Page 32 of This Christmas

“No,” he said before she could answer. “Not tonight.” He glanced back at Ally. She was standing in the doorway and, for the first time, he noticed the pajamas she was wearing. They matched Charlotte’s, only instead of a cute little dress with a red bow on it, Ally’s were pajama pants with a button-up shirt.

The pair of them looked so festive, and he hated to imagine what would have happened had he not been here. That thought scared the shit out of him.

Ally sat next to Charlotte and told her they would have pancakes in the morning. The little girl asked about whipped cream and sprinkles.

He couldn’t help but smile and turn away. Here was this cute little family, getting ready for Christmas, trying to start over, and one man had ruined it with one stupid action.

Had Ted really driven down from Portland, an almost two-hour drive, that drunk?

Something in his gut told him no.

He saw Ally hesitate at the door, as if she wanted to crawl into the bed with her daughter.

“If you want, I can stay downstairs on the sofa for tonight,” he offered.

“You don’t have to,” she started. But when he touched her arm gently, she flinched slightly before relaxing at his touch.

“I’m not leaving you two alone tonight. Get some rest. I’ll be here. Let me watch out for you both tonight. It’s the least I can do.”

She hesitated and he could see she was too tired to question him. She finally nodded. “Thank you.” She stepped back into her daughter’s room and closed the door behind her.

Downstairs, he found an extra blanket and pillow in a hall closet and settled on the sofa after double checking all the doors were locked and the alarm was set. But sleep didn’t come easy here either. He thought about Ally and how much he wanted to prove to her that he was nothing like her ex. Why did that matter to him?

There were a million excuses running through his mind, but the truth came down to the fact that he was attracted to Ally. Plain and simple. It was something he hadn’t felt in a very long time.

She was strong and so much like Lisa in a lot of ways. It wasn’t that she looked like Lisa, who had been petite and blonde with blue eyes and pale skin. Ally had light olive skin, light brown hair, deep blue eyes, and a dusting of freckles across her nose, which Charlotte also had.

Plus, there was the fact that he felt oddly at ease around Ally, something he didn’t remember feeling around Lisa. Maybe because he’d been so young back then. In his early teens and twenties, he hadn’t even known what kind of a man he was. Now, at almost thirty, he knew, in part due to losing Lisa the way he had.

As he stared up at the ceiling with the glow of the Christmas tree lights filling the room, every creak in the old house kept him at alert. The older place settled as the snow continued to fall around them. When dawn finally broke and the sky outside the window was streaked with bright gray light, he still hadn’t closed his eyes.

By the time he heard movement upstairs, he was up and had made a pot of coffee, knowing she would probably need it as much as he would. Ally appeared a few moments after the coffee was ready. She had her hair pulled back in a low bun. She was wearing a pair of sweats and a large sweater with thick Christmas socks with snowmen on them.

“I started a fire down here again.” He motioned toward the living room. “It will be warm soon.”

“Thanks,” she mumbled and took the offered cup of coffee.

“I don’t know how you like it, but I know how Charlotte likes her hot chocolate.” He smiled.

She blinked a few times and then smiled back.

Okay, so she obviously had gotten as little sleep as he had. As she added cream to her coffee, her movements were quiet, careful, like every noise might wake a ghost.

He headed into the living room, stirred the fire, and put a few more logs on it. When he returned to the kitchen, she was leaning against the counter, mug in hand.

“Did you get any sleep?” he asked her.

“Not really,” she admitted. He could tell the coffee was waking her up a little. “Every sound had me jumping.”

He nodded in agreement. “I can call the security company today and see about them adding cameras out at the end of the driveway to alert you when someone has pulled in.”

“Thanks,” she said between sips. “I’ll have Max call them.”

Just then, Charlotte rushed in. “It snowed a lot!” She stopped dead when she saw him standing close to Ally.

“Did you sleep here?” she asked, her eyes going wide as she looked between them.

“I slept on the sofa,” he quickly answered, feeling the need to explain to the kid.