A Home for Christmas (2 page)

“Yes.”

 “The Motocross rider?  That Wade
Blackwell?”

“That would be him.”

Riley shook his head.  “I remember Trevor
talking about him from school…and about Wade’s girlfriend.  Always said
she was way too hot for the likes of Wade.  I’m assuming you dated him in
high school?”

“I did.”

“And you have a son with him?”

Jenna nodded.  “Cameron, named for my maiden
name.”

“You women like to do that a lot, don’t you?”
Riley said, shaking his head.

“Do what?” Jenna asked, confused.

“My mother’s maiden name was Riley,” he answered.

Jenna laughed.  “Oh, that.  Yeah, I
guess we do.  We have to give up our birth names when we marry. 
Gotta have some way to keep our name going.”

“So, you started Maids to Go when you left him
for cheating on you.  He doesn’t send child support?”

“He does, but not because I took him to court for
it, and not even because he knows he should support his son.  His agent
set up payments to me because it would be bad PR for Wade if the press were to
find out that he doesn’t support his own son.”

Riley nodded.  “I can see that, since they
have that whole ad campaign about Let’s Go Ride with Wade riding with a bunch
of kids. And with Wade being the face of the Motocross video game for the last
five years, they wouldn't want news to get out that he's a Deadbeat Dad.”

“Exactly.  Only, I didn’t want any of Wade’s
money, so I’ve been putting it into a savings account for Cam.”

“That’s pretty cool.  So, was Cam who you
were shopping for this morning?”

“Yes.  I was trying to get him one of the
new PlayStations, but I hadn’t counted on all the people who were camped out
for the last few days.  I didn’t really think I would get one, but I
thought I’d try.”

“I can help you out with that,” he said, pulling
his phone from his pocket. 

“Really?”

“I think so…hey, need a favor.  New PlayStation. 
I need to get my hands on one.  Can you track one down for me?” he said
into his phone.  He paused while listening, then took his phone from his
ear and looked at Jenna.  “I can have it here by Wednesday,” he told her.

“What?!  Seriously?”

He winked at her.  “I got connections,
sweetheart.  You want it?”

“Absolutely!”

“Yeah, that’s a go.  Just have it come to
the office.  Thanks!  I owe you.  I’ll explain later. 
Yeah.  See ya.”

He put his phone down, a huge grin on his
face. 

“OK, how’d you do that?”

“Melissa, who runs the offices at Orion
Securities, is a computer genius with a ton of connections.  She also got
it for fifteen percent less than the store’s advertised Black Friday price.”

“Oh, my gosh!!  That is awesome!  Thank
you so much!  Is a check OK or do you want…”

“Check’s fine,” he told her, cutting her off.

“Wow.  I’m just…floored.  Cam will be
so excited!  Thank you.”

“My pleasure…seeing you smile like that, it’s
worth it.”

Jenna blushed and was thankful when their food
arrived.  Throughout their meal, they talked about anything and everything
that came to mind.  Jenna was stunned at how easy conversation flowed with
him.  He was funny and intelligent, and she found herself more often that
not, staring into his shining eyes, totally enraptured by his
vivaciousness. 

“I’m glad you agreed to come with me this
morning, Jenna,” he told her when they’d driven back to the store parking lot.

“Thanks for inviting me.  And for getting my
purse back…and for the PlayStation.”

“You’re welcome.  And just so you know, I
had an ulterior motive for getting that PlayStation for you.”

“Oh yeah?   And what would that be?”

“Get the PlayStation delivered to my office, now
I got an excuse to see you again, Ms. Blackwell.  And I really would, like
to see you again, that is.”

Jenna laughed.  “You did maneuver that quite
well.”

“Yes, I did,” he agreed with a wink, “but I need
your phone number and address.”

She shook her head and pulled her checkbook from
her purse.  “Both are right there on my check, Mr. Stanton.”

“Home phone or cell?” he asked, taking the check
she handed him.

“Both,” she replied.

“Excellent.”

She found herself laughing yet again. 
“Well, I’d better get back home so Cam doesn’t start to worry.  Thanks
again, Riley.  For everything.”

