Twelve Days of Christmas

  Over dinner she’d opened up to him for the first time and he had with her as well. She hadn’t given a lot of detail about what had happened with her college sweetheart, but he could tell the breakup had deeply affected her. By her own admission, she hadn’t been in a serious relationship since Dylan.

  Cain could appreciate that. He’d been burned himself. Burned badly enough to be leery of women in general, which was one reason he’d been openly suspicious of Julia and her attentions. No one was that happy or friendly without wanting something in return. No one in his experience, anyway. He’d been sure it was all a sick joke. But when he’d asked the barista about her, Cain had been assured this was no act with Julia.

  To his credit, Cain had resisted as best he could, but it was as if she were the sun, spreading her glow and warmth over him. Without him ever meaning for it to happen, he found himself caught up in the centrifugal force that was Julia. He’d been swept up by the happiness he felt when he was with her, the feeling of belonging, which was something he hadn’t felt in a good long while. It was like an elixir he was fast coming to crave.

  His change of heart started when he’d wrongly accused her of stalking him. In retrospect, he’d felt like a bloody fool. When she’d sat down at the piano bench with that choir group he’d nearly groaned out loud. She’d been furious with him and rightly so, but she’d kept her cool. He had to admire the way she’d handled herself.

  Later, when he’d come down with the flu, she’d been thoughtful and kind. A smile came when he remembered her marching into his apartment, yellow rubber gloves and bucket in hand. That woman was something else…

  Cain wasn’t much of a Christmas person, never had been. There was only his grandfather and him, and they didn’t exchange gifts. For the first time in memory, he was looking forward to Christmas because he had Julia to share the holiday with, and having her in his life made all the difference in the world.

  Oh yes, he was falling for her.

  Cain fell asleep with a smile on his face.

  —

  The entire night Julia felt like she was floating on a dream. She slept deep and woke to her alarm, her heart full of Cain. She could barely wait to see him, barely wait to look into his eyes again, to discover if the spark, that happiness she saw in him, was real and true. If she’d noticed a difference, perhaps his grandfather had as well.

  Rushing through her morning ritual, she didn’t have time to check her blog for anything more than statistics. Her readership had grown to numbers that shocked her, doubling almost overnight.

  Forty thousand hits and more than a thousand shares. The comments went on for pages. The temptation to stop and read a few of the shorter ones was nearly irresistible. Unfortunately, she had a toothbrush sticking out of the corner of her mouth and didn’t have a minute to waste if she was going to meet Cain at the agreed-upon time.

  The weather threatened snow, which would be perfect for the season. Wonderful. But snow would make it a nightmare to travel into the heart of the city. Despite what the country seemed to believe regarding the Pacific Northwest, Seattle didn’t receive a large amount of snowfall. Maybe once or twice a winter. Being on Puget Sound, temperatures rarely dipped below freezing.

  On the off chance there was snow, Julia reached for her knee-high boots. She loved them and had waited until there was a price reduction before she made the purchase. The cashmere scarf Cain bought her was tucked around her neck. This was a special gift she would long treasure, and for more than the quality. Cain had surprised her with his thoughtfulness, making sure she was warm and protected against the elements.

  —

  Phil, the barista, greeted Julia and Cain when it came their turn to place an order at Starbucks. He looked from Julia to Cain and then he winked at her. “I see you two have settled your differences.”

  Cain frowned at the other man. “Can we just get our coffee without the commentary?”

  “Cain,” she chastised, linking her arm around his. “Be nice.”

  He continued to glare at the other man. “This is as nice as I get in the mornings.”

  “Grumble, grumble, grumble,” she muttered under her breath, but beneath it all she was smiling.

  She claimed a small table while Cain waited for their coffee order to come up. Carrying her latte and his coffee, he joined her a few minutes later, slipping into the chair across from her. His gaze fell on the scarf and she could see he was pleased she was wearing it.

  “I heard there’s a threat of snow today,” she said conversationally as she tasted the peppermint and mocha. It was delicious and exactly the right temperature.

  He took a drink from his cup and savored the caffeine before he commented. “What have you got going tonight?”

  “Practice with the kids at the Boys and Girls Club.” She reminded him they were the reason she couldn’t have dinner with him.

  He held on to the cup with both hands and held her gaze. “Is Jeremy one of the kids?”

  “No, he’s the adult leader.”

  Cain’s face tightened. “You and him an item?”

  Julia toyed with the idea of purposely making him jealous and quickly decided against it. Cain wouldn’t appreciate her sense of humor, especially in the morning. Besides, it would have been childish. “We used to be. These days we’re nothing more than friends.”

  “He feel that way, too?”

  “Stop with the inquisition. I dated Jeremy earlier in the year. He’s a great guy. He’s got a big heart for kids and…”

  Cain held up his hand, stopping her. “I don’t want to listen to a litany of his virtues, Julia.”

  “Okay.” She took another sip of her drink. “Trust me, there’s no need to be jealous. It’s Christmas and I’m doing him a favor, helping with the kids program and…” She paused as an idea came to her.

  “And…?” Cain asked.

