Red Hot Christmas (7 page)

Thomas, one of the floor managers, was leaning against the railing, smoking. When he heard her approach, he turned and tossed his cigarette over the railing.

“Hey, out for some fresh air?” he asked leaning against the railing.

He was a fairly good looking man. His blond hair was slicked back, and she could see snowflakes landing on his head and quickly melting.

“Yeah, you never realize how hot it is in there until you step outside.” She pulled her jacket closer and tucked her glove less hands in her pockets. Looking out over the choppy ocean, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes at the wonderful freshness. “In Portland you don't get this.”

“What?” he asked. She could hear laughter in his voice, and when she opened her eyes, she realized he was staring at her.

“The freshness of it all.” She smiled at him. “Don't get me wrong, it's not like Portland is rolling in smog. It's just that I didn't get to feel the wholesomeness of it all until I came here. Does that make sense?” She laughed at herself.

He chuckled and nodded. “I felt the same way almost eight years ago when I came here.” He turned and looked out over the water. “There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not thankful that I came here.”

“Where did you come from?” It sounded funny and she realized it the second she said it. Her already flushed face turned even redder.

He chuckled and looked over at her. “Originally, New York. But we bounced around a lot. My father is still pretty high up in the military command. The last I checked, he was stationed in Fort Worth. I had always wanted to find that place, that one special town I could call my own.” He smiled, “It was easy to spot when I drove through. I walked into the restaurant that same day and Iian hired me. It helped that my dad had sent me to a special school that taught sign language.”

“Oh, you know sign language? I've been trying to teach myself a few phrases. I purchased a book and everything.”

“Not working well?”

“No.” She pulled her hands out of her jacket and crossed her arms. “I can't believe how hard it is to mimic simple drawings.”

“If you want, I can tutor you.” He almost laughed at the face she made. “No, I'm not hitting on you. I'm actually in a relationship right now and don't want to do anything to upset him.”

Her chin almost dropped; she was lucky she'd caught it in time. She usually had a pretty good gaydar, but this one had jumped out of nowhere. He chuckled again.

“I know, I know. I don't come off as the type.” He smiled again.

“Well, personally, I have no problems with it at all, just so you know.” She walked over and leaned closer to him. “Now I feel ridiculous for almost having a crush on you.” She smiled.

“Well,” he winked. “Almost?” He laughed as she punched him lightly on the shoulder.

By the end of her shift, her feet hurt, her hair smelled like burnt food, and she felt like she had a layer of grease all over her body. Her mind was focused on one thing and one thing only: getting home and taking a hot bath.

When she started her Jeep, the cold air blowing from her heater hit her full blast. She'd forgotten to turn it off, and she knew that it would take almost two minutes to get warmed up.

When she drove into the parking lot outside her apartment, the snow was almost blinding. She made a run for the door and stopped dead when she noticed Luke's truck in front of her steps. Looking around, she saw that the store lights were all out, since they had closed a few hours earlier. She approached the truck and saw Luke in the driver’s seat. His head was leaned against the foggy window, and he looked like he fast asleep.

L
uke jumped when Amber knocked on his car window. She almost laughed, but then she got a look at his eyes and saw the weariness in his face. He ran his hands through his hair and opened his door and slowly got out. When he stood next to her, she realized he looked even more tired than she'd assumed.

“What's wrong? You look like you could use a good night’s sleep.”

“Yeah,” he rubbed his hands over his neck and looked up at the snow. “Any chance I could come in for a few minutes? It's kinda chilly out here.”

“Really?” She gauged him and after a second’s hesitation, realized he wasn't trying to use this as an opportunity to hit on her. He looked too tired and beat down for that right at the moment.

“Sure, I'll make us some hot chocolate.” He followed her quietly up the outside stairs. When they entered her apartment, she rushed over to turn up the thermostat. “This place takes less time to heat than my Jeep.” She tossed her keys down in the bowl by the door and hung her jacket up on the coat rack. She turned to look at him and saw that he stood just inside the door. He hadn't removed his coat and looked like he had no intention of doing so. “Want me to take your coat?” she hinted.