“You’re welcome, Jenna,” he said and she couldn’t
stop the shiver that ran down her spine at hearing him say her name.  With
a parting smile to him, she hopped down from the huge monster truck and got
into her SUV, waving to him as he drove away. 

“Well, at least I know what my dreams will be
like tonight,” she said to herself with a shake of her head, then put the truck
in gear to head home to her son.

Jenna thought about Riley on her whole ride
home.  He really was handsome, even though she’d never really been
attracted to blonde men before.  She’d always favored guys with dark hair,
as Wade had been.  Riley couldn’t be more different than Wade in almost
every way, however.  Riley was tall, blonde and from what she could tell,
very muscular.  His eyes sparkled with mirth and he smiled, a lot. 
She thought of the interaction between him and the surly restaurant owner, Mrs.
Sheffield.  He’d met her barb-for-barb, his eyes glittering and a huge
grin on his face.  It made her smile just to think of it.  Wade, on
the other hand, was a small in stature guy.  He was only around five seven,
and while he was muscular, he was very lean.  Wade had dark hair that he
wore on the longish side, while Riley’s blonde hair was short…not quite
military style but close. 

As she pulled into her driveway and eased into
her garage, she thought it best to put thoughts of Riley Stanton from her
mind.  As handsome as he was, she knew that like with most men she’d met
post divorce, once he found out that there was an ex and a young son, he’d
conveniently forget all about her.  She understood that and accepted it,
and that was okay.  She had Cam and that was all she needed.

The door to the garage opened and she saw the
love of her life right there, looking still half asleep, ready to come out and
help her unload groceries, where she told him she’d gone this morning.  A
smile touched her lips.  She really did love that kid.

“Hey, buddy, nothing to unload.”

Cam looked at her, confused.  “Didn’t you go
to the grocery store?”

Jenna laughed, ruffling his hair as she walked
past him.  “Silly boy.  It’s the day after Thanksgiving.  Black
Friday.  I went Christmas shopping.”

She watched his face light up.  “Yeah? 
What’d you get me?”

“I’ll never tell,” she sing-songed.

“Aww, come on, Mom, gimme a hint.”

“My lips are sealed.”

“Really, Mom?  How many bad movie and song
references are you gonna throw at me?”

“Ha, ha, ha.  You are funny.  Go hit
the showers.  It’s Christmas tree time!  I’ll pull it out along with
all the decorations but you know we always end up having to replace some of the
light strands.  Go get ready so we can run to the store if we need to.”

“Can we go somewhere to eat for lunch?” he asked,
hopeful.

Jenna inwardly groaned, thinking how full she was
from breakfast.  To Cam, though, she just smiled.

“We’ll see.  Now, go clean up.  We may
need to make a stop at Sport Clips.  That mop of yours is out-of-control!”

Cam ran his hand through his unruly hair and she
had a sudden flash of Riley doing the same when he’d removed his baseball
cap.  Hmm.  Interesting, she thought.  She’d just met him and
already he was creeping into her thoughts.

“Yeah, it is getting kinda long.  But I
can’t cut it today.  Not until after my ride tomorrow.”

She sighed and watched Cam head toward the
bathroom.  She secretly hated that Cam liked to ride and race his dirt
bike on the local track.  She hated that he still desperately tried to
gain his father’s attention by riding, though she did secretly love that, at
age ten, Cam was already competing in and winning more competitions than Wade
had at that age.  As Wade Blackwell’s son, Cam attracted a lot of
attention…and she was proud to say that he usually surpassed
expectations.  At the same time, however, she hated that Cam did something
that so closely linked him to his father…it usually painted a huge target on
his back.

She pulled their artificial tree from the box and
began setting it up, fluffing the branches and getting everything just
right.  She’d just finished fluffing the lower branches when her phone chimed
with a text message.  Pulling it from her pocket, she couldn’t stop the
little thrill she felt at seeing the text that popped up.

Thanks for breakfast.  I would really like
to see you again.  Dinner?

