“Oh, no. We’ll be having a lovely dinner.”
“Chuck-A-Rama a la cart, eh?”
“No, actually,” Kyle smiled at the thought, “Alexis Anderson is catering.”
“Yeah, right.” Keefe laughed. “We’ll bring something.”
Alyssa said, “I’m glad you’re having the party. May I suggest a new tradition this year?”
Keefe chuckled and said, “I’ll get off now and let the Queen of Happy Holidays take over.”
Another click let Kyle know that it was just him and Alyssa on the line.
“Okay, here goes nothing, she said. “I’d like to go through a holiday with your family where everyone isn’t all depressed.”
She stopped, as if waiting for him to blast the thought..
He shrugged, though she couldn’t see him. “I think that’s a great idea.” It was certainly what Lexi had just finished telling him.
It was becoming obvious to him that Christmas needed a woman’s touch. And, if their mother couldn’t be there with them, perhaps these other two good women could make the difference.
Chapter Seven
THREE DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Looking in the bathroom mirror, Kyle ran a comb through his hair. He’d already showered and dressed--much earlier than normal--just in case Lexi wasn’t joking last night. It would be embarrassing if she caught him in his bathrobe.
Yawning, he hoped she hadn’t meant it. No, wait, that wasn’t entirely true. After he’d called his family last night and invited them, he hoped she did mean she would help him deal with his family, though he still didn’t particularly want cute Christmas things all over his lawn, though.
Tossing the comb down, he closed the drawer.
Now, while he waited for Lexi to show, time to work.
The commute took him all of two minutes, which was one of the perks of working from home. It was eight-thirty in the morning and he was booting up his computer, hoping for early inspiration.
Surely today he’d break through his writer’s block. Always before, if he would just apply his back side to the seat enough days in a row, something would begin to happen on the pages, and eventually that something would be good. Millions of readers couldn’t be wrong. Could they?
Who knew that an author who’d sold as many best sellers as he had could still be so insecure.
Icons popped onto his screen, and he clicked to open his book file: Strong5. He searched for his place and, after reading a few paragraphs, he was back in the story. Which meant he was also back at the block.
After thirty minutes of struggling to motivate the ending he needed, Kyle muttered a word his mother would not have approved of. With that thought, he leaned back in his chair. Thoughts of her always bubbled up through his shield this time of year, carrying sadness. Sorry, Mama.
When the doorbell rang, he jumped in his seat. It was just after nine. Who on earth was up terrorizing the neighborhood at this hour of the day? He hoped it was Lexi.
He opened the door to find his very attractive, very pushy redheaded neighbor on his door step, smiling up at him. “Ready to go?”
He glanced at his watch in mock dismay. “Are you kidding? It’s the middle of the night for me. I was up until three.”
“Do all authors keep such undead hours?” She tilted her head. “May I come in?”
“Oh, sure.” He opened the door wide and she entered, filling the entry with Christmas cheer.
“So,” she turned back and clasped her hands together as if in delight, “have you bought any decorations at all?”
“Decorations?” he repeated dumbly, pretending to misunderstand.
“Yes. You know. Rudolph. Candy canes. Mistletoe.”
He shook his head. “Nope. Haven’t bought nary a one.”
With a look of disbelief, she said, “Everyone has lights. Please tell me you at least have lights. And a tree stand.”
“I have a lot of stuff, actually. Stuff my neighbors have left on my yard over the past few years. It’s in my shed.”
“All right. Let’s go check out your stash.”
He led the way to the shed, unlocked it, threw open the doors, and pointed inside with a flourish. “There. Anything you might possibly want to put up can be found in this shed.”
She looked inside, whistled in appreciation, and looked him square in the eye. “You didn’t buy any of this?”
“Nope.”
“Wow. I moved into a more affluent neighborhood than I thought for your neighbors to be able to afford all of this.”
“They do it out of spite.” He repressed a smile at her expression.
He’d never seen anyone as efficient as she was. Within ten minutes, she’d gone through all the lights, the elves, the Santas. Turning to him, she said, “We need more.”