Except I don’t want to tell them. Not for any nefarious reason, but more because I think they deserve to find out for themselves.
It’s clear to me, even though I haven’t been around them while they’re together, that the love they have for one another is rich and storied. Both of them have taken what they believeis the selfless road in concealing their feelings to preserve the friendship.
Only they concealed them so well that the other never even had an inkling of their true feelings. Everyone else who interacted with them may have known, but those two kept their heads buried in the sand for the better part of a decade.
I don’t want to wake Felix, so I maneuver my phone out of my pocket and type one-handed. I’m glad she is at Hazel’s house, because she’s the best person to help me out.
I need your help setting up a surprise
Hazel
For who?
Felix and Clara
Gonna force them together? I approve
Not force. But I need an excuse to get them together outside of their apartment. It’s important.
Felix said she’s staying the night with you?
Yeah, she is. Are you with him? How did it go?
Incredibly.
That’s why I need your help with this. They need to confront their feelings.
Okay, so, do you have a plan?
Can you convince Clara to get up early? Early, early. Like… Sunrise?
She wakes up early for the coffee shop a lot.
Wait.
Do you have Sylvia’s number?
TWENTY-THREE
CHRISTMAS EVE
I pushopen the door to Brew-tiful Days and grumble under my breath. When Sylvia called me last night begging me to help her this morning, I wanted to say no. I really, really did.
I won’t do that to her, though. She’s been great to me, and I don’t want to leave her without the help she needs on the last shopping day before Christmas.
Yesterday, Hazel took me shopping for Felix’s gift while he was on his date with Gabriel. I thought I’d be jealous of them, but I wasn’t. I couldn’t stop my mind from running away with the idea of the three of us together.
I don’t know why Felix was so difficult to shop for this year. I’ve never struggled like this before. Hazel said it’s because I want this gift to mean something, to send a message. Maybe she’s right, but if she is, it was a subconscious decision.
Getting to know Gabriel, though, has shown me that there is a hole in my life. Not that my friendship with Felix isn’t enough, but I need that romantic side of things. Things can’t stay platonic between us. I need to cross this chasm with him.
Or let him go if he doesn’t return my affections.
The pocket watch is heavy in my purse as I hang it on the hook in the break room. I can’t believe I let Hazel talk me into the ridiculous engraving. She’s so persuasive that it wasn’t until last night, while we were drinking hot toddies, that I realized how cheesy it is.
She had to talk me out of throwing it away.
I’m just putting on my apron when Sylvia comes bustling in, her hair having not yet been steamed out of place.
