Merry Christmas, Baby(21)
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

“Do you like working at Jenna’s?” he said.

She rolled out of bed, pulling on her underwear. “Sure. I really like Jenna and it’s a good way to meet people. Otherwise I’d just be sitting around twiddling my thumbs. As you’ll discover, there’s not a whole lot to do in Good Riddance.”

“How long have you lived here?”

“My family moved here when I was four. I don’t remember much at all about where we were before. It’s a great place in a lot of ways, but I can’t pursue my career here and that’s important to me. Everyone has a purpose in life and I think we’re all unfulfilled until we discover our purpose and then live it.”

It was uncanny how she’d just voiced what had been nagging at him for months now. “And you feel your purpose is acting?”

“No. I know my purpose is acting. I’ve known it from when I was a kid. And now it’s time for me to get out there and do what I was meant to do.”

He liked her surety and her determination. Far be it from him to ask her if she knew just how damn hard it was to earn a spot on a marquee. He had a feeling she did.

“What about you? You never did say last night. How did you get involved in stockbroking?” She smiled as she tugged on her socks. “It’s sort of hard to imagine a kid sitting around thinking they want to run Wall Street.”

“Not if you grew up in my house.” Success and the world of finance had been part of his life for as long as he could remember. There had seemed to be no viable alternatives. Lately he was thinking it was time for him to review his options. If he left the firm now, he left on a high note, and that was always the best time to go.

“Oh. That doesn’t sound like fun.”

He grinned. “The fun was always over at Nick’s house.”

Teddy brushed her hair, static electricity leaving long strands sticking up. She merely grinned at him in the mirror and pulled it back, holding it in place at the nape of her neck with a long barrette. She turned and walked over to the bed and patted his hand. “Don’t worry, I grew up in a sucky household, too. But the main thing is we make the best of the hand we’re dealt. I’ll be finished around one today. Want to meet up at Gus’s for lunch afterward?”

“Are you asking me for a date?”

“Well, yes, I am, Mr. Martin.”

“Then let’s back things up a little because I fully intended to ask you for a date. Want to meet me for lunch today around one downstairs?”

“I’d love to. I’ll be the one wearing the snowflake sweater.”

“I think I can manage to pick you out of the crowd.”

They were joking, but he realized as she closed the door behind her that he could easily pick her out of a crowd, because she was one of a kind.

“YOU’RE CERTAINLY GLOWING this morning,” Jenna said with a broad smile as Teddy slipped on the black “lab coat” with Spa embroidered in gold across the left breast. Jenna had gone ahead and brought in the accessories for the new place even though it wouldn’t be open now until spring.

Teddy did feel as if she was glowing…and floating on a cloud. “Uh-huh.”

“I’m thinking this has a lot to do with a certain New Yorker who was at dinner last night.”

“It might. It just might.” Jared was wonderful. Teddy began folding the clean hand towels in the basket behind the makeshift front counter.

“It’s about time,” Jenna said, waggling her delicately arched eyebrows.

“I guess it is, isn’t it?” She sighed. “It was just so quick.”

“That’s a shame,” Jenna murmured, deliberately misunderstanding her.

Teddy laughed and rolled her eyes. “Not quick that way. I mean, I just met him. I don’t really know him.”

Jenna waved her hand in dismissal. “That’s the way it happens sometimes. Look at me and Logan.”

“Uh, you guys went to high school together, Jenna.”

Another dismissing brush of her hand in the air pshawed Teddy’s logic. “Whatever. I think it’s when you least expect it, that it whacks you upside the head.”

Teddy paused, but she and Jenna had grown close in the last year. Jenna was a good listener and gave great advice. Teddy could talk to her about things she couldn’t talk to her older sister about sometimes. Now would be one of those times. “Jenna, the sex was great. It’s never been like that before.”

“Double good for you. Make hay while the sun shines. And just think, you’ll have someone already in place when you move to New York.”

“Well, if we’re pulling out clichés, I’m not counting those chickens before they hatch. Good Riddance is one thing, Manhattan is another. I think the competition’s a little stiffer there.” The very idea made her stomach clench.

