Page 28 of Christmas in Comets Valley
That was a lie, and both of us knew it.
I nodded, dragging my gaze down to the sheets.
I will not cry. I will not cry.
I silently begged for him to crawl back into bed and take hold of my lips long enough to ease the gnawing ache in my chest, though I knew doing so would only make that ache remarkably worse.
“Have a safe drive back,” he mumbled so low I hardly registered his words.
I flickered my gaze upward to give him a sheepish smile, but by the time I did, he was gone.
It was only once I heard the last of his heavy footsteps echo off the walls and the crack of the front door closing that I allowed the extraordinary void that burned inside my chest to consume me.
I’d come to terms with only having a few more hours here, but what I hadn’t planned for was Elliot leaving me behind at the end of this like nothing happened between us.
9
ELLIOT
Approximately twelve secondsafter walking out the front door, I regretted it.
By the time I made it to the front porch of my parents’ house, I was seriously contemplating turning on my heels and jogging back to Juliet’s place. I wanted to barge through the door, take Aera into my arms, and offer her whatever she wanted as long as it meant she’d stay.
But knowing Aera, I’d place my bets that she’d already packed her suitcases into the back seat of her car by now.
Ignoring the below-freezing temperature, I plopped down onto one of the red rocking chairs and analyzed all the ways that I went wrong. For starters, there was the part where I walked out instead of having a conversation like a grown fucking man.
I hung my head in my hands and let out a frustrated groan. Only, I wasn’t upset with Aera. If there was anyone to be aggravated with, it was myself.
Her words hurt me more than I liked to admit. The magnetism I felt between us wasn’t something that I ever envisioned “fizzling out”—her words, not mine—between us. And instead of talking through my feelings like a logical human being, I allowed the weight of her words to punch me straight in the gut.
Though in retrospect, her words weren’t what hurt me the most, instead it was the fact that she was willing to give up on us so easily. Prematurely dooming us before giving us the chance to try.
Feeling drained, I rose from the rocking chair and ran my hands down my cheeks before grabbing the key I knew would be under the mat and wandering inside.
“Elliot, is that you?” Mom’s muffled voice sounded from the kitchen.
“It’s me.”
“Honey, Elliot’s back!” she called over to my dad in the living room, who was too captivated with reading the newspaper in his recliner to respond with more than a grunt. “Hi sweetheart, where have you been?”
Walking into the room, she came over to give me a warm welcome. “I’ve been staying with a friend for a while.”
“And by friend, you mean the pretty girl who was staying in Juliet’s place?” Mom quirked a brow at me before walking over to the coffeepot and holding it up in offering. I nodded a quick approval.
I should’ve known word would’ve gotten around town about the two of us. Especially after Aera’s partial strip tease at Sal’s. I’d pay a couple grand to go back in time and see the look on the faces of the older ladies who met for coffee at Steamy Beans every morning to exchange meaningless information about other townspeople.
Then there was the other afternoon where I’d unapologetically paraded around town with her latched to my side during the festival. The last time the people of Comets Valley had seen me on a date was my senior prom, half a lifetime ago. I should’ve suspected bringing a woman around for the first time in nearly two decades would generate a significant amount of buzz.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “Although, after the morning I just had, I'm not entirely sure we’d be considered friends anymore.”
“That bad?” She pursed her lips, handing me over a mug that was much less decorative than those in the cupboard at my sister’s house.
“And this girl… you like her?”
“I think it’s safe to say that I more than like her.”
She hummed, leaning back against the edge of the counter, “Did your father ever tell you about our first date?”
