Kanton.
“T HIS IS REALLY good.”
“I assumed it was, considering that’s your third one.” Cleo pointed to the glass mug I protectively cradled after I finished off what remained of my eggnog. She had miscounted. This was my fourth, not third, but I wouldn’t fess up because, after all, who was counting?
“She gets me every year with this stuff. You would think after thirty-eight years, I’d know better than to travel down that rabbit hole, but this is hard to resist.” Lewis lifted his own mug after taking down another healthy swallow of his wife’s special brew.
“I’ve been trying to convince her to hand over the recipe, but she refuses.” Noel cut her eyes at Cleo, who smiled proudly.
“This is a special brew. I can’t just hand it over lightly. Isn’t that right, babe?” Her eyes shifted to her husband, who nodded with a twinkling in his eyes. These two were the real deal.
“Sure is. She got me sloshed on this stuff the first year we dated. Had a ring on her finger by Valentine’s Day, and we married by spring.”
“Because of eggnog?” Noel’s brows pinched as her eyes bounced between the two.
“Because of what happens after the eggnog,” Lewis said, winking at his wife.
“Huh . . . oh . . .” Noel muttered and then cut her eyes at me.
“Speaking of, are you single, dear?” Cleo’s eyes landed on me, and I nodded.
“I am.”
“Good to know. Our girl here has been single for long enough. Maybe I should send some home with you tonight.”
“That would be a hard pass.” Noel’s spine straightened, and her eyes narrowed on Cleo. Lewis chuckled, and Noel added, “And I haven’t been single for that long. You make it sound like I’m a spinster or something.”
“You’re making yourself sound like a spinster using that word,” Cleo teased before she continued. “And although it hasn’t been too long since you rid yourself of that last disaster, you might as well have considered yourself single while you were together. He was never around much. Certainly couldn’t bother himself enough to sit down at our table and share a meal with us.” Cleo didn’t sound happy about his lack of attendance at their home.
“He—”
“ Worked a lot. Yeah, I know, but people find time for what’s important to them. Don’t you agree, Kanton?”
This felt dangerously close to treading in territory where I had no business venturing. “Most of the time, yes. Sometimes, work can’t be avoided.”
Lewis chimed in. “You’re a lot like him, you know.”
I frowned, and he added. “Her ex. All business and no fun. The career-driven type with more focus on their money than—”
“They’re not the same.” Noel defended me, causing something primal to swell in my chest, but the conversation about her ex sidetracked me. She mentioned being single. Neither of us had gone into depth about our situations.
There seemed to be a story based on the tension brewing in Noel, which screamed for me to leave it alone. She was uncomfortable, which made me angry. My first thought was that he had done her wrong, and the idea of anyone hurting Noel made me want to hurt them.
“No, not the same because he’s here. Evan would never have come.” Lewis smiled softly at Noel and then turned to me. “You smoke cigars?”
“Never turn down a good blend. You offering?”
“I am. I’ve got some from Flavor that I’ve been dying to try. Cleo makes me smoke outside, so I hope you can handle the cold.”
“I think I’ll survive.”
“Let’s go then.”
Noel offered to help Cleo clean up while Lewis and I headed out back. We both bypassed coats, so I was grateful when we ended up on a glass-enclosed porch. It was still nippy, but we weren’t out in direct air. Lewis collected his humidor and single-blade cutter.
“Are things going well with you two?”
Just jump right in. I had a feeling this was why I received the invite.
“They are, but I wouldn’t exactly call us a ‘you two.’”
“Hmmm.” He nodded with his back to me as he clipped the ends of two cigars and passed me one. He blazed the end of his and then handed over a lighter for me to do the same. We stood staring out into the darkness of his backyard, which was littered with colorful lights. It was similar to the front yard, although there weren’t any reindeer back here.
It was gaudy and overkill, but somehow, it felt more welcoming than the professionally installed decorations my mother paid thousands for each year.
Lewis and Cleo were the real deal. They were not just happily married but also in love. I could feel it radiating from them, from their home. Nothing like my parents. They loved each other and possibly had been in love at some point, but the older I got, the more I realized they were more or less a business rather than a marriage.
“You have a lot of lights.”
Lewis scoffed as if irritated, but his tone was the same as when he responded. “Too many damn lights, but Cleo loves them, so I drag them out every year and let her boss me around telling me where they go, even though we’ve been doing this dance for over twenty years the same way, in this same house. We did it for another fifteen in the one before this one.”
I grinned. “Sounds exhausting.”
“It is, but I love every minute of it. What about your family? I’m sure they have their own traditions. You said you were here for work. They’re not missing you?”
“My mother is, but mostly because I’ve disrupted her visually perfect Christmas.”
