He carried Hayzel and followed behind Sparkle as she walked into the house and then turned for the great room.
“I’ve got a couple of surprises for you two.”
“For Christmas?”
Hayzel gave him a squeeze, then as she saw what was waiting for her, she squealed.
“Oh, my goodness!”
That quick gasp was followed by another squeal, this one higher than the one before. She squirmed to get out of Kaleb’s arms, then raced across the room to the oversize fairy castle dollhouse sitting in front of the tree.
Beside him, Kaleb heard Sparkle give a soft sigh. When he looked at her, there were tears in her eyes and a beautiful smile on her amazing mouth. His heart gave another hard lurch, and he welc
Kaleb Brantley hated December and everything that had to do with it. The days were too short, making the nights seem as long as forever. It was colder than hell and dark… But, most of all, there was the incessant Christmas badgering. Lights, trees, carols, and an ever-increasing barrage of commercials urging you to shop, spend, buy. And every reminder of the holiday season ate at the edges of his soul and heart like drops of acid. He scowled at the roaring flames in the fireplace, slapped one hand on the mantel, and rubbed his fingers over the polished edge of the wood. With his gaze locked on the flames, Kaleb told himself that if he could, he’d wipe the month of December from the calendar.“If you wish, you can’t stick your head in the snow and pretend Christmas isn’t
Early the following day, Martha was off on her vacation, and a few hours later, Kaleb was swamped by the empty silence. He reminded himself that it was how he liked his life best. No one bothering him. No one talking to him. One of the reasons he and Martha got along so well was that she respected his need to be left the hell alone. So now that Kaleb was by himself in the big house, why did he feel an itch along his spine?“It’s because… it’s December,” Kaleb muttered aloud. That was enough to explain the sense of discomfort that clung to him. Hell, every year, this one damn month made life absolutely unlivable. He pushed a hand through his hair, then scraped that hand across the stubble on his jaw. What the
‘Hello, Mr. Scrooge!’ Sparkle thought… ‘Well, this is starting off well.’“Thank you very much for the info,” she said, desperately trying to hang on to the smile curving her mouth as well as her optimistic attitude. “But I’m not lost. I’ve just come from town.” If anything, his frown deepened.“Then who are you and why are you here? What do you want?”“Nice to meet you, too,” Sparkle said, half tugging Hayzel behind her. Not that she was afraid of him but why subject her little girl to a man who looked like he’d rather slam the door in their faces than let them in?“I repeat,” he said, “who are you, and why are you here?”“I&rsqu
A few hours in the workshop didn’t improve Kaleb’s mood. Not a big surprise. How the hell could he clear his mind when it was full of images of Sparkle Pearce and her daughter? As her name floated through his mind again, Kaleb deliberately pushed it away, though he knew damn well she’d be sliding back in. Slowly, methodically, he ran the hand sander across the top of the table he was currently building. For now, that was better than painting. It had been six years since he’d picked up a paintbrush, faced a blank canvas, and brought the images in his mind to life. The desire was always there, humming through his blood, through his dreams. But though he couldn’t paint, Kaleb also couldn’t simply sit in the big house staring out windows, either.&
For now, all he wanted was a shower and a huge sandwich. Kaleb opened the kitchen door and stopped in the doorway. Sparkle was sitting at the table with a glass of wine in front of her and turned her head to look at him when he walked in.“You’re late.” That niggle of guilt popped up again and was just as quickly squashed. He closed and locked the door behind him.“I don’t punch a clock.”“I don’t expect you to. But when we say dinner’s at six, it’d be nice if you showed up.” She shrugged.“Maybe it’s just me, but most people would call that ‘being polite’.” The light over the stove was the only illumination and, in
By the following morning, Sparkle had decided the man needed to be pushed into getting outside himself. Sitting in the kitchen with him the night before had been interesting and more revealing than Kaleb Brantley would have liked, Sparkle was very sure about it. Though he had a gruff, cold exterior, Sparkle had seen enough in his eyes to convince her that the real man was hidden somewhere beneath that hard shell he carried around with him. She had known Kaleb had been trying to avoid seeing her again by staying late in his workshop. Which was why she’d been waiting for him in the kitchen. Sparkle had always believed that it was better to face a problem head-on rather than dance around it and hope it would get better. Which, by the way, never happened.&
His mouth twitched and Kaleb shook his head.“People think I’m weird.”“I don’t.” Sparkle said it quickly and wasn’t sure why she had until she saw a quick gleam of pleasure in his eyes.“Be sure to tell Martha,” he added, and left, still shaking his head.“Bye, Kaleb!” Hayzel’s voice followed him and Sparkle was pretty sure he quickened his steps as if trying to outrun it.“Mommy, you think Kaleb is mad at us?” the little girl asked.“No, baby,” Sparkle replied caressing her face. “Why would you think that?”“He looked at me a little funny and he didn’t want to eat your pancakes.”“I’m sure he’ll ask for them
Hayzel laughed and shook her head so hard her pigtails flew back and forth across her eyes.“I go to pre-K because I’m too little for Big-K because my birthday comes too late because it’s the day after Christmas and I can probably get a puppy if I ask Santa and Mommy’s gonna get me a fairy doll for my birthday because Christmas is for the puppy and he’ll be all white like a snowball and he’ll play with me and lick me like Lizzie’s puppy does when I get to play there and…” So... instead of halting the rush of words and noise, he’d simply given her more to talk about… And she could do it without breathing in between words…Wow! Kaleb took another long gulp of his coffee and hoped the caffeine would give him enough clarity to follow the kid’s twisty thought patterns.