The front of the house was decked out in red and green. Christmas music was piped through speakers inside and out. Red and green lanterns floated around in the pool as though they had always had a place there. The bar was stocked with expensive liquors, beer, and wine. The inside of the house looked like Santa’s workshop as it did every year. Chad had hired a real-life looking Santa Claus who was paid hourly to sit in front of the fireplace and have his picture taken with guests. When there wasn’t a line, he would mingle with guests in character and ask them what they wanted for Christmas. Once again, Chad had gone over the top at his Christmas party.

“Hey, wanna go sit on Santa’s lap?” James walked over to JC, who was drinking a beer and talking with a few older clients from his studio.

“Why? So we can tell him how naughty you’ve been?” JC whispered in her ear and James giggled, playfully pushing him away.

“I have not!” she looked up at her husband, her eyes smiling, and shook her head.

“Why don’t you come sit on my lap and tell me what you want,” he grabbed her hand and led her over to a secluded part of the living room that wasn’t being occupied by guests. He attacked her neck and his hand rested on her backside, giving it a small pop.

“Josh!” James couldn’t help but laugh at him. “What has gotten into you?”

“Fourth beer,” JC held up his drink and pointed out to his wife a small bunch of mistletoe. “Kiss me.” James obliged and slowly kissed him, deliberately pressing herself against him. “Damn, baby. Let’s just leave now and they can bring the kids home later! Better yet, we’ll just let the kids spend the night with Chad and Lane.” He discreetly put his hand on her breast, causing James to giggle into his mouth as they kissed.

“Josh, our daughter is standing right over there. We’ll finish this at home. I promise,” James kissed him once more and then looked at the beer in his hand. “And I’m assuming I’ll be driving home tonight?”

“I was hoping you would,” JC gave her a silly grin.

Lesly watched JC and James out of the corner of her eye from the bar in the living room. She had to chuckle at how James was doing her best to be discreet, but JC was all over his wife like a horny teenager. She loved their relationship. She loved the way JC was so crazy over James. It was rare to see that these days with other couples. She sipped on her vodka and cranberry and looked around the elaborately decorated home. Even though this was her third year at Chad’s Christmas party, she still couldn’t believe how he always managed to outdo himself every year. It was almost as though he was competing against himself. He certainly had no one in Grayson to compete with. Most everyone else in town had the seasonal Santa sitting in their front yard or a red and green wreath on their front door. JC and James always put out twinkling lights around the front exterior of their house and a sign in the yard that said, “Santa, stop here! Love, Sutton, Landon, and Olivia.” James had found the sign in a Christmas shop in the neighboring town and had the names added on later.

“Hi,” Lesly heard the familiar voice and turned around to see Chris behind her.

“Hi,” she smiled at him and they nervously stood next to each other.

“How are you?” he asked her, leaning against the bar.

“I’m good. How are you?” Lesly was trying to be as polite and approachable as she could be. It was hard to do that with someone she knew all too well. Someone she’d had feelings for for the last almost two years.

Chris was trying not to get frustrated, but all he really wanted to do was talk to her about everything and anything but surfaced shit. And that’s exactly what this conversation was turning out to be.

“Hello, all!” Chad came over to them, a martini in one hand and a finger sandwich in the other. “Can you believe that over there?” he motioned with his martini towards James and JC who were still in their little corner stealing kisses and thinking they were well hidden. “Acting like two teenagers at a make out party!”

“Oh, leave them alone, Chad,” Lesly shook her head. “JC’s drunk. You know how affectionate he can be when he’s drunk.”  

“Great party, as always,” Chris broke Chad’s attention away from James and JC. He was also trying to get another conversation started instead of having to stand here and painfully pretend that he and Lesly were nothing more than acquaintances. He tried to catch her eye, but she was doing a great job of pretending to be very interested in the décor lining the bar.

“Yeah, I really love how you have the fake snow coming down outside,” Lesly pointed towards the sliding glass doors that led out to the pool. Chad had somehow gotten his hands on a fake snow machine and it was “snowing” as people walked in and out of the house. He had not given any thought to the fact that it would cause a huge mess both in and out doors and now he was rather regretting his idea and ignoring the fact that Lane had told him several times that would happen.

