college.”

“Vixen… please don’t be like this.”

“Be like what? Like a woman who has some damn pride? Get out of my life Dash… and stay out this time.”

Vixen gave the most handsome man she knew one last look. He wasn’t meant for her… obviously had never been. If she’d followed her instincts and stayed away, she wouldn’t be hurting so badly right now.

“And just so you know… you’re not the only worried parent in the world. All Dancer has talked about is Nicky since she saw him, which is definitely all your fault. But it never occurred to me to shut you out of my life because of the trouble your child might cause mine. You were worth it to me to deal with them. Thank God we didn’t involve the kids any more than we did.”

Vixen turned to head to the stock room.

“Get out before I call someone to come throw you out. You’re not welcome at my place of business anymore.”

Dash stood there looking after her… bewildered Vixen had reacted so badly. She could be no more disappointed than he was about their dating life.

Sighing, and not knowing what to do other than leave, Dash went home.

“What did you expect her to do, Dash? Give you a medal for ruining her day and hurting her feelings?”

Cupid shook her head.

“Are you sure you’re doing this only for Nicky’s sake? You broke up with Vixen over something you’re worried might happen, but don’t know for certain will. Nicky could have already gotten over the motivation he had to write that note.”

“Nicky doesn’t get over things. He works through them until everything adds up in his head in a way he can accept. And I didn’t break up with Vixen. I only asked for a pause in our dating relationship,” Dash corrected. “She wouldn’t listen long enough for me to explain why.”

“
A pause?
Breaking up is breaking up, no matter what verbiage is used, Dash.”

Cupid shook her head again.

“And as for listening… how can you expect Vixen to have faith in a man who has never yet shown faith in her? Plus, you broke things off two days
after
you slept together, which makes the situation even more complicated. Vixen probably thinks you used her. Any woman would.”

“I never said I slept with Vixen.”

Cupid snorted as she glared. “Being arrogant I can forgive in my son, but playing stupid is not something I will tolerate, especially at your age. Vixen Dunder is a sweetheart. She wouldn’t have issued the bodily threat if all you’d done was kiss her under the mistletoe here last Sunday. Plus I heard you whistling when you came home late Tuesday night. And you were happier yesterday than you’ve been in two years. I didn’t exactly need to get my crystal ball out to tell.”

“Keep your mother hoo doo voo doo to yourself. And I’m cancelling cable as soon as I can,” Dash declared, frowning about the truth of Tuesday being spoken aloud. “Even if I had slept with Vixen… and I’m not admitting I did… how does that explain her not listening to me? The mental health of my child has to take precedence over my sex life… hers and mine, I mean.”

“Didn’t you and Melody manage to simultaneously have a sex life
and
be parents? You talk like it isn’t even possible to do that with Vixen. I put myself in her shoes and shudder at how much your request would have hurt. Just how many more times do you expect the woman to forgive you enough to let herself fall in love with you? You’ve walked away twice now when things got tough.”

“Vixen never said anything about falling in love with me. Hell—she barely likes me. She proved that today when she wouldn’t talk things out with me.”

Cupid narrowed her eyes. “You can’t sit there and tell me that you aren’t aware that you hurt her feelings. Are you afraid of loving Vixen back? Is that what this is really about, Dash?”

“No. I have not become a commitment phobe,” Dash denied as he hung his head.

Could it really be possible Vixen was in love with him? He sighed and closed his eyes. Two days ago, he’d been making plans to spend every holiday with her. He was falling in love and liked the idea of it being a truth for both of them. The only problem was that it was happening at a very bad time.

“I swear nothing I did Tuesday or yesterday was meant to hurt her more than I already had. Nicky’s my son. Shouldn’t I do what’s best for him?”

Cupid sighed. Men could be so dense. “After reading his letter, I’m sure dealing with Nicky’s feelings has been on Vixen’s mind nearly as much as it’s now on yours. Why didn’t you talk to her and ask what she thought about the situation?”

“Now you sound just like her,” Dash complained.

“No. What I sound like is a reasonable woman. Trust me. I would have kicked a man’s ass for breaking my heart even once—never mind twice. I’m not saying Vixen is without blame, Dash. She’s over-reacting for sure. But you do need to develop some empathy for her situation. With her past with you, and her history of Dancer’s father abandoning them, caring about you is a historically emotional high risk for her to take. Even if you’re right on some level about breaking up with her, it was still very abrupt.”

“I didn’t break up with her, Mom. Why can’t anyone see that?”

“Dasher… I love you with all my heart. But you broke up with the woman. Everyone but you will see it that way.”

“Well, that’s not what I was trying to do.”

Dash sighed heavily. If he was wrong for putting his child’s welfare before his love life, he just couldn’t see it. Memories of Nicky crying himself to sleep over Melody were still fresh in his mind. He would do anything he had to in order to avoid being the cause of more grief.

And no… he wasn’t being shallow about his feelings for Vixen. In two years, she was the only woman who had interested him. She was so perfect that just seeing her again had made him start planning an imaginary future with her. Ironically, Vixen would never know that in breaking up with him completely, she’d managed to have her revenge.

“It’s probably too late to reason with her. I’d try to apologize, but I don’t think she’d hear it. She’s never going to give me a third chance, is she?”

Cupid sighed as she rose, unable to accept that outcome. She walked around the table and patted her handsome son’s shoulder.

