Sweet Christmas Kisses (110 page)

“I’m sorry but I can’t find any plane reservation for your fiancé.”

“Oh no. Please try again.”

“I did the search twice. If you booked both reservations at the same time, I don’t understand why his booking is not showing.”

“I didn’t book them on the same day because Renée needed our passport information to get the boarding passes.” Julia bit her lip, hesitating. “Unfortunately, Clyde forgot to renew his passport on time and didn’t receive it until yesterday.” She huffed and shook her head. “He’s always so busy at the clinic. Anyway, I called Renée last night. She said she had trouble finding a ticket for him on the same flight but she’d continue to look.”

“I see.” Interesting. How could the idiot wait till the last minute to renew his passport? Wasn’t he eager to go on his own honeymoon with his gorgeous fiancée? “And now, there’s no ticket available to Barcelona.”

“Oh dear.” She clutched her scarf with nervous fingers. “I can’t fly on my own for my honeymoon.”

“Obviously not,” he answered in a reasonable tone, although he inwardly chuckled, thinking that the punishment fit the crime. If Clyde had forgotten he had a honeymoon coming, it would serve him right to be on a different flight than his bride.

But what about Julia? She didn’t deserve to start her marriage on the wrong foot or the wrong plane.

“Please do something to put my future husband in the same plane with me.” She grabbed his arm. Her warm fingers scorched his skin and sent a surge of desire to his belly.

Oh baby, I wish you could forget that gold digger
. Tony tossed her a glance. The frustration in her eyes melted his heart. His own knotted his insides.

“All right, let me call my mother, because frankly I don’t know much about her booking system.” He punched his mother’s number. As soon as she answered he explained the situation. “There are no seats available now. What do I do?”

“Upgrade her to first class and book him a ticket there. But make sure you explain the regulations about refunds as the first-class tickets are more than twice the price of economy class.”

“Thanks, Mom, I will. Take care.” He shut his phone and turned to Julia. “There are two tickets available in first class. I’ll send the reservations right away. You can’t get any refund after tonight if you change your mind.” He showed her the price. “It’s quite expensive. Do you want to call your fiancé and make sure he doesn’t mind the additional expense?”

“Don’t worry. Clyde is not the one paying for our honeymoon. He can’t afford it. Dad is offering us the trip and the cruise,” she added with a shrug.

“Your fiancé can’t afford it but...” Tony trailed his gaze on the huge diamond adorning her finger.

Julia laughed and waved her hand. “Oh no, Clyde didn’t buy it. Mom insisted it was the suitable ring for a doctor’s wife and Dad bought it.”

“Because you love that diamond so much, right?” Tony said with a piercing look, trying to evaluate and understand the pretty girl facing him. Evidently, she was quite spoiled by her parents.

“No, I hate the ring,” she said with a frown. “It’s too big, too heavy and too flashy. I would have been happy with a smaller one, but Clyde said he’ll buy me one in a few years, when his private clinic prospers. Anyway, who cares about rings? It’s the marriage that’s important. The feelings deep inside here.” She tapped her chest.

“Absolutely.” At least, Julia had her priorities in the right order and hadn’t let her father’s wealth spoil her. “Being loved by the right partner is all that counts.”

Did Clyde love her, or love her daddy’s money? Tony cringed as too many questions whirled in his mind.

What type of man would propose without an engagement ring? Maybe a man who forgot to renew his passport on time for his honeymoon and let someone else pay for that same romantic trip.

It was not up to Tony to judge or utter a word about his suspicions. Clutching his jaws tight to avoid saying anything wrong, he canceled Julia’s first ticket and printed the new package.

“If for any reason you change your mind, you have two hours to return the tickets. I close the store at eight.”

She took the folder from his hand and chuckled. “You can be sure I won’t change my mind about this trip. I’ve been to Europe but never on a cruise. Now I’m heading straight to Clyde’s office. He’s been working late this week. I want to surprise him with these and toast the beginning of our wedding celebration.” She waved her folder. “Thanks, Tony. You’re an excellent travel agent. Thank you so much.” She raised her head and kissed him on the cheek.

A feather-light kiss that seared his flesh.

