Page 68 of The Grump Who Stole Christmas
Wait. I didn’t cry when things got difficult, I acted!
Pulling myself together, I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to work through what had happened.
“I know I checked the gas gauge before pulling out of short-term parking at the airport. I had to have. I wasn’t so stupid to think I could make it back home on less than a half a tank of gas! Except obviously I didn’t do those things, because here I am! How could this happen to me twice?”
I was standing next to the car, my butt leaning against the hood. It wasn’t snowing tonight, which was a bonus, but I was still in my New York interview clothes, which would never be warm enough for Colorado. My feet were blocks of ice. My hand was numb around the cell phone I was holding, as my thumb hovered over Paul’s number.
I still couldn’t call Dad to help. Ethan had way too many things going on. Matt was probably out doing some publicity event, which was exactly what he needed to be doing.
No, there was only one person realistically I could call, but could I do it? Could I ask him to save me again?
“What do I even tell Paul? That I was miserable the whole day? I wanted to take him to my favorite brunch spot. I wanted to show him this place in Central Park I love. I wanted his thoughts about the company. I wanted him there with me to say I deserved that job and more, because he makes me feel special like no one else has ever done besides my parents.”
I had no choice. I had to call him.
“But if I do call him, he’s going to ask me how it went. I’m going to have to tell him I didn’t take the job. I’m going to have to admit that I want him more than my old life back in New York. There, I said it. I like him. I really, really like him and I want him more than any stupid job. But what if he doesn’t want me the same way?”
I took a deep breath and stared up at the pines surrounding me.
“Are you listening to me, trees? Because I don’t think you are!”
“Just so you know, the trees don’t actually answer.”
I screamed at the sound of the voice behind me and fell off the hood of the car. Scrambling to get back to my feet, I turned and glared at the now very familiar voice of the man standing in front of me.
A couple of paces in front of his silent electric car.
“What are you, like, some new version of Batman?” I asked Paul.
He shrugged. “I could tell you I tried to get your attention, but I didn’t. This time I was just listening to you.”
“What did you hear?” I asked him, my eyes narrowing.
“That you really, really like me.” He took a few steps forward. His bearded face and flannel-covered chest came into focus through his headlights.
“Figures you would focus on that.”
He smiled so that I could see his white teeth. “It was the best part.”
I thought of all the things I could say. Things maybe I should ask him. Only I didn’t need to know where his head was. He’d said everything there was to say. He’d put it all out there for me to digest, and in the end, all of this was my call. Or so it seemed.
I wished it wasn’t.
“You can’t possibly tell me this is a coincidence,” I said. “That you’re here where I happened to have run out of gas.”
He crossed his arms over his down vest and shook his head. “Pops told me that you were flying back tonight. I don’t know why, but I had this flash in my mind when they dropped off your car after the flat tire got fixed, that I needed to fill your gas tank. Only I forgot. So I worried maybe you wouldn’t think to check. Most folks always take rental cars for granted as always being full of gas, but I knew you wouldn’t make it to Denver and back on what was left in the tank. So I thought, just drive out and check to see if there are any stranded ladies by the side of the road I could talk into giving a lift.”
“You could have brought some gas,” I pointed out, and this time I took a step in his direction. “Then I could drive myself home.”
“Don’t believe in gas,” he said, stepping closer. “Trying to save the planet.”
I took another step until I was close enough that I could touch him. Touching Paul seemed like a thing I might want to do for the rest of my life.
“They offered me the job.”
“I heard that part too.”
“It’s an excellent opportunity,” I said.
