Page 88 of The Hanukkah Hoax
Please don’t hesitate to contact me at your earliest convenience. I very much hope such a partnership might interest you in the future.
I look forward to speaking with you and trying more of your offerings.
* * *
Sincerely,
Veronica Baker
Co-owner of Baker Arena and Sports Complex
Vice President of Operations and Licensing
Fat teardrops blurred out the rest of the email signature, along with the vague cartoony animal holding a baseball bat that appeared at the bottom. Before Alec would let her waterlog her electronics any further, he carefully took the device from her hand and slipped it into her coat pocket.
Ugh, she was a total mess and couldn’t seem to get a word out without sniffing through it. A licensing opportunity for her business, one where she could test her creativity in the concessions realm? Marisa knew next to nothing about the number of people who would normally come through an arena of that size, but crowds were crowds. And steady crowds could be profitable. That much she knew.
Already, her mind was spinning with what this meant for the future of her business and the varieties of treats she could offer that would fit a sports-themed clientele.
“I can see the gears turning, and it makes me glad.” Alec rested his hands on her shoulders and rubbed them with a quick nod of subdued satisfaction, as though he’d checked the final box on a wish list before resigning himself to what awaited him on the other side.
And that would not do.
Marisa grabbed him by the lapels and kissed him. She didn’t care that her face was a snowy streaky mess or that whatever wetness she was painting on his cheeks might have been of undesirable origins, given her sniffles. All she cared about was having Alec in her arms and clinging to him like a spider monkey so he wouldn’t turn around and walk out of her life again.
“I’ve missed this,” he said against her lips, grabbing her tighter and hauling her up against his chest so her boots dangled. “I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That I’d destroyed any hope of getting you to trust me again. That I hadn’t done a good enough job of making you believe that I’d never ever say such awful things about you. That I had given you even the smallest reason to doubt how much I love you.”
She’d seen the word on paper, scrawled in his hasty hand before he deposited the note with Cal and ran off to the airport. But on paper, it seemed different, not entirely like any other word. After all, once written down, there were so many things a person could love.
She herself had drawn several Marisa loves so-and-so doodles on countless notebooks all through junior high. And then there were the Sweethearts—heart-shaped candies with the word love printed all over them. She was a candy maker. Hearts and love were her jam. Seeing the word caused no more shock than an EMT encountering blood at a car accident. Par for the course.
But hearing it from his mouth, whispers away from her own? For some reason, his accent thickened the word, strengthening the emotion into the sincerest, most unbreakable declaration. When Alec said he’d loved her, there was no room for incredulity.
It was a pledge. A promise. A vow.
And not a damn hint of anything fake.
While Marisa took the time to sit with the realization, Alec kept going, listing off so many faults and worries that she was convinced he must have kept a spare supply of his shame in his duffel bag.
“Alec,” she said, touching her finger to his lips and putting an end to his self-deprecation. “I forgive you.”
His eyes widened as much as they could given the bags weighing them down. “Truly?”
“Truly. Because when you love someone, it’s easy to forgive them.”
Misty-eyed, she gave him a squeeze around his middle, and the largest, brightest smile broke out across his face. The twirling came next, along with more kissing and her laughing against his scruffy cheek as snowflakes gathered on their eyelashes and landed on her teeth.
It wasn’t until her elbows knocked against something hard that she asked him to put her down. “What’s in your pocket?”
He didn’t answer. Just moved his arms out to the sides and let her root around for the offending object that had stopped her fun. When her fingers brushed against something smooth and narrow, she pulled out her hand to reveal . . .
“Blueberry candy canes?”
Alec shrugged an Eh, what are you going to do? and plucked a choice one from the small bundle. “They’ve grown on me.”
