Holding Her Breath (Indigo) (5 page)

Jo started across the floor. “I’ll make up a couple of plates for y’all.” She paused and turned to Whitney. “Honey, can you come help me?”

“Sure, Mom.” Whitney followed her mother into the kitchen. She went over to the counter to pull out a couple of the paper plates they’d used earlier to make Christmas dinner dishes easier on themselves. She put two of the white plates with holly leaf borders down on the counter.

Her mother rushed up to her, grabbing her elbow. “I forgot to get them a present. It must have slipped my mind. I double-checked my closet.” She shook her head. “There’s nothing under the tree. What am I going to do now?” Jo’s eyes were wide with worry.

Whitney tapped the paper plates against the counter. “They didn’t get you anything. Don’t worry about it.”

“You know me. I have to worry about it.” Jo took the plates from her. “I always get everybody something even if it’s just a little trinket. I need you to run out and get a gift for them.”

Whitney wasn’t going to object to escaping the house for a while, and she wanted to help her stressed-out mom. There was only one problem. “Where am I going to find a present this late at night on Christmas?”

“The 7-11. I don’t know what, but they’ve got to have something in there. I don’t care what it is. Bring me anything. Anything halfway decent. And drop it in a gift bag. Don’t come back in here with a white plastic bag from 7-11.” Jo tried to drop a twenty in Whitney’s hand.

Whitney shook her head and pulled her hand away. “I got it, Mom.”

“Take this money, child.”

“No,” she said. “This way, it can be from all of us.” She folded her mom’s fingers around the twenty. “I won’t come back without something. I promise.”

“I know you won’t.” Jo patted her hand. “I can always count on you, baby.”

Whitney walked to the hall closet to get her winter coat, wondering what in the world she would find at 7-11 that would make any kind of suitable Christmas present. It was a good thing she was the tenacious type.

* * *

Whitney was about to step onto the curb by the 7-11 when a man ran into her. Well, stumbled into her was more like it.

“Hey, watch it…” Whitney’s voice trailed off when she caught sight of the most startling ice blue eyes she’d ever seen. Her breath was literally taken away from her when he put his hands out, spreading his fingers against the shoulders of her jacket—whether it was to steady himself or her, she wasn’t sure.

She felt a sudden surge of warmth. It burned in her throat, her face. And she found she was unable to look away from those unfocused glacier-like eyes. They were the palest shade of blue she’d ever seen, yet they made her feel warm all over. There was such an intensity in his face, his gaze, that she felt as if he had become the world. She had no idea why she suddenly felt so lost in this stranger. Even odder was the thought that she wanted to be lost in him forever.

He was probably even more attractive when he wasn’t sloppy drunk, but he wasn’t bad that night. His brown hair fell just below the collar of his black fleece jacket. He was a little taller than Whitney, so that if she were to press herself to him, her head would get buried in his shoulder. Not that she was thinking of doing anything like that. He wasn’t too skinny, but he wasn’t bulky with too much muscle, either. He was solid. Well, physical appearance-wise anyway.

After seconds that seemed to last hours, he said, “Sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

“Really? I was right in front of your face,” Whitney said, backing away from the odor of his alcohol-soaked breath. She didn’t mean to be rude, but the drunken fool had nearly knocked her over, she hadn’t had the most fun Christmas Day, and she didn’t have time to find him intriguing and attractive.

“Oh, yeah, well, again. Sorry.” Chace’s eyes moved to his hands on her shoulders, making both of them acutely aware of the fact that they were still there. He pulled his hands away from her and she felt her cheeks roasting. At least she could blame the sudden rush of blood to her face on the cold.

“It’s okay. Just watch where you’re going from now on,” Whitney said.

“Sure thing. Oh. Yeah. I’m Chace. You?”

“Whitney,” she said. “Nice meeting you, Chace.”

