The Christmas Triplets Read online

  Okay. Message received. The stubborn woman could collect her own empty shampoo bottles and juice boxes. As he headed back toward his front door, he found himself glad Jace hadn’t been here to witness that exchange. His brother would have laughed that maybe he’d been wrong about the Famous Will Trent Charm.

  Was Megan’s disdain evidence that Will was losing his touch? That would put a damper on his plans for making the most of bachelorhood. Then again, his last dozen dates had found him plenty appealing.

  People like me. Megan Rivers was just the inexplicable exception that proved the rule.

  Chapter Two

  By Friday night, Will’s body ached and the lingering smell of smoke permeated his hair and skin as he drove up to his house. Today had been a live burn training day. An abandoned house near the outskirts of Cupid’s Bow needed to be demolished to expand the road to two full lanes, and the town council had given permission for the fire department to burn the building down as an instructional exercise in fighting fires. Will had been one of the supervisors on-site, making sure the fire didn’t spread while giving orders to multiple crews throughout the afternoon.

  Even though he’d done a quick cleanup at the station house before sharing a pizza dinner with other firefighters and EMTs, he planned on taking a long shower once he got inside. He parked on his side of the driveway and unplugged his phone from the dashboard charger. He’d been thinking about Jace’s words last night and how to best approach talking to Amy. After his shower, he would give her a call and invite her to brunch tomorrow. If they were going to have a sensitive conversation about her life choices, he’d rather meet in person, so she couldn’t just hang up if she didn’t like what he had to say.

  He climbed out of the car, taking an appreciative breath of fresh air, and punched the electric lock on his key ring; a chirp came from the car as the alarm set. In a small town like Cupid’s Bow, plenty of people left their vehicles unlocked, but when your brother was the sheriff, you were hyperaware of crime. Jace liked to good-naturedly complain that it was impossible to live up to siblings who were a sheriff and firefighter. “With heroes for brothers, there’s no way for me to impress our parents unless I become a doctor—and we all know I don’t have the brains for medical school.”

  Frankly, Will thought his younger brother was smarter than he let on. Someday, Jace would find something he was passionate about, and then he was going to surprise a lot of people. In the meantime, he was the town’s best bartender and a volunteer fireman. He’d even shown up for an hour of the exercises today. Not long enough to be plagued with sore muscles afterward, Will thought, rubbing the small of his back. He thought wistfully of a woman he’d gone out with a few times who gave excellent massages. But he’d stopped seeing her when she began hinting she’d like a more serious relationship. Why lead her on? After being with the same girl for almost half his life, he was exploring his freedom.

  Almost as if the universe was applauding this decision, a text lit up his phone from Leanne Lanier, a gorgeous blonde waitress at the Smoky Pig.

  On my way in for dinner to close shift, thinking of you. Stop by and see me if you get hungry.

  He considered asking if she wanted to come over after work, but that would be past midnight. So he responded with Can’t wait to see you Tuesday.

  A date with the beautiful Leanne for the movies next week, tentative plans with longtime friend Anita Drake for dinner this weekend and the independence to make spontaneous decisions without seeking anyone else’s approval first. He unlocked his door, whistling. Yeah, freedom had its perks.

  * * *

  MEGAN SLUMPED AGAINST the kitchen counter, enjoying the first moment of true peace and quiet she’d had in over twenty-four hours. As she waited for the water to boil so she could fix her usual cup of soothing chamomile tea, she had a fleeting urge for something stronger to drink. Oh, please—you’re so exhausted that half a glass of wine would knock you into a coma. And no matter how drained she was, she couldn’t afford to go to sleep yet. Quite a few of Megan’s work hours were spent at home in her favorite yoga pants.

  When she first moved to Cupid’s Bow to work for her semiretired distant relative Dagmar Jansen, Megan hadn’t been sure how she’d balance her career with child care. The girls were in a preschool program at a local church that only kept them busy until two in the afternoon. Luckily, for reasons ranging from allergies to wanting lasting keepsakes, a number of Megan’s clients wanted silk arrangements and wedding bouquets. She worked on those and on her side business of seasonal gift baskets with supplies she kept in a spare bedroom.

