Page 15 of The Grinch who Loved Me
CHAPTER3
RYLAND
When he woke up today, he wasn’t expecting the day to end the way it did.
It was getting close to the holidays and he hated it.
He didn’t celebrate and if he heard one more Christmas song play on the radio in the grocery store, he was going to snap and push over a display or something.
He was so done with it all and it wasn’t even fully here. It seemed so far away. Just over a week, but still.
He hated Christmas and people who got all excited about the stupid holiday.
They all bought the dumb presents and spent time with family and Ryland thought they were all crazy.
His mom loved Christmas, but as the years passed, slowly stopped doing as much as she had in the previous years.
And then when she left, his dad shoved all the Christmas stuff in the attic and had forgotten about it.
They hadn’t celebrated again and both were bitter about the holiday. It was when his mom left. On Christmas day.
She just decided right then that she had had enough and from then on, both he and his dad were grumpy when the holiday rolled around.
And when his dad left? Ryland hated it even more. He was tired of people asking if he was going to do anything or if he was ready. How the fuck did someone get ready for a fucking holiday? He wasn’t going to buy presents for himself.
He just bought what he wanted when he wanted it. He was an adult. That’s how it worked.
And the minute the stores started putting out Christmas stuff, Ryland hated it and tried to avoid shopping as much as he could during November and December.
At least most people didn’t talk to him. And for that he was grateful.
He did hear someone call him a grinch and he loved it. He was a grinch and wasn’t the least bit sorry for it.
He was in the middle of fixing a ‘70 Dodge Charger when he saw a flash of headlights wash across the garage.
And then he heard the rattle of an engine outside.
It sounded horrible and he sighed and then stood up straight when he heard the car turn off.
He wiped his hands on a rag and then went outside to tell the person it wasn’t going to happen.
That he didn’t fix cars like that now. Because he didn’t.
He saw a woman sitting in her car getting her purse and he slapped the window and then was shocked when she turned to him, her eyes wide.
She had stunning hazel eyes and long, thick brown hair.
She had the tiniest upturn on the end of her tiny nose and her lips were full and plump and the most gorgeous shade of pink he had ever seen.
He wanted to shake his head at those thoughts. Who the fuck had thoughts about a woman like that?
He had seen women before. Never once did he think about a woman’s lips and how full they were or that they were a perfect shade of pink.
He knew he was abrupt to her and growling at her, but after seeing her perfect, beautiful face, he had to get away from her.
She was dangerous. Like his father had said about his mom.
And Ryland knew that a woman like this one was especially dangerous.
