He knew it was the right move when she slid off his lap and moved back to the seemingly endless bag of surprises. “I brought something for you.”

  “Yeah? In addition to dinner, dessert, and you? Because I’m not sure even I’ve been that good this year.”

  Mary Alice replaced her elf hat, which inspired a whole new set of fantasies, as she stood there, bare-legged and naked beneath his shirt. “I think there’s an entirely acceptable level of naughty. But no.” She pulled something out and brought it over. “The ornament you made in my class. I know you weren’t there the day we painted, so I finished it for you.”

  The wreath he’d made had turned out really well. She’d run a red ribbon through a hole at the top to hang it and carved the year in the back. He liked that it was something they’d sort of made together. “Well, obviously that should go front and center.”

  “And—” She went back to the bag and pulled out a zip top bag full of candy canes made of beads. “My class made you these. They had such fun working with you, they wanted to do something for you for Christmas, so we did these on Friday.”

  Chad found himself absurdly touched that a bunch of third-graders had liked him that much. “That is awesome.” He wondered what it would feel like when someday his own kids made ornaments for the tree. Looking at the kitchen table, with their dessert plates and napkins, he could imagine a couple of kids there making macaroni angels and popsicle stick reindeer. Kids with snaggletoothed grins and big blue eyes. Yeah, that was a good dream.

  He drew Mary Alice in for another kiss. “I’ll get the lights.”

  Chapter 7

  SCHOOL WAS OFFICIALLY OUT for Christmas break and not a moment too soon. Donations were pouring in for Fountain of Hope and that meant Mary Alice and her team were about to be exceptionally busy. They had three days to get everything picked up from the donation sites, wrapped, and delivered to each family. She’d appointed herself to swing by the hospital, on the off-chance Chad had a few minutes to grab some coffee.

  It seemed ridiculous to miss him. She’d just seen him last night. And while there hadn’t been time for a reprisal of Sunday—or execution of his most excellent suggestion of what to do with the last of that pie—she was wearing a turtleneck sweater today to cover up the beard burn on her throat. She, Mary Alice Reed, was dating one of Wishful’s most eligible bachelors, and it felt fantastic.

  She had a spring in her step as she strode through the automatic doors and headed for the elevator up to the second-floor nurse’s station. Corinne had said everything was gathered and stored in a locked closet upstairs. Not too convenient for off-loading, but she’d promised to round up a few pairs of extra hands to help haul everything out to Mary Alice’s car. She’d just touch base, then swing by the ER.

  Mary Alice took the elevator up, humming to herself. She hadn’t planned on having a new boyfriend this close to Christmas, which put her at something of a disadvantage on the gift-giving front. It was hard to know what was appropriate, given the newness of their relationship. Maybe something for his house? He’d seemed to like the idea of homey touches, and certainly he could use some. But that seemed like she was making a claim on his space, and despite the giddy sense that they were definitely headed in that direction, it was way too soon to do that. Maybe something baked. He had really liked the pie.

  Flipping through her mental index of recipes, Mary Alice stepped off the elevator and right into a broad chest. “Oh!”

  Big, familiar hands came up to cup her shoulders and steady her. “Sorry about that.”

  Mary Alice’s stomach clenched as she looked up—way up—into Judd’s familiar blue eyes. “Hey. What are you doing here?” He hated hospitals with a vengeance.

  Autumn stepped out from behind him and offered a little wave. “Hi.”

  Seeing the other woman, Mary Alice expected to feel anger or jealousy—something. But seeing her here, it wasn’t any of those emotions at the forefront. It was concern. Autumn had a congenital heart defect. She’d had surgery back in high school and had been under strict medical supervision ever since. No matter what had passed between them, she didn’t wish the other woman ill. “Is everything okay?”

  Neither of them were throwing off worried vibes. In fact, they both seemed to be trying to repress a bubbling excitement.

  Autumn’s fair cheeks flushed. “I’m fine. Great, in fact.” She shifted, but not before Mary Alice’s gaze dropped to the glossy black and white photo in her hand. An ultrasound.

