Читать книгу Christmas, Actually: The Christmas Gift / The Christmas Wish / The Christmas Date - Anna Adams - Страница 14

CHAPTER SIX

JACK WAS TACKING twinkly lights onto his Victorian porch when Fred Everly strolled along the sidewalk in oil-stained overalls and a peacoat with his company logo stitched on the back. Everly Body Works. Simple. To the point.

Jack got straight to it, as well.

“Fred,” he said, aiming his staple gun down as he leaned over the rail.

The other man turned. “Need a hand with that, Doc?”

“No, no. I’ve got it.” Jack set the gun and the strand of lights on the porch railing. “How’s work going? Are you busy in the run-up to the holidays?”

Fred grinned. “Is your granddad’s truck in danger of failing inspection?”

“I’m not sure why everyone acts as if my truck is likely to disintegrate in the middle of the road.” He stopped. Honesty was such a relief after lying or pretending, or just dancing around the truth, that he could go on about his truck for hours. “I wondered how you’re doing with that nurse’s car. From the wreck the other day? I happened to see her in Tessie’s room at the hospital, and I realized she’s stranded here.”

“I’m having some problems with a few of the parts, and some of my suppliers don’t push themselves so close to Christmas.”

Jack imagined Sophie waking on Christmas morning alone in the B and B, in a town where he’d never mentioned her name. No one even knew they’d been together.

He’d felt bad about that, with Callie treating her as a stranger. He’d been closer to Sophie, given more of himself, trusted her with more of his secrets than he had with anyone.

He’d tried to start a new life in Boston, and when that hadn’t worked, Christmas Town was waiting for him.

Why had he treated Sophie like that? And why hadn’t she exposed him when she’d realized Callie didn’t know about her? She had to be angry, but she’d said she wouldn’t make things worse for him.

“You will finish it in time?” Jack asked. “You know she did Tessie Blaylock a huge favor?”

“Saved her life, I hear,” Fred said, “but that doesn’t change my deliveries. I’m going to try, Doc, but it’s Christmas. She may need to rent a car, or maybe take the train or fly.”

“That’s not a bad plan. And then after the New Year, you’ll have her car ready and she can come back?”

“Honestly? I wouldn’t be surprised. Do you know her well enough to suggest she’d be happier doing that?” Fred asked.

“We talked a little today. I could speak to her about making the most of her holidays.”

“Good idea, Doc. I’ll suggest it, too.”

* * *

“CAREFUL OF THAT staple gun, Nurse Palmer.”

She whirled and shot a staple over his shoulder. Sophie’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Jack, I’m sorry. I could have hurt you.” Her eyes welled with tears.

“I’m fine.” He eased the tool out of her hand, nevertheless. “Don’t worry.”

“I’m not used to you talking to me.”

“I know.” He took up the holly she’d been stapling. “I’ve been brutal, but I wish you’d accept that I’m right.”

“I’m getting there.” She tugged at her hair, which was stuck in her collar. “You never meant for anyone here to know me. A man in love wouldn’t pretend the woman he cared for didn’t exist.”

“I should have told my sister and brother,” he said. Because Sophie did matter to him. She’d been his family when he couldn’t explain himself to Nick and Callie. “But maybe it’s best for everyone that I’ve behaved unfairly from the beginning.”

“You turn everything inside out.” She lifted the rope of holly attached to a thick strand of jute and subtle lights that would twinkle in the darkness. “But I promise not to shoot at you again.”

She’d already finished a long series of holly loops, which were wafting back and forth with the heavy breeze. “How did you end up manning the fences?” he asked.

“I had nothing else to do. Dr. Everly’s brother-in-law came to the B and B at lunch and told me my car might be delayed.”

Jack didn’t bother with subtlety. “Maybe you should let it go for now and come back after the holidays.”

“Rent a car from now until after the New Year? That’s crazy,” she said, and then understanding dawned. “You talked to him. You’re that desperate to get me out of here?”

“He passed by my house and we spoke. He said the car might take a while, and I suggested going home could be a good idea. Your mom would be glad to see you.”

“When did you become so comfortable, trying to manipulate me?”

“Maybe I’m tired of hurting you.”

Through the snowy afternoon’s green-gray light, he saw faces watching them.