“Huh? Oh, sure.” He removed his jacket and continued to stand in the same spot. “You finished unpacking. The place looks good.”

She laughed. “How can you tell? I haven't turned on a light yet.” Hanging his jacket up next to hers, she walked over and flipped on the kitchen lights. The room was flooded with warm light.

“Yeah, looks nice,” he said from his spot at the door.

“Are you going to come all the way in or stand by the door all night?” She turned and walked into the small kitchen to start heating the water. “Make yourself at home,” she called out as she ran the water into the kettle. She listened, but couldn't hear anything from the next room.

When she walked into the living room a few minutes later while she waited for the water to boil and saw him standing by her windows, looking out at the snow and the town.

“It's a great town.” She stood beside him.

“Yeah. I didn't always think so.” His hands were in his jean pockets, and he was wearing his MIT sweatshirt.

“Oh yeah?” She turned and gave him her full attention. “Why?” she asked when he didn't say anything further.

He turned and looked at her, then ran his hands over his face and walked over to the couch and sat down. “When I was eight I was in a bad car accident that killed both of my parents.” She gasped and walked over to sit next to him. “It took me a while to learn how to walk again. I'd broken both my legs and my collar bone. But the doctors got me back on my feet and shipped me off to some grandparents I'd never met. I was angry that first year. Angry that I'd lived while my parents had died. I guess I took it pretty hard and since my grandparents were the only people around, I ended up taking it out on them. But after a year of very hard labor helping my grandfather rebuild half the house, the anger finally settled down inside me.”

She sat there and listened to his story, wondering what he was getting at, not knowing if she should just come right out and ask him what was wrong. But then the kettle whistled, and she went and made them hot chocolate. When she came back in, he hadn't moved a muscle.

After taking a sip, he set it down on her coaster and continued with his story.

“Actually, it was thanks to Iian and some of my other buddies that I finally started liking this place.” He chuckled. “I was really angry that the school didn't have a soccer team at the time. After school one day I spotted a few guys playing basketball, and got even madder. I remember walking over there thinking basketball was a wussy sport, and I'm sure I mouthed off a lot to the boys until, finally, they challenged me.” He laughed. “Naturally, I lost. I ended up walking home with a fat lip and a loose jaw thanks to how rough the other boys played.” He smiled over at her, and for the first time that night, she saw a sparkle in his eyes. “They still play that rough. Anyway, when I'd gotten home, my gran was there with a big batch of her brownies and it finally felt like home.”

She reached over and took his hand. “She seems like a wonderful woman. Luke, is something wrong with your grandmother?”

He looked down at their joined hands and nodded. “They didn't think it was the cancer coming back. All the blood work looked good, at first. But then they did a scan today.” He closed his eyes, and she could tell it was bad.

“I'm so sorry.” She held his hand and wished she could take a little of his pain away.

“They give her two months. That's it. That's all the time I have left with the most wonderful woman I've ever known.”

She didn't realize a tear had escaped her eye until he reached up and wiped it away with his thumb.

“I'm sorry. After dropping her back off at home, I just meant to go for a drive. Some of her friends were at the house and they were going to stay with her. Most likely some of them will live there for the next few months until...” He shook his head. “I drove up to the national park, a place I used to go that first year, when I was still mad. I thought that the anger would come back, like it did when my parents died, but instead I just felt... Anyway, instead of driving home, I ended up here.”

“When was the last time you had a full night’s sleep?”

He shook his head. “Aaron's been hounding me about it as well. I know I have to get my sleep. I plan on trying to get a full night of it after I leave here.”

He picked up his cup and drank the rest of the lukewarm hot chocolate in one gulp.

