I reached down and peeled Chris’s arm off before throwing back the blanket and sliding off the couch.
“We fell asleep watching the movie,” I whispered, ushering Noelle back into the bedroom.
“Chris snores loud,” Noelle commented, and I smiled. Maybe she wasn’t as traumatized by what she found as I thought. Maybe only I was.
“Yeah, he does, sweetie,” I agreed, even though I had no idea. I’d spent the night asleep in his arms, and his snoring hadn’t bothered me, but right now I’d agree that the sky was pink if it kept Noelle from asking any more questions I didn’t have answers to.
“Are we going to see Poppy today?” Noelle asked, shocking me.
“I’m not sure. We’ll have to see if the roads are clear yet. Why? Don’t you want to go see him?”
“I want to stay here and go to the festival. Chris said he’d fix the sleigh so Santa might be there.”
“I did say that, didn’t I,” Chris interjected from the doorway. He stretched up, holding onto the top of the door, arching his back. His sweater lifted, showing off a glimpse of those incredible abs making me a little giddy.
I sat down on the side of the bed. “Why don’t we get dressed, have some breakfast, and then we can see what the day’s going to bring?” I suggested, needing a moment to get myself together.
“Okay,” Noelle agreed quickly.
We managed to get through the morning without any issues. Noelle either had forgotten about finding me in Chris’s arms or she didn’t care. I hadn’t forgotten. Falling asleep with him had been irresponsible, especially with Noelle in the next room, but I had to admit, it just felt so good. I was so warm. So protected. So cherished, loved even, and it had been a long time since I’d had that.
My phone beeped and it was a message from my father. He’d resorted to texting me now, since I hadn’t answered his call yesterday.
Dad
When are you getting here? I paid a lot of money for your room and it’s going to waste
I blinked back tears as I read it. He was more worried about paying for an unused room than the fact that his daughter, hisonly child and granddaughter had been caught in a storm and had a minor car accident.
“You okay?” Chris asked, coming up beside me.
“Yeah. Just Dad being Dad,” I downplayed.
These days, nothing I did was good enough for him, and even though it hurt, at the end of the day, he was still my dad and the only family I had left.
“He misses you,” Chris stated.
“Something like that.”
“Look,” Chris started, rubbing the back of his neck and putting distance between us. “I’ve made a few calls, and it looks like they’re working on clearing the road. It might be a few hours, but you should be able to make it to the resort before dark. I mean, that is if you still want to.”
I tried not to read too much into Chris’s words and simply nodded. “Let’s see if they get the roads cleared before we get too ahead of ourselves.”
“Sounds good.”
“Besides, unless there’s been a Christmas miracle and Santa’s elves stopped by and fixed my car, we’re not going anywhere in a hurry.” I sighed heavily.
It felt like the walls were closing in, or at least reality was. For days we’d existed in this perfect little Evergreen Lake bubble that nothing could burst, but now, reality was clawing at the door, trying to fight its way in. It was a reality that I wasn’t ready to face. Reality meant saying goodbye and I really didn’t want to do that.
The morning crept by slowly. It felt like a dark cloud hung over my head. While Noelle and Chris played in the snow before helping get the sleigh back to the festival, I did some laundry and tidied up. We’d been here only a few days, but Noelle had managed to leave a trail of destruction from one end of the apartment to the other.
I was just finishing zipping up her case when Chris appeared at the doorway.
“You’re leaving?” he asked harshly.
“I was just …” I guess that’s what it looked like.
“I just heard. The roads are clear.” Chris’s unemotional words sliced through me.