  “Oh. Oh! You’re...I...” Mary Alice blinked, suddenly a little breathless, as if she’d been sucker punched. “Congratulations.” What else was there to say?

  “Thanks. It was...a surprise.”

  For you and me both.

  “I’m sure.” Despite the fact that her head was reeling and she felt like throwing up, Mary Alice lifted her gaze to Judd and forced a smile. “I’m happy for you. Best to you both. I’ve got donations to pick up.” She started to move past them.

  “Mary Alice.” Judd’s voice had her stopping to look back. “I’m glad about Chad.”

  “So am I.” Then she hurried around the corner and out of sight.

  She didn’t stop at the nurse’s station. Instead, she made for the nearest stairwell, needing to get away from people until she could get herself under control. The door slammed shut behind her with a definitive clang that echoed through the space. And for long minutes, she just stood on the landing, sucking in air and trying not to cry.

  Damn it. Damn it, she’d thought she was past this. She’d thought she was more evolved than this. But seeing them like that, looking so damned happy to have what she’d always wanted...it was such a slap in the face. She’d been so, so stupid for refusing to see what was right in front of them both and cutting him loose a long time ago. By the power of her will alone, she’d tried to wish him into being what she wanted him to be—a perfect, devoted, home and family guy. And there was irrefutable proof that he absolutely was that guy. But he was someone else’s Mr. Home and Family.

  She needed to find hers now. And maybe she had. Things with Chad, while new, were so very good. She hoped to God she wasn’t blinded by wishful thinking this time.

  With a steadying breath, she headed down the stairs. She would let go of the anger and the hurt. Right now, she needed to find Chad. Needed to remind herself that he wasn’t some dream she’d woken up from. And she just wanted a hug.

  The ER was only partly full when Mary Alice walked in. She scanned the patients, trying to judge how busy they really were and whether she could interrupt for five minutes without causing problems. Even as she started toward the desk, the swinging doors to the back opened and Chad came out.

  Her bruised heart lifted at the sight of him. His own face brightened with a blazing smile. But he wasn’t looking at her. A gorgeous, leggy brunette raced across the room and launched herself at him on a laugh. Chad caught her close, swinging her around in a circle before setting her back on her Jimmy-Choo-clad feet with a smacking kiss. On the mouth. And even if Mary Alice had been wrong about that, the brunette reached up and ran her fingers through his hair in a gesture that spoke of unquestionable intimacy as she beamed up at him.

  Mary Alice stumbled back a step. She didn’t know who this woman was, and it wasn’t in her to cross over and confront them to find out. Not now. In the end, it didn’t matter. Because Mary Alice was done. She’d learned her lesson with Judd. She wasn’t about to stay in a relationship with a guy who had any kind of intimate attachment to another woman. That was a deal breaker.

  Fool me once, she thought, and headed for the exit.

  Chad was still riding high on Sonya’s surprise visit and her good news. He’d hoped for a chance to introduce her to Mary Alice. She was supposed to be stopping by to pick up the donations for Fountain of Hope this afternoon, but he hadn’t seen her, and Sonya had to get on down to Jackson for her meeting. But she’d promised to come back through tomorrow and spend a night on her way back to Birmingham. Maybe he could arrange a dinner so Sonya could get a chance to meet the woman he was so crazy about.

  During a brief lull late in the afternoon, he headed up to the second-floor nurse’s station to find out if anybody had seen Mary Alice. Maybe she’d come through while he was tied up with that dislocated shoulder. Rosemary Newsome, the charge nurse, was reviewing charts at the desk.

  “Hey, has Mary Alice been by to pick up the donations yet?”

  “Oh, somebody else came by to get them about an hour ago.”

  “Huh. I thought Mary Alice was coming.” Strange that she hadn’t texted him to mention she wouldn’t be by. “Maybe she got hung up.” Chad tapped the counter with his palm and started to turn.

  “No, she was here earlier,” Corinne said. “I saw her going down the hall. She looked upset.”

