A Green Valley Christmoose Disaster Page 4

  “Plus one,” Shaun said as he put the presents under a Christmas tree that was so thick with ornaments it rattled when he bumped it. “He’s Linda’s plus one.”

  Andrea took Turner’s presence in stride. “Tawny and Shaun have been cooking up a storm, I’m glad to have some extra mouths! I don’t think the leftovers will fit in the fridge as it is.”

  Who was Tawny?

  Then the moment that Linda had been half-dreading came, as a large, familiar form came from the back hall.

  Damien. He hadn’t changed much in the years they’d been divorced, except that his beard was much, much shorter and perhaps more silver. Had he shaved it? To Linda’s relief, she didn’t have any lingering hints of resentment or attraction to him lurking below her calm facade. All of her feelings for him were safely in the past where they belonged.

  He was also wearing the ugliest homemade sweater she’d ever seen, which was very unlike him indeed.

  “Linda,” he said courteously. “Turner?” They all shook hands very carefully indeed.

  “I’m going to have to get used to the question mark after my name,” Turner said wryly. “Merry Christmas, Damien.”

  If he felt awkward being at Linda’s side during their careful reunion, Turner didn’t give so much of a hint of it. “Have you folks been out to Mueller’s pond yet this winter? It’s frozen up early this year, and Lee’s done a great job with the warm-up shed.”

  This led to a merry conversation about local customs, which appeared to include ice skating and hot chocolate and decorating a tree in a park downtown. Damien and Turner talked about ice fishing and local politics. Shelley, Dean, and Aaron arrived halfway through, and unloaded more wrapped presents under the tree. The boys ran off to the kitchen to get in the way and Andrea went with them, rolling her eyes as she explained again that dinner would be very, very soon and to stop snacking.

  “You’ll have to come to the Festival tomorrow, Mom,” Shaun said. “Trevor is the narrator for the Christmas pageant.”

  “Aaron is Joseph,” Shelley added. “But it won’t be the caliber of show you’re used to,” she warned, as if Linda would be incapable of enjoying it.

  “A pageant sounds like fun,” Linda said warmly. “Is it Catholic?”

  “Multi-denominational,” Turner volunteered. “The churches each used to have their own pageants, but it was sort of a church versus church thing, all of them competing, until we started hosting one big one at the high school. Over the past few years we’ve made it a general winter festival and even added some Hanukkah and Diwali celebrations. There are some speeches about community and generosity and of course the kids are all there for Santa Claus at the end.”

  “Andrea says that you’ve taken on the role, since she can’t get Officer Stakes to return her calls,” Shaun said to Turner with a frown.

  “It’s a big suit to fill,” Turner said.

  “You do a fine job of it,” Linda assured him, and they exchanged ridiculous grins as Linda remembered him looking up at him from the snow after he’d fallen, the hat askew over his face. She looked up to find Damien watching her curiously.

  Did he have lingering feelings? Linda wondered if she’d made a mistake bringing Turner—or for coming at all. She certainly hadn’t meant to stir up weird history.

  “Dinner is being served!” Andrea called from the back.

  Linda went with Turner back to a dining room, crowded with mis-matched chairs. The boys, as expected, were delighted to have their own table, and were already fencing with the breadsticks.

  Tawny turned out to be a white-haired, no-nonsense woman with a sunny smile, probably a decade Linda’s senior. “You must be Linda!” she said cheerfully, and Linda was aware that everyone was watching the two of them very carefully. “Turner?”

  “Linda’s plus one,” Andrea and Shaun said in a chorus.

  “It’s lovely to meet you!” Linda said honestly, still not sure who this woman was. Andrea’s mother, perhaps? “This all looks absolutely amazing.”

  “It looks great, Tawny,” Turner said, pulling a chair out for Linda.

  “I haven’t made this much food in a long time,” Tawny said cheerfully. “I forgot how much fun it is. Shaun, your kitchen is a dream!”

  Shaun glanced at Linda like he felt guilty about it. “I had it remodeled this summer,” he said.

