“Does Logan get you excited?” she asked.

 “I don’t know. But he makes me laugh. I’m comfortable with him. I feel good about myself when we’re together and it seems like we have a lot to talk about. But, Maddie, it’s not serious. It’s friendly. It could get serious, but I’ve only known him a few weeks. Relationships take time. And I’m in no rush. Now, is there anything else you need to know?”

 “One thing. I hope you’ll tell me the truth...”

 “Maddie, I always tell you the truth!”

 “Okay. Did you ever love Daddy? I mean, really?”

 It was the oddest thing—Riley felt tears in her eyes. She blinked a little wildly, willing them away. She cleared her throat. She wiped her palms on her slacks. “Yes,” she finally said, her voice soft. “Yes, I did.”

 “Really?” she asked.

 “Painfully so,” Riley said.

 * * *

 Emma steadfastly refused to announce to Adam’s family that they were officially seeing each other, though everyone but Riley knew. “Let’s not push our luck,” she said. She didn’t want any trouble or friction from Riley and mostly she didn’t want a brother and sister at odds over her during Christmas. “Riley has to be the one to invite me back into her life, even as just an acquaintance. We’ll never be good friends, I get that, but I don’t want to push my way into your family before she’s ready.”

 “You know I don’t give a damn what Riley thinks about this,” Adam said.

 “That’s exactly what worries me.”

 “Why are you so intent on having it the hard way?”

 “Is that what you think? Oh, you’re wrong. I want it the peaceful way. Especially now—my first Christmas home, with a nice place to live, a decent job, a great fella. I’m going to invite your mom over to see my little place and host her for a couple of hours. I’m going to spend some time with Lyle and Ethan, bring them a nice bottle of wine and some Brie and caviar, wriggle my way into Ethan’s good graces. I’m spending an evening with Penny and her girlfriends—they have a little Christmas party every year and I’m now officially part of the club.”

 “And me?” he asked.

 “I’m sure we’ll have lots of quality time together.”

 “How about Christmas Eve?” he asked.

 “I’ll wait up,” she said.

 She wanted to enjoy the days leading up to Christmas. She didn’t have much to spend on her few friends and she enjoyed it more that way. She found a lovely pashmina shawl for Penny, a couple of small but pretty tree decorations for the other ladies, and for Lyle and Ethan, a Christmas serving platter. For June, a decorative Christmas table runner that was lovely and on sale. For Adam, a soft, cuddly navy blue sweater with a white button-down shirt, a pair of delicious slippers because she had noticed he didn’t have any and a book, a Nelson DeMille novel. She had studied his bookcase—he loved that particular author and although he had an e-reader, he liked to read paper.

 She bought herself a few modest decorations for her little house. Adam still came to her place, though she knew he really liked his house and was so happy when she was there with him. “It’s going to be a long time, Adam, before I’m good for more than this, than what we have right now. I’m working through everything but it’s slow. Everything that came before us is weighty.”

 “Is Lucinda helping?” he asked.

 “I think so, but I’m not seeing her again until the New Year. I’m feeling almost secure,” she said. “I’m afraid to blink.”

 “I’m not going anywhere,” he said.

 The holiday decorations in the homes they cleaned were a beautiful pain in the ass—difficult to clean and tidy around. Still, Emma enjoyed them as never before. It was entertaining to see what each family had done—the Douglases with the three spoiled boys had enough presents under the tree to take care of all the children in an orphanage. The Nesbitts had grown children and grandchildren, and they kept the number of gifts reasonable, yet decorated lavishly, many of the things meant to be fun for the children—advent calendar, talking Rudolph, nutcracker soldier. The Parkers had no presents under the tree—they’d be spending Christmas in Maui.

 She was looking forward to seeing what the Christensen family had done. The last time she was there nothing had been done to decorate and she feared nothing would be done. But voilà! Just in time for Christmas the decorations had appeared and they blew her mind—it was a decorator’s dream. She knew the cost of many of the ornaments and tabletop decorations. A nativity painted in gold and draped in Swarovski from Bergdorf’s, crystal reindeer from Tiffany’s, a stunning wreath—surely those weren’t real diamonds, but it was copied from the real one created by Pasi Jokinen-Carter. Their tree and staircase garland were decorated by a professional, she could tell. The few packages under the tree were wrapped in expensive paper that matched some of the glass balls; fancy ribbon was coordinated with the home furnishing colors. There were silver candelabra with red candles, fresh Christmas flowers in the dining room and foyer, an expensive tapestry hung on the staircase landing and a garland to end all garlands, fresh and adorned with balls and ribbons that matched the tree.

 Dellie and Shawna gasped when they saw the house.

 “Stay away from the tree and garland,” Emma told the girls. “Most of those ornaments came from jewelers, not Target.”

 Both of them backed up fearfully. “How do you know that?” Shawna asked in a whisper.

 “This isn’t my first rodeo,” was all Emma said. “In fact...” She got out her cell phone. She called Makenna. “We’re at the Christensen house and you might want to check this out. The Christmas decorations are worth more than the van. No one wants to dust them. We’ll wait for you.”