The Best Man's Holiday Romance Page 5

  He’d thought it was good before, but now, he didn’t want the moment to end. The only thing that would have made the night better would have been if the sky was clear, so they could see the stars.

  Light flashed from Tasha’s phone, cutting through the blackness at their feet. “It’s time to go back. We both have to get up for work in the morning.”

  He really didn’t want the moment to end, and that made no sense. He needed to be up at 5:30 a.m.

  Whatever was going on in his head, he’d figure it out tomorrow.

  Chapter 5

  Natasha sat on the couch trying to watch television, but found it difficult to concentrate, even though her favorite show was on.

  Four weeks had gone by quickly.

  Once more Heather interrupted her, this time running in front of her on the way to the closet. Heather dropped to her knees, and began digging through the pile of shoes.

  “Have you seen my red sandals? The ones with the gold straps.”

  Natasha sighed, hit the pause button on the DVR and turned to her sister. “Didn’t you pack up all your summer shoes and put them in that box on the shelf? The one marked Summer Shoes?”

  “Right. I forgot. Thanks.” Heather stood, stretched, grabbed the box and pulled it down.

  Natasha crossed her arms and stared at her sister. “Why are you in such a panic to pack now? You’re not leaving until tomorrow night.”

  Tomorrow. The day of the wedding that wasn’t.

  Heather’s voice turned whiny. “I don’t want to leave it until the last minute, in case I have to go shopping to get something I forgot. Although I may go shopping, anyway. I need to take a break to get away from all the stress.”

  Natasha bit her tongue. She almost said that Heather was the cause of her own stress, but wanted to avoid another argument. It had been three weeks since they’d had a confrontation, and as far as she knew, Heather wasn’t seeing their neighbor anymore. But then, Natasha hadn’t known Heather had been seeing him in the first place.

  Four weeks after Jeff ended their engagement, Heather seemed to have no trouble getting on with her life. She was still going to use the honeymoon package, but now as a vacation with a friend she worked with.

  Jeff had been making good progress and moving forward, although there were times she could tell he was still thinking about it. He’d obviously been more in love with Heather than Heather had been with him.

  Together Natasha and Jeff had joined the Bible study meeting that met every Thursday evening at her friend Ashley’s church. He’d told everyone there the short version of what happened. Last meeting he’d been sullen, and then when someone asked him what was wrong, he’d gone silent. Earlier that night, Luis had taken Jeff on a trip to Portland to see a Blazers game—something she didn’t understand because Jeff didn’t particularly like basketball. But the trip would serve the purpose of keeping Jeff’s mind occupied, since Luis made a point of taking Jeff’s car so that Jeff would drive.

  She smiled. Luis would probably have made Jeff pay for the gas, as well as the parking. But Luis wanted what was best for Jeff, as these past few days had been particularly difficult for him.

  Tomorrow, the day he was supposed to get married, was going to be the most difficult of all. All his friends agreed that she would be the best person to keep him busy for the day, since he seemed better when he was with her. So, for Saturday, she’d planned a day in the park, taking pictures and looking for ducks. However, the forecast was for colder temperatures and heavy rain, which would be fine for ducks, but not very fine for people.

  The blanket he had in the trunk was great for cold, but not so good for wet.

  “I found them!” Heather sang out, holding up her red sandals, as if Natasha cared. “Now I can pack my red shorts.” Heather dashed back to the bedroom, followed by the slamming of drawers.

  As Natasha reached to turn up the volume on the television, her phone sang the tune for receiving a text message.

  It was from Jeff.

  I M bored. I hate basketball. Wish U wr here.

  She couldn’t help but smile as she replied.

  Why, so we cud hate it together?

  She waited for his reply, knowing he couldn’t type as fast as she could with his large thumbs.

  Yes. Then it wudnt be so bad.

  She hit the prompt to reply but her thumbs wouldn’t work to type a message. Even though she didn’t like basketball, either, she did wish she were with him. But it would be ridiculous for both of them to sit there and watch a sport neither of them enjoyed. Therefore it was best to change the subject.

  Maybe a hot dog wud make it better.

  Food seemed to make a lot of things better for Jeff. Since the breakup he’d gained a few pounds, and so had she. She didn’t know if it was good or bad to discover he liked to cook dinner for her, and on the weekends brunch, as well. While many women comforted themselves with chocolate and ice cream, she found out the hard way that Jeff’s comfort food was bacon. On everything.

  Luis went to get some dogs. Gotta go. Here he comes.

  She couldn’t help but smile imagining Luis’s response to catching Jeff texting when he should have been watching the game. Luis had told her how much he’d spent on the tickets, and they weren’t cheap.

  She almost asked if stadium hot dogs had bacon on them, but didn’t want to get him in worse trouble with his friend.

  The phone was barely back in her purse when the text ringtone sang out again.

  Now she really did smile, imagining Luis scolding Jeff, and Jeff texting her to tell her all about it, while Luis was watching.