“Huh? One of those types. I bet being here with Noel is a bit of culture shock then if you’re used to visually perfect and not the real thing.” He glanced at me with a smile tugging at his lips before he puffed on the cigar dangling in his fingers. I did the same and nodded as I enjoyed the smoking flavor and then exhaled.
“It’s been an experience. She’s very Christmassy.” I turned to him. “Speaking of, you could have warned me about the tree.”
“I did,” he asserted. “You didn’t listen, and she is very Christmassy. She’s also thoughtful and very selfless. It’s why she and her ex didn’t make it.”
When I glanced his way, his eyes were on me. “You didn’t like him very much, did you?”
“Didn’t really dislike him as much as I disliked the idea of him with our Noel. Not a good fit.”
“Why not?”
“Polar opposites. She’s more of a free spirit. Kind, smiles a lot, wants everyone around her smiling too. She’ll find a way to make it happen if they’re not. He was a guy in a suit with a busy schedule and no time to make her smile.”
Interesting.
“But they were together.”
“They were together for a little over a year, but that’s how women are. They bind themselves to men who will never make them happy. It’s like they love to torture themselves, making all the wrong decisions, and then punishing us good guys for showing them the life and happiness they deserve.” Lewis grunted and added, “When I met Cleo, she was dating a musician. He was artsy, played the sax, and had all the women chasing after him . . . even my Cleo . . . until I showed her what a real man was. Had to drag her kicking and screaming at first because she refused to believe that I was the man she’d fall hopelessly in love with, but you see how that turned out.” He smiled, and I chuckled.
“I do.”
“I said the two of you were a lot alike. You and her ex, but I meant in appearance. I think you’re a much better fit than he ever was.”
“Oh, we’re not—”
“Not saying the two of you are into anything, only that you could be a better fit. He liked the idea of Noel. She’s hard to resist. She’s like an explosion of energy that you find yourself drawn to but don’t know why. You just know that you’ve gotta be around her. With Cleo and me, she fills the void of our daughter Carlie. She got some fancy job and moved to London. We only see her a couple of times a year, so it’s nice having someone like Noel to look after.”
“Then I’m glad you all have each other.”
He nodded but kept going.
“And with her ex, he never gave her what she needed. Didn’t support her the way he should have. You know she wanted to start her business a long time ago, but he discouraged her?”
I knew men like that. They wanted their women to look the part and be available to be at their beck and call . . . basically, bodies to show off, fuck, and feed them. The type of woman my mother wanted me to marry, the type of man she assumed I was. She couldn’t be more wrong.
“He didn’t want her to be successful?”
“More like he didn’t want to support her dreams. That would be one more thing: he had to make up excuses for not being present. He made her choose him over her career, and she did for a while, but she realized he was an ass and she should make herself a priority since that was obviously what he was doing.”
The more Lewis talked, the more I wanted to meet this guy. Or rather, wanted his face to meet my fists.
“He didn’t deserve Noel. Never made her a priority. He’d send her expensive gifts but wasn’t ever around. He had the means, so the gifts meant nothing to him. I’d deliver them to her, see the smile that never reached her eyes, and want to punch him in the face. She’d rather have his time than his money, but guys like Evan don’t really understand that. Got to the point where she finally had enough. They had some big argument that ended things. He left and never looked back. Can’t say I was upset about it. She could do better.”
“She should have better so she can be happy.”
“I want her to be happy.” He stared at me in an unwavering manner. “You keep that in mind while you’re enjoying your time here. We clear on that, Kanton?”
And there it was. The threat to do right by Noel . . . or deal with Lewis.
“Very.”
He gripped my shoulder, and we finished our cigars in silence, although my thoughts were very loud. Noel had brought me to meet her extended family.
She was inviting me deeper into her world, and I wasn’t sure what to do with that. This was one week of my life, and then I had to return to everything I knew. No matter how good this felt, how good she felt, it couldn’t be much more than this . . . right?
“Tonight was fun,” Noel said quietly as she clutched the massive glass mason jar that Cleo sent home with us. I had a container of her famous sugar cookies tucked under my arm while I keyed the code to enter her apartment.
“It was. Thank you for inviting me.”
We stepped into the apartment, and I reached for the mason jar. Noel shed her coat, and I walked into the kitchen and placed the cookies on the counter and eggnog in the refrigerator.
“Thank you for going. I think Cleo felt bad for me. She knows I’m usually home for Christmas, and she wanted me to have some semblance of being with family.” She turned to me after hanging her coat on the rack near the door and then reached for mine. “And I think she wanted to see you.”
“Me?”
“Yep. The text she sent me earlier said, ‘Got a home-cooked meal and some eggnog waiting if you’re interested. And you can bring a friend if you want.’”
