Charley’s heart pounded as she practically ran back to the garage. Why had she stayed to play the piano with Alexander? Hadn’t she learned her lesson last night with the kiss? She needed to stay away from him. She couldn’t control herself around him. She’d been tempted to lock lips with him again. If Milly hadn’t jumped on the piano, she probably would have. How could she be so dumb?

She set the kitten down by her food bowl. “You eat, you naughty kitten.”

The cat meowed at her but then put her head down and started eating the food. Charley turned back to her half-empty box and started pulling more things out, mostly empty picture frames. They were the cheap kind. Each frame ended up in the next box for charity.

She worked until Dorothy told her lunch was ready. She didn’t want to eat lunch with Alexander, so she asked if she could eat while she worked. Dorothy huffed but gave her the sandwich on a paper plate and put her soup in a mug.

That evening, Charley sat on the couch in front of the fireplace with a book Dorothy loaned her. Milly climbed onto her lap and curled up. Charley pet her black fur while she purred.

Thomas entered the room and stoked the fire. “Do you need anything?” he asked her.

“No, I’m fine. Thank you.”

“How about you, sir?”

Charley turned to see Alexander standing in the doorway. “No,” he said, answering Thomas.

The butler nodded and left them alone in the room. Charley motioned to the seat next to her. “Do you want to sit?”

Alexander hesitated but then nodded. “All right.” He walked around the couch and sat down. “What are you reading?”

She turned the cover around so he could see. “Just something Dorothy gave me. She said this was one of her favorites.”

“Nice.” He tapped his knee, like he wanted to say something else, but stayed silent.

She pointed to the bare tree. “We never finished, did we?”

“Nope.”

A little guilt from leaving it undone snaked through her. “Should we do it tonight? I can help, if you bring in the lights.”

He seemed to consider her words for a second. “Sure.” He left the room, then a second later, came back with two tubs marked Christmas Tree Decorations.

She set her book down. “Okay, Milly. Time to get off. I have to stand up.”

The kitten ignored her, so she scooped her up and set her on the couch next to her. The kitten gave her a disgruntled look, but stretched her back, then circled around twice before curling back up and going to sleep.

Alexander opened the first tub and pulled out a tangled wad of Christmas lights. He blushed. “Guess I wasn’t very careful when I put these away.”

Charley realized it was probably because his wife had just died, and he was in shock. She plastered on a smile. “That’s okay. We can untangle them.” She hopped over the tub and took a portion of the lights from him.

“This is going to take all night,” he said after a minute of working on the mess.

“You give up too easily. Turn on your music. We need something to work to.” She gave him an encouraging smile.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned on the app she’d installed, then he started up a playlist. He set his phone on the mantle and it sounded through the room.

“Perfect,” Charley said.

After twenty minutes of tugging on strings, and Alexander putting the untangled ones around his neck, they were still trying to get one set of lights separated from the bunch. Charley giggled as she pulled on one string and it caused another to wrap around his neck. “Oops.”

“Yeah, don’t do that. I do like to breathe.”

“Sorry.” She tried to act sorry, but her smile wouldn’t let her.

“You really sound sorry,” he said, a chuckle escaping.

“I promise, I won’t strangle you.”

“Good.”

As she worked, she motioned to him. “Hey, I have another part untangled. Let me hang it on your arm.”

He rolled his eyes but obediently held out his arm. “You’re making me look ridiculous, you know.”

“You’re the one who started out using yourself as the Christmas light string holder. I’m just utilizing you in a more efficient way.”

Twenty minutes later he looked like he was trying to be the Christmas tree. Charley finally untangled the last of the string and hung it on his other arm. “There! We did it. Now, just hold still.”

“No way am I moving. They’ll get all tangled again. But please hurry. My arms are starting to ache.”

Charley got a wicked idea. “Just a second.”

She opened the ornament tub and grabbed the star topper. She scooted the tub over to him, stood on it, and placed the star carefully on his head.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing.” She hopped down from the tub and pulled out her phone. A look of horror came over his face.

“Oh, no. You’re not going to take a picture of me. No way.” He said this, but he still didn’t move, and Charley opened the camera app.

“You’re too cute not to.”

“Charley!” He would have sounded more threatening if he hadn’t been almost laughing when he said it.

“Just a second. I can’t take the picture yet.” She ran and grabbed the end of the string, plugging it into the wall. All the lights lit up. “There.” She walked back to where she was and put her phone up.

“If you take that photo, you are fired.”

She paused and seemed to consider it for a moment. “You mean, I won’t have to finish going through the junk in your garage? And I’ll have this nice photograph of you that I can probably sell to the tabloids for twice what you agreed to pay me?”

“Funny. Put down your phone and let’s get the tree finished.”

“I don’t know. I kind of like the idea of having a photo of you pretending you’re a Christmas tree.” She put her phone back up to snap the picture.

“Charley!”

Dorothy came into the room, took one look at Alexander, and busted up laughing. “Whatever you two are doing, keep it going. This is hilarious.”

“Help me out, Dorothy. I think my arms are going to fall off, and this horrible woman is making fun of me.”

“Hurry and take the picture, dear. He’s getting grumpy.” Dorothy laughed and left the room.

Charley shoved her phone back in her pocket. “Come on. I’ll help you transfer these to the tree.” She began taking the strings off his arms so he could put them down.