  Tonight, she was behind schedule because all of her planned productivity yesterday evening had been shot to hell by Iris’s stomach bug. It had been a grueling night.

  During one of the lulls between Iris’s bouts of vomiting, Megan had been about to take a much-needed shower when she suddenly remembered the trash. Not wanting to go out in the cold afterward with wet hair—the last thing they needed was for her to get sick, too—she’d grabbed a pair of pajamas off the top of her clothes hamper, cinched a robe around herself and hauled ass to get the cans to the curb, hoping none of her neighbors were out and about this late.

  So, naturally, she’d been doomed to run into Cupid Bow’s Casanova.

  She shouldn’t care what Will Trent thought of her—it wasn’t as if she had such a high opinion of him. But it was galling to encounter a man who was usually seen with the prettiest women in town while she herself was a half-dressed mess who quite possibly smelled like puke. Maybe turning down his help and chasing him off hadn’t been her most courteous moment, but her nerves had been shot after hours of trying to calm Iris’s stomach and reduce her fever.

  Luckily, Iris seemed to be feeling better today—worn-out but fever free. Megan had watched her other daughters intently to see if anyone else showed symptoms of illness. So far, so good. Maybe her manic disinfecting measures had been effective.

  And now, thank God, all three girls were asleep. As tired as Megan was, she’d managed to feed and bathe them and survive the bedtime ordeal, which had included reading stories, saying prayers, checking for monsters, procuring glasses of water and chaperoning four separate potty trips—by the time her two sisters had gone, Lily swore she needed to try again. Finally, Megan’s time was her own.

  In a perfect world, she could curl up with a good book or watch something on her television that didn’t involve singing cartoon characters. But at least she enjoyed her work. As much as she needed to accomplish, maybe she should skip the chamomile and pick a caffeinated tea.

  She was pouring water over a bag of green tea when headlights approached on the street outside.

  But then they cut off while the car was still in motion, making her frown. A person cruising around with no lights on after dark was suspicious. Was a thief casing the neighborhood? She watched as the vehicle slowly rolled up to the curb in front of her neighbor’s house and a figure climbed out. The streetlight several houses down gave off enough illumination for Megan to see that the person creeping toward Will’s house was a curvy woman.

  Of course. A woman going to Will’s was no surprise—honestly, the man should just install a revolving door—but the cloak-and-dagger secrecy was bizarre. Was this woman involved with someone else and therefore didn’t want to risk being seen with Will? Even after her being divorced more than two years, the thought of infidelity made Megan grind her teeth.

  She turned away from the window, reminding herself that this was her tranquil time. Memories of being cheated on were not conducive to tranquillity. Besides, she had no interest in her neighbor’s sordid affairs.

  But just as she exited her kitchen, the pulsating blare of a car alarm cut through the night. She whirled around to see the woman straightening from Will Trent’s car, a package in her hand. The woman stood momentarily frozen, as if unsure how to proceed, but when th
e alarm continued to sound, she hustled toward her own car and drove away.

  Meanwhile, Will’s car continued its assault on every pair of ears in the neighborhood. Megan rubbed her temples, thinking that surely he would silence the alarm, but when she heard Daisy wail, “Mama?” she knew that her fleeting chance at serenity had passed.

  * * *

  AS SOON AS Will turned off the spray of hot water, he became aware of the discordant blast of a car alarm and pounding on his front door. Had he been the victim of attempted theft? He tied a bath sheet around his waist and strode toward the front of the house with his car keys in hand. When he opened the door, pointing the key ring at his car to stop the alarm, he was startled to find Megan Rivers on his porch.

  Her aloof manner sometimes gave him the impression she wouldn’t voluntarily talk to him even if her roof was on fire and he was standing ten feet away with a hose. But she didn’t look aloof now. Her face was contorted in fury, her posture battle-ready and her eyes narrowed. Yet, as soon as she got a good look at him, she recoiled, those pale blue eyes widening.