  “Come with me tonight,” she blurted out excitedly, warming to the idea. She didn’t know why she hadn’t thought of this earlier. “I have a couple errands to run after work and I can meet you at the club at seven.”

  “Why would I want to do that?”

  “So you can meet Jeremy, for one. And afterward you can walk me home. Maybe it’ll be snowing.” That would be perfect. And romantic. She could picture the two of them arm in arm, strolling through the falling snow. The image was enough to make her want to smile and pray for snow, no matter how much of a hassle the aftermath would be.

  Cain’s head snapped up. “You walk back to the apartment from the club? Alone?”

  “It’s only a few blocks. The neighborhood’s safe.”

  “A woman alone at night?” He didn’t bother to hide his displeasure. “I don’t think so.”

  “Honestly, what is it with you two?” Julia didn’t understand it. The club was only a handful of blocks from her apartment, and businesses lined both sides of the street so the entire way was well lit.

  “Two? Who else is worrying about you?”

  “Jeremy. He doesn’t like me walking home alone, either.” It might not have been a good idea to mention Jeremy’s name again, but if it got Cain to consider coming to the center, then it was worth his darkening frown. “Are you going to meet me or not?”

  “I’ll be there if for no other reason than to make sure you get home safely.”

  He didn’t sound overly happy about it.

  “What time do you think you’ll be finished?” he asked.

  “Eight or so.”

  He set his cup down and stood.

  Julia followed. Something was wrong, and it was more than the fact that Cain wasn’t a morning person. She grabbed hold of his coat sleeve as he started toward the exit. “Cain, what’s the matter?”

  He went still and his gaze softened when he met her eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “You’re in a bad mood. Did I do something?”

  He stilled. “As a matter of fact, you did.”

  Her heart raced, fearing that he’d found out about her
blog. Eventually she’d need to tell him. She dreaded it and wanted to put it off until after Christmas. Then and only then would she reveal what she’d done and how she’d used him. Until that time she’d pray with every iota of faith she possessed that he wouldn’t be offended.

  He held her gaze for a long moment. “You want to know what?”

  “Yes.” It felt as if her heart was in her throat, her pulse pounding in a loud staccato beat, making it hard for her to breathe normally.

  “You made me care about you,” he admitted.

  “Is that a bad thing?” Surely he realized she shared his feelings. She’d come to care about him, too. A lot.

  “I promised myself that I wouldn’t let that happen again and here I am disliking a man I’ve never met because I don’t want anyone else feeling about you the way I do.”

  “You don’t?” she asked, sighing with the question. He said the most beautiful things and didn’t even seem to know it.

  He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. “I don’t know what this is, Julia.”

  “This?”

  “Whatever this is between us. I have to tell you not only is it unfamiliar, it’s unnerving.”

  Her drink forgotten, Julia watched him closely, her heart in her eyes. It took restraint not to leap up, hurl her arms around his neck, and confess she felt the same way.

  “I can’t sleep, thinking about you,” he said, his voice gruff and impatient. “You were on my mind when I finally went to sleep last night, and then this morning you were the first thing I thought about when the alarm went off. I couldn’t wait to see you, to sit and have coffee with you, and I’m already worrying how long it will be until I have a chance to be with you again.”

  No one had ever said anything more romantic to her, and she pressed her hand over her heart.

  “Almost overnight, I find that you’ve invaded every corner of my well-protected world,” he continued. “I don’t like it. I don’t want to need you and I find that I do and it unsettles me.”

  “I’m unsettled, too,” she told him. “I never thought I’d feel this way, either.” Especially about him. Only a few days earlier she’d barely been able to tolerate being in the same elevator with him.

  To her disappointment, the bus pulled to a stop out front of Starbucks and she groaned. “I have to go, otherwise I’ll be late for work.”

  “Go,” he said impatiently, as if eager to be rid of her, as if sending her on her way would somehow help.

  Julia couldn’t do it.

  “No,” she said, making a sudden decision. “I don’t care; I’ll be late. This is important. You’re important.”

  “Julia, go. It’s fine. We’ll talk later.”

  She hesitated and noticed the line at the bus stop was getting short. “I’ll go if you kiss me.”

  He stiffened and shook his head. “Not in this lifetime. I don’t do PDAs.”

  “Just shut up and kiss me,” she demanded, grabbing his hand and leading him toward the bus stop.

  “Julia…”

  “Are you going to stand here and argue with me so I miss the bus, am late for work, get fired, and go on welfare?”

  He grinned and then his gaze softened as he cupped the side of her face. As if drawn by a will greater than his own, he leaned down and gently pressed his lips over hers. “Satisfied?” he asked as he released her.

  “No, but it should be enough to carry me until tonight.”

  The bus was about to close its doors when she jumped up onto the step, turned, and waved to Cain. “I’ll text you later,” she called out after him.

  Looking disgruntled, he shook his head as if their kiss had punctuated everything he’d just said.

  —

  Ten minutes into her lunch break, Julia was too excited to sit still. She grabbed her phone and sent Cain a text. Call me ASAP.

  She didn’t have long to wait. Her phone rang within seconds of sending him the text.

