Page 41 of Ghost of Ex-mas Past
I want to love to spend time with someone. I want to do things with them, and I don’t know what I would do for work if I quit Heartly—it is a great job, after all—but I want Heartly to be the second thing I think about when I wake up in the morning. Not the first.
I glance behind me at Charlie. He and Jasper are putting the tenderloin on a roasting rack and I’m falling behind on chopping the produce.
A week ago, I could have sworn that Charlie thought about work first thing in the morning. But there was that morning a few days ago when he was trying to get me back in bed before he fully woke up. And yet, this morning, he was on his phone. Probably working.
I sigh.
While none of the small-town hunks I’ve met so far have made my heart skip a beat, I’ve fallen right back into bed with the big-city man who’s more likely to break my heart again than give me a happily-ever-after.
20
Charlie
Jasperand I get the pork in the pan and bring it over to where Bea and Naomi are chopping the vegetables. And by “Jasper and I,” I mean he put the pork on the pan while peppering me with questions about last night.
Not asking for details...just more like “what the fuck is going on?” questions.
“What have y’all been talking about?” Naomi asks us, a smug look on her face. Bea elbows her.
“Oh, you know, this and that,” Jasper says, equally smug. “And you?”
Okay, so they both know that Bea and I hooked up. But they don’t know that the other knows.
And Bea doesn’t know that Jasper knows.
Oy vey.
“Just a sisterly chat.” Naomi winks at me.
“Sisterly chat,” Jasper echoes. “And our manly men talk.”
Manly men. I run a hand down my face.
When I can see again, Naomi and Jasper are glaring at each other.
“What were you two talking about?” she demands.
“Nothing I can tell you,” he counters.
“I bet it was boring,” Naomi says.
A headache is building. I know Jasper and Naomi love each other, but they bicker like siblings. Bea rubs her temples.
“Are you two actually fighting overoursecret?” I ask.
They both gasp and speak at the same time.
“He knows?”
“She knows?”
Followed quickly by Bea’s, “Jasper knows?”
“Y’all.” I press my palms together, begging. “Be cool, okay?”
“When did Jasper find out?” Bea asks.
“You were asleep.”
