The Christmas Dare Read online

  “I’m planning on running for governor in the next election, and I want you to be my campaign manager.” He named a starting salary commensurate for a top-tier campaign manager.

  Kelsey’s jaw dropped open. “You’re not serious.”

  “I am dead serious.”

  Her mind churned because it was a phenomenal opportunity. “My mother would have a fit.”

  The second the words were out of her mouth, Kelsey felt a swamp of things.

  One, the urgent need to usher Lionel Berg out of the room before her mother caught a whiff of what was going on.

  Two, pique at her father for blindsiding her like this.

  Three, a strange, waterlogged feeling as if she had been drowning in the middle of the ocean and someone had just thrown her a life preserver.

  Four, a fluttering deep within her chest that tempted what if, what if, what if?

  “So that’s a solid no?” Berg asked.

  “No, no.” Her father waved his hands like he was trying to hail a taxi. “We’ve just taken Kelsey by surprise, she needs time to think.”

  “Dad, what is going on here?”

  “Lionel needs a campaign manager, and you’re a great one. You got him booted from office, after all,” Theo said.

  “Forgive my father,” Kelsey said and grabbed Theo’s elbow. “He has a tendency to get overly excited.”

  “But you don’t.” Berg’s eyes glistened. “You have a knack for staying calm when those around you are losing their heads.”

  “I’ve never managed a campaign of that magnitude. It’s beyond my skill set.”

  “You underestimate yourself. I’ve been watching you closely, Kelsey. You have what it takes to be a star.”

  “Why would you want me?” Kelsey said. “Other than to gig my mother? There are plenty of other campaign managers out there with far more experience.”

  “I hate to see your mother bring you down.”

  Kelsey settled her hands on her hips. “Because you care about me so much?”

  “I want you on my team. I’d rather have you with me than against me.”

  Kelsey stared at him. “This has nothing to do with you being upset that my mother won the election?”

  “I’ve got better things to do than cross swords with your mother.” Berg shot her father a withering look. “I thought you said she’d jump at the chance.”

  “Jump might have been a strong word.” Theo rubbed his jaw. “But we sprang this on her.”

  “After I just got stood up at the altar,” Kelsey reminded him.

  “I apologize for the bad timing,” Berg said. “But I wanted to strike while the iron was hot.”

  “You mean catch me when I’m down?”

  “Listen, coming here today was your father’s idea.” Berg raised his palms in a gesture of surrender. “Why don’t I leave you my card, and you can let me know by the New Year whether this is an opportunity you want to take advantage of or not. Understand one thing, Kelsey. I want you for you. Not to upset your mother’s applecart.” Berg pulled his card from his pocket, pressed it into her hand, and left the room.

  Theo took the last hit of Fireball.

  “Did that actually just happen?” she asked her father.

  He shrugged and had the decency to look sheepish. “Look, Berg has long admired your political savvy. He’s asked me about you all the time. It’s not so strange that he would ask you to be his campaign manager.”

  “How did you get here so fast? I got stood up less than an hour ago.”

  “We were playing golf at the course down the road.”

  “You were playing golf on my wedding day?”

  “Near the church. I was coming to the reception. I had a suit in the car. What was I supposed to do? You let your mother ban me from your wedding.”

  Heat flushed up Kelsey’s neck. He was right.

  “Your cousin, Pamela, texted me what happened, and we came on over.”

  Pamela was her mother’s older brother’s daughter. She was a year younger than Kelsey and a bit of a busybody who enjoyed stirring up trouble. Out of self-preservation, Kelsey tended to avoid her, but Filomena insisted she invite her only first cousin to the wedding. She couldn’t help but think that a bit of schadenfreude was behind Pamela’s sudden chumminess with her father.

  “So, you didn’t come to console me?” Disappointment huddled her shoulders up to her ears.

  “Of course, I did, Kelsey . . .” He paused.

  “And?”

  “I took a chance, okay? Maybe it’s blowing up in my face, but dammit Kelsey, I had to try.”

  “Try what, Dad?” A snail of wariness crawled through her.