“Oh, wow,” she whispered, sitting on the arm of
her couch.  She felt her heart race.  He wanted to see her
again!  Her hands shaking, she hit reply.

I had a good time this morning.  Thanks for
inviting me.  I can’t do dinner tonight, unfortunately.  I can’t
leave Cam home alone at night.

His reply was immediate. 
Bring Cam; I’d
love to meet him.

Jenna gasped.  Was he serious?  And was
she OK with bringing Cam into things right from the start?  She hadn’t
really dated since the divorce, just a couple of set-up type things, and none
had called or shown interest after hearing that she had a child.  She
didn’t…

Don’t overthink this, Jenna.  I’d love to
get to know both of you.

She took a deep breath and bit her lip.

How about this: today is the day Cam and I put up
our Christmas tree.  We are going to run to the store in a little while to
get some new light strands if needed and we always pick out new ornaments
together.  After that, we were going to do something for lunch then come
home and decorate.  You’re welcome to join us for all or part of the day.

I can be at your place in thirty minutes.

Jenna covered her mouth with her hand, shocked
that he would want to do all of that with them.  She pictured his face,
his bright eyes and infectious grin.  Was she really going to do this?

Great.  See you then.

Looks like she was!  She realized then that
she needed to talk to Cam and tell him about what happened to her this morning,
how she met Riley.  Nervous, she began going through the bags of Christmas
lights, waiting for Cam to come out.  When he came in, freshly showered
and wearing a Fox Racing baseball cap backward, she took a deep breath and
decided to bite the bullet.

“Oh, hey, I didn’t tell you what happened to me
this morning,” she said casually, “I was leaving the store and this group of
punks stole my purse.”

“What?!  Are you OK?  Did they catch
them?”

She smiled.  “Yes, I’m fine.  Fortunately,
there was a guy who saw it happen in the parking lot. He chased the guys down
and got mine and the other two ladies’ purses back.  He’s a really nice
guy, a former Navy SEAL.”

“Cool!”

“He was cool…and he’s going to come over here in
about fifteen minutes to spend the day with us.”

Cam’s eyes bugged.  “Really?”

Jenna nodded, studying him.  “Yeah.  Is
that OK with you?”

Cam shrugged.  “I don’t know…is it like, a
date?”

“Not really…but, I had breakfast with him and I
gotta admit, I like him.”

“Is he old?  You said he was a former SEAL.”

“Well, he’s older than me but I don’t know his
exact age.”

“Guess.”

She thought about it a minute.  “I’d guess
him to be five or six years older.  I went to school with his younger
brothers.”

“Cool.”

She studied him a moment longer.  “That
doesn’t bother you?”

“Mom, Dad has had like, a million girlfriends
since y’all split up.  You haven’t even had very many dates.  You
haven’t even acted like you wanted to date anyone, so if you wanna see someone
now, that’s cool by me.”

She closed her eyes a moment and silently cursed
Wade for exposing their son to his endless stream of girlfriends.

“I love you, Cam,” she said softly.

“Yeah, yeah.  How many strands have you gone
through already?” he asked, and his quick jump in subjects let her know that he
really was okay with her possibly seeing someone.

While they were sorting through the massive
strands of Christmas lights, the doorbell rang.  Jenna met Cam’s gaze and
then together they walked to the door.  She took just a moment to calm her
racing pulse, then opened the door. Riley stood there in jeans and a black
long-sleeve Henley, no hat this time, a huge grin on his face.

“Hi, Riley, come in,” she greeted, stepping back
for him to come inside.  “This is my son, Cam.  Cam, this is Riley
Stanton.”

“Thanks for getting my Mom’s purse back,” Cam
said, shaking hands with Riley.

“No problem.  What have you got going on in
here?” he asked, seeing the strings of Christmas lights stretched out on the
floor.

“We’re checking to see which strands need to be
replaced,” Cam explained, “so far, four need to be trashed.”

“You put all of those on your tree?” Riley asked,
astonished.

“Mom likes a
lot
of lights.”

