Mistletoe and Miracles

That wasn’t true, but there was no point in going around and around about it. “I didn’t come here to spar with you.”

Sighing, Kelsey dragged her hand through a torrent of long blond hair.

“Okay, why did you come?” she asked.

Trent took a seat on the edge of her bed. “I need a favor.”

She didn’t have time for this, she thought. As it was, she was only averaging about four hours of sleep a night. “And I need to learn how to do without sleep,” she lamented.

Sympathy emerged. He wasn’t all that removed from his college years. “That bad?” he asked.

She sighed before gesturing at the books on her bed. “Pretty much.”

Trent got up, careful not to send anything else sliding. “Sorry I bothered you.”

He was leaving? Without telling her what he wanted? Her sense of curiosity wouldn’t allow it. “Hey, wait, where are you going?”

Trent stopped short of the doorway, looking at her over his shoulder. “The favor I need requires time and you obviously don’t have any.”

Kelsey caught her lower lip between her teeth. Damn him. Trent knew how to push her buttons.

She gestured for him to come back in. If that hadn’t worked, she would have hopped off the bed and physically pulled him back. But she didn’t have to. Trent returned under his own steam. “You came here to talk to me, you might as well talk.”

Trying not to smile, Trent sat down on the edge of the bed again. This time the action created an undercurrent and another textbook slid off on the other side.

Watching it, Kelsey struggled with a momentary desire to send all the textbooks to the floor with one grand, angry sweep of her arm.

Trent’s eyes held hers. Hers were a darker shade than his. His expression was completely serious. This was important and he was making a judgment call. “I need you to tutor someone for me.”

Something stirred within her. This was the first time any of her brothers had asked her to do something involving the vocation she’d finally decided on. Trent was treating her as an equal, as an adult. She’d finally lived to see the day.

For as long as she could remember—after she’d given up, at seven, the notion of being the first queen of the United States, she’d wanted to become a teacher. Not just a teacher but one who worked with children who had special needs, specifically the families who couldn’t afford special schools to help their children catch up with their peers.

“What’s wrong with him?” she asked, then made a guess, choosing the most common problem. “Dyslexia?”

If only, Trent thought.

He began by giving his sister the positive side first. “Cody’s really very bright.” During an extended lunch, he’d gone to Cody’s school to talk to his teachers. The ones who had taught him before the accident. Once Trent had made the teachers comfortable with his reasons for asking—and his credentials—he had gotten what he was after. Confirmation.

If anything, Laurel had downplayed the boy’s abilities. Before his father’s death, Cody’d had read at a fourth-grade level while still in the first grade and, according to his teacher, Mrs. Bayon, he had been articulate, outgoing and happy.

“But his father died a year ago and Cody withdrew from everyone,” Trent told her. “His grades are all down. He’s on the way to failing everything but sandbox one-o-one.” He knew that would elicit pity from Kelsey and, judging from the look in her eyes, he was right.

“Why?” she asked. “Lots of kids lose a parent early in life. They don’t all respond like this. You didn’t. Trevor, Travis and Mike didn’t. Dad told me,” she added when he looked at her, mildly curious. “What makes Cody different?”

“Well, for one thing, he was with his father when he was killed in a car accident.”

“Oh.” Incredibly empathetic, Kelsey instantly thought how she would have felt if she’d been in that situation. Her heart twisted and went out to the boy she hadn’t even met. That made up her mind for her. “When would you want me to get started?”

He had known he could count on her. “As soon as possible.” And then a stab of guilt made him ask, “Can you?”

She shrugged. “I could eke out a few hours on Saturday and Sunday,” she speculated. “Maybe an hour or two during the week.”

He didn’t want to put her out, but he also knew in his gut that she was the right one for the job. “Anything would be great, really.”

He sounded so enthused. A red light went off in her head. This was, after all, her brother, the one who used to plant crickets in her bed. Was this some kind of setup?

At the very least, she needed reasons. “Why come to me?”

Trent’s answer was simple. “Because you’re good at it.”

She thought that herself. But there was a flaw in his answer. “You’ve never seen me work with kids.”

He smiled at her. He didn’t blame her for being leery. He’d done his share of teasing when it came to Kelsey. They all had. But Kelsey could hold her own with the best of them, which was why he knew he had been right to come to her.

“Call it instinct,” he answered. “I know when you do something, you don’t do it by half measures. And you’ve had experience, student teaching. You don’t get the kind of grades you do by slacking off.” Kate had told him all the effort Kelsey put into her projects with the children. Only a completely dedicated person would go those extra miles.

Kelsey looked at him for a long moment, stunned. “That is probably the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

He grinned, nodding. “Yeah, it probably is,” Trent agreed. “Don’t let it go to your head. By the way, I don’t expect you to do this for free. I’m going to pay you.”

“You couldn’t afford me,” she informed him. She didn’t want his money—she wanted his soul, she thought, swallowing a chuckle. “I’ll figure out some way for you to pay me back.”

“Should I be afraid?” Trent deadpanned.

Kelsey paused for a moment, pretending to think about it. And then she nodded. “Yeah.”

He had to get going. Rising from the bed, he kissed the top of her head. “You’re the best.”

“About time you noticed that,” she sniffed, pretending that the comment didn’t get to her.

“I’ll get back to you and fill you in on the details,” he promised, beginning to leave. And then he remembered that he’d left out something. “Oh, one more thing. Cody doesn’t talk.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Doesn’t talk?” she echoed in surprise.

Trent took a couple of steps back toward the bed. “Not a word since the accident.” He watched Kelsey for a moment. Was she going to back out? He didn’t think so, but there was always that chance.

And then she sighed as she shook her head. “You do like giving me a challenge, don’t you?”

He let go of the breath he’d been holding. “Nothing I don’t think you’re up to.”

Her mouth dropped open for a beat, and then she rallied. “Damn, two compliments in one session and me without my recorder.”

His hand on the door, Trent winked at her. “Next time.”

“Yeah, like there’s going to be one,” she murmured, getting back to her studies.

Trent closed the door behind him, grinning.