The Christmas Catch

is what you’ve wanted. Your own line. Your own company, even. I…” He surveyed her once more, his cheeks sagging. “I thought that you’d be pleased.”
    “Pleased, John? When you didn’t even bother to tell us good-bye? Just sort of dropped out of the picture? And now you suddenly appear with this .” She eyed the envelope with disdain, causing him to flinch and step back.
    He wrinkled his brow, pleading. “Won’t you at least take a look? Glance over it on your flight?”
    She’d spent these last three days trying to forget him. The last thing she needed to do was carry reminders home. “Thanks, but I’ve got to make plans for my life in Chicago.”
    “But this is for your life,” he said, attempting once more to hand it over. “Christine, please…” He released the envelope, but she failed to grasp it, letting it fall to the floor. Tyler eyed them both uncertainly, then scooped it up.
    Christine set her chin and willed it not to tremble. Here was this gorgeous man with whom she thought she’d made a personal connection, and all he cared about was cold, hard business. Perhaps he’d never felt anything for her at all, or for Tyler, either.
    “Thanks for a swell New England vacation,” she said, turning away and taking Tyler’s hand. “It was nice knowing you.” She walked her child toward security, the pain in her chest searing. After Christmas night, she didn’t believe her heart could break again, but she’d been wrong.

    Tyler looked sadly over his shoulder as they slipped away, milling in with the line passing through the security scanner. John couldn’t stop the burn in his throat any more than he could the heat in his eyes. He’d thought she’d be happy to see him. Instead, she’d greeted him with chilling disdain. He’d spent untold hours on that plan, believing it was the best thing he could do for her. Wasn’t helping her build the life she wanted the right thing? Her world was in Chicago; his life was here. There were no two ways about it.
    John pursed his lips, recalling toboggan rides and warm nights by the fire… Little Tyler’s Whoohoo! when he was thrilled about something. Then, there was the memory of Christine in his arms as they danced through the night, and his inward desire to never let her go. But the hard fact was that he couldn’t hold on forever.

    “You did what ?” Carlos asked with disbelief when they met for coffee a few hours later. “Followed her all the way to the airport to deliver a business plan ?”
    “Come on, man,” John said, feeling gloomy. “I thought that you, of all people, would understand what a gesture that was.”
    “No. What kind of gesture was it?”
    “A very generous one! I put my heart and soul into that proposal!”
    “Harrumph.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “Let me guess. She wasn’t exactly thrilled to see you.”
    “No, in fact she wasn’t,” John said, still reeling from the shock. “Frankly, she was pretty ticked off.”
    Carlos slowly shook his head then met John’s eyes. “You know, for a very smart man, you can be a really big dummy sometimes.”
    “What are you driving at, Carlos. Just spill it.”
    “John, John… You meet this pretty single mom up here on vacation. You wine her and dine her and make her think something is possible…”
    “Hang on just one second! She did every bit as much wining and dining as I did!”
    “You’re only proving my point.”
    “Which is?”
    “You may not have wanted it to happen. By some Christmas miracle, maybe even the two of you didn’t see it coming. But, one way or another, you and Christine were drawn to each other, found yourselves falling—”
    “Precisely why I had to stop it!” John shot back. “Can’t you see? That was the best thing—the right thing—for us both!”
    Carlos slowly stroked his beard. “Was it?”
    Mason, who’d been sitting at John’s feet, shot him a dirty look.
    “You,” John admonished the dog, “stay out of it.”

Chapter Fourteen

    It was New Year’s Eve in the elegant bistro. Carlos poured Ellen a glass of champagne as they sat at a romantic table for two.
    “I’m having a hard time feeling festive with things ending so badly between John and Christine,” she said.
    Carlos took her hand. “I know, querida . But it’s their business, and their problem to work out.”
    “What are the odds?”
    “In love, everything’s uncertain, yes?” He lifted her hand giving the back of it a kiss.