Mythe: A Fairy Tale (27 page)

“If they do have other plans, should I expect
you
for Christmas?” Emily smiled knowingly, but didn’t look away from the windshield.

Manda could feel her cheeks turn pink and she laughed. “The answer to that question is I don’t know. The answer to your
unasked
question is that Richard and I have been dating for the last couple of weeks.”

Manda wasn’t sure if this description was entirely accurate. It certainly felt like more to her, but perhaps it was no more than that to Richard. “Dating” was probably as good a description as any, she supposed.

“Good!” Emily replied enthusiastically. “I really, really like him, and it’s obvious that you two are crazy about each other.” Emily directed the car through the large and crowded parking lot toward the restaurant at the far end where they were going for lunch. “Does this mean you’ll be gracing the covers of all the tabloids soon?” Emily’s tone was light and teasing, but Manda knew her sister well enough to know that there was real concern underlying the question.

“We’re trying to avoid that for as long as possible, but I guess it’s probably inevitable. I’m not going to worry about it until I have to though.” Resolved to be as good as her word, Manda firmly pushed away all thought of the
media circus she knew was coming and instead focused on enjoying the morning with her sister. Worrying now was useless. She would deal with it when she had to.

Chapter 19

M
anda had an opportunity to ask Richard about Christmas later that same day when both he and Josh were over for dinner. She and Emily had cooked enough food for Thanksgiving to feed a moderately sized army, and since Richard and Josh only ate as much as a
small
army, there had been an excess of leftovers. Emily had insisted that she take home her share...and apparently her share meant almost all of it. Faced with this inexhaustible supply of food, Manda had immediately thrown herself on Richard and Josh’s mercy as they helped her take it all home.

“You guys
have
to help me eat this! If I have to do it alone I’ll still be eating turkey on the Fourth of July.” The two men hadn’t required convincing.

“Well, we can’t have that,” Richard sympathized with such an excess of overly-earnest concern that Manda had laughed.

“I thought you’d never ask! The leftovers are the best part of Thanksgiving,” Josh enthused.

“Of course,” Manda teased, elbowing him playfully. “Never mind the fine fellowship of beloved family and friends. The food is the thing!”

“And with that, you have completely defined my brother,” Richard guffawed. “It always comes back to food with him.”

“Hey, I’m a growing boy,” Josh retorted with a good-natured grin.

Manda chuckled. This “growing boy” was a broad-shouldered young man who towered over her. She was glad that whatever had been causing tension between the brothers seemed to be resolved. She hadn’t noticed any of those odd, strained moments since she and Richard had become a couple. It occurred to her that perhaps she had been the point of contention, but she immediately dismissed that as a bit vain on her part. She was just relieved that they seemed to be on good terms recently, and pleased that Josh hadn’t shown any signs of jealousy now that she was monopolizing so much of Richard’s time. Instead he truly seemed to approve of their relationship. Still, she made a note to herself to try not to exclude him too much. Inviting them both over for dinner would be a good start, and it would make a sizable dent in her stockpile of leftovers. Besides, with both Mikey and David out of town for the holiday, she didn’t want to leave him all alone.

Friday night, therefore, saw the three of them together, once again feasting on turkey and all of the trimmings. After dinner as they were relaxing around the patio fireplace, the subject of Christmas came up. The night was cold and they were gathered close together in the circle of warmth around the hearth. Richard held Manda snugly in his arms with a thick blanket wrapped around them both.

“So, tell me, how did it go with your sister today?” he asked. “Did I come up in conversation at all?”

“Because, of course, no conversation is complete without at least one mention of Richard,” Josh snorted.

Manda chuckled. “Actually, you did. She mentioned how much everyone likes you two and she asked if you would be coming for Christmas.”

“And what did you tell her?” Richard asked.

“I told her I didn’t know. You might already have other plans, but we hadn’t discussed it. You guys
are
invited though.”

“Sarah and Daniel will be in town for a couple of weeks at Christmas. We usually spend the holidays with them in Texas, but they’re coming here this year instead.”

“Richard couldn’t be pried away from you,” Josh supplied with a wink to Manda. “Besides, he’s been talking about you so much they want to meet you.”

Manda could feel Richard shrug. “It’s true,” he admitted evenly. “I’d love to come for Christmas, but I can’t just desert Sarah and Daniel.”

“Will you just be spending Christmas in your hotel then?” Manda asked, frowning.

“I thought I’d make reservations for dinner somewhere, but essentially yes,” Richard confirmed.

“How festive,” she remarked dryly. “I’m sorry, but that’s completely unacceptable. You guys already spend too much time in hotels without spending Christmas in one too. You’ll just have to bring them along...and Mikey too if he’s going to be around.”

“Thank you for the invitation, sweetie, but we really can’t all just descend on Emily and Andy like that. Your family is very kind but I think all five of us would be too much of an imposition.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Manda sighed, then pursed her lips thoughtfully. It probably was too much to ask of Emily. It would double the guest list, as it was usually just the five of them—herself, Emily, Andy, and the kids. Andy’s parents always spent Christmas vacationing someplace tropical. The thought of Richard and his family spending the holiday in the hotel was too depressing, though. She couldn’t imagine not spending Christmas at home.

At home! That was it! Manda’s face brightened. “We’ll have Christmas at my house this year and everyone can come without imposing on Emily!”

Josh was enthusiastic about the idea, but Richard was still hesitant.

“We can’t ask you to do that,” he said uncertainly. “Then we’d just be imposing on you. That’s a lot of work.”