  “To pry you from your mother’s grip. She’s got her hooks into you so deep, and until you can put some distance between the two of you, I don’t think you’ll ever be able to see exactly how much you allow her to control you.”

  “Oh, Dad,” she said.

  Nothing had changed. Her parents were still using her as a tug-of-war toy. Theo was mad that Filomena had banned him from the wedding and he was using Berg to even the score. “Can’t you see how you’re doing the very same thing?”

  Chapter 4

  “Was that Mayor Berg I saw with Theo?” Tasha bounced into the room and glanced over her shoulder in the direction she’d just come.

  “It was.” Kelsey plopped onto the bench again.

  “Why was he here?”

  “To offer me a job.”

  “Huh?” Tasha sank down beside Kelsey. “Doing what?”

  “Managing his campaign. He’s running for governor.”

  “No shit!”

  “It wasn’t a real offer. Just something my dad cooked up to get back at my mom.” Kelsey waved a dismissive hand.

  “Same old yo-yo, huh?”

  Kelsey sighed again. “I should be used to it by now.”

  “How do you know the offer isn’t real? You shouldn’t sell yourself short. You are a damn fine campaign manager.”

  “I have a feeling that both of them just want to get a dig in at my mom.”

  “There is a long line of people who want to do that,” Tasha mumbled.

  “What’s that?”

  “Never mind.”

  “I know my mother can be difficult, but I can manage her. She needs someone in her corner.”

  “Forget Filomena for now. Let’s stay focused on what’s important.”

  “Which is?”

  “A two-week, set-Kelsey-free, nonstop par-tay!” Grinning, Tasha held up her cell phone. “Got it all right here. I found the perfect spot. A getaway tailored to fit you.”

  “So somewhere quiet? Fireplace? Snow? Lots of books? No electronics? No crowds?”

  Tasha rolled her eyes. “Lordie, you are such a comfort kitty. You hate to stretch and grow.”

  “That’s not true. I read all the time.”

  “You read waaay too much. If I didn’t keep pushing you to have fun, you’d spend ninety percent of your free time in a bubble bath with a novel.”

  “And what is wrong with that?”

  “Comfort kitty.”

  “Put that on a T-shirt for me. I’d wear it . . . proudly.”

  “Of course, you would.” Tasha made a time-out sign with her hands. “Here’s the deal. No books allowed on this trip.”

  “Aww, I thought you wanted me to have a good time.”

  “You will. Trust me.”

  “Please don’t tell me it’s Disney World.” Kelsey winced. “I can’t handle that much happy holiday cheer.”

  “Hells to the no on that mess. I’m up for adult entertainment.”

  “Not Vegas!” Kelsey tried not to whine. She loved her friend, but Tasha could be a force of nature.

  “I’m not gonna tell you where. It’s a surprise.”

  “Please tell me it’s not Christmas themed.”

  “It’s December, Kels.” Tasha lowered her chin and her eyelashes and gave Kelsey her patented get-on-board-with-the-program stare. �
��Everything is Christmas themed.”

  Kelsey gnawed a thumbnail. “I’m not sure I want to do this.”

  “Too bad.” Tasha lifted her shoulders and dropped them hard. “Girlfriend, you need to step up your game. It’s already done.”

  “I don’t have to go.”

  “What are you going to do? Hang around the house and mope?”

  “I could get started on the mayor’s agenda for the new year.”

  “Seriously?”

  “What?”

  Tasha shook her head and clicked her tongue. “You don’t even realize that you’ve given up your own life in favor of your mother, do you?”

  “I haven’t,” Kelsey denied.

  “Okay, name the last thing you did that was totally all about you.”

  Kelsey blinked. When was the last time she’d done something just for herself? “Um . . . um . . .”

  “Can’t think of anything, can you?”

  “I read—”

  Tasha held up a stop sign palm. “Books do not count.”

  It was a bit frightening to realize that she couldn’t come up with a single thing she’d done in the last few years that didn’t revolve around her mother’s career. Even her engagement was part of Mom’s plan.

  “I hang out with you. Mom doesn’t like that.”

