Rhonda Nelson - Jingle Spells

After replacing each picture frame exactly as he’d found it, he wandered over to her Christmas tree. And there, nestled in the branches, was an Evergreen Industries ornament. He’d forgotten that he’d given her one right after Thanksgiving ten years ago, when they’d reunited after the long weekend.

He’d chosen it with care out of the hundreds manufactured that year. The round ball was green, but through a trick of the light and a sprinkling of wizard magick, it seemed to glow from within, as if it held sunlight inside. That theme was echoed in a gold filigree border circling the sphere with repeating sun symbols.

Cole loved the green ornaments most of all, because they symbolized the Evergreen family name, which in turn harkened back to the trees that stayed green all winter. The sun represented light, both physical and intellectual. He thought of Taryn as the embodiment of light, and he’d told her so when he’d presented her with the ornament.

“Yes, I still have it.”

He turned to find her standing in the living room wearing a tan parka with the hood thrown back, a khaki messenger bag over her shoulder. A small black suitcase sat upright beside her.

“I wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d gotten rid of it,” he said. He didn’t want to talk about their breakup, but he wasn’t sure how to avoid talking about it.

“I considered giving the ornament away, but quite honestly, it’s the prettiest one I have, and I couldn’t part with it. I don’t know how your company manages to make something glow like that when there’s no solar chip involved. Is the entire covering solar? Is that how it works?”

“Can’t tell you. Company secret.”

She cocked her head. “Do other ornament companies try to steal those secrets? I wouldn’t expect that, because it’s so contrary to the spirit of Christmas, but I suppose anything’s possible.”

“I doubt they could steal that particular secret.” The incantation involved was known only to the Winter Clan, and no other wizard would be able to make it work right. In the wizard world, this incantation had the equivalent of a fail-safe component attached to it.

“But maybe they’d try, and that’s why you’re so intent on shoring up your security system.”

“Something like that. Ready?”

She nodded. “Just need to put out the cat.”

“The cat ?”

“Gotcha! There’s no cat, and even if there were, I couldn’t very well put out a cat on the eighteenth floor, now could I?”

“Guess not.” He’d forgotten how much she enjoyed teasing him. It was easy to do, because he didn’t expect anyone to say things that weren’t true.

“I’d love to have a cat, preferably a black one, but that wouldn’t be fair. I travel too much.”

“I didn’t know you liked cats.” Cole thought of the lodge on Mistletoe Mountain, which was chockablock with cats, especially black ones.

“In our life at MIT, it didn’t come up. Both of us lived in places that didn’t allow pets.”

“Guess so.” He was impressed with how she referred to that time so casually, as if the memories didn’t affect her at all. Maybe they didn’t. He might be the only one who had vivid color images of those days rolling through his brain. And right now that video was playing in a continuous loop.

He gestured to the tree. “What about the lights?”

“They’re on a timer. The apartment is as maintenance-free as I can make it. I’m gone so much.” She reached for the handle of her rolling bag.

He started toward her. “Let me get that.”

“Why? It’s my suitcase.” She released the handle, though, as if sensing he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“But you’re my guest.” He came up beside her and grasped the handle.

“Your guest?” Her eyebrows lifted. “I thought I was your independent contractor.”

“You would have been if you’d allowed me to pay you.” Instead of kissing her, which was what he wanted to do, he rolled the suitcase across the thick carpeting to the door. “But now that you’ve insisted on doing the job for free, that makes you my guest.”

She followed him to the door. “I think you’re bossier than you used to be, Cole.”

“No, I’m not. I’ve always been this bossy.” Or so he’d been told by his siblings.

“Maybe you’re right.” Once they were out the door, she locked up and dropped the keys in her messenger bag. “I might not have noticed it because we spent so much time in bed, and I kind of like a man to be bossy in bed.”

His sharp intake of breath was pure reflex. He couldn’t have stopped himself from doing it if someone had put a gun to his head.

“Whoops. Did I say that out loud?”

He turned to her, his heart racing. “Yes, ma’am, you did.” He couldn’t tell from her expression if she’d truly slipped up or if the comment had been deliberate, like her line about the cat. She seemed unapologetic as she met his gaze, so he suspected the latter.

She quickly confirmed his suspicions. “I’m trying to figure you out, Cole, and I’m having a very tough time doing it. Sometimes, when you look at me, it’s like the old days, as if you’re ready to gobble me up. But then you turn all logical and businesslike, and claim that the only thing you care about is shoring up the database. Which is the real you?”

He gave the only answer he could come up with. “Both.”

“What the heck does that mean?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Apparently. And you seem really stressed about it.”

“That’s because I am.” How he hated to admit that.

She took a deep breath. “Okay. Can you explain what the issues are? Because I didn’t get that explanation ten years ago, and I’d appreciate hearing it now, before we hop on that plane.”

He wondered how he’d ever expected to get involved with her on a business level and keep it from morphing into something more personal. Of course it would. They’d been together less than an hour and it already had.

Facing her, he realized he’d missed a blindingly obvious fact. “That’s why you hacked in, isn’t it? To get that explanation.”

“Yes, it is. So if you’ll tell me, then I’ll go fix your computer system. All will be well.”

If only it were that easy. “Do you trust me?”

“In some things, yes. In other things, no.”

“Fair enough. I deserve that. Let me put it this way. Do you trust me to want the best for you?”

Her answer was a long time coming, but at last she nodded. “Of course you want the best for me. You’re a nice guy. But the problem with that is you can’t always know what’s best for me. I’m a far better judge of that than you are.”

“I’m sure that’s true in general. But in this particular situation I’m confident I know what’s best. You and I aren’t meant to be together.” Even though he knew that with a white-hot certainty, saying it cut like a knife.

She didn’t seem to like hearing it, either. “Why not?”

“I can’t tell you that. You have to trust me to know what I’m talking about.”

“Okay, look, before we walk down the hallway and get on the elevator, I need to know at least this much. Are you involved in criminal activity?”

That made him smile.

“It’s not funny! I care about you, but I’m not willing to be an accomplice!”

“You care about me?” The words warmed him more than he could say.

“Of course I do.” Her voice softened. “I’ll never forget our time together. Which is why, now that I’m about to turn thirty, I wanted closure on that relationship. I hacked in to get your attention and an explanation. You probably wish I hadn’t.”

“I’m not sorry you hacked in.” That popped out before he’d known he was going to say it, but once he had, he knew it to be true. This episode promised to be a challenge, but having a chance to see her again and talk with her was worth any inconvenience. He never tired of looking into her hazel eyes and imagining the wheels turning in that amazing brain.