Merry Ex-Mas. Sheila Roberts
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herself firmly. Living well was the best revenge and she was living quite well, thank you. She didn’t need to look like a cover model to prove it.
She pushed aside the thought of Babette, who would, of course, show up for the wedding with her hair perfectly highlighted and her skinny little bod draped in something flattering. Maybe Cass would pass on the chocolate and popcorn tonight.
Charley was the last to arrive. She came bearing wine and looked frazzled enough to consume the entire bottle single-handed.
“Okay, what’s wrong?” Cass asked once the women were settled in the living room with their drinks and goodies.
“Richard’s back.” Charley took one of Cass’s gingerbread boys and bit off his head.
Cass nearly dropped her wineglass. “What?”
Charley nodded. More of the gingerbread boy disappeared.
“Why is he back?” Cass asked. “What does he want?”
“Me,” Charley said.
“You? He left you for another woman! Tell him to take a hike off the mountain,” Samantha advised.
Cass couldn’t have said it better herself. “I’ll second that.”
“So he’s left Ariel?” Cecily asked.
“He says it was all a mistake.”
Men always said that when they got caught with their pants down. Cass frowned. “Not as big a mistake as taking him back would be.”
“You’re not going to, are you?” asked Samantha.
“Absolutely not,” Charley shook her head vigorously.
“Good for you,” Cass said. Charley had the kind of never-ending legs that made men drool and gorgeous long hair and plenty of personality. She didn’t have to settle for letting a loser back in her life.
“Did you tell him that?” Samantha asked.
“Of course I did.”
“Then why is he still here?” Samantha persisted.
Charley was on her second gingerbread boy now. “He says he’s not giving up.”
“Oh, brother,” Ella said, rolling her eyes.
“Why is it men only want you when you don’t want them?” Charley grumbled.
“Because they’re bums,” Cass said.
“Not all of them,” Samantha murmured.
“Blake is the exception to the rule,” Cass told her.
“There are other exceptions out there,” Cecily added.
“Like Luke Goodman?” her sister teased.
“Like Luke,” Cecily agreed, her voice neutral.
Ella sighed. “So why do we always like the bad boys?”
Charley sighed, too. “Because we’re masochists?”
“There’s something about bad boys,” Cecily said, then seeing her sister’s frown, got busy inspecting a lock of hair for split ends.
“Yeah, something bad,” her sister said firmly. “Men like Richard and Todd Black are nothing but heartbreak on two legs.”
“I wasn’t talking about Todd,” Cecily said, her cheeks pink.
“I was,” Samantha said.
Cecily grabbed a handful of popcorn. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m ready to watch the movie.”
With Samantha in bossy older sister mode that was understandable. Cass started the movie.
As the plot unfolded, chronicling the life of the fictional Jack Campbell, she couldn’t help thinking of her own choices, of Mason. What if they’d been given a glimpse of a better future, one where they stayed united and lived as best friends instead of combatants? What would her life look like now?
What did it matter? She and Mason had made their choices and no hip angel was going to drop into their lives to give them a second chance. The best glimpse she could get was one of her daughter’s wedding going smoothly, of herself managing to be civil. If she could pull that off, it would be a miracle.
* * *
What a wonderful movie. And what a wonderful way to start the holidays. Ella was teary-eyed by the end of it. She always cried at movies. She cried over movies with sad endings because she felt so bad for the poor people. A movie with a happy ending, especially a romantic movie, brought her to tears because, well, it was all so overwhelmingly hopeful. Somewhere out there in the real world a man could be coming to his senses, realizing that he didn’t need to go off in search of El Dorado, that there was gold right in his own backyard. Maybe like the Jack Campbell character, Charley’s husband had figured that out.
Jake had insisted he had, that Ella was all he needed.
What big fat lies! Thank God her mother had opened her eyes to the truth. Otherwise, she’d have wasted the best years of her life, keeping the home fires burning on a shoestring budget while he carried on with other women.
“Well.” Cass raised her glass. “Here’s to the Jack Campbells of the world, wherever they’re hiding.”
“I’ll drink to that. I found mine,” Samantha said.
“And here’s to Christmas,” Cecily toasted.
“And Christmas weddings,” Samantha added. “Do these guys know Dani’s engaged?”
“That’s wonderful! Why didn’t you tell us?” Ella asked Cass.
“You’ve been anticipating this for months. I’m surprised you haven’t been crowing from the rooftops,” Charley said.
“I was going to tell you all.” Cass shrugged. “I got distracted.”
When Ella and Jake had gotten engaged, she’d told everyone. How did a woman get distracted from sharing such big news? “That’s so exciting. Tell us now.”
“She’s getting married the weekend before Christmas at Olivia’s.”
“Oh, that’ll be gorgeous,” Cecily said. “Olivia always has the place decorated like something out of a magazine.”
Especially at Christmas. The outside of the lodge would be awash with white twinkle lights, and inside cedar swags and red bows would adorn the banisters. But the best decoration of all was the vintage sleigh, decked out with swags and ribbons, surrounded by decorative gift boxes. Ella could envision Dani and Mike in that sleigh, posing for pictures in their wedding day finery.
“But wow, it doesn’t give you much time,” she said. It had taken her nine months to plan her wedding.
“And I thought we had a challenge putting together our chocolate festival in six weeks,” Cecily joked.
“Why so quick?” asked Ella, and then blushed as one obvious possibility occurred.
“No, they don’t have a baby on the way,” Cass said. “Just a move to Spokane in January.”
“Are you going to be able to pull it off?” Ella asked after Cass had explained about Mike’s new job.
“Are you stressed about getting everything done?” put in Cecily. “We can help, you know.”
“Absolutely,” said Charley, and Ella nodded her agreement.
“That’s not the bug in the soup, is it?” Samantha looked at Cass.
“Then what?” Ella asked. “Are you worried that she’s too young?”
“She is young,” Cass admitted. “And I was figuring she and Mike would wait a year before getting married. But