Mistletoe and Montana Read online

  MISTLETOE AND MONTANA

  by

  ANNA SMALL

  Copyright 2012

  This book is dedicated to Carolyn Leister and Julia Zapzic– my real-life heroines!

  Thank you for always standing by me, no matter what.

  Chapter 1

  “Mommy, Mommy, you’re on TV!”

  Joely Burbank glanced up from the apples she was slicing to glance at her seven year-old daughter, Molly, who stood in front of the TV, her finger jangling as she danced up and down. Her own face stared back at her in vivid color; her hand was raised to prevent the paparazzo from taking her picture. The footage was a few nights old already, and showed her leaving the swanky restaurant after her boyfriend that the media had affectionately termed her boy toy broke up with her. She’d thought he was going to propose, and had bought a new pair of heels she couldn’t afford. Boy, did she feel stupid when he’d spoken the dreaded, short words right after dessert.

  She forced herself to put the knife down. Deep breaths. But her yoga instructor’s stress relief aid didn’t help.

  “Mommy?” Molly’s little voice cracked.

  “I’m ok. Mommy’s ok.” She opened her eyes and smiled brightly at Molly, who’d appeared at her side. She handed Molly a bowl of fruit and took the TV clicker from her. She changed the channel and Molly quickly became engrossed in the cartoon that replaced the trash she’d been watching.

  Numbness replaced the sickening fear that had grown in the pit of her stomach since last Friday. How could she have mistaken a break up for a proposal? Wasn’t Matt ready to start a world tour, promoting the next installment of his teen-targeted hot vampire movie franchise? He would never have considered throwing all that away on a twenty…okay, thirty-something year old soap opera actress who hadn’t even made a feature film yet.

  Her agent had assured her dating Matt was the best thing for her career. All the tabloids wanted the inside scoop on their life together, made glamorous by careful styling and invitations to the hottest parties and clubs in town. Still young-looking enough to pass for her mid-twenties, Joely plastered a smile along with her make-up and did her best to look adoringly at Matt whenever the cameras were rolling. But inside, she secretly wished she was still in the bleachers, cheering on her high school sweetheart; a megastar NFL player in his own right.

  “When are we going to Daddy’s?” Molly asked.

  Joely snapped back to the present. “In a few days. I’m waiting to see if Sarah can take you and Ian.” Her assistant had recently remarried, and Joely wasn’t sure if the biannual jaunt to Montana had lost its appeal yet.

  “I want you to take us.”

  Ignoring Molly’s pout, which was hard to do when the pout in question had a milk mustache, Joely flipped through the contacts on her phone. “That reminds me, I need to call Daddy. Do you want to say hello to him?”

  Molly shook her head and went back to her cartoon. Taking a deep breath as if she were about to jump off the high dive at the Y where she grew up, Joely pressed the call button.

  “Hey.” Ben doled out words with as much frugality as he handled money. She imagined he glanced at his phone when her name popped up. How was her number stored? Bitch? or Joely? Baby Mama?

  She wasn’t in the mood to pick up where their last fight ended, and steeled herself for her four times a year phone call to her ex-husband. “Hi, Ben. I just wanted to make sure you had the kids’ flight info. I emailed it to you…”

  “Yeah, I got it. I’ll be there at 4pm to get them, just like I always do.”

  She hated it when he cut her off, but couldn’t really blame him. Their divorce, when it finally came after five years of fighting, had been ugly and hateful and splashed all over the front pages of every supermarket tabloid in America. She didn’t understand why the private life of a B-actress and a former NFL jock concerned anyone.

  Refusing to rise to his tone, she mentally nodded. “OK.” She didn’t know what else to say, but added, “Ian and Molly are really looking forward to seeing you.”

  “Like I’m the reason they only see their dad a few times a year.”

  Molly was there, or else she’d have used a few choice words. Dammit, but he always knew how to press the right buttons. She wished she could channel her daytime TV character; a supreme bitch who had the world eating out of her hand.