  Her smile dropped when she saw the sender. It wasn’t Jeff. It wasn’t even Luis. It was her boss.

  Bill never texted her unless it was something critical he didn’t want to say in person.

  Worse, it was Friday night. After hours. And she knew this wasn’t a social call. As the HR director, it could only be something bad.

  Her hand trembled as she hit the prompt to read the message.

  It was long. That meant it was really bad.

  Sorry to text. Due to a family emergency Gloria and I must leave tonight for about a month. I need you to organize and do all the shopping for the Christmas party this year. I have emailed you the files. I know you will use personal time. I will give you a good bonus. Thank you.

  Visions danced in her head. Not of sugarplums, but visions of all she had to do. At the stationery store where she worked, the company Christmas party was for all employees, both office and sales staff, their spouses or significant others, and their children. Last year there had been approximately twenty children at the party, and the company had purchased a gift for every one of them. This year they’d expanded their staff, which meant...more children at the party.

  Bill’s wife, who didn’t work, always did all the shopping and wrapping, plus she organized the catering. Every year she made a point that their company wouldn’t do the same as when she was a little girl—every girl got a doll and every boy got a toy car. Gloria made sure every child received a different and personally selected gift, and not something selected by a parent. Gloria based the amount spent on a child by the child’s age, with no concession made regarding a parent’s seniority or performance record. It was all about the kids.

  Natasha flipped to the calendar app in her phone. She’d already marked the day of the party, which was just over a week before Christmas.

  Until now, she hadn’t entertained any thoughts of Christmas, though many stores already featured Christmas trees and some decorations. While she loved the Christmas season, she usually tried to have most of her shopping done by Black Friday. But now, instead of a dozen gifts, she needed to buy about fifty more. Most of them for children of people she barely knew.

  Natasha looked outside to the black
night. With the sound of an electronic version of the Muppets theme, everything had changed.

  Now she wouldn’t be taking Jeff to the park. She had another activity to keep him busy.

  Whether he liked it or not.

  * * *

  Jeff turned off the alarm, then pulled the blanket over his head.

  After the game Luis had taken him out for a burger, then they’d endured the three-hour drive home.

  He didn’t want to get up. The greasy burger still sat like a lump in his stomach.

  More than that, what really sat like a lump in his stomach was the fact that today would have been the day he was getting married.

  This was a day to spend in bed. Or maybe he’d just sit on the couch in his pajamas and not move except to eat. That was what single guys did on a rainy fall morning when they were all alone and wanted to stay that way. He’d even watch another basketball game, if that’s all he could find on television.

  Or he could man-up and spend the day with...the sister of the woman who’d been cheating on him.

  He turned to bury his face in the pillow. He didn’t know why he’d agreed to spend the day with Tasha. Especially today. Being with someone who looked so much like the woman who’d stomped on his heart would be like rubbing a dog’s nose in an accident.

  But that’s exactly what it had been. An accident. Since he broke off the engagement he’d spent most of his nonworking time with Tasha. At first he thought she was only being nice, capitulating and doing things with him that he wanted to do. In the same way, because she was so accommodating to him when he was down, he agreed to do what she wanted before he even knew what it was—as they took turns choosing what they would be doing.

  He didn’t know when they started picking the same things, or even more strange, when saying goodbye at the end of an evening, he couldn’t remember who suggested their activity of the day.

  Unlike his time with Heather. During the past year, everything he’d done with Heather was because he simply gave in. Heather seldom asked what he wanted. He’d learned to make the best of her choices and enjoyed himself in spite of it.

  After he’d been dumped by Kate he’d wanted to get back into a relationship so badly, he’d acquiesced to Heather for all the wrong reasons.

  It wasn’t surprising that she’d said yes when he asked her to marry him. He’d been like an abused puppy, doing everything she wanted, when she wanted it, on her terms, and paying for it all, too. To keep him from realizing the pattern he’d fallen into, she’d treated him like a knight in shining armor so he’d felt like a hero, sacrificing what he really wanted for her.

  He’d given her everything she wanted, in exchange for the pleasure of her company.

  Now that his eyes were open, he would never allow himself to fall for it again.

  From now on, any relationship would be on his terms.

  And today, his terms were that he was going to celebrate his freedom by spending the whole day alone, in whatever state he wanted.

  He was going to stay in bed until noon, and nothing was going to change that.

  From the table beside the bed, his cell phone rang out with the tune of the Mario Kart theme, which meant it was Tasha.

  He’d already answered before he remembered that he promised himself he was going to spend the day alone. But he could justify answering her call by telling himself that his mother had raised him to have manners. Since he’d previously agreed to spend the day with Tasha, he owed it to her to tell her he’d changed his mind, versus letting her call go to voice mail and leaving her hanging all day.

  “Hi, Jeff. It’s me. Natasha.”

  He grinned. As if he didn’t already know. “Hi. Listen. About today. I—”

  “I’m sorry about our plans,” she blurted out before he could finish his sentence. “My boss just called with a big assignment.”

