6 Mountain Brothers for Christmas

“Leave that family alone,” I said. “I mean it, Margie.”

“I’m just saying.”

“Well, don’t.”

I glared at her openly, not bothering to hide my anger. Whatever Margie thought she knew about Sean’s past was none of her business. I refused to let her sit around and spread rumors about him, even though he’d been little more than a total jerk to me. Something inside me felt protective of him, as stupid as that sounded in my own head.

Margie raised her eyebrows and glanced at Janie. Janie just stared back at her, not saying a word. Finally, Margie got the hint and stood up to leave us alone. I was too irritated to eat so I just sat back in my chair and closed my eyes tightly.

“You okay?” Janie asked.

“I’m fine.” I sighed. My eyes opened. “She’s just an idiot.”

“Of course, she is,” Janie said. “But that’s never bothered you before.”

“I don’t want her saying things about Sean,” I said defensively. “That’s all.”

“Even though he fired you?”

Her words hit me hard, but I tried to ignore them. Nothing that I was feeling was making much sense right now. Grabbing a slice of pizza, I changed the subject to something less emotional. Talking about Sean was becoming too hard. Just thinking about him was enough to make my stomach fill with butterflies.

After a few minutes, Janie and I had yet another visitor.

I didn’t see him coming, but from the look on Janie’s face, I knew who it would be.

“Hey, Emily,” Tanner said, sitting in the chair Margie left behind. “You got a second?”

“No,” Janie said.

Tanner shot her a look.

“I’m sorry about the other night,” he said softly. “I was drunk, but that’s not an excuse. I know I shouldn’t be that pushy.”

“It’s fine,” I said with a wave of my hand. “Don’t worry about it.”

“No,” Janie said again. “You should worry about it.”

“I’m sorry again,” Tanner said to me. “Although, I’m not quite ready to give up on that date yet.”

“Well, it’s not going to happen,” I said, keeping my voice polite but firm.

Tanner stood up to leave, leaning down to put his lips close to my ear before he did.

“We’ll see about that,” he whispered.

I shook my head while he walked away. My eyes followed him across the restaurant to see Sean walking through the door, Tommy and Sarah on either side of him. My heart stopped when I saw that Sean’s eyes were already fixed on my face.

Our eyes met for a fraction of a second before he turned and walked to the other side of the restaurant. The kids moved to follow him, but then Tommy saw me and changed direction.

“Emily!” he said, making Sarah turn around with a start.

They both ran over to us and threw their tiny arms around my neck. I laughed and hugged them tightly.

“Hey, guys!” I said. “Are you having fun with your dad today?”

“Yeah,” they said together.

“Why aren’t you with us today?” Tommy asked with a frown. “Dad didn’t say.”