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Her dad picked up the FaceTime on her mom’s phone. “Hello, lassie!”
“Where’s Mom? Is everything all right?”
“I’m here!” Her mom edged into the picture. The two of them were in their pajamas—her mom’s was a Rudolph nightie—and Cara’s heart throbbed. “We can’t wait to see you!”
Shit. “About that...”
Her mom’s face fell. Absolutely crumpled. “You’re not coming home for Christmas?”
“I wanted to talk to you about it.”
“What kind of job doesn’t let you go home for Christmas!”
“It’s not the job. I’m done with the job. It’s actually...” Ugh, why was this so hard? She looked away from her parents and at the note from Matteo. If he could be brave, she could, too. “It’s actually a man. I actually... fell in love. Which I know sounds bananas—I’ve only been here a month. But somehow it happened. But then I screwed it up. I’d like to stay another day and try to make it right.”
She had stunned her mother into silence, which was a new one on her. Mom sat there with her mouth hanging open while a smile slowly blossomed on Dad’s face.
“But if you’re not okay with that, I completely understand. I can be on my plane as planned.”
That jolted her mother to life. “No! You stay there and work things out!”
“It’s just that... This thing that I screwed up—I want to fix it today. I want to fix it at Christmas.”
“You do that, then. You call us tomorrow! Introduce us to your man.”
Her man. She could only hope.
“Thanks, Mom. I love you guys both so much.”
“We love you too, lassie,” her dad said.
And from her mom: “Merry Christmas, my girl, my greatest thing.”
Christmas Eve day. The biggest day—and night—of the year for Matteo. He had the Cocoa Ball to attend, and this year that camewith fairy godfather duties as it related to Torkel’s proposal. Then he’d meet up with Kai to deliver the baskets.
Which was a good thing, he told himself as he crunched across the snow from the stable to the palace, because this year he needed the distraction. He needed to keep busy, because otherwise he feared he would lose his mind.
He had thought Cara would call, at least, or text. He wanted to tell himself that perhaps she hadn’t received the basket. Perhaps she had already been gone when he delivered it. But he’d seen the light under her door, and her winter hat had been hanging on the knob, as if she’d left it there to dry.
Then he told himself that perhaps she was gathering her thoughts and would text him from the airport, even if just to say goodbye.
She had not.
Now a whole day had gone by with no word from her. Which meant he had to accept her verdict, had to accept that he had tried and failed.
And he would, but not yet. He had Christmas to get through. He would accept things later, when he was back at his apartment watching Star Wars. That’s when he would break down.
And then he would pick himself up and get on with his life. He had done it before—his whole family had—and he could do it again.
The footmen were setting up the arrival area inside the main entrance. He eyed the decorations that had been added since he’d been here this morning. The ball’s theme this year was Silver Bells, and there were indeed silver bells hanging from nearly every surface, most of them trimmed with flowers and ribbons. “Itlooks wonderful,” he said to Frau Lehman as she approached in a simple maroon evening gown. “As do you, if I may say so.”
“Thank you, Mr. Benz. You’re looking rather smart yourself. I’m here to tell you that His Majesty would like to see you in the library.”
“Yes of course,” he said, but inwardly, he sighed. He didn’t want to talk about Morneau, or Cara’s report, or layoffs, or any of it. He wanted one day off from thinking about it all. But there was no use wanting what you couldn’t have—he had learned that the hard way these last few days.
He found the king dressed in his full ceremonial regalia. It was always impressive to see, even after all these years.
“Benz,” the king said, dispensing with any greeting, not even waiting for Matteo to sit down as he usually did. “I should like to appoint you Eldovia’s ambassador to the United Nations.”
