“What about her son?” his mom asked. “I thought you swore off single moms.”
“Calvin is nothing like Amber’s kid. He’s an awesome little dude.”
“I can totally see you as a cool dad,” Maggie said.
The statement should have freaked Alex out, but it didn’t. He wasn’t drowning in doubts about raising Calvin. In fact, he was pretty excited about it.
In the last week and a half, he’d scrambled around—and thrown a lot of cash around—to make the arrangements for his plan. Now he just prayed for a Christmas miracle.
CHAPTER THIRTY
At six am on Christmas Day, Julia woke to Calvin jumping on her bed, announcing Santa had come, and yelling at her to wake up. She considered herself lucky it wasn’t any earlier. They planned a quiet Christmas morning together and later would head over to her mom’s, where her sister’s family would join them for brunch and another round of present opening.
With her newfound fortune, Julia had gone a little overboard. Everything on Cal’s list—minus the new dad—was wrapped and under the tree. She also hoped that new-toy overload would make up for all that Cal had endured lately—being trapped in a fire, kidnapped by a madman, and abandoned by his next-door buddy.
She wanted to tell him about the move but was afraid so much change and drama all at once might be too overwhelming. Her plan was to find the perfect house—one with a jungle gym in the backyard, a quiet street where Cal could learn to ride a bike, and maybe even neighbors with kids—show it to him, and see how he felt about it before springing the news on him.
“Mom. Mom, look what Santa brought me.” Calvin went from present to present, opening it and showing Julia the contents.
“How come Sam didn’t get no presents?” Cal asked.
“How come Sam didn’t getanypresents?” Julia corrected.
“That’s what I said.”
Julia had given some thought to buying something for Sam, but in the end, decided it was one thing to go along with Cal pretending she existed, it was another to feed the delusion. “I’m sure her parents bought her presents.”
“Oh, yeah. Okay,” he said, quickly dropping the subject. He lugged over one box that was a set of easy-reader chapter books.
“I bet Santa brought these so you can practice reading.” He already read at a second-grade level, but she saw no sense in holding him back just because he was ahead of the curve.
“Mr. Alex likes to read with me. Maybe he’ll help.”
“We talked about this, honey. Mr. Alex is really busy with work. He won’t have time to read to you anymore.”
They’d already had this conversation, or some version of it, several times. In the day and a half since they’d returned from Florida, Calvin had wanted to take cookies to Alex, invite him to Christmas brunch, and have a sleepover. Each time she’d put him off, saying how busy Alex was. And each time, the disappointment in his eyes broke her heart.
She’d tell him later that they were going to stay with Grandma for a while. It would help if they didn’t have to walk past Alex’s condo every day. Out of sight, out of mind, worked well for kids. And, she hoped, just as well for thirty-year-old, lovestruck women—one in particular.
“What else ya got there?” she asked, trying to distract him. He showed her a dump truck that came with rocks to load in the back.
While Santa left the learning tools, clothes, and socks, Julia took credit for most of the “good” gifts—the toys and books. Santa did get the glory for the real, sugar-filled candy in the stocking, which Calvin was overly excited about. Julia snuck a piece and was munching on a mint chocolate Kit Kat when the doorbell rang.
“Who could that be?” she wondered out loud.
“Maybe Santa forgot something,” Calvin said, running to the door.
Julia tightened the belt on her robe and looked out the peephole, but no one was there. When she opened the door, a tiny black and white puppy yipped. On its collar was a bow as big as its head. The leash ran off to the side, held by someone she couldn’t see.
Calvin screamed and knelt to play with the puppy, who gleefully leaped into Cal’s lap and began licking his face.
Alex stepped into view, and her heart raced. It had only been a week, but damn, she’d missed him. Hopeful, green eyes locked onto hers, and her knees went weak. Oh, how she longed to melt into his arms. Still, she had to be strong.
“Alex—” she said.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I know it’s a huge imposition to give someone a puppy. You said you wanted one, but if you’re not ready, I’ll tell him it’s mine.” They spoke in hushed tones, but Cal was too absorbed in puppy drool to listen to them anyway.
“Is this your new puppy, Mr. Alex?” Calvin asked.
