After the Christmas Party(24)

“Sure you do,” Riley countered with so much confidence that her insides heated a little.

She blew out a frustrated sigh. “Riley, I don’t like it when you assume things about me.”

A serious expression slid over his face. “Noted. I don’t mean to railroad you into doing something you don’t want to do, princess. But I also feel it my personal responsibility to get you into the Christmas spirit.”

His personal responsibility? Poor guy. He had no clue what he was in for.

“Good luck with that.”

“Thanks.”

She shook her head, not surprised her sarcasm had fallen short. Riley only seemed to see the positive, regardless of what she did or said.

Still, Christmas was pushing it. Why couldn’t they have met at a Halloween party? Or, better yet, a New Year party? Anything but Christmas because taking away the fact that he was a gorgeous doctor and she was just her, the fact they’d met at a Christmas party spelled doom from the start.

So far as she was concerned, nothing good had ever come out of Christmas.

But the sooner they got this shopping ordeal over with the sooner they could eat and the sooner she could go home and over-analyze the past few days yet again. “What am I shopping for?”

“It’s less than two weeks until Christmas Day and you don’t have a single decoration up or a single wrapped present in your apartment.”

That was a problem why? Her apartment was the one place she could escape from all the holiday craziness.

“I hate to burst your bubble, Riley, but most single people without kids don’t go all out with decorations and presents. They have better things to do with their time than decorating for themselves.”

Like take out the trash and give the cat a bath. Important things like those.

He shook his head in mock disappointment, his eyes twinkling. “I bet you were one of those kids who never believed in Santa and took joy in telling other kids that he wasn’t real.”

Although she doubted he’d meant his comment to hurt, she felt a sharp sting in her chest and a defensive shield popped up. “I never told other kids Santa wasn’t real.”

He stared at her incredulously. “But you never believed in Santa? in the magic of Christmas? Not even as a kid?”

Swallowing the lump in her throat at memories she didn’t want rising to the surface, she shook her head.

“Then who did you think climbed down your chimney and left all the Christmas morning goodies? The tooth fairy?”

She didn’t think anything. Not about the tooth fairy or Santa. Or the Easter bunny or any other mythical creature who was supposed to do something good for her. Why would she?

“Apparently your Christmas mornings were very different from mine.” At her house Christmas had just been another day. No big deal. Actually, if she’d made the mistake of mentioning the holidays, Christmas morning had been worse than other days because her mother would go into a bigger than normal rant. New Year had never been able to get there soon enough.

“Were you so naughty that Santa didn’t visit?” His tone was teasing, but Trinity had to look away because she’d swear something had blown into her eyes. Probably a bit of fake snow off the ginormous tree gracing the entryway of the shopping mall.

Stupid tree. Stupid fake snow. Stupid shopping trip. Stupid her for coming here and dredging up all these memories.

She was not going to let him see her cry, had learned long ago to hide her pain. Most of the time, at any rate. So she slid her game face on, the same one she’d worn year after year.

“Apparently so, because he never did.”

Riley stared at Trinity, trying to decide if she was joking. The pale undertones to her skin and tight set to her mouth before she’d turned away from him said she wasn’t but that she would just as soon he thought she was.

He’d really stuck his foot in his mouth on this one. He’d been teasing her, wanting to make her smile, wanting to make her reveal more about herself, and she had. But he felt awful. Surely, she was over-exaggerating?

“Not even once?”

Her eyes downcast and expression somber, she shrugged. “It’s not a big deal, Riley. We’ve been through this already. Christmas is just a commercial gimmick to make people spend money. I didn’t need Santa bringing me presents. Not then or now.”

The lift of her chin declared she didn’t need anything and dared anyone to claim she did. Was that what she really believed? If so, shame on her parents.

“Didn’t your parents believe in Christmas? In the joy of giving?” He couldn’t imagine his own parents not making a big deal out of the holidays. It was the one and only time of the year his father took time away from work. His mother had barely been able to wait to get her house decorated. Pretty much the minute she had removed the remains of the turkey from the table at Thanksgiving, she’d have him and his brothers start carrying down precisely labeled totes of decorations. Despite whining, those times were some of his best memories.