Page 35 of The Holiday Grump
“I’ll come straight from school.” Kailee’s eyes shone. “I can stay as late as I want. Mom’s going to the crochet club anyway, so she won’t be home all night.”
“Wait, what?” Fredrik sat up. “That doesn’t mean you stay out all night. We agreed I would send you straight home after I closed.”
Something occurred to me. “Your mom goes to the crochet club? I heard about it from this old lady I sat next to on the bus. Ida! She taught me how to do a basic flower and invited me to come along… What time is it?”
“At seven. My mom runs the club with Eileen.”
I turned to Fredrik. “Perfect! Kailee and I can go together!”
Kailee frowned, suddenly looking a lot like Fredrik. “Do I have to crochet?”
“No! I’m sure it’s fine if you don’t.”
“I think they also share books,” Fredrik offered. “Felicity keeps ordering them for the club.”
“Yeah!” Kailee gave me a grave look. “The Doctor’s Secret Baby. The Doctor Who Railed Me… I’m surprised she can even see the doctor after reading those.”
“There’s no book titledThe Doctor Who Railed Me,” Fredrik corrected. “But they’ve gone through a lot of medical romance lately.”
“It’s because our new attending looks like Henry Cavill,” Kailee explained.
“What’s the required reading for tomorrow?” I wandered over to the corner shelf with Fredrik’s romance titles.
“I’ll show you the one Mom’s reading right now!” Kailee browsed the shelves until she found the book and handed it to me.
The Doctor’s Secret Baby.
“Great! I’ll take it.”
I took the book to the counter.
Fredrik handed it back. “You don’t have to buy it. You live here. Read anything you like, just don’t crack the spines.”
“Oh, but I will! I’ll highlight and underline and use little stickers to annotate. I’m finally on dry land, and I’m going to interact with physical things like there’s no tomorrow.”
I handed him my lost-and-found credit card, and he rang up the purchase, shaking his head like he couldn’t understand a word I’d said.
“Hold it for me, would you?” I asked him once I’d paid. “I’ll go pick up my stuff so I can settle in for the night. It’s been a long day, and I think I need a good reading session.”
“See you tomorrow!” Kailee called after me, and I waved goodbye, rushing out the door.
I had to get out before I cracked and could no longer pretend I was fine. Because I wasn’t. I’d kissed him, and he’d pushed me away. There was no other way to look at it. And as much as I wanted to forget all about it and be okay, the hurt burned behind my eyes. As soon as I stepped outside the store, my throat tightened and tears burst out. I felt the sting of rejection, but also disappointment.
Because I liked him.
Being around Fredrik calmed my frazzled nerves. There was something about him that my soul latched onto. Maybe it was the freedom to be myself, or the way he kept showing up for me, expecting nothing in return.
Yes. I was developing a crush on a man who’d already friend zoned me.
And now I was practically moving in with him.
Things were going from bad to worse.
CHAPTER 13
Fredrik
“Ready to do some tiling?” Jackson called from the front door.
