The Christmas He Loved Her (Bad Boys of Crystal Lake 2)

“No, I’m fine.”

“I can come out to the house, I don’t mind.”

“I’ve got this handled. It’s a Christmas tree.”

Silence filled the phone, and for a moment Raine felt a tingle of something. Guilt, maybe?

“Look, I just want to do this on my own. Okay? You don’t need to get all bent out of shape.”

A sigh sounded in her ear. “All right. But please try to make it out to the candlelight service on Friday night.”

Yeah, Raine thought. Like that’s going to happen. She hadn’t been inside a church since Jesse died and had no plans to start now.

“Look, I gotta run.”

“What are you doing Christmas Day?”

“I don’t know.”

“I could make a turkey, or we could do ham, or—”

Okay, she really needed to nip this in the bud.

“Mom, it’s not going to happen. You need to stop pushing so hard. Have dinner with your church friends or your missionary buddies or whoever the hell you’ve spent every single freaking Christmas with for the last ten years. You can’t just expect us to bond and be like Gilmore Girls or something. That’s not the way life works.” She paused and inspected the tree, now hoisted and secured on top of her car. “It’s not the way I work.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Raine. I’m here to stay.”

“I’ve heard that before.”

“But this time I mean it.”

For a moment, Raine didn’t say anythin

g. What was there to say? She’d heard that line before too.

“I have hope, because as much as you pretend not to care, you do. I know you do.”

Raine rolled her eyes and frowned.

“You just called me Mom, instead of Gloria.”

She had nothing to say to that, so she remained silent.

“I hope to see you Friday night, Raine, but if not…” Her mother’s voice wavered a bit, and dammit, hot tears suddenly sprang from the corner of Raine’s eyes. Angrily, she wiped them away and yanked on her car door.

“If not,” her mother continued, “I wish you a merry Christmas and I hope that you find some kind of peace.”

Raine sniffled. She blew out a long, hot breath. And then she pocketed her cell phone, carefully maneuvered her car out of its parking spot, and drove to the hardware store.

She made it in and out in under an hour, her arms laden with purchases—new decorations for the tree and cottage. She also managed to get to her car without dropping anything, but once there, she stared down at the locked door and swore. Crap. Her keys were in her front pocket, but there was no way she could reach them without dropping her bags and—

“Raine, what a surprise.”

Marnie and Steven stopped a few inches away, hand in hand, warm smiles on their faces.

“Oh my God, your timing is perfect. Can you help me out?”

Steven grabbed her bags so that she could retrieve her keys, and once she had everything loaded inside, she turned to her in-laws.