Christmas Dinner (Crimson Romance) (12 page)

Tate handed Melanie back her phone. “Thanks for your help tonight.”

She smiled and turned the stroller toward the nursing home. Max was still asleep.

“Anything for the guy who taught me how to kiss.” She giggled. “Brad thanks you, too.”

Alex raised an eyebrow.

“Tate and I go way back.”

“I don’t want to know.” Alex jumped into the back of his truck and manuvered the remaining trees.

“Bye, guys.” Melanie pushed the stroller. “Tate, I’ll check in with you later tonight.”

“Thanks, Mel.” He could feel Alex’s disapproving stare cut through his back.

“What’s going on tonight?” Alex jumped off his truck and landed in front of Tate.

“Nothing, just something I asked for Melanie’s help with . . . and Brad’s help, too.”

Jack joined them. “We’re making good time today, boys. Alex, thanks for helping us here. It was definitely a three person job.”

“No problem, Dad. I’m off to the Martins’.”

“Terrific. You’ll need help getting their tree up to the front door. Why don’t you take Tate with you?”

“Nah, I’ll be okay. I don’t need his help.”

“Nonsense. Tate will enjoy meeting the Martins.” He turned to Tate. “Is that okay with you?”

“Sure,” Tate replied, masking his reluctantcy. The last thing he wanted was to spend the next few hours alone with Alex. He’d rather shovel reindeer poop.

“Good. I’ll meet you boys back at the house.”

“Jack, thank you for today. I’m really enjoying it. What your do for these families is something special.”

“You’re welcome, Tate. We’re glad you’re here.” Jack got into his truck, parked next to Alex’s, and rolled down his window. “You boys have fun. I’ll see you later.”

“See ya,” Alex said. “You ready, Romeo?”

Tate turned and headed around to the passenger side. That reference was surely about his kissing Melanie. The next few hours were not going to be pleasant. He was sure of it. He reached for the passenger handle and opened the door. Sliding in, he made one more attempt to make things right with Alex.

“We were thirteen.”

Alex shook his head and shoved his key into the ignition, shifting into reverse. The back wheel hit an icy patch, causing the truck to slide into a nearby snow bank. Alex put his foot on the accelerator, but the back tire continued to spin.

“Seriously?” Alex looked up at the sky. “Not what I need right now, Lord. Not what I need.”

“I’ll clear the wheel,” Tate offered and hopped out of the truck. He jumped over the snow drift, bent over, and pushed the snow away with his hands. “Okay, hit it,” he called out and stood up. His foot caught a patch of ice, causing him to lose his balance. Before he knew it, he was flat on the ground.

“Look out!” he heard someone scream.

• • •

“So, Amanda, let me get this straight. You’ve been dating your co-anchor since June, and we’re only hearing about him now?” Quinn Sullivan wiggled her upper body underneath the covers and sat up in her hospital bed. “Am I the last to know?” She looked from Amanda to their grandmother. “I am, aren’t I?”

Amanda held her niece with one arm, rubbing the sleeping baby’s back with her free hand. “I didn’t mean for it to be this huge secret. Honest, I didn’t. We were just taking things slow. And then before I knew it, you were having a baby three weeks early . . . on Christmas Eve, no less.” Amanda tried to appear nonchalant, hoping it would satisfy her sister. “So I invited Tate to come home with me. I don’t see what the big deal is really. I would have told you all, eventually.”

“But, dear sister, you brought him home—it
is
a big deal. Are you in love with him?” Quinn raised her eyebrow.

“He’s quite a fox,” Grandma Turner interjected.

“Grandma!” Amanda feigned surprise. She was never really shocked by their grandmother’s candid remarks.

“Well, he is,” Grandma Turner said defensively.

Quinn laughed, egging her on. “Tell me more, Grandma. What does he look like? Does he have a cute butt?”

“Maybe ‘fox’ isn’t how you kids describe handsome men these days. Well, it was when you were teenagers. He’s tall, dark, and handsome.” She looked at Amanda for approval. “Is that better?”

“Yes, he’s handsome,” Amanda acquiesced. “In a broadcast-anchor kind of way.”

She turned and faced her grandmother. “And fine, he has a cute butt. There—are you happy?”

Quinn smoothed her short blonde hair around her face. “Really? Then maybe you should bring him by later . . . to meet the baby, of course.” She winked.