“Not subtle at all.”
“Nope, but Cleo’s just like that. They’re good people and adorably cute.”
“They are, and they’re very protective of you.”
She turned around with an apologetic expression. “Oh God, what did he say to you out there?”
“Nothing you need to be worried about. Just that you’re a very special person, and I agreed. I also ensured he knew he didn’t have to worry about me mistreating you. I’d be on my best behavior while here, and then I’ll be out of your hair so that you can get back to your life.”
“Oh . . .” Something passed in her eyes but didn’t linger long enough for me to catch what it was because she quietly rattled off, “Well, it’s late. I think I will turn in for the night, get some rest, and you should too.”
“This seems way too easy. No Christmas movies or baking ornaments planned for the evening?” I arched a brow.
She slowly shook her head. “No. You get the night off. I’ve been consuming your time and pushing you into Christmas overload. You get a hall pass for the night, and besides, I need to check in with my parents and Simone to assure them I haven’t fallen into a severe depression behind missing them. I’m sure you also have work to do since I’ve been monopolizing most of your time. We’ve got the Brightons’ Christmas party tomorrow.”
“Right, we do.”
“Okay, then, I’ll see you in the morning.” She hesitated, and so did I. Something was off. I couldn’t tell what. Maybe she realized that things with us were a bit too much. Maybe Cleo had warned her against the idea of more with me because I was too much like her ex.
Her ex.
Fuck, I hated the guy, and I didn’t even know him.
“Good night, ”
“Good night, Noel.”
She was gone, and then I heard the soft click of her door. A reminder that she was shutting me out. I stood in the same spot, staring down the hall, watching the same path she took. Something in me felt unbalanced. That something was the presence of Noel, but who was I to force the issue? A few days. That’s all this was, and with that, I headed to the living room and flopped on the sofa, folding my arms and tucking them behind my head as I closed my eyes. Only I couldn’t settle my mind, so I was up again, untangling lights for the tree and mantle. The mindless work kept me occupied until exhaustion settled in enough for me to sleep.
When I got comfortable on the sofa again, I thought about Lewis’s story of how he decorated every year for his wife. I could only wonder what that would be like if I did the same for mine. But Noel wasn’t my wife or even my anything, so with a huff of annoyance, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to drift.
I woke up the following day to the sound of low-hissed profanity, which had me smiling as I peeled my eyes open, slowly turning my head to find a very nice visual of an ass that I had become intimately acquainted with over the past few days. Although covered in tight jeans instead of my preferred spandex, tiny silk shorts, or my all-time favorite . . . nothing at all.
“Shit, shit, shit.”
As soon as she lifted the keys, which was why I woke to such a tempting visual, I cleared my throat, and she quickly straightened her posture and spun on her heels, turning to face me.
“Well, good morning, and I have to say, as beautiful as you are in this very moment, I was rather enjoying the view I just had.”
She frowned at me and rolled her eyes. “Sorry to disappoint, but I have somewhere to be. You’ll have to find something else to entertain you.”
“Not possible,” I murmured, throwing my legs over the side of the sofa and rolling my neck a few times to work out the stiffness. “You heading out?”
“Yes, I need to get a dress for tonight.”
“You don’t have something you can wear?”
She was only going to Brighton’s party as a favor to me, so the idea of her having to purchase a dress didn’t sit right.
She quickly shook her head. “No, it’s semiformal, and I’ve seen pictures. They really go all out, and nothing I have will work.”
“I find it hard to believe you don’t own a cocktail dress with embossed snowmen for such an occasion.”
“Cute, and I said, semiformal.”
“I would believe that to be semiformal and acceptable for the Queen of Christmas.”
She rolled her shoulders back and lifted her chin. “For me, it would, but it’s not my party, so I think it’s best if I complied with their dress code.”
“Do you mind if I tag along? I probably need to grab something also.”
Her face crumpled. And I wasn’t sure what that was about.
“You don’t have a suit? You were planning a meeting with Brighton.”
“I do, but it’s gray and plain as shit. You said formal, right?”
“Well, yes, but—”
I stood and cut her off. “Give me fifteen minutes to shower and throw something on.”
“Kanton, you really don’t have to—”
“If you’re complying with the dress code, then, as your guest, I should too. Fifteen minutes.”
She groaned and stomped into the living room, plopping down on the sofa I had just vacated. I grabbed a pair of jeans, a thermal shirt, and the rest of what I needed and hurried to the bathroom, praying she didn’t change her mind and leave me.
For whatever reason, whatever had been bothering Noel last night was still bothering her today, but I’d deal with that later. At the moment, I needed to shower and dress in record time so that I didn’t get left behind.