Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

THESE KIDS are going to give me blood pressure issues.

Kyle hadn’t held a grudge about the Almond Joy incident, but the guilt ate at Wesley anyway. Alice had asked to go to the Snow Circus to go skating. And as Kyle was spending the day with the patience of a saint to help his father fix his computer, Wesley offered to take both the kids out.

Besides, Kyle needed to decorate his house before his Christmas party. It was a small get-together, but Kyle did his best to maintain a sense of family since Julie left. Wesley always tried to make it when he was in town. It was the one time of year he could get his father out of the house for a few hours.

Alice had justfinished skating and asked Wesley to find her shoes for her. It took Wesley approximately two minutes to locate Alice’s shoes in the sea of similar, small, light-up tennis shoes. But when he returned, the Zigler children had disappeared.

It was a small town and Alice was smart—too smart. He didn’t think the kids had gotten kidnapped or hurt. But he had a feeling where they’d go.

Vic Burgess had become a non-subject for Kyle lately. The one time Wesley asked, Kyle told him, “No, no. He doesn’t blame me or anything. He moves around a lot, and he decided it’s time for a change of pace soon, I guess.”

Wes didn’t press, but he suspected there was more to it. Kyle always wore that scarf, though.

He moved through the crowd, thick and busy as the holiday drew ever closer. He spotted the two dark-haired children exactly where he thought they’d be, near a booth full of scarves.

“Does your dad know you’re inviting me?”

The crowds around the booths were thick. Gloria and all her flashing Christmas trinkets attracted quite a stir, and there was only so fast a persistent “Excuse me, sorry” could get him through. But he could see the three of them—Vic folding scarves, and Alice and Zach hand-in-hand facing him.

“Dad said we can invite any friends we want,” she told him. “You can invite someone too. People stop in all the time. It won’t be weird.”

Vic hesitated. Wesley finally succeeded breaking into the opening around Vic’s booth, like a startled fawn from tall grass. “Kids.” he gasped. “Can you not scare me half to death every time I watch you?” He looked up at Vic. “Sorry about that.”

Vic gave a little shake of his head. “No worries. They’re not hurting anything.”

Zach wasted no time trying to recruit Wesley to their cause. “Tell him he should come to the Christmas party.”

Finally catching his breath, Wes sighed. He probably should have seen this coming. “Do you want to?” he offered. “Kyle’s a killer cook. And it’s true, what Alice said. You can invite whoever you want. It’s Christmas Eve, it starts at six, and it’s the first house to the left on Gillian Street.”

Vic looked down at the two children, then back at Wesley. Wes didn’t have a hope of reading his expression, but he could at least tell it wasn’t a flat no. “I’ll have to think about it.”

Alice brightened and Zach smiled. Wes was surprised to find himself feeling relieved.

It didn’t make sense for any of them to blame themselves for the crisis that threw such an untimely wrench into everything. But there was such lightness in Alice and Zach’s steps as they walked together that Wes didn’t have it in him to scold them for wandering off.

There was no turning back time, Wes realized. No unstitching the doubt that wove into both Kyle and Vic through sheer circumstance. He didn’t have to know Vic’s backstory to understand that the guy’s luck was probably as bad as Kyle’s in matters of romance.

But maybe a little smidgen of hope was enough to create a Christmas miracle.

“ALICE ANDI have a surprise present for you, and you’ll never guess what it is.”

Oh boy. The kids always got Kyle a Christmas present, even though he tried to tell them there was no need. “Being a father to you two is the best Christmas present I could ever ask for,” he’d always say.

Last year, Alice had frowned at him. “Well, that’s no fun to shop for.”

The kitchen was filled with steam and delicious smells. Ham, potatoes, green bean casserole, chili—he always made the best homemade chili, straight in the crockpot. Everything was ready, with a few minutes to spare. “Oh yeah? What’s the present? Am I allowed to guess?”

Zach tilted his head from one side to another, then finally nodded. “You’re not going to get it, though.”

Kyle took off his oven mitt and laid it next to the stove, leaning with his palms on the kitchen island. “Is it a candle?”

“Nope.”

