He placed his cell phone in his jacket pocket and stood up from his bed. Even though he felt like roadkill, he wasn’t going to host a pity party for himself. It was still Jacques and Hattie’s big day, and he intended to celebrate with them.
Landon could lick his wounds later. His broken heart wasn’t healing anytime soon.
Bailey woke up the next morning feeling as if she’d been run over by a semitruck. She couldn’t count the number of tears she’d cried last night. Never before had she actually cried herself to sleep. But then again, she’d never given up the man she loved for his own benefit.
The truth was, all she wanted these days was to be with Landon. Bailey Daniels had becomethatperson, the one she always railed against who became low-key obsessed with their partner. She was so into him that at times she couldn’t think straight. But now that she’d sent that awful text and cut him to the core, there would be no more Bailey and Landon.
The most magical thing that had ever happened to her was over.
And tonight she would have to put a happy face on for her family and pretend that all was right with the world. They had plans at her mom’s house to order in dinner and do one another’s nails. A spa night with food was always a mood lifter.
She knew that no one would talk about the awful anniversary coming up, but she really didn’t want to be alone.Tonight of all nights she could push it to the back of her mind, along with the horrible way she’d dumped Landon. Not doing the dirty deed in person had been the only upshot. Seeing his reaction face-to-face would have been soul sucking.
For the rest of the day she puttered around her house doing laundry and making a grocery list. She’d ended up with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s, watching the new season ofLove on the Run. Watching other folks make poor decisions all in the name of love was comforting.
She had a few presents under her tree with Landon’s name on them. What was she going to do with them? It made her want to cry all over again. Each gift had been picked out with love and care. And now most likely Landon would never even open them.
When it was time to head over to her mom’s, Bailey was more than ready to get out of her house. It wasn’t good for her to be alone, especially when she was mourning the loss of Landon. There was an ache in her chest that just wouldn’t subside.
As she was walking up the driveway, Bailey crossed paths with her grandfather, who was on his way out of the house. Guy was dressed in a sharp long black coat with a red tie peeking out. “Looking good there,” she said, letting out a whistle of approval.
He did a little spin for her. “I’m going to meet up with Peggy. We have a date, so don’t wait up for me,” Pops said with a wink. “I might be staying over at her place.”
Peggy Dillard was her grandfather’s girlfriend. The two were in the hot-and-heavy stage, and her grandfather wanted everyone to know.
“Okay, that’s definitely TMI,” she said, shaking her head. He grinned at her in response.
“Bailey, just go with the flow when you head into the house.”
“What does that mean?” she asked him. “We’re just having a low-key night.”
“All will be revealed,” he said, whistling a happy tune as he walked toward his truck.
Sometimes Pops could be incredibly random, but she loved him to bits.
When Bailey walked inside the house, it was unusually quiet. She didn’t hear any chatter, no music or anything else to indicate her family was here.
“Hey, where is everyone?” she called out. She heard muffled sounds emanating from the television room. Bailey placed her purse down on the kitchen table and began walking down the hall. When she walked into the room, her whole family was there, grinning and smiling at her.
“What is this?” Bailey asked, looking around. “Can someone tell me what’s going on?” Everyone was acting as if they were keeping a secret.
“Is this a surprise party?” she asked. “Because it’s not my birthday.”
“It’s just a little something we pulled together for you,” Gemma said.
“For all of us, actually,” Lynn added, smiling.
“What’s happening?” she asked. Everywhere she looked there was a photo of her dad. Her parents together. Her sisters and her at the zoo with her dad. Individual pictures of each of them with him. Birthdays. Holidays, Christmases. Pictures for every decade of his life. Some of these photos shehadn’t seen since she was a little girl. They had been tucked away as if they’d never happened. At least that was how Bailey had felt.
“I think we’ve all done a lot of soul-searching,” her mother told them. “Me most of all. I’ve been trying so hard to manage my feelings that I’ve been guilty of erasing your dad from our lives. And that has been such a terrible mistake that I regret.”
“We’re sorry if we made you feel that you weren’t being heard,” Regina added, “because we definitely listened to you.”
“You were right,” Gemma said. “Dad deserves to be celebrated.”
“So we figured that, even though you don’t like Christmas, we would honor him this Christmas,” Lynn said.
“Oh, but I do,” Bailey blurted out. “This feeling is really new to me. Who knows, I could change my mind next Christmas. But for now I’m sort of feeling the holiday spirit. I’m getting into it.”
