Page 7 of Mistletoe Season
Emmy shook off the memory. What was it about Christmas that always had her thinking about the past? Particularly the painful memories? Yesterday she not only thought about Josh—ugh!—but after her run-in with Kieran O’Neill, she couldn’t stop thinking about him either. Or her wigwagging stomach.
She walked to the stack of décor bins and opened one. It was filled with garland. She picked up the silver garland on the top, looped it around her neck, and unpacked the rest of the box while “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree” played in the background. But her mind was still on Kieran. How in the world could he be so good-looking at forty-three years old, while she resembled a dimpled potato? She’d always had a roundish figure, and no amount of diet and exercise except for near starvation could change that, and she had tried everything over the years. But while she might be round, she was in good shape and watched what she ate... most of the time. Christmas was always a weakness.
Kieran was my weakness too.
She stared at the string of garland in her hand. Even Sheryl didn’t know how deep Emmy’s crush on her brother had been. When he’d asked her to his senior prom, she didn’t believe he was serious. It was only when he admitted he couldn’t find another date on short notice that she agreed to go.
“You’re a good friend,”he’d said. And if she had any doubt about how completely in the friend zone she was, he’d even given her the clichéd light punch on the shoulder.
Still, they’d had a great time, despite him leaving her alone several times to dance with other girls, and that included all the slow dances. Again, no problem. She knew her place. She was just glad to be there.
Yet something had changed when he dropped her off at home. She expected him to simply let her out of his car in the driveway, but he walked her to the porch instead. He even lingered there, devastatingly handsome in his white shirt and gold vest with a real bow tie, not a clip-on. He’d left his black jacket in the car, and his tie wasundone and hanging loosely around his unbuttoned collar. He’d worn his thick black hair long back then, almost shoulder length. He literally could have been a romance cover model if he’d wanted to.
“Hope you had a good time,” he’d said, soft light glowing on his face and highlighting his constant five o’clock shadow.
“I did.” She smiled, telling him the truth. “Thanks for letting me be your date.”
He tilted his head, his dark eyes turning smoky. “Thanks for letting me take you.”
She couldn’t respond, standing like a statue while trying to focus on what he was saying, not on the weird and pleasant feeling that he might, justmight, kiss her. She had no idea why, only that her stomach was wigging and wagging like a sailboat in an ocean storm. At this point a peck on the cheek would do.
Suddenly he backed away. “See ya on Monday.”
Before she could say a word, he was already in his mom’s Grand Cherokee and revving the engine. A second later he was peeling out of her driveway.
Emmy’s cheeks flamed. That was almost twenty-six years ago, and she felt a little foolish about assuming he would kiss her. Clearly that had been more hope than reality. And afterward nothing had changed between them. She was Sheryl’s friend, and he was about to graduate high school. Shortly after that, he left Mistletoe and the country.
She touched her hot face and shook her head. What was the big deal? Everyone had high school crushes. They were a rite of adolescent passage. It wasn’t like she’d mourned over Kieran like he was a lost love.At least not for too long.
“Get back to work,” she muttered, forcing herself to focus on the daunting task in front of her. She had to finish decorating before tomorrow, or else she would be super behind. Emmy turned up the music and set out to enjoy herself. Two minutes later MariahCarey’s singular voice belting “All I Want for Christmas Is You” played through the shop. She almost had to laugh at the irony. There was a time when all she wanted was Kieran.Not anymore.
And even if she did, there was zero chance he would want her. He was adventurous, and she liked being at home. She’d never leave Mistletoe for anything other than a vacation, and he couldn’t wait to get out of the country. They were too different. For all she knew he already had a girlfriend, or even a wife, although Sheryl probably would have said something to Emmy about having a sister-in-law. Kieran had always been out of her league and mostly out of her life. That would never change.
***
By Tuesday evening, Kieran needed a break.
As expected, he spent most of the day with his mother. She was the main reason he’d returned to Mistletoe, and he planned to spend as much time with her as possible. Although she was almost seventy, she was as active as ever.
He accompanied her to her weekly Tuesday morning breakfast at the Mistletoe Diner, where she met with members of her bridge club, every one of them female and a senior citizen. Over tea, French toast, and grits—he hadn’t had grits since he’d left town—he caught up on local gossip and the ladies’ maladies. The list was extensive and, unfortunately, detailed. Obviously, there was an age where collective commiseration with friends trumped discretion.
Afterward he took Mum to the mall, about an hour away, so she could shop for Christmas presents for his nephews, and he picked up a few things to add to the gifts he’d brought them from Ireland. Then it was back to the house so she could have lunch and watch her soap operas.
Mum was dozing off in the middle of the last show when herlandline rang. His mother had a cell phone, but she rarely kept it charged. She stirred a little in her recliner as he quietly rose from the sofa to answer it in the kitchen. “Hello?”
“Kieran?” Sheryl’s voice came through the antiquated receiver.
He braced himself, not sure if she would be happy that he was in Mistletoe or mad that he kept it from her. “Hi, Sheryl.”
“Kieran Connor O’Neill! How dare you not tell me you were coming home?”
He pulled the receiver away from his ear. He’d gotten his fair share of her hot Irish temper over the years, and most of the time he deserved it. “I wanted to surprise you and Mum,” he said, lowering his voice. “She’s asleep right now.”
“Oh, I forgotReckless and Yearningwas on right now. I was just calling to let her know our flight was delayed out of Cancún so we won’t be home until late tonight.”
“Sorry about that.”
“It’s all right. The boys are so tired from vacation, they’re falling asleep in the waiting area. And by ‘boys’ I also mean Ben.”
