After the Christmas Party(104)

“Have I ever come to Christmas without presents?” he snapped, and regretted it even before Timmy’s face fell. “Sorry, bud,” he apologized to his favorite nephew, who stared at him as if aliens must have invaded his body. Riley sighed, gave the kid a hug, then sat him down on the pavement. “There are more in the car if you want to round up a posse to help unload.”

Still looking at him as if trying to figure out what was up, Timmy and several of his other nephews, who seemed to appear out of thin air, ran towards his car.

Setting down the presents that he held, he turned to face Trinity. “I know you don’t want to be here, but Christmas is special to my family and I don’t want the day ruined for my mother. She’s been through a lot. Try to at least pretend you want to be here with me, okay?”

Looking pale, Trinity just nodded and was then overwhelmed by his mother and sisters. Being cornered by the Williams women could be compared to nothing less than an all-out assault.

“Oh, look at you, honey. What a pretty little thing you are!” his mother said, her hands on Trinity’s shoulders as she studied her.

“Mom, you’re embarrassing her,” said Riley’s younger sister, who then proceeded to do the same but pulled Trinity into a hug that she remained stiff through.

“Nah,” said his sister, who was currently eight months pregnant and looked as if she was about to pop. “All women like to be called pretty and little.”

“Hey, pretty little sister,” Riley greeted her, stressing pretty and little. He kissed her cheek. “Mom, Becky, this is Trinity. We work together at the hospital.”

Because what more could he say?

“You more than work together or she wouldn’t be here with you.” That had come from his brother, who’d joined them and slapped Riley across the shoulder.

Riley wanted to laugh, to shake his brother’s hand and make a joke of his comment, but instead he just shrugged. “It’s no big deal, really.”

“Right,” his older sister said, wrapping her arms around him and kissing his cheek. “Great to see you, little brother. And Trinity.” She turned to a pale Trinity and did the same. “We’re so glad that Riley has finally brought a woman home with him. We’ve all been placing bets as to what you looked like.”

“Bets?” Trinity’s eyes resembled those of a doe in headlights. Her skin was pasty white and her posture stiff as a board.

Riley winced. “Sis, you’re scaring her.”

“Nah, if she’s with you, she isn’t easily scared.”

His siblings all burst into laughter but Trinity remained quiet, and regret filled Riley. He’d made a mistake, bringing her here.

After the disaster of a morning they’d had, maybe he should just admit that everything about them was a mistake. He couldn’t give her what she deserved and she didn’t want anything he tried to give.

Maybe she really didn’t like Christmas.

Or him.

Ending things as soon as possible was inevitable.

Trinity had made a mistake in coming here with Riley. Seriously, she should just hibernate through Christmas each year. She’d be a happier person if she did.

Those around her would be happier because she knew she was ruining Riley’s day and that was a shame, but she felt unable to snap out of her melancholy.

She’d had sex with him the night before. Amazing, beautiful sex where they’d not held anything back from each other. Today she could barely look at him for the panic filling her mind.

Would he dump her on Christmas, as Chase had? Perhaps publicly do so in front of his family? His affluent family? She might not know the actual values of cars but the cars in Riley’s mother’s drive weren’t at the low end of the market.

They couldn’t be more different.

They’d probably all lost their bets because she doubted any of them had bet on Riley bringing a charity case.

“Jake here thought you’d be tall and a buxomy redhead.” A woman who looked a lot like Riley clarified her earlier comment, oblivious to Trinity’s inner torment. “I thought you’d be tall, thin and blonde. Becky thought you’d be brunette.”

“And I thought you’d be the luckiest girl in the world to be here with my wonderful son,” Riley’s mom butted in, shooing them all further into the house. “Come on in so we can say a blessing for our meal.” The kids came running through with more packages. “Boys, y’all put those under the tree for now. We’ll open presents after we all have full bellies.”

“But, Nana!”

“Don’t Nana me. You heard me.” But her voice was full of love, rather than threat.