The thought of her brother acting like a king peacock made Katie giggle. “Oh, that had to be priceless to watch.”

“What’s sad is how much Jessie wants to disregard him.”

Now they were getting to the meat of the conversation. “Why do you think that is?”

“She’s scared. It’s that simple. Danny is her world. That’s my nephew. I’m sure Jack told you about him.”

Katie swallowed hard. The smile on her face fell, and her throat tightened. “Yeah. He said something about her son.”

“When you have a kid, things aren’t as cut and dry. She’s always been a worrier. Our mom isn’t exactly a stellar example of stability,” Monica told her.

“Neither is ours.”

“Well, Jessie wants to be nothing like our mom. I think if Jack had taken everything a little slower, things would be different.”

Katie liked Monica already. “I can see we are going to get along very well.”

“I think so, too. Maybe we can get them both to see reason.”

Not with a bunch of lies hiding under the tangled web. “Monica, there are some things about Jack that you should both know, but I’m not going to share those secrets. It’s not my place.”

“Oh God…please tell me Jack isn’t in some kind of trouble. No Texas Mounties or whatever you call them are after him or anything?”

“No! Texas Mounties. That’s funny, Monica. No, Jack doesn’t have a record or any hidden bad side.” Quite the opposite.

“Oh, good.”

“Just tell me one thing.” Katie waited for Monica to speak.

“What?”

“Does your sister love my brother?”

Monica chuckled. “She cries every day and hasn’t eaten a whole lot since he left. She tells me she ‘can’t’ love him, but I know love when I see it. Your brother and my sister are made for each other.”

Katie felt her heart swell. “Then you keep your sister occupied until I can get my brother’s head on straight.”

“She has Danny, Christmas, work…and me. She’s busy.”

“Just remind her that Jack’s one of the good guys. He is, by the way.”

“Neither of us thought differently. Like I said. She’s just scared.”

“Yeah, well, I’m more scared of what it’s going to look like if they don’t make it. Jack was a mess.”

“Same with Jessie.”

Katie smiled. “So you and I will work together and make this work. Well, as much as we can, anyway.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Monica said before hanging up the phone.

Katie held the phone in her hand. “Now all I have to do is make Jack realize she loves him.”

Even with Christmas music playing and Danny tapping on the outside of packages, Jessie’s mood circled the drain of life. Even the weather gave its ugly opinion as rain ran down the window of the apartment. It had only been a handful of days since Jack walked out of her life, but it felt like she hadn’t smiled in months.

Damn, she missed him.

Danny missed him, too. In fact, when she’d shown Danny the car for the first time, his first reaction was to call Jack.

Even now, Danny talked about Jack and the car. “We should go get Jack and take him for a ride,” Danny said from across the room.

“Jack is kind of busy right now.” Telling her son they might not ever see him again made her sick to her stomach. She couldn’t take any more hits. Danny would mourn the loss of Jack as much as she did. More, probably, because he couldn’t understand what had driven him away.

“Is he coming over on Christmas? We should invite him. His family is all the way in Texas, you know.”

“He’ll probably go home for Christmas, Danny.”

“But he can come here. He doesn’t even have to buy any presents or anything. He can play with me and my new toys. He said he likes to play with trucks.”

Jessie bit her tongue and tried a smile. “I’ll play trucks with you.”

“I know, but Jack says he used to play with trucks for hours when he was a kid.”

Danny reached under the tree and shook another box.

There was underwear in it. Not exactly a toy or a truck, but something to unwrap. She needed to do some more shopping, but Santa…or in her case, Mrs. Claus…was really broke. Jessie had made Monica promise not to buy her a thing and to spend anything she wanted on her son.

“I’m sure he did.”

“Did you play with trucks when you were a kid, Mommy?”

Jessie pushed away from the window and moved to her son’s side. “Aunt Monica and I played with dolls.”

“Dolls?” Danny squished his face into a look of disgust. “Why?”

She sat on the sofa and pulled a pillow into her lap. “Probably because we didn’t have a brother to show us how cool trucks were.”

Danny liked that answer. “Well, when I get a little sister, I’m going to show her how epic trucks are.” Epic was the new adjective of choice in his kindergarten class. The first time she’d heard him use it, she doubled over laughing. Not that the word was funny, but such a strong word coming from her small son was strange.

Epic wasn’t the word she was stuck on now. “Do you want a little sister?”

Danny returned the underwear gift and started over from gift one to shake and guess. “Yeah…sure. Or a brother. Grown-ups don’t like to play as much as kids. And sometimes you’re tired. So, yeah…it would be fun having a sister or a brother. That way we can move in together when we’re older like you and Auntie Monica.”