“I'm sorry to come over and dump on you like this. I guess I just needed a new ear. Most of my buddies have wives that would kill me if I showed up at their door at…” he looked at his watch and whistled. “Wow, I guess it's later than I thought. What are you doing coming home this late?”

“I closed tonight. It's not that bad. When I lived in Portland, I usually got home when the sun was coming up.”

He stood quickly. “Listen, I'm sure you want to get some rest yourself. Thank you for the hot chocolate and for listening to me ramble.”

She stood and followed him to the door. When he opened it and started to walk out without his jacket, she pulled on his arm. “Luke?” He stopped and looked over his shoulder at her. The snow was falling in the background, the street light haloed around his head and for a second, she lost her train of thought. He was beautiful, and knowing that his heart was breaking for an old woman made him even more so.

She took two steps and walked right into his arms, then stood on her toes and kissed his soft mouth.

At that moment she didn't care that he was a man-child, or most likely going to be another big mistake in her ever growing list of mistakes. The only thing on her mind was the feel of his lips and the sexy masculine smell of him. His hands went to her hips, holding her steady. Then she pulled away and stepped back. Blinking a few times, she remembered her train of thought.

“You don't want to leave without your coat.” Walking over, she took it off the hook and handed it to him.

He smiled down at it. “If that's the way you remind people, I'll make sure to leave stuff here all the time.”

She smiled. “Go home.” She pushed him playfully out the door. “Get some rest. Tell your grandmother I'll be praying for her.” His smile faded a little. “If you need anything, let me know.”

He put on his jacket and nodded, then disappeared into the dark as the snow silently fell.

The next few days were tough on Luke. His grandmother insisted that they continue with all their holiday arrangements, so he spent all day Saturday arranging and hanging Halloween decorations. It was almost two weeks away and every house on the block already looked ready to spook kids for that one night. The snow had come and gone in two days, leaving everything wet and muddy. He didn't mind, since his truck was built for mudding, another pastime he and Iian enjoyed together. This year, he doubted he'd take any time to head to the hills or the beach to enjoy the fun.

He stayed close to his gran's house, even though he'd been right and there were currently three women staying in the guest rooms. The
Henderson sisters—Annie, Amber, and Andrea—looked exactly the same and were too hard for him to tell apart. The only one he could sometimes make out was Annie, since she was the shortest and thinnest of the three. He had no clue how to tell the other two apart. He did everything he could to avoid getting in their way, but he was determined to stick out the next few months with his gran. He wanted to be there for her; he needed to be there for her.

He'd texted Iian and tried to back out of the weekly game, only to have Aaron show up on his door step an hour later. The doctor had the stern face down pat.

“What's this all about?” Aaron stood under the deck as the rain pelted down. Luke could barely hear him, so he invited him inside, trying to usher him into the front room so his gran wouldn't hear.

“I'm going to miss the games for the next few months. I think it's best if I stay close to home.”

“Luke, you can't be here all the time. You need to get out, be with your friends.”

“What I need is to be here for the one woman who gave up everything to take care of me.”

“We both know that there is a schedule going around for the town women to sit with your grandmother. It's not like she's alone.”

“She needs me right now. I can't just walk away from her.”

“You need your own space, some time to blow off some steam.”

“What I need is to be left alone.”

He didn't mean to raise his voice, but he must have been louder than he'd thought. His grandmother walked into the room, her hands on her hips.

“What are you two arguing about?”

Both men turned to the frail woman, standing in the door. “Nothing.” Their heads hung and their eyes were on their shoes.

“Luke?” She stood there quietly until he looked up and into her eyes.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“You'd better run along, or you'll be late for your game. Your gym bag is just inside the laundry room.” She turned to Aaron, efficiently dismissing Luke. “Aaron, how's that wife of yours. When is she due again?”

Luke could hear them chatting as he went to retrieve his bag and basketball shoes. How had he been so lucky as to have a grandmother like that?