Chapter One
“But I thought it was your turn to have the kids this Christmas.”
Mindy clutched the phone closer to her ear, fighting the sick, nervous feeling she’d been plagued with since early this morning when she’d received the call. “How could I say no?”
“Hmm, I don’t know. Maybe you should’ve said, ‘Hey jackass, we have a custody agreement and this year I get our boys for the holidays,’” Cameron McKenzie suggested, bitterness lacing his tone. He was terribly protective of her, so she guessed she couldn’t blame him.
No, more like she appreciated all three of her brothers—and her sister—immensely. They were a close family and she was lucky she had them. Unless they were getting nosy, which was also a problem that came with big families. “He’s getting married, Cam. That’s a special moment.”
She swallowed past the bile that rose in her throat and opened the oven, peeking in on the sugar cookies she was baking. Really, she didn’t care that Marty had supposedly found true love. Again. She just hated calling her ex’s impending marriage a special moment. Blech. They hadn’t even been divorced very long, though the reason they were in the first place was because he’d taken up with his now fiancé. “The boys were so happy to go to Hawaii for Christmas. No way could I ruin that for them.”
How long her ex-husband, Marty, had the plan in place to take his girlfriend Bobbi to Maui to get married, she didn’t know, but he didn’t even spring it on her until her oldest son Kyle called her bright and early this morning, sounding so excited it was a wonder he hadn’t exploded.
“He could care less about your feelings and that makes me want to beat him to a bloody pulp,” Cam muttered, making her smile. She’d always appreciated his violent streak in her defense. But she needed to change the subject quick before he went off and did something crazy, like really beat Marty to a bloody pulp.
That would make for most interesting wedding photos.
“How’s Chloe feeling?” She asked, knowing that the topic of her pregnant sister-in-law would soften Cam considerably.
“Fat and tired, and those are her words exactly.” The warmth in Cam’s tone was unmistakable. He was madly in love with his wife and Chloe loved him right back just as fiercely.
If Mindy hadn’t sworn off men forever, she’d be horrendously jealous.
“I saw her yesterday. She’s not fat; she’s radiant and beautiful.” The baby was due in two months and they’d decided to keep the sex a surprise, which was driving every member of the McKenzie family crazy, especially her mother. She was dying to buy anything either pink or blue and was stuck with the neutral colors of green and yellow.
Mindy had a feeling Cam and Chloe loved every minute of the torture they were inflicting upon the family.
And if anyone was feeling fat, it was Mindy. The kids were gone and she was still baking sugar cookies in Christmas shapes. Plenty of trees, stars, snowmen, and candy-cane shaped cookies ready for her to frost and eat.
All by herself. She planned on gorging herself on those cookies, too. Drown her newfound Christmas blues in sugar.
Where were the Elvis holiday tunes when she needed them?
“I know. She’s gorgeous. I tell her that every day but she’s getting uncomfortable. Work is hard on her, being on her feet all day.” Cam’s protective mode had switched to full-on loving husband and Mindy smiled. Had Marty ever sounded like that when he’d talked about her?
Not likely.