Page 24 of Sinful Santa
“You looked upset.” Matt’s brows furrowed in a deep scowl. “He touched you. I couldn’t stand there and let you be attacked.”
“I wasn’t being attacked,” she argued, even though from a distance she understood it could look that way. All the same, he shouldn’t have inserted himself like that. “I was handling it! You don’t have a right to butt in to my business!”
Instead of growing angrier, which Tahlia thought would have been preferable, a blankness swept over Matt, as if he’d pulled a mask over his face. Tahlia’s stomach turned sickeningly when she realized her mistake.
“My apologies, Miss Jameson,” he said stiffly. “Please excuse me. I won’t be able to join everyone for dinner. If you wouldn’t mind explaining to my family, I have some work to do.”
With that he strode to the doors that led toward the cabins. Tahlia closed her eyes and blew out a deep, but shaky breath.
Good work, Jameson. Good bloody work.
20
Dinner with the rest of the family was awkward, to say the least. Tahlia knew it was her fault, an evening ruined because of embarrassment and anger that should not have been directed at Matt. Jed and Ophelia did their best to help everyone move on but the kids were old enough to notice and know something had happened.
They did manage, however, not to ask about it until Tahlia put them to bed.
“Who was that man, Tahlia?” Maddy asked quietly. She and her brother were tucked into their twin beds. The green comforters were pulled up to their chins and their eyes wide as both of them waited for Tahlia’s reply.
Tahlia sighed heavily and sat on the edge of Maddy’s bed. “That was…Um…he and I…”
“Was he your boyfriend?” Maddy suggested patiently. Tahlia’s face went hot; how was an eight-year-old able to read the situation so well?
“Well, yes. He used to be. We broke up.”
“Why?” Kaiden asked timidly.
Tahlia wasnotgoing to bring up the cheating. Not to them. “He did a bad thing,” she explained. “I couldn’t stay with him.”
The twins looked at each other, passing some kind of message only twins could exchange. Tahlia could swear they could speak to each other through their minds. She eyed them warily until they returned their attention to her.
“Did he do what mommy did?”
Tahlia’s jaw went slack at Maddy’s piercing question. For a moment she was unable to think of anything to say, but she had to say something.
“Wh-what do you mean?”
“Daddy said the same thing when mommy left,” Kaiden explained, “with the man.”
So, they knew what their mother had done, at least abstractly. “Yes,” Tahlia murmured, deciding it was no use evading the obvious. “He did what your mom did.”
A heavy silence fell over the room and left Tahlia with a heavier sense of guilt. The kids never should have been subjected to what happened in the lobby and it was all Tahlia’s fault. If she’d only been more careful…”
“You deserve better.”
Kaiden’s sweet face looked into Tahlia’s with the honesty only a child has and her heart constricted while grateful, awed tears filled her eyes. But she didn’t let them fall.
“Thanks, baby,” she whispered and stood to lean over him and kiss his forehead. She repeated the gesture on Maddy before leaning back to look at both of them. As she did, an overwhelming, all-encompassing wave of emotion swept over and she couldn’t help what she said next. “I love you kids.”
“Love you, too,” Maddy replied with a wide yawn. Her eyes were already closed, the active day finally taking its toll, but she was smiling.
“Love you a lot, Tahlia,” Kaiden mumbled. When Tahlia, stunned, turned to him, he was already asleep. Maddy had drifted off as well.
Quietly, Tahlia turned off the lamp on the table between their beds and crept out of the room. Only when the door was safely shut did she allow herself to let go and leaned her forehead against the solid wood to let the tears fall. How could she leave them now?
“They’re right.”
Tahlia jumped and spun around to face Matt. How long had he been in the hall? She hadn’t seen him since he left the lodge but when she and the kids arrived at the cabin after dinner, there was a glow emanating from beneath his bedroom door. Tahlia assumed he’d thrown himself into work. Yet now here he was, standing in the shadows of a dim hallway with a cryptic message.
