Page 102 of Holiday Love
Gina sniffles and nods, her tears slowing. “Well,” she says hesitantly, her eyes bouncing between Helen and me. “That’s all I came to say.” Her eyes drop to the floor. “I don’t want to take up any more of your time.” She stands and moves to the entryway while we follow her.
I open the door and stand aside awkwardly, not quite sure what to say. Gina’s already in the hallway when Helen brushes past me and steps outside.
“Hey, Gina?” she calls to Gina’s retreating back.
Slowly, Gina turns to face her.
“Do—do you maybe want to grab coffee sometime?” Helen asks hesitantly.
Gina’s eyes widen slightly, but after a tiny pause she nods her head. “Yeah. I’d like that. Thanks.”
Helen smiles, wide and bright. She gives a wave. “Okay. I’ll call you.”
Gina waves back and walks away with her shoulders a little straighter.
Once the door is closed, I grin at Helen. “Look at you,” I tease. “My social butterfly, making friends left and right.”
Her cheeks go pink. “It’s just coffee.”
“Mmm.” I sling an arm around her shoulders. “First coffee, then brunch, next thing I know you’re hosting dinner parties without me.”
She tilts her chin, pretending to think, lips twitching. “Guess you’ll just have to keep my attention, then.”
I grin, dropping my voice as I bend to kiss her. “Oh, I intend to.”
Chapter forty-six
Helen
I wake disoriented, unsettled by the silence. No crash of waves outside the window. Then the smell hits me. Cinnamon rolls and burnt coffee, my mother’s signature scent.Home. Of course. Teddy and I arrived at my parents’ place late last night, too tired to do more than drop our bags on the floor and fall into bed. Now morning light filters through the blinds, laying pale stripes across the quilt. Beside me, Teddy breathes softly, one arm draped around my waist like he’s afraid I might vanish if he lets go.
I turn my head and study him. His hair’s a snarled mess. His mouth is slightly open. There’s a faint crease on his cheek from the pillowcase.
He’s beautiful, and he’s all mine. At least, I hope he’ll still want to be mine after today, Christmas with my family.
Teddy doesn’t stir when I slip out from under his arm. I pull on my robe, the fluffy purple one I practically had to arm wrestle away from him, and head upstairs in search of Mom.
She’s in the kitchen, the romance novel I lent her lying face down on the table, its spine bent. She’s not reading though, too busy staring out the window and sipping coffee from a lopsided mug I made in second grade.
I grab my own cup and join her. “I never get tired of that view,” I say, gesturing toward the ocean far below us, with its shimmering waves of navy and green. “It was one of the things I missed most when I lived in New York. That and you and Dad, of course.”
She gives me a soft smile, then turns back to the window. “It really is breathtaking, isn’t it?”
I blow on the surface of my coffee, which is hot enough to steam. “I appreciate it even more now that Teddy and Jamie taught me how to surf. It’s funny how simple it looks from up here—waves in, waves out—but when you’re actually in it, there are all these microcurrents, little eddies that pull you in every direction.”
Mom laughs gently. “Kind of like life, right?”
That’s when I notice the way her shoulders slump, how pale her skin looks. When Teddy and I arrived late last night, I chalked it up to holiday exhaustion. Too much hustle and bustle. Now, a sick feeling stirs in my gut.
“Are you okay, Mom? Did something happen?”
She takes her time, sipping her coffee before setting the mug on the table with a soft clink. “My latest scans and tumor markers came back yesterday.”
Outside, a seagull dives into the surf, and my stomach drops right with it. “Were they bad?”
She sighs. “I wasn’t going to tell you until tomorrow. I didn’t want to ruin Christmas. But I also don’t want to lie to you, Helen.”
Her bloodshot eyes meet mine, and panic tightens around my throat. I force myself to stay still, to be her daughter, not her doctor.
