Valerie grinned. Two days. Two days and she’d almost sold out. Hope soared within her chest. “Really?”
Charlotte stopped walking and turned to look at her. “You sound surprised.”
“I am. I didn’t know if they’d sell at all. I mean, Ethan thought they would, but I didn’t.” She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, embarrassed that she’d brought up Ethan.
“Ethan’s a pretty good judge of things.” Charlotte eyed her. “That’s the second time you’ve blushed when his name comes up. What gives?”
Valerie splayed her hand over her chest. “Nothing! He’s married. I would never!” She couldn’t seem to get out a complete thought, but her sputtering got the message across.
“Who’s married and would never?” asked Lauren as she joined them, a shot glass of liquid chocolate in one hand and a giant strawberry in the other.
“She thinks Ethan’s married, and she would never look at him.” Charlotte filled her in. She took the strawberry from Lauren, dipped it in the cup, and then took a large bite. “This is so good.”
Valerie glanced around for a table she could hide under. She hadn’t meant to blurt out her fear that Ethan was married–but there it was for the world to judge.
Lauren handed off the glass to Charlotte, who threw back the liquid chocolate like a cowboy in a saloon. “Ethan’s not married,” Lauren yelled over the music.
“I was just going to tell her that,” Charlotte said between bites of the giant strawberry. “This is so good. You fill her in; I will find more of these.” She lifted the glass in a farewell salute before disappearing toward the open doors to the backyard.
Lauren brushed off her palms. “Let me see–how to explain. Nope. There’s too much. I’ll sum up. Ethanwasmarried to Pearl right out of high school. They had Collin. Pearl ran off with a hot tub salesman and left Ethan with Collin. She divorced him two months later.”
Valerie’s hand on her chest shifted into a fist. High school sweethearts broken up by a hot tub salesman. “That’s–.” Ethan was single! The news was like bells ringing on Christmas day–all happiness and joy.
“Not cool. Believe me; I was one of the angriest of the bunch.” She sighed. “But Ethan is a great dad, and Collin is an ah-maze-ing kid–so maybe it all worked out for the best.” She did a hostess glance around the room and then came back around to zero in on Valerie. “But I want to know why Charlotte askedyouabout Ethan.”
“Who’s asking about me?” asked Ethan behind Valerie.
Of course, he’d show up in the middle of them talking about him. That was the humor that seemed to follow Valerie through this life. Even as she worked to hold back her massive amount of embarrassment, a thrill rushed through her.
She zipped her lips at Lauren, who gave her a tiny nod in reply. “I was. Where’s my nephew?” Lauren demanded.
“Here!” Collin jumped out from behind his dad.
Valerie grinned down at him. His eyes brightened in recognition. “My tree friend!” He grabbed her hand. “Come on! You have to try Aunt Lauren’s tree. It’s all white lights, which I normally don’t like, but it looks good when you’re under there.”
Ethan put a hand on her arm and a hand on Collin’s shoulder. “Dude, she’s in a beautiful dress. I don’t think she wants to crawl under a Christmas tree.”
Heat started at the point where Ethan’s hand lay on her arm and then rushed through the rest of her body. “You like my dress?” she asked in total shock as she glanced down at the dark green ruffled skirt, long sleeves, and sweetheart neckline. The green did fun things with her eyes, and the bow at her middle accentuated her curves. She’d felt like a million bucks when she put it on, but having Ethan look her over like she was something to behold was another level of awesomeness.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Yeah. It’s great.”
Lauren coughed into her hand like a good sister trying to save her brother from stumbling all over himself in front of a pretty woman. Ethan let go of Valerie and Collin.
Valerie glanced down at the boy still holding her hand. “My mom used to say that people are more important than things.”
Collin wrinkled his nose. “What does that mean?”
She squeezed his hand. “It means I would love to check out this tree with you.”
He showed her his missing front teeth in a big grin that could light up her world. Tugging her arm, he dragged her over to the tree, then dropped onto his knees, flopped onto his back, and scooted under.
Valerie took a little more time, careful to ensure she wasn’t flashing the party-goers under her tree skirt. That’s all she needed was a picture of her underwear popping up on social media. If anyone here found out who her parents were, she’d be the focus of every camera all night long. Her year-long sojourn around the country had erased her from people’s minds. Half of them probably thought she’d died in the plane crash too.
Which reminded her that she hadn’t answered her Uncle about the Valentine’s Day fundraiser despite getting a new phone. Darn it all; she’d been happily oblivious to the invitation as long as she’d forgotten about it.
“See how there’s not as much color?” Collin pointed up through the branches.
“There are lots of colors,” she protested. “I see silver and gold, white and lots of greens.”
