Blue Christmas (The Moody Blue Trilogy | Book One) by Diane Moody Page A

mobbed?”
    “Oh yeah. Think
about it. Remember NSync? Other than Timberlake, would you recognize one of
those guys if he walked in the door right now? Or the Spice Girls? If you ran
into one of them at the store, would you know who she was? See, right now it’s
hard to imagine going back to a normal life, but it’ll come.”
    Hannah snuggled
deeper into the sofa, wrapping her arms around herself. Jason grabbed a quilt
off the back of the sofa and threw it over both of them. “Thanks, Jason. But
how will you handle it in here?” she asked, tapping her heart. “How will you
look in that mirror and say, ‘nobody knows who I am anymore’? How will you
accept that and be okay about it? Think about what a major adjustment
that will be. I wouldn’t think most people would handle it very well.”
    “I understand what
you’re getting at. I think about it all the time. But I think I’m going to be so ready for the change when it comes. Ready to live a normal life again. I also give
my parents some credit for instilling standards in my life that keep me on a
reality check. Since the beginning of all this. They hold my feet to the fire
and remind me who I am. And they pray for me all the time, too. That makes a
huge difference.”
    He tucked the
quilt around his legs. “Now it’s my turn.”
    “Your turn for
what?”
    “To ask you a
question.”
    “Fire away,” she moaned
through a yawn.
    “Right now,
tonight . . . when you think about this—I mean . . .”
    “You’re stammering.
Spit it out, McKenzie.”
    “When we met
tonight, you were pretty star struck.”
    She snorted. “That’s
an understatement. Your point?”
    “So right here,
right now. Who are you with? Me the celebrity, or me, the son of the lady who
came through your lane at the store? I guess I’m wondering if you can get past
the other stuff.”
    She stared into
the fire. Tough question. Throughout the night she had not once forgotten that
this was THE Jason McKenzie. The butterflies, the adrenaline. He was, after
all, the idol of her teenage years. His picture had once plastered the walls of
her room; his songs, engraved on her heart forever.
    Could she ever
think of him any other way? He wasn’t just any ordinary guy. To think of him as
a regular person, someone she could actually be “friends” with? Good question.
Tonight had been so amazing. He already felt like a friend. He made it so easy.
So incredibly easy.
    “Jason, it would
be impossible for me to forget who you are. I’ve had such a ridiculous crush on
you for so many years, it isn’t funny. Long after all my friends outgrew
teen idol fantasies, if you must know.” She felt her cheeks warm again. “But
after getting to know you tonight—spending this time with you and your family—it’s
like I’ve gotten to know someone else entirely. I can’t separate what you are from who you are. But I can tell you this much.”
    “What?”
    “I like the person
I’ve spent this evening with. He’s very real.”
    “Fair enough.”
    They talked for
hours. They talked about life and dreams and family and friends. They never
watched a movie. Hannah smiled at the thought. With sleepy eyes, she watched the
fire slowly die, leaving behind only glowing embers coated with ash.
     

     
    Around 8:00 on Christmas morning, Laura padded down the hall with Frank close behind her. Finding
Jason’s bedroom door open and his room empty, they also noticed Hannah’s door
was open—her room also deserted. They stopped by the loft, smiling at the sight.
Tiptoeing over to the sofa, they discovered Jason sitting with his head tilted
back against the cushions, his long legs stretched out on the coffee table. Snuggled
beneath a quilt, Hannah lay with her head on a pillow in his lap, Jason’s fingers
woven through the dark tendrils of her hair. His soft snores made them smile.
    Frank rolled his
eyes. “My son. Ever the heartbreaker.”
    Laura sighed
happily, wrapping her arms around her