Page 24 of Love Around the Corner

“That would be him.”

Spend Christmas with me. The ridiculous offer jumped onto the tip of Alfie’s tongue and it took some effort to swallow it back down. “I, uh, I’m alone for Christmas too,” he said instead. He’d been planning to binge-watch the 1995 version ofPride and Prejudicewhile messaging LLB and eating way too much food. His refrigerator was packed.

“Oh,” said Leo, and they looked at each other for a long moment in which neither suggested they spend the holiday together.

“Anyway.” Alfie broke the silence. “Let’s get these out to your stall and make it look festive, huh? It’s real cold out there, though, so wrap up.”

Leo tugged at his sweater. “I have, like, five layers under this.”

Alfie refused to imagine peeling them off one by one to reveal what lay beneath. Leo was slender, but not skinny. Alfie vividly remembered the feel of muscle and sinew under his hand when he’d touched Leo’s arm last night—definitely not scrawny beneath those five layers of clothes.

Once Leo had grabbed his coat, hat, and gloves, they hauled the boxes out and up to the parking lot where they were setting up the market. Snow still blew in the air, but nothing substantial had settled, and the light was that slate grey that made everything inside glow bright and warm.

They had as much fun decorating Leo’s stall as they’d had buying the decorations, Leo balancing precariously on the table to string lights around the edges of the gazebo, Alfie trying to keep the rope tinsel from blowing away in the stiffening breeze. As daylight faded and the market was ready to open, they stood back together to admire their hard work.

“It looks good,” Leo decided, sounding surprised and pleased. They’d grouped the books into different genres, set other boxes on the ground for people to rummage through, and highlighted the Christmas titles—especially the children’s books—in the center of the table. The Christmas lights made the covers gleam, and Leo had even wrangled some Perspex holders to display the nicest-looking titles. “Next time, I’ll get a proper sign made,” he said, eying the flapping paper that read Bayside Books. “And some business cards to hand out.”

“Bookmarks?” Alfie suggested, smiling because he liked the idea of ‘next time’.

“Bookmarks! Yes, of course. Much better.”

Another shared smile as they stood side-by-side, Leo’s shoulder nudging Alfie’s. It would hardly take any effort to lift his arm and loop it around Leo’s shoulders. And he wanted to—it felt instinctive, natural, like he’d been doing such things for months. He’d loop his arm around Leo’s shoulders, pull him in, press a kiss into his hair.

It was inexplicably strange, this sudden familiarity. Strange but wonderful. “Leo,” he began, uncertain where the sentence would end.

But a commotion behind them had Leo turning around, distracted, as the kids arrived from the school, full of laughter and excitement, to set up for the carol singing around the tree. So they joined the crowd, letting the proud parents get in front of them, and for half an hour belted out all the old favorites as New Milton gathered together to sing.

Leo nudged him halfway throughJingle Bells, nodding toward a car parked further down Main Street and the two guys walking toward them holding hands. Finn and Josh, making an appearance. Dani would be happy. And Alfie had to admit, they had class; they didn’t distract attention from the kids, but when the singing was done and a few squeals ricocheted around the market, they were happy to cooperate with the inevitable selfies.

Alfie laughed to see Dani muscling her way between the pair, her phone up as they all smiled for the camera.

“They look happy,” Leo said, hunching into his coat behind the table. He was right, they did look happy, sticking close together as they spoke to people and browsed the various stalls. But they couldn’t hold Alfie’s attention for long, not with Leo around. Not today. Alfie put a hand to his coat pocket, felt the weight of his phone there, almost as if LLB was watching as he gazed with dreamy eyes at another man.

He felt a spike of guilt. But was it wrong? Would LLB be hurt if he knew?

Alfie had no idea. Despite knowing in detail LLB’s opinion on all Austen’s novels, he didn’t know whether he would care that Alfie wanted to find a dark corner and kiss Leo Novak breathless.

And that couldn’t be right, could it?

Leo looked over at him, eyes smiling behind his glasses, and then the customers started and Alfie grinned as he listened to Leo talk. Whatever he might think of his marketing skills, Leo knew books—he knew every book on the table, could point his customers to exactly what they wanted, and suggest other titles he didn’t have with him. And he seemed to be enjoying every moment.

“But that’s not selling,” he protested later, when Alfie pointed out his obvious skill. “It’s just talking.”

Alfie couldn’t help himself—he mussed Leo’s hair. “Sellingistalking, dufus.”

Leo’s grin knocked the breath out of him, and after that Alfie had to escape. Against all expectations he was falling for Leo Novak, falling fast, but he couldn’t do it like this—not with LLB hovering at his shoulder. The least he could do was tell him.

Finding a quiet spot behind Dee’s busy stall, he pulled out his phone. Swallowing hard, he wrote:I need to tell you something. This guy? I really like him. I don’t know if anything will happen between us, but I wanted to tell you in case it does. I don’t know if it would even bother you, but I don’t want to hide anything. Your friendship means too much to me for that.

He waited, heart leaping when the dancing dots appeared.

LLB: You’ll always be my friend xx

Alfie stared at the pale glow of his phone until the screen went black. Nothing else came from LLB, but he supposed that was answer enough. Permission, in a way. Not that he’d needed permission. But it certainly hadn’t been a refusal, or a plea to give LLB more time. They were friends, and that was all LLB seemed to want. Okay then.

Regret and anticipation tripped over each other, with a good measure of bafflement thrown in at the rate things were changing. Nevertheless, he felt lighter as he slipped his phone into his pocket and wound his way through the crowd, deciding to stop off at Dee’s stand for something warming. Leo obviously felt the cold, he’d appreciate a hot drink.

The thought made him smile like a fool.

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