  “You didn’t have to move to Montana. The judge said…”

  His whistle pierced through the phone and she winced. “Spare me your support of that crook! He’s a fan of your inane show, and that’s why he took your side.”

  “Ben, we don’t have to do this…” Why, after all these years, did tears spring to her eyes the moment she heard the anger and hurt in his voice?

  “Right. I’ll get them at Billings. Just like last summer.”

  Her phone screen darkened. She looked up to see Molly’s little red face. “Daddy can’t wait to see you and Ian. Christmas in the snow will be lots of fun.”

  The rosebud lips quivered. “I don’t want to see Daddy. I want to stay here, with you.” She threw herself into Joely’s arms. Joely stroked her hair from her face and patted her back.

  “You always have fun up there. Daddy probably has some new horses and calves. You can play in the barn with the kittens, too.”

  “The kittens are all grown up.”

  “There will be snow. Daddy can make a snowman for you.”

  “I hate snow. It’s too cold. I want to stay here. You won’t have anybody for Christmas.”

  Joely forced a happy face. “I have Sarah and…and George from the show, and…you know, all those people I work with.”

  “Why don’t you and Daddy love each other anymore?”

  It was the same question every time a visit to Montana came around. It served both to send Joely on a guilt trip and coddle Molly.

  “Honey, sometimes….”

  “Sometimes parents can’t live with each other anymore. It has nothing to do with love.” Ian’s mocking tone reached her from the den where he was glued to his game console.

  “Ian…” Joely pulled Molly onto her lap. “Molly, honey, Daddy and I aren’t together anymore, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love each other.”

  “That is what it means. That’s why it’s called divorce.”

  She closed her eyes and forced herself to remain calm. “You’re not helping, Ian.”

  “That’s okay,” Molly said, cuddling on Joely’s shoulder. “Maybe you can take us, instead of Sarah.”

  “Maybe.” She rubbed her eyes with one hand and hugged Molly with the other. “Maybe I will.” It wasn’t as if she had a hundred reasons to stay home. Matt was already in London, and had probably forgotten her the moment his plane landed to an airport full of screaming fans. The hot lump of tears in her throat began to melt. “Maybe I will take you guys. I can do some shopping up there. I always wanted a bearskin coat.”

  “Mommy!” Molly shrieked with laughter. In the other room, Ian snorted. Joely sighed and slid her legs beneath her.

  “Tell me about this cartoon again, honey. Who’s the cat with the crazy teeth?”

  Molly’s descriptions of the characters helped soothe Joely’s worn spirit. Catching a glance of palm trees rustling gently in the warm breeze, she almost looked forward to the trip north. If only she were going for pleasure, and not having to face the man who broke her heart.

  If only Santa Claus were real, and divorce was only a fairy tale. A sad, twisted fairy tale.

  Chapter 2

  “That snow will be coming down all day,” Ben remarked, ruffling Ian’s hair. “We’ll be able to make a big snow fort tomorrow and throw some snowballs. Would you like that?”

  Ian’s shoulders twitched noncommittally. “I gu
ess.”

  Joely turned away so Ben wouldn’t see that she’d heard. Ian was taking Matt’s leaving too hard. She hadn’t thought they were very close, but Matt had been part of their lives for a year. They were standing in Ben’s kitchen at the ranch. He’d been waiting at baggage claim for them, and she almost didn’t recognize him, but the kids did, of course. It was a shock to see him in a shearling coat and cowboy boots, until she realized he looked like almost every other man there. Except they didn’t have broad athlete’s shoulders like Ben, or that hard, steely look in the eyes whenever she was around.

  He’d been polite, but distant. She was glad she’d prepared him that she was escorting the kids and not Sarah. He’d even held the door to his massive truck open for her, and waited until she was seated before closing it. That he hadn’t spoken a word to her but conversed with the kids the hour and a half it took to reach the ranch didn’t bother her. Well, it did, but she told herself it didn’t, which was almost the same thing.

  She listened to the hold music in her ear and jumped a little when the airline agent’s shrill voice came back on too loudly.

