Page 43 of Unwrapped

“I’m acting like a scared little girl? Well, how the hell are you acting right now? You knew the situation from the beginning. This is exactly why I was reluctant, but you decided to pursue me. We both agreed to wait and find the best time to tell her.”

I take the bag and throw it over my shoulder. That move causes her to come and stand before me, her stance determined.

“I didn’t agree to shit!” I yell, slamming my hand against the wall. This obviously shocks her because she takes an involuntary step back. I lower my hand from the wall as well as my voice. “Think back, Miranda. I wanted to tell her right away, remember? The very first night you came here, I told you I wanted to tell her, but what did you do? You ended things. When you came back, I told you I disagreed with waiting. So, no.Wedidn’t agree.Youdecided.”

“Let’s talk, okay. I’m sorry about yesterday but seeing her there was the last thing I was expecting.” She reaches for my hands, and this time I don’t immediately pull away from her touch. “Maybe I handled it all wrong, but you know I love you.”

I pull my hands away and take a step back. “That’s what you say, but your actions don’t show it. I’ve opened up my entire world to you. From the very beginning. I’ve introduced you to my family. You come and go, but I’m your dirty little secret.” I take a deep breath and prepare myself for my next words. “Go to work, Miranda. I need some distance, and I need time to think about things.”

“Think about what things?” she yells. “Are you thinking of ending things?”

I can’t even fathom the thought of ending things, but I know I can’t keep going the way things are. “I said I need to think!”

“You’re being ridiculous! I came here to make you breakfast and tell you my plans, and you need space to think? You’re the one who’s acting like a scared little boy because I didn’t tell something of this magnitude to my mother in the place where I work. How the hell do you think it would have turned out?” She grabs my hands again and puts them on her face. “Let’s talk. I told you I have it all figured out. It’s best if my father is there when we tell her, we have to tell him first. Mom is all emotion, but Daddy is logical and pragmatic. We’ll tell him, and then when Mom gets home, the three of us will sit down with her and tell her everything. We’ll deal with the consequences, okay?”

“Do what you need, Miranda, but I need to go.” I drop her hands and grab my bag. She comes running after me, practically colliding into my back.

“Go where? For how long? Why are you doing this? You’ve been after me to tell her all these weeks, and when I finally figure out a way, you leave town! What the hell is your problem?” She screams the last part as she walks around me, holding out her arms as she blocks my path. I put both hands on her waist, lift her, and set her aside. She’s right behind me as I walk down the steps.

“Answer me!”

“Fine. Stay. I’m leaving.”

I yank open the front hall closet and pull out a coat, but when I look at her, I have to look away when she starts wiping the tears from her face.

“You’re such a jerk, Nicholas Bain! You accuse me of being immature but look at how you’re acting. Fine. Go and think about how you’re punishing me over a situation I didn’t create. This was our problem from the beginning, but I’m here to work it out while you run away. And you call me the immature one.”

She picks up her coat, and without even putting it on, she walks out the front door. I want to pull her back in, tell her to put on her coat, but I hold back. She runs to her car and climbs inside, but she doesn’t drive away immediately. She puts her head on the steering wheel and leaves it there for several seconds. Then, she lifts her head, shakes it, and starts the car.

She backs out of my driveway, never once looking back in my direction again. It takes all my willpower not to jump in my truck and chase her down.

Like an idiot, I sit on my bottom step and put my head in both hands. So much for talking like a rational adult. I don’t know how long I sit there, but my phone vibrates in my pocket sometime later.

Pretty Girl: I never meant to hurt you.

I watch as the three bubbles appear, and I wait for her next message, but it never comes. Eventually, I put the phone back in my pocket and leave the house.

CHAPTER 29

MIRANDA

I do my best to keep a smile on my face. Like on autopilot, I ring up customer after customer, grateful for not having to make much conversation. This I can do. The robotic monotony of using the cash register, putting the items in bags, and handing them to customers, all with a smile I don’t feel; I can do that all day.

With less than a week left until Christmas, the store is packed with customers. With a small crane of my neck, I notice that the line is practically at the store entrance. I look around, hoping Nick will walk in, but I know it’s not likely to happen. Not with the way he looked at me.

Were we over before we really began? Would he just walk away after telling me he loves me? My shoulders slump at the thought, but I refuse to give up on us.

“Time for a break,” Marissa says sometime later. Like a zombie, I log out of the cash register and walk to the small room in the back, take a seat at the small table and look straight ahead.

The scraping sound of a chair and Marissa taking the seat next to me, don’t pull me out of my funk. She grabs my arms, and that’s the first time I realize they are folded against my chest.

I pull out of her grasp. “Not now, Marissa. Leave me alone.”

She sighs and pulls her chair closer.

“This close to Christmas, you’re usually walking around like Mrs. Claus on crack. You’ve barely said a word all day, and you look like you’re two seconds away from crying. What the hell happened? I’m guessing it has something to do with that fine-ass man.”

As if I have no control over my body, I start to shake at the exact moment the tears start to fall. Marissa pulls me into a hug and I silently cry on her shoulder. She finally pulls away and wipes my tears.

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