Sophie turned to see what had caught his attention. The air wafted a dizzying scent around them—the fragrance of her shampoo. He had to be a desperate man, because that scent took him back to moments of closeness, his kiss in her hair, her whisper in his ear, feeling as if he belonged.

“People are watching us.”

Anger tightened her mouth, and he couldn’t help staring.

“Sophie,” he said, his throat aching, “I’m thinking of you. And your baby.”

“I don’t care.” She lifted her hands and did half a spin, as if inviting everyone in sight to join them. “I’ll be gone from here. You’ll be the one answering questions.”

“Why didn’t you tell my sister?”

Sophie’s lips softened again. Her mittened hand lifted as if she was going to touch him, but at the last moment, she drew it back. Then she turned to her work on the fence. Loop the holly, hit it with a staple. “I’m angry with you. If it were just me, I’d wallow in rage that you dumped me. I certainly wouldn’t have humiliated myself by coming here.”

“Why doesn’t the baby make you feel that even more strongly?”

“I told you. I don’t even know my father’s name. My mother would never tell me. We don’t talk about it anymore because we want to get along, and she’s been a supportive, wonderful mom.”

“And you think my name could change things for your child?”

“Our child.”

A compulsion to look down at her slightly rounded belly was difficult to resist. “Tell me.”

“You’ll always have a way to find her. When she’s old enough, she can look for you, and if you want to tell her to her face that she doesn’t matter, that’s your choice. She’ll have me to lean on, and I won’t have controlled her options, or made the decision for her.”

Jack saw that moment in his mind. A beautiful tall girl with his dark hair and Sophie’s blue eyes confronting him because he’d stayed out of her life.

“Jack, are you all right?”

He came out of the scene where he let down the one child who had a right to his loyalty. “I would’ve been if you’d stayed away. Why do you need her to be mine? I told you I’d be responsible for her.”

Sophie looked around them. No one was close. Hammering went on at the stage and power stapling rang out as if everyone on the green was doing target practice.

“Our baby girl deserves all the love both of us can give her.”

“You don’t understand.” He wanted to shout, to rip down the holly ropes, to persuade Sophie to give up this ridiculous fight and get out of his town.

“And you refuse to explain. But I have to be the best mom I can be, so I’m doing what I believe is right for my daughter. I’ve seen you with patients, with friends’ children. You’re gentle and kind. You talk to them as if they matter. You can give that to kids who walk out of your life the next second, but you can’t give yourself to your own daughter?”

“Now you understand. But you still haven’t explained why you didn’t tell my sister.”

“I don’t know what goes on when you’re like this.” Sophie gestured toward the perspiration that was cold at his temple. “But I do know my child will have family here, and I don’t want your sister to think badly of you.”

“I didn’t tell my family about you because I never planned to come back here.”

“What?” The word left her mouth in a whisper. She turned back to the fence and resumed working in silence. Jack followed. He could have walked away, but realized what he was doing to her.

He didn’t have enough courage to risk loving the baby they had made together. How could he do that when he was already fighting every day to be sane, to look normal because of another child?

“Why did you come back here after you left me?” She tugged more holly out of his tight grip. “I was so sad after you walked out, I would have screamed at the first jaunty caroler.”

“They don’t sing all year.” He couldn’t explain his need for familiar faces, for the love of his brother and sister, if he couldn’t have Sophie’s anymore.

“Sophie Palmer,” a man called out. Tessie’s cousin, Otto Taver, must have heard enough about Sophie to recognize her, a stranger helping out like a Christmas Townie.

Uncharacteristically shy, she nodded, stepping closer to Jack. Did she even realize she’d eased his way for support? He didn’t move. For this moment, he wouldn’t abandon her, even though Otto meant no harm.

“Just wanted to thank you.” The other man yanked off his thick gloves and shook her hand, hard. “Tessie’s my cousin. I hear she might have ended up in big trouble if not for you.”

“Thank you, but she only needed a tourniquet. Jack did the hard part.”

“That’s not true,” Jack said, unable to stop himself from putting the story straight. “That tourniquet saved Tessie’s life.”

“I’m glad you were there to tie it.” Otto shook her hand again and nodded at Jack. “Doc, good to see you.” He strode off, heading toward the stage with his tool bag.