  “I still have Buster and Lilly,” Ben was saying to Ian. “We can ride in the woods. Last time you were too young, but we can do it now, if you want.”

  Again, the shrug.

  Wait a minute… “What was that? I’m sorry; did you say my flight was cancelled?” Joely turned her back slightly to Ben and the kids and twisted a long tendril of hair around her finger. She was supposed to go back the next morning, after spending the night at a nearby hotel, which suited her just fine. Anymore stares from the Ice Man and she’d be frozen through. “When is the next one?” She ended the call a few seconds later and slipped her phone back into her purse. Ben and the kids were looking at her. “They’re closing the airport. A big storm, or something.”

  “Probably another blizzard.” The animosity in Ben’s eyes was gone. His excitement at having the kids to himself for a month had replaced his anger at her. “When can you leave?”

  Abrupt. Cool.

  “They said to call back once the storm passes. How long will that take? Two, three days?” She could only hope that a hotel other than the Rancher’s Roost was available. They’d passed it on the way to Ben’s place, and she’d nearly shivered at the idea of sleeping there.

  “This isn’t Malibu, princess. It might take a week for the storm to pass, and then another week or so for the snow to melt. You’d better call your agent and tell her to inform Spielberg.”

  “Mom doesn’t work with him,” Ian said. Joely smiled inwardly at Ben’s humbled look.

  “I know. Sorry.” He looped his thumbs through his jeans pockets. “Well, we should settle the kids and I’ll call Mrs. Gomez to babysit. Then I’ll drive you into town…”

  “Nooo!” Molly’s wail split the air. “Mommy, stay with us!” Molly jumped up and down. Ian gave her a brief, hopeful glance before turning his attention to his piece of pie Ben had waiting for him the minute they entered the house.

  “I…I can’t stay here, sweetie.” She avoided Ben’s eyes, concentrating instead on her daughter. “I’ll stay in town, and then hop on another plane once the airport opens.”

  Molly buried her face in Joely’s skirt. “Don’t go! Please, don’t go! Daddy will let you stay.”

  Her helpless tears only made things worse. Joely tried not to notice the flush spreading across Ben’s face. He was probably embarrassed the kids didn’t want to stay with him alone, but that was how they acted when it was his turn to drop them off with her.

  “Daddy, please!” Molly abandoned Joely to grip her father around his waist.

  “It’s just for a few days,” he said, not looking at Joely and smoothing back Molly’s ringlets.

  It wasn’t as if the house wasn’t big enough. There were at least six bedrooms and enough space so she wouldn’t have to be in the same room with him if she didn’t want. She hesitated before responding, but some look of relief in Ian’s eyes confirmed her decision.

  “OK,” she said softly, giving Molly a quick hug. “Mommy will stay.”

  “Yay!” Molly cried, then tugged her hand. “Sleep in my bed! Sleep in my bed!”

  Ben’s look told her she sure as hell wasn’t sleeping in his bed.

  “I’ll sleep in the guest room. You kick too much,” she replied.

  “Come on,” Ben said resignedly. He picked up Joely’s overnight bag as easily as if it weighed a pound. “I’ll show you the guest room.”

  Ben headed upstairs, with Molly dancing in the lead, excited at the prospect of having both parents in the same house after years of separation. Joely glanced over her shoulder at Ian, whose thin shoulders were hunched over his pie. Maybe it was a good thing she’d be stuck at the ranch for a while.

  Chapter 3

  “We eat pretty plainly when it’s just the kids and me,” Ben said later, emptying a pack of hot dogs into a pot of boiling water. She’d almost tiptoed back out of the kitchen when she’d come looking for something to munch on when she’d discovered Ben alone. Her lone bag was unpacked and the kids were settled upstairs.

  “I’m sure I can rustle something up.” She opened the pantry door and flinched when Ben closed it firmly.

  “I got this.” You’re in my territory, his set jaw told her.

  “Do you…would you like some help? I can set the table.”

  “We just need some napkins. Hot dogs and chips don’t require flatware.”

