Page 30 of Holiday Love
“I thought you were great,” she beams, apparently in no rush to leave.
“Oh, thanks. You too.” I shove the slippers into my bag. Almost free.
“Hey, I heard—” Lindsey begins, and my stomach plummets.
I was serious earlier when I told Teddy I don’t want to talk about my suspension. I interrupt her. “Sorry. I’ve got to run. I have a—an appointment to get to. My hairdresser.” I hikemy bag over my shoulder.
Lindsey glances at her watch and frowns. “At eight p.m?”
“She works late. It’s what sets her apart. Most of her clientele work night shift. She’s big into truckers.” One lie piles on top of the next, snowballing into a mess so big I’ll never dig my way out of it.
“Truckers?” repeats Lindsey, in a tone that suggests she’s utterly baffled.
I don’t blame her. I have no idea what I’m talking about.
“Truckers.” I nod like I’m not spouting nonsense. “Because they often drive at night, they stay up late and that’s when they need their hair cut.Bigniche market.”
Lindsey blinks.
“Okay, well, great catching up. I gotta go for my, you know…haircut.” Without waiting for a reply, I spin on my heel and bolt for the door.
Once I’m out on the street, I break into a brisk jog like I think Lindsey is going to come running after me demanding to know more intimate details about the secret life of truckers.
Shockingly, she doesn’t.
Chapter fifteen
Helen
“Truckers?” says Teddy, a delighted grin on his face as he digs into the new tub of Rocky Road I got on the way home. “Of all the excuses in the world, you decided to go with truckers?”
I bat his hand away, again ignoring how my stomach flips when his fingers brush mine, so I can get my own spoon into the ice cream. “Don’t make fun. It was all I could think of. I panicked.”
He laughs, belly-deep and warm. “But truckers?”
I glare, my lips pouted in mock offense. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you.”
Honestly, I shouldn’t have. I came home sweaty and flustered, still coming down from the adrenaline of ballet followed by sprinting down the street. Teddy had taken one look at me andasked what happened. Next thing I knew, I was word-vomiting the entire Lindsey disaster.
Usually I keep that stuff to myself, but not this time.
And now he’s laughing.
My pout softens into something real. My lower lip gives one quiver.
Teddy notices. He shuffles closer on the couch. “Hey, I’m just teasing, Helen. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
“It’s okay, it’s just…” I sigh. “It’s been a lot recently.”
As vague as that is, Teddy seems to understand. He nods his head sympathetically but doesn’t say anything. No pressure. Just sits with me, a steady presence at my side.
A pause like he’s thinking, then he says, “How do you know that’s what she was going to ask? About the suspension, I mean.”
I shrug. “What else could it have been? She said she heard and then I cut her off.”
“There are a lot of possibilities. I heard you like jazz. I heard your favorite color is purple. I heard you’re living with a hot guy in crutches.” Teddy points to himself smiling at the last one and I giggle, wondering how he’s so good at getting me out of my head.
“My favorite colorispurple.” I swallow a spoonful of ice cream, then lick my lips and try not to notice how Teddy stares at my mouth. “How’d you know?”
