Page 55 of Acting Merry
I look up, my muscles tighten. This is my chance. She’s giving me the opportunity to tell her how I really feel about Brady and her dating.
Cole would tell me to take the chance. But what’shappening between Megan and me? It doesn’t just affect the friendship between the two of us. It affects our whole group.
The four of us have been friends for years. If there’s a falling out between Megan and me, what’ll that mean for future Christmases? Will Hannah and Tess feel like they have to choose between us?
What if they choose her? Her and Brady.
That would crush me.
“You don’t have to feel weird, Meg,” I say. “Seriously.”
“Really?” She looks at me like I’m offering her a relief that feels too good to be true. Probably because it is.
I smile, but regret settles into the pit of my stomach. “Really.”
She lets out a big gush of air. “I’msoglad to hear you say that. And I promise to stop bringing it up. I just…wanted to be sure.”
“I get it,” I say, watching my opportunity for honesty flutter away like a butterfly.
“And, Reese”—she puts down the pancake flipper and turns toward me—“I know I said it before, but I amsoover the moon for you. You and Cole are perfect together and just—adorable.”
My smile turns real. Giddy, even.
She grabs the flipper again and turns one of the pancakes. “I saw you two in the snow yesterday after the hot tub. Ridiculously cute. And that kiss?” She cocks a brow at me.
I get butterflies at the mention, my cheeks warming up like they’re on the griddle.
“It was like watching a romcom movie play out in real life,” Megan says. “Cole caught me watching through the window, and I felt so embarrassed! But then he winked at me, which made me feel a little less like a creeper. It was just too cute not to watch.”
My stomach clenches.
I had no idea anyone was watching—or that Coleknewanyone was watching.
Did he know the whole time?
Megan says it was like watching a romcom movie. Itfeltlike one too. But what if Cole was still acting?
I can still feel the ice on my skin and the heat of his lips on mine, only now, the blissful scene in my mind includes a moment where his eyes flick past me to the window.
The image of the scene cracks around the edges like the thin surface of a pond someone’s dared to step on.
Megan’s still talking, but I’m barely hearing her, my brain on overdrive sorting through every moment Cole and I have shared since that kiss.
Did I interpret it all wrong? Or am I just spiraling again?
thirteen
Cole
Satisfied the bedhas been made to satisfactory standards, I shut the bedroom door behind me and run a hand through my damp hair. I feel so…alive, and it’s not just because I got a better night’s sleep. It has a lot more to do with who I was sleeping next to.
I stop short on the top stair at the sound of my name in the kitchen.
“It’s just so exciting,” Megan says. “I’m rooting for the two of you! Who knows? Next year, all of us could be here with our husbands.”
My heart raps against my ribs.
Reese laughs. “Whoa, Nelly. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s early days. A lot can happen.”