“Yeah,” he shook his head, “Good thing I have a cleaning crew coming to clean it up tomorrow.” He looked at the two of them and noticed immediately how painfully difficult it was for them to make any sort of conversation. He couldn’t imagine pretending to be acquaintances with someone that meant so much to him just so he could decide whether or not he wanted to be with that person in the end. “So, have you two been to the fondue fountain in the kitchen? You should go try it out.”

“Sure, I love fondue,” Lesly looked at Chris. “Wanna come with me?”

Chad had to sigh a breath of relief. He watched them walk out of the living room and into the kitchen together. Besides, he was not going to ruin his party trying to cut tension between them. They could do that on their own. He looked in the direction of James and JC, but they were gone, and so he went outside to find Lane and pretend to be excited about the copious amounts of fake snow that had started to pile up in the living room.

“Josh!” James giggled, as he pulled her onto the bed with him. “There’s a party downstairs! And what if someone walks in and-“

“Shut up,” he growled in her ear and pinned her down. “C’mon, baby, this was where we first made love. And it’s exciting to think that there’s a party down there and we’re up here sneaking around like this.”

James couldn’t help but smile at him. “Ok, fine, but we have to be quiet,” she said, slowly undoing the zipper on his jeans.

“That’s not a problem for me,” he slid his hands up to her thigh and grabbed the hem of her dress, pushing it to her waist. He stared down at her and his mouth hung open when he saw that she had nothing on underneath. “You didn’t tell me you went commando tonight.”

“I didn’t want to have a panty line,” she tried not to gasp, feeling his fingers slowly inching their way to her inner thigh.

“Good call,” he rid himself of his jeans and pulled her legs around his waist.

The fondue fountain was a popular fixture at the party and Chris and Lesly had to stand in line in order to get to it. They continued with the small talk and Chris was about to go crazy inside. There was so much more to say to each other. This whole acquaintance thing was so stupid, and yet he knew that Lesly was right. They did have to get to know each other again because he’d broken her trust. There was no way he was going to get past anything other than what they were now until she was able to trust him again.

“Hi Chris, hi Lesly!” a small voice called to them and they looked over to see Sutton coming out of the fondue line, a plate of nothing but chocolate and one slice of banana in her hand. She was taking her finger and licking the chocolate, which was getting all over her face and about to drip onto her Christmas dress. James was not one to go overboard with dressing her children, but Lesly knew that this red, velvet dress was from a high- end children’s shop in Atlanta. Getting chocolate fondue on it would probably ruin it and the rate that Sutton was going now the dress was likely to end up that way.

“Um, honey, come over here,” Lesly pulled Sutton to her carefully. “Do you have a napkin?”

“No,” Sutton shook her head. “I was going to get a Sprite. I’m thirsty.” Her plate was now tipped to the side and chocolate fondue was oozing its way off of it and onto the floor.

“Careful, Sutton!” Lesly went to grab the plate, causing Sutton to stumble backwards and throw it towards Chris. Chris tried to catch it and managed to do so, but now he had chocolate sauce all down the front of him.

“I’m sorry, Chris!” Sutton gasped and looked as though she might cry.

“Don’t worry about it,” Chris tried to smile at her and let her know nothing was wrong, but now he would definitely need to change his shirt.

“C’mon, I know where Chad keeps extras,” Lesly told him. “Sutton come with me. You’ve got chocolate sauce all over you, sweetie.” She took Sutton’s hand and Chris followed, now a little bummed that he might not get to try the chocolate fondue.

“You should get drunk more often,” James breathed, as JC pulled away from her. Her heart was racing and her legs still shook, but somehow she managed to stand up from the bed. She pulled her dress down again and JC tucked in his shirt to his jeans. He grabbed her again and kissed her as passionately as he could.

“Let’s do that again when we get home,” his voice was hot in her ear, and James reached up to kiss him back. Just then, they heard the door open and turned, looking as though they were two deer caught in headlights. Especially upon seeing Lesly, Chris, and their daughter walking in.

