Page 62 of The Christmas Fix
She tucked her arm through his, enjoying the slight hesitation he had, and together they walked slowly down the middle of Main Street as the snow fell silently around them.
All was silent in Trailer Town. They tiptoed over cables and cords to the fold out steps of her RV. Decision time.
Cat turned to look at Noah.
He was staring at her, softly.
“Congratulations on your school, Cat.”
“Congratulations on your reindeer, Noah.”
“You have snowflakes on your eyelashes,” he whispered.
“So do you,” she reached up toward his face, intending to wipe away the snow that was collecting in his dark hair. But he stopped her. His hand gripped the inch of wrist that was visible between sleeve and glove.
He flipped her hand palm up and traced the tattoo with his gloved finger. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
“What?”
“You know, don’t you?”
“Know what?” Cat asked.
“We met before we met,” he said, still staring at her wrist.
“Took you long enough,” Cat said lightly. She tried pulling her hand away, but he held fast.
He raised his gaze to hers. “You have no idea how many times I’ve relived that moment. How many times I wondered if I’d ever get to meet you, thank you. How those seconds have made me start reconsidering everything in my life…”
Cat held her breath, waiting for him to finish. She wondered if he could feel her pulse fluttering at hummingbird speeds beneath his fingertips.
“Were you going to tell me?” he asked.
“I was saving it,” she admitted.
“Like the reindeer?”
“I was saving it to rub in your face in the right moment. Something along the lines of ‘Yeah, you know what I regret? Dragging your bedraggled ass out of the flood waters on Mistletoe Avenue.’ Boom. Mic drop. Then I’d get in a limo—because that’s cooler than a production van—and drive away, and you’d spend the rest of your life regretting being such a dick.”
“You’ve put a lot of thought into this.”
“That fantasy kept me warm during several cold nights.”
“Any other fantasies keep you warm at night? No. Wait. You’re pushing me off balance as usual. There’s something I need to say to you.”
“You don’t have to be dramatic about it.” Cat was suddenly antsy. She didn’t want to know what Noah wanted to say. She wanted to go back to the flirting, the lightness.
“You saved my life, Cat.”
She started to argue, but Noah clapped a hand over her mouth. “Shut up, Cat. You saved my life, and then you let me act like an ass.”
She grinned against his hand.
“You never once educated me on the fact that you showed up here and dragged my friends and neighbors—and me—out of raging floodwaters.”
Cat pried his hand off of his mouth. “I wasn’t the only one out there on a boat. So, don’t make me doing it some kind of heroic feat. I was a regular person doing what regular people—including yourself—do.”
“I kissed you when I thought I didn’t like you.” Noah said.
