Sweet Christmas Kisses (158 page)

“How are things going with the Christmas Village?” her mother asked.

“Certainly nothing that could be described as relaxing,” Noelle said with a quiet laugh. “I don’t know how you and Dad did it all these years.”

“Your father made everything easy. Working with him never seemed like work.”

Whereas working with Michael was like wrapping her entire body in live wire. Nothing easy about how his kiss affected her senses.

“From all accounts, Michael Campbell has made himself indispensable,” her mother said.

Noelle flinched, as if her fevered desires had somehow transferred across the kitchen. She hoped her mother couldn’t read minds. Rose Robinson would be horrified if she sensed the heated direction of Noelle’s thoughts.

“He’s been wonderful,” Noelle said, keeping her voice free of any expression.

And sexy and distracting and enthralling.

“Is he a good kisser?”

The plate in Noelle’s hand clattered against the sink basin like a gunshot. She spun around. “What?”

“Nothing goes unnoticed in this neighborhood,” her mother said, arching a brow. “Phyllis Horton from next door called last night because she saw someone on the roof and thought it might be a burglar.”

“Why would anyone climb up on the roof to break into the house?” Noelle asked, distracted for the moment from the horror of knowing an old woman had spied on her.

“Who knows? Phyllis is an old woman, and her eyesight isn’t the best. She did figure out it was you up there. She also recognized Michael Campbell coming to the rescue and then unleashing a kiss hot enough to make a damsel swoon… her words not mine.”

A nice hole would be wonderful about now.

“Unleashing a kiss…” Noelle’s cheeks flamed hot enough to light a match.

“Mrs. Horton doesn’t go out much anymore, so she gets her entertainment from reading lurid romance novels and looking out the window to see what the neighbors are doing. You two proved to be quite entertaining last night.”

Noelle let out a pain-filled groan and buried her face in her hands.

“You’re lucky Mrs. Horton was the only one to see you,” her mother said. “She may love to spy, but she abhors gossip. Otherwise everyone in town would know.”

“Kill me now.”

“So you really did kiss Doug’s brother?” her mother asked.

The barb struck her in the chest, robbing Noelle of breath. “Don’t say it like that. Like I’m in an episode of a soap opera. It wasn’t… we’re not involved. It just happened.”

“You don’t have feelings for him? It was what? Loneliness? Lingering heartbreak over Doug? Fear over being stuck on the roof? I know how you are about heights.”

“I don’t know anything where Michael is concerned,” Noelle said, her voice rising on a thin wail. “One minute we were indifferent friends, and the next I wanted to jump him. I can’t be falling for him. It’s crazy and wrong and such bad timing.”

“Well, I hope for your sake it was a moment of vulnerability because I’m not sure you’re ready to handle the kind of complications a relationship with Doug’s brother would bring.”

“What do you mean?” Noelle couldn’t help but ask. “Setting aside the family issue, what’s the problem? We’re adults and neither of us are in a relationship. He’s a good man. The kind of man you should want for me.”

“It’s not his character I question,” her mother said. “You can’t just set aside the family issue, honey. Family is the
entire
issue.”

“You can’t hate all of them because of what Doug did. Come on.”

“It’s not
our
family at issue. I’m sure we could accept Michael, but the Campbells…”

Her mother’s voice trailed off, her brows knit together with concern.

“You think
they
would object to
me
? Like I’m not good enough for Michael?” Noelle asked, stung to even think about such a notion.

“No dear, that’s not what I meant,” her mother said, softening her voice as if trying to reason with a toddler. “It’s just that they’ve already lost one son over what happened.”

“Doug isn’t dead,” she bit out in frustration. “He and his wife are perfectly fine.”

“He may be alive, but he’s also living in exile.”

“Exile?” Noelle let out a sharp bark of laughter. “What century are we living in?”

“It doesn’t matter if we live in modern times. Doug hasn’t been able to come home since he ran away from your wedding. Perhaps he’s been too embarrassed or maybe he’s trying to be sensitive to your feelings.”

“If he cared about my feelings, he never would have waited until I’d already gone to the church to tell me he’d changed his mind.”

