Take Me Home for Christmas

Meanwhile, you might want to open a bank account—” he lowered his voice “—in someone else’s name, just so you don’t send up any red flags.”

In other words, he thought the FBI might still be watching her. And maybe they were. She hadn’t heard from Agent Freeman since he’d left Whiskey Creek, but she didn’t know any more about how a probe worked than Sam Hoover did.

“Right. I’ll take that under advisement. Thank you,” she said. But the thought of having to go to such lengths to hide the money troubled her. She’d come here feeling she deserved to get something for what she’d been through with Skip. She’d been a loyal wife—even if she was unhappy. She’d seen that letter as the universe’s way of making life a little more fair. Nearly a quarter of a million dollars would give her safety, security, independence. All the things she’d lacked since Skip ran out on them; all the things she craved.

But setting up an account under a different name felt so...underhanded and sneaky, not all that different from what her late husband had done.

Did she really want to sink to his level?

* * *

Since Alexa was home that evening, Sophia didn’t spend the night with Ted. The three of them had dinner together, and Alexa admired the presents Sophia had wrapped and arranged under the tree. But at bedtime, they said goodnight and went their separate ways, like they had in the past. Then Sophia spent the next two hours with her daughter in the guesthouse, talking about all the fun Alexa’d had on the snowmobile trip, what she hoped was in those Christmas presents and what she might get for Royce. Alexa fell asleep around eleven and Sophia had been lying awake ever since—for an additional two hours—staring at the window that looked out on Ted’s house.

She missed him, wanted to feel his warm body beside her. Now that she knew their time was so limited, she hated the thought of wasting it and that left her too unsettled to sleep.

She considered calling Madge, her sponsor, a matronly and sympathetic woman. But she wasn’t particularly tempted by liquor. She just needed a distraction. Otherwise, she might give in and text or call Ted, who was proving to be a far more powerful addiction. Part of her insisted it wouldn’t hurt anything. The other part didn’t want him to know she couldn’t get through a single night without craving his touch. It made her fear that even if she took the money and ran, she’d never be happy without him.

“Go to sleep!” she ordered herself. But after another hour, she broke down and texted him.

I want you, she wrote.

His answer popped up almost immediately. Thought you’d never ask.

Relieved that he seemed be having just as much difficulty as she was, she smiled.

Is it safe to leave Alexa here alone?

If you lock up, she should be fine. I’ve never had any trouble out here. I’d come to you, but it might be awkward if she gets up during the night.

He was right; it had been humiliating when his mother walked in on them. I’ll be there in a minute.

He met her on the deck wearing nothing but a pair of jeans. “I thought I’d have to go all night without seeing you,” he said as he drew her into his arms.

“I was on my way in. You didn’t have to brave the cold.”

“I came to make sure you didn’t change your mind.”

She chuckled. “You have to be freezing!”

“I’m feeling pretty warm, if you want the truth. Somehow I always feel warm when I’m with you.”

Slipping her arms around his neck, she hugged him as tightly as she’d always wanted to. “God, I love you,” she whispered.

He pulled back to look into her face.

“Did I really say that out loud?” she said with a laugh.

“You did.”

“Well, so much for pretending you don’t really mean that much to me.”

His teeth flashed as he smiled. “I just want to know one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Since when?”

Sophia could feel her pulse all the way to her fingertips. But what did she have to lose? This was potentially goodbye. “Since forever,” she admitted.

He ran a finger down the side of one cheek and over her lips before bending his head to give her the softest, sweetest kiss. “Good. One down, one to go.”

She felt like she was floating on air when she opened her eyes to look up at him. “One to go?”

“Now I just need to convince Alexa,” he said with a wink and led her into his house.

32

An hour later, Sophia knew what she had to do, but she was terrified to follow through with it, especially since she had a child depending on her. Alexa figured into every attempt she made to justify keeping the money. For one thing, Sophia would lose her job if she and Ted broke up, and that could happen well before she was capable of getting anything else.

But even then her conscience wouldn’t allow her to do what Chief Stacy had feared and suspected she might. She was finally in the driver’s seat of her own life, no longer had to kowtow to Skip’s wishes and demands. She had the opportunity to build her future on the basis of her own talent and ambition, not other people’s money, and she wanted to do that.

She shifted in the bed so she could see Ted’s sleeping face. To be honest, she couldn’t bear the thought of leaving him, not for any amount of money. This time around she was going to hold out for love—and trust in his love—so that maybe they could spend the rest of their lives together. If that meant she had to take on everyone in Whiskey Creek whenever she left the house, so be it. She would stand her ground and fight.

“Why are you so restless tonight?” Ted asked sleepily.

“I have a lot on my mind.”

“You’re not thinking about my wine cellar....”

She laughed. “No.”

“Your mother or my mother?”

“No. And I’m not thinking about Skip, either, since we’re going down the list. Except to be glad he’s gone.”

“Then these are happy thoughts that are keeping you up?”

“How can a girl be anything but happy after what you just did to me?” she teased.

His hand curved around her breast. “There’s more where that came from.”

She rose up on one elbow. “If you broke up with me, would you fire me?”

“So you are worrying,” he said, amusement in his voice. “Let me see your fingers.”

“I haven’t been digging at them. I’m not worrying, exactly. Just planning. I’ve decided that when I save up enough money, I want to go to college.”

He pecked her lips. “I like that idea much better than hearing you talk about moving away from me.”

“Do you think I could get in?”

“You could start at a community college. If you do well there, you could probably get into a university. What would you like to major in?”

“Business. I want to own a dessert shop someday. I’m good at desserts, don’t you think?”

“I think you’re good at lots of things.”

“Like...”

“Like screaming my name when I make you come. And I love it because then I get to feel like a big stud.”

“Stop! I’m being serious.”