  “You... You’re not wearing any clothes!” Her gaze traveled down his damp abs to the top of his towel, then abruptly back to his face.

  “Well, no. I usually don’t while I’m in the shower. Do you do it differently?” he teased, momentarily forgetting that humor bounced off this woman’s invisible force field.

  “You were showering. So that’s why you let your car alarm go on so long?”

  “Yeah. I didn’t hear it over the water.” Her oddly suspicious tone registered. “Why would you think I was deliberately letting it go off?”

  Color stained her cheeks, rosy in the glow of the front porch light. “I, uh, thought perhaps you were choosing to ignore it because you were, um, otherwise occupied.”

  It took a moment for her meaning to sink in. “Why, Ms. Rivers. You have a dirty mind.”

  “I do not! But everyone in town— Never mind.” She shook her head, regaining her composure. “I apologize for storming over here. I worked hard to get my girls to sleep. Then when that stupid alarm startled them and wouldn’t stop... I’d better get back to them.” She held up the monitor in her hand, and he could hear distant sounds of a cartoon. “I left them with a movie on so that the alarm wouldn’t be so jarring in our quiet house, and now I have to redo an extensive tucking-in routine.”

  He winced. He’d heard his brother complain about how hard it was to get the twins to bed more than once. Triplets had to be even more difficult. “I am truly sorry the alarm woke them. I don’t know why it went off, but—”

  “I believe one of your lady friends was trying to surprise you with a gift and didn’t expect the car to be locked. Please ask her not to do it again—assuming you can figure out which one it was,” she said icily.

  Will’s eyebrows shot up. Where did she get off being so judgmental about his private life?

  “I’ll send out a group text,” he said, annoyed into uncharacteristic sarcasm. She gave him a look so withering he was half tempted to check beneath his towel and make sure nothing had permanently shriveled. Then she spun on her heel and descended the stairs. As she marched across her own lawn, it occurred to him that the exchange was the longest conversation they’d had since she moved in.

  “Nice chatting with you, neighbor,” he muttered under his breath. “Let’s do this again real soon.” Like, maybe, the nineteenth of never.

  Chapter Three

  Thank God for chocolate. As Megan taste-tested one of the brownie balls she’d made for the triplets’ day-care teachers, her mood lifted. But then it sank slightly under the weight of guilt as she stared out the kitchen window and recalled her shrewish behavior last night. She’d panicked at having her hard-won peace disturbed, but, after sleeping on it, she could admit that Will hadn’t technically done anything wrong. He wasn’t the one who’d set off the alarm.

  His biggest crime seemed to be inspiring insanity in women—first in the locals who threw themselves at him and...for a few minutes last night, in Megan. She’d been flummoxed by the sight of him shirtless and had overcorrected with hostility. If any of her clients heard her use that bitchy tone, the flower shop would be in serious trouble. The Trents were well respected in this town, and several of Will’s family members were paying customers. She should apologize—not that he’d exactly been Prince Charming with his snarky boast about group texts.

  But this was the season of goodwill. Perhaps she could take him a few holiday treats as a truce? Nothing so grandiose that he might mistake her for one of the women in town who swooned over sapphire eyes and sculpted biceps, just a token offering that said, “I’m not a complete harpy.”

  Sure. She was a big enough person to manage that.

  An hour later, after she and the girls had done some significant sampling of today’s holiday baking, she zipped them into their coats and herded them out to the van. She’d pulled aside a few treats for Will but faltered when she saw the strange car on his half of the driveway.

  In the place of his usual vehicle sat a beat-up compact with mismatched doors and a dented bumper. Did he have company? Whatever the case, she should deliver this chocolate before she changed her mind.

  She buckled the girls into their safety seats. “You three stay put a second. Mommy’s going to take these across the driveway to Mr. Trent.”

  “Mr. Trent wif the noisy car?” Daisy screwed up her face, her expression a clear indictment of their neighbor.

  “Yes. And then we’ll make our deliveries and visit the library. Okay?”

  The triplets chorused their agreement, and she strode toward Will’s porch. A woman much slighter than Will’s alarm-triggering visitor last night sat huddled on the top step. As she got closer, Megan saw that this visitor was crying.