“Is it a plant?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“How about—” The doorbell cut him off. It was five minutes until six, which meant it had to be Lloyd. “Actually, would you mind getting the door for Lloyd and Wes? And help them carry things in, too, if they need it.”

Zach saluted him and bounced off. Kyle could practically count down before that familiar, cantankerous voice drifted through the house. He couldn’t see the door from the kitchen, but he could picture it. “Good lord, it’s cold out. Wes almost had to thaw me out on the way in here.”

“It’s an eight-second walk, Dad.” And there was Wesley.

“I baked chocolate chip cookies.” Lloyd announced. He always had the ability to sound annoyed, even when talking about something positive. “Eat them or don’t, I don’t give a crap.”

Yep, there’s the ol’ patented Lloyd Christmas cheer, Kyle thought. He rounded the corner, pulling off his apron. He thought he looked relatively festive in a red sweater, khakis, and well, of course, his scarf. He might have killed his chances with Vic, but it was nice to know that finding someone was at least a possibility again.

As Zach helped the Munns with their things, Alice practically danced into the kitchen and started setting up the dining room table. That was momentarily delayed by the door ringing again—and the sound of a small dog yapping. Alice gasped. “Muffin!”

Muffin was Jan’s dog, which meant Jan was there. She was a widow who lived alone, so he always went out of his way to include her. Muffin, her Pekingese, seemed to only like the company of women. Kyle couldn’t relate. But Alice always delighted in how the creature ran up to her, tail wagging, and snarled at any man. “Jan, I’ve got some herbal tea for you in the kitchen.”

Jan poked her head around the wall, eyeing Kyle. “Have you eaten yet?”

“I will, Jan. There’s plenty to go around.” He caught the flash of Muffin’s golden tail fluff wagging as Alice cooed at her. Kyle arranged the dishes on the table, finishing Alice’s setting, when the doorbell sounded again. Muffin darted off, as if to fend off any intruder with all ten pounds of her strength.

Kyle wasn’t expecting anyone else, but it wasn’t unusual. He’d always told Alice and Zach they could invite a friend, though most families preferred to have their kids with them for holidays. Sometimes other work friends stopped by, or occasionally friends of Wesley’s.

Then he heard Lloyd pipe up. “What the hell kind of earrings are those?”

Gloria?

Kyle leaned out of the dining room to catch sight, just to make sure. It was, in fact, Gloria. Her hair was emerald green, curled high and adorned with Christmas ornaments. Her earrings, which Lloyd had so tactfully pointed out, were elf heads, grinning and rosy-cheeked and, for some reason, glowing. Gloria offered her own smile. “Nice to meet you too! I’m Gloria Suarez.”

Lloyd seemed stunned as he accepted the handshake. Behind her was a red-headed woman Kyle vaguely recognized from Zach’s trip to the ER. Had he invited one of the hospital staff to the Christmas party? But that didn’t catch him quite as off-guard as the blond head bringing up the rear of that trio.

Vic somehow looked alien in the context of his home. It was like seeing a teacher outside of school for the very first time. Vic seemed nervous, half hiding behind a wrapped box. “Well,” he said after he recovered. “You’re just in time.”

Zach beamed up at Kyle. “See? I told you you wouldn’t guess.”

“I SWEAR, Ididn’t put them up to it.”

Kyle had stepped outside onto his deck, feeling overheated. It might have been the warmth of the kitchen finally catching up to him, or something else entirely. Kyle didn’t know what excuse Vic had, but he’d joined Kyle outside.

Vic’s laugh sounded genuine, just a little startled. “No, no. I’m starting to think Alice isn’t the type to take orders anyway.”

That was an understatement. “No, she is not.” Kyle didn’t mean to punctuate that with a thousand-yard stare, but it came naturally.

“I saw the website,” Vic told him, leaning back against the wooden railing. “It took me a couple of days. I finally checked it after Alice and Zach’s invite.”

Kyle stiffened. He’d forgotten about that. He could always express himself better via text than face-to-face. He’d written Vic a note on his web page that only he could see. It was an apology. More than that, it was remorse for the breakdown in communication, for how it could have worried or even hurt Vic. It assured Vic he would never try to hurt him on purpose, because Vic deserved so much better.

