Love At Christmas

Christmas is in the air. -Pulling Garrett Johansson over isn't the most auspicious beginning to a relationship for Officer Lisa Weight, but at least she didn't have to give him a ticket. Not that she's looking for a guy—even if her mom says she should be. *** Garrett is glad to visit his sister, Sheila, during the Christmas season, but he hadn't counted on a major snow storm as soon as he landed in Kansas City. When his sister introduces the cop who pulled him over as a friend of hers, he puts their less-than-stellar beginnings in the past and gives her a chance. The more he gets to know her, the better he likes her. If only he didn't live 1600 miles away in California. ***With everything trying to keep them apart, can they still have a Merry Christmas?

Sleet fell, turning the roads into a misery and the police
radio buzzed with license plate information. Officer Lisa Weight still had four
hours on the job before she could go home and put her feet up with a good book,
a cup of hot cocoa, and Christmas music running in the background.

"Be on the lookout for a blue Corolla, Texas plates.
Hispanic male wanted in a convenience store robbery in Olathe this morning. May
be armed."

"Great." At least there was not much chance he
would end up in Crystal Creek.

Traffic was slow—most people were staying indoors rather
than testing the icy roads, so she had a few minutes to finish a report for a
stop she had made that morning.

Her phone rang and she glanced at the readout. Mom. Lisa
debated for only a few seconds before answering it. Tereza Weight would just
call back every hour or two until she reached her youngest daughter.

"Hi, Mama. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. I was worried about you working in this
horrible weather. Do you go in tonight?"

"I'm already on the job, so I'll be off by the time it
gets dark." Or close enough. "Did you get your tree up yet?"

"Your papa finally got it last night so we're
decorating tonight with cookies and coffee. Come over after work."

"We'll see what the roads look like." Her parents
lived on the edge of Kansas City, so their house was less than twenty minutes
from her apartment in the small town of Crystal Creek, but in this weather, it
would be a nightmare drive.

"True. How about your tree?"

"I haven't had time, but I'll get to the tree lot in
the next few days." Figuring out how to get it back home in her sedan was
another issue. On the other hand, that's why there were so many images of trees
tied to the roofs of cars, right? It would be easier to borrow a truck from one
of the other officers.

The music switched to a boys choir singing along to
Pachebel's Canon in D and her mother shifted gears.

"Do you have a date for the Christmas party yet?"

"Not yet." And it’s not likely to happen.
Men tended to be put off by the fact that she carried a gun. Even when they
thought it would be fine, if they saw her in action, they often changed their
minds.

"You must bring someone this year. You're twenty-eight.
When are you going to settle down?"

Though Tereza had been born in the United States, sometimes
Lisa could swear she channeled her Italian parents and their attitudes a little
too much. "I'll try to find a date."

"Don't try. Do. Everyone brings dates or family to my
party. We just want you to be happy."

"I am happy. I have a good life, a job I love, and I'm
close enough to enjoy your parties." Tereza's Christmas party was always a
major affair with family and friends running rampant. Even Lisa's siblings who
lived out of the area moved heaven and earth to get to the Christmas party.

A blue Corolla passed by Lisa's car and she caught an
outline of Texas on the rear license plate. She flipped on her light bar.
"Crap. I have to go, Mama. Duty calls. Talk to you soon."

"Be careful, dear. Goodbye."

Lisa pulled into traffic and got in behind the Corolla
within a block, radioing in for backup. She tapped her siren to get the
driver's attention and the car pulled to the right. She ran the plates; they
came back to a car rental company.

As she approached the driver's door, Lisa tucked her neck
into her jacket more to ward off the icy air blowing down her collar, and
watched for any suspicious movement from the driver.

He had his hands on the steering wheel and rolled down the
window when she reached him.

"Can I help you, officer?" The man had dark hair
and eyes, olive skin, and a charming smile. He could be Hispanic, but she
wouldn't have pegged him as such at first glance.

"Could I see your license and registration?"

He passed over his license and a rental agreement from the
airport car rental. "Was I doing something wrong? I didn't think I was
speeding."

She didn't answer, glancing over the paperwork and noticed
his name—Garrett Johansson. "When did you pick up your car, Mr. Johansson?"

His dark eyebrows lowered over his eyes, marring what was
otherwise a very good-looking face. "Less than an hour ago. I just flew in
from California. Was I speeding?"

"Which flight were you on?"

Garrett shifted from confused to annoyed. "LA to Kansas
City. Do you want to see my flight information?"

"If you have it handy." She was thinking she had
the wrong guy.

He huffed and opened the app on his phone, showing her the
flight he had come in on.

