The Great Christmas Contest by Lucy McConnell

Author:Lucy McConnell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lucy McConnell

Chapter 14

Samantha kept her head down and her hands tucked into her coat. She’d wanted to invite Christian to dinner, but he’d gotten weird after talking to his landlord. The guy was seriously serious about collecting rent. One look at his steel-gray eyes and she was thankful she only had to deal with a mortgage company. They sent letters and made phone calls but had never shown up on her door looking like they wanted to tear her arms off if she was late with the mortgage.

She was walking past a bistro when someone knocked on the giant glass window. Turning, she found her father waving excitedly for her to come in. On the other side of the table from him was an exotic beauty who looked like a Peruvian runway model with silky black hair, flawless olive-toned skin, and puffy lips outlined to perfection. Sarah, the esthetician at the French Hens makeup counter, would give her a standing ovation for her mastery of a mascara wand.

“Great. Just great.” Samantha ducked inside and made her way over to the window seat.

Dad got up to meet her, holding his arms out like they hadn’t seen each other in months. “You ditched the skirt.” He hugged her close. “You look wonderful.”

“Fat lot of good it did me,” she muttered.

Dad ignored her grumbling and introduced her to Yvette, who did indeed have a sultry accent. He scooted his chair around and took one from the table next to them for Samantha.

“Oh, no. I don’t want to interrupt your date.”

Dad placed a hand on Yvette’s leg. “Samantha had an important date today and I’d like to hear how it went. You don’t mind, do you, babe?”

Yvette smiled warmly, lifting her glass of red wine. “We’re happy to have you.”

At least she was gracious. Some of the younger women Dad dated saw Samantha as competition for Dad’s time and they were cold or downright nasty. Not having a direct out, Samantha sat but didn’t take off her coat. “Maybe for a minute.”

Dad settled his napkin across his lap and took a sip of something bubbly. “How did it go?”

Samantha sighed. Figuring she didn’t have anything to lose because Dad would be out of the country again soon and she’d never see Yvette again, she said, “I thought it was going well. We were connecting—”

“Kissing?” Yvette asked.

Samantha’s eyebrows jumped. “Yes,” she squeaked out.

Yvette leaned back, smiling smugly. “You look like a woman who was kissed today.”

“I do?” She glanced at her reflection in the big glass window.

“When you were walking the street. Your head, it was not thinking about your feet. Huh? You were thinking about a kiss.”

“Yeah. But then this guy showed up demanding his rent and he got all distant. I don’t know if the kiss meant anything to him or if we were caught up in the moment.”

“I think you must be in love with him.” Yvette nodded encouragingly.

“Love?” Samantha blurted like she was spitting out sunflower seeds.

Dad took Yvette’s hand. “Listen to her, sweetie.

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