Rose Robinson clenched her mouth. “The reason doesn’t matter. I’m sure it doesn’t to the Campbells. All they know is they haven’t seen their son since. Who knows if Doug will ever feel comfortable returning? I would be devastated if my child felt he or she could never come home. And you are the reason he can’t.”

“You think they blame me?” The pain of thinking the Campbells might hate her tore a hole in Noelle’s heart. They’d almost been her in-laws. She’d loved them as much as her own parents.

Of course, the relationship had cooled over the last year. How could it not, when Janine Campbell could barely look Noelle in the eye? At first she’d imagined Mrs. Campbell was too ashamed, but what if embarrassment had turned into resentment?

“Of course you don’t have to worry about their reaction since, as you said, you can’t be falling for Michael,” her mother said, a brow quirked as if questioning the veracity of Noelle’s claim.

Shaken to her core, Noelle couldn’t come up with a reply. Instead, she whirled to face the sink again.

Without another word, Noelle finished the dishes in record time.

Her mother let out a deep sigh. “Noelle? Are you all right, dear?”

“I’m fine.”

“I hope I didn’t upset you too much,” she said. “You’ve been through so much, and I don’t want you to get hurt again.”

“It’s okay, Mom. There’s nothing to worry about.”

She headed for the door.

“Where are you going?”

“I have to get to the store and then do the set up at the Christmas Village. I’ll see you later. Don’t wait up.”

Blindly, she snatched her coat out of the closet and escaped outside. For a moment, she leaned against the door. She took several deep breaths and faced a new, devastating reality that there could never be a chance to explore her developing feelings for Michael.

Michael was on his hands and knees underneath his parents’ Christmas tree attempting to plug the light into the extension cord when his mother spoke.

“I received an interesting call last night,” she said.

As an opening gambit, it left him with a million possibilities. A fight amongst family members. An old friend with bad news. An old friend with good news. Gossip was a possibility. Someone was always up to something, and there were plenty of people who lived to spread the word.

“Yeah…” A neutral, he was curious but not so curious that he wanted to get into a long discussion about some obscure relative’s painful bunions.

“It was our neighbor across the street. You remember Phyllis Horton?” 

Michael froze. He didn’t trust his mother’s quiet tone. Growing up, he and his brother hadn’t feared yelling. Two active boys had earned plenty of raised voices. No, they’d learned to recognize that a soft, reasoning timber meant someone was about to die.

“Sure,” he said, keeping his own voice low. He plugged in the lights and jumped to his feet. If he had to go to his grave, he wanted to face the execution like a man. Or at least see the deathblow coming.

“It seems you were over at the Robinsons’ house last night,” his mother said.

Michael bit back the curse that sprang to his lips. He’d forgotten about the neighborhood watchwoman.

“I trust Noelle made if off the roof all right.”

Okay, so his mother was going to drag the inquisition out. “You must know she did. I’m sure Mrs. Horton reported that part.”

“Oh, she told me everything.”

“Of course she did.”

They stared at each other, his mom waiting for an explanation and Michael trying to come up with one. Even a day later, he couldn’t have said why he’d kissed Noelle. Or why he wanted to do it again.

“You kissed her.”

He flinched at the jab delivered with the words. Michael had wondered what his family might think of him becoming involved with Noelle, and now he had an answer.

“Do you have feelings for her?” his mother asked. “Is it more than a stolen kiss?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Yet… so you’re…” She closed her eyes. “Oh, honey.”

“Mom, what is so bad? You like Noelle.”

“Of course I do. She’s a wonderful girl. I would’ve loved to have her as a daughter-in-law. But now…”

“Now what?”

“Our family is just beginning to recover,” his mother said. “I’m very close to convincing Doug to come home after Christmas.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s my son,” she said, anguish laced through every word.

Michael didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t thought about what his parents must have been feeling all this time. “Mom…”

“Nicky Robinson is off fighting in a war clear across the globe,” she said, gesturing toward the Robinsons’ house. “They get to celebrate him. My son’s name can’t ever be mentioned with pride. He can’t be mentioned at all in certain circles.”

“That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?” Michael said. “Doug is feeling ashamed, and doesn’t want to face his guilt.”