“I’ll say,” Riley chuckled.  “Are you sure
all these need to be replaced?  Maybe they just need a new fuse,” he said,
kneeling down and picking up the plug of one of those in the discard
pile.  He took his pocketknife out and opened the fuse chamber and pried
the two little fuses out.  Cam handed him a packet with new fuses and
Riley replaced them.  “Plug that in and see if it works.”

Cam did as Riley said and to Jenna’s amazement,
the lights came on.

“Cool!” Cam said.  “I never knew what those
things were for!”

“Gather up all the fuse packets you can find and we’ll
try replacing all of them,” he said to Cam. 

“For the record,” Jenna said when Cam scampered
off, “I’ve tried that before and never could get them to work.”

“It’s usually hit or miss with me, too…but gotta
try!”

“You have a lot of experience with Christmas
lights?”

“My mother is big into Christmas decorations and
my dad likes to go all out with the outside decorations.  My brothers and
I got really good at hanging lights.  I’m talking, my dad is like Chevy
Chase in the Christmas Vacation movie.”

“That would be so cool,” Cam said, bringing a
handful of fuse packets to Riley.  “We put yard lights out, but Mom won’t
let me get up on a ladder to hang lights on the house.”

“Even though you are the Man of the House, you’re
still only ten years old, bud,” she told him.

“I could do it for you,” Riley offered, “if you’d
like.”

“Mom!!!  Can we?  Please?” Cam asked,
excited.

“Oh, Cam, Riley didn’t come here to work.”

Riley’s green eyes met her gaze, winking. 
“Hanging Christmas lights isn’t work, babe.  It’s fun.”

Jenna had to suck in a sharp breath.  Wade
had never cared for Christmas decorations.  She’d always had to beg him to
participate.

“Would you like something to drink, Riley? 
Coke, water?”

“I’m good,” he said, handing Cam the next strand
to test, but his eyes were on Jenna.

“OK, I’ll just…I’ll be right back,” she said,
leaving.

Riley watched her go then looked over at Cam,
brows raised in question.

“My dad never got into Christmas,” Cam said
simply.

“Do you see your dad often?”

“Not during the circuit season.  I’m
supposed to go to him for Christmas but I told him I wanted to stay with Mom.”

Riley was aware of the change in the boy’s
tone.  He was more solemn when speaking about his father.  Bit of a
sore subject there, he noted.

“You don’t want to see your dad?”

“He’s always so busy with his girlfriend of the
moment or his charity stuff.  Whenever I’m there I’m usually stuck with
whatever nanny he’s hired at the time.  I’d rather just stay with Mom.”

Riley looked up when Jenna came back in. 
She fascinated him from the moment he saw her just before her purse had been
stolen.  He’d been walking up to the store and saw her as she walked
out.  She was really pretty in a girl-next-door sort of way.  She
wasn’t flashy or fake.  She wore make up but just enough to enhance, not
to detract from her face.  Her hair was brunette with hints of red that
shone in the sunlight and her eyes were a clear sky blue.  She wasn’t
tall, but she wasn’t short, either.  He’d guess her to be around five
six.  Her cheekbones drew his eye every time.  When she smiled, he
found himself aching to run a thumb over the apple of her cheeks.  He
couldn’t remember the last time a woman affected him so.  Probably never,
if he were honest with himself. 

The kid drew his interest, too.  He was
small for his age, built like his famous father.  Riley had actually met
Wade Blackwell once, a few years ago after he’d become famous.  His
brother, Trevor had gone to school with him, as Jenna had said, and they went
to a Motocross event at Texas Stadium.  Trev had taken him and Mike to
meet Wade.  Looking back, he found it odd that Jenna had been attracted to
that guy in the first place.  But then again, she’d been his high school
girlfriend and heaven knew that everyone’s ideals changed from high school to
adulthood.

“So, how many strings of lights do you think we
will need for the outside of the house?” Jenna asked, breaking his thoughts.

“Depends on what type of lights and where all you
want them,” Riley answered, handing Cam the last string to check.

“I want a lot of lights, Mom,” Cam said.