Chapter 31
THIRTY-ONE
HILARY
Hilary’s phone buzzed.
Ben?
A surge of hope made her head spin. It could have also been from downing three mimosas in quick succession.
The dizziness remained, but the feeling of hope evaporated when she realized the text was from Bella.
MOM, WHAT IS HAPPENING?
The all caps were a dead giveaway that Ben had talked to their daughter.
Instead of getting into a lengthy text exchange, Hilary decided the best course of action was to call Bella. She scooted over to the far side of the room, away from Santa and Mrs. Claus, and leaned against the wall.
“Mom.” Bella answered before the phone had even rung. Getting either of the twins to answer a call was a small miracle in itself. “What’s going on?”
“I’m at the Santa breakfast.” Hilary’s gaze darted around the festive room. Toddlers hopped up on peppermint pancakes bounced in line to take pictures, creating their own mini mosh pit. “How’s studying for finals going?”
“Mom, stop. Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” Hilary tried to pretend she had no idea what Bella was talking about.
“Deflect. I learned all about it in psych class.”
Hilary stifled a chuckle—thanks a lot, Psych 101. “What am I deflecting?”
“You and Dad. He called. He wanted to give Jack and me a heads-up about Christmas.”
“Oh really?” Hilary motioned to Samesh, who caught her eye from across the room. He lifted a platter of cookies, clearly wanting a minute of her time or maybe to offer her a cookie. She held up a finger, signaling that she needed a minute.
“Dad’s staying at a hotel? What happened?” Bella asked.
“Honey, it’s a long story. I’m in the middle of work, but I don’t want you or Jack to worry. Your dad and I are going to figure this out. You concentrate on finals. You don’t need any additional stress right now. Study, take your tests, and we’ll see you at the airport next weekend, okay?”
“Mom, no, wait.” Bella’s voice was filled with desperation. “Dad sounded wrecked on the phone. I won’t be able to concentrate on finals if you two are breaking up.”
Damn, Ben.
Hilary couldn’t believe he’d involved the twins in their problems. That wasn’t like him.
“I’m sorry, Bella. You don’t need to be in the middle of this. It’s not about you. It’s between me and Dad.”
“But he left.”
“No. He spent one night at a hotel. We’re not breaking up.
We have some stuff to work through.” She could see the mayor talking to Samesh, and from his puffed-out chest and slanting eyebrows, it didn’t take a degree in psychology to realize they weren’t chatting happily about cookies.
The mayor tossed off Samesh as he tried to appease with the platter of fancy sugar cookie cutouts frosted with colorful buttercream.
Bella sighed. “I don’t know. He sounded bad, Mom. I’ve never heard him like that.”
Hilary fumed internally. Why would Ben put this on Bella in the middle of dead week on campus?
When they video chatted with the twins last weekend, both kids had been upfront about how nervous and stressed they were for their first college exams. It didn’t make sense and was completely out of character for Ben.
Samesh waved again, motioning to the mayor with a quick tip of his head.
Great.
What now?
Was the mayor convinced there was a new cheating conspiracy at play?
“Listen, I have to get back to work, but I promise I will see Dad as soon as this event is finished. He and I will figure it out, okay? You’ll do great on your finals, and I cannot wait to kiss your face as soon as you’re home.”
“Yeah.” Bella didn’t sound convinced.
“I love you, honey. Text me about finals, and I’ll see you in a week.” Hilary hung up.
She needed a minute to compose herself, but Samesh was growing more frantic, shifting from one foot to the other as the mayor stormed away, so she inhaled deeply and forced her most professional smile. “What’s up? What did the mayor want?”
He studied her with concern, holding the cookie tray against his body. “Is everything okay with you?”
Was she that obvious?
“Fine. Fine.” She brushed him off and reached for a penguin cookie with a fluffy red frosting hat. “Family stuff, but nothing that needs my attention right now. What do you need?”
Samesh held the platter of cookies out for her to take another.
“The decorating station is done. The hotel staff wants to know what you wanted to do with the extra cookies. And you’re not going to like this part—the mayor wants to inspect the next challenge.
He’s on his way to the fairgrounds now and will not drop the idea that there’s some kind of cheating going on.
I tried to assure him we’ve checked and double-checked, but he wouldn’t listen.
He said to tell you he’ll be using the full weight of his position to continue to investigate. ”
“Of course he will.” Hilary sighed and rubbed her temples. She could feel a headache coming on.
“Sorry.” Samesh’s normally bright face fell into a frown. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“No, this is my problem. I’ll deal with him.” Hilary dug her fingers deeper into temples. “Maybe you can pass the extra cookies around the room? If no one else wants them, we’ll donate any extra food to the winter shelter. The kitchen staff can box them up for us.”
“Got it.” Samesh nodded and started to say more, but then stopped for a minute, chewing on his bottom lip like he was searching for the right words. “Hey, did I see you talking to Darby?”
“Yeah, she is so great.” Hilary smiled, genuinely this time. “It’s no wonder you moved here for her. She’s such a gem. I poured out my problems and she just listened without judgment.”
“That’s Darby.”
“We talked a bit about you, too,” Hilary continued.
“I told her how lucky she is to have a romantic like you who spent so many years pining for her and now coming to find her. It’s a love story for the books, you know.
Assuming all goes well between the two of you, maybe we can do a personal interest story for the paper at some point. ”
Samesh’s face went white.
“Did I say something wrong?” Hilary asked, surprised by his response.
He gave his head a slight shake. “Did you tell her that I moved to Bend for her?”
Hilary thought about it for a minute. “Yeah, it came up in conversation. Why? Was I not supposed to say anything?”
Samesh dropped the tray. The metal platter spun like a top as the intricately decorated cookies broke into pieces on the floor. He stared at the carpet, his voice barely audible. “She didn’t know. I didn’t tell her.”
“Oh no. I didn’t know,” Hilary gasped, reaching out to console him. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to share a secret.”
Samesh shook his head and bent down to begin picking up chunks of frosted snowmen and angels. “It’s not your fault. It’s entirely mine.”
Hilary wasn’t sure she agreed. It felt like everything she touched turned into shattered pieces of cookies at the moment. She was like a magnet for Christmas chaos and didn’t know how to fix it.