“Did you take the picture?” He reached up and took the star off his head.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Yes. Very much so.”

She held back a giggle. “Well, then I guess you’ll just have to wait and see what my Christmas cards look like this year.”

He grinned at her. “It’s too late to send out Christmas cards.”

She wrapped a string around the bottom branches. “Not for me. I’ve been known to send them out up to a week after Christmas. The post office is always busy. Easy to blame them for it being late.” She gave him a sly smile.

“You are pure evil.”

“And you need to start helping me string these lights or your tree is only going to be lit up on the bottom half.”

He chuckled. “You are quite height-challenged.”

“Shut up. I’m sensitive about it.” She stood on her tip toes and continued to string the lights. They worked in silence for a few minutes, getting the lights put in place.

Alexander turned to her. “What is it you love so much about antiques?”

Charley took in a breath, letting it out slowly. That was a hard question to answer. She loved a lot of things about them. But there was one thing that stood out. “I love the history. I love that each piece tells a story. The way we make things today is so different. We make them disposable. Your chair breaks, you toss it and get another one. There’s no craft to it. The antiques were made with such care. Many of them even have the maker’s mark on them. Like a painting, I can often tell who made something without even having to look at the mark. This is true art.”

He paused, a string of lights hanging in his hand. “I can tell you love it.”

“I do.”

Alexander finished stringing the last strand of lights. Then he placed the star on the top. “Now all we need are the ornaments.”

Charley opened the tub and pulled out a little nutcracker. “Oh, I love this one.”

He smiled. “One of my favorites as a kid.”

“These are all from when you were growing up?”

“Not all of them. Sadie and I added to the stash.”

For some reason, a tiny bit of jealousy surged in Charley, which was odd. Why should she be jealous of him and his wife? She shoved it aside. “Nice.”

As they hung ornaments, she tapped her toes to the music his phone played. “Did your grandfather get to meet Sadie?” She cringed at the question. Why was she asking about that?

“Yes. He passed a year after we met. I knew I was going to marry her three months into the relationship. He didn’t get to see the wedding, but he saw the engagement ring on her finger.”

“I’m glad.” She pulled out a tiny sled and hung it on the tree. “I’m sure he was happy to see you with someone.”

“He was.”

She paused, and curiosity got the better of her. “Can I ask you a question? And if you don’t want to answer, that’s fine. I don’t want to make things weird between us. I’ve just been wondering, and I can’t seem to find the right time to ask—”

“Charley,” he interrupted, taking her hands in his. “Just ask.”

She ignored the tingles that erupted over her skin at his touch. “Okay. I was just curious about your father. What happened to him?”

Alexander’s jaw clenched and released a few times. “That’s a long story.”

“I’m sorry. You don’t have to tell me. I was just curious.”

His features softened. “No, I don’t mind.” He continued to hang ornaments as he seemed to gather his thoughts. Finally, he spoke. “My mother died giving childbirth. My father was devastated, of course. He never really got over it. And he blamed me.”

“Oh, dear.” Charley hadn’t meant to say anything, and her hand flew to her mouth. “Sorry. Go on.”

Alexander picked another ornament from the tub. It was an angel. He stared at it while he spoke. “My father was a cold man. He was always distant. He was forced to move back home to live with his father when I was born. He hated me for what I had done to his life.”

“Was he abusive?” she asked quietly.

He looked at her and shook his head. “No, not physically. He just withdrew. Never spent any time with me. I remember one year at Christmastime, he left the house in the evening. We thought he was going to pick up something from the store. He didn’t return until after the first of the year. I cried myself to sleep each night, thinking it was something I had done. I had driven him to leave and never return. When he finally did show back up, he acted like nothing had happened.”

“Oh, my goodness. That’s terrible.”

Alexander shrugged. “My grandfather told him if he wasn’t going to pony up and act like a father, that he should leave. Permanently. Six months later, that’s what he did.”

“Is he still alive?”

Alexander grew stiff. “Not to me, he isn’t.”

“You mean, you don’t know?”

“I’ve never searched after him. He abandoned me. There’s no need for me to find him.”

Charley felt terrible for him. And now she’d opened up that old would by asking about it. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.” She spontaneously gave him a hug.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. “It’s not your fault. It’s my past. But I’ve let it go. It no longer hurts me.”

She could tell by the vulnerability in his voice this wasn’t true. She laid her head on his chest. “Underneath all that prickly exterior, you’re a soft-hearted man.”

“Prickly?” He pulled back from her and gave her a raised eyebrow look.

“Yeah. You remember when I first showed up, right?” She lowered her voice, mimicking him. “You are not who I was led to believe. Please leave at once.”

He winced. “Did I really say those words?”

“Yep.”

He touched the side of her face with the back of his knuckles. “I’m sorry. I was terrible.”

She could barely breathe. Electricity coursed through her, her heart beating so loud in her ears she couldn’t hear her own thoughts. The memory of his lips on hers made her knees weak. “That’s okay,” she found herself saying. “You’ve changed.”

He looked down at her, his gaze landing on her lips. “I have, haven’t I?”

Whatever quiet song was playing on his phone ended and a lively Christmas tune replaced it, breaking through her muddled mind. What was she doing? She couldn’t kiss him again. She smiled at him and backed up. “Must be the Christmas spirit.”

He chuckled and took a step back from her. “Must be.”