Page 45 of My Ex for Christmas
“I love you.”
Those three words have been hanging over me for the past month. They used to come so easily to me—because loving Hadley is easy. I knew from the moment I met her that I wanted her to be mine. That I wanted to be hers. I wouldn’t change these past eight years because in truth, we both needed them. But they also showed me that there’s nothing I wouldn’t give for a second chance with her.
Hadley’s eyes widen, and I worry for a second that I’ve fucked everything up before it has really had a chance to begin. But then she leans closer.
“I love you, too.”
She smiles, and the way she looks, with snowflakes catching in her hair, takes my breath away. If I could freeze this moment right here, I would, if only to live in it a moment longer.
“So…seeing as you love me and all, I have a question,” she says.
I chuckle. “What’s your question?”
Her eyes sparkle. “How would you feel about being my boyfriend again?”
This is the easiest question I’ve ever had to answer.
“It would be my pleasure,” I reply. And then I gather her in my arms and kiss her breathless.
I know Hadley doesn’t put much stock in the universe, but I have to give credit where credit is due. And I’ll always be thankful it led her back to me.
Best Christmas present ever.
EPILOGUE
HADLEY
“Areyou going to tell me why you’re here?”
Sam grins from the driver’s seat of her car. “Can’t I visit my sister without an ulterior motive?”
“You can, I suppose. But I’m going to see you for Christmas in a week.”
Although my sister and I see each other a lot more often than we did when I still lived in Brazil, it’s hard to find time between both of our jobs to visit one another. So when she showed up on my doorstep this morning and made me play hooky, I was confused.
“Jesus, Hadley. If I had known you didn’t like my company so much, I would’ve stayed home.”
I roll my eyes. “You know that’s not what I mean!”
Sam doesn’t reply, and I let out a sigh, slumping in my seat. But when she steers the car into the Dirty Dick’s parking lot, I sit up straight again.
“What are we doing here?”
After brunch and getting our nails done at the resort spa, I thought we’d maybe head to the next town over for some last minute Christmas shopping. I wasn’t expecting to go drinking in the middle of the afternoon.
Sam groans. “Mustyou ask so many questions? I said I wanted to kidnap you today. Please trust that I have your best interests at heart.”
“Fine,” I reply. Like I have a choice.
Once Sam parks, we hop out and head inside.
While the bar itself is the same as it’s always been, it feels like a far cry from the dingy building I walked into that day I reconnected with Brooks. After Margaret decided to retire, she handed the business down to her great nephew, and my boyfriend has been doing everything in his power not to disappoint her.
Once he took over, I helped him make some…improvements. Nothing to get rid of the character of the place, which has admittedly grown on me, but small things to spruce it up a bit. My first order of business was requesting the sign outside be fixed. The wonky S is no more.
Inside, the place was given a very thorough cleaning, top to bottom. No doubt it’ll eventually return to its once scuzzy state, but a girl can try.
Now that it’s Christmas season, a small tree has been set up in one of the empty corners. It used to sit upstairs in Brooks’s apartment, but once we moved in together and started getting a real tree, it no longer had a use. The decorations are sparse, but it gives the bar a pop of colour.
