There was no better way to spend a Saturday morning than helping your sister give your infant nephew a bath. The help consisted mainly of standing by holding the towel, but it gave her something to think about besides the looming non-wedding date.
One week from today she would’ve been getting married. She sighed.
Her sister the psychic shot her a sideways glance. “What are you going to do next Saturday?”
“Bake cookies.”
Jo frowned. “You know what I mean.”
She wished she didn’t. The dreaded day was now coming at her like an avalanche.
“I think you should celebrate your lucky escape,” Jo said.
Yep, celebrate. Just like she’d done the Saturday before, consuming cookies and streaming old episodes of Downton Abbey.
“Let’s have a party.”
“I’m not sure I’m going to be in a party mood,” Riley said.
“Well, let me see if I can help you get in one. Sean is a skunk. You almost married a skunk. And how much do you want to bet there’ll be more women after Emily? Your life with him would’ve sucked. We should declare next Saturday your Independence Day and set off fireworks. Okay, we’re ready for our towel.”
Riley frowned as she handed over the towel. “I should be relieved I found out what a cheater he is. Why don’t I feel more glad?”
“Because the two-legged turd broke your heart. Baby oil.”
Riley took the top off the baby oil and handed that over, too, but not before she kept some to rub into one of the baby’s little feet. Those tiny toes—so cute!
“Still, you’re going to reach a point when you thank God all you had to worry about was canceling your venue. You have canceled it, right?”
She still hadn’t been able to bring herself to call the golf club. Canceling the venue felt like buying a coffin for her love life. She bit her lip and shook her head.
“Uh, Riles, you probably need to do that.”
Riley could feel tears welling in her eyes. She kept her focus on the baby. Suddenly it felt as if she was looking at little Mikey from under water. “I know.”
Jo diapered the baby, and Riley passed her the red-and-white-striped coverall Grammy had bought him, joining the family stampede to buy some baby-boy outfits. “Aren’t you adorable, my lovely son,” she cooed. Then she returned her attention to Riley. “You probably can’t get back any of your deposits at this point, but it’s worth a try. How about the photographer? Have you talked to him?”
Riley shook her head again.
“The florist?”
“Uh-uh.”
“Cake?”
“No.”
“DJ? Anything?”
“Nooo.” She was always so organized, so on top of things. Now she was on top of nothing, confronted by a pile of ugly to-dos, and all she wanted was to bury her head in the sand like an ostrich. Actually, she’d read somewhere that ostriches didn’t really do that. Well, what did they know, anyway? They were ostriches. This head-burying thing was working fine for her.
Sort of.
Riley’s cell phone rang. It was Mom. “Hi, honey, just wanted to see how you’re doing. Have you canceled your venue yet?”
Were Mom and Jo communicating telepathically? “Jo and I were talking about that a few minutes ago.”
“I don’t think you can get your deposit back. What does your contract say?”
She hadn’t even looked at her contract. She hadn’t done anything except swing back and forth between happiness for her sister and misery over her ruined future. “I don’t know. I’ll have to check.”
“I ran into Bett from Floral Bliss at the grocery store, and she said she hadn’t heard from you.”
“I was getting ready to call her.” Someday.
“Well, I talked with her and she says she’ll refund your deposit.”
Good old Mom. “Thanks,” Riley said.
“And Annette at The Cake Box says she will, too.”
It was only a hundred dollars, but on her salary that was nothing to sneeze at and Riley was grateful. “That’s really nice of her. And of Bett.” Bett’s refund would help plump up her piggy bank, as well. Small consolation, but it was something.
“You owe them thank-you notes.”
Yes, she could use the stationery she’d ordered to write thank-yous for her wedding gifts. Sigh.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to call The Pines for you?” Mom offered.
“No. I’m a big ostrich, er, girl. I can do it.” She’d take care of it after school on Monday.
“Okay,” Mom said dubiously. “I hate to see you going through all this. But,” she hurried on, “wedding cancellation misery is better than divorce misery any day.”
Mom and Jo were both right, of course. At the moment it was hard to see it like that. She needed to correct her vision.
“What are you doing for fun today? The streets are clear so Grammy and I are going over to the senior center later to check out the holiday bazaar.”
A thrilling way to spend a Saturday, looking at embroidered dish towels and homemade jams. She could hear Grammy in the background. “Tell her she needs to get out.”
“Your grandma says you need to get out.”
“I am out. I’m at Jo’s.”