He’d ended it, “If you could find it in you, I want a second chance. Because what I told you in the snow globe is still true.”

“Yeah, I… hadn’t meant it to—I mean, I wrote it before you told me you had other plans.” He stood across from Vic, bracing himself on the railing. A thin layer of snow melted beneath his fingertips.

Vic let out a huff of laughter, a puff of steam in the night. “You know, when Alice first invited me, I was thinking that I should at least come to say good-bye properly. I was icier than the weather to you last time you came to the Circus, and… I mean, I wanted it to hurt less, but I felt like garbage right after…. Then I came home to check the website, because I remembered you saying something about it days before. And I saw that.”

Kyle held his breath. He didn’t know whether he should apologize again or try to laugh it off. He found he couldn’t do either. Not with Vic. Not with this. “You weren’t that cold. I’d stood you up. By accident, yeah, but then I found out you were moving and… well, I don’t know if it was because of me. The timing was suspicious, but you know, not everything revolves around me, so….” He was rambling. And getting light-headed. He forced himself to breathe.

Vic took a deep breath of his own. “It was… partially because of you, not going to lie.” Kyle tensed. “But not because I was mad at you or anything. Mostly because… well, I really liked you… really, really liked you… and that scared me.” He met Kyle’s gaze. Kyle hadn’t hoped to see that openness, that vulnerability in those brown depths again, but there it was. “I wanted to leave before I had the chance to screw things up.

Wanted.Past tense. “And now?” he asked hoarsely.

“Well, now I’ve had an earful from two sisters telling me that I was being ridiculous and running away from the only healthy relationship I’ve ever found,” Vic admitted. “And… to be honest, I didn’t want to leave it like that. Not with you thinking it was your fault. Not with you thinking you’d driven someone else away.”

The words hung between them. Kyle analyzed them for a few seconds. Cautiously, he crossed the wooden planks of the balcony, standing beside Vic. Their hands almost touched. Kyle could feel the difference in temperature just from their closeness. “How do you want to leave it, then?”

Vic laid his hand on top of Kyle’s, lacing their fingers together. “I don’t, to be honest.”

Kyle looked down at him, their faces so very close.

Vic closed the gap between their lips, standing on his tiptoes to do it. It wasn’t as hungry or desperate as that night at the Snow Circus, but tender. Hopeful. Kyle rested his free hand on the small of Vic’s back, wondering if his mind was as full and buzzing with new possibilities as his was.

When they broke apart, they smiled at each other. Then they both jumped as Jan tapped on the window. She frowned at Kyle. Kyle wondered if she objected to PDAs, but she pointed to his plate on the table. It was still half uneaten. He chuckled. “Come on. Let’s see where this takes us.”

Everyone seemed chattier and friendlier as the night wore on. Maybe it was full stomachs, maybe it was the lack of tension from earlier. The mulled wine may have played a part. Vic introduced his sister Valerie. She was, in fact, the same woman from the other night in the ER.

Kyle appreciated her presence. It didn’t seem fair if he was the only one teasing Vic.

“Honestly, I’m looking forward to not coming home to piles of yarn and stained glass everywhere,” Valerie said with a nudge to her brother. “I definitely won’t miss that when you move out.”

The immediate silence was telling. Both Alice and Zach looked back and forth between Vic and Kyle with worried eyes. Gloria openly frowned at Vic. Kyle felt as if his brain had to reboot itself. “You—You’re moving?”

Had he misunderstood? Was Vic saying he wanted to give another long-distance relationship a try? Had he hallucinated that kiss on the balcony, the one almost everyone knew about?

Vic, to his surprise, didn’t seem sheepish or guilty. He smiled at Kyle before leaning on his shoulder. “Yeah. Funny thing. Did you know there’s a studio apartment going for cheap just at the riverfront? I got approved for it yesterday.”

“Are you serious?” Most leases went year by year. Vic Burgess was betting at least a year on Kyle. He didn’t intend to let him down. “That’s great news.”

“Yeah, I thought so too,” Vic said, brushing a kiss just behind Kyle’s ear. “Christmas miracles, am I right?”