“No, it’s perfect!” Manda enthused. “I should have thought of it before. We can all celebrate Christmas together
and
it will give Emily a break. We always spend all of the holidays at her house. She’ll love having me take a turn! And I’m your girlfriend, right? You’re allowed to impose on me. Please!”

Richard sighed. “You know that if it was just Josh and me, I would say yes in a heartbeat, but all five of us?” He shook his head slowly, then stopped and eyed Manda consideringly. “Unless...I’ll make you a deal. If we accept your invitation you have to let me help –- with the shopping, the cooking, the clean up, everything. Deal?”

“Deal!” Manda agreed at once.

Josh grinned broadly. “Excellent!”

“You should know, though,” Richard warned, “that Sarah will probably insist on helping too. She
will
feel like she’s imposing if you don’t let her.”

“Well, I’ve seen how much you two can eat,” Manda accused playfully, “so I suppose I’ll probably be grateful for the help.”

“And Daniel makes us look like lightweights,” Josh added with a laugh, “so don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Manda called Emily the next morning to run the idea by her. As she’d expected, Emily was immediately on board. In fact, she was so gleefully enthusiastic that Manda felt guilty for not offering sooner. It was only after everything was settled and invitations had been made to everyone involved that Manda started to feel nervous. She would be hosting her very first holiday ever—Christmas no less!—and with Richard’s family as her guests. For the next month the butterflies in Manda’s stomach were her closest and most constant companions.

True to form, the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas were quiet ones at work. Manda and David focused almost all of their attention on the Raines Foundation project. Jen had worked out a rough draft of most of the content with Richard and Josh, so the two designers were making progress on the corresponding collateral.

Josh and Richard had resumed their daily haunting of the Aronson office, with the slight difference that Josh usually didn’t show up until noon.

“He’s been keeping late hours,” Richard explained with a shrug when Manda asked about the change. “He’s turned into quite a night owl.”

Richard, on the other hand, was there even more often. His frequent absences to take care of other business were almost non-existent now. He and Manda had breakfast together every morning before work, most often at the diner but sometimes at other places—sometimes elegant restaurants, sometimes on nice mornings they had bagels in the plaza, and a few times they ate in the office or had room service in the brothers’ suite with Mikey and a sleepy Josh.

Richard hadn’t forgotten the sad state of Manda’s music knowledge either it turned out. He showed up every day with a new playlist on his iPod and, playing it through their docking station, proceeded with his plan to broaden Manda’s musical horizons. He would quiz her on which ones she did and didn’t like and quickly developed an ear for what she enjoyed. It didn’t take him long to put together an extensive playlist of Manda’s favorite new performers.

Outside of work, Manda went from having all of the time in the world to herself to conversely needing to carefully and deliberately schedule time for everything and everyone other than Richard. He was almost apologetic about monopolizing her time, but much to Manda’s relief he showed no inclination to stay away. Their evenings out with Josh, David, and Stacey resumed, but usually occurred on Saturday nights, while Friday nights became Richard and Manda’s. Manda was still trying to master her time-juggling skills when Christmas week arrived.

Richard and Josh left early on the Friday before Christmas to meet Sarah and Daniel at the hotel downstairs. Their driver, Mark, had been dispatched earlier to pick up the two visitors from the airport. Manda was going to meet up with the four later for dinner. She’d decided not to go all the way home only to turn around and come right back, so instead had brought a change of clothes for the evening. She had some time to kill however, so she decided to do some shopping. She hadn’t been to her favorite bookstore in a while—not since Richard and Josh had arrived—so she spent some time exploring the recent arrivals there and left with a stack of new books.

With time still to spare, she made a detour on her way back to the office to stop by a tea shop she knew. She hoped to find a replacement for the teapot she’d broken—not that she’d ever really be able to replace it. Thinking about it inspired a sharp pang of loss. She remembered her mother buying the small floral patterned teapot and
cups. Manda had been very young, not even in school yet, and had liked the pretty pattern. She’d served her mother tea, lemonade, and chocolate milk with the set at countless afternoon tea parties. Their guests had been the current favorites from Manda’s stuffed animal collection. Manda had cherished those special times alone with her mother while Emily had been off at school and her father at work.

Whenever Manda had used the teapot it reminded her of those happy afternoons, so it was under a cloud of melancholy that she wandered through the shop examining its selection of teapots, trying to find one that would at least somewhat match the two cups that were all that remained of the set. Unable to find anything suitable, she soon became discouraged and left the shop.

Preoccupied with memories of her mother, Manda had walked a dozen yards before she noticed that someone was walking beside her. When this awareness finally intruded upon her reverie, she looked up to find Richard in step with her. Her sad mood vanished at once and she smiled in delight.

“Fancy meeting you here! I thought you’d be catching up with your cousins.”

“I had to run a quick errand, and I’m very glad I did. I was just thinking about you and like magic, here you are.” Richard took her shopping bag from her and then hefted it in surprise. “What’s in this thing? Bricks?”

“Books,” Manda explained with a grin, more than willing to let him carry the heavy bag.

“Ah! That explains it. That makes this a first for me then, just so you know.”

Manda’s eyebrows drew together in puzzlement. “What’s a first for you?”

“This is the first time I’ve ever carried a girl’s books for her,” Richard informed her with a grin that made her laugh.

Manda had the urge to reach out and hold his free hand as they walked, but she suppressed it. Although Richard was quite affectionate most of the time, Manda had quickly noticed that he was much more reserved in crowded public places. He would always put a little distance between them at such times—when they were, as she thought of it, on public display.

“Are you headed back to the hotel now?” Manda asked.

“Yes. You?”

“Mmm hmm. I’m going back to the office to change. Did your cousins get here okay? No problems or anything?”