Page 36 of Hero for the Holidays

It was quintessentially Fia.

He’d always liked that about her. The way that she was just so girly. Tough too, though. But she wore dresses, and she was soft. And it wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate a horse girl, but Fia just wasn’t. And he liked that.

The door opened, and he came face-to-face with those green eyes.

“Is Lila with you?”

“Nope. I just got her set up to do school.”

“Oh. I didn’t even ask about that.”

“Right now she’s doing distance learning with the middle school that she was in before. Eventually, I’d love to have her at the schoolhouse here. But she wasn’t sure she was going to stay and wasn’t sure she was going to like it, plus...”

“You hadn’t told me.” Her tone was accusing, and that was fair enough.

“No. I hadn’t told you, and that needed to happen.”

“So what are you doing here?”

“I brought coffee. As a peace offering. I thought... Well, hell. I thought we might as well hash some stuff out.”

“Such as?”

“Can I come in?”

She let him pass and closed the door behind him. And he realized they had been alone together just a very few times since the old days. That last time had felt like this too. Like they were too close, like those years were too close to them. Like they were one step away from crying, kissing or screaming. All three of which had been their specialty back in the day.

“Look at us. Having a social call,” she said.

“Yes, indeed,” he replied. He held the coffee cup out.

“Is it poison?” she asked, squinting.

“No. I wouldn’t be that sloppy. I don’t have an alibi.”

“Good to know.” She took the coffee cup from his hand and took the lid off, as if she was checking the cream to coffee ratio. But he still remembered exactly how she liked it.

Damn.

Thinking that sent a bolt of lightning right through him.

He wondered if he remembered how she likedeverything.

No.

That was not going to happen. They had a kid to think about. And more baggage between them than the damnedTitaniccould hold.

At least theTitanichad sunk.

If their personal ship sank, it could take some of their bags down with it.

They weren’t going to have luck that good. He had a feeling.

“I could respect you if you were a murderer,” she said. “But I can’t respect an idiot.”

That was the Fia he remembered from back when. Funny. Sharp.

Beautiful.

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