Mistletoe & Kisses Read online

  The boys talk amongst themselves while they pick out a movie, to give her the space she needs. Clearly, Taylor has been made aware of her situation and is trying to be understanding. She feels a little guilty that their fun seems to be hampered by her, but it feels nice to be around people, it’s been so long since she’s really had anyone around. Unable to enjoy herself, she finishes eating and gets up to put her plate away. Taylor stops her though, taking it from her without a word, and pointing for her to sit back down. The thought of someone taking care of her, if even for a moment, gives her a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

  When Taylor returns, he and Daniel pick a movie and get it started. The room is quiet, aside from the small commentary about the movie and the boy’s laughter. Isabella isn’t really paying attention to the movie, but having people around her settles her soul.

  Before long, she feels herself being picked up and moved. Her eyes flutter open and she sees that she’s in Taylor’s arms, and he’s carrying her down the hall. Instead of questioning it, she just allows him to carry her to her room. When he lays her down on the bed, she rolls over and drifts back to sleep, completely content for the first time in years.

  Chapter Seven

  SOMEHOW, ISABELLA SLEEPS late into the morning, despite the long nap yesterday. When her eyes open, she is surprised by how bright it is. The details of last night are a bit blurry, but she doesn’t remember drinking anything more than the one glass of wine. Confused, she makes herself presentable and heads to the kitchen.

  As she walks through the house, she notices the eerie silence. She turns the corner into the living room, and is surprised to see the television off and no sign of either Daniel or Taylor. There are still no signs of them in the kitchen, either. Deciding that it might be nice to have some peace today, she grabs a mug and goes to pour herself a cup of coffee. That’s when she sees it, a paper folded over like a tent card. She picks it up, a bit nervous what it might say.

  Bella,

  Taylor and I figured you could use a little quiet time, so we went fishing. We’ll pick up dinner, so just relax today. Bagels are in the fridge for breakfast, and there is stuff to make sandwiches for lunch. Enjoy. We’ll be back later.

  ~Daniel

  She likes the idea of having the house to herself for the day. It’ll give her the chance to unpack her car and settle in. Maybe she’ll even go through some of her things in the garage, since Daniel put it all in there when he took over the house, and she’s sure he’d like to be able to work in there, or even pull his car in at some point. Isabella doesn’t plan on staying here any longer than she has to, but she knows it’ll be a little while before she can figure anything out. After all, Eric still has to finish the paperwork. The only thing she’s thankful for is that she didn’t sign a prenup.

  After having her bagel and coffee, she changes and grabs the rest of her things out of the car. It only takes a few trips. How depressing that all she has to show for her life fits easily into her BMW. It doesn’t take long to organize it in her room and make it feel like hers, after all, there isn’t much to put away.

  Pleased with how much she’s accomplished today, she heads to the kitchen to make lunch for herself. Just as she is ready to sit and eat, the doorbell rings. Without giving it much thought, she heads to the door to see who it is.

  When she opens the door and sees who is there, she regrets not looking through the peephole first. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “What the hell am I doing here? Me? Who the hell do you think you are, leaving and running away without a word?” Eric fumes, his face and ears beet red.

  “I don’t need permission to divorce you!” She’s never before raised her voice at him and it feels good to get it off her chest. “You’re never home. I hadn’t seen you in three days, what did you expect?”

  “I have a job. That job gives you the life you love. You need to stop being a baby!” Eric stops a moment, runs his hands through his hair, and takes a deep breath. “You’ve proven your point. I get it. I’ll come home more. I’ve been busy on these two big cases and sleeping in the office apartment, but I’ll stop. Now, go grab your things so we can go home.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. You think I’m coming home? You think it’s as easy as saying ‘I get it?’ You think I don’t know you’ve been staying with someone else? Do you think I’m stupid?”

  Her words confuse him. It’s as if he really thinks she is stupid and had no idea. “Um, Izzy—he looks around and sees that there are people outside in the surrounding yard—“can we go inside and talk, please. I don’t think this needs to happen out here for everyone to see.”