His little brother had always avoided the consequences of his actions. Michael had gotten Doug out of more scrapes than his parents could imagine. Those they’d found out about had often been dismissed as silly boyhood pranks. Perhaps if his parents had taken a harder line with Doug, he might not have skipped town on his wedding day, leaving only a note to explain the inexcusable.

Michael shook his head. He didn’t want to travel down the road of old resentments.

“Exactly,” his mother said. “He doesn’t want to cause Noelle more pain. He’s tried to be sensitive.”

That wasn’t what Michael had meant at all, but he didn’t try to argue. “What does Doug have to do with what happened last night?”

“Noelle is planning to leave Covington Falls. At least she was before her father’s heart attack.”

Michael stared at her in amazement. “You want Noelle to move away?”

“Don’t look at me like that,” she said in exasperation. “It’s not like I want her banished from the kingdom. But if she does move, then Doug might feel more comfortable coming home.”

“He won’t have to face Noelle if she’s gone,” Michael concluded. “We wouldn’t want poor Doug to ever experience hardship, I guess.”

“Honey, you don’t understand how hard this has been on him.”

“Hard on him?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What about Noelle? Look at what she’s been through because of Doug?”

“Then perhaps it’s best for Noelle if she does go. In a new city she’ll have a chance to heal and forget. She’ll have a chance to find love again, with the right person this time.”

Everything in Michael’s being clenched at the thought of Noelle with anyone else.

“What if it’s best for everyone if Noelle Robinson was out of the picture?” she asked.

“Everyone?” Michael narrowed his eyes at her. “You mean me?”

“I’m not a fool, son,” his mother said, not at all intimidated. “I didn’t need Phyllis Horton to tell me something was going on. She only confirmed what I’d suspected.”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t notice how much time you’ve been spending with Noelle? I doubt you’d be so involved if you weren’t interested. No man goes to such lengths to be helpful if he doesn’t want something out of it.”

“Mom!” Thirty-one years old and his mother could make him feel like a horny teenage boy. “It’s not like that.”

“I should hope not, son. I raised you right, but given time and proximity, it could be like that.”

“What if I did have feelings for Noelle?” he asked. “What if—”

What if I could love her?

“Do you think she’d ever start a relationship with the brother of the man who broke her heart?”

Michael didn’t have an answer.

“I’m asking you to … refrain… from any further mischief,” his mother said.

“For Doug’s sake.”

“And yours. Honey, you’re not a parent, so I know you don’t understand what it’s like to lose a son.”

Michael’s temper revved. “Doug isn’t—”

“I know he isn’t gone forever, but your father and I feel the loss every day. No matter what Doug did, he’s still our son and we miss him. So are you, and even though you’re a grown man, I’m still your mother and I worry. I remember the look in your eyes after Alicia left. You’re just recovering from the divorce, and if you did become involved with Noelle and it didn’t work out…”

Her voice trailed off as tears filled her eyes.

Michael’s heart twisted and plunged to his toes. “Mom, don’t do that.”

“I’m sorry, honey. I don’t want to punish you, and I’m not trying to tell you who you can love, but I just couldn’t bear to lose
both
my sons to Noelle Robinson.”

Chocolate bar, gooey marshmallow, and crumbled graham cracker dipped in warm, melted, dark fudge sauce. Depressing thoughts were nearly impossible when eating such a gastronomical wonder.

Noelle groaned in near ecstasy as she consumed another One S’more Surprise. The start of the second week in the Christmas Village was dedicated to the local restaurants and eateries in town. Each establishment had set up a cart along the paths throughout Rice Circle.

So far, Noelle had sampled a savory meat pie from The Old Diner, a cup of French onion soup from Bon Appetite, a gingerbread tart from Jessie’s Treats, and now chocolate heaven courtesy of Chef Devon.

She might not be able to fit into any of her clothes tomorrow, but right now Noelle didn’t care.

“Pretty good, isn’t it?” Devon asked, violet eyes sparkling in her heart-shaped face. 

“Divine.”

“Well, I’m just glad to see you smiling,” she said. “You looked like a little lost lamb earlier.”