“You, too, Whitney,” he said with a crooked grin that made her heart skip a beat. She bet that grin had gotten him far with the ladies and would continue to. But there was no way it was going to work on her. “I’m usually not this much of a loser. I wish you hadn’t met me this way.”

Whitney nodded, wondering if his words were true or not.

“Have a beautiful night. You’re so beautiful. Christmas is beautiful. Merry Christmas, Beautiful Whitney.”

“Merry Christmas.” Whitney fought a smile.

Chace saluted her and staggered over to Tim, who was sitting on the curb. Tim was something of the town drunk. He handed a brown bag to Chace.

“Thanks for watching my stuff, man,” Chace said to Tim.

“Any time,” Tim said before nodding a greeting to Whitney.

Whitney waved to Tim before hurrying into the 7-11. She needed to find a present and get away from the riff-raff. Even if the riff-raff was kind of sexy.

Whitney wandered up and down the aisles of junk food and trinkets and maps, unable to concentrate on the task at hand. Her mind was full of Chace. She couldn’t stop herself from making excuses to walk past the large windows and the glass doors at the front of the store to catch glimpses of the back of his head and occasionally his profile as he talked to Tim.

Whitney hadn’t had these grin-inducing, fluttery type of feelings for a guy ever. She’d had crushes. Been attracted to plenty of guys. But none of them had the impact Chace had on her. And not just because he’d nearly knocked her down.

There was something about him. She knew next to nothing about the man and, still, she felt like he was the type of guy who could make a girl forget everything else in the world. And it had to be nice to forget everything for a while except for something bright and beguiling like Chace’s smile. Not that she had any idea what it was like to be able to forget the world. She’d never really wanted to. She considered herself a pragmatist, and she liked being one.

But maybe it wouldn’t have been a bad thing to lose herself just once. For a little while. What she’d felt outside a few moments ago had been thrilling in a scary sort of way. For some reason, she couldn’t stop thinking the ridiculous thought that she’d been asleep for twenty-eight years until Chace had awakened her outside by putting his hands on her shoulders and looking into her eyes.

She hadn’t realized she was standing at the window, staring at the back of Chace’s coat until someone walked into the 7-11, setting off the door chime. Whitney shook her head slightly, bringing herself back to reality. Chace turned toward the store and she hurried away from the window, hoping he hadn’t seen her staring.

She had to concentrate. She was there to get a gift for her stepdad—ex-stepdad? She never knew what to call him since everything seemed awkward, and she usually just went with his first name. Anyway, she needed a gift for him and his girlfriend. She wasn’t there to ogle some stranger she’d shared a momentary weirdness with. Maybe she was just horny. That was it. She hadn’t had sex in over a year and Chace was hot. Just hormones. That was all.

Whitney walked past the wine, Boone’s Farm and Sutter Homes and the rest of the wide selection. So many choices. Yeah. Right. Not that she could get alcohol, anyway. Quinton was a recovering alcoholic, and Whitney didn’t think his sponsor would appreciate that gift.

Next, she went down the trinket aisle. She spied a few Christmas-themed trinkets. She ran her fingers lightly over a deck of playing cards, thinking of nothing in particular. Trying not to, anyway. It was a shame. She couldn’t even concentrate on one simple task. It wasn’t like she had many gift choices in front of her. It shouldn’t have been so hard.

She sighed, scanning the magazines in front of her with half-interest. She wanted to go back outside and talk to Chace. Escape her family for the rest of the night and see if she could figure out what about him had jolted her so much. She knew all of that was out of the question, though.

She glanced up at the bored-looking cashier. She needed to get out of the store. Above all else, being close to Chace for too long would lead to her doing stupid things. Yeah, it was time to go.

Whitney walked up to the counter and smiled at the yawning cashier. “Do you have anything I could give as a Christmas present?”

“Talk about your last-minute shopper.” The cashier laughed at himself as if he’d cracked the funniest joke ever told.

“I can’t argue with you there.” She forced a smile. “So, do you have anything?”

