Lee McKenzie - The Christmas Secret

Claire, never without a spare, handed one to her.

“Thank you!” she said, pouring tea into her cup. “Mmm, I needed this. How much do I owe you?”

“My treat. You can get the next one.”

“Thanks!” Kristi flipped her organizer open and laid the pen in the crease. “So, what’s on today’s agenda?”

Claire studied the screen in front of her. “The Matheson place. Where are we at with that?”

“The last thing I had to do was install the shelves in the laundry room,” Sam said. “I finished on Friday and I gave all my receipts to Marlie this morning.”

“And those shelves were the perfect way to finish off that room.” Kristi brought up a photograph on her laptop. “Aren’t they great?”

Claire leaned in for a closer look. “Oh, yes! I like the plants. Nice touch, and so unexpected in a laundry room.”

“That’s the whole idea,” Kristi said. “After people have seen a dozen houses, they’ll remember the one with the awesome laundry room.”

“Clever. What’s in the baskets?”

“I used those to store the detergent and fabric softener.”

“You gals are a pair of geniuses.” Claire started typing notes to herself. “I’ll call the Mathesons this afternoon and set up an appointment for our first open house.”

For the next twenty minutes they worked diligently through Claire’s list of projects and wrapped up by agreeing on a work plan for AJ’s house. Sam sipped her coffee and jotted notes as necessary onto the lists in her clipboard.

“We have a busy week lined up,” Kristi said when they were finished. She stuffed her paint chips and portfolio into her bag and picked up her cup. “And now that we’ve taken care of business we can move on to the good stuff.”

Sam knew exactly what she meant. Their meetings adhered to a strict rule—business before chitchat. If she’d been thinking ahead, she could have planned her getaway before the conversation turned personal. Too late now. Kristi and Claire had already shifted their focus to her, and there’d be no escape until she answered their questions.

The waiter stopped at their table. Claire handed her empty plate to him, then put her elbows on the table and propped her chin on her hands. “I’ve been dying to hear what’s up with you and the man in black.”

And here we go, Sam thought. Right on cue.

“More hot water for your tea?” the waiter asked Kristi.

“Yes, thanks. That’d be great.”

He took the pot and disappeared.

Kristi tossed her hair over her shoulders and grinned. “So … you and AJ Harris. What’s that all about?”

Sam squirmed. Even being prepared for these questions didn’t make answering them any easier. “What do you mean?”

Claire folded her paper napkin into a neat square. “Nice try. There’s something going on between you and AJ Harris.”

Sam shook her head. “Not anymore.”

“But there was. Anyone can see that.”

Reluctantly, Sam nodded. “AJ and me … it didn’t last long, and was a long time ago. He worked for his father’s company then, I’m not sure what he does now.”

“He told me he’s a freelance writer,” Claire said. “That’s why he works at home.”

“And now he has a family,” Kristi said. “When do you think he got married?”

Sam set her coffee on the table. “I assume it was after we broke up.” She only wished she was as certain of that as she sounded.

“So, when were the two of you an item?”

A lifetime ago. She shrugged. “I guess about three and a half years ago.”

“What happened?”

“I wasn’t good enough for the son of the great James Harris.”

“According to …?”

“James Harris.”

“What a jerk,” Kristi said. “It didn’t take AJ long to find someone else.”

“What do you mean?”

“You saw his little boy yesterday.”

“Actually, I didn’t.” She had deliberately avoided looking at the child in the backyard.

“AJ said he was two,” Kristi said. “I’d say he has to be at least two and a half years old, which means … well, we all know what that means.”

Sam stared into the bottom of her empty coffee cup and didn’t respond. She had spent all night coming up with possible scenarios for when and how AJ had become a parent, and she hadn’t liked any of them.

“So you think the guy’s a player?” Claire asked. “His family’s loaded and men in that position never have trouble finding women, but I don’t know, he doesn’t seem like the type. Did the two of you ever talk about having kids?”

Sam shook her head. The conversation was heading down a road that was way too close to home for comfort. “We were never that serious. Like I said yesterday, I did some work for his family’s business and …”

“And …?” Claire asked.

“And …” Kristi was always prone to exaggeration. “She and AJ mixed a little pleasure with business.”

Sam’s face heated up.

“That’s obvious,” Claire said before Sam could respond. “But there’s more to it than that. The two of you must have had a connection back then because you sure as heck have one now.”

Sam thought so, too. Until James Harris told her otherwise.

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