Page 10 of A Fool's Game

I narrow my eyes and prepare to voice my concern for her safety, but she stops me by lifting on her toes and pressing her lips to mine.

Just a peck. Just the lightest brush.

And then she pulls away.

I lean forward, nearly stumbling as I fail to move my feet to catch my weight, chasing the feeling of her mouth on mine.

But she just smiles and takes another step backward. “Thanks for walking me home.”

“Anytime,” I say. But what I mean is, I will walk you home every day for the rest of our lives. But, as much of a fool as I apparently am, I’m not foolish enough to say that out loud.

“See you around?” she offers, taking another step backward.

I shake my head, stepping forward even as she reaches the steps and starts backing up them. “No. Nope. Not ‘see you around’. I need more than that.”

It’s desperate, and maybe even a little threatening, but Gem doesn’t seem put off by my words. “Let’s not forget that we don’t know each other at all, remember? You just learned I existed. How can you know what you want from me?”

“I just know. I feel like I just stepped out of the fog of my life and there you were. And we don’t know each other, that’s true. But we have to start somewhere. Why not here?”

She takes another step up. I don’t chase her, my feet firmly planted on the sidewalk where she left me.

“You might regret making such bold claims when you learn more about me,” she says.

“Impossible.”

That earns me a laugh. “Impossible, huh? There’s nothing Icould tell you right now that would send you packing, regretting ever sharing fish and chips with me one lonely Christmas night?”

I shake my head. “Nope. Serial killer, witness protection member, future IRS agent…I’ll take it all.”

Her smile gives me courage, and I plow forward, reckless now, desperate not to be left here without a promise of a next time. “I’ve been stumbling along on a path I thought I wanted, but all I’ve learned is that I know nothing. Whatever you know, teach me. Wherever you’re going, I think it’s where I’m supposed to go too. How else can you explain how we both ended up right here, right now?”

She’s shaking her head but still smiling. “You have my number, fool. Call me.”

Her feet reach the porch at the top of the stairs, and she pauses there for a moment. I can't think of anything else to say so I just nod asshe disappears into the shadows of the porch, out of view from my vantage point at the bottom of the wide, wooden steps. I hear her keys and see the door swing open.

“Goodnight,” she calls.

“Goodnight,” I manage to call back just before the front door closes. I hear the deadbolt slide into place. “Merry Christmas.”

I force myself to play it cool for a block or so, until I’m sure I'm out of view of the house, before taking a running leap and whooping in joy, nearly ending up on my ass.

That strange, magical, beautiful, mysterious woman likes me. She gave me her number. This Christmas is turning out okay after all.

And it’s one hundred percent due to my celebratory state of mind, completely filled with fantasies about calling her up and taking her out, that I fail to see them coming.

“Nice jacket, kid. Bet your wallet’s just as nice…”

Chapter 4

Gemma

Iclose the front door and stand with my back pressed to the cool, hard wood, trying to absorb some of its calm.

It doesn’t work.

The squeal that escapes my lips rings out high pitched and joyful, even with my fingers pressed tightly over my mouth.

I spin and peek through one of the high, rectangular windows on the door to make sure Ainsley isn’t still standing there, listening to me lose it like a little girl on Christmas morning.

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