Page 23 of Christmas On Anchor Island

“I’ve told you before,” he said, crossing to the door, “you need to give her more credit. She loves you. She might not totally understand it, but she’d want you to be happy. Give her a chance. I think she’ll surprise you.”

Mia wasn’t convinced, but she wasn’t as adamantly against it either. “I’ll think about it.” That was the second time she’d used that phrase today. Maybe it was time to stop thinking and start acting.

“By the way,” Nick said, “you owe Lauren an apology.”

“Yes, I do. I’ll stop in to see her tomorrow.”

He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “You do that.” He lifted her chin with one finger. “There’s nothing wrong with you. You know that, right?”

Without the buzz from the wine, that might have brought a tear to her eye. “Not always, but hearing it helps.”

Nick gently kissed her nose. “You’re perfect just the way you are. Hardheaded and bratty, but still perfect.”

Warm fuzzies mixed with the effects of the wine, and Mia smiled for the first time in hours. “Thanks, big brother.”

“Anytime.”

* * *

“This thing has a hundred pieces,”Henri said, reading the Lego box Conner had viciously unwrapped less than an hour before. “For a four-year-old?”

While Henri sat among the presents beneath the tree, Callie was stuffing shredded holiday paper into a large garbage bag. “You’d be amazed how those things hold his attention. He’ll sit and build them for an hour, with Sam’s help, of course. We’re convinced he’s going to start his own construction business someday.”

She glanced around at all the dinosaur toys beneath the tree. “I won’t be surprised if he puts those building skills into creating his own Jurassic Park.” Creatures with tiny arms and giant heads were strewn about. Blue ones and green ones and brown ones with big teeth. Conner had insisted on taking the giant stuffed one with him for his nap.

“Is it too much?” Callie asked. “We don’t mean to spoil him, but with the twins and what he told us about feeling like we don’t see him anymore, we wanted to make him feel special.”

Henri had opinions on many things, but parenting she left to the experts. “I’d assume there’s nothing wrong with making them feel special so long as you also keep their feet on the ground at the same time. The mutual fund from Eugenia should serve that purpose.”

Blue eyes cut to the stairwell as her cousin tried not to laugh. “Be quiet or she’ll hear you.”

“I’m not knocking it. That’s a practical gift. Just not one a four-year-old is going to get excited about.” Henri gathered all the discarded wrapping paper around her and added it to the bag that Callie held open. “What time is this Pilar’s thing?”

“Three o’clock. Will asked Sid, Beth, and me what would be a good time and we all said after naps.” Pressing the paper down into the bag, she pulled the drawstrings and tied them in a knot. “You never told me how things went with Mia the other day. Did you give her the ticket?”

“I did.” And Henri had felt like a fool ever since. “I also took your advice.”

Straightening, she said, “Remind me what that was.”

Baby brain was real, even nine months later. “You said I should tell her how I feel.”

“And you did?”

“Like an idiot, yes, I did.”

“So?” Callie dropped into a chair. “What did she say?”

Henri cringed at the memory. “Nothing.”

The excitement on Callie’s face fell away. “What? What do you mean?”

“Her exact words were ‘I’m not sure what to say,’ which is a pretty clear answer.” Henri had spent two days wishing she’d just given her the ticket and been done with it. A friendly offering. Instead, she’d laid her heart on the table and gotten her ass kicked for it.

Ever the optimist, Callie waved the words away. “You took her by surprise, that’s all. And you were at the coffee shop, right? You know how self-conscious she is, especially in public. Give her some time.”

That’s all Henri had given Mia. Time. And a heartfelt declaration that she wanted to be with her. What she’d gotten in return were excuses, resistance, and I’ll think about its. At some point she had to face the truth. Mia didn’t feel the same way. It wasn’t the first time Henri had been rejected, and it wasn’t likely to be the last.

The embarrassingly stupid part was that the last real heartbreak in Henri’s life had happened on this island. And here she was, doing it all over again. Callie and the others in her circle of friends had all come here and found love. Beth, Sid, Will, Roxie, and Lauren. Technically, Sid had already lived here, but she’d been a transplant so it still counted. Each had strolled onto the Anchor Island shores for one reason or another and found their happily ever after.

---