  “Any idea why?”

  Corinne shrugged. “Don’t know.”

  “Maybe she ran into her ex. He was up here earlier, round about that same time, I think,” Rosemary added. “They had their first ultrasound.”

  Married six weeks after breakup and now with a baby on the way? Ouch. No wonder she’s upset.

  “Thanks.”

  Chad found a quiet corner and tried to call her. Straight to voicemail. “Hey, it’s me. Missed you at the hospital this afternoon. I wanted to see if everything was all right. Corinne said you seemed upset when she saw you. Call me back.”

  He sent a text to check on her, too, but by the end of his shift, he still hadn’t gotten an answer. More than a little concerned, he wrapped up his files as quickly as possible and drove straight to her house.

  She took long enough to answer the door, he considered circling around to the back to see if it was unlocked. But she did answer eventually, her eyes red-rimmed and puffy, her cheeks still wet with tears. Chad stepped inside, reaching for her. “Honey, what happened?”

  Mary Alice flinched back from his touch. “Don’t.”

  He dropped his hands and took a step back, recognizing he was on boggy ground. Clearly something had happened. He put on his clinician’s hat automatically trying to diagnose as he said quietly, “Okay. Tell me what’s wrong.”

  “I saw you.” Though she didn’t raise her voice, the accusation hit him like a slap. So did the fresh tears welling in her eyes.

  What was she talking about? “Saw me what?”

  “Kissing that other woman.”

  Sonya. She’d seen him with Sonya. It had been nothing. A greeting between old friends. But he could imagine how it must have looked to Mary Alice. Now the tears made sense. “It’s not what you think. Sonya and I are just friends.”

  Mary Alice shot him a withering look. “I have guy friends. I don’t kiss them like that.”

  He had to tread very, very carefully here. “There’s a lot of history there. We were together for a long time, but—”

  “Together?”

  “We used to be engaged. But it’s ancient history.”

  “Engaged. You’re still friends with a woman you were going to marry? The woman who broke things off with you only two months before you walked down the aisle,” she corrected, clearly putting two and two together.

  “Yeah. It’s complicated.” Probably, he should have told her this story already, but he hadn’t expected them to be meeting any time soon, and who really wanted to talk about their ex early in a new relationship?

  Mary Alice shook her head. “I can’t do this. I’m sorry, I just can’t. Not again.”

  She was taking that two and two and getting six. “It’s not what you think,” he repeated. “Just let me explain.”

  “I don’t want your explanation, Chad. I don’t care. I just spent two years having explanations shoved down my throat about how I didn’t need to worry, that Judd and Autumn were just friends, nothing more. And now they’re married with a baby on the way.”

  So she had found out Autumn was pregnant when she came to the hospital earlier. Chad knew how much Mary Alice wanted a family, how she’d expected that when she’d invested all that time and effort into Judd. He kept his voice gentle. “I can see how that would be upsetting. And if you came to find me after finding that out, I can see how you’d take what you saw with me and Sonya the wrong way, but I’m not Judd.”

  “No, you’re not. But you remember that conversation we had about deal breakers? This is one of mine. I can’t be with a guy with close female friends. I’m not foolish enough to put myself in a position to go through all this again.”

  Temper and frustration began to simmer. She was hell-bound and determined that he’d put her through the same kind of heartbreak. Didn’t she understand how he felt about her?

  Obviously not.

  They hadn’t had enough time together for him to overcome the two years of disappointment. He’d had twelve years to get past his shit from his breakup with Sonya. Mary Alice hadn’t even had twelve months. So, he made the effort to bank the temper, to try and find the words she needed.

  “Mary Alice, please, just let me explain.”

  Arms crossed over her middle, she just shook her head. “I can’t do this. I just can’t. Please go.”

  He wanted to fight her. He wanted to hold her and wipe away those tears she was trying so damned hard not to shed. She wasn’t going to listen. Not tonight, anyway.

  It went against every instinct, but he acquiesced. “All right. But come find me when you’re ready to talk.”