“Whoa!” Chris exclaimed. “What’s going on in here?”

“Nothing,” James blushed and smoothed out her hair. “Nothing. We were just, um, you know, coming up here to see my old room and-“

“You are so full of it,” Lesly couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Daddy, your face is really red!” Sutton pointed out and laughed too, but only because she’d seen Lesly laugh first. “You look like a clown!”

“Uh huh,” JC cleared his throat and looked away, thankful they hadn’t come in five minutes before when there would’ve definitely been questions from Sutton about why her mother was writhing beneath her father. “It’s hot up here.”

“I bet it is,” Chris chided him and JC shot him a look. He held his hands up in surrender. “Just kidding, I’m kidding!”

“Why are you up here?” James asked, looking down at Sutton, then seeing the mess of chocolate all over her face. “Sutton, did you even get any chocolate in your mouth?”

“I spilled it on Chris’s shirt,” she pointed to Chris. “And Lesly said she was going to help us clean up.”

“Doesn’t Chad keep extra shirts in here?” Lesly asked James, who nodded and pointed to the wardrobe across from the bed.

“Over there,” she said and put her hand on Sutton’s shoulder. “I’ll go clean her up. Thanks for looking out for her. C’mon, honey.”

“Mommy, your face is red, too. Are you hot like Daddy?” Sutton was asking as they walked out of the room. Chris and Lesly started laughing, ignoring the look that JC’s face was emitting as he followed James and Sutton.

Lesly walked over to the wardrobe and began to look through Chad’s shirts. Chris unbuttoned the shirt he was wearing and suddenly felt self-conscious standing there shirtless in front of her. He knew he was crazy for feeling like that, especially because of the history he had with her. He sat down on the bed, then, realizing what had just taken place, quickly stood up and awkwardly leaned against the bedpost. Lesly turned to face him, holding a Tom Ford button down that Chad had probably worn once and then thrown in it in the wardrobe. She caught her breath seeing Chris standing there without a shirt on.

“Um, here,” she walked over to him. “See if this fits.” She handed it to him and as he took it from her, their fingers touched. Lesly felt her whole body on fire, just from his touch.

“Thanks,” Chris smiled at her and then threw the shirt on, buttoning it up as fast as he could.

“You got your buttons off,” Lesly told him, pointing out that he’d buttoned the top button in the wrong hole. “Here.” She walked over to him and unbuttoned his shirt, trying not to look up at him because she knew if she did, all of that stuff she’d told him at Brewster’s the other day would be out the door. She felt him staring at her, but had to ignore it and continued to fix the buttons on his shirt.

“Lesly,” his voice was just above a whisper.

“There. It was the bottom button that was the one without a buttonhole but I fixed it,” she said, but out of instinct she looked up at him and her hand was still on his chest. He looked down at her and forgot everything they were supposed to be working on. His lips crashed onto hers in a desperate kiss. Lesly tried to fight him but she gave in and let his mouth search hers. She pulled away slowly and shook her head, turning away. “Chris, you know we shouldn’t have-“

“I know. I know what you said. But do you know how hard it has been treating you like I don’t know you?” he exclaimed and forced her to look at him. “I can’t just be some person you’re trying to get to know. I’m sorry, Les. You mean way too much to me and I can’t pretend that we don’t know each other better than some surfaced conversation.”

Lesly closed her eyes and then opened them, pursing her lips together before she spoke. “Chris, you hurt me worse than I’ve ever been hurt before. You lied to me, you cheated on me, and you tried to keep the fact that your other girlfriend was possibly pregnant with your child! I’m sorry. But I’ve already told you. I’m not in a place where I can be the person I was with you. I want to be, but I’ve been wounded too much already.” She walked over to the bedroom door, turning to him before she left. “I’m sorry. That’s just how it has to be right now. I’ll see you later.” Chris watched her as she left and grabbed his dirty shirt from the floor and walked out. It was going to be a long, long holiday.

“Good morning,” James greeted Lesly on the following Monday. “How was the rest of your weekend?”