“If Mom’s taking you shopping don’t let me stop you,” Jo said. “Mikey and I are having naps this afternoon.”
So, that was the choice—take a nap with Jo and the baby or go to the senior center.
“Come on,” Mom urged. “It’ll be fun.”
It probably would. She enjoyed being with her mother and grandmother. And, if she played her cards right, she’d get invited to Mom and Dad’s for dinner.
Her wayward thoughts strayed to what her Saturday nights used to look like—dinners out with Sean, cuddling on the couch with a roaring fake fire in the electric fireplace, hot kisses...
“So, what do you say?” Mom asked.
Anything was better than sitting at home thinking about her old life. “I’ll come pick you guys up in half an hour,” she replied.
“If anybody’s selling fudge, buy me some,” Jo said.
There was bound to be fudge for sale. If Riley buys fudge for her sister instead of herself, how many ounces does she prevent from gluing themselves to her hips? Not enough to counteract the other goodies she’ll consume. But who cared! She deserved a treat.
In fact, she deserved a life, darn it all. On her way to her mom’s, she put her Bluetooth to work and called Noel. “Are you doing anything tonight?” she asked.
“No.” Noel sounded downright grumpy. This was hardly surprising since she was worried about being able to afford her house.
“Then let’s do something.” Even though both their lives were in the toilet, they could console themselves by swimming around in there together.
“You want to come over? We can order pizza.”
Spending a Saturday night in, eating pizza—when you did that with your boyfriend, it was cozy and fun. When you did that with a girlfriend, it was because you had no place to go. She was not going to let Sean reduce her to a life of evenings in.
“Why don’t we put on our new dresses and go to The Tree House instead?” she suggested.
“I don’t know,” Noel said doubtfully.
“Come on. We can’t sit home, not on a Saturday night.”
“I can.”
“Try the heels one more time, okay? I’ll pick you up at eight.”
Noel said a reluctant “Okay,” and Riley ended the call with a smile. Good. The afternoon with her mom and grandma, dinner (hopefully) with her parents and a night out. That took care of this Saturday. As for next Saturday...as Noel would say, she wasn’t going to think about that right now.
Mom and Grammy were ready and waiting when she got to her parents’, Mom wearing jeans and a cream-colored sweater accented with a gold necklace, simple black flats on her feet. It was plain to see where Jo got her style sense. She certainly didn’t get it from Grammy, who was resplendent in tennis shoes and jeans topped by an ugly Christmas sweater decorated with penguins in Santa hats. She’d accented her ensemble with a Santa hat pulled over her short, spiky gray hair and a necklace of Christmas ornaments that blinked on and off. The green ornament earrings dangling from her ears were blinking, too, but to an entirely different beat.
“Let’s go party,” she said, leading the way. Watching her blink down the hall, Riley couldn’t help thinking of the song about Rudolph and his red nose. If Rudolph wanted Christmas Eve off to play reindeer games, Grammy could easily fill in for him.
“She really wants to go out looking like that?” Riley whispered to her mother.
Mom shrugged. “What can I say? She has her own, uh, unique style. Just pretend you don’t know her when we get there.”
But of course, that wasn’t happening. Grammy wanted to introduce her lovely granddaughter to anyone and everyone. Riley already knew some of the seniors peddling their wares, like Mrs. Wooster, Grammy’s BFF, who was selling crocheted mug cozies and sock monkeys.
“Your grandma told me about that awful man who jilted you,” Mrs. Wooster boomed. (Mrs. Wooster was hard of hearing and assumed everyone else was, too.) “That piece in the paper was simply awful, but I’d have rammed the vixen, too.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Riley said. She could feel her cheeks flaming. She was aware of the sweet, gray-haired lady sitting at the table next to Mrs. Wooster, eavesdropping shamelessly. In a hurry to change the subject, she picked up a red mug cozy. “Did you make these yourself?”
“Did I what?” boomed Mrs. Wooster.
The woman selling brownies at the next table spoke up. “You know, my daughter is a witch. She could cast a spell.”
“Thanks, but I think I’ll let him get what’s coming to him all on his own.” Then to Mrs. Wooster, a little more loudly, “Did you make these?”
“I did.”
“Well, then I’ll take two.”
Mrs. Wooster nodded. “Yes, they’re new.”
Riley held up two fingers. “Two.”
“Buy two, get two free,” said Mrs. Wooster.
Goody. Riley fished in her purse. She could use them...hmm. She could give them to...hmm. She’d think of someone.