  “It’s a huge responsibility being your only window into the outside world,” Tasha quipped.

  “You make it sound like I’m a prisoner.”

  “If the shoe fits and all that . . .”

  “I like being her campaign manager,” Kelsey argued, ignoring the knot forming in her stomach.

  “Do you? Do you really?”

  “Well, Mom can be a handful, but I enjoy the work. I’m great at organizing and keeping things running smoothly. There’s really nothing else I’d rather be doing.”

  “How do you know? You’ve never done anything else.”

  “I was a camp counselor once.”

  “That doesn’t count. You were a teenager.”

  “I got paid.” Kelsey lifted her chin. “That makes it a real job.”

  “Semantics. Admit it. You’re scared of change.”

  “I wouldn’t say scared.”

  “Terrified?”

  “Reluctant.”

  “Petrified?”

  “A creature of habit.”

  “Frozen in time. You and the dinosaurs.”

  “Resistant maybe,” Kelsey admitted. “I’m a methodical person. There is nothing wrong with that.”

  “Maybe not, but it’s boring.”

  “You don’t cut me any slack.”

  “And that’s why you keep me around.” Tasha patted her hair like a preening princess. “Plus, I love you to pieces.”

  “I feel stuck.” Okay, now she was being a Gloomy Gus, and that just wasn’t like her. She might never be Little Miss Sunshine—she was too much of a realist for that—but she worked hard to keep a good outlook.

  “I know.” Tasha wriggled her eyebrows. “And boy howdy, have I got a big surprise lined up. We’re gonna blast you right out of that rut.”

  “And if I say no?”

  “Aww, c’mon. You never say yes to anything.”

  “That’s not true. I was about to say yes to Clive.”

  “But you did-dent.” Tasha emphasized the last syllable with an exaggerated vocal fry and waggled an index finger.

  “Not my doing. I was prepared to say ‘I do.’”

  “Okay, one instance. I’ll give you that. But overall, you don’t welcome new experiences with open arms.”

  “I welcomed you into my life.”

  “That you did, and look, your life is so much better because of me.” Tasha laughed her robust laugh.

  “Can’t argue with that.”

  “So, trust me?”

  Kelsey heaved another long-suffering sigh. “Okay, what do you have in mind?”

  “It’s a surprise, remember?”

  “No hints?”

  “I’ll give you a clue.”

  “Your secrecy is not making me want to say yes.”

  “Give me a chance,” Tasha wheedled. “It’ll be fun. I promise.”

  “What precisely will be fun?”

  Tasha clasped her hands and a Cheshire cat grin crossed her face. “Why, a Christmas of ‘Yes.’”

  “What does that mean?” Kelsey narrowed her eyes and her voice.

  “My twist on Shonda Rhimes’s Year of Yes. See? I brought a book into the mix. I know you’ve read it.”

  Kelsey had read the book. It was very inspiring, but she was nervous about applying the concept to herself. “What do you have up your sleeve?”

  “You have to say yes to five challenges that scare you from now until New Year’s. Shonda did it for a whole year. I’m only asking you for two weeks and five measly challenges.”

  “Yeah, well, she’s Shonda Rhimes.”

  “But she wasn’t always. That’s the point.”

  “She was born with another name?”

  “Smart-ass,” Tasha said. “That’s the spirit. Fist bump.”

  Smiling, Kelsey bumped Tasha’s extended fist.

  “So, who issues these challenges?” Kelsey asked.

  “Me.”

  “Where do you come up with them?”

  “Make ’em up as we go along, based on what we encounter on our adventures.”

  “I’m not sure I like the sound of that.” Kelsey folded her arms over her chest. “I’m not doing anything illegal.”

  “Of course not. I wouldn’t ask that. You in?” Tasha put out her fist again.

  Reluctantly, Kelsey bumped. “But I’m scared.”

  “Ooh, perfect. Say good-bye to Comfort Kitty.” Tasha’s phone dinged, and she pulled it out of her purse and peered down at the screen. “The Uber is here. You ready?”

  “No—”

  Tasha gave her a chiding look. “A Christmas of ‘Yes.’ It’s the central theme of this trip. So, let’s try this again. Are you ready?”