  He felt his grin drop. Even though he was going to cancel, he didn’t want to see her work through the weekend. She worked hard all week, even through her breaks so she could get off on time to be with him. She deserved her free time. “Is there anything I can do?” he asked before he thought about his promise to himself to spend the day alone on the couch.

  “I’m so glad you asked. I need your help.”

  “Sure. Name it.” The words were out and then he thought of what he was obligating himself to. Before he said any more, he gritted his teeth, trying to think of how he could backtrack his offer.

  “I need to go shopping.”

  At her words, his mouth opened, ready to decline. He hated shopping.

  She continued before he could respond. “Christmas shopping.”

  For that, he could respond. “Seriously? Count me...” The word out hung on his lips, but he couldn’t say it. It wasn’t realistic, but it was as if he could feel her disappointment if he said what he really thought.

  He didn’t just hate Christmas shopping. He detested it. But Tasha had come through to help him when he was down. He didn’t know why she needed his help, unless she was buying something really heavy. Or she needed something that wouldn’t fit into her little car.

  He sighed. “...in. Count me in.” He looked down and wiggled his bare toes. “I just need to get dressed, and I’ll be right over.”

  After they said their goodbyes, he got in and out of the shower and dressed in record time. He didn’t want to think of why he would ever be in a hurry to go shopping, especially with a woman. As he drove in the rain to her building, by the time he turned the corner to get to her block, he wondered why he wasn’t as worried about his behavior as he should have been.

  When he pulled into the visitor parking, Tasha was waiting.

  She hopped in, buckled her seat belt and turned to him. “Let’s go.” She swiped some rain off her cheeks, then started fiddling with her purse.

  He almost asked why she had come down to wait for him, but then he realized that Heather was likely still in the apartment.

  Tasha had waited for him outside, in the rain, so he wouldn’t have to see Heather.

  He gulped. He would make this up to her. He didn’t know how, but he would. “Where to?”

  As he reversed the car, she pulled her computer tablet out of her purse, tapped it a few times, then started reading. “I think we should do the easy ones first, so let’s go to that big store that sells baby stuff.”

  “Who do you know that has a baby?” He tried to think of her friends he’d met in the past few weeks. At the most likely prospect, his stomach clenched. “Your friend who just got married. Ashley. Is she pregnant?” He was nearing thirty, and he wanted to start a family not too long after getting married. If her friend was pregnant already, of course he was happy for Ashley and Dave, but it also smacked him in the face, reminding him of something else that had been yanked from him.

  Beside him, Tasha shook her head as she tapped something into her tablet. “No, not yet, but I’m sure it won’t be long. I’ve got to buy four baby gifts for my list. Two girls and one boy. And one unknown, because the baby is due next week.”

  “How many friends with babies do you have?”

  She looked up at him. “These aren’t for my friends. These are for coworkers’ children. This is what my boss needs me to do.” She explained about the text she’d received.

  “I feel like I should be afraid to ask why you feel you need my help. You know I hate shopping.”

  “I know. But half my list is boys, and I have no idea what to buy for boys.”

  He grinned. “Cars,” he said with no hesitation. “The faster, the better.”

  “I can’t. It’s company policy for no two children to receive the same thing. It would be easy if I could buy typical boy and girl gifts and divide them up, but I can’t. The reason this is so special is that no two children get the same gift.”

&
nbsp; Since the light was red, when Jeff came to a complete stop he turned to Tasha. By now she was reading on the tablet, and from that angle he couldn’t see it. “I thought for all these company parties the parents bought the gifts and snuck them under the tree for Santa to hand out.”

  She shook her head. “That’s not the way my boss does it. It’s as big a surprise for the parents as it is for the kids.” She held up the tablet again. “He’s also got a scale of how much to spend. It’s all based on the age of the kids, not what position the parent holds, or how long they’ve been working there. He’s a really great boss.”

  Mentally he mapped out his route, and turned the corner. “I don’t understand why he gave you this job.”

  “Because I’m the human resources director. Although I only handle adults. I don’t know what to do with children. Especially boys.”

  Rather than look at her, he focused all his attention to the traffic ahead of him. She didn’t know how to handle boys, but she sure knew how to handle men. Especially him. She’d done everything right to lift him out of the hole he’d fallen into, and it hadn’t occurred to him that she was a professional at handling people. But as HR director, that was her job.

  And now that she’d mentioned it, when her newly married friend Ashley, who he now saw every week at the Bible study meeting, had been shot in a bank robbery, Tasha had gone to a monthlong workshop for human resources directors.

  Her natural talents were probably enhanced by everything she’d learned for use in the workplace. She knew exactly what he needed when his life blew up in his face.

  He wasn’t sure how to feel about his realization that he’d been her subject to test her new skills, but the timing worked for both of them. In only a month he felt pretty much back to normal and ready to get on with his life.