Meanwhile, the little old lady at the next table was selling more than brownies. “Just a little spell?”
“Uh, no, that’s okay,” Riley said. “But I will take one of your brownies.”
The woman beamed a beatific smile. “You’ll want more than one. They’re laced with pot.”
“I’ll take two,” said Grammy.
“Mother!” Mom scolded.
“What? It’s legal here in Washington,” Grammy retorted and Mom made a face.
So far, this wasn’t exactly what Riley had envisioned when she’d agreed to come to the seniors’ holiday bazaar. At least it wasn’t boring.
They moved on to more tables and Riley wound up purchasing a jar of peppermint face scrub and something called Snowmommy’s Soup, which was cocoa mix with miniature marshmallows and crushed peppermint candies.
She also bought a handmade birdhouse from a fit-looking older man with a few wisps of white hair fringing an otherwise bald pate. “This’ll be nice on your patio,” he told her.
“I don’t have a patio yet, but I will someday.” And if not she’d give the birdhouse to Noel for her place...once she’d gotten it back from the house-flipper. “This is really charming,” she added.
“Thanks.”
“You sure have a lot of them.” There weren’t that many people milling around the senior center. She hoped for his sake as well as the others all looking eagerly at the people strolling past their tables that they’d have a late-afternoon rush.
“I like to putter.” He grabbed some newspaper and wrapped up her purchase with gnarled hands. “The kids want me to move to one of those assisted living places, but I told ’em that’s for old people. I’m not in my grave yet.”
“You have a long ways to go before that happens, Felix,” Grammy assured him.
“You got that right. Kids these days, they figure just because a man gets old he’s useless. I keep telling ’em that even if there’s snow on the rooftop, it don’t mean there’s no fire in the chimney,” he said with a wink that made Grammy blush.
“He’s cute,” Riley said as they moved away. She nudged Grammy. “I think he’s got the hots for you.”
“Oh, he flirts with all the ladies. When you get to be our age, a man can have his pick of women. He’s a good man with lots of life left in him.” She shook her head. “His kids want to stick him somewhere and forget him.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” Riley protested.
“It’s true for many people after a certain age. Funny how the longer you live, the smaller your world becomes. Your children get busy with their lives and their own children. You wind up hard of hearing and sitting on the sidelines at family gatherings, watching the fun instead of being part of it.”
Riley looked over at where Mrs. Wooster sat. Was Grammy talking about her?
“Pretty soon it’s just you and Friday-night bingo. Of course, that’s not the case with me,” Grammy added. “But it is with a number of my friends. This is the highlight of the year for many of them.”
Riley took in the large room decorated with tinsel and red bows, filled with tables and senior citizens smiling at potential customers. Did the ornaments on the tree in the corner look a little worn and tired? Did the smiles on some of those faces look just a little desperate?
As she stopped to chat with the seniors, she heard tales of neglectful children, tight budgets and lonely holidays looming. And she thought she had problems. The more she heard, the more she bought. By the time they left, she was loaded down with everything from tea towels to fudge for Jo.
“You’re a good kid,” Grammy said as they all walked back to the car, Riley with her armload of purchases, Grammy with her pot-laced brownies.
“I’m a sucker,” Riley said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with half of this.”
“You can give me the mug cozies for Christmas,” Grammy said. “I’ll use them for my tea mugs. And in return I’ll share my brownies,” she added with a grin.
Riley wasn’t into pot even if it was legal. “No, thanks, Grammy.”
“Honestly, Mother,” Mom said, clearly annoyed.
“An old woman deserves some pleasure,” Grammy insisted.
“You are not deprived,” Mom informed her.
Grammy’s teasing smile disappeared. “You’re right, I’m blessed. I wish all those people in there had a family like mine and something nice to look forward to other than a Christmas dinner in the church basement.”
“They’ve got you for a friend and I’d say that makes them pretty blessed,” Riley said.
“Okay, you’re back in the will,” Grammy joked.
Once they got home Mom issued the hoped-for dinner invitation, and Riley hung around and played hearts with Dad and Grammy before getting treated to her mother’s Swedish meatballs. Grammy offered her brownies for dessert but nobody took her up on it.
“I’m driving,” Riley said.
“You can stick around,” Mom told her. “Spend the night.”
“I’m actually going out.”
“With a man?” Grammy wanted to know. “Way to go, darling.”
“No, with Noel. But we’re going to The Tree House.”
