Page 52 of Grinch Girl

I sidestepped around Nate and slid toward them. “Guess I’ll see you at the nextSingle Bellsdate on the twenty-second then. Have a good trip home.”

“Jane—” he called, but I was too fast.

Chapter Fifteen

Of course, itdidn’t really matter how quickly I could skate away from him when we were both going home to the same place.

When I pulled my truck into the apartment building parking lot, Nate was standing there in his winter coat, looking up at the stars. As much as I wanted to tell myself that the charge between us didn’t matter, thathedidn’t matter, I couldn’t stop my stomach from doing a long, slow flip at the sight of him.

“J-Bird.”

I arched an eyebrow at him as I slammed my car door. “Hoping for a late-night booty call before you skip town?”

OK, that was harsh. Unfair. Rude. But why else would he be standing outside at night when it was below thirty degrees?

He snorted. “Glad to see we’re not wasting time with pleasantries. Thank you for the kind offer, but no, that’s not why I’m out here.”

“I wasn’t offering!” I exclaimed loudly.

He smirked at my outsized reaction, and I wanted to punch him. Or myself. When, exactly, had I become so easy to bait?

Nate held up his hands in an “I come in peace” gesture. “I’m waiting outside for you, freezing my arse off because you didn’t let me finish earlier. I’ll be back in Falworth on the twentieth and I wanted to know if you’re free.”

Huh?

He took a step closer to me, smiling a bit at my openmouthed look of confusion. “If you are free, can I take you out that night? Just you and me. No voting viewers. No cameras.” He grimaced. “No Carol.”

I couldn’t help laughing at that. “What?” I pretended to be shocked. “No nosy townsfolk? No Christmas Village?” I sighed ruefully. “No epileptic dog?”

“You can absolutely bring Bruce if you want,” he said, and something inside me went warm and soft and gooey.

Nate took another step toward me; all of the teasing had vanished from his expression. “I don’t care what we do, Jane. Your choice entirely.” He glanced around the empty lot before meeting my eyes again, tentative and serious. “I’d just like to spend some time alone with you. Real time with you.”

Real time. It was such a perfect phrase, because I could tell from the particular inflection in his voice on that word that he didn’t mean it in the way it was often used, as a signifier of quantity. He meantrealas in the opposite of reality TV show dating.

“So, what do you think?” Nate asked. His tone was casual, but the focused look in his dark eyes was not. “December 20? Just you and me?”

For some reason, the image of Diane flinging herself into the air slid across my mind’s eye. How unafraid she’d been. How full of joy I’d felt at seeing her soar.

I licked my lips and swallowed. I’d have to rearrange a few shifts, but… “It’s a date.”

Tension faded from his face. “A date.” His eyes seemed to glow, like one of the stars he was so fond of. “Lovely.”

We stood in the darkness for a full minute, just smiling at one another in the cold night. My fingers and the tip of my nose were on their way to frozen, but I didn’t move a muscle. I made a mental note to stop myself from any future eye rolls at Michael’s expense for his sappy looks at Bella. I didn’t need a mirror to know that I looked like a crush-struck teenager.

“Well.” He finally broke the long silence, brisk and no-nonsense. “I shall leave you to get some sleep.”

No.

“I think we’re alone now,” I blurted. Ugh, why was I so monstrously awkward?

Nate’s eyes crinkled. “Are you quoting Tommy James and the Shondells?” He whistled the tune to “I Think We’re Alone Now” and the melody echoed through the parking lot.

“No,” I countered immediately. “I’m quoting Tiffany.” Kelly and Angela had sung her 1987 cover of the song around the house when we were tiny. My mom once told me that she’d had her first kiss to it at a seventh-grade dance.

His voice lowered in a hush. “To be perfectly honest with you, J-Bird, I prefer her version. Don’t tell anyone.”

I laughed, out of both surprise and relief. He was so good at putting me at ease, at transforming me from shy to bold.

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