Page 491 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
“It sounds to me like it was a genuine accident,” Chadwick explained. “Aleena seems to feel pretty awful about the whole thing and realizes she can’t take any of it back.”
“Did you respond?”
“No,” he said. “Not yet.”
“But you’re going to?”
“Yes, she’s my employee, and I think it took guts for her to email me like that. Besides, let’s be honest with ourselves, Tinsel. We were the ones doing the sneaking. We should’ve known it might get out eventually. Alcohol and parties have a tendency to speed that sort of thing along. I forgive her.”
I stared down at my half-eaten toast. I wished I had that much grace. When I thought about how Aleena had blatantly aired my personal business, I couldn’t find forgiveness in my heart. Not yet at least. If she hadn’t opened her mouth and told someone about Chadwick and me, we might still be together.
He sighed. “Just something to think about. She’s a good friend to you, I’d hate for me to be the reason you lost that.”
“You wouldn’t be the reason, she would,” I said.
“People make mistakes.”
True, like asking for space when that was the last thing I wanted. I chewed the inside of my cheek. I needed to tell him. Right here, right now. No more wishy-washy doubt. “Chadwick?”
“I think we made a mistake, too,” he said.
His name died on my lips. “What do you mean?”
He wouldn’t look at me. I stared at his profile, silently pleading with him to meet my eyes. He didn’t.
When he spoke, his words were careful and his tone was soft. “I’ve spent a lot of time thinking, and I regret the position I put you in, Tinsel. I asked too much of you. The holidays are stressful enough, and me making you be my elf out of spite for a whole month was unfair. Wanting even more from you? Well, that was too big of an ask. I’m sorry for putting so much on your plate this month.” He forced himself to smile at me, but it didn’t touch his eyes. “The good news is we only have two events left, Christmas Eve and the parade on Christmas Day. Then we can relax and hang up our costumes for good and go back to how everything used to be. No harm, no foul.”
No harm?
The way my heart felt like it was breaking into pieces sure felt like harm to me.
“So,” I breathed, grappling to find and keep my voice, “we’re done?”
He hesitated, and I clung to hope that meant he had doubt in his heart. But then he nodded. “Don’t you think it’s for the best?”
No, my heart sobbed.
Maybe, my brain whispered.
“I think I want to go home,” my lips said.
“Oh. Right, of course. I’ll drive you.”
Fifteen minutes later, I sat in the passenger seat of one of his luxury cars. Snow fell and the windshield wipers pushed them off the glass. I sat with my arms wrapped around myself and my chin tucked into the collar of the sweater he’d let me borrow. On the verge of tears but desperate not to let him see me cry, I watched the city pass out the window and tried not to think about how much easier this all seemed for him.
Outside my townhouse, he put the car in park. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning in the office?”
The lump in my throat threatened to expose my pain, so I just nodded and got out of the car.
“Tinsely?”
I took a deep breath of crisp, cold air. Thirty seconds. All I had to do was keep it together for thirty more seconds. Then I could fall apart.
I leaned over and smiled at him through the open door. “It’s okay, Chadwick. Thank you for taking care of me last night, and for the ride home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He looked uncertain, but he nodded. “See you tomorrow.”
I turned and walked to my door and didn’t dare look back. He’d see the tears streaming down my face. My hand shook as I struggled with the lock in my front door. I pushed inside, closed it behind me, pressed my back to it, and slid all the way down until I sat with my legs splayed out in front of me. The tears flowed freely, and I didn’t fight the sobs that shook my whole body.