  Linda couldn’t figure out why he seemed so twitchy about it. “It warms a mother’s heart seeing her kids follow in her footsteps,” Linda said. “I know Shelley had no interest in cooking, but I’m glad that you did.”

  “Let’s eat!” Shelley suggested firmly.

  Tawny was seated across from them next to Damien. Andrea took the crowded seat at the head of the table “Because I’m the shortest!” and Shaun sat next to her. Dean took the far end of the table, Shelley next to him looking cool and unruffled.

  “You’ll have to catch me up on everything,” Linda said brightly as the conversation about food and seating gradually lulled and they heaped their plates. “Look at you two, all grown up and settling down. Small town life seems to suit you both.”

  “We’re planning to move back after Dean finishes school in Madison,” Shelley said.

  “I don’t know which of you surprises me the most,” Linda laughed. “Shaun I could halfway see liking it here, but you? And your father? That was quite a shock. I nearly fell out of my chair when I got your text that he’d moved here. I can’t imagine what would have coaxed him away from the city.”

  There was an unexpectedly uncomfortable silence that baffled Linda until she finally put all the little pieces together: how close Tawny was sitting to Damien, how Shelley and Shaun kept making little subtle secretive questions to each other with their eyebrows, how Damien was looking at Tawny.

  The rings on both of their fingers.

  CHAPTER 7

  Turner felt it the moment that Linda realized that Tawny was Damien’s wife...and everyone else at the table recognized in dismay that she didn’t already know that.

  He wasn’t sure if it was some supernatural sensitivity from his moose because she was his mate, or if he was just watching closely enough to see that clench of her jaw and the surprise in her eyes.

  Was she hurt? Shocked? Offended that Damien had moved on? Did she have lingering feelings for him? Was she insulted that no one had bothered to warn her that Damien was bringing a wife?

  For a brief moment, he wanted to stand up and bodily protect Linda from anything that resembled pain. But he couldn’t exactly offer to box his hosts and everyone at the table looked painfully uncertain. Shaun and Shelley were shooting I thought you told her looks back and forth, with tiny shrugs and mortified expressions. Tawny looked like she wasn’t sure what to do with her hands.

  He cleared his throat. “I’d like to propose a toast.”

  Every single look that he got was grateful. “Yes, please!” Andrea said desperately.

  Turner had a half-dozen speeches memorized for graduation and assemblies, and was good at variations on the fly. The topics covered responsibility, academic excellence, optimism, bright futures...not exactly subjects for a Christmas holiday toast.

  But he could improvise.

  “I’d like to thank you for inviting me to your table,” he said solemnly. “Some of you I’ve known since you were kids at my school and some of you”—he glanced at Linda, who was looking back at him with warm blue eyes, her mouth crooking into a slight smile—“I met just this morning when I fell on my Santa ass in snow.” That neatly deflected any embarrassment from Linda to his own comic clumsiness and there were a few chuckles.

  At the kids’ table, Aaron loudly whispered, “He said ass!” and the boys giggled, repeating the word until Andrea gave them a quelling look.

  Turner swept his gaze back across the table. “I appreciate your generosity and your friendship. To families that aren’t always blood.”

  Everyone toasted and the conversation slipped easily into food and how, exactly, Linda and
Turner had met. The good food and sparkling wine were equal social lubricants and Turner ate until he wondered if he’d still fit in the Santa suit. Shelley surely wouldn’t need to take it in, now.

  The mood of the feast was light-hearted; everyone there was invested in a pleasant meal and a friendly atmosphere. They seemed, to a person, to want to make up for catching Linda off-guard. Linda even got to the point of asking Tawny how she’d met Damien and by the end of the meal, they were laughing over his impulsive purchase of a car for her.

  “A car, can you imagine?” Tawny teased Damien easily, and he laughed and took it entirely in stride.

  Shelley was excited to share information about the new business she was starting, a fashion line of kids costumes. “We should have the licensing straightened out by Easter,” she said, smiling at Dean.

  Dean was excited for his engineering classes and didn’t have any regrets about selling his hardware store to Jamie and Devon, or closing his auto repair shop.

