Page 25 of An Uphill Battle

“Mmmkay, sure,” she says before leaning back in for one more kiss. But she pulls away just as quickly, and I know her gears are spinning. “Wait! That’sThanksgiving.”

“Sure is.” I grip her hips and hold her to me, hoping the contact will make her moreagreeable.

“You want us to spend Thanksgivingtogether?”

“That’s what I said.” I smile, watching her work her way throughthis.

“As friends?” I shake my head. “Then aswhat?”

“You know. Youhaveto know.” Now it’s her shaking her head. “C’mon, Bit, it’s one night. Give me this one night.Please?”

Azalea lets out a long exhale, as if she’d been holding her breath. She starts to shake her head no again, but I thread my fingers into her hair, halting her movements. “Give me one good reason whynot?”

We sit there, foreheads pressed together while she tries to invent some reason to say “no” to me, but we both know she won’t be able to come up with one. Notreally.

“Fine, Drake, I’ll come over for dinner on turkey day. But only because Didi is the best cook I know.” It may not be the reason I was hoping for, but a win is awin.

12

Azalea

It’s only beentwo days since I agreed to spend Thanksgiving with Drake and his family, and I’m already regretting it. But at the same time, I’m giddy at the thought of it. Every bone in my body wants to read something significant into it. I mean, he did say “no” when I asked if he meant as friends,right?

On our drive home from FIRE, I managed to convince myself that he meant it as more than friends... and with that thought pinging around in my brain, our kiss goodnight was hella awkward. I pecked his lips andran.

The next day, my thoughts waffled back and forth all day—he loves me, he loves me not. I feel like I’m losing my mind. Which is silly, because let’s be real—that man doesn’t want me. If he did, he surely would have done something about it over the last seven damn years. Nope, Drake Collins wants to have his cake and eat ittoo.

But now, as I sweep up the hair from my last appointment, hope sparks in my heart again, because maybe he does want more. Maybe he just doesn’t think Ido?

Ugh, enough already!I’ve been obsessing over this for long enough. It’s high time to call in reinforcements—in the form of my girls. They’llknow.

“Ladies!” I call out, stepping into the receptionarea.

“Yes, dear?” Seraphine calls back in her best ’50s housewifevoice.

“I need to talk to y’all,” I say, lowering myself down into a chair near the frontdesk.

“Mmm. Sounds serious. Mags, get your skinny ass up here!” Seraphine yells, her voice carrying through the entiresalon.

“I’m right here! Thank goodness I didn’t ha–have aclient.”

“Yeah, yell much, Seraphine?” I smart, tossing a throw pillow at herhead.

“Hush up. You said you needed to talk to us, and we only have a few minutes before y’all’s next appointments arrive, so quit stalling and spill it,bitch.”

I take a moment to gather my thoughts, scrubbing my hands up and down my face. “Drake asked me to spend Thanksgiving withhim—”

“Oh my God!” Seraphine screams, her voice shrill enough to shatter glass. “Does this mean what I think it means? Are y’alltogether?”

“Myla Rose is gonna be pissed she missed this,” Magnoliaadds.

“Ooh. Good point. Let’s call her!” Seraphine says, whipping out her phone and dialing Myla. After hitting the speaker button, she places the phone face-up on the pillow in herlap.

“Hey, S, what’s up?” Myla Rose greets in that sweet drawl ofhers.

“Drake asked Azzy to spend turkey day with her. Pretty sure he wants to inject her with his love potion. You’re on speaker.” Magnolia snickers, and I throw another pillow at Seraphine’s head. “Quit throwing shit at me, and say what you wanted tosay!”

“Azalea, did Drake really ask you that?” Myla Roseasks.

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