Page 33 of Unexpected Gifts

Something warm settled in her chest. Maybe, just maybe, they were all going to be all right.

“Thank you for this,” she said quietly to Luke. “This was more fun than I thought it would be. I don’t know if I could have done it without you.”

He smiled, leaning a little closer. “Does this mean you’re retiring your Grinch title?”

“Let’s just say Grinch is on hiatus,” Abby said, grinning back at him. “See you at the house.”

8

LUKE

Luke had just pulled into Abby’s driveway when his mother called his cell phone.

“Hey, Mom. What’s up?”

“Hi, honey. Just checking in. Did you get the trees?”

“We did. Success on all fronts. Headed to Abby’s to help them put their tree up and then heading home.”

“About that,” Grace said. “I started worrying about Abby and the kids. Decorating the tree with all those family ornaments is bound to be hard on Sophie and Jack. If I’m right, there are a lot of memories packed away in those boxes. Doing all these Christmas events without their mother will be terribly hard.”

“You have a great point.” Luke got out of the truck and went to the other side to free Lily from her car seat. She immediately ran to join Jack and Sophie, who were climbing out of Abby’s car. He hadn’t thought about it, but hanging ornaments inevitably led to discussions about when and where an ornament had come from. There would be handmade ones, too, from school projects, with the kids’ pictures on them that they’d have given their mother over the years. Those might be the worst.

The first Christmas without their mother was going to be rough. He felt sick thinking about it.

His mother continued. “That got me thinking that maybe we should help them trim the tree and then have a cookie decorating party—as a way to distract Jack and Sophie.”

“I can suggest it to Abby and see what she thinks.”

“Great. Let me know. Tell her I have all the cookies made and ready for the kids to decorate. I can bring it all to her.”

He disconnected his chest warming. His mother was such a considerate, kind person. He and his brothers had been lucky. So was Lily, for that matter. Without his mother, he didn’t know where any of them would be.

Losing her at Sophie’s and Jack’s ages? Unfathomable.

He cut Abby’s tree from his truck, then carried it over his shoulder up to the porch. Meanwhile, Sophie had shown Abby where Ramona had stored the boxes of Christmas decorations, including a stand for the tree. Luke hauled them all down from the attic storage space. In no time at all, he had the tree upright and displayed in the bay windows of the living room.

Abby breathed in through her nose. “The fresh needles smell so good. We always had a fake tree when I was a kid in LA.”

“Fake? The horror,” Luke said. “Wait. Does that mean you don’t know how to string the lights?”

“That’s exactly what it means.” Abby made a face. “How did I not think of that until now?”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got you covered. I happen to the be the one in my family who does our lights. My dad, normally a good Christian man, was known to utter more than one obscenity while fighting with the tree. When I turned twelve, Mom begged me to take over for him. There’s been peace in the Hayes household ever since.”

“I feel terrible for relying on you for so much,” Abby said. “But I don’t have a choice. Please help me.”

He laughed, delighted by her sweet smile. This woman was like comfort food during a cold winter’s day. Gorgeous comfort food.

She looked pretty enough to eat in her red sweater and jeans.

However, he must stay focused on the wholesome scene unfolding in front of him instead of daydreaming about how to get another kiss from Dr. Abby Parker. The children all needed him to keep his wicked thoughts to himself. They had to be the center of this day. Not his quickly growing obsession with his new neighbor.

“My mom called with an idea.” He explained to Abby his mother’s idea of decorating cookies as a way to distract the kids from what could be a hard activity. Abby reacted just as he had, marveling at his mother’s insightfulness, and quickly agreed. “Decorating a tree is about more than the task. I’m sure those boxes are full of memories of their mother. Jack may not understand, but Sophie surely does. She’s observant and mature for her age. And to have to do it with me, a virtual stranger, will make it even worse. Having you and Lily and Grace here will make them feel more at home.”

“Excellent. I’ll let my mom know.” He shot off a quick text to Grace before settling into his task. This tree wasn’t going to light itself.

Rufus dosedby the fire while Luke strung the lights.

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