Never Christmas Without You: Just for the Holidays / His Holiday Gift

“Oh, I was going to head into LA and check on the gallery pieces. They were supposed to be delivered today, so I’d like to be there to check things out. Make sure everything’s okay.”

Grandma Lucy suddenly held on to the counter, wobbled slightly. Alex was on her in a flash, scooting a stool underneath her. “You have to sit down. I’ll get Justin. Then call your doctor.”

“Oh stop it. I don’t need a doctor. I was hoping you could help me in the kitchen this morning.”

Alex wavered. “Oh, Grandma Lucy, you should probably be warned, I ruined more of your recipes than I should confess. Even with precise directions, I managed to screw up.”

Grandma Lucy laughed. “Yes, I know, Justin does tell me all the stories about you. The time you tried to make him a stew.”

Alex flushed. “It was not my fault. I swear the oven hates me.”

“Well, we’ll just fix that today.” Her smile was filled with warmth. Alex knew in that moment, there was no way that anyone couldn’t love this woman.

Alex opened her mouth to tell her that she had to get to the city. But Grandma Lucy just clucked around the kitchen handing her things, asking her to open jars, telling her that she was going to show her how to make bread from scratch.

Alex needed to get out of there. But do you really? Cassie’s got it. And she was here for Justin. He wanted his grandmother relaxing. And until he could take care of her himself, it was Alex to the rescue. Besides, she could help out for an hour.

But as Grandma Lucy told her stories about Justin growing up and asked her questions about herself, and her childhood and what her dreams were, Alex realized that there was no way she was going to LA today. And part of her didn’t even mind.

* * *

Justin woke up alone and cold. He was never cold. But when he reached for Alex in the morning, her side of the bed was cool, like she’d been out of bed for a while. Probably running from you.

He flopped back onto the pillows and groaned. He’d expected to be up all night, staring at the wall, kind of like she’d stared at the ceiling. But the moment the light was out, and he heard her deep sigh and exhale, he did the same and was out like a light. His brain offered up glimpses of memory and snippets of bliss of soft, warm skin pressed into his side within fifteen minutes.

Just like every other time they’d crashed together, Alex was like coming home. And even though he’d slept later than he would’ve liked, he felt so refreshed and revived. Eight thirty. Wow, when was the last time he’d slept in that late? He was showered and out the door within minutes, and could hear Alex in the kitchen, laughing with Grandma Lucy. Just the sound of the two of them giggling like schoolgirls made the warmth in his chest spread out like a ball of fire, simultaneously filling him with joy and calm. Like this was the way it should be. Easy there, boy. Don’t go getting all excited. This is just pretend.

The smell of baking bread made his stomach react, and he walked into the kitchen with a smile. “I see you two are happy.”

Grandma Lucy gave him a broad grin. “That’s because your girl here is regaling me with stories of your misadventures. Did you two really meet because you and your fraternity brothers were attempting to steal a mascot?”

He darted a glance to Alex. “You told her that story?”

Alex shrugged. “You know I don’t lie well.” Her expression said it all. Don’t go there. I’m trying to talk about anything but the one thing I can’t talk about.

He cursed his luck. “Yeah, Alex busted me, but then I asked her if she wanted to help. And she helped to cart it all the way back to our fraternity house.”

“Well, the establishment in the fine-arts department was a bit snooty. They certainly needed a shake-up. Besides, I liked the idea of being stealthly and undercover.”

Justin grabbed a slice of the fresh-baked bread and slapped a big pad of butter on it. When he took a bite, he all but moaned around it. And his grandmother looked on with delight.

“Cinnamon bread. Your favorite.”

He couldn’t help but talk around the mouthful. “Grandma, seriously, I don’t know how you do it, but this is amazing.”

His grandmother shook her head. “Wasn’t me. Alex made that.”

Justin coughed. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to swallow the piece now or spit it back out. Thing was, it tasted fine. It wasn’t rock hard; it was soft and warm and moist. Just how he liked it. And it tasted freaking delicious. He opted for swallow.

“Alex made this?”

Alex nodded. “I dunno how it happened, but with your grandmother standing right here, there was no way I wasn’t getting it right. Turns out when she says pinch it’s not an exact science. It’s more like an art. When she explained it like that, it was pretty easy.”

He nodded warily, not sure it was a good idea to take another bite, but his stomach rumbled, begging for more. It was really good.

His grandmother patted him on the back. “And why are you standing up like I didn’t teach you properly? Grab a plate, and coffee and juice. Eggs and pancakes will be out in a moment.”

“Another Alex creation?”

Grandma Lucy shook her head. “Now that I have Marta from the hotel coming on over to cook for everybody, Alex and I got to know each other.” Her smile intensified when she glanced at Alex. “Oh my, I forgot. Justin, I want you to go golfing with Martin today. I think you two can heal your tension. Then when you’re done with that, will you go to LA and check on Alex’s artwork for her? So she doesn’t have to do it herself? You know her nerves.”

