Page 44 of Delay of Game

“Hey,” she says, giving me a wave and returning to her phone, all but ignoring me. I deserve it, I do. But it still fucking hurts.

Eli brings me a chair and I move to sit between him and Alice. My shoulder brushes hers as I readjust my chair and I feel her stiffen next to me. That’s not the kind of reaction I ever want to draw from her, so I lean back as far as I can without making it obvious I’m giving her space.

The conversation picks back up and besides the fact that Alice so clearly hates me now, it feels like I’ve never left, like not much has changed. Except, I watch as Eli puts his arm around Ash’s shoulder and whispers something in his ear. Ash smiles and puts his hand on Eli’s thigh, and I can’t help but stare at them, impressed that they actually acted on their feelings.

A smile takes over my face and I say, “You two finally figured it out, huh?”

“What do you mean ‘finally’?” Ash says, indignant.

“Please, you two were always crushing on each other, it was really obvious.”

“Says the most oblivious guy ever,” Alice mutters loud enough for the whole table to hear.

When no one says anything for a beat, she lifts her eyes up from her phone and glances at me. I try to catch her meaning, but she quickly glances back away from me and I frown.

As Olivia excuses herself for being tired, she offers Alice a ride home. Robbie stands up too and the three of them are ready to head out.

“Jordan, how long are you in town?” he asks me.

“I head back on Sunday.”

“How about you come over for dinner tomorrow? Ash, you’re invited too.”

“Gee, thanks for the afterthought, grandpa,” Ash says.

I look between Robbie and Olivia who are smiling at me and glance at Alice. She still won’t fully look over at me and my shoulders drop in defeat. She likely won’t attend this dinner, so what the hell.

“Sure, that would be nice.”

“Great, we’ll see you then,” Olivia says. They say goodnight and head out, and I’m left staring after Alice … and my last name embroidered on the back of her jersey.

Ash and Eli catch me up on the last few months and tell me the story of how they got together and their fateful trip to Finland. I’m happy for them and I do my best to tell them about Texas without giving away how much I hate it there.

By the end of the night, I’m back in my sister’s guest house, all alone once more, thinking about ways I could make things right by Alice. I should explain or apologize at least. Would she even forgive me?

Alice

I triedto get out of dinner, I really, really did. But I already skipped on the tree farm tradition, knowing that Jordan was going to join. And when Robbie spent the whole morning chopping down trees for the family and bringing one to myapartment, setting it up in the stand for me, well—I couldn’t say no to my favorite brother.

So I threw on my favorite sweater dress, a green one with flowy sleeves that makes me look like I have a skinny waist and a perky ass, and I took extra time to curl my hair and do my make-up. I told myself I was dressing up for me, but in truth, I just want to show Jordan what he’s missing out on. If he’s going to just show back up in our lives unexpectedly, the least he can do is suffer a little.

I sing along to one of the carols—us Elliots are always starting Christmas celebrations right after Thanksgiving—and add some decorations to Robbie’s living room. I freeze at the sound of the doorbell and will my nerves to go away.

What right does he have to make me nervous? I scoff to myself and shake myself out, my sleeves billowing with the movement.Get it together, Al.

“You okay?” Olivia asks, walking over to me as Robbie heads for the front door. She’s wearing a red sweater with a fluffy white and black Santa hat on it, and I smile at how quickly she embraced our crazy ass traditions.

“Yeah, better now that I’m seeing you in this sweater. I need to take a picture.”

“Ugh, you’re the worst.” She laughs and smacks my shoulder lightly. I snap a quick picture and send it to the group chat.

“What do we want to start with? Dinner? Drinks?” Robbie says, walking up to us, Jordan trailing close behind. My eyes land on his chest and the expensive-looking sweater he’s wearing. It’s a nice charcoal gray color and it fits him just right, showing off his broad chest and perfect biceps.

I grit my teeth. Couldn’t he wear sweats for once? An image flashes in my mind of the time he wore nothing but sweats at the cabin after we went into the sauna together and how good he looked with sweat gleaming down his—nope, not going there.I make a beeline for the kitchen counter, pouring myself some orange juice and champagne in a flute.

Robbie comes over and says, “Wait, I have just the thing to make that perfect.” He opens the fridge and takes out a cup of cranberries, dropping one in my drink, then carefully placing a slice of orange on the lip of my glass.

I raise my eyebrows at my brother as I watch him proudly admire my drink. “Wow, are you switching careers once more? Going into mixology now?”

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