“I know,” I say with conviction.
We hold one another’s stare for a beat and I wonder if she’s going to bring up the elephant in the room. Since Chris left earlier today, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what happensafterthe holidays come to an end. I want to stayhere in Evergreen with her and show her how much I can be the man she deserves to have in her life. But I also know I have a life back in Boston that I can’t keep on hold forever.
She finishes her cookie and lets out a long sigh. “The holidays always fly by. I feel like we wait and wait for them all year and thenpoof.They’re over in a heartbeat.”
“Then I guess we need to savor every second we have, don’t we?”
Her face morphs from a look of sadness into one of forced optimism, perfectly depicting how I feel in this current moment.
“Yeah, I guess we do.”
Wiping her hands on her jeans, she twists her hair around her shoulder and swings a leg over my lap. She gives me a sultry smile before pressing her lips to mine. As the fireplace roars behind us and another round of snow falls silently outside, we fall into one another, choosing to pretend like everything isn’t going to come to a crashing halt before we know it.
After finally peeling ourselves off the couch long enough to cook dinner and get cleaned up, we crawl into bed and fall asleep next to one another. She’s stayed at the cabin with me a few times, each time resulting in some of the best sleep I’ve ever had. Tonight is no different until an idea strikes me in the dead of night, pulling me from sleep.
Sitting up, I blink a few times and wonder why I haven’t thought of it until now. I’ve heard a few times that the whole ‘sleep on it’ saying has some truth behind it. After literally sleeping on what I should do and coming up with an almost perfect idea, I’m starting to believe it actually works. I stand up from bed to go and grab my computer, the movement causing her to stir.
“Nick? Where are you going? Is everything okay?” I love how raspy her voice is when she first wakes up. Walking around the bed, I lean overand kiss her.
“Everything’s fine, sugar. I’ll be right back,” I whisper.
“Do you need my help? Here, I can get up.” I press my hand to her shoulder to stop her when she starts to stand.
“Go back to sleep, it’s a work thought. Nothing you can help me with. I promise, I’ll be right back.”
“Okay, you don’t have to tell me twice.” When she flops back down and closes her eyes, I press a kiss to her temple and move towards the living room.
Sitting down at my sketch table where I left my laptop, I crack it open and squint when the blue light shocks my eyes. Opening an email, I type in my business lawyer’s contact and fill in the subject line. Once it’s drafted and I read it twice, I send it off with a smile before heading back to my room to crawl in bed next to my wife.
CHAPTER 24
Noelle
Similar to Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve is another busy day at the inn. It’s actually our busiest day of the whole year since Belle plans loads of fun holiday events and activities for our guests while the restaurant hosts Christmas Eve dinner. Thankfully for me, it gives me enough distraction to not think too much about how my fake marriage is coming to an end in only a few days.
Things between Nick and I have been so good the last few weeks to where, at least for a little while, I forgot that the entire relationship is nothing more than a business transaction. I needed him to do me a favor and wildly enough, he agreed. But now that Christmas is here and the time for me to take over Holly House is only forty-eight hours away, I can’t help but feel a pit in my stomach every time I look at a calendar. He’ll be going back to Boston and I’ll be staying here to run the inn and live in Evergreen. I know that was the agreement and Iknowthat’s what I asked him for, but now that it’s here? I’m less inclined to like it as much asI did a month or so ago.
“Noey, eyes up,” I hear Eve call out. Looking up I find two people standing in front of me, waiting for my attention.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. How can I help?” We talk for a few minutes as I walk them through our holiday calendar Belle put together for the next week. Between Christmas Eve and New Years, she has the calendar stacked with things to do. Once they’re gone, Eve strolls up and plops herself down on the stool we keep at the desk.
“You’ve been awfully distracted recently,” she comments, eyeing me from her spot.
“There’s a lot to get done, you know that.”
“I don’t think that’s what’s distracting you,” she says, reaching for my hand and pulling my attention to her. “Talk to me, Noey.”
I chew on the inside of my cheek trying to resist the tears that threaten to give me away.
“You don’t want to hear it. You’ll just say you told me so.”
Her head falls to one side and looks at me with pity. “Noey, come on. You know I always want to hear what’s going on inside that head of yours. I’m your best friend, I’m sorry if I made you feel like you couldn’t come talk to me. Please, I promise not to say I told you so.”
Turning to look at her, I lean against the front desk and fold my arms around me like a shield.
“I love him, Eve. I can’t help it.” I shake my head at her but also at myself. For being dumb enough to fall for him again even when what we have has an expiration date. “You told me this was a bad idea and I didn’t listen. Now that Christmas is tomorrow and I won’t need him once Grams signs the inn over, I just—I’m sad.”
“I know you are; I can see it on your face. You have that sad Noey face I hate seeing.” She stands and wraps her arms around me. “It’ll be okay in the end. It always is. I’m here;Belle’s here. Maybe we’ll just say ‘fuck men’ and start a women’s only commune if things don’t work out otherwise in the next five years.”