“Don’t let anyone buy drinks for you,” Grammy cautioned then lowered her voice and added, “They’ll slip you that rape drug.”
“I won’t,” Riley promised.
“And don’t leave your drink unwatched. Or your purse.”
“Mother, she knows all that,” said Mom.
“You can’t be too careful,” Dad said, siding with Grammy.
“Don’t worry, guys, I’ll be careful.” After hugging everyone, Riley went home and got ready for her big night out. She’d been saving her new dress for New Year’s Eve, but what the heck. Why wait? She slipped into it, put on some black peep-toe heels and the silver necklace with the small ruby (her birthstone) that her parents had given her for her twenty-first birthday, and she was ready to go.
She picked up Noel and saw she was wearing her new dress, too. “Good. You wore your dress,” she said as Noel grabbed her coat.
“I figured I may as well get my money’s worth.” Noel locked the front door and tottered to the car. “I just don’t know about these shoes.”
“They look great,” Riley told her. “You look great.” Indeed she did, with her red hair falling in soft waves to her shoulders. Noel was so pretty. Too bad she never saw herself that way. But tonight she was bound to attract a lot of men. Who knew? Maybe one of them would turn out to be a wonderful guy with a super-good job. Maybe he’d fall in love with both her and her house. They’d be able to buy the place and fill it with kids who would brag about their talented mom to all their friends.
“Aww, thanks,” Noel said as if Riley was just saying that to make her feel better.
“No, really, you do. You’re going to have men fighting over you.”
“I’ve never had men fight over me.”
“You’ve never worn clothes like that,” Riley pointed out.
“I have to admit, I do feel kind of sexy in this dress,” Noel said. “I wonder if Ben Fordham ever goes dancing,” she mused.
Hmm. “Are you falling for this guy?”
“Me? No, no. He sure is gorgeous, though,” Noel said wistfully.
“Just remember that he bought your house out from under you,” Riley cautioned. “No sleeping with the enemy.”
“No sleeping with the enemy,” Noel repeated.
“And keep your antennae up. You never know who you might meet.”
As for Riley, all she wanted tonight was to have some fun, flirt a little, shore up her sagging confidence. Whispering Pines wasn’t exactly the big city, but there had to be some decent man kicking around, someone she hadn’t met. Like a certain good-looking cop. Did Officer Knight have a girlfriend? If not, what sort of girlfriend would he be interested in? Did he like blondes?
The Tree House was located downtown at the end of Pine Street. Back in the sixties, the place had been a bowling alley. Then it was a fitness gym. Now it was a club, complete with pool tables and a huge dance floor. It offered pizza by the slice, nachos, microbrews and all manner of cocktails. The parking lot was always packed and you could hear the music half a block away. Two dwarf pines sat in pots on either side of the front entrance, decorated for Christmas. Inside, the walls were painted with murals of various trees—fir, alder, maple and pine, along with various blooming varieties. Tables and chairs were rustic and the music was frenzied, rather like the mob out on the dance floor. Everybody was in a holiday mood, many of the revelers sporting Santa hats. Yes, this was going to be fun.
Riley and Noel managed to snag a table and order a couple of drinks. Noel got daring and ordered something called Angel’s Delight that included triple sec and grenadine, which would satisfy her sweet tooth, and Riley opted for a Grinch, a green cocktail with melon-flavored Midori and lemon juice.
Their cocktails hadn’t even arrived before someone was at the table asking Noel to dance. “Go for it,” Riley encouraged her and she tottered off on her red stilettos. Noel was right. Fabulous as they were, those shoes were not a fit.
Riley sat back and watched the scene. Everyone was so happy, smiling, laughing, drinking. What was she doing here? Oh, yes. Having fun. The waitress brought their drinks and Riley paid up and took a guzzle. Yummy. Too bad she was driving. She’d have ordered another...three or four or six. Seven. Seven was the number of perfection.
Okay, she couldn’t sit around and get gooshed. She needed to dance. She scanned the dance floor. Maybe she’d just go out and throw herself into the crowd, boogie on over right next to a good-looking man like...
Aack! What was Sean doing here? And Emily. There they were, out in the middle of the floor, having a wonderful time, gazing at each other as if they were the only two people in the room.
It felt suddenly very hot in this big, old place. And stuffy and close. Riley needed some fresh air. She darted from the table, trying to skirt the crowd. Did her ex see her running away, looking pathetic? She cast a quick glance over her shoulder and immediately ran into something solid, spilling her drink in the process. On the something solid...