“Okay. Enough, you two.” The less she talked about Tate being her boyfriend, the better. She hated all the lies. Although his having a cute butt was certainly not one of them.

“So what are you and Mark going to call this little angel?” Amanda gently handed the sleeping baby back to Quinn.

“We’ve actually given that a lot of thought. We have a couple of names we’re considering, but we’d like to call her Noel if that is okay with you?”

Amanda’s eyes welled up. “You want to give her my middle name?” She smiled down at the baby now nestled in Quinn’s arms. “I don’t know what to say.”

“We just thought it was the perfect name since she was born on Christmas Eve. If you would like us to consider another name, we can,” Quinn said.

Her sister’s expression told Amanda that she hoped otherwise. “No, I think it’s a beautiful first name. I would be honored.”

“Thank you, sis.” Quinn reached out and squeezed her hand.

“However . . .” Amanda paused. “This means I forever have a say in everything from prom dresses to college choices.”

“Deal,” Quinn agreed.

Amanda glanced down at her watch. “Grandma, we should probably get going. I need to purchase a gift for Tate and then check in with Dad. Is there a gift shop in this place?” she asked, anxiously reaching for her coat and purse.

“You want to buy a present for your boyfriend from the hospital gift shop?” Quinn asked. “Geez, I thought Mark was bad at picking out Christmas gifts for me. Why didn’t you buy him something in Wilmington?”

Amanda tried to think of a plausible excuse for not having brought Tate’s gifts with her. “Well, we were in such a rush yesterday morning coming to see
you
that we accidentally left all of our Christmas presents under my tree.” She crossed her fingers behind her back. “So it’s kinda your fault for going into labor,” she teased.

“Sorry, couldn’t help that one.” Quinn laughed.

“I just want to pick him up something small to open up tomorrow before dinner. You know how Mom is about opening presents and all. She’s stopping by the mall to pick him up something, too.”

She sighed, looking out the window. “The problem is I’m running out of time. I’m supposed to take over for Dad this afternoon.”

Quinn must have detected the anxiety in her voice. “Grandma, why don’t you stay here with Noel and me?” She smiled down at her baby. “We can have Mark bring us something yummy for lunch, and then he can take you home this afternoon. I’m tired of hospital food.”

“That’s fine with me.” Grandma Turner settled further into her chair.

“Terrific. And Amanda, you’re going to need a sweater if you are doing deliveries. Didn’t Mom give you one?”

“Yes, but I left it back at the house.”

“Well, take mine then. I won’t be wearing it. That way you can save time.” Quinn pointed to a large green bag lying on a table next to the window. “It will be a little big on you. Mom thought I’d still be pregnant when she made it.” She chuckled. “I guess we all did.”

Amanda rummaged through the bag and pulled out the red sweater. “Fabulous,” she said. She lifted her sweater over her head and replaced it with the regulation Christmas garment, tugging it over her waist and readjusting her ponytail. “Now I feel . . .”

“Complete?” Quinn asked.

“More like ridiculous.” She checked out her reflection in the window.

“Is Tate wearing one, too? You’ll look so cute together. I know what you should do!” Quinn shrieked with excitement.

“What?” Amanda asked.

“Go snap a picture with him. Then tonight you can make an ‘our first Turner Family Christmas’ ornament.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Leave it to her sentimental sister to suggest something so corny. Making a keepsake ornament for Tate was not going to happen.

“I’m sure Mom has extra ornament balls, and Brenda can help you. She’s good at arts and crafts. Now
that
would be a sentimental gift.”

Amanda laughed. “I think I’ll stick with a nice bottle of Dr. Frank wine or perhaps a book on Upstate New York history. He lived here when he was a kid. He seems to love this area.”

“Honestly, Amanda. A bottle of wine? You know romance is key to any new relationship.” Quinn eyed her suspiciously. “Oh, wait. This relationship isn’t new to you. It’s only new to
us
. Right, Grandma?”

Their grandmother nodded in agreement.

“Funny, funny. All right, you two. I’m off.” She bent down to kiss Quinn and then turned and gave her grandmother a quick peck on the cheek. “Ho, ho, ho.”

Amanda walked aimlessly through the hospital’s gift shop, having no clue what she should get Tate for Christmas. The shop’s holiday music filled her head.

How hard is this really? It’s just one silly little gift. Just pick something out, for crying out loud
. Maybe she should call Tate and ask him if there was anything he needed. She had to agree with her sister—it was pretty lame that she was purchasing his gift here.