"Thanks. Sorry for bothering you. We're looking for
someone in a car like this with Texas plates, but you're clear." She
returned his phone and papers. "Enjoy your stay."

"Thanks." He rolled up the window, irritation
lining his voice and face as Officer Belliston pulled his cruiser in behind
Lisa's.

Lisa stopped at Ben's window to tell him thanks and then
returned to her cruiser and reported that she was clear. She brushed the sleet
off her jacket and turned on her lights again when dispatch requested
assistance a few blocks away.

A quick sweep of the room showed a lot more faces than she’d expected, and though all of them were familiar, she wasn’t certain how she knew the women. Three women—two blondes and a brunette—were seated in the row of six chairs facing the table at the front of the room. She’d noticed them all at the funeral, and they’d been vaguely familiar then, but she still had no idea why.

“Cami, who are all these people?” Lana asked, leaning closer to whisper.

“No idea.” Her eyes sought out Alex—her cousin, her father’s lawyer, and estate executor.

He walked toward them, leaned in to kiss each of their cheeks and squeeze their hands. “Please take a seat. We’ll start soon.” He guided them to a couple of chairs along the right side of the room. “We’re waiting for one more person.”

“But what about—”

He interrupted Cami with a gentle touch to her elbow. “I’ll explain everything in a few minutes. Try to be patient.”

Cami sat beside Lana and looked up as Alex put a hand on each of their shoulders. “Are you okay?” he asked. “Would you like something to drink? I have soda, water or juice.” He waved to a nearby table.

“I’m fine.” It was a lie, she wasn’t fine. She couldn’t be fine the day after burying her father, after finding out he’d had terminal cancer that would have killed him in a matter of weeks—if the pulmonary embolism hadn’t done it first. She’d known he wasn’t well, but he hadn’t said it was cancer. The loss made the pain of her mother’s death five years earlier come back again full force.

“Nothing for me,” Lana murmured.

A tall blonde—thin, lithe, a little snooty in her three-inch heels and impeccable navy dress-suit—sauntered into the room, scanning it, before taking a chair. Her short-cropped hair framed her face and though a valiant effort had been made to cover it with makeup, her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

Cami studied all of the women again, four of them besides herself and Lana. All of whom had thrown flowers on her father’s coffin, all acted as though they had reason to belong, but none had approached her or Lana with condolences—or spoken to each other as far as she’d noticed. Who were they?
The women were near her own age, and so familiar. How had they known her father?

Alex greeted the newcomer, his low voice making the words indistinguishable, even from eight feet away. He gestured to his assistant to close the door, and he returned to the front of the room. He shot Cami and Lana a glance, grimaced, then let his eyes follow the line of women.

“I’m glad you could all make it, though I’m sorry for the reason you’re here. I’m Alexander Checketts, the executor of George Marlin DiCarlos’s estate. Because all of you were important to George, he remembered you in his will.” He glanced at Cami again and she lifted a finger. “As you’ll be able to tell when you hear the terms, this was a very recent revision.”

“Aren’t there a lot of other bequests in the will? Friends, employees?” She swept her eyes over the other women, doubting they fit either category. Wouldn’t she have known about them if they were important to her father?

Alex touched his fingertips to the tabletop in a gesture she had long recognized as a sign that he was uneasy. Most people wouldn’t have a clue he wasn’t perfectly comfortable, but she knew him too well to be fooled.

“They will all be contacted separately, but this portion of the will concerns each of you equally, and your father and I felt it best to present it to you as a private group.” He picked up the legal forms and began to read the stultifying legalese which always made Cami’s head ache, even under the best of circumstances—and these were far from that.
When he reached the bequests, he studied them. “I’m going to skip over the little things he wanted given to others, though I’d be happy to provide copies of the will to anyone who would like to check it. I’ll go straight to the part concerning all of you.”

All of you? What did that mean? Cami glanced at Lana and caught confusion on some of the other women’s faces as well.

“To my daughters, Camellia DiCarlo, Sage Parker, Rosemary Keogh, Lantana DiCarlo, Delphinium Gifford and Jonquil Chestnut, I leave my latest resort.”

Cami’s eyes flashed to Alex’s, but his gaze was riveted on the papers he held, though he paused for a moment. She stared at the other women. His daughters? It didn’t make sense, but Alex started reading again, so she focused on him.

“‘Yes, you are all my daughters, though none of you knew about everyone else. You will share equally in my legacy, but first I have a requirement. The newest hotel and spa will be ready to open in September and if you want to earn your part of the inheritance, you will all need to pull together to make it shine, as I know you will."

Cami stared at her cousin. What the heck?