Page 38 of A DIY Christmas Miracle
We both started laughing, and my body was flooded with warmth. Tension I hadn’t even known I was harboring left my body upon seeing Eli so relaxed.
“I’m on vacation. I just want to relax, not google the nearest hospital.”
“I made you breakfast and this is the way you’re thanking me?” Eli let out a dramatic sigh, shook his head, and pointed at a plate stacked with pancakes. “I made these just for you… but if you’re going to scare the ever-loving shit out of me and then have the audacity to complain about taking me to the hospital after you gave me a heart attack… I don’t know. Maybe I should keep them to myself.”
“I’ll behave,” I promised and looked at Eli pleadingly. My stomach was growling, and the kitchen smelled… heavenly. I wanted these pancakes. Needed them.
Eli placed the last of the pancakes on the plate, and I adjusted my glasses, enjoying the silence. A silence that felt neither strange nor uncomfortable.
“Can you set the table?”
I gave a short nod, even though Eli still had his back turned to me, and stood up. I grabbed plates, cutlery, maple syrup, cups for the coffee, Eli’s peppermint-flavored creamer, and neatly placed everything on the breakfast bar.
Eli put the pancakes down in front of us and sat down.
“The pancakes are amazing,” I praised after eating the first plateful. The gnawing hunger had long been satisfied, but the taste… I wanted more, even though I knew I shouldn’t. It wouldn’t do me any good, but… they weresogood.
“Thank you.” Eli blushed.
There was silence between us again, but this time it wasn’t as peaceful, and I immediately felt the urge to ask Eli a question to strike up a conversation.
Next to me, Eli shifted restlessly in his seat, picking at the rest of his pancakes. Eli often picked at things when he was nervous. Back when he’d suggested going on this trip, he’d peeled the whole label off his beer bottle. When he had to give a speech at Jack’s wedding, he’d shredded the napkin into pieces. Now it was his pancake.
I should take away some of his nervousness, alleviate the pressure by asking if he had plans for today or wanted to spend the day with me. But my mouth was dry and there wasn’t a lump but a boulder in my throat, making it impossible to speak.
I grabbed my coffee cup, downed a big gulp, wet my lips, and cleared my throat.
One sentence. A single question.
“Do you have plans for today?” Eli blurted out before I had the chance to ask him basically the same thing.
“I wanted to head out to the resort later. Would you like to come with me?”
“Skiing?” Eli didn’t sound enthusiastic at all. The way he furrowed his dark brows told me he could think of about a billion better things to do.
“I swear, I don’t want to go skiing. Do you want to come?”
I gave him what I hoped to be an encouraging smile. If I couldn’t convince him to just go with me, I’d have to tell him what I had planned, but I’d rather it be a surprise.
“Fine. But tell me what you have planned.”
“Do you trust me?” Maybe I was going out on a limb, but… Eli had cuddled with me while he’d been awake. That had to mean something. It just had to.
“Yes?”
He didn’t sound so sure about that.
“Give me a chance to surprise you. I promise, you’ll like it.”
“Horses?” Eli raised his eyebrows so much they disappeared under the woolen hat I’d lent him. His mouth was covered by a giant scarf that ought to make him look ridiculous, but he didn’t. He just looked like Eli but struggling against the cold.
“Yeah?” I said with uncertainty, adjusting my glasses. “I thought… well, a ride in a horse-drawn sleigh is… I mean, I know you’re not inside and it’s cold, but the sun is shining, it’s not snowing, and there are blankets you can keep warm under, and…” And I didn’t know what else.
It'd been a bad idea.
“Oh mygod, that’s so cute!” Eli squeaked, and the next moment, I had an armful of Eli again. He was clinging to my neck, almost pulling me to the ground with his momentum, planting a kiss on my cheek. If that was his reaction to surprises, I needed to surprise him more often. “And you arranged all this because I don’t like being out in the snow and being cold?”
I was at a loss for words. I’d have never imagined feeling Eli’s lips again so soon, but there they were, and it was amazing.