  “Um . . . I don’t really want you inside.” Isabella is trying to stand her ground, but suddenly she’s feeling small in his presence. He’s always made her feel unimportant, except when he needed her for appearances.

  “This house doesn’t even belong to you, it belongs to us, since we are married. I have a right to come inside.”

  Closing her eyes and digging deep, she’s starting to see that he isn’t going to let this happen easily. “Eric, this house doesn’t belong to you at all. In fact, it clearly said so in my father’s will. You would know if you’d have been a part of my life at all these past few years.”

  “What would you know about wills? I’m sure you’re confused. Besides, we live in a community property state.”

  “Hey. You okay, Bella?” Daniel’s voice from behind Eric calms Isabella immediately. She knows he’ll take care of this.

  Eric turns to Daniel, and is shocked to see he is not alone. “Hi, Daniel. I’m here to take my wife home.”

  Daniel lets out a laugh, surprising us all a little bit. “Well, I guess you don’t understand legal documents. That’s pretty funny seeing as you’re a lawyer and all. Those papers that were delivered, they’re divorce papers. That means she’s not going home with you. This is her home.”

  “I’m not leaving without her. I want to go inside and talk to her. There has been a big misunderstanding.” Eric has his lawyer voice turned on and he thinks he’ll be able to talk his way into the house.

  “I already told you. I don’t want you inside, Eric.” The sternness in her voice seems to shock everyone, including her.

  “And I told you, I own half of this house too, so I’m coming in.” Eric’s patience is getting thin and he’s having trouble acting like a cool, calm lawyer.

  Daniel laughs again, making Eric angry.

  “What?” Eric snaps.

  “Actually, you own nothing here. This house was specifically willed to her, and only her,” Daniel explains.

  “We are married. We share everything.” The bite in his voice is getting sharper and the Eric she’s been living with is showing through.

  Taylor speaks up this time. “That’s great an all, but when Mr. Shardling got sick, he asked Daniel to help make sure you couldn’t get your hands on anything. That’s when Daniel and I got back in touch, actually. Daniel reached out and asked my dad for help. My dad is the most respected contract lawyer in the state. He made sure you couldn’t contest it.”

  Eric looks back and forth between Taylor and Daniel, who each are wearing shit-eating grins, completely satisfied with themselves.

  Eric turns to Isabella and asks, “What the hell did you tell your dad that made him hate me enough to need to keep me out of your inheritance? I’m a wealthy man, and could buy much more than this house, you know.”

  “Eric, I didn’t tell him anything. I didn’t even know until I came for the funeral. Daniel arranged for the will to be read before I had to leave town again. In fact, Aunt Susan and Daniel took care of everything. I was a mess. But you wouldn’t know that, you didn’t even want me to come home for the funeral.”

  Daniel finally comes to Isabella’s side in the doorway. “Eric, I think you need to leave. She’s not going with you, and she doesn’t want you here either.”

  “Izzy, come home, we can work this out.” His voice sounds pained an
d his eyes are glassy, making Isabella feel a little guilty.

  Thankfully, though, Daniel is the voice of reason. “She’s not going with you. If you want to find a hotel, maybe she will talk to you tomorrow, but for now, she’s done.” Daniel turns to Isabella. “Let’s go.” And he gestures for her to go back inside.

  Taylor follows them and Daniel locks the door, leaving Eric standing outside alone.

  Chapter Eight

  “WHAT THE HELL, Bella? He didn’t know about Uncle Brian’s will?” Daniel sounds pissed as he follows her and Taylor to the kitchen.

  “When would I have told him? He never spoke to me. He was barely home. When he was home, he was busy. In fact, he rarely slept in bed with me. It was like this even before dad died, but it got worse after. He never even asked if I was okay after dad died.” She can no longer hold back the tears.

  She is startled when Taylor comes up behind her and hugs her. “It’s okay, Isabella. Let it all out. He’s an asshole, always was. Don’t let him make you feel bad. You deserve so much better.”