  “Yesss.” Kelsey got up and located her purse. “Let’s get this over with.”

  Tasha clucked her tongue. “Don’t be such a Debbie Downer.”

  “Okay.” Kelsey circled her wrists as if she were holding lit Fourth of July sparklers. “Yay.”

  “False enthusiasm. I’ll take it.” Tasha pulled a blue silk scarf from her purse that was supposed to have been Kelsey’s something blue. “But first,” she said, “a blindfold.”

  “A blindfold?” Kelsey balked.

  “It won’t be a surprise if you know where we’re going.”

  “Tasha.”

  “Kelsey.”

  “This is over-the-top.”

  “Does that make you uncomfortable?”

  “You know it does.”

  “Bye-bye, Comfort Kitty.”

  “Are the next two weeks going to be like this?”

  “Yup.” Tasha fluttered the scarf. “Turn around.”

  “We don’t need the scarf. I’ll keep my eyes closed.”

  “The blindfold is part of the deal. Are you in or out?”

  “I—”

  “In or out?”

  Kelsey opened her mouth, shut it again. The muscle in her eye ticked wildly.

  “Yes or no?” Tasha asked.

  Kelsey nodded. Barely. “I only agree to this because the alternative of spending Christmas alone with Filomena on a sulk sucks.”

  “I know. Blindfold?”

  “Meow.” Kelsey purred.

  “That’s the spirit.” Tasha sidled closer, the scarf stretched between both hands. “Here goes nothing. Commit to a Christmas of ‘Yes,’” she whispered dramatically.

  “I—”

  “No more stalling. The Uber is gonna leave without us. Kelsey James, make a promise, make a vow. Gather your courage and do it now. I dare you.”

  Kelsey and Tasha spent the night in the honeymoon suite at the Ritz-Carlton, which Kelsey was supposed to have shared with Clive. They’d no more than walked
in when Filomena texted Where R U?

  Belatedly, it dawned on Kelsey that she hadn’t told her mother where she was going. She’d gotten too caught up in Tasha’s scheme.

  “Don’t answer her,” Tasha said.

  Kelsey shot her friend a look. “As if I could get away with that.”

  “Then don’t answer her right away. You reinforce her behavior when you jump to do her bidding.”

  “She signs my paychecks.”

  “Part of the problem,” Tasha mumbled from one side of her mouth.

  Kelsey chose to ignore that and texted back: Since I won’t be having a honeymoon, Tasha and I R going on vacation for 2 wks.

  Filomena: Now? How dare you run out on me.

  Kelsey winced. I was going 2 B gone anyway.

  Filomena: But it’s Xmas.

  Kelsey bit her bottom lip. Being snide with Filomena always boomeranged but she couldn’t help texting: Dec wedding was UR idea.

  Filomena: Well!!! What am I supposed to do while you’re traipsing around with Tosha?

  Kelsey grunted.

  “Did she misspell my name again?” Tasha asked.

  “You know she did.”

  “She does it on purpose.”

  “I’ve told her a million times it’s Tasha, not Tosha.”

  “To minimalize me.”

  “I know.” Kelsey sighed. This was why she didn’t want to go on a trip. Her mother made such a big deal out of everything. Much easier to stay home than buck her. Kelsey met Tasha’s gaze. “Maybe I should just—”

  “No.” Tasha held up the blindfold that Kelsey had taken off when they arrived at the Ritz. “You accepted my dare.” Tasha pointed at Kelsey’s phone. “Make it clear you are not giving in.”

  Filomena: Kelsey? R U there?

  Kelsey: Mom, just do what U were going to do while I was on my honeymoon.

  Filomena: But U R not on your honeymoon.

  Kelsey: Pretend I am.

  Filomena: Will you be home for Xmas?

  Kelsey: We’ll C.

  Filomena: We’ll C!!! We’ll C!!! What’s that supposed to mean?

  Kelsey: I need alone time.

  Filomena: But U R not alone. U R with her.

  Kelsey groaned.

  Filomena: Where R U going? Where will U be?