“We have some Christmas CDs, uh, a few holiday things over in the back there with the souvenirs. Not much, though. Sorry.”

Whitney nodded. She’d noticed those “holiday things” he’d mentioned. A baby bib informing the reader that “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer,” a Frosty the Snowman pen, a couple of dusty snow globes, some Christmas candy in dented boxes, and a red and green “Season’s Greetings” baseball cap.

“Thanks,” she said.

“No problem.”

Whitney circled the store again, forcing herself not to look outside even though her eyes sought out Chace independent of her will.

A few minutes later, she carried an armload of junk to the front of the store. She didn’t have time to be selective and there wasn’t much to select from anyway. She had to get away before she did something stupid like ask Chace if he had anywhere to go for Christmas and invite him home with her if he didn’t.

She dumped a flashlight, copies of
Jet
and
People
magazines, several packages of gum, a snow globe, batteries, a generic Christmas card, the Christmas baseball cap she’d seen earlier, and a gift bag onto the counter. Reaching for her purse, she wondered if everything would fit into the bag. The only gift bag she’d been able to find that even remotely looked Christmas-like was a red medium-sized one. Looking at the bag and her stash again, she picked up the magazines, took them back to their shelf, and then went back to the counter. That was better. It would probably all fit now.

After paying for her purchases and stuffing everything into the gift bag, she left the store. Her traitorous eyes strayed in the direction of where Chace sat on the curb next to Tim. Tim waved and said hello to her and wished her a merry Christmas. She returned Tim’s greeting, and then Chace turned toward her. He caught her eye and smiled.

He lifted his brown bag to her in a wave. “Merry Christmas, Beautiful Whitney.”

She smiled. Her family issues shouldn’t make her be rude to this guy who may have just been having a bad day. After all, he hadn’t done anything but run into her, and he’d already apologized a million times for that. It wasn’t his fault she was trying to avoid being attracted to him because it was crazy to think she could feel a connection with someone moments after seeing him for the first time in her life.

She waved to him. “Merry Christmas, Chace.”

Maybe it was her imagination, but she thought that his grin widened and his face brightened a little.

She walked to her car, a smile playing at the edges of her lips.

Chace watched Whitney walk to her car. He knew the smile on his face was a goofy one even though he couldn’t see it. She had the sexiest walk. She had the most sexiest everything. Beautiful Whitney. The word didn’t even do justice to her. He’d probably never see her again, though. He didn’t know anything about her other than her first name. Slowly, it dawned on his alcohol-soaked brain that Tim had said something to Beautiful Whitney.

Chace turned to Tim. “You know her?”

Tim nodded. “That’s Whitney Jones. Jo’s child. Known her all her life, I reckon.”

“Whitney Jones.” Chace said the name slowly, letting the syllables roll around his tongue. He was drunk, sure, but he knew perfection when he saw it. For a moment, looking into her eyes, he’d almost forgotten all about Kelly and the giant mess that had brought him there—drinking malt liquor on a curb outside 7-11 with Tim. On Christmas night. Tim could always be seen around town with a paper bag. Mostly right out in front of that 7-11 where they were sitting.

Chace stared at the car she’d gotten into. “How come I’ve never seen her around?”

“She’s not here much. Lives in D.C. Works at some big, fancy law firm. She doesn’t come home much anymore.” Tim took a swig from his bottle and wiped his mouth.

“What else do you know about her?” He wanted to know everything about that woman. Whitney Jones.

“Oh, not much. She went to college at some fancy school up north. Harvard or one of them. Then she went to Howard Law School. Now she’s making the big bucks.”

“She married?”

“Not that one. Far from it. I’ve never even known her to bring any man home with her when she comes to visit.”

“Hmm.” Chace watched the sleek black sedan pull out of the parking spot in front of the store and glide onto the road. He’d caught her watching him from the store a few times. He’d thought about going in to say hi, but, even in his inebriated state, he realized he hadn’t made the best first impression on her, and he didn’t want to freak her out.