Mistletoe and Montana (2 page)

“OK,” she said softly, giving Molly a
quick hug. “Mommy will stay.”
            “Yay!” Molly
cried, then tugged her hand. “Sleep in my bed! Sleep in my bed!”

Ben’s look told her she sure as hell
wasn’t sleeping in his bed.

“I’ll sleep in the guest room. You kick too
much,” she replied.

“Come on,” Ben said resignedly. He
picked up Joely’s overnight bag as easily as if it weighed a pound. “I’ll show
you the guest room.”

Ben headed upstairs, with Molly dancing
in the lead, excited at the prospect of having both parents in the same house
after years of separation. Joely glanced over her shoulder at Ian, whose thin
shoulders were hunched over his pie. Maybe it was a good thing she’d be stuck
at the ranch for a while.

Chapter 3

“We eat pretty plainly when it’s just
the kids and me,” Ben said later, emptying a pack of hot dogs into a pot of
boiling water. She’d almost tiptoed back out of the kitchen when she’d come
looking for something to munch on when she’d discovered Ben alone. Her lone bag
was unpacked and the kids were settled upstairs.

“I’m sure I can rustle something up.”
She opened the pantry door and flinched when Ben closed it firmly.

“I got this.”
You’re in my territory
,
his set jaw told her.

“Do you…would you like some help? I can
set the table.”

“We just need some napkins. Hot dogs and
chips don’t require flatware.”

“Do you have any salad?” She held up her
hands a moment later at his scowl. “Okay, okay! I’ll leave you to it.”

He mumbled something under his breath
while she walked out of the kitchen. She wanted to stop and ask him what he’d
said, but didn’t want to provoke him. As she passed the kitchen window, she
stared at the gray clouds rumbling overhead. Her cute little bungalow nestled
in the Hollywood Hills seemed so far away.

She climbed the stairs to freshen up and
met Molly in the hallway. Molly took her hand. “Come see my room, Mommy.”

“Wow! I didn’t know you liked fairies.”
The room exploded in multitudes of green and pink fairies. There was a fairy
lampshade, fairy posters in white frames, and a fairy bedspread on a white
canopy bed. Toys and dolls Joely didn’t recognize were displayed on shelves and
spilled from a toy box shaped like a dollhouse.

“I like fairies at Daddy’s house and
princesses at your house.”

The innocent words cut to Joely’s heart.
She’d never been to the ranch once the house was built. Had never asked the
kids about their rooms at Ben’s because it hurt too much to realize that the
kids were now part of a statistic. She wondered if he ever thought about what
their rooms looked like at her home, a place he’d never seen.

“It’s a very pretty room.” She walked
around, pausing to glance at the framed photos on the dresser. There was one of
her with Molly, tucked slightly to the back and behind other pictures, but at
least it was there. She’d sent it with Molly the first time the kids came up to
Montana shortly after the divorce. If she could have packaged up her heart and
put it on a plane, she would have.

“Dinner’s ready,” Ben called upstairs.
Joely went to a half-opened door and knocked.

“Ian, are you coming down?”

He was lying across his bed, reading a
book. Unlike Molly’s different decorative scheme, Ian’s room echoed what he had
at home; football pennants and memorabilia she recognized from Ben’s college
and early pro days.

“I’m not hungry.”

She hesitated. He’d been a little
withdrawn all day, even on the plane. “Are you feeling ok? Tummy hurt?”

“I’m fine.” He turned a page with enough
force that it creased the paper.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.”

She almost laughed at the stock answer.
“Do you want to talk about it?”

He flipped the book closed and folded
his arms, making a pillow wherein he buried his face. “I don’t want to be
here.”

She sat on the edge of the bed and
rubbed his back, but he rolled away from her, his freckled face wearing a
scowl. Remarkable how much he looked like his dad when he was mad. Her hand
remained frozen in the air.

“It’s just a few weeks, Ian. I thought
you wanted to come….”

“I want all of us back home, where we
belong.”

“I know you miss Matt….”