  Megan hesitated. Now what? She didn’t want to embarrass the other woman by witnessing her vulnerable moment, but Megan had shed enough tears over a man that she felt a tug of sympathetic kinship.

  “Hello?”

  The woman raised her head, her freckled face much younger than Megan had been expecting. Even more disturbing than her youth was the baby sleeping in the car seat next to her. Was the girl even twenty? Surely, Will hadn’t...

  “Hi,” the teary female said. “I’m Amy.”

  “Megan.” She felt a surge of protectiveness toward the young mother. “I live next door.”

  “Do you know...” Hiccuping, she brushed a tear away from her cheek. “Do you know when Will is coming back?”

  “No. Sorry, I don’t.” Was he even now on a date somewhere while this girl sat here crying over him? “Are you going to be warm enough, waiting out here?”

  “The cold is the least of my problems,” she said bleakly. But then she mustered a smile as she glanced toward the sleeping infant. “And he has all his cozy blankets and his little hat.” It was a fuzzy blue knit cap, embroidered with a smiling koala bear. “Baby clothes are so adorable, don’t you think? Adorable, but expensive.” Fresh tears welled in her eyes.

  Was she here to ask Will for money? Did he bear financial responsibility for the baby? You shouldn’t rush to conclusions. Still, if it quacked like a womanizing duck and waddled like a womanizing duck...

  “Here.” Megan passed the girl the tissue paper bundle that had been tied with festive curling ribbon. “To eat while you’re waiting.”

  Amy frowned in confusion. “You came to give these to me? You don’t even know me.”

  “Think of me as your secret Santa,” Megan said with an attempt at holiday cheer. Amy might not have been the intended recipient, but Megan no longer felt as if her neighbor deserved the soul-brightening benefits of chocolate.

  Quite the contrary. If her grim suspicions were true, what he deserved was to be run out of town.

  * * *

  WILL DIDN’T RECOGNI
ZE the appalling junk heap of a car in his driveway, but as he pulled up to the house, he was pleasantly surprised to see Amy Reynolds sitting on the top porch step. Since she hadn’t responded to either of the voice mails he’d left, he’d worried that she didn’t want to talk. Maybe she’d just been too busy to call back. Three jobs and a baby couldn’t leave her with much downtime. Sliding the gearshift to Park, he considered enlisting his mother’s help. Gayle Trent knew everyone in Cupid’s Bow. If she could help Amy find a better paying position, the poor kid could cut back on some of her hours.

  As he walked toward the porch and got a closer look at Amy’s face, some of his relief to see her faded. Had she been crying?

  “Hey,” he called, keeping his tone light. “I guess you got my messages?”

  She nodded. He couldn’t see her expression as she turned away, gently rocking the car seat next to her, but he heard her sniffle before asking, “Is this a bad time?”

  “Not at all. In fact, you’re just in time for supper,” he improvised. This was earlier than he normally ate, but good food eased difficult situations. Plus, if they were in the middle of a meal, there was less risk of Amy bolting as soon as the conversation turned uncomfortable. He wasn’t much of a chef, as the crew at the station house frequently liked to remind him, but luckily his mom had sent him home with half a lasagna earlier in the week. If there was ever a cooking competition that involved reheating leftovers, Will would be a serious contender. “Have you eaten yet?”

  “Just some chocolate that friendly Megan from next door gave me.”

  Friendly? Megan? He had a memory of her scowling at him in the porch light last night.

  Amy’s stomach rumbled, and her cheeks reddened.

  “Come in and have dinner. You’ll be doing me a favor—I hate to eat alone.” When she still looked undecided, he added, “You and the little guy will be good company.”

  She stood, lifting the car seat, then reached awkwardly for a large duffel bag. It seemed closer in size to a suitcase than a standard-issue diaper bag, but what did he know about how much equipment a baby required? Now that his nieces were in first grade, he enjoyed taking them horseback riding or to see occasional movies, but during their infant years, he’d left the babysitting to his parents.