ISAAC MACALLISTER'S life revolves around building his business and doing his best to give his daughter Sara a strong sense of family. Over the years he's had to learn how to keep their little family together on his own, but this Christmas Isaac is g...
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After that, everything happened in a blur. Jenna had barely enough time to get her credit card cancelled and report her car stolen to the police before the house was filled with Isaac's family.
She felt a moment's guilt for calling the police on her brother. But if Eli was in jail, at least he'd be safe from the people he owed money to.
The kitchen was chaos, with Isaac's sister Shannon and sister-in-law Carly taking over the space to finish the rest of dinner. Sara was busy in the living room showing her cousin Lindsay all the presents Santa had brought, and Isaac was catching his brother James up on everything that had happened around the lodge since their last visit.
Jenna was leery about being the centre of attention. She really didn't want to talk about what her brother had done, but she also wanted to avoid talking about her role in Isaac's life. It was anyone's guess how nosy the sisters would be, and she didn't know what Isaac might have told them about her.
As it turned out, she wasn't the main topic of conversation in the kitchen after all.
Shannon froze when she heard the doorbell ring, and then voices from the entryway. "What's he doing here?"
Jenna panicked, thinking for a second that her brother must have come back. But that didn't make sense. Isaac's sister didn't even know what Eli looked like, never mind being able to recognize his voice.
"Now, Shannon, be nice. Lucas is only in town for a short visit, and he is Sara's uncle." Carly wiped her hands on a dishtowel. "He isn't responsible for what his sister did."
"Maybe not. But he knew about the affair for months, and he never said a word to Isaac." Shannon crashed the pot of potatoes down heavily on the stove. "The man's a liar. I might have to be polite to him, but I don't have to believe a word he says."
An awkward silence filled the kitchen as a handsome dark-haired man with a slightly uncomfortable smile appeared in the doorway. "I just wanted to bring you my contribution to dinner. The white might want to go in the fridge, but the red is ready for drinking."
Jenna knew all about awkward family situations and wanted to smooth over the moment. She stuck out her hand, and introduced herself. "I'm Jenna."
Lucas grinned. "I figured you must be. I'm Lucas. Sara's uncle. I heard all about the angel costume you made for the school concert."
Shannon chose that moment to start loudly whipping cream, so with a roll of his eyes Lucas backed out of the kitchen. "Guess that's my cue to depart. Hopefully we can talk more later."
*
"So Sara, what was your favourite thing that Santa brought you?" Lucas was passing the mashed potatoes down the table, and Isaac almost missed the one-word answer.
"Jenna."
Everyone stopped talking.
Well, that was interesting. Isaac looked unsure where her comment was headed. "Do you mean you asked Santa for Jenna to stay through the holidays?"
"No, I asked Santa to make Jenna sleep in your bed."
Jenna choked on a sip of wine. Oh boy. The kid had a real knack for getting the attention of the group. You could hear a pin drop. "Why on earth would you ask Santa for that?" she asked.
Lucas snickered and it looked like Isaac was focused on breathing evenly and not exploding.
"I wanted you to stay and be the mom. Lucy's mom and dad sleep in the same bed. I thought if you wanted to sleep in Daddy's bed, maybe you might not leave after all."
Huh. She was one smart little cookie. Sure enough, Jenna was finding that she didn't mind sleeping in Isaac's bed one bit. And Sara was right; Jenna really didn't want to leave anytime soon.
*
Isaac was mortified. Oh man. He had thought they were doing so well, and that Sara wasn't missing her mom too much. To be fair, she wasn't missing her mom —she hardly remembered the woman. But she definitely was feeling the lack of a mom.
Isaac wasn't sure whether to laugh or be angry. Did he want to know more about what was behind that request, or should he just bring out the dessert? There was no way his family would let it drop. He was going to hear about this later.
"That's not really how it works, Short Stuff." Oh God, he was not ready for the talk about adult relationships yet. Distract and play it down. That's the way to handle this. He and Jenna both needed some time to get themselves together.
This was not the conversation he wanted to have, not when Jenna was leaving in a few days and they hadn't even been on a date, never mind talked about her staying after the holidays. He was sure she wasn't consciously auditioning for the mom role. Hell, they only ended up in bed together after she made it clear it wouldn't change anything.
"Let's talk about this some more later. It's time for dessert."
*
The rest of the dinner passed in a haze of teasing, conversation and way too much food.
The fire in the living room had mostly burned down by the time everything was cleaned up and the family were squared away in their accommodations. Lucas had one cabin, and James and Carly were in the other. Lindsay and Sara were tucked into one of the big lodge rooms upstairs, with Shannon just down the hall to keep an eye on them.
The only one still up was Jenna, and they needed to talk.
It wasn't fair to ask her to stay with them. He knew from experience that the only way a relationship could work was if someone stayed because they wanted to stay.
If she did want to stay, he really hoped they could give their relationship a shot. But he couldn't ask her to. It just wouldn't be fair.
However, he could ask her to spend one more night with him. He didn't like the idea of sleeping in his bed alone, with Jenna just down the hall.
His whole family thought they were sleeping together anyway. Might as well make the best of an awkward situation.
*****
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