Who was almost six feet tall, dirty-blond with green eyes and...a frown. “What the—?”
“Oh, my gosh, I’m sorry.”
The something solid frowned and brushed at his red sweater. “You might want to take it easy with those,” he said, nodding at her glass. “They pack a wallop.”
“This is my first one. Uh, was my first one,” Riley corrected herself. This man looked vaguely familiar. Where had she seen him before? The grocery store? Had he been at the gym when she’d stopped by to visit Sean? In a clothing catalog, modeling men’s suits? He was certainly attractive enough for that. “I’m sorry about your sweater,” she said.
The music was ending now. People were coming off the floor to rehydrate. And, oh, no! Here came Sean and Emily. She should scram. But that was the coward’s way out. Sean had to see that she was doing fine without him. Just fine.
Crap. Here they were and the only thing she was proving so far was that she was dangerous. “Could you do me a favor?” she asked.
He looked at her warily. “Maybe.”
“Good,” she said and grabbed his sopping sweater and yanked him up against her.
“Whoa,” he said just before she glued her lips to his. But then he got into his part. The guy sure could kiss.
“Riley?”
Riley took her time letting go of the stranger and turned to stare at Sean in faux surprise. “Sean, what are you doing here?” Having fun with the woman you left me for? How nice.
“Just out, uh... How are you?”
“I’m fine. I’m moving on.”
He frowned. “I can see.” He stuck out a hand. “Sean Little.”
The something solid took it. “Jack Logan.”
Sean leaned over to Riley. “You didn’t wait long, did you?”
“At least I waited.” She glared at Emily. Bad enough that she had to see the woman at school. She wasn’t going to stand around The Tree House and talk with her. Riley gave her fake love interest’s arm a tug and hauled him out on the floor for a slow dance.
“Thank you,” she said. “That was...awkward.”
He didn’t return her smile. “So, old boyfriend with new girlfriend. Make him see what he lost? I don’t like doing favors like that.”
“Well, that wasn’t what this was.”
“Yeah?” The expression on his face dared her to spill her guts.
She supposed she could clarify that this was more a case of convincing the fiancé who’d dumped her that she wasn’t home cutting herself. But it was all too humiliating to spill to a stranger. Anyway, this stranger had already judged her and declared her petty and vindictive. If there’d been anything left in her glass she would have dumped it over his head.
“Thanks for the kiss,” she snapped.
“Thanks for the drink,” he retorted, holding out his soaked sweater.
She marched back to her table, hoping that Sean wasn’t watching. A new song had started, the beat fast and pumping, and people were going crazy out on the dance floor. She hopped into the throng and went crazy, too. Take that, Sean. Take that, Jack Logan. Take that, every man here. Who needed a man to have fun, anyway?
The dance ended and she returned to her table and sat down, feeling hollowed out in spite of her empowering self-talk. This should have been fun, darn it all!
Noel came right after her, stilettos dangling from her hand. “My feet are killing me,” she said, falling onto her chair.
“Do you want to go?”
Noel took a gulp of her drink. “You’re not having fun?”
“Sean and Emily are here.”
“Oh, no.” Noel cast a longing look at the dance floor then gave a determined nod. “Yes, let’s go home.”
“You can stay if you want,” Riley said. “I’ll leave you money for a cab.”
“Not in these shoes. Let’s go back to my house, watch a Christmas movie and drink eggnog,” she suggested, slipping the stilettos back on.
“Good idea,” Riley said, grabbing her purse and coat. So much for her exciting night out. But trying to keep pretending there was life after Sean was simply too stressful. Hopefully, he wouldn’t notice her leaving with Noel.
But what if Sean saw Jack Logan by himself later on or dancing with another woman? Maybe she should try to find him, explain more of what happened, offer to pay him to leave with her. Offer to pay to have his sweater cleaned.
She scanned the crowd on the dance floor as they skirted it, hoping to catch a glimpse of him, but all she saw was Sean and Emily glued together for a slow dance. Never mind worrying that he’d see her alone. Sean was in his own little world—Emily World.
“Are you okay?” Noel asked as they picked their way across the slushy parking lot.
“I’m fine,” Riley said. Yes, she was. Absolutely. So what if Sean was out with Emily practically having sex on the dance floor? She was going to her friend’s house to drink eggnog.