Justin looked back and forth between his grandmother and his best friend. And his gaze locked on Alex’s. The crack of a spark was there, just like it had been last night, but today it was worse. He needed to get away from it.

“Okay, I’ll head out there. What time?”

His grandmother grinned. “They started an hour ago.”

Shit. That meant he was late. He grabbed another slice of bread and jogged upstairs to change. When he finally made it up to the golf course, his cousins and uncle were on the fourth hole.

Martin was typically snarky. “Look, the family slacker decided to wake up. It seems the rest of us who aren’t the favorite were up at the crack of dawn.”

“Keep talking, Martin. Grandma’s not here right now, so I will happily break your nose. For the second time.” Justin grinned. He’d been seven when he broke Martin’s nose the first time. Didn’t matter that his cousin was older or bigger than him.

But now Justin had the height and weight advantage. While Martin may have looked similar to him, working out for his cousin consisted of a round on the golf course. Justin wasn’t sure if his cousin had ever run anywhere in his life.

Martin studied him for a moment, unsure if he should take him seriously or not. Try me. There was no way Justin was going to poke at his cousin with his grandmother present, but since Grandma wasn’t here, he was done taking Martin’s insults.

Martin cocked his head and took a step back, conceding the would-have-been fight. “It’s okay, cousin. I mean, I know you probably didn’t get enough sleep, with that hot piece next to you.”

Justin tossed down the five iron he’d picked and got in Martin’s face all close and personal. “What did you say?”

Martin held his hands up. “Sorry. Can’t help it if I notice that your woman is hot. She’s got that sassy thing going for her. I mean honestly, I never thought you were into exotic girls, but man, am I glad you brought her around. Maybe she’s looking for an upgrade.”

If Justin hit him in the face, Grandma Lucy would notice and she’d be upset. As Justin assessed all the points that he could hit on his cousin without his grandmother noticing, his uncle stepped between them. “That’s enough. You two need to stop arguing and learn how to get along.” Uncle Lester wasn’t a bad guy; he was just complacent and let his son have too much freedom.

“Not another word about my girlfriend.” Justin punctuated the point with a glare.

Martin grinned. “That’s fine, I’m happy she’s in my imagination.”

As if Justin would let Martin anywhere near Alex. Luckily for Martin, he narrowly dodged a beat down thanks to an intervention. Justin pulled out his ringing phone and turned his back to his cousin. “Yeah?”

“Justin. Thank God you answered. I didn’t want to disturb Alex. You know how she gets—she’d be freaking out right now.”

“Cassie? Calm down. What’s the matter?”

“The pieces haven’t arrived. No, scratch that. Some of them have arrived. But not all of them. And I watched the guys load the truck myself. Alex is going to kill me. And just when we started to become friends. Oh my God.”

This was so bad. “Cassie, calm down. Were there any other scheduled deliveries for the truck?”

“I was on the phone with the truck delivery people this morning. They’re looking up to see where else the vehicle stopped. But the problem is, I’m here at the gallery and I’ve got maybe two-thirds of the pieces we promised. And I don’t know a way to fix this. Alex put everything that she had at the studio on that truck. I have no contingency if they can’t find the pieces.”

His gut curled in on itself, and the bile rose. Alex had worked so hard for this. She was finally getting the recognition she deserved. She was selling her pieces. This gallery showing was going to open up new opportunities for her. She needed this. “Cassie, calm down. I’m coming. We’ll figure this out together.”

“What about Alex? Will she know there’s a problem?”

“You and I are keeping any problems to ourselves for now. Besides, she asked me to look in on the gallery today anyway.”

He hung up with Cassie and turned on his cousin with a grin. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to go save the day for my girlfriend. You should be so lucky.”

Chapter 8

It had been a long time since Justin had been this angry. “What do you mean you don’t know what happened to the pieces?”

He had the owner of the delivery truck shifting back and forth on the balls of his feet as he tried to explain. “Just that. I don’t know what happened. There were two other stops, but things were supposed to be loaded on there, not taken off. I’m trying to figure it out.”

“You need to do more than try. Do you understand how long Alex Winters has been working for this gallery opening?” Instead of shouting, Justin’s voice went deadly soft. Cold. “You may already think yourself a success with your business. She is meant to do so much more than any of us could do. With her work, she brings joy and light to people’s lives. And you want to tell me that you don’t know where those pieces are? Let me tell you how this is going to go. You’re going to get on the phone, and then you’re going to personally go to those other locations and do a full search for those items. And you will have them here for me tomorrow.”

The guy darted a glance to Cassie, and Justin got in his face. “Don’t look at her. Look at me. I’m the one you have to deal with if you can’t perform the simple task of delivering what you were contracted to do.”

The guy nodded vigorously, the sweat beads rolling down his temples. Granted, it was also unseasonably warm for December in Los Angeles, but Justin wasn’t screwing around.

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