He hummed. It was a strange hum, considering and soft. She glanced over just in time to see him look away, examining his trimmed claws with great interest.
Emma went cold. Did he think she was sad, being alone on Christmas? He probably had a party full of people waiting for him when he got back to LA on Christmas morning. Why didn’t she lie and say she was going to Luna’s? Orworse, did he think she was angling for him to stay to keep her company? Ugh, that was pathetic.
She blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Did you know they tookMinotaur’s Mistletoeoff every streaming service?”
“Every streaming service,” he repeated after a too-long beat. “No.”
“Everyone,” she confirmed, grabbing an easy frustration and running with it. “My parents and I had to find DVDs and press Play at the same time like it was 2011! I can’t keep track of what they’re taking off those streaming sites anymore. I was so excited to curl up with a hot chocolate and virtually watch a Christmas classic with my parents, but could they give us that? No!”
Arthur didn’t reply.
She risked a look over. He was watching her with an expression so soft that he hastily tried to cover it up, averting his gaze to his coffee cup this time.
“Call me crazy,” he said, thumbing the plastic lid. “But I think you miss your parents.Minotaur’s Mistletoe, that’s, what…day six on your pre-Christmas movie list?”
Emma groaned. “Ugh. Of course, you remember that.”
“Hard to forget!” He tugged at his chin fur, humming hard. “Let’s see…A Chimera Christmas Carol. It’s a Wonderful Gargoyle Life. Die Hard Harpy. I always appreciated that. You guys are keeping it going while they’re on the cruise?”
She rolled her eyes. “We watched it over Zoom, okay? Is that too twee for you?”
“No. It’s…sweet.” He cleared his throat, flashing his fangs cheerily. “And howareyour folks?”
“They’re the same. And yours?”
“Good. As far as I can tell.” Arthur’s wings drew closer with the slightest twitch. It was a self-soothing technique, which he’d tried to stop himself from doing in high school. Apparently, it still seeped through.
Emma asked, “When did you last see them?”
Arthur paused, genuinely thinking about it. “Five years ago, I think.”
Five years.That was a lot of birthdays, Christmases, and movie launches they’d missed.
“Really? It’s not like you can’t afford flights,” she joked.
“I know. We’re just all so busy.”
Emma frowned. “Didn’t they retire? I thought that was why they moved out of Claw Haven. To retire overseas.”
“Busy retirees.” He scratched his ear, another self-conscious tic he’d tried to ditch in high school. He’d always avoided talking about his parents. They were never cruel, as far as Emma knew. They were just…absent. He’d been politely bewildered by how involved Emma’s parents were in her life, driving her to track meets, making pancakes with her on Sundays, and watching movies after everyone got home. He was equally bewildered by their initial dislike of him, unable to tell if his affections toward Emma were real or not.
When he kept laying it on thick even after he won them over, she’d assumed he was just sucking up to them. But it quickly became apparent that he just really liked having parental figures around. When his parents missed his graduation due to another one of their overseas holidays, Emma’s parents cheered when Arthur’s name was called and paid for his celebration dinner. They even made him a graduation cake to sit next to Emma’s. It was the closest any of them had ever come to seeing Arthur cry.
“I was surprised your parents went without you,” Arthur continued.
“They wanted to buy me a ticket. Can you imaginemeon a cruise?”
Arthur laughed. “You’d spend most of it in your cabin avoiding everyone. I bet, ah—”
He stopped. They’d just turned the corner, and Emma had a fleeting moment of confusion before she followed his gaze and everything clicked horribly into place.
They were standing in front of the house they had been planning on buying when they were teenagers. Half the house had a new coat of paint, fresh white that turned into that crusty yellow they both hated halfway around the house. The porch had a railing now, and the ivy had been torn away. Emma walked past here all the time, and she’d trained her eyes to avoid this house. It was almost second nature now.
Emma swallowed against a sudden rush of fury. Had he brought her here on purpose, trying to get a response? He looked too shocked for this to be anything but a genuine mistake.
Arthur’s voice was raspy as he said, “It looks better. Not perfect, but better. Who bought it?”
“Nobody. Technically, it’s abandoned.” Emma crossed her arms tighter over her chest, determinedly not looking at the porch they promised they’d spend summer mornings on. “The mayor has been working on it with Jackson.”
