Page 58 of Forever Fascinating

“Thanks,” Matthew said quietly, realizing he was indeed completely exhausted and sinking fast. He wanted to fade away into his dreams and remember dancing with Jana and how she felt holding her in his arms.

As he lay down on the pillow, closing his eyes immediately, he whispered aloud.

“Merry Christmas, my friend.”

Matthew heard Caboose chuckle, reply in kind, and realized he wasn’t going to bother to correct the guy. Let him blame it on the painkillers, whereas he was already picturing Jana smiling up at him on the dance floor and descending into oblivion where she waited for him.

CHAPTER15

JANA

* * *

Hey Matthew,

Just checking on you. It’s been a few days since I have heard from you and thought I’d say hello. I checked on plane tickets and have a few leads. I think I can get us both into Athens late the 14thbut it would be almost midnight – or later. If we fly in the 15th, we’ll lose some precious exploration time, but we’ll at least be rested.

What do you think? There’s not much difference in price.

I looked at the hotels you sent – and one of them is perfect!

Talk to you soon,

Jana

* * *

Three days later,Jana re-read the email she’d sent with no reply.

It had actually been almost a week now and she was staying up to watch the ball drop on television for New Years Eve. It was pathetic that she was in her T-shirt from Matthew, a pair of pajama pants, and had a teensy bottle of Moen to open in order to celebrate alone.

“Someday, I’m going to celebrate and ring in the New Year kissing someone for good luck,” she muttered, staring at the screen, and seeing it was 11:45pm already.

The last hour or so, she had been extremely tired and thought about going to bed, but this had become a tradition for her since she moved out, because it was ‘new’ and ‘different’.

Opening the bottle, she poured herself a tall glass of bubbly, and returned to the couch to email Matthew in celebration.

* * *

Happy New Year Matthew!

I hope you guys are doing something over there to celebrate and maybe we should add seeing the ball drop in NYC to our list of places to visit. I would love to do that someday and think it could be a lot of excitement and fun.

I’ve missed your emails this week and spent Christmas at my parents’ house. Mom and Dad got me an air fryer – and it’s the best thing ever! I literally haven’t used my oven once since I unboxed it.

I got a new pair of pajama pants, and they are soooo cozy, yet sinfully ugly. Do you like Harry Potter? It’s themed for House Hufflepuff, and they’ve got symbols all over them. I got a few more adult presents, like a new ironing board cover, some slippers, a new blow-dryer that I had asked for and of course… Godiva.

It's not Christmas without chocolate!

What’s your favorite candy? I hope you liked your box and opened yet – because yes, it was from me. I thought it might be best not to put my address or name on the packaging… just in case.

I was writing this because…

* * *

Jana’s cell phone rang,and she immediately answered it.

“J’s chop shop… you kill it, we grill it.”

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