He instantly held her shoulders and peered into her eyes. “I wish you all the happiness in the world, Julia. You deserve it.” He let her go before the temptation to enclose her in his arms overpowered his good judgment. Walking her to the door, he repeated, “Any return of tickets should be done tonight.” He held the door for her and let the night engulf her. “Goodbye, Julia.”

He’d known her for an hour, but he knew he would never forget her.

Would she be happy with Clyde?

In spite of the heavy rush hour traffic, Julia navigated the few miles between Main Street Plaza and Clyde’s office with a jubilant smile on her lips. She patted the envelope in her purse and glanced at the bags containing the champagne bottle and the chocolate bread, Clyde’s favorite.

Poor Clyde, he worked too hard, long hours every other night.
A doctor’s life is a busy
one
, he kept repeating when she complained they didn’t see each other enough. He needed some fun in his life. They both needed fun. In spite of all the envious comments her family and friends had showered on her, Julia hadn’t enjoyed her engagement. Clyde was always too busy to do anything with her. She hoped the honeymoon would take him away from work and teach him to reorganize his priorities.

To think she’d reminded Clyde at least three times to renew his passport. Thank God, the problem of his flight reservation had been solved thanks to the nice clerk at the travel agency. Such a good-looking man, so smart in his striped shirt and navy-blue tie. She’d bet her diamond he must have a lot of pretty girls vying for his attention.

She couldn’t miss noticing he was taller than Clyde, and broad shouldered, certainly not too busy to hit the gym regularly—unlike her fiancé. Her lips thinned in resentment, and then curled to one side as she remembered Tony sitting in front of his monitor. He certainly could use a haircut. His dark brown hair reached the bottom of his neck and a strand kept falling on his hazel eyes. She’d make sure she sent him a thank you card from Barcelona or Rome.

Julia stopped her BMW in the rear parking lot of the Health Center. Carefully holding her bags, she entered the three-story building and climbed the stairs to the Internal Medicine Department where a hygienic smell of antiseptics tickled her nose. The corridor leading to the physicians’ offices and examination rooms was deserted. By now most of the patients must have left.

An incongruous sound brought her to a halt. Some patient was screaming...or moaning. She listened carefully. The noise emanated from the examination room adjacent to Clyde’s office.

A woman’s voice. Was she in pain? No, she was calling, “Clyde, oh Clyde, no Clyde.”

Petrified, Julia dropped her bags on the floor and jogged to the examination room.

Heavy moans drifted to the silent corridor. Julia could bet it was Clyde’s voice.

Clyde moaning? Oh my God, he was having a heart attack...a week before their wedding. Poor Clyde, she’d told him a hundred times he was working too hard, making himself sick with all this overtime. Would she arrive on time to call 911 and save her future husband? Determined to give him mouth-to mouth resuscitation right away, she opened the door and froze in her tracks.

Her jaws slacked, her eyes rounded. He was already having a mouth-to mouth, given by his receptionist, Karen... on the carpet...and he was the one pumping on her chest and squeezing her breasts, and...

Beast, jerk, sleaze ball
. The words clogged Julia’s throat. They were so busy playing their doctor-patient game they hadn’t even heard her enter. His butt, naked and white, thrust in the woman lying under him.

Looking around for something to hurl at their heads, Julia noticed a stethoscope hanging on the wall. She grabbed it and whipped the delinquent rear-end with all her strength.

“Ouch,” Clyde grumbled and slouched on the woman.

“Again,” Karen shrieked.

“Here,” Julia shouted. “You want more and more and...” she said between gritted teeth while swatting the traitor.

He finally turned his head and yelled, “What the hell?” He leapt off the woman and scrambled for his pants. A sight that prompted Julia to swing the stethoscope one more time.

His eyes popped out and he ducked behind the examination table to avoid her whip. “Julia, are you crazy?”

“Not yet. I’m surprisingly calm considering I haven’t killed you yet, you, beast, jerk, sleaze ball,” she uttered with a lethal voice.

“It’s not what you think—” he spluttered as he zipped his trousers.

“The wedding is off, you dirty cheater.” Disgusted, she pulled at her ring and caught the greediness in Karen’s look. Julia slid it from her left hand to the small finger of her right hand.