Sophie pushed her hands into her coat pockets. “You were the one who saved her life,” she said.

“She wouldn’t have had a life to save if you hadn’t stopped her bleeding.”

“How do you manage their expectations?” she asked, looking around. “Don’t you know you could fail them, too?”

“I’m trying not to mess up.”

She was silent for a moment and then shivered. He took the stapler and balanced it on the fence. “Are you cold?”

“A little.”

“You shouldn’t let your core cool. Why don’t you head back to the B and B?”

“I’m fine if I keep moving.”

“Georgette told you to rest, didn’t she?”

“I haven’t been overdoing it.” Sophie’s low, intense tone and the pulse beating just above the collar of her coat dared him to express concern about the unborn infant he was so intent on abandoning.

“I’m not an animal,” he said. “I don’t want you or the baby to be at risk. I’ll walk you back to Esther’s.”

“I’m capable of walking by myself.”

“I’m walking with you, Sophie.”

She gave in. He handed the stapler to one of the other helpers and turned back toward Sophie.

She had already started across the green, but Jack caught up in a few steps. “Will you please consider taking Fred Everly’s advice and go home until your car’s ready?”

“Your advice.”

“It’s a good plan.”

“I’m not coming back here. When I leave, I’m gone for good.” She pushed ahead of him. “Which means your clock is ticking, Jack.”

He caught up again. “Stop running away.”

She turned to him, her hair flying in a gust of snow. “No one has ever made me as angry as you.”

Or as desperate. He saw it in her eyes. She needed to understand, and he’d never explained what had happened to him.

He watched the woman he’d loved desperately trying to avoid him, as if she couldn’t bear to share the same oxygen.

If he told her, maybe they’d find a way. Maybe she’d help him see his future in a different light. He started to reach for her shoulder, then stopped himself and let her add to the distance between them.

* * *

WHEN THEY REACHED the B and B, Sophie said goodbye over her shoulder as she ran up the salted steps and into the house, shutting the door behind her.

In the foyer, people were laughing, anticipating a late lunch or an early dinner. Sophie nodded at Esther as she took off her mittens and stuffed them into her coat pocket.

“Hungry?” her hostess asked.

“Not right now. Maybe later.”

“Do you want a menu to take to your room?”

Sophie shook her head. “No, thanks.”

She hurried up the stairs. She’d threatened Jack with a ticking clock, but she was the one who felt Big Ben banging out the passing quarter hours in the back of her head.

Inside her room, she sat with a sense of relief, suddenly understanding Jack’s ability to hide from the truth or the past, or whatever horrible moments had their claws in him.

Someone knocked on her door and she jumped. For a second, Sophie hoped. With all her heart, with all the foolishness of a pregnant woman who still cared too intensely for the man who’d left her.

But then she came to her senses and opened the door.

A uniformed policeman and a woman in a dark suit waited in the hall. The officer lifted his cap. “I’m Sergeant Reese. This is Celia Dane. She’s a probation officer with Christmas County. You may not remember me, but I was at the accident scene after Tessie Blaylock struck your car.”

“I remember.” Vaguely. He’d taken a brief statement as the EMTs were checking her vitals inside the ambulance. “What can I do for you?”

“May we come in?” Ms. Dane asked.

Anxiety bloomed inside Sophie’s chest. No nurse wanted to go to court. But it was a fact of life that came with her job. No one wanted to take anyone down, or prop someone else up, without good reason. Tessie’s future was too much responsibility.

The same way a baby’s future might seem like too much responsibility?

Sophie held the door open. “I don’t have anything to offer you here, but could I call down to ask for coffee? Or water?”

“Just talk,” Ms. Dane said.

They took the chairs at either side of the fireplace. Sophie sat on the tufted chest at the end of the bed.

“I know you’ve spoken to Tessie,” the probation officer said. “I have to check on her, too. I’ve spoken to her teachers, her friends and her parents. I’ve even had a word with her doctors.”

“Jack Banning?” Sophie hadn’t asked him how he felt about Tessie’s mistake.

“And her GP. I’d like to hear your version of the accident.”

“I spoke to Officer Reese, and I wrote a statement for the police.”

