Page 27 of Promise Me This Christmas
“You scored a great room from your sister.”
“Yeah, I feel guilty about that, especially since she won’t let me pay.”He went to the small bar area and poured two inches of bourbon cream into a couple of glasses.He handed her one.“To old friends.”
“Old friends.”She took a sip of her drink.“Oh, that’s good.”
“Right?”The rich cream blended perfectly with the oaky caramel of the bourbon.“It’s made at a distillery in Butte and has become a real family favorite.”
He’d been hoping she would sit.Instead she went to the wall where Amy had framed some Bramble House memorabilia, including excerpts from the book on the Bramble family’s history.
“This suite was named after the third-generation twins, Pearl and Dorothy Bramble,” Larkin said, reading from one of the pages.
“Yes.”He didn’t know much about the Brambles, but he’d read the excerpts too.
She moved to the black-and-white portraits of Pearl and Dorothy.“There’s an entire chapter about the twins in the book I just read.Neither of them married, so once they were adults, their parents built them this apartment over the garage.They lived here until they died, when they were just thirty-five years old.”
“Which is kind of gruesome, if you ask me,” Carson said.
“I agree.The family always felt the circumstances were suspicious, though being as the twins lived over a garage, carbon monoxide poisoning seems a probable cause.But I suppose every historic house needs a mystery.”
She stopped talking abruptly.“I’m babbling.”
“You’re nervous.”
“Yes.”
“Sit down,” he urged.“And relax.”
“Okay.”
She settled into a corner of the sofa, grabbing one of the overstuffed pillows and hugging it to her chest.Did she realize how defensive that looked?It killed him to see that she didn’t feel safe, not even with him.
He took the other corner of the sofa, wanting to give her as much space as she needed.“I would never hurt a woman.Especially you.”
“I know.At least my brain knows.I went to therapy a few months after I moved to Colorado.My therapist warned me that the part of the body that regulates fear isn’t always rational.”
Carson leaned toward her.“You could still press charges against the bastard.”
“I’ve thought about it,” she admitted.“But I never went to the doctor after.Never did the rape kit thing.”
“A lot of women don’t.They’re too traumatized.You still have recourse.”
“When I picture going through the process of having him charged and going to court, I feel absolutely sick.It’s much more satisfying to imagine looking him in the eyes and calling him out.We simulated that in my counseling sessions, and I found it very cathartic.”
“Maybe it would help even more if you did it for real.”It sure would help him.But it wouldn’t be words he’d throw in Andrew’s face.It would be his fist.
She shook her head.“It’s too late for that.And I’m over it.Mostly.”
She was clenching her glass so tightly her fingers were turning white.She wasn’t over it.And it was so damn unfair that such a strong and capable woman had been scarred, not by some faceless bad guy, but by someone Carson had once considered a friend.
“You were in such a good mood after the workshop.Now I’ve gotten you upset.I shouldn’t have asked you to come up here.”
“You’re wrong.This is good for me.”Larkin put down her glass.“I need to let go of the past.And who better to do it with than my oldest friend?”She held out her hand and he moved closer to take it.She had beautiful, slender hands.Long fingers, nails trimmed to a practical length.Larkin had never been an excessively girly girl.She’d been too busy having adventures for that.
“Do you still ski?”
“Of course.And I still ride horses and mountain bike.”
All the things they used to have so much fun doing.And yet, sitting next to her right now, it was some of the romantic things they used to do together that Carson missed most.Carson turned to study her face and was relieved that she looked more relaxed.The lines between her eyebrows had vanished.Her lovely mouth had softened.