Jenna quirked one of her eyebrows. “He’s been living in Manhattan and he hasn’t been seeing anyone so apparently that competition’s not as heavy-duty as you make it sound.”

Teddy wasn’t surprised Jenna knew all about Jared. For the most part, there were no secrets in Good Riddance. Except when the occasional secret surfaced it was a doozy, such as when everyone found out that Merrilee hadn’t been divorced for the past twenty-five years and was still married to the man they’d thought was her ex-husband. Or when they’d discovered Gus had been engaged to a psychopath who’d stalked her, so she’d changed her name and gone into hiding in Good Riddance. But other than that, everyone seemed inclined to share everyone else’s business without compunction, so it was no shock Jenna knew Jared was divorced and hadn’t been seeing anyone since his divorce.

“Yeah, well, there’s nothing like being in the right spot at the right time. And I believe we can safely assume I’m his post-divorce rebound.”

“You never know. It could be more.”

“Not on my part and I’m pretty sure Jared’s feet are solidly on the ground.” Teddy knew that sometimes people thought she was a dreamer because of her acting aspirations. Nothing was further from the truth. Her acting career was a goal. She’d very determinedly saved her money, always with that goal in mind. And most importantly, she’d guarded against getting involved too deeply with anyone, her mother being the proverbial cautionary tale.

No, Teddy would never trade her goals and dreams for a man, any man. She knew firsthand the way that turned out. And the easiest way to do that was to simply have fun but not get too involved. Jared was here for three days. Sex or no sex, emotional involvement wouldn’t be a problem. How attached could you get to a person in that time span?

JARED WAS ALREADY SITTING at a table in the restaurant, nursing a cup of coffee, when Nick and Gus came in and spotted him.

“So,” Nick said as he and Gus settled at the table. “How’d your morning go?”

Between his activities with Teddy and his subsequent walk through town, Jared couldn’t remember a better time. “It’s the best day I’ve had in recent memory. I think I’m in love.”

“Say what?” Nick said and Gus did a double-take.

“With Good Riddance. I spent the morning walking around checking out the businesses, meeting people. It’s the most laid-back place I’ve ever been. I really dig it here.”

Nick looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “You realize this is a busy time of year for the town. In fact it’s buzzing. There’s twice as many people as usual because of the Chrismoose festival.”

“Yeah, I get it. It’s great! No honking horns, no traffic jams, and you don’t have to look past skyscrapers to see the sun. There’s fresh snow and trees instead of dirty snow and concrete. The air smells amazing. And there’s not a fake Santa on every street corner.”

Nick looked at him and shook his head. “You’d go nuts within a month of living here. It’s a nice, make that great, place to visit, but…”

Given their earlier conversation, he hadn’t expected Nick to be so surprised.

Gus spoke up. “Nick’s right, Jared. I lived here for four years. It was a haven and the people are wonderful, but it’s not New York. I’m fairly certain you’d go stir-crazy.”

“Maybe. But then again, maybe not. I think it might take a long time, or it might simply never happen. I like it here.”

“Well, good, then we don’t have to worry that you won’t enjoy the next couple of days.”

“Heck, no. You’re going to have a hard time getting me on the plane to head back to New York.”

Gus laughed. “I’ll put Teddy in charge of making sure you make it back to New York. And speaking of the devil…”

Gus trailed off as Teddy arrived at the table. “Speaking of the devil? Me?” Teddy, her eyes sparkling and a smile curving her lips, settled into the empty chair next to Jared. Her arm brushed against his and just that brief touch coursed through him.

“We were just telling Jared we’re putting you in charge of getting him back to New York,” Gus said. “He’s decided Good Riddance is the place to be.”

Teddy laughed. “Yeah, right.” She looked from Gus to Nick, her laughter dying. “Wait…you’re serious?” She looked at Jared as if he’d manifested a third eye. “We have no—” she made a circle with her finger and thumb in case he was missing the point “—traffic lights.”