Blame It on the Mistletoe Read Online Free PDF Page A

definitely didn’t want to stay here. Staying under this roof would be torture. “No, thanks, Ma. I’ll come by maybe Saturday. Or the Stop & Go, you said? Maybe I’ll swing in there.”
    Alex stood up—the house was starting to feel like it was closing in on him. He underestimated the power his past still held over him, and he was grateful she didn’t press the issue on why he was here.
    “Are you leaving so soon? I have some leftover pumpkin pie.”
    “No thanks, think I’ll head out. Just wanted to come by and say hey.” He leaned in and quickly put a kiss on her cheek before heading for the door.
    “Alex,” she said behind him—he could hear the tears just on the edge of her voice. He turned to look in her eyes. “I love you, baby. I’ve missed you so much.”
    He took a deep breath. “I’ve missed you too, Mom. We’ll see each other tomorrow or Saturday, okay?”
    She nodded her head and swiped a tear from her cheek. Alex stepped into the cold night and pulled his coat up around his face, suddenly noticing the chill in the air. Back in the car he cranked the heat and made his way to the trailer park’s entrance to find a cop car idling. He pulled up next to it and rolled down the window.
    “Did I already break the law in the last forty-five minutes?” He joked, but he had a sinking feeling he knew what Ryan was about to say.
    “No,” Ryan laughed. “How’s your mom tonight? From what I can tell she’s doing a lot better these days.”
    “Yeah, I was surprised. She said it’s been almost two years.”
    “That sounds about right. I don’t know what prompted it, but I just saw her one day at the Stop & Go and she looked five years younger. Good for her.”
    Alex nodded his head, still shocked at this unexpected turn of events. If he’d have known, would he have come home sooner? The truth was, probably not. He was happy for her, proud even, but her becoming sober when he was thirty didn’t erase his childhood or his memories.
    “Listen, I’ll let you get going, but I just had to get something off my chest after tonight.”
    Here it comes. Once upon a time he and Ryan had been thick as thieves, best friends, and partners in crime. After high school they’d grown apart, Alex going straight into the army and Ryan … shit, he really didn’t even know what Ryan had done. Alex was pretty sure Ryan went to college, but for the life of him he couldn’t recall where. Alex had been a shitty friend. Maybe they both were, or maybe they were only meant to be friends during that one time of their lives.
    “And that is?”
    Ryan chuckled and looked over his steering wheel for a second before meeting Alex’s eyes. “I’m gonna need you to stay away from Brooke.”
    Well, shit, he’d known it was coming but it still pissed him off. “Thanks for your subtlety. I’m sure it’s nothing personal.”
    Alex didn’t miss the way Ryan’s jaw noticeably hardened. How many times had he shared score stories with this guy? Ryan Abbott sure as hell was no saint. If anything, Ryan blew apart any theory that a kid from a nice family was a good boy. They’d been equals in the troublemaker department, and damn, they’d had fun doing it. Alex let out a sigh—on that note maybe he had to admit the guy’s concern was valid.
    “Listen, Alex, it
is
personal but not how you think.” Ryan continued. “Brooke’s had a rough couple of years. She’s … trying to start over.”
    “What the hell does that mean?”
    “It means I don’t want a man upsetting her. She’s in a good place right now, but she’s fragile.”
    “Fragile? Did somebody hurt her?”
    Something flashed over Ryan’s eyes, and Alex knew that his question had hit the mark. And instantly fury set in. He had never really been close to Brooke; she was always quiet and shy around him. But cute, in the nerdy little-sister kind of way. Toward the end, yeah sure he’d noticed that she was growing up, and he certainly remembered that awkward