  “Do you have any salad?” She held up her hands a moment later at his scowl. “Okay, okay! I’ll leave you to it.”

  He mumbled something under his breath while she walked out of the kitchen. She wanted to stop and ask him what he’d said, but didn’t want to provoke him. As she passed the kitchen window, she stared at the gray clouds rumbling overhead. Her cute little bungalow nestled in the Hollywood Hills seemed so far away.

  She climbed the stairs to freshen up and met Molly in the hallway. Molly took her hand. “Come see my room, Mommy.”

  “Wow! I didn’t know you liked fairies.” The room exploded in multitudes of green and pink fairies. There was a fairy lampshade, fairy posters in white frames, and a fairy bedspread on a white canopy bed. Toys and dolls Joely didn’t recognize were displayed on shelves and spilled from a toy box shaped like a dollhouse.

  “I like fairies at Daddy’s house and princesses at your house.”

  The innocent words cut to Joely’s heart. She’d never been to the ranch once the house was built. Had never asked the kids about their rooms at Ben’s because it hurt too much to realize that the kids were now part of a statistic. She wondered if he ever thought about what their rooms looked like at her home, a place he’d never seen.

  “It’s a very pretty room.” She walked around, pausing to glance at the framed photos on the dresser. There was one of her with Molly, tucked slightly to the back and behind other pictures, but at least it was there. She’d sent it with Molly the first time the kids came up to Montana shortly after the divorce. If she could have packaged up her heart and put it on a plane, she would have.

  “Dinner’s ready,” Ben called upstairs. Joely went to a half-opened door and knocked.

  “Ian, are you coming down?”

  He was lying across his bed, reading a book. Unlike Molly’s different decorative scheme, Ian’s room echoed what he had at home; football pennants and memorabilia she recognized from Ben’s college and early pro days.

  “I’m not hungry.”

  She hesitated. He’d been a little withdrawn all day, even on the plane. “Are you feeling ok? Tummy hurt?”

  “I’m fine.” He turned a page with enough force that it creased the paper.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing.”

  She almost laughed at the stock answer. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  He flipped the book closed and folded his arms, making a pillow wherein he buried his face. “I don’t want to be here.”

  She sat
on the edge of the bed and rubbed his back, but he rolled away from her, his freckled face wearing a scowl. Remarkable how much he looked like his dad when he was mad. Her hand remained frozen in the air.

  “It’s just a few weeks, Ian. I thought you wanted to come….”

  “I want all of us back home, where we belong.”

  “I know you miss Matt….”

  “I don’t miss that jerk! I hate him! I’m glad he dumped you.” His lip quivered. She was about to say more, but Ben’s heavy footsteps coming upstairs stopped her.

  “Ian, what’s the problem? Dinner’s ready.” Ian pushed off the bed with a grunt and walked past Joely before she could say another word. Ben eyed her suspiciously. “What’s going on?”

  She bit her lip to stop it from trembling, but didn’t know why she bothered. He could always see through her. Rising, she brushed the hair from her face and tried to act natural. “He’s just a little moody, I guess.”

  “Oh.” His gaze penetrated hers. “Maybe I’ll take him for a walk later.”

  “Good.” Her stomach flipped. All she needed was for Ian to rant about Matt all night to Ben, or beg his dad to move home. Worse, ask Ben if he could live with him from now on. Her stomach almost flipped.

  “I noticed you only brought an overnight bag. Do you need to borrow some clothes?”

  “Why, do you have a size two wardrobe stashed away in your closet?”

  He didn’t seem to be in a humorous mood. “You can borrow some of my things. I don’t have any frilly underwear, though.”

  Was his old personality actually trying to crawl through the concrete blocks of his attitude?

  “That’s okay, Ben. I don’t wear underwear.”

  She hadn’t meant to flirt. Good god, that was the last thing she wanted to do. It was too late to pretend she hadn’t said it, and she could only hope he thought she was joking. He only shrugged, and followed Ian downstairs. Despite his nonchalance, she couldn’t help but notice the edges of his ears had turned pink.