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They’d carried their wine goblets up with them and Celeste took a sip of her drink as she admired the view. The band due to perform was setting up a few feet away toward the stern as she and Reid stood portside. They couldn’t have asked for a more perfect evening for a dinner cruise. She couldn’t deny that she was enjoying herself. Despite the somewhat awkward start to the evening, she and Reid had managed to lapse into an easy state of camaraderie and friendly conversation. But she couldn’t get some of the things he’d just said about her out of her mind.
“You appear to have drifted off. Penny for your thoughts?” he asked, not looking away from the horizon.
Celeste gave a small shake of her head. “Just admiring the beautiful evening, I guess.”
It occurred to her that he still hadn’t answered her earlier question. This time, she’d take a different approach. “You were worried the other night about missing someone who was due to fly onto the island,” she ventured. “Were they upset that you weren’t there to greet them when they arrived?”
Perfectly innocent question. But maybe it would give her some kind of hint as to his relationship status. But Reid only shook his head. “No, they were perfectly understanding.”
That told her absolutely nothing about who he was supposed to meet that night. Maybe a more direct approach was necessary after all. Though heaven knew she should just drop the entire matter altogether. But she couldn’t seem to let it go.
Reid gave her a chance at an opening with his next question. “So, tell me. Is there no one at home upset that you aren’t there with them to celebrate the holidays?”
“Not really. What about you? Is anyone unhappy that you’re here, essentially working through the holidays?”
He smiled at her. “You first. I don’t consider ‘not really’ much of an answer.”
She blew out a long sigh. “Yes. My mother and sister are upset that I left the city for the holidays. But they’re upset for all the wrong reasons.” Celeste fought to find the exact right way to explain. She didn’t particularly want to get into the whole matter of her family and all their dysfunction. It would only spoil the evening.
“I don’t understand,” Reid prompted.
“Christmas wasn’t particularly a joyous occasion for me as a child. I grew up with a single mother who couldn’t always make ends meet. Most years, she would have to work over the holiday, she usually waitressed. And I’d end up having to babysit my younger sister, who was usually upset and cranky that Mommy was gone and she was stuck at home with just her sister. Not much celebrating happened.”
He’d turned to face her fully, listening intently to her every word.
“So, you see,” she continued. “Christmastime wasn’t exactly festive to begin with.”
“And then your Christmas wedding happened,” he supplied for her.
“Or didn’t happen, to be more accurate. There’s really nothing I find celebratory about it. Better to just take off for several days of fun and sun.”
He reached for her hand over the railing, held it gently in his. “I’m sorry, Celeste. You didn’t deserve that. Any of it.”
Oh, no, they were not going to discuss Jack. Not here, not now. “Don’t be!” she quickly countered before things headed in that direction. “I’d say I’m lucky. Nothing wrong with spending the holidays in paradise on a tropical island.”
He looked less than convinced but didn’t push. “Your turn,” she prompted.
Reid let go of her hand and took a sip of his wine. Was it wrong that she wanted to reach for him again?
“No. My parents split wasn’t terribly amicable. My mother’s active with a lot of charities that ramp up their activity during the holiday season. And my father is in Aspen currently to spend the holidays skiing with his newly found love, a woman he left his wife of thirty years for.”
“I see,” was all Celeste could manage in response. For all the people the world over who looked forward to Christmas every year, there had to be just as many who dreaded it. “I’m sorry too, Reid.”
