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She could tell her mother to get it herself, or just ignore the request, but Gracie walked back to the kitchen to get her mother a glass of wine instead. Anything else would have led to a temper tantrum. Having her daughter wait on her as she tossed out her statements of displeasure seemed to be what she thought mothers and daughters did.
Gracie worried about her mother’s unhappiness, and she had tried to help Margo by finding her work, thinking her mother just needed a purpose in life. But the woman claimed she didn’t have the temperament or stamina for a job. Her mother preferred to entertain herself with television while Gracie took care of the bills. Gracie knew her mother was capable of fending for herself; she just chose not to.
Once she had showered, Gracie made her way to the kitchen and prepared two bowls of stew to bring to the couch. She hated that they ate on the sofa watching TV, but her mother wouldn’t sit at the table and entertain a conversation with her daughter. Gracie knew she didn’t have to live this way, and she had tried to move out a few times, but each time she began to look for an apartment her mother had somehow manipulated her into staying.
Gracie handed her mother a bowl and said, for her own sake more than her mother’s, “You should see the sleigh, Mom. It looks great, and the kids are going to love it.”
“Frank’s hooking up with his neighbor,” Margo said over a mouthful of food.
Gracie sighed. Her mother would rather talk about a character on her show than real life.
Margo held out her wine glass in a signal for Gracie to refill it.
“Right,” Gracie said softly. And even though this was normal behavior and she no longer let it bother her, her heart sank tonight. Tracy had helped her find the confidence to not let people walk on her at work, and the desire to stop her mother from doing it was growing. One day soon she’d get the nerve to say no. Wine splashed in the glass as she filled it, and she set it on the side table beside Margo’s place on the couch.
The woman didn’t take her eyes off the screen and reached for the glass without a thank you. It made Gracie think of the occasional rude customer at Sugar Mountain who often had an excuse like a rough morning getting children to lessons. But her mother didn’t have a good reason, and it was in that moment she decided to take action.
She wasn’t sure where her surge of confidence had come from. Perhaps it was because Leo, a strong, self-assured man who was attractive enough he could have almost any woman, had chosen her. Even though her first reaction was to believe it wasn’t true, she had grown emotionally in her time working for Tracy, and she knew she was worthy. She was ready to go after what she wanted. Gracie had also known for a while that staying with her mother wasn’t emotionally healthy, and tonight it was finally time to do something about it.
“Mom.” She didn’t expect Margo to listen, but she needed to state her intentions before she convinced herself not to follow through. “I’m going to look for a place of my own.”
Her mother continued to watch the TV, but Gracie noticed her brow knit when she handed her empty bowl to her. Not sure if her mother had registered what she said, Gracie took the dish along with her own to the kitchen. Spoons rattled in the silverware section of the dishwasher where she put them, and she rinsed the bowls before setting them on a rack. As she walked to her bedroom to grab her things, she thought about how she was going to see Leo soon, and a smile covered her face. Tracy had lined up the reindeer with Gracie and Leo as the pair in the back, and she was glad that they’d be close enough to talk.
Her heart was light as she left the small home she lived in with her mother. She didn’t bother with a goodbye she knew Margo wouldn’t acknowledge because Gracie had more important things to think about and to look forward to. Like what to wear on her date with Leo.
CHAPTER7
Leo
Carla giggledas she flirted with Leo in the employee locker room where they were getting ready for the parade. “Whiskers look good on you,” the girl said as she leaned in closer than necessary, presumably to show off her cleavage as she drew on his face with a makeup pencil. Her charm did nothing for Leo, and he glanced at the door for the hundredth time, looking for Gracie.
“Hold still, Leo.” Carla giggled again. “You’re like a child.” Her pencil clattered when she set it on the bench where he was sitting, and she lifted up a lipstick tube. “I think you need the red cheeks, too,” Carla said.
“Sure.” Leo used the best good-natured tone he could muster. But when he heard the door to the locker room squeak open, he whipped his head toward it.
“Leo!” Carla cried out.
He didn’t listen, because Gracie had walked through the door, and when he noticed her face was makeup free, he grabbed Carla’s pencil from the bench. He smiled at the girl as he swiped the lipstick out of her hand, too. “Thanks.”
She scoffed in surprise as he walked over to Gracie with a big smile. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold, and her eyes shone with excitement as she looked up at him. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself.” He held up the lipstick and pencil. “Want me to do your makeup?”
She chuckled and tapped her cheek. “Not if it’s like yours. You have a lipstick streak.”
“Oh.” He laughed and moved closer to her. “Fix it for me?” Her scent filled his nose and he inhaled deeply to get more as the desire to kiss her soft lips nearly overwhelmed him.
“I—" She swallowed as if she was feeling the same desire. “Let me get something.”
Gracie set her backpack down on a nearby bench and rummaged through it to pull out a small package of wipes. “Sit,” she said to him. She leaned in to wipe the lipstick off his cheek. “How did this happen?”
Leo’s insides were trembling, because even though he couldn’t see Gracie’s cleavage under the turtleneck she was wearing, he was acutely aware it was there. “Bad makeup artist.”
Gracie grinned at him. “I doubt that.” She stepped back. “There. You look cute.”
“Cute?” He let out a low growl.
She gasped softly, and he saw heat simmering beneath her flushed face. This time he was sure it wasn’t from the cold. “Cute— Reindeer are cute.”
