A Fool's Gold Christmas (Fool's Gold #9.5)

“I think I did, too. I missed so much. I’m such a fool.”


“You’re a good person. You just got a little sideways.”

“You’re being generous with me. I don’t deserve it.”

“I think I get to decide that. Not you.”

Evie waited for the anger to reemerge, but there was only lingering sadness and a growing sense of peace. Yes, May had made mistakes. She’d been thoughtless. But she’d also had stresses and responsibilities. Evie realized she could spend the rest of her life hating her mother. But to what end? She would only end up bitter and alone. May had acknowledged what she’d done wrong and tried to make amends. Wasn’t it better to forgive and take what was offered?

“Is that lasagna?”

Evie looked up and saw Clay standing by the table, his gaze on her plate. She sighed.

“Is Charlie working?”

“Uh-huh. Move over, kid.”

She did as he asked, and he slid in next to her.

“Hi, Mom,” he said as he reached for the bread with one hand and her fork with another. “You weren’t going to eat this, were you?”

“Apparently not.”

“Good. I’m starving. So what are you two talking about?”

Evie flagged the server, knowing she would have to order another entrée if she expected to eat. Then she smiled at her mother and said, “Girl stuff. Just girl stuff.”

* * *

“HE DID NOT,” Charlie said as she dumped chocolate chips into a bowl.

“I swear.” Evie made an X on her chest. She’d just told Charlie about Clay showing up at the restaurant and eating her dinner.

“I’m going to have a serious talk with him,” Charlie promised. “He can’t do that.”

“He misses you when you’re working,” Heidi said, stirring butter in a second bowl. Evie wasn’t sure, but thought she might be making peanut-butter cookies.

Annabelle handed two eggs to Heidi. “She’s right. I mean I would have attacked him if he’d tried to take food from me, but he got lonely. Like a little puppy.”

“A puppy who needs some training,” Charlie grumbled.

Evie grinned.

The four of them were in Shane and Annabelle’s new house, making Christmas cookies. Evie had gotten the call the previous evening for a Sunday afternoon bake-fest. Just the four “sisters,” Annabelle had said. While she had a million things she needed to be doing, she’d found herself saying she would be there.

Now cooling racks overflowed with cookies. By the time these last batches were done, the sugar cookies would be room temperature and ready for frosting.

“When I was a kid,” Heidi said, breaking the eggs over the bowl, “Christmas was a big deal. We had our extended, carnival family and planned out who would cook what. Someone took the turkey, someone else the potatoes and so on.”

“My holidays were quiet,” Annabelle said. “When my parents were together, they were fighting, and after they were divorced, they traveled.” She smiled. “Don’t feel bad. I liked when they were gone. I spent the holidays with my friends, and their parents felt sorry for me, so they went out of their way to make me feel welcome. It was like being a visiting princess.”

“I liked the holidays,” Charlie told them. “Especially when my mom was away performing. Then it was my dad and me.”

“So we’re all dysfunctional,” Evie said, keeping her tone light. “Except for Heidi.”

“Yes, but not to worry.” Charlie grinned. “No one likes her.”

“Cheap talk.” Heidi stirred the peanut butter into her cookie batter. “I know you all love me.”

As far as Evie could tell, no one else knew about Heidi’s pregnancy. She really was keeping it a secret until Christmas Eve when she told Rafe. Evie wasn’t sure why she’d been Heidi’s confidant, but she had to admit she liked knowing about the tiny life growing inside of her sister-in-law.

“What was Shane like when he was a kid?” Annabelle asked. “Any embarrassing stories you want to share? Something I can torture him with later?”

“He was in a band,” Evie told her. “When we moved to L.A. For about six months.”

“A band?” Annabelle leaned against the counter and sighed. “You’ve just given me the best gift ever. Did he sing?”

“I think he played bass and maybe sang backup.”

Charlie and Heidi both stared at her, their expressions expectant.

“And?” Charlie prodded.

Evie tried to remember what her brothers had done when they’d been younger. “Clay dressed up like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz one Halloween and Rafe crashed his best friend’s car the same day his friend got it as a gift.”

Heidi’s eyes widened in horror.

“It wasn’t a bad accident,” Evie added quickly. “Just a fender bender. Actually I think it was the fender that had to be replaced.”

“Thank goodness,” Heidi said. “If it was serious, I couldn’t tease him about it.”