Page 138 of My Merry Mistake
I tuck the phone away before I text back something stupid like,“Hey, I think I like you.”
His visit yesterday was brief, and while I don’t want to read into it, he almost felt distant. Like maybe he’s letting me get my sea legs back at work. A check-in without lingering.
I should be grateful, but I missed the lingering.
I shake that thought away becausewho am I right now?
The Comets had a game last night, and even though my sisters asked me to go, I opted out. My resolve is so shaky, I couldn’t let myself get caught up in the hockey hype. On that stage, those guys are larger than life, and I don’t need to get sucked in.
I watched the whole thing alone in my living room.
Poppy and Eloise let me off the hook, but only if I promised to go to the Christkindlmarket Wrigleyville with them today. This makes me think of Finn because he’s mentioned this market to me before. I pull out my phone to ask if he’s been yet, but I delete the text before sending it.
Space is good.
After a two-stop train ride into the city, I get to Wrigleyville and reach the spot where my sisters and I agreed to meet, and find I’m the first one here. I don’t know much about the Christkindlmarket other than it’s a German-style outdoor market, and judging by the number of people milling around, it’s wildly popular. There are vendors and booths lined up around a large ice rink, just outside Wrigley Field. Each booth is lit from the inside with swaths of greenery along the edges of the red-and-white striped roofs. The smell of roasted nuts fills the air, and tall heating stations line the brick sidewalk that winds all the way around the ice rink. The vendors are selling all kinds of handmade goods, fresh pretzels, and hot spiced drinks.
I pull out my phone to check for a “sorry we’re running late” text from Eloise or Poppy when I hear someone call my name. I look up to see a whole group of people walking toward me, and I realize that one or both of my very social siblings has turned this into a Chicago Comets outing.
Dallas and Gray are there, of course, along with Jericho and his wife Monica, Krush and his wife Lisa, Junior and his wife Kari, Crosby, Kemp, and a rookie they call Fritz, who still has outstanding paperwork he seems to be avoiding.
Trailing behind, hands in pockets with a huge smile plastered on his face like he’s a kid at Disney World, is Finn.
“Hey, we invited some friends,” Eloise says. “None of these jokers have ever been to the Christkindlmarket.”
“Neither have I,” I say, as Finn catches my eye and holds his hands over his head like, “Do you see all of this?!”
“Hart! Did you see the size of the pretzels?!” He shouts this so loudly that more than a few passersby turn and look.
Jericho grabs him from behind and tries to pull his arms down, but Finn fights him for a second.
“Oh, good grief. I thought I left the kids at home,” Monica says, as Finn breaks free and pushes Jericho, fake-boxing him for a second.
She falls into step beside me as we start walking along the brick sidewalk. “Jericho told me about your health scare,” she says. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m better, thanks for asking,” I say. “They forced me to take some time off, and as much as I hate to admit it, it helped. Gave me some much-needed perspective.”
“We’re trying to keep her busy.” Poppy bumps my shoulder with her own. “But in a restful way.” She loops an arm through mine, as we stop in front of a vendor selling handmade glass ornaments. Kari and Lisa move into the booth while a small crowd gathers on the sidewalk around the hockey players, asking for photos and autographs.
Monica looks on. “Nights like this always puff my husband up like a marshmallow. That man lives for the fans.” She shakes her head, amused, and Poppy watches Dallas, lovestruck as always. I know she can’t wait to marry that man and start a family, and while I want that for her too, I won’t pretend there isn’t a part of me—a newly discovered part—that also wants that for myself.
My gaze drifts to Finn, who is currently on one knee, surrounded by several young kids taking a photo, while he makes a crazy face and stuffs half a German-style pretzel in his mouth.
He’s fun. And happy. And good. But the scene is a stark reminder that he is the opposite of my ideal. It’s a reminder Ineed, one that’s definitely not been at the forefront of my mind lately.
I pull away from my sister because I need a second to compose myself.
I’m not the girl who believes in fairytales. I’m the realist. The pragmatist. And I need to figure out something—anything—to quell the illogical feelings I have for Finn.
Stupid feelings.
I press my lips together and draw in a slow, deep breath, then let it out just as slowly. We would never, ever work?—
“There you are!”
I turn and find Eloise standing in an aisle of the booth I wandered into.
“We’re going to skate. Do you want to come?” she asks.
