Christmas Kisses Collection. Louise Allen

taking it all in,” she admitted.

      “We’re something else, for sure. Is this similar to your family get-togethers?”

      McKenzie laughed. “Not even close.”

      “How so?”

      “I won’t bore you with my childhood woes.”

      “Nothing about you would bore me, McKenzie. I want to know more about you.”

      She started to ask what would be the point, but somehow that comment felt wrong in this loving, warm environment, so she picked up her glass of tea, took a sip, then whispered, “I’ll tell you some other time.”

      That seemed to appease him. They finished eating. Everyone, men and women, helped clear the table. The kids had eaten at a couple of card tables set up in the kitchen and they too cleared their spots without prompting. McKenzie was amazed at how they all seemed to work together so cohesively.

      The men then retired to the large family room while the women put away leftovers and loaded the dishwasher. All except Lance. He seemed reluctant to leave McKenzie.

      “I’ll be fine. I’m sure they won’t bite.”

      He still looked hesitant.

      “Seriously, what’s the worst that could happen?”

      What indeed? Lance wondered. He had rarely brought women home and never to a Christmas function. His entire family had been teasing him that this must be the one for him to bring her home to Christmas with the family. He’d tried to explain that he and McKenzie had been coworkers and friends for years, but the more he’d talked, the more he reminded them that he’d already met and lost “the one,” the more they’d smiled. By the time McKenzie arrived, he’d been half-afraid his family would have them walking down the aisle before morning.

      He didn’t think she’d appreciate any implication that they were more than just a casual couple.

      They weren’t. Just a hot and heavy two-month relationship destined to go nowhere because McKenzie didn’t do long-term commitment and his seventeen-year-old self had vowed to always love Shelby, for his heart to always be loyal to her memory.

      What was the worst that could happen? He hesitated.

      “Seriously, Lance. I’m a big girl. They aren’t going to scare me off.”

      “I just…” He knew he was being ridiculous. “I don’t mind helping clean up.”

      “Lance Donovan Spencer, go visit with your grandparents. You’ve not seen them since Thanksgiving,” his mother ordered. “That will give me and your girl time to get to know each other without you looming over us.”

      “Looming?” he protested indignantly.

      “Go.” His mother pointed toward the door.

      Lance laughed. “I can tell my presence and help is not appreciated or wanted around here, so I will go visit with my grandmother who loves me very much.”

      “Hmm, maybe she’s who you should list on your references,” McKenzie teased him, her eyes twinkling.

      “Maybe. Mom’s been bumped right off.”

      “I heard that,” his mom called out over her shoulder.

      He leaned in and kissed McKenzie’s cheek. “I’m right in the next room if their interrogation gets to be too much.”

      “Noted.” McKenzie was smiling, like she wouldn’t mind his mother’s, aunts’ and cousins’ questions. Lord, he hoped not. They didn’t have boundaries and McKenzie had boundaries that made the Great Wall of China look like a playpen.

      “Lance tells me you two have only been dating for a few weeks,” his mother said moments after Lance left the kitchen.

      “You know he’s never brought a woman home for Christmas before, right?” This came from one of Lance’s cousins’ wives, Sara Beth.

      “He seems to be head over heels about you,” another said. “Told us you two work together and recently became an item.”

      “We want the full scoop,” one of his dad’s sisters added.

      “Um, well, sounds like you already know the full scoop,” McKenzie began slowly. She didn’t want to give Lance’s family the wrong idea. “We have been friends since I returned to Coopersville after finishing my residency.”

      “So you’re from Coopersville originally? Your family is still there?”

      “My mother is. My dad lives here in Lewisburg.”

      His mother’s eyes lit up with excitement. “We might know him. What’s his name?”

      She hoped they didn’t know him. Okay, so he was a highly successful lawyer, but personally? Her father was a mess. A horrible, womanizing, cheating mess. If Lance’s mother knew him, it probably meant he’d hit on her. Not the impression McKenzie wanted Lance’s mother to have of her.

      Avoiding the question, she said instead, “I don’t have any brothers or sisters but, like Lance, I do have a few cousins.” Nice enough people but they rarely all got together. Really, the only time McKenzie saw them was when one of them was sick and was seen at the clinic. “My parents divorced when I was four and I never quite got past that.”

      She only added the last part so Lance’s family would hopefully move on past the subject of her parents. Definitely not because she wanted to talk about her parents’ divorce. She never talked about that. At least, not the nitty-gritty details that had led up to her world falling apart.

      “Poor thing,” Lance’s mother sympathized. “Divorce is hard at any age.”

      “Amen,” another of Lance’s aunts said. “Lance’s Uncle Gerry is my second husband. The first and I were like gasoline and fire, always explosive.”

      The conversation continued while they cleaned up the remainder of the dishes and food, jumping from one subject to another but never back to McKenzie’s parents. She liked Lance’s noisy, warm family.

      “Well, we’re just so happy you’re here, McKenzie. It’s about time that boy found someone to pull him out of the past.”

      McKenzie glanced toward the aunt who’d spoken up. Her confusion must have shown because the women looked back and forth at each other as if trying to decide how much more to say.

      Sara Beth gave McKenzie an empathetic look. “I guess he never told you about Shelby?”

      Who was Shelby and what had she meant to Lance?

      “No.”

      The woman winced as if she wished she could erase having mentioned the woman’s name. “Shelby was Lance’s first love.”

      Was. An ominous foreboding took hold of McKenzie.

      “What happened?”

      “She died.” This came from Sara Beth. Every pair of eyes in the room was trained on McKenzie to gauge her reaction, triggering the usual reaction to being stared at that she always had.

      Lance’s first love had died and he’d never breathed a word.

      “Enough talk about the past and anything but how wonderful it is to have McKenzie with us,” Lance’s mother dried her hands on a towel and pulled McKenzie over to the counter for another of her tight, all-encompassing hugs. “Truly, we are grateful that you are in my son’s life. He is a special man with a big heart and you are a fortunate young woman.”

      “Yes,” McKenzie agreed, stunned at the thought someone Lance had loved had died. Was he still in love with Shelby? How had the woman died? How long ago? “Yes, he is a special man.”