  Shaun’s bakery was doing very well. “We’ve actually got restaurants for a few counties in either direction with standing orders for some of our staples,” he said proudly. “And Gran’s Grits, of course. We’re thinking about remodeling for a larger kitchen to serve even further out.”

  “I’ve got Patricia back from maternity leave at the preschool so I’m not going quite so crazy,” Andrea reported. “Tawny, I may have to try taking piano lessons again, because it’s like magic when she sits down and plays them back to calm.”

  They politely asked about Turner’s plans for the new year. “Carter’s wife wants him to retire,” he said. “Going to have to find new blood for the fire crew.”

  The others proposed a few locals, but no one that Turner hadn’t already considered; most of the young folks who would be interested had plans to leave soon for college and opportunities that Green Valley didn’t offer.

  “What about you, Mom?” Shaun asked.

  Everyone’s plates were empty by now and they had devoured dessert. The boys had been released from their table and were making noisy wound-up laps of the house in anticipation of presents.

  Linda gave what Turner was recognizing as her company laugh—a gorgeous rich sound that was amused but completely under control. He still itched to make her burst out in a real laugh, but this sound was a close second.

  “I’m not here long. I’d planned to leave for Cancun on Monday,” she said lightly, not answering any long-term questions. “I had thought that Shelley and Dean might come with me, but apparently they have better plans for the holiday than cabana boys and cold drinks.”

  Turner felt like the rug had been swept under him, and half-expected to find himself on his ass in the snow like he’d just met Linda. Her blue eyes were on his and Turner suspected that he looked as pole-axed as he felt.

  She was leaving in a few days.

  As quickly as she’d waltzed into his life, she was going to waltz out. And what was he supposed to do? Beg her to stay? Ask her to marry him? He thought that maybe she liked him, but that was a far cry from ‘stay here and marry me after I’ve saved you from a maybe-hellhound and you’ve survived a weird Christmas dinner with your ex.’

  Shelley was reached over to pick up his plate and Turner remembered his manners. “Can I help clear up?” he asked her automatically, starting to stand.

  “No, no,” Shelley insisted, all but pushing him back down into his chair. “You’re our guest. Mom and I will clear up and start the dishwasher.” Linda made a little noise like she might protest, but Shelley handed her a stack of dishes and herded her directly out of the dining room.

  “Tawny, let’s take the kids out and get their presents ready,” Andrea suggested.

  Shaun made a joke about women’s work and was rapped smartly on the shoulder by his laughing wife before she left him with a kiss that inspired the boys to make gagging noises all the way out.

  Turner was still watching Linda go. She was his mate. And she was going to leave Green Valley.

  His resolve hardened. If she was leaving in a few days, then he only had a few days to clinch his suit.

  Turner realized that he was the object of all the attention in the room. Shaun, Dean, and Damien were all eyeing him thoughtfully.

  “I’m grateful for dinner,” he said mildly. “Beats the frozen dinner I’d been planning.”

  “You certainly got chummy with Linda quickly,” Dean observed cautiously.

  “Very friendly,” Shaun agreed.

  Damien didn’t say anything, but he and Turner eyed each other in turn.

  “Kind of like you were...mates, eh?” Dean’s fake Australian accent didn’t fool anyone at the table.

  “Like there was some kind of animal attraction,” Shaun suggested innocently.

  Turner downed the rest of his sparkling wine. “You lot are about as subtle as students trying to pretend they don’t know what alcohol is. ‘Gosh, Mister Turner, is that a beer? I didn’t know that!’ Are you all shifters?”

  The tension at the table eased.

  “Lion,” Damien offered with a growl.

  “Tiger,” Shaun said, and his sideways glance at Damien had a layer of complexity that Turner couldn’t name.

  “Bear,” Dean said with a nod.

  “Oh, my,” Turner said, in his best Dorothy falsetto. “Are we off to see the Wizard?”

  They all looked at him expectantly. “Moose,” he finally told them, and he dared them to judge him for it. He might be in the deer family, but he was a moose, and even a big predator would think twice about tangling with a bull. “And Linda is my mate.”