  “I’ve said everything I have to say.”

  “I haven’t.” Though he wanted to slam it, he shut the door quietly behind him and went in search of a beer.

  Chapter 8

  “WHERE’S DR. MCHOTTIE?” PRESLEY teased. “I figured he’d be here for this, since you two have been joined at the hip the last few weeks.”

  The stunning pain of betrayal ripped through Mary Alice again, and her hands stilled on the box she’d yet to finish wrapping. “I don’t want to talk about it.” Certainly not here in the community center gym, where more than a dozen volunteers were set up at wrapping stations within earshot.

  Her friends instantly sobered and exchanged a look.

  Margot stepped closer, lowered her voice. “What happened?”

  Mary Alice just shook her head as a fresh bout of tears built in her throat. She was so tired of crying over guys. Maybe she’d just get a dog. That seemed more on par with the kind of emotional investment she was prepared to make these days. At least a dog would love her unconditionally.

  Margot turned and waved. “Hey Liza? Can you and Mamie come finish this batch up? We’re gonna go take stock of how much we have left to wrap.”

  Without waiting for assent, she hustled Mary Alice out of the gym and down the hall to the smaller room being used to store donations. As soon as Presley and Finn trailed them inside, Margot shut the door and locked it. “Spill.”

  “Does this have something to do with the fact that you sent someone else to get donations from the hospital yesterday?” Presley asked.

  Mary Alice pinched the bridge of her nose and swallowed against the lump in her throat. “I went myself, like I planned. But I wanted to see Chad before we loaded everything up because I was upset, and I just needed…Well, it doesn’t matter what I needed. I saw him kissing another woman.”

  “That bastard!” Finn exploded.

  “Wait,” Margot interrupted. “You were upset before you went to see him? Why? Did he do something else?”

  “No, that wasn’t anything to do with him at all.” She heaved a sigh. “I ran into Judd and Autumn.”

  “Were they ugly to you?” Presley asked.

  “No, of course not.” Mary Alice lifted her head to look at her friends. “She’s pregnant.”

  Their shocked silence was absolute and weighty.

  “Oh honey.” Margot wrapped her in a hug. “No wonder you were upset.”

  “How far along?” Presley asked gently. “I mean, with the timing and…are you worried they were…together before you broke up?”

  “No.” Of all the accusations she might have leveled at Judd, she knew without a shred of doubt that he’d never cheated on her. “Probably eight weeks. Everything’s on the up and up there. It was just such a shock, and I thought, thank God I’m with someone now who’s on the same page.”

  “So, you went to find Chad for comfort,” Margot concluded.

  Mary Alice nodded. “And then there he was.”

  “He was just in the ER making out with some chick?” Finn asked in disgust.

  “Well, no. That would be hideously unprofessional.”

  “Tell us exactly what happened,” Presley ordered.

  Mary Alice spelled it out. Easy enough to do, since the whole thing was burned into her brain.

  “Did you confront him?” Finn demanded.

  “No. Not then. I left. He came over after he got off work.”

  “And what did he have to say for himself?”

  Mary Alice shrugged. “What any guy caught would say. ‘It’s not what you think.’”

  “Then what was it?” Margot asked.

  “He claimed they’re just friends. There’s long history there, but oh, their engagement was forever ago.”

  “He’s kissing on an ex fiancée?” Presley cocked a disbelieving brow.

  “That’s what I said. He just told me it was complicated and that he could explain.”

  Margot leaned back against a table. “What was his explanation?”

  “I don’t know. I asked him to go.”

  “Wait, so you didn’t let him explain?” Presley asked.

  “I don’t care what his explanation is. I spent two years hearing explanations from Judd about how Autumn was no threat. I’m not about to stay in a relationship with another guy who’s got some kind of deep ties to another woman he claims is only a friend. I’m not going through that again.”

  “You should talk to him,” Finn said.

  Mary Alice stared at her. “This coming from you? I figured you’d be at the head of the lynch mob.”

 

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