Page 14 of Nice Guys Don't Kiss Like That At Christmas
I force a small smile.“Guess we’ll never know who ghosted who last.”I step closer and she shivers.“How about we talk about ancient history after we figure out what’s wrong with your car?”I force some lightness into my tone, like this isn’t a conversation that could level me if I let it.“Unless you’re planning to disappear again?”
A flash of hurt crosses her face.She masks it with a nurse’s professional distance, like she refuses to let me see that hit land.
“Nope.No disappearing,” she sighs, but it sounds like she wishes she could vanish into the winter air.
Her eyes are even better in person.That firewood brown.The kind that can light you up from the inside out.Warm you.Consume you.
She narrows her eyes.“Is that you or me?”
Oh, vibrating.My phone.I silence Kellan’s call with a quick text—I’ll deal with missing Wes’s birthday dinner later.
Because.Car.Dogs.Putting others first.Again.
Cassandra said no one else supported dreams like I did.Faye said I took care of everyone else except myself.File underThings I shouldn’t think about right now.
And Eve?Well, she didn’t show up.
“Let me grab my kit from the truck.”I untangle the little dog’s leash who’s now waiting by her seat, shaking hard enough to shake her whole wiener-dog body.Without thinking, I tuck her inside my coat, wrapping my scarf around her first.She melts against me instantly, little sigh and all, like I’m her personal heating system.
Eve’s eyebrows shoot up, like I’ve personally offended her.Again.
“Really?”
I smirk.“Plenty of room for you too, Foster.”
I don’t miss the way her eyes flick over my coat, like for one split second, she’s considering it.Then she exhales sharply and nods toward the car where her Great Dane is making sounds like the world’s biggest worrywart.
“That’s her default setting.Her name’s Blanche and the little traitor in your arms is Dorothy.”
We stumble toward my car, me holding the carrier with LoverBoy who’s leaping against the door, Blanche almost crawling and Dorothy snuggling.As I reach for my truck door, pull it open… nothing.
Shit.
My keys are inside.It’s an old car that could tell stories about this town.And of course this would happen now.
“Not our day with cars.”she says, looking up at me, teeth chattering, wrapped in her coat but still visibly cold.I settle her dachshund closer to me in my scarf and shrug off my coat and she’s murmuring, “I’m okay.So okay.”
“Then humor me, please.”I wrap her in my coat while putting Dorothy in my scarf and grab my hat and pull it down over Eve’s beanie.
Her breath catches.
And I wonder how her soft dark blond hair would feel in my fist.
Big mistake because now I’m freezing and hot all at once.That can’t be good.
She blinks up at me, lips parted, like she’s about to say something, clears her throat.“I can call...your father, I assume?”
That’s right.After making myself forget the exact shade of her eyes, she’ll be everywhere.And I’m leaving.Finally leaving.After all this time.Timing was always our enemy.
“I’m starting tomorrow,” she continues, like her verbal uppercut to my ribs has already healed.
“Of course.”Mom’s fingerprints are all over this.Always trying to get me to meet new people.Even if I’m leaving in less than twenty-four hours.Even if Eve isn’t new.She’s already left a mark everywhere.
“Right.Sure.Let me call Mike first.He’s the garage owner.”
Mike texts he’ll be there ASAP, reminding me too that I’m missing a birthday party, hinting at the fact that there’s so much to celebrate.I send a quick“I’m sorry.”To which he doesn’t reply.
And I continue, “I’ll call Sally from the B&B for a pickup.”
