Page 3 of A Christmas Bargain

I nodded. “And I fixed it with a technicality the other party missed.”

She pouted, looking at the ground.

“Oh. And remember when you were hungover for your final and you spilled coffee on your laptop during finals?”

“Yeah. How could I forget?”

I smiled. “Well, you said that was impossible and we managed to salvage most of your paper for that last exam.”

“Why am I such a screw-up?” she whined, hiding her face behind her hands again.

“You are no such thing.” I got up and walked around my desk to pat her shoulder. “I’ll think about this tonight. Things can be moved around. And we won’t try to hide it from Dad when we go home tomorrow. He’s only madder when we lie.”

She nodded, still whimpering.

“He’ll have an idea,” I said. “He always does.”

“I guess telling him about this mistake will take his mind off all those hints he keeps dropping.” Smirking, she glanced up at me and shook her head. “How many times is he going to say that he can’t wait for when our Thanksgiving dinners will look bigger?”

I laughed once. “He’ll comment and drop hints until he gets what he wants.”

“Us settled? Married and popping out grandkids for him?” She rolled his eyes. “As if there’s any decent men out there to settle down with.”

I sat again, too nervous about her gambling to even think about his hints and reminders that he can’t wait for our family to grow. It had just been the three of us for so long, Dad, me, and Grace. I couldn’t fault him for looking forward to having another generation. Since he’d retired, I bet he was lonelier with all thatdowntime. At twenty-seven, I was sort of older, but not geriatric like Shawn was teasing.

“Decent men?” I teased. “What’s that again?” I returned my focus to the screen to play with numbers and see what could be moved to cover this loss.

“It’s fiction. A myth. No decent man exists,” she commiserated.

“I don’t know,” I said without looking away from the screen, typing and recalculating. “You seemed to really like Tom.”

“Tim. His name was Tim. And I couldn’t stand him! What respectable man picks his nose?”

I laughed and shrugged. “He couldn’t have been as bad as that pre-med guy I was dating last year.”

She snorted a laugh. “Dating? You weren’t dating him. He was taking you to holistic medicine forums for so-called dates.”

Smiling, I thought back to that disaster and was glad it was in the past. “That wasn’t as bad as how much of a mama’s boy he was.”

She laughed again. “Oh, I forgot about that! She still tucked him into bed every night, right?”

“Yep.” I shook my head, amused.

Neither of us had much luck dating. But even if I could find a decent guy, anormal, well-adjusted adult of a man, I still wouldn’t be able to settle down.

Dad retired, putting the weight of the responsibility of this business on me and Grace. With her pattern of screwing up and hoping I’ll fix it all, it was up to me to keep Barone Realty alive.

I’d keep the business alive, but it came at a cost—the death of a potential love life.

I squinted at the screen again, debating whether I was reading a three or an eight on the line.

It seemed like my workaholic pace would come with the cost of my eyesight, too.

I rubbed my eyes and sighed, realizing this weekend away wouldn’t be a break at all.

2

DEREK