  “Thank you.” She continues to cry as he hugs her. Between Taylor and Daniel, she’s feeling more valued than ever before.

  After a little longer, her tears dry, but her stomach reminds her rather loudly that she didn’t eat lunch. “Wow, Bella. Did you eat at all today?”

  “I had breakfast. I was just sitting down to eat when the doorbell rang. Had I looked through the peephole, I never would’ve answered it. Sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry, Bella. I just want you to eat. Let me make you a fresh sandwich.”

  As Daniel moves about the kitchen, Taylor lets go and sits down next to her.

  “Wait. Why are you guys home so early? Your note said you’d be home to make dinner, not lunch.”

  “Funny you should ask,” Taylor answers, not sure if Daniel even heard her. “Daniel felt guilty leaving you home alone all day without talking to you. And we weren’t having any luck, so it wasn’t hard to leave.”

  “Daniel,” Isabella yells. “You know I’ve spent most of the last five years completely alone. I can handle myself.”

  “It wasn’t that I thought you couldn’t handle it, Bella.” He sets the plate down for her and moves to sit across from her. “I just didn’t want you to be down and alone. It hit me that I should’ve made sure you were okay with before we left.”

  Taking a bite of the giant sandwich Daniel made her, she considers the fact that he was only looking out for her. With a little nod, she tells him she understands, and continues eating. Every now and then she sees them both look at her, but she pays no attention. She’s too nervous about facing Eric. When she thinks about life when she first got to California, she wonders why she didn’t see this coming.

  First was the promise of UCLA, which seemed amazing. She had dreams of doing something big with her life, and NYU was going to get her there. Then Eric came along, and UCLA could provide just as big a reward as NYU. Plus there was the added bonus of being treated like a queen. When she got to Los Angeles, Eric said he was unable to get things together for the next semester, so she’d have to wait until fall. As it got closer, he gave her more excuses. Eventually, she stopped asking, realizing that it was never going to happen. It was cleared up when he wouldn’t let her work or do much outside the home without him and left her feeling like a prisoner instead of a queen.

  “Bella.” Daniel’s voice interrupts her thoughts. “Bella, you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Just, um . . . thinking.”

  “What are we going to do about you meeting him tomorrow? It doesn’t seem like he’s going to go home without making problems.”

  “I don’t know. I don’t want to be alone with him. I . . . ”

  Daniel interrupts, “Did he hurt you? I’ll kill him if he did.”

  “No. Not physically, at least.”

  “Are you sure? Why don’t you want to be alone with him?”

  “It’s just, um, well, he has a way of making me do what he wants. I don’t know how, but he does. I don’t want to go back with him. Please don’t let him drag me back, Daniel.”

  “Bella, you don’t have to be alone with him. Text him and tell him to come here. Taylor and I won’t leave the room.”

  “Um, thank you. But Taylor doesn’t have to ruin his trip for me.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Isabella,” Taylor chimes in. “I’d be happy to help make sure that prick doesn’t do anything.”

  “Bella, we’ll take care of you,” Daniel adds.

  “What if he fights the divorce? Can he keep me from divorcing him?”

  “He can fight it, but you will get out of the marriage if that’s what you want. I’ll make sure of it. In fact, I’ll call dad and see if he can help,” Taylor says.

  “I hate accepting help, especially help I can’t afford, but it looks like I have no choice right now. Thank you.”

  “Of course, we’re all friends here. Friends help each other, Isabella.”

  She finishes her lunch while the boys discuss what to do this evening. They suggest going out to dinner, and then hitting a movie. She knows they just want her to get out, but she is terrified of running into Eric and having him make a scene.

  “Um, thanks, but I think I’ll stay here. You guy go, have fun. I’m fine, I promise.”

  “Bella, after coming home to Eric here arguing with you, I’m not leaving you alone. I’d feel awful if something else happened. I really don’t trust him.”