“Can I help you?” a frail old woman with curly grey hair behind the counter asked. She was wearing a festive green sweater with a giant snowman on the front. Her name badge read,
Mary
.

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m looking for a gift for my pretend boyfriend that I nearly had sex with last night and now think I might be developing feelings for—although we hate each other. Can you help?” she asked, sarcasm overtaking her tone.

“How about a tie?” Mary pointed to a table filled with ties and scarves. “We have some nice ones over there.”

“Maybe. Thanks.” Amanda turned to look at some Christmas globes nearby. It was funny how being miles away from the news studio made her life back in North Carolina seem a little insignificant. It’s not like anyone here would care about Wilmington’s mayor or that she had embarrassed herself two days ago on live TV.

“Oh, this is just hopeless.” She picked up a snow globe and shook it. She watched the tiny snowflakes gently fall, blanketing the little ice rink inside. Cute. How nice would it be to live inside the tiny glass ball without a care in the world . . .

She laughed. “Until some idiot comes around and shakes your universe upside down.”

Her phone rang inside her purse. She recognized the assigned ringtone immediately.

“Hey, Lacy. What’s up? Is something wrong?”

“Hi, Amanda!” Lacy’s voice boomed through the phone. “How is your visit going? Did your sister have her baby yet?”

Amanda pulled her phone away from her ear. “It’s great. Yes, she had a girl last night. She and the baby are doing just fine. I’m at the hospital now.” She returned the snow globe to its spot on the shelf.

“Awesome! I won’t keep you, but I wanted to let you know that the producers would like tonight’s anchors to do a short segment on this year’s toy drive. They just wanted to run it by Tate and you since you both were so involved with promoting the event on air this month.”

“Oh, that’s nice.” She grabbed a tie. Wrapping it around her wrist, she couldn’t help but think back to two nights ago when she’d had Tate’s tie coiled around her wrist. He’d never explained that.

“Amanda, you still there?”

“Yep.” She pulled the tie off. “I’m sure Tate will be fine with it. I can ask him later.”

“So Tate’s with you?”

Dammit.
Why did she just say that? “Um . . . He is. He’s helping me out this weekend. Long story.” Amanda thought back to yesterday when she caught her assistant and Tate deep in conversation on the front steps of Lacy’s apartment building. She had a sinking suspicion that it didn’t matter that she’d admitted it and Lacy had already known he was in New York with her. She still wondered why Lacy had told her this was going to be the best Christmas yet. Having your ex and his fiancée under the same roof with their kid and one on the way was far from it.

“I’m sure you and Tate are having a great time.”

“We are. Hey, Lacy. Let’s keep it between us that Tate’s with me.”

“Of course. Mum is the word.”

“Thanks.”

“Well, if you are home tonight, check us out online. We’re live streaming the show and tracking Santa. Jeff is planning to have the entire crew on camera for the close saying ‘Merry Christmas.’”

“Fun! We definitely will. Thanks for calling, Lacy.”

“Thanks, Boss. Merry Christmas.”

“You, too. See you on the news tonight. Wear something pretty.”

“Oh, I have the perfect dress. Anyways, talk to you later.”

“Talk to you later,” Amanda repeated and clicked off her phone. Maybe if she left now she could swing by the mall for Tate’s present.

She left the gift shop and headed toward the entrance. Her mouth dropped. Tate and Alex were headed into the hospital. Tate appeared to be in pain and was holding onto her brother for support.

She raced over. “Oh my God, what happened?”

“Hi, love.” Tate smiled and then grimaced.

Alex continued to hold Tate up. “Mandy, before you overreact—”

“Alex, what did you do?” She grabbed Tate’s other arm. “Here, lean on me.”

Tate whispered to her. “I think your brother is trying to kill me.” His breath tickled her ear.

“I heard that,” Alex retorted. “Let’s get you to the ER.”

They checked Tate in and a nurse whisked him away.

Amanda paced in the waiting room. She stopped and pushed her brother with both hands. “You know you’re a jerk.”

“Mandy, it was an accident,” Alex said in defense.

“Was it?” She crossed her arms.

“Of course it was. He was clearing my tire and the truck slid. I barely hit him. I’m sure nothing’s broken.”

Amanda shook her head. “Why are you being so mean to him?”