  There was an unmistakable note of challenge in his voice, and Turner was keenly aware that he was talking about their ex-wife, step-mother, and mother-in-law, respectively. He was also aware of the fact that saying mate out loud again made it feel incredibly real. Linda was his mate and it didn’t matter how she fit into anyone else’s past as long as she was a part of his future.

  “Congratulations,” Dean said firmly.

  Shaun echoed him, and Damien, after a thoughtful moment, added, “She deserves happiness.”

  Could Turner provide that happiness? Was there a note of skepticism in Damien’s voice? He decided there was not, that the lion shifter’s words were meant as a benediction.

  Not that he was waiting around for anyone’s approval. He and his moose were in perfect alignment. Linda was his, and he had just a day or two to convince her of that absolute truth.

  CHAPTER 8

  “You really seem to like Turner,” Shelley observed, in her best I-am-a-completely-impartial-lawyer voice. She opened the dishwasher and started loading it efficiently.

  “He’s lovely,” Linda said warmly, handing her the dishes. And he was. The entire evening, Turner had been an absolute gentleman, attentive and funny, without once seeming sycophantic. Linda would have liked him even if he hadn’t been so handsome and irresistibly sexy. The combination was absolutely devastating.

  “I mean, you really hit it off right at once, didn’t you?” Shelley prodded. “Was it kind of a lightning moment when you met? An...instant attraction?”

  Linda sighed. “Honey, why are you being so weird? Would you get to the point? Is Turner a shifter?”

  Shelley only hesitated a moment longer, then said frankly, “I’m going to guess so, because I bet that you’re his mate.”

  Linda blinked at her. “His what?”

  “His mate. A shifter has a soulmate, a perfect partner, that one person who completes them.” Shelley’s voice softened in that un-Shelley way that it did when she spoke about Dean or Aaron. “When I met Dean, I knew without a single doubt that this was the man I was going to be with forever, no matter what.”

  “Not a single doubt?” Linda said skeptically. “Just from meeting him?” It sounded ridiculous.

  Ridiculous and beautiful.

  “Okay, I had doubts,” Shelley said honestly. “But they were doubts about how I was going to suddenly be a mom and what I could pos
sibly do in Green Valley, not doubts about Dean. He’s the one, and my lion knew it. Everything else was just details to sort out.”

  “Is he a shifter, too?” Linda wanted to know.

  “Yes. A bear.”

  Her daughter was living with a bear. Well, that seemed fitting, somehow.

  Linda found herself feeling a little envious of Shelley. How amazing to know at once, with no reservations. She’d wondered what it would be like to be able to change into an animal since she learned it was possible, but she hadn’t particularly wanted to.

  But this was something else entirely, something...magical and just out of reach. To meet someone and know at once? Not to have to stumble along wondering what was attraction and loneliness? Not to have to settle for someone good enough, maybe right, maybe not…? Not to always wonder if there was a dealbreaker lurking in their future...

  “Tawny is Damien’s mate,” she realized.

  Shelley seemed to recognize that they were on dangerous ground. “Yes,” she said quietly. “That doesn’t mean that…”

  “It’s perfect,” Linda said honestly. “I don’t know why, but it’s terribly comforting to know that there was a reason Damien and I couldn’t make it work. Tawny is good for him and I’m glad that he’s found her. I even understand why he never told me about mates, if I wasn’t his.”

  “He didn’t believe in mates,” Shelley said frankly. “He used to say it was a ridiculous, romantic fairy tale meant for weak-willed people who needed fantasies to get them through life. I certainly thought it was fiction until it started happening to people I actually knew. But what about Turner?” Shelley could be relentless.

  Was she his mate? Linda was surprised by the complexity of the desire that she felt. It wasn’t just that she wanted to peel him out of that suit and satisfy urges that she’d spent entirely too long denying, and it wasn’t just that he was funny and flattering.

  She wanted to take off his vice principal and fire chief front and see who he was inside. She wanted to know his heart. She...wanted to give him her heart.