A Winter Wedding(40)

“I’ll say we were in a hurry. No big deal.”

She gazed out at the home in which he’d been raised. “Will Olivia be here, too?”

Kyle hadn’t been expecting the change in subject. “Probably. She’s usually with Brandon if he’s not at work.”

“Then I’m going in.”

He caught her arm as she reached for the door handle. “Why?”

“Because I’d like to meet her—to see what my Single Central candidates are up against.”

“That isn’t a good idea,” he said with a scowl. “The fewer people who see you, the better, right?”

“We don’t have to explain what I do for a living. If they figure it out on their own...we’ll deal with it. We’re talking four people—your family. It’s not like I’ll be walking into a crowded room filled with strangers.”

He opened his mouth to warn her that he’d already mentioned her to Brandon, but she hopped out before he could say anything.

He met up with her as she came around the front of his vehicle.

“Hey, look who’s here!” His father had descended the ladder he’d been using and was walking toward them. “We weren’t expecting to see you until tomorrow,” he said to Kyle. “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you working?”

“It’s Saturday,” Kyle said.

“That makes a difference to you? Because it hasn’t for the past several months.” He adjusted the bill of his cap so he could get a better look at Lourdes. “Who’s this?”

Just in case Brandon hadn’t shared the fact that they had a country-western star in town, Kyle scrambled to come up with a response that wouldn’t give her identity away. “Uh, my new tenant.”

But Lourdes suddenly piped up, providing her real name as she stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

His father grinned and kept his eyes fastened to her face while addressing him. “Where’d you find this gal?”

“Through a place on the internet that lists rentals all over the country.”

“I guessed she was an out-of-towner. We would’ve noticed someone this pretty long before now.”

“She’s from Nashville.” His father, Bob, didn’t show any sign of recognition, which led Kyle to believe that Brandon hadn’t mentioned her.

“You should’ve put an ad on the internet long before now,” he said with a laugh.

“I didn’t have an available rental,” Kyle pointed out.

Brandon climbed down from his ladder, too. “Good to see you, brother.”

Kyle wondered if Brandon would indicate that he knew who Lourdes was, but he didn’t. He merely smiled, introduced himself and shook Lourdes’s hand.

“Looks like Dad’s put you to work.” Kyle gestured toward the string of lights dangling from the last hook.

“It was Mom who asked us to come over,” Brandon explained. “She wanted Olivia’s help baking cookies for the church Christmas party this evening.”

“Did you say cookies?” Kyle echoed. “Are they done yet?”

Brandon chuckled. “I hope so. I’m ready for one—or half a dozen.”

After removing his cap, their father rested his forearms on the back end of Kyle’s truck and studied his cargo. “You’re putting up a tree this year?”

“It’s Christmas, isn’t it?”

“That’s my point. Most years no one would know it, going by your house.”

Kyle rubbed his hands. He’d washed them at the Gas-N-Go, but tree sap was one of the most difficult substances to get off. “What goes up must come down. I admit it can all seem a bit pointless to me.”

“Scrooge,” Lourdes muttered.

“I do believe this was my idea.” He gestured at the tree he’d gone to so much trouble to hack down and was rewarded with a saucy grin.

“Come on in.” His father beckoned them toward the house. “Your mother will be excited you’re here.”

“We don’t need to bother the bakers,” Kyle said. “We were just hoping to borrow some tree trimmings from the garage, if you have extra.”

“Of course we have extra. Paige has so many Christmas decorations she doesn’t know what to do with them all. But you can’t take that stuff and go, not without saying hello to her.”

“Then we’d better go inside and say hello.” Lourdes said that so sweetly Kyle was probably the only one who understood her motivation. She was reminding him that she wanted to meet Olivia. But he wasn’t keen on that. He’d admitted to Lourdes what he hadn’t admitted to anyone in the past six years—because he hadn’t expected the two women to ever meet.

Problem was...he couldn’t get out of going inside, not without hurting his mother’s feelings. “Fine. Just a quick hello. We only have a second,” he said, but once they were inside, it was clear that he wasn’t going to get Lourdes out anytime soon. His stepmother recognized her—whether Olivia had anything to do with that or not, he couldn’t tell. Paige was almost beside herself with excitement even before his father could boom out her name.

“I love your voice. You’re so talented,” she said.

Lourdes allowed a hug, but that much enthusiasm made Kyle uncomfortable. Surely Lourdes got tired of people wanting to touch her.