Sean was probably going back to Emily’s house later and they’d drink eggnog, too. But Riley was willing to bet that they wouldn’t watch a movie. How cozy. Just the two of them, Sean the Cheater and Emily the Man-Stealer.
Riley ground her teeth as they got into the car. She revved it and backed out of the parking spot. She didn’t back too far before she banged into yet another something solid. What the heck?
“Oh, my gosh, we hit someone’s car!” cried Noel, stating the obvious.
Riley let down her window and craned her head. “Oh, no,” she groaned. “Not another accident.”
“We’ll have to take up a collection to pay for your car insurance,” Noel predicted. “Do we need to call the police?”
For a fender bender? She and the poor injured party probably only needed to exchange insurance information. Except if the police came... A vision of handsome Officer Knight popped into her head. On second thought, it was always good to call the police when there’d been an accident, wasn’t it?
“Call 911,” she said to Noel then got out of the car.
She practically ran into him, which would’ve made the second time that night.
“You,” he said in disgust.
Oh, no! “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you back there.”
“It’s a Hummer. What are you, blind?”
This man was the biggest jerk on the planet. “I said I was sorry,” Riley said stiffly.
Jack Logan let out a long-suffering sigh. “Never mind. Just tell me you have insurance.”
“Of course I have insurance.”
“Okay, let’s exchange information.”
“We have to wait for the police.”
“You called the cops? Seriously?”
Riley raised her chin. “There’s been an accident.”
“More damage to your car than mine and you were at fault. This seems pretty straightforward to me.”
Now Noel had joined them. “They’re on their way.”
Jack Logan frowned and shook his head. “I can’t believe you called the cops for this.”
“It shouldn’t take long,” Riley said to him. “And you’re not with anyone, so you can’t be in that big a hurry to get home.”
“I’m not with anyone because someone spilled her drink all over me and I need to go home and change,” he growled.
“I said I was sorry.”
“For the drink. No apology for using me to trick your ex.”
“Well, I’m sorry for that, too. I’m sure if your fiancée had dumped you for one of your groomsmen three weeks before the wedding, you’d have been much more noble.”
“What?”
Darn it all, she hadn’t intended to share that. He’d gotten her so mad she’d lost all control of her mouth. “Never mind,” she said, pointing to the approaching patrol car.
“Never mind? You might have told me that before you lip-locked me and got me all excited for nothing.”
Riley was aware of her friend gaping at her. It was pretty frosty out here in the parking lot but there was a roaring fire on her cheeks.
“There wasn’t time,” she said. “And what do you mean, got you all excited?”
“Well, I thought you were coming on to me.”
“I’d never seen you before.”
He shrugged. “Thought you’d had too much to drink,” he said as the patrol car rolled up.
“And you were going to take advantage of that?”
“No,” he protested. “What do you think, I was planning to haul you off to a dark corner and rape you? You kissed me right in the middle of a crowded club.”
“Is there a problem here?”
Riley turned, expecting to see Officer Knight in Shining Armor. Instead she saw mall cop Kevin James to the third power. “Where’s Officer Knight?”
The cop frowned. “He’s off tonight. This better not be a frivolous call.”
“It’s not,” said Jack Logan. “The ladies assumed calling the police was the thing to do. But really, we can handle this by exchanging information and reporting it to our insurance companies.”
“Well, I’m here now,” the cop said, sounding grumpy. “May as well fill out an accident report.”
“Bored,” muttered Jack Logan as the officer went to his patrol car to fetch his accident report forms.
Riley and Noel looked at each other. Obviously, this had been a bad idea.
Ten minutes later Riley had a citation for reckless driving and a headache, and even though this latest mess was entirely her fault, she had an unreasonable desire to kick the irritating Jack Logan in the shins.
“I’m sorry I caused you so much trouble tonight,” she said to him. “Don’t worry about any damage to your vehicle. I have very good insurance.” And now it was also going to be very expensive insurance. She just hoped that after her back-to-back fender benders the company wouldn’t drop her.
“Your car got the worst of it.”
“And if you need a new sweater...”
“I’m fine. About what I said earlier...”
A total stranger now knew that she was a love loser. Well, what the heck, they’d already kissed. Heaven help her, what Christmas elf had put it in her head that it would be fun to go out tonight?
She nodded, feeling that flame spreading across her face again. Then, before he could finish his sentence, she got into her car, Noel taking up her position riding shotgun, and waited for Jack Logan to drive away. Far away, where she’d never see him again.