  “Come on, Isabella. It’ll do you good to get out,” Taylor pleads, using those gorgeous brown eyes. Oh, how she wished he’d paid attention to her like this when they were in school.

  “What if we run into Eric? I don’t want to have him cause a scene, and he will if we see him.”

  “We won’t let him. Besides, I doubt he’ll be around here. The closest hotel is twenty minutes away, and it’s not fancy, so I’m sure he’s downtown in a snobby one. After all, you do know who he is, right Bella.”

  She can’t believe that after only meeting Eric a couple of times, he’s got his personality down to a tee. Isabella knows that there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Eric would stay at anything less than the best, so Daniel’s right, he’s probably downtown. “Okay. I’m sure he’s downtown. I’ll go with you. It’ll be good to get out. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a movie.”

  Handing Isabella his phone, Taylor asks, “What do you want to see?”

  She doesn’t even bother looking, just hands it back. “I don’t care, actually. Whatever sounds good to you guys will be fine.”

  “I’m gonna let it slide this time, but Bella, we need to find that spine you used to have. I’m not sure what happened to it, but you need it back.” Daniel sounds a little angry, but she knows he’s only thinking about what is best for her.

  “I’m working on it, Daniel. I just don’t have a preference on a movie. I really just want to enjoy a night out. I don’t care much what we do.”

  “That’s the spirit!” Taylor seems to like this side of her. “Dinner and drinks, then a movie. This is gonna be so good for you, Isabella.”

  She smiles, not sure it really is going to be good for her, but it should be more fun than sitting alone, wallowing in her own misery.

  Chapter Nine

  DRESSING FOR A night out is a little exciting for Isabella. It’s been months since she’d been out with Eric, and it wasn’t one of those fun events either. She had to wear the dress Eric picked out for her and be his arm candy all night. Rarely did anyone do more than say hello to her at these events, and she wasn’t allowed to do more than respond to people. Eric coached her very well after the first event they’d gone to. He made sure she never acted like a cheery young woman around his colleagues again. In fact, it wasn’t long before she lost the cheer all together.

  Getting dressed for a simple dinner and movie feels all new again. Almost like her first date. In high school, she’d mostly just gone out in groups. The only boy she wanted to date in
high school wasn’t interested, but he’ll be there tonight, and that thought sends her nerves on high alert. The butterflies that flutter around in her stomach make her even more nervous about eating in front of Taylor tonight. She shouldn’t be thinking of him that way, she’s still married, but she can’t help it. It was always him.

  She looks at herself one last time in the mirror, hoping she doesn’t look like she tried too hard before heading to the living room where the boys are playing Xbox again. Of course they are both ready, it only takes guys ten minutes. Maybe fifteen if they have to shower and shave. “So unfair,” she mumbles as she walks into the room and sees them both looking like a million bucks. She stands in the doorway and realizes she’s going to be turning heads with these two gorgeous men.

  Taylor looks up when he realizes she’s there. “What’s that look about?”

  “Um . . . I . . . well, um. I was thinking that every girl around was gonna be jealous of me tonight. You both look fantastic. I’m very lucky.” She blinks over and over again, in total disbelief that all that just spilled out of her mouth. She does her best not to make eye contact with either of them.

  “There’s the Bella I remember. I hope we get more of her tonight. And you aren’t who they are gonna be jealous of, they will be jealous of us. You are as beautiful as you ever were. I love that the sparkle is back in your eyes. It’s been missing a while now.” Daniel always made her feel special. He never let anyone put her down when she was going through that awkward stage in junior high, and he made sure that he always complimented her.

  “Thank you, Daniel. You’ve always been good for my ego.”

  With a laugh, Daniel turns off the game and they head to dinner.

  * * *

  Of course, the boys picked a mom and pop burger joint that wasn’t here the last time Isabella was in town. They are like garbage disposals, each scarfing down a double burger and fries, and finishing off with large chocolate shakes. To top that off, they share what Isabella doesn’t finish, though she guards her chocolate shake with her life.