Cash could hear the Christmas music blaring from the Callahan house as she pulled up. Today she’d come prepared. Cash took out the bag of gifts from the back seat she’d been saving for Christmas Day, and shut the door, before turning around and letting out a start of surprise as she almost colliding with a wide chest.
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,’ Griff said, reaching to carry the bag of presents for her.
Cash did her best to hide her disappointment at discovering the chest didn’t belong to the Callahan she’d been expecting. ‘I didn’t hear you over the music.’
‘Yeah, it’s festive in there, all right,’ he agreed with a slight grimace. ‘Merry Christmas,’ he said, before surprising her as he lowered his head and kissed her, briefly, but definitely not in a neighbourly kind of way.
Cash was too stunned to do more than blink as he pulled away, then turned towards the house before she could say anything. As she shook herself from her stupor, Cash glanced up at the verandah and caught sight of Linc, his hands braced against the railing, looking down with a thunderous scowl. Great. The day was off to an awesome start.
Cash’s mind was racing as she climbed the steps. What on earth was Griffin doing? She’d figured they’d already laid that particular idea to rest. He had seemed happy enough with Ashley the few previous occasions she’d seen him, so why would he suddenly try to reignite this thing between them now?
‘Cash! Merry Christmas!’ Lavinia’s happy welcome momentarily distracted her and she smiled widely as the older woman hugged her. It was something Cash hadn’t gotten used to yet—the physically demonstrative side of the Callahans. There was always a hug and a kiss on the cheek in greeting and farewell. Hadley came out of the house and hugged her too, before she was passed into Bob’s arms for a welcome. The greeting from Harmony was a little more restrained; Don, on the other hand, seemed more than happy to give her a hug that felt slightly invasive.
There was always such a crowd at these gatherings. Everything was big, from the amount of food to the number of people who made up this extended family. As usual the Dawsons were there, as were various cousins, uncles and aunties who’d arrived early for the wedding. Cash counted thirty people and even then she wasn’t sure she’d counted everyone.
She tried to catch Linc’s eye, but he was deep in conversation with two uncles. Cash watched as he leaned closer to listen intently to something one of them was telling him, beer can in one hand resting casually on his knee. God, he was sexy.
‘Come on, everyone, take a plate and serve yourselves,’ Lavinia called out.
The food was laid out on a long trestle table, as impressive as any smorgasbord Cash had ever seen in the many fancy resorts she’d worked in over the years. There was so much food, she wondered how on earth they were ever going to get through it all.
‘Come on, love,’ Bob urged from beside her. ‘Get in there and dig in.’
She gave a chuckle as he gently prodded her in front of him and helped add things to her plate when she was obviously being too modest. Her protests were useless, he simply ignored her and continued piling on the food.
Cash stared at the huge plate before her and shook her head. There was no way she was going to get through it all, but her mouth was watering despite herself. There were roasts and every kind of salad known to mankind; she’d only briefly glimpsed the desserts lined up inside, but she knew this was the beginnings of the massive food coma that was sure to follow this afternoon.
Lavinia settled Gran at the table and put her plate in front of her. Cash took a seat next to Payton and noticed she had only a small helping of salad on her plate.
‘Are you a vegetarian?’ Cash asked.
‘I’m a vegan.’
‘I knew a vegan once. Odd chap,’ Gran piped up.
‘Oh, for goodness sake, Payton, you can eat more than that,’ Harmony snapped.
‘I could,’ Payton said, eyeing Cash’s plate disdainfully before looking back at her mother, ‘but I don’t want to end up the size of a house. You’re the one who told me I need to watch what I eat.’
‘That was when you were fussy and only liked dessert and wouldn’t eat your dinner.’
‘You were saying I was getting fat.’
‘I said if you didn’t start eating healthier food, you’d have problems. That doesn’t mean you just exist on lettuce.’
‘Leave her alone, Harmony,’ Don muttered from the other side of the table. ‘There’s nothing wrong with caring about your weight. If she wants to catch a bloke, she doesn’t want to be a heifer. Something maybe a few others could learn from,’ he added snidely, glancing up at his wife, and Cash’s mouth dropped open in disbelief.
Surely he did not just imply that his wife needed to lose weight in front of the entire table? A quick glance around indicated that other people were just as shocked. Cash saw Olivia drop her eyes to her plate uncomfortably. Beside her, Griff lowered his cutlery and his fingers tightened on the handles. Linc also wore a glacial glare as he stared at his brother-in-law.
‘I think,’ Cash said, battling to control her own fury, but determined to jump in before the situation got worse, ‘any potential bloke who was only concerned about how much a woman weighed wouldn’t be much of a catch and you’d be better off without him anyway,’ she said, holding Don’s gaze steadily before turning to his daughter. ‘There’s no perfect size you’re supposed to be, and your mother’s right, your body needs more than just salad. Eating sensibly is not the same as starving yourself. If you really want to be a vegan, I know Savannah has a lot of books about it. I’m sure she’d be okay with lending you some so you can read up on how to make sure you stay healthy.’
