“Shit.”He’d known this.Or should have, anyway.“You’re right.I’ll fix it.”
“How?”
“I don’t know yet but I’ll think of something.”
*
Christmas Eve nightwas generally a part of the holidays Riley liked.Not so this year.He sucked in a breath and knocked on Letty’s door.Her car was there so he hoped she was home.If not, he’d have to stick around until she was.This discussion had to happen in person.
She opened the door wearing her favorite comfy pajamas, flannel pants with Mickey and Minnie Mouse on them and a long-sleeved T-shirt.No makeup, her hair pinned up sloppily.Her startled expression gave way to a frown.“What are you doing here?”
“Can I come in?I need to talk to you.”
Without a word she stood aside, and he walked in.“Tomorrow is Christmas,” he said.
“I know.If you’ve come to apologize or try to make up—”
“I haven’t.First of all, I have nothing to apologize for.I fell in love with you.My problem, not yours.But I’m also not apologizing for that.”
“What do you want?”
He simply put it out there.Nothing but the truth would do.“I want you to come to Christmas dinner and pretend we haven’t broken up.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because you love my mom.”
She sighed.“Sit down and tell me what you’re talking about.”
He told her about talking to Mercy and admitting they’d broken up.How Mercy had pointed out that it would break his mom’s heart if Letty didn’t show up tomorrow.Not to mention, in Mercy’s and his opinion, probably set back her recovery.He reminded her that she was the only guest the doctor had approved, and that Lorraine was devastated that she’d miss baby Vivian’s first Christmas.
Compassion instantly softened her expression.“Oh, poor Lorraine.I know how excited she was about the baby’s first Christmas.”
“She was.First grandchild and all that.You’re the one she’s looking forward to being with now.”
“If I do this, how long do we have to pretend we’re still together?”
“A couple of days.I’ll wait for a few days after Christmas to tell her we broke up.She’ll still be upset but at least it won’t be Christmas.”
“What will you tell her is the reason we broke up?”
“The truth.Mostly.Not about the fling but that I wanted more than you were willing to give.”
“That’s not exactly true.It’s not more than I’mwillingto give.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s more than I’mableto give.”
“Tomato tomahto.What do you suggest I tell her, then?”
“I don’t know!Maybe just say we found out we don’t want the same things and decided to call it off before we got any more involved.”
“Fine.”He didn’t really care.Was he mad?Hell, yes.Was he being unreasonable?Yes to that too.She’d told him up front she didn’t want anything serious, and he’d gone ahead and fallen for her, dumbass that he was.“Should I pick you up?”
“No, I’ll bring my car.”
“So you can leave as soon as possible.”
“It’s going to be hard enough as it is.”
She had that right.“Sure.I’ll see you tomorrow.”
As he was leaving she said, “Riley?”He stopped and turned around.“I’m sorry it happened this way.”
“Are you?”With that he turned and went down the steps.