“I don’t miss that jerk! I hate him! I’m
glad he dumped you.” His lip quivered. She was about to say more, but Ben’s
heavy footsteps coming upstairs stopped her.

“Ian, what’s the problem? Dinner’s
ready.” Ian pushed off the bed with a grunt and walked past Joely before she
could say another word. Ben eyed her suspiciously. “What’s going on?”

She bit her lip to stop it from
trembling, but didn’t know why she bothered. He could always see through her.
Rising, she brushed the hair from her face and tried to act natural. “He’s just
a little moody, I guess.”

“Oh.” His gaze penetrated hers. “Maybe
I’ll take him for a walk later.”

“Good.” Her stomach flipped. All she
needed was for Ian to rant about Matt all night to Ben, or beg his dad to move
home. Worse, ask Ben if he could live with him from now on. Her stomach almost
flipped.

“I noticed you only brought an overnight
bag. Do you need to borrow some clothes?”

“Why, do you have a size two wardrobe
stashed away in your closet?”

He didn’t seem to be in a humorous mood.
“You can borrow some of my things. I don’t have any frilly underwear, though.”

Was his old personality actually trying
to crawl through the concrete blocks of his attitude?

“That’s okay, Ben. I don’t wear
underwear.”

She hadn’t meant to flirt. Good god, that
was the last thing she wanted to do. It was too late to pretend she hadn’t said
it, and she could only hope he thought she was joking. He only shrugged, and
followed Ian downstairs. Despite his nonchalance, she couldn’t help but notice
the edges of his ears had turned pink.

Ian was mostly quiet at dinner, but
showed interest when Ben outlined all the fun things he’d planned for their
Christmas vacation. Molly was content to sit between Joely and Ben, and kept
taking drinks from Ben’s soda can when she thought Joely wasn’t looking.
Normally the kids ate a healthy dinner of lean meat and lots of veggies, but
she didn’t want to criticize. Ben didn’t look like was in the mood to hear it,
even if she did.

“You guys have a lot to do this
vacation. Sounds exciting,” she said to Ian.

“Mommy, you can make a snowman with us,
too. Can’t she, Daddy?”

“No, no, Molly,” Joely said with an
uneasy laugh. “This is Daddy’s time with you and Ian. I’ll stay out of your
hair. Besides, I’ll be gone in a couple of days.” She could only hope.

“Daddy, is Chrissy going to visit us?”

Joely looked up with interest. “Is that
a little girl around here?”

Ian poked Molly in the arm. “Don’t talk
about her in front of Mom!”

One look at Ben’s scarlet face told her
everything she had to know. She was glad she was holding a hot dog in her hand
because it gave her an excuse to take a bite and not have to talk for a while.

“I was just asking,” Molly said in a
small voice.

Ben cleared his throat. “Maybe we can
see the horses after dinner. You both can come.”

He wants them out of the house so I
can’t ask them about his…what, his girlfriend? Even though she’d been with Matt
nearly a year and had never kept it a secret, Ben had obviously lived a life he
didn’t want her to know about. Pictures of the mysterious Chrissy flooded her
imagination. Was she a busty blonde, like the girls who used to chase Ben in
college? Or a cool brunette, exotic maybe, with luscious red lips…?

“Get your coats on and we’ll take a walk
to the stable.” Ben avoided looking at her, which was just as well. “Do you
want to come, Joely?”

She blinked. Her name sounded odd coming
from him. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d used it. “Uh, sure. I mean,
no, that’s okay. I’ll clean up in here. You guys have fun.”

“You can go in my room and scrounge up
some clothes if you want,” he said, pushing away from the table and helping
Molly. He sponged off her face with a napkin. A wistful feeling touched her. He
was always a good dad. He’d never shied away from dirty diapers and used to give
the kids their baths when she spent long hours at the studio.