“Never is a long time, Dasher. Why don’t you talk to Blix? Maybe he can help smooth this out with her. Vixen adores him.”

“Nice to know there’s someone Vixen gives the benefit of the doubt,” Dash said, sighing at his mother’s chastising look. “Did Dad ever mess things up between the two of you?”

“No dear,” Cupid said. “However, I managed to routinely do that myself for a couple of years when we were dating. You see… I’d get these ideas in my head about how things should have been between us. Often I couldn’t see how wonderful things already were because of it. I’m lucky your father loved me enough to not give up until I had gotten a handle on my expectations.”

“Do you really think what I did was wrong?”

“Right and wrong are just perspectives. All that really matters is how you two feel about each other at any given moment. You and Vixen are both bringing a lot of hurt into your current relationship. Each of you is going to have to learn to let go.”

Dash nodded. “When I think about it, a lot got erased for us Tuesday. Being with her felt like it was just meant to be. Everything was just… easy… natural. We’re well suited in lots of ways. Maybe I was arrogant enough to think Tuesday was enough proof of my feelings. That’s partly why I was so shocked at her extreme reaction today.”

“If she wasn’t raising a daughter whose father didn’t want either of them, Tuesday might have been enough. She’s had to become less trusting to survive.”

Dash nodded. “Okay. I get that. I do.”

“Good,” Cupid said. “Now talk to Blix. That old charmer is hard to say no to.”

Dash grinned. “Are you still saying no?”

“That would be between me and Blix. My love life is off limits to my son,” Cupid declared with a laugh.

“How is that fair? You know everything about mine—evidently.”

Cupid smiled. “When Nicky gets older, you’ll understand.”

Dash sighed. “Well, I hope he has better luck with women than I have. Getting them was never my problem, but keeping a good one has always been a challenge.”

***

“Now I get why you sent him packing. What the hell is a pause?” Blix asked.

Vixen snorted as she shrugged. “I concluded it was just Dash’s bullshit way of saying he wanted to break up with me. He tried to deny it, but I saw where it was going. After all the work he did to charm me, suddenly he didn’t want us to see each other again until after Christmas. It was just a repeat of the past for me.”

“Seems strange for him to do something that drastic. Did something serious happen between you two?”

Vixen laughed dryly and studied the ceiling in her uncle’s office. She’d spent all day yesterday, all night, and all this morning trying to convince herself sleeping with Dash hadn’t been serious. It was going to take months… maybe even years… to forget what had been the best sexual experience of her life. Too bad it had to be with a jerk.

“What I think is important is apparently irrelevant. Nothing important happened by Dasher Sleigh’s standards, which is why he came to break up with me. There for a day or two I thought I might have been falling…”

Falling in love with him again?
Vixen found she couldn’t speak the truth aloud, so she let loose the sigh she’d been holding inside with the rest of her tension.

“The breakup wasn’t even about us, Uncle Blix. There’s not enough of an ‘us’ to merit a breakup. Dash’s visit was about his son. I knew that the moment he asked me if I’d read Nicky’s letter.”

“This is about Nicky? I thought the boy liked you.”

Vixen nodded. “Yes, the boy does like me. In fact, Dash broke up with me to keep Nicky from liking me too much. You see, Nicky wrote to Santa and asked for a new mom for Christmas. Dash found the idea of his son assuming I might fit the new mom role to be appalling enough to ask for…
a pause
.”

Blix sighed and shook his head. “Hell. Poor kid. Dash must be worried Nicky’s going to have more of those meltdowns he used to have. No wonder the man is acting stupid where you’re concerned. I’m sorry he hurt you. I’m sure that wasn’t his intention.”

“Good to hear I’m not the only one who thought Dash was being stupid,” Vixen declared, laughing a little.

Then she sighed as loudly as her Uncle Blix had.

“Whatever he intended, I can see why Dash is worried,” she admitted. “Which is the only reason I came to pick up the check from you myself instead of sending Ann. I think I have a way to fix Dash’s situation with Nicky. How crazy does that sound?”

“You broke up with the man, Vixen. Why do you care about his situation with his son?”

Vixen sighed again, unwilling to tell even her uncle how far down the happy path she had let herself skip.

“Let’s just say I’m thinking about this because I’m just as stupid as Dash. That’s close enough to the truth. However, I don’t want him to know I’m the fixer. I can’t afford to get any more involved with the man. But his son… I’m already involved. I’m the elf who swore to deliver it to the real Santa. I need your help to do it.”

“I suppose I would feel a similar responsibility if I was standing in your elf shoes. So what’s your plan?” Blix asked.

Vixen smiled… her first genuine one in a couple of days. “You’re better off not knowing all the details, but essentially I’m going to do exactly as I promised. And in the process of keeping my word, I will save Christmas for everyone… not that Dasher Sleigh will ever appreciate it.”

Blix chuckled. “Sounds like a plot for a holiday movie, but it’s certainly good to see you smiling. It doesn’t involve disposing of Dash’s dead body after we’re done, does it? I’m trying to date his mother. Might put a crimp in Cupid giving in to me.”

“No,” Vixen laughed, liking the look on her uncle’s face as he talked about Dash’s mother. “I only need you to drive the getaway car. And by the way… Dash wants you and Cupid to date. He told me so.”