A Mistletoe Affair

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Several long moments passed before he asked in a curious tone, “Does this have anything to do with Sandra and Janelle both getting married? Are you feeling left out?”

Vicki’s head reared back. Had he really just asked her that?

“You do realize how insulting that is, don’t you?”

He looked completely baffled. “Insulting?”

“Yes. Your question insinuates that I only want a serious relationship because my two best friends have recently found their soul mates. It’s insulting.”

He grimaced, bringing his hand up to massage the back of his neck. “Now that you put it that way...” When his eyes returned to hers, they were filled with contriteness. “I’m sorry if that offended you. I swear that wasn’t my intention.” He lifted his shoulder in a half shrug. “It’s just that the three of you have always done everything together. With Sandra getting married so soon after Janelle, it just seemed natural that you would be next.”

Vicki had to work hard not to release a deflated sigh. He was likely one of many who shared that same sentiment.

“It’s okay, Jordan. Both Janelle and Sandra would tell you that of the three of us, I’m the one who they both suspected would be the first to marry.” She gave him a wan smile. “Things don’t always turn out the way we expect.”

“Tell me about it,” he said with a gentle smile of his own. His gaze shifted to the little boy in her arms. “But sometimes those unexpected detours in life turn out to be the best thing to ever happen to you.”

The complete adoration in his eyes made her heart squeeze.

“A blessing in disguise,” Vicki said.

“Ball,” Mason said, pointing in the direction of the living room. “Ball, ball, ball.”

She laughed. “We were playing with the ball before the diaper change became mission number one.” She scooped up the towel she’d used to cushion Mason and tossed it on top of the overfilled clothes hamper before heading past Jordan on her way out of the bathroom. Her elbow brushed against his chest and a shudder went through her.

Pitiful!

“You are going to nap, right?” Vicki called over her shoulder. When he didn’t say anything, she turned and scowled. “Jordan,” she said in a warning tone.

“I will,” he said, following her out of the bathroom. “I just need to finish rerunning some polling data.”

“Seriously?” Vicki rolled her eyes. “You can’t keep going at this pace. This election is going to drive you crazy.”

“It already has.” He ran a hand down his face, the exhaustion in his eyes becoming more apparent with every second that passed. The man was dead on his feet.

“Maybe I’m missing something here, but if Oliver Windom can accept the election results, why can’t you? I don’t understand why you’re allowing this to consume you.”

“Because I messed up, and I can’t figure out what went wrong.” He shook his head. “I’ve been racking my brain, but nothing makes sense. It doesn’t matter how many angles I look at, I still don’t see how Darren pulled it off.” He pointed at the laptop. “According to my statistics, Oliver should have won.”

“Polling isn’t an exact science. No one really knows what happens when a person enters the ballot box except for that person.”

“I know there are margins of error, and I know that this race was close, but when I look at the districts that Oliver lost, it makes me even more convinced that there was some sort of tampering. Those were the ones that he should have won by the biggest margin.” He shook his head. “Maybe it’s the math nerd in me, but I just don’t see how I could have been so off with the data.”

His pained expression was full of anguish. “I wish I could let this go, Vicki. I’m not oblivious to the rift this has caused between my family and the Howertons, and to a certain extent your family, too. I truly hope that it hasn’t affected the relationship between you, Sandra and Janelle.”

“We’re Switzerland,” she said.

“Yeah, that’s what Sandra told me, but still, it can’t be easy.”

No, it wasn’t. There had been an underlying layer of tension around the Victorian since the end of the election. Yet as much as she wished Jordan would drop this, Vicki couldn’t help but be impressed by the way he’d held to his convictions, despite the enormous pressure he was obviously getting from all sides to let this go.

“I doubt anything is going to change with the numbers in the next couple of hours, so why don’t you put that stuff away and get some rest?”

“You’re right,” he said. He lifted the laptop from the bed and set it on the tufted ottoman in the sitting room area. He turned to her and held his hands up. “I promise that I’ll sleep this time.”

“Good,” she said with a firm nod. A blue-and-white pamphlet caught her eye as she passed the dresser on her way out of the room. “Do you work with Mass Mentors?” Vicki asked, referring to the mentorship program she’d been a supporter of for the past few years.

“Yeah,” he answered. “I’ve been helping out there.”

“It’s a great program. I’ve brought in several of the kids to intern at Petals. They go out on deliveries and a few are even starting to learn floral design.”

“I didn’t realize you were involved with the program,” he said. His voice softened with appreciation. “That’s wonderful, Vicki.”

Their gazes locked and held for several weighty moments. Jordan was the first to look away, picking up a pen from the lap desk on the bed and tossing it on the nightstand.

“Uh, we didn’t discuss any kind of payment for the babysitting. How much...” His words trailed off and his mouth dipped in a frown. Probably because of the daggers she was shooting at him right now with her stare. “What?” he asked.

“Are you deliberately trying to annoy me?” Vicki asked, making sure her displeasure came through her voice. “I volunteered to watch Mason out of friendship. Don’t you dare suggest paying me, Jordan.”

“Sorry.” He held his hands up in mock surrender once again. “It looks as if I’ve made a world championship sport out of offending you today.”