“Thanks.” She lingered over her soda
until they were gone, then hurried upstairs to his bedroom. She had never been
a snoop, but now seemed obsessed with scouring his room for any traces of the
mysterious Chrissy. A strange feeling overcame her when she entered his room: a
room she had never shared with the man she’d once vowed to love forever. The
kids’ laughter rang from outside, and she hurried to the bureau, remembering
her task. Just as she opened the third drawer and found no evidence of women’s
clothing, she sat back on her heels and let out her breath.

Why should she care if Ben had one or
ten girlfriends? He was single, and, by the looks of the sprawling ranch,
successful in his second career choice. He’d always been frugal with his money,
socking away his massive paychecks from the NFL because, as he’d always told
her, “my knees aren’t going to last forever.” Sure enough, after his very first
Superbowl win, his right knee blew out, ending his promising career.

He hadn’t seemed too upset at the time,
and now she realized he’d been relieved. They’d bought the Montana ranch
together with one of his first checks, and he’d spent whatever time he could,
first putting up the large but cozy house and then securing paddocks and fences
for the horses he wanted to own one day. She’d hardly visited in those early
days, leaving all the decisions to him. Her acting career was too important for
her to care about Appaloosas or Palominos, or what kind of feed and hay to buy.
She’d almost been grateful he had somewhere he could go alone. It made it seem
less like moving him out of her life and more like his choice.

She rifled a drawer with carefully
folded t-shirts and realized it was the work of Ben, and not another woman.
He’d always been meticulous, and his sparsely decorated bedroom was obviously
not chick bait. Even the bed looked utilitarian, with its navy blue and brown
quilt and only two pillows on the bed. Not a lacy bolster in sight.
Maybe
Chrissy is a dumpy rancher, who bakes brownies and pies for the bachelors in
the area. She can come by tomorrow, for all I care
.

An irritating suspicion told her that
Chrissy was not a dumpy rancher. She pictured a svelte, young model with
swinging long hair and a dimply smile just for Ben. As Joely left his room with
an armful of clothes, she couldn’t help but realize she hated Chrissy very,
very much.

Chapter 4

Screams and laughter echoed in her head.
Confused, Joely blinked her eyes open and took in her surroundings. She winced
as her back objected to the hard mattress, and slowly sat up. Memories of the
night before flooded her, and she swung her legs out of bed and padded in her
shirt and underwear to the window.

Winter wonderland was an understatement.
She hadn’t paid much attention when they’d pulled into the driveway in the
previous evening’s fading sunlight. Her nerves had been too on edge to notice
anything beyond the interior of the truck. The mountains in the distance were
rolling white blankets of snow, and the pine trees and bushes edging the front
entrance to the ranch were covered in jagged icicles.

Molly was making snow angels in the
spacious front yard while Ben and Ian alternately ducked and threw snowballs
from opposing fortresses. Ian’s fort was bigger and better than Ben’s, which
filled Joely with a toasty feeling that Ben had gone out of his way to ensure
their son had a fun time. Molly looked up and waved at her. She waved back and
opened the window a crack. A blast of icy air nearly froze the breath in her
lungs.

“Good morning!” she called. Ian and Ben
ignored her, but Molly sat up.

“Come down and play!”

“I have to get dressed first.” She
closed the window and scanned the room for her clothes. All she had was jeans
and a sweater, and a coat that was more ornamental than practical. Ben
shouldn’t mind too much if she borrowed another sweatshirt, and she walked down
the hall to his room.

She yelped when she opened the door, and
pulled the edges of her shirt past her underwear. An elderly Hispanic woman
glanced up from Ben’s bed. She had just spread the quilt, and was smoothing it.

“Good morning,” the woman said. Joely
gulped, then held out her hand.

“Good morning. I’m Joely Burbank. Are
you…Chrissy?” She could only hope.

“Chrissy? You mean Miss Harrington?” She
shook her head, her face crinkled in a smile. “I am Mrs. Gomez. I keep house
for Mr. Ben.”

Miss Harrington. How hysterical. She was
becoming a regular laugh riot. “It’s nice to meet you. I was just looking for a
sweatshirt or something.”