“But I need to hear what you remember now.” Celia smiled. “We’re not out to get Tessie. We want to do the right thing to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Someone else knocked at the door. Sophie stood. “Excuse me. You probably know Esther’s a little protective of her guests.”

She was wrong again. Jack stood on the threshold. He looked distracted and unsettled, but determined. “I thought you might need—” he looked past her, into the room “—something.”

Baffled, Sophie let him in. “I’m fine.”

“You act as if you’re concerned, Jack,” the officer said.

“Sophie’s alone here. She doesn’t know many people.”

“Let me repeat what I told your friend,” Celia said, and Jack didn’t deny that they knew each other. “We’re searching for the right solution for Tessie. We already know this accident was not Sophie’s fault.”

Jack backed down, but Sophie couldn’t look away from him.

“Ms. Palmer?” the officer said.

She returned her attention to the visitors. “I already told you how it happened. I came off the exit ramp and saw Tessie driving toward me. She was weaving. She saw my car and tried to swerve.” Sophie reached behind her neck to smooth out her hair. To breathe in and out. Her baby was okay, but those horrifying moments replayed in startling clarity. She glanced at Jack again. Was this what happened to him?

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“I’m fine.” She turned to Officer Reese, her blood thrumming in her ears. “We collided. I saw she was hurt. I applied a tourniquet, and the emergency services arrived.”

“Why did you feel the need to speak to her in the hospital?” Celia asked.

Sophie hesitated. “I think it’s because I was so afraid she would die out on that road.” She splayed her hands over her belly. “And maybe because I’m pregnant. I wanted to make sure she was all right. I wanted to know if she was remorseful, and I believe she is.”

“You can’t think she deserves a free pass?” Officer Reese asked, angry in the way of a man who’d seen too many injured drivers.

“I believe Tessie when she says she won’t ever touch her phone again while she’s driving. I believe in second chances. Don’t you have driver’s safety courses? Couldn’t she speak to the children at her school—at all the schools near here?”

“That’s what I’m considering.” Celia turned to the policeman. “I think Sophie’s suggesting that Tessie has already paid for her carelessness.”

“She almost died,” Sophie said. “And she was terrified that she’d hurt me and my child. That’s a lot of responsibility for a teenager.”

“If she remembers this. If she never forgets what might have happened,” Reese said.

“You probably know I’m an ER nurse in Boston. I’ve talked to a lot of people who pretend to feel remorse for things they’ve done. Tessie’s relief when she saw me was real.”

“Jack already gave us that speech,” Reese said.

“He did?”

Jack shrugged but then moved so his shoulder touched hers. “Everyone in this room has faced people they have to trust or doubt,” he said. “I need to know patients aren’t lying about the meds they’re taking, or the extent and location of pain. Reese, here, has to judge every word an offender says to him. And Celia—she has to know when a kid like Tessie deserves probation or when she needs to be locked away.”

“You believe Tessie, too, Jack?”

“I’d put her on courses and community service to make sure she never forgets what might have happened, but I do believe she’s sorry.”

Reese’s smirk worried Sophie. Celia nodded slowly, making notes on the pad she’d balanced on her knee. When she finished, she clicked her pen and rose, smoothing her skirt.

“That’s it, Officer. Let’s leave these people to their evening. I’ll let you know, Sophie, if you need to come to court.”

Sophie managed not to quiver at the thought she might still hold Tessie’s future in her hands. They walked to the white door together, but Jack stayed behind. Sophie tried not to look shocked.

“They came up to the steps as I was walking away,” he told her when the two of them were alone. “I tried to leave, but I didn’t want you to face them by yourself. Reese has a reputation for being hard-nosed, and he’s not above bullying you to testify against Tessie.”

“You tried to leave?”

He unzipped his coat. “Do you think I want to keep getting involved?”

“I’m glad you couldn’t help yourself.” She turned him toward the door. “But I’m tired and hungry, so I’ll leave you to stew over the idea that someday our daughter might do something, accidentally, that involves the police. And I’ll be her only defense.”

His face paled.

“I was joking, Jack! I’m a responsible person with a good job. I’d call an attorney.” As she eased him through the door, Sophie couldn’t help liking the shock on his face. The most detached man in the world had suddenly seen a future where his child might need him. It was about time.