‘Thank you,’ Harmony said with strained politeness, ‘but I’m sure it’s just a fad she’s going through.’
‘It isn’t!’ the girl protested, glaring at her mother.
‘I’d like to make a toast,’ Linc said suddenly, his voice cutting across the mother-daughter drama unfolding before them. ‘I think we all need to give Mum a big thank you for putting on such a huge spread and working her butt off to make it all happen. To Mum,’ he said, lifting his beer bottle.
With everyone busy toasting, the potential disaster had been averted. Cash exchanged a look with Linc as he took his seat once again and smiled.
‘How’s business going, Cash?’ Sue Dawson asked from a few seats down.
‘It’s been pretty hectic. Savannah’s built up quite a following.’
‘She’s a real credit to the town,’ Sue agreed. ‘And I’m only hearing good things about you as well.’
‘That’s a relief,’ Cash smiled. ‘I’ll miss the place when I leave.’
Next to her, Griff shifted and she did her best not to glance in his direction.
‘When will that be? We’ll be sad to see you go.’
‘I’m not sure about Savannah’s exact return date yet, but the agreed time frame was six weeks and that’ll be up just after New Year.’
‘Well, I think you should speak to Savannah and stay on. You’ve gained quite a few fans out here and there’s more than enough work for two therapists,’ Lavinia put in. ‘Savannah would be crazy to let you go.’
‘I don’t know what her plans are for the spa,’ Cash said, trying to dampen the growing enthusiasm. Her glance briefly brushed Linc’s and she saw his set jaw.
‘You should give Savannah a call, Mum,’ Griff told his mother.
‘Really, I’m not sure Savannah wants to grow the business that much.’
‘You won’t know till you ask. You said you’ll miss it here. Why go if you can stay?’ Sue added.
‘I don’t know where I want to go after this … This was only ever supposed to be temporary.’
‘Would you all just back off? The woman clearly doesn’t want to be pressured.’
‘No one asked you, Linc,’ Griffin snapped at his brother.
‘Maybe not, but if you could actually hear yourselves, you’re backing her into a corner. Ease up.’
‘Mind your own business.’
‘I’ll ask Savannah,’ Cash said quickly, placing a hand on Griff’s arm, then regretting it as she saw Linc’s eyes narrow. ‘I’ll give her a call and see what she thinks.’
It seemed to satisfy everyone; everyone, that was, except for Linc, who continued to scowl on the other side of the table all through dessert and through to coffee and tea.
‘Can I get you a drink?’ Griff asked, coming up to her as she finished helping clear away the dishes.
‘Ah, no, thanks. I’m taking it easy after last night.’
‘Told you to go easy on the eggnog,’ he said, leaning against the railing beside her.
‘Yes, you did, and next time I’ll make sure I stop at one.’
His smile settled into a satisfied grin as he watched her closely. ‘Next time. That means you’re thinking about next year. I think it’s great that you’re going to ask Savannah about keeping you on.’
‘I said I’d ask her about it. I’m not sure she’ll want to do that.’ It was a lie; Savannah would jump at the chance to keep her on. She was her best friend and she knew there was nothing Savannah would like more than for Cash to stay out here. The business was more than able to support two therapists—they were turning appointments away. Maybe had this come up before last night she’d have seriously considered it, but last night she’d realised she was in love with Linc Callahan and that had changed everything.
He’d avoided her all day.
All. Day. What was with that? Yes, she’d told him she wanted to keep everything quiet, but he could at least make polite conversation with her, for goodness sake. She’d tried to approach him earlier, but he’d been called away to help and she hadn’t had another chance. He was clearly not impressed about something, and she had a feeling it was more than just the run-in with Griff about her staying on.
‘I hope you stay. I hope you’ll give … this place a chance.’
‘Griff,’ Cash started to protest, but he pushed away from the railing and raised his beer bottle at her in silent farewell before she could finish.
‘I better go see if Dad needs a hand.’
The afternoon wound down, everyone seeking out a place to stretch and relax, and Cash decided to say her goodbyes. She hugged Lavinia and thanked her. She’d never know how special today and last night had been for her—to be included in a real family Christmas.
She thanked Hadley, having to wait until Mitch finished enthralling his small audience with another war story. ‘Not long now,’ Cash said with a grin.
‘I know. Now that Christmas is over, the days are going to fly.’
The next week was going to be full of wedding preparation appointments. There was the spa day for Hadley, the multiple appointments for all those bridesmaids, and even Mitch was coming in for a manicure, facial and wax. Added to that were the various other family members arriving en masse for the big day. She was going to be spending pretty much every day leading up to New Year’s Eve with at least one member of the Callahan family.