“Hey, you can’t keep his ring if you broke your engagement.” The woman had gathered her top but forgotten to button it as she stared at Julia’s rock.

“His ring? Never got one. Not even a miniscule diamond. I don’t want to ever see you again,” she snapped at Clyde who still fumbled with his zipper. Adjusting the strap of her purse on her shoulder, she stepped out of the room and banged the door behind her.

“Julia, wait. Let me explain.” Clyde’s voice followed her as she dashed along the corridor.

“Explain what, you scum? The picture I saw was self-explanatory,” she yelled and kept going, turning onto the stairs.

 The tears she’d been holding in burst out in sobs. Yet, she took the steps two at a time, stumbling on the way. Without pausing to evaluate her broken heel, she hopped to her car, slid inside and revved the engine.

White flakes swirled on her windshield, the first snow of the year announcing Christmas. She zoomed out of the parking lot and hardly paid attention to the man waving his arms on the sidewalk. She almost yelled at him to go in. He might catch his death in his shirt. Did she really care now?

Her tears redoubled and obscured her vision but she couldn’t wait to get away from Clyde and go home. Home where?

She had no home of her own since she’d relinquished her fancy little apartment two weeks ago and moved back into the big family house in Wellesley. How could she explain to her parents that the wedding of the year that Mom had been dreaming of and carefully organizing was down the drain? How would Dad react to the waste of $200,000 non-refundable expenses?

Would they try to understand? They would, eventually, and they’d support her, but the first few minutes promised to be traumatic, hectic, and stressful, to say the least. She couldn’t go home right now. Not yet. She needed to compose herself.

Grabbing a tissue from her purse, she fingered some thick paper. Oh God, the envelope containing the cruise and plane tickets, her honeymoon package. The expensive tickets had to be returned right away. There was no need to waste more money because of that two-faced lecher.

Confusion, sadness, resentment, and anger twirled in her mind. A new bout of tears sprang to her eyes.

How often had he repeated he adored her? Granted, his kisses and caresses didn’t make the Earth move under her feet, but they had a great relationship. Or at least she thought so. Why did he cheat on her? How did he find her lacking?

Damn you, Clyde. She sniffled, made a U-turn and pressed on the accelerator to head toward the Main Street Plaza, hoping to reach the travel agency before the young man closed. The sports car skidded and ended up on the sidewalk. Julia screamed and clutched the steering wheel.

Thank God, the traffic had decreased to a minimum. There were no pedestrians around and no cars passing at that moment, but the storm had intensified and the snowflakes hindered her visibility.

Calm down, no need to cause an accident
. She opened the passenger window to draw in the cold, crisp air and inhaled the scent of winter that slowly soothed her wretched nerves. Blanking out her feelings, she maneuvered the car into the right lane and concentrated on her driving until she reached the travel agency. She parked beside the curb in front of the store. It was still lit.

What was she going to tell him? “I’m returning the package because I caught my ex-fiancé screwing his receptionist?”

She couldn’t say it. She couldn’t admit her life was a mess, her happiness shattered.

Big sobs raked her body and her forehead dropped on the wheel.

Why, Clyde? Why? 

The weather forecast had announced a snow storm for tonight. Tony still had ten minutes before closing time but he didn’t think anyone would venture out to reserve air tickets in this lousy weather. He switched off the Christmas lights decorating the Nativity display and the shop window, and walked to the front to pull the shades.

The headlights of a car attracted his attention, probably a last minute customer risking his safety to book a ticket. Tony turned on the display lights again and waited, but no one came out of the car. Intrigued he opened the door to peer outside and noticed the woman collapsed on the steering wheel.

Did he have an emergency on his hands? Grabbing his coat, he stepped out and strode to the driver’s side. He knocked on the window. “Ma’am, are you in pain? Should I call 911?” He already had his phone in his hand.

She raised her head.

“Dear Lord, Julia, what happened?” He opened her door and helped her out. His arm around her waist, he walked her to the store. Leaning against him, she sobbed. He caught a few words. “Clyde... awful... hate him.”

Tony sat her in one of the chairs facing the desk. “I’ll get you some hot tea to warm you up.”