Free Trading Christmas by Debbie Macomber Page B

Mother.”
    His smile widened as he listened for a long moment. “I have someone with me I’d like you to meet.”
    He had to pause again, listening to his mother’s lengthy response.
    â€œYes, it’s the evil woman you feared had ruined your son. She might still do it, too.”
    â€œStop it,” Emily mouthed and gently kicked his shoe beneath the table.
    â€œNot to worry—Charles is in Washington State. Here, I’ll let Emily explain everything.” He handed her the cell phone.
    Emily had barely gotten the receiver to her ear when she heard the woman on the other end of the line demand, “To whom am I speaking?”
    â€œMrs. Brewster, my name is Emily Springer, and Charles and I traded homes for two weeks.”
    â€œYou’re living in Charles’s condo?” She didn’t seem to believe Emily.
    â€œYes, but just until after Christmas.”
    â€œOh.”
    â€œCharles and I met over the Internet at a site set up for this type of exchange.”
    â€œI see.” The woman went suspiciously silent.
    â€œIt’s only for two weeks.”
    â€œYou’re telling me my son let you move into his home sight unseen? And that, furthermore, Charles has ventured all the way to the West Coast?” The question sounded as if it came from a prosecuting attorney who’d found undeniable evidence of perjury.
    â€œYes… I came to Boston to see my daughter.” For the last few days, Emily had tried not to think about Heather, which was nearly impossible.
    â€œLet me speak to Rayburn,” his mother said next.
    Emily handed the cell phone back to Ray.
    Ray and his mother chatted for another few minutes before he closed the phone and stuck it inside his pocket.
    By then the wine had been delivered and poured. Emily reached for her glass and sipped. She enjoyed wine onoccasion, but this was a much finer quality than she normally drank.
    â€œRayburn?” she said, teasing him by using the same tone his mother had used.
    He groaned. “If you think that’s bad, my little brother’s given name is actually Hadley.”
    â€œHadley?”
    â€œHadley Charles. The minute he was old enough to speak, he refused to let anyone call him Hadley.”
    Emily smiled. “I can’t say I blame him.”
    â€œRayburn isn’t much of an improvement.”
    â€œNo, but it’s better than Hadley.”
    â€œThat depends.” Ray sipped his wine and sat up straighter when the waiter brought the antipasto plate. It was a meal unto itself, with several varieties of sliced meats, cheese, olives and roasted peppers.
    That course was followed by soup and then pasta. Emily was convinced she couldn’t swallow another bite when the main course, a cheese-stuffed chicken dish, was brought out.
    When they’d finished, they lingered over another bottle of wine. Ray leaned forward, elbows resting on the table, and they talked, moving from one subject to the next. Emily had hardly ever met a man who was so easy to talk to. He seemed knowledgeable about any number of subjects.
    â€œYou’re divorced?” he asked, as they turned to more personal matters.
    â€œWidowed. Eleven years ago. Peter was killed when Heather was just a little girl.”
    â€œI’m sorry.”
    â€œThank you.” She could speak of Peter now without pain, but that had taken years. She was a different woman than she’d been back then, as a young wife and mother. “Peter was a good husband and a wonderful father. I still miss him.”
    â€œIs there a reason you’ve never remarried?”
    â€œNot really. I got caught up in Heather’s life and my job. Over the years I’ve dated now and then, but there was never any spark. What about you?”
    He shrugged. “I’ve been consumed by my job for so long, I don’t know what it is to have an ordinary life.”
    This interested Emily. “I’ve always