A Very Crimson Christmas. Michelle Major

who left me behind that I’ve royally messed up my life?”

      “You didn’t mess it up. The scumbag ex-husband messed it up,” Millie offered sympathetically.

      “I married him.”

      Millie lifted her glass in a mock toast. “Good point.”

      “I have money from the inheritance I got when my grandma died,” Katie offered. “I can help you pay back Ruth if she did indeed give money to Brad.”

      Natalie shook her head. “As much as I appreciate the offer, I need to take care of this mess myself. I know I have to stand up to Brad so this stops. It’s no way to live.” She took a bite of the chicken quesadilla wedge Olivia put on her plate. “It’s not fair to Austin. I’m always struggling to get ahead and I should be putting money away for his college. He deserves so much more than I’m giving him right now.”

      “You deserve more, too,” Olivia reminded her.

      Fear and guilt warred inside her. Her ex-husband was a problem that had been growing for years, like a festering wound she continued to try to hide with a Band-Aid. As worried as it made her, she had to deal with him, no matter the fallout. “I’m going to talk to Ruth and if she did give money to Brad, I’ll figure out how to pay her back.”

      “And?” Katie prompted.

      “And ask Jason Crenshaw about getting the terms of the divorce redone. It will mean going back to court, but if Brad tries to fight me I’ll go public with everything. I’ll press charges if I have to.”

      “Attagirl,” Millie told her.

      “Whatever happens,” Katie added, “you’re not alone. You have friends and we’re here for you, Natalie.”

      “Thank you.” Natalie blinked several times. She was a lot of things, but a crier wasn’t one of them.

      “Your mother?” Katie asked. “How much does she know?”

      “Very little. Mom was always very pro-Brad. She thought if I’d managed to catch a husband, that my main job was to keep him happy. She was furious when Brad and I divorced. I tried to explain the situation to her then, but she didn’t want to hear it.” She took a deep breath. “I guess it’s time to try again.”

      “What about Liam?”

      Natalie thought about Liam’s stormy eyes and the way her whole body tingled when he towered over her. “I’m hoping to have everything sorted out with Ruth before Liam has to know any details.”

      “You two were close once,” Katie said gently. “He’s rich and powerful. He could make a good ally.”

      “No way. Liam made it clear what he thought of me when he left Crimson for college. He walked away and never looked back. As far as he will ever know, staying in town only brought me happiness.”

      Her friends looked skeptical but didn’t argue with her.

      “Whatever you need, we’re here,” Katie said. “Promise you won’t go forward alone.”

      Natalie gave a jerky nod and wiped her fingers across her cheeks. “I’m going to make this right.” She just hoped she could do it before her life blew up any more than it already had.

      * * *

      Liam walked out the front door of Ruth’s house later that night, rubbing his hand along the back of his neck. He’d brought her home after she won several rounds of bingo. He’d promptly fallen asleep in her bedroom’s big recliner as they watched reruns of I Love Lucy. She was fast asleep when he’d woken up a few minutes ago.

      It was almost midnight as he pulled his phone out of his coat pocket. Several texts had come through from his latest ex-girlfriend, asking to see him again. Gretchen had called herself his girlfriend, although they’d only dated a couple of weeks before he’d ended things. Liam hadn’t allowed himself to have a serious girlfriend since—well, since Natalie had chosen Crimson over him.

      Seeing her boy had been like a swift kick to the gut for Liam. Long ago, he’d imagined himself as the father of Natalie’s children. Those days seemed like a lifetime ago. He looked over his shoulder at the dark house. Liam’s chest tightened at the thought of Natalie curled up asleep inside. He tipped back his head, marveling at the amount of stars in the sky above him even as his lungs burned from the frosty air. He’d forgotten that about Crimson, both the hollow cold of night and how clear the sky could be without the city lights in the distance.

      As he turned for his SUV, he noticed a light on in the workshop that sat at the barn across the driveway. He started toward it, then noticed a woman’s frame silhouetted in the window. Natalie.

      He watched her for several minutes, her hair pulled back in a messy bun and wearing a faded chambray shirt rolled up to her elbows. Memory sparked in his mind, and he smiled as he headed for the door to the barn’s workshop.

      Natalie didn’t notice him come in and he realized she had earbuds in her ears as she hummed softly along with music he couldn’t hear. She held a pair of needle-nose pliers in one hand as she twisted a thin wire held under a bright light. After a moment, she reached for a bead from a case in front of her. She glanced up, and her gaze crashed into his.

      She screamed, slapping one hand to her chest as the earbuds ripped out of her ears. Her fingers upended the jar of beads, which went flying in all directions.

      “Sorry,” Liam said, although he wasn’t sorry to not be the only one in the room with a racing heart, even if it was for an entirely different reason. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” That much was true.

      “What are you still doing here?”

      “I fell asleep watching TV with Ruth. Someone put a blanket over me.”

      She took several deep breaths, her chest rising and falling in a way that made his mouth go dry. “I check on her before I go to bed each night.”

      “You’re not in bed.”

      “So observant, Liam.”

      “And you’re wearing my shirt.”

      At this, her gaze dropped. “Was this old thing yours?” She wrapped her arms around her waist. “I’d forgotten.”

      He didn’t bother to call her out on the lie. “It was my favorite.”

      “Want it back?”

      “It looks better on you.” He crouched down and began collecting the scattered beads from the floor. “As I remember, most of my clothes did.”

      She also picked up beads, and Liam found the silence oddly companionable. That was until the waistband of her jeans slipped down her hips and he got a flash of creamy skin again. He forced his thoughts away from her and focused only on reaching for the last of the beads.

      But as he came around the table and straightened, he found himself directly in front of Natalie. She stood totally still, her hand holding steady the bowl of beads. He dropped the ones he’d collected in and interlaced his fingers with hers, drawing his thumb along the calluses on the pads of her fingers.

      “How long have you made jewelry?”

      “A few years now,” she whispered with a self-deprecating smile. “I don’t sleep much and it relaxes me.”

      “You have talent.”

      “It’s just for fun.”

      He let out a bark of laughter. “I don’t believe that for a minute. When was the last time you did something just for fun?”

      Her mouth tightened as she looked deep into his eyes. “You were the last thing I did just for fun, Liam.”

      Despite how wrong it was, he wanted to be that for her again. He smoothed back the hair from her face and leaned forward. She closed her eyes, but instead of taking her mouth the way he wanted, he kissed the edge of her lips, then