Read Two Men Walk Into a Bar (At Christmastime) Online

Authors: Katy Regnery

Two Men Walk Into a Bar (At Christmastime) (4 page)

“Help me set the table?” asked Violet, taking four snowman place mats and napkins out of the final gray Walmart bag.

“Of course!” said Savannah, crossing the room in her Rudolph slippers. The noses lit up when she walked, and Violet had insisted that Savannah
needed
them. “Did you pick up anything for Zach? For Christmas?”

Violet handed Savannah four plates, then looked pointedly at her belly. “You don’t think this is enough?” She laughed softly. “Yes. I picked up this tiny little jacket that says ‘Born to Rock’ on the back. Think he’ll get the message?”

“I think he needs to trade in rock and roll for lullabies,” said Savannah, distributing the plates.

“Lullabies,” she said softly. Suddenly, Violet’s lips twitched, and she turned around quickly to open a cabinet holding glasses.

“Violet?” asked Savannah. “You okay?”

She turned around holding three wineglasses and handed them to Savannah, but Savannah couldn’t ignore the tears brimming in Violet’s eyes. She took the glasses and placed them on the table, then turned back around and pulled Violet into her arms. “Hey, now. What’s got you sad?”

Violet rested her head on Savannah’s shoulder. “It’s probably just hormones.”

“Tell me anyway,” said Savannah, rubbing her friend’s back.

“Wherever they are, they’ll be back soon. And I . . . I don’t know . . . I’ve kept this secret for a little while now, and I don’t want to keep it anymore, but I don’t know what he’ll say, and they’ll be here any minute, and I just . . . I want him to be happy, Savannah. Really, really happy.”

Savannah leaned back, beaming at her friend and gently wiping away her tears. “He will be.” She nodded at Violet’s blotchy face. “He loves you. He’ll be happy.”

Violet sniffled, but she managed a smile, nodding her head. “You’re right.” But as she turned back to the kitchen to grab silverware, Savannah heard her murmur, “God, I hope you’re right.”

***

“Well,” said Zach as they stepped into his building’s elevator, “that wasn’t how I expected to spend my Christmas Eve, but it was kind of great, wasn’t it?”

Asher nodded, grinning at his friend and feeling a holiday lightness that had been missing since last night, when the flight delays ruined his Christmas plans. Being at the hospital had put things in perspective for Asher. No, he wasn’t where he wanted to be. But last year he’d spent a quiet Christmas alone in his parents’ big Victorian mansion with no one but Miss Potts for company. He’d been a victim, a recluse, a half man who read books to connect with the outside world and used his injuries as a way to keep humanity at bay. This year? He was married, with the hottest wife east of the Mississippi, and no matter when he got home, she’d be waiting for him.

“Yes, it was,” agreed Asher. “It was a great idea. Thanks for suggesting it.”

Zach stepped out of the elevator at the fifth floor and walked down the hallway to his apartment, but he paused at the door, turning to look at Asher. “Did we leave the TV on?”

Asher shrugged. “I don’t think so, but we left pretty quick.”

“Huh.” Zach pushed the door open.

As Asher followed him into the apartment, the music, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” got louder, but not as loud as Zach yelling, “What the hell?”

And then—like the heavens had opened and plopped his angel exactly where he needed her—he heard Savannah’s voice mixed with another woman’s, exclaiming, “Merry Christmas!”

Pushing Zach out of his way, Asher looked up to find his wife and another woman standing in front of a pink and blue Christmas tree, beaming at him with teary eyes.

“Asher,” she said softly, her sweet lips moving as she said his name.

He crossed the room in two steps, grabbing her cheeks with his palms and dropping his lips to hers without a word. His hands slid backward, his fingers weaving into her hair, pulling her face forward, and he felt her arms wrap around his waist, holding him tightly. She leaned into him, her softness reassuring him that she was actually here, and her mouth opened, welcoming him as she had a thousand times before. When she moaned softly, he pulled back to look at her face. It was slick with tears, but her smile—
Lord, her gorgeous smile
—was huge and happy.

“Surprise,” she said, reaching up to cup his cheek.

“Darlin’,” he said, still afraid that this was some sort of dream. “Where did you come from?”

“Outer space,” she said, still grinning at him.

He chuckled, basking in the warmth of her eyes, in the welcome feeling of her body pressed against his. “Because you’re an alien?”

She nodded. “That’s what my husband says.”

Overcome with the sort of happiness he still didn’t feel he had a right to, he pulled her back into his arms, burying his face in her hair and thanking God for the best Christmas he’d ever had.

***

“How?” asked Zach, searching Violet’s eyes. “How are you here, baby?”

Her curly brown hair was tangled in his fingers as she smiled up at him, and her lips were red and slick from kissing. She looked so hot, so beautiful, he almost pulled her down to the couch, but then remembered that they had guests. He needed his hands on her. Soon.

“It was mostly Savannah,” she said breathlessly. “Well, and Sev.”

“Sev?” he asked, then nodded. “His plane.”

“Yep. He said we could borrow it, but that you’d owe him.”