“It was okay,” Lesly shrugged, and came behind the counter. She and James were working together a lot during the holidays as the coffee shop got busier and busier with people shopping on Main Street. James noticed Lesly’s expression was withdrawn and she cursed under her breath when the foam dispenser shot milk onto her apron.

“What’s wrong?” James immediately asked.

Lesly had had enough of it. She was sick of people asking her what was wrong. How was she supposed to answer that? Before she could stop herself, Lesly was spewing out everything that was wrong. “You want to know what’s wrong? Well, I’ll tell you. My father has hardly been dead two months and my ex-boyfriend decides to move to town just so he can make my life even more screwy. Then he expects me to just forgive him for all the shit he put me through as though it wasn’t a big deal. As though lying to me and cheating on me was just something all couples went through!” She took a breath. This felt good. “And then I have to come to work, where my best friend is all happy and married to Mr. Perfect and never has any problems and has a full house to go home to, yet I’m alone and everyone thinks it’s just dandy that Chris is back. Well, it’s not. It sucks. You all act like I should forgive him and move on. I don’t want to forgive him! And I’m sorry that that ruins your perfect little world where everything is beautiful, but I’m not forgiving him. Not right now!”

James was taken aback by what she’d just heard. “Lesly, I-I really don’t know what to tell you. My life isn’t perfect. Josh and I fight like any other couple-“

“Give me a break, James! I’ve heard your fights. You fight about what to get Sutton for Christmas. You fight about where you should spend your next family vacation. Those aren’t fights. Those are discussions,” Lesly snapped.

“Oh, really? Well, if it makes you feel any better we had a huge fight yesterday,” James retorted. “Josh got so drunk at the party that he could barely stand up to get into the car. Yesterday, he slept until noon and I had to get three kids situated, two of whom are babies, and when he came downstairs, he acted as though I should be pampering him or feeling sorry for him because he had six beers and two shots of tequila! Meanwhile, I’m exhausted just from being out so late and he feels entitled to sleep his life away and got pissed off when I asked him to change Olivia’s diaper. So we fought most of the day if that makes you feel any better!” James left out the part about the make-up sex. There wasn’t any need to go into detail about that. She looked at her friend and shook her head. “Les, I’m really sorry. No one is more upset that you and Chris went through what you did than I am. And no one is expecting you to forgive him right away or ever. We all know that these things take time.”

Lesly rubbed her temples and looked up at James. “I didn’t mean to have an outburst on you. I’ve just been bottling up a lot of shit lately. I’m sorry,”

“Les, it’s okay,” she reached over to hug her friend. “You can outburst on me any time. That’s why we’re friends. And friends can be bitchy to each other and it’s all okay.”

Chris entered the house behind Chad, who was hastily typing away at his iPad. It looked nothing like it had three months ago when he’d last been here. The repairs and refurbishments were all underway and it looked as if the whole house had thrown up inside. Dust covered just about everything. Walls were ripped out to reveal concrete slabs. Piles of metal and other materials were all over the place so they both had to be careful where they walked.

“Now, we’re redesigning the entire thing. This-“ Chad pointed to where the kitchen was but now just looked like a small room with empty holes where cabinets used to be. “-is still the kitchen but we’re expanding it. We’ve knocked out the wall behind it and that’s all going to be wide open space all the way to the master bedroom.” Chris nodded and followed Chad to the other rooms. “There are two other bedrooms and just one bathroom, so we’re adding on a huge master bath to the master bedroom. Complete with a garden tub, a seated shower, and a walk-closet that would make Paris Hilton envious!” Chris doubted that. He’d seen Paris Hilton’s closet once years ago. There was no way it was going to be bigger than that ostentatious room, but he kept his mouth shut. He was discovering that Chad liked to talk big when he redecorated.

“So, when do you think it’ll be ready?” Chris asked.

“Well, I’d say by January at the latest. My team is the best and you’ve paid double to get it finished sooner, so yes, January is when you could move in,” Chad told him.

“Hey, do me a favor?” Chris looked at Chad, who nodded. “Don’t say anything to Lesly. I don’t want her to know I’m buying her father’s house.”