Page 125 of Mistletoe and Mischief

Bobby’s glasses were askew and his face flushed by the time he moved away from her. He cleared his throat. “You need to warn me before you do that,” he muttered.

“Okay, I will,” she said, smiling up at him. “That was just to say how much I love you.”

Bobby cleared his throat again and gave her a small, crooked smile. He never quite knew how to respond when she mentioned love. “Thank you,” he whispered, then hurried to the door.

In a minute he was back with Christie and James. They were another odd couple, Teri mused. When she’d first met James Wilbur, she hadn’t known what to think of the tall, exceptionally thin man who served as Bobby’s driver. It wasn’t until much later that she discovered James was Bobby’s dearest friend. He’d been a chess prodigy like Bobby, but James had suffered a breakdown caused by all the pressure. He’d disappeared from the public eye and been forgotten by everyone except Bobby. Her husband refused to abandon his friend, so he’d hired James as his driver. For years no one had recognized Bobby’s chauffeur as the teenager who’d made chess history along with Bobby Polgar.

As soon as James met Christie, he fell for her. Teri hated to be the one to tell him, but her younger sister came with plenty of baggage, just like she had. To her complete surprise, Christie had fallen in love with James. Their relationship had been a series of stops and starts, had taken a number of unexpected turns. But in the end Christie had dumped the losers who’d taken advantage of her, gone back to school and straightened out her life.

A year ago, over Christmas, she’d split up with James. A story in the press had identified him as James Gardner, the prodigy who’d disappeared. It might not have been such a big news item if not for the fact that he’d still been part of the chess world all that time. He hadn’t played in years, not since his collapse, but he enjoyed belonging to that world. Christie hadn’t been able to tolerate his deception, his inability to trust her with his secret. Eventually, however, they’d reconciled and their estrangement had led them to a greater understanding of each other.

Teri realized James was like Bobby, in that chess was all he knew. He’d acknowledged he no longer wanted to play high-pressure big-money chess, but liked being close to the game—and close to the one friend he could count on, Bobby Polgar.

“We’re here to help with the kids’ Christmas gifts,” Christie announced.

“Wonderful.” Teri patted the empty space next to her on the sofa. “We’ll let the men put together these toys while you and I visit.”

“Sounds like a great idea to me,” Christie said. “By the way, the house looks gorgeous.” She gestured at the candles arranged on the fireplace mantel and at the Christmas tree, its lights reflected in the picture window overlooking Puget Sound.

Falling in love had changed Christie, just as it’d changed Teri. The hard edges of her personality had softened. She’d proven to herself she could get whatever she wanted as long as she worked hard and persevered. Christie had recently graduated from Olympic Community College, and she planned to start her own business, photographing the contents of houses for insurance purposes. Teri was proud of her little sister.

“I heard from Johnny this afternoon,” she told Christie. Johnny was their younger brother. He was in school, attending the University of Washington. “He’ll come over for dinner tomorrow. With his new girlfriend.” Johnny never lacked for girlfriends, but he hadn’t met anyone who was going to changehislife. Not yet.

Teri had been more of a mother to him than their own. Another memory floated into Teri’s mind. Soon after she’d married Bobby, Teri had made a huge dinner and invited her family to the house to meet her husband.

Sadly, her mother had arrived half-drunk, and from the moment Ruth stepped through the door, she did nothing but find fault with Teri.

Bobby wasn’t about to let his mother-in-law insult his wife and had handled the situation in a firm, yet subtle way. He’d wordlessly picked up Ruth’s purse and set it by the front door, indicating it was time for her to leave. Ruth had immediately taken offense and, dragging her fourth—or was it fifth?—husband, she’d stomped out.

“James, what do they mean by a flat-head screwdriver?” Bobby and James sat on the family room floor with the pieces of one scooter scattered about the room. Bobby held out the instruction sheet, frowning at the diagrams. Then he turned it upside down before turning it right side up again.

“I didn’t know there was more than one kind of screwdriver,” James confessed.

“You learn something new every day, right?”

“Right,” James agreed.

“I’ll get a flat-head screwdriver for you,” Teri said, sliding off the sofa.

Bobby gazed up at her as if she were the most brilliant woman who’d ever lived. “You have one?”

“That and a Phillips and a square tip...” She went to the kitchen drawer and returned with the required screwdriver.

“Do you need anything else?” she asked, handing it to him.

“Uh...” He showed her the instruction sheet. “Can you tell me what I’m supposed to do with that?” He pointed to the drawing of a part.

“Teri,” Christie said, getting up from the sofa. “It looks like these two are going to need a bit of assistance.”

“Looks that way,” she concurred.

“We can do this,” Bobby insisted.

“Yeah,” James echoed, but without much conviction.

“Do you want them to help us?” Bobby asked his friend.

James regarded Christie, and then Teri. “I don’t think it would hurt. What about you?”

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