“I’ll do whatever the fuck he wants. I can’t believe you’re here.” He leaned down and kissed her again, reveling in the slight gasp of surprise that he swallowed and fisting his hands on her back as the kiss deepened, their tongues colliding, their bodies . . .

“Ahem,” said a voice from behind him.

Fuck. Asher. And his wife. Are here.

Zach pulled his lips away from Violet’s and cleared his throat. “More later?”

She nodded, a promise darkening her brown eyes.

Zach turned around, pulling Violet with him so that her back was to his front and his arms were wrapped around her waist.

“Asher, this is Vile.”

Asher’s fingers were laced through his wife’s, so he offered Violet his prosthetic hand. “Very, very happy to meet you.”

“And you,” said Violet, and Zach’s whole body clutched, drawing her closer, undone by the warmth in her voice. She was here. His wife was here.

“This is Savannah,” said Asher to Zach.

Zach released one hand from his wife’s waist and offered it to Savannah. “Thanks for making this happen.”

“We didn’t know what kind of trouble you two would get into if we let you have Christmas out here alone.” She winked at Violet, all sassy, and Zach thought that if anyone was going to get into trouble, it was them, not him and Asher. “California girls and all.”

Asher scoffed, putting his arm around her waist and pulling her close. He kissed her temple. “Are you crazy, woman? I’ve got my hands full with you. Anyway, we were on our best behavior. Singin’ lullabies to veterans.”

“Wait, what?” asked Violet, spinning around in Zach’s arms. Her eyes were wide and searching, scanning his face.

Still holding on to her, he leaned back sharply, staring at her in surprise. “Christmas carols. To veterans over at the UCLA Medical Center.”

“Lullabies?” she asked, her voice a mere thread, her eyes filling with tears.

“Sure, baby. Remember ‘Star Carol’ by Simon and Garfunkel? One of the—”

“Zach,” she whispered, then took a deep breath and held it.

He was starting to feel a little worried.
Why was she crying? Why did she look so upset? What was going on?

“Baby?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Yes . . . what?”

“Baby,” she said softly, reaching behind her back for his hands and bringing them to her belly, where she flattened them, covering them with hers.

When she looked back up at him, he’d never seen anything so beautiful in his entire life. “Wh—you mean? A baby? Us?”

She nodded as tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Vile,” he murmured, his eyes burning, his heart overflowing with so much love, he never even knew that much existed in the world. “We’re having a kid?”

“In July,” she said through tears, her smile beaming.

“I love you. God, I love you,” he whispered, claiming her lips for another kiss. He tasted the salt of their tears mingling together and licked them from her lips.

When he drew back, he grasped her hips and dropped to one knee before her, leaning his forehead against her still-flat belly. He felt her fingers twine gently through his hair as he pushed up her shirt up a little and pressed his lips to the bare skin of her belly.

“I love you too, little one.”

From behind him, he heard a short gasp and turned to see Asher’s arms around Savannah, who faced them, smiling and crying. He watched as she looked at Violet and said, “Look. He’s happy.”

And as though she’d given him permission, Zach stood up and swooped Violet into his arms, spinning her around joyfully as the tune of a brand-new lullaby played softly in his head—in the key of D major, of course, harmonized with the laughter of his child’s mother, which would always be the very sweetest music in the world.

THE END

ALSO AVAILABLE

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a m o d e r n f a i r y t a l e

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

USA Today
bestselling author Katy Regnery
started her writing career by enrolling in a short story class in January 2012. One year later, she signed her first contract for a winter romance entitled
By Proxy
.

Now exclusively self-published, Katy claims authorship of the multititled Blueberry Lane Series, which follows the English, Winslow, Rousseau, Story, and Ambler families of Philadelphia; the four-book, bestselling ~a modern fairytale~ series;
Playing for Love at Deep Haven
; and a stand-alone novella,
Frosted
.

Katy’s first modern fairytale romance,
The Vixen & the Vet
, was nominated for a RITA® in 2015 and won the 2015 Kindle Book Award for romance. Four of her books—
The Vixen & the Vet
(a modern fairytale),
Never Let You Go
(a modern fairytale),
Falling for Fitz
(The English Brothers #2), and
By Proxy
(Heart of Montana #1)—have been #1 genre bestsellers on Amazon. Katy’s boxed set, The English Brothers Boxed Set, Books #1–4, hit the
USA Today
bestseller list in 2015.

Katy lives in the relative wilds of northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, where her writing room looks out at the woods, and her husband, two young children, and two dogs create just enough cheerful chaos to remind her that the very best love stories begin at home.

Upcoming (2016) Projects
:

Ginger’s Heart
, a modern fairytale

Restoring Love at Bolton Castle
, Enchanted Places #2

Jonquils for Jax
, The Rousseaus #1 (The Blueberry Lane Series #12)
Marry Me Mad
, The Rousseaus #2 (The Blueberry Lane Series #13)
J.C. and the Bijoux Jolis
, The Rousseaus #3 (The Blueberry Lane Series #14)