  “What happened?” He sounded breathless, as if he’d raced up three flights of stairs. “Are you okay?”

  “Better than okay,” she blurted out, clenching her fist against her front. “Oh Cain, the most wonderful, exciting thing has happened and I had to tell you. I didn’t mean for you to think anything was wrong, but I couldn’t text this, I just couldn’t. I needed to hear the sound of your voice.”

  “Tell me what?”

  She needed to tiptoe around this carefully, not revealing too much. She definitely couldn’t mention the contest or the blog. “I applied for a social media job, and, Cain, I got a call this morning and I was awarded the position. I’m so excited I could just scream. This is what I’ve worked so hard for all this time, and now it’s a reality.”

  He chuckled at her joy and excitement. “Congratulations, sweetheart.”

  Sweetheart?

  She froze, her breath trapped in her lungs. “Did you just call me sweetheart?”

  “Did I?”

  He seemed surprised, but she knew it was a ruse.

  “You can’t say stuff like that over the phone,” she told him. “It’s against all the laws of love and life.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Everyone knows this,” she insisted, too happy to care. “It’s like this unwritten rule. When you say something romantic and beautiful, it has to be said to the woman when you’re face-to-face.”

  “Am I supposed to apologize now?”

  “No, never. What you need to do is say it again, multiple times, but only when we’re together. Promise me you will.”

  “If you insist.”

  “I’m serious, Cain.”

  “Okay, fine, I promise. Now go back to the bit about the job. When do you start?”

  “Almost right away. I need to give my two weeks’ notice and then I should be able to start right after the first of the year. I’m so happy. Do you know how long I’ve waited for this?” She had Cain to thank, but she couldn’t tell him now. Not yet but soon.

  “I’m happy for you, baby.”

  OMG. “There, you did it again. You called me baby. Stop, please stop; otherwise, I might do something really foolish, like cry or shout or act completely out of character. A person can only hold so much happiness inside them at a time.”

  “If I was with you now I’d kiss you senseless.”

  “You would?” It felt as if her heart was melting; her knees were already weak. She hadn’t been kidding when she said she could only take so much happiness at a time.

  “You have no idea, do you?”

  She could tell he was serious by the timbre of his voice.

  “Yeah,” she answered, sobering herself. “I think I do.” Cain was simply stating the very things she was feeling. She could barely wait for that evening when she saw him.

  “Be ready tonight,” she said. “I’m going to make you say everything all over again. You must. It’s required in order to right the universe.”

  “Then, by all means, we can’t have the universe spinning out of control.”

  Julia didn’t know if she could wait that long. “Maybe you could meet me at Manor House.”

  Oops, that was a mistake. He wasn’t supposed to know that she’d been secretly visiting his grandfather.

  “Manor House? What are you doing there? Is there another concert?”

  Exhaling a deep breath, Julia sat down and leaned forward, pressing her elbows against her knees. “No. I…I have a small confession to make.”

  “Julia…?” The hesitation in his voice rocked her.

  “It’s nothing bad, I promise.”

  “Let me be the judge of that.”

  She squeezed her eyes closed. “I met your grandfather.”

  Her words were followed with a hollow silence. She counted to twenty before Cain spoke again.

  “When did you meet Bernie?”

  She might as well ease him into the truth. “Shortly after the concert.”

  “How?”

  “Can we talk about this later?”


  “No.”

  “All right, full confession: I saw the two of you together at the concert and I figured you must be related, so I went to visit him. Actually, I’ve been to see him twice.”

  “Why?”

  How she wished he’d do more than ask her one-word questions. “Are you angry?”

  He repeated the question. “Why?”

  “Because I wanted to know more about you. Bernie’s great. I brought him the cookies you refused. He claimed they were his favorite, but I think I could have baked just about any kind and it would have been his favorite.”

  “You bribed him with cookies?”

  “Bribe might be too strong a word.” She cleared her throat when she realized her voice had dropped to little more than a whisper. “We played cribbage. You have a wonderful grandfather; I like him, Cain. We were going to surprise you, but I guess I ruined that.”

  “You invited him to have Christmas dinner with you, didn’t you?”

  “Yes. You’re included.”

  “That was the surprise he’s been teasing me about. You’re the surprise?”

  “Yup. That would be me,” she said, raising her voice an entire octave.

  “Now you’re telling me visiting Bernie was the errand you had to run after work?”

  She was surprised he remembered her mentioning that. “Yes.”

  “He’s quite taken with you.”

  “Your grandfather told you about me?” Apparently, she wasn’t the only one keeping secrets.

  “Not specifically. Bernie said he met a lady friend who invited him to Christmas dinner. Didn’t include me. He was adamant I should find my own sweetheart.”

  “And you did, and before you argue, there’s no reneging because you’ve already called me your sweetheart once today. You can’t take it back. I won’t let you.”

  “I won’t renege.”

  “Good. Please don’t be upset with me.”

  “Going behind my back doesn’t sit well with me, Julia, but I’m willing to let this slide, seeing that you’ve won over my grandfather.”

  “Did I win you over, too?” she asked in low tones.