The crowd of teams booed and pounded on the table. The relief on Charlotte’s face disappeared, and she swallowed hard.
“Hey,” I said, nudging her arm, “remember when you were into Bernie? Do you regret that yet?”
She laughed. “I do. Thank you for the reminder.”
“You hit your head this morning. It clearly caused you to make poor life choices for a minute. It’s fine though. No harm was done.”
“To think I was gonna find him under a mistletoe.” She closed her eyes, but her words caused my stomach to drop in a horrible, roller-coaster type of way. Imagining the two of them together sent a hot bolt of jealousy through me. Christian granting Charlotte permission to date Garrett really fucked me up.
Not that I was using that as an excuse for never pursuing Charlotte, because I damn well knew I had a million excuses, but hearing Christian explicitly say that made me want to do something. What? I had no idea. I was a mess. I had no one to help with Gwen. My main source of support was leaving, and I was in no place to date. Let alone the fact that Charlotte was one of the few people who could also help with Gwen. It was too messy.
I stood not a foot from Charlotte, and the urge to touch her overwhelmed me. Her hair was one of my favorite things about her, and some had escaped around her face, andI wanted to push it behind her ears. It’d be too intimate, but damn. Today reminded me of why I struggled around her years ago. She was easy to be around.
“Hey, let’s go. The other team is done with the photo booth. I want one of all of us in the most ridiculous getups we can create.” Penny pointed toward the corner that was set up like a snow globe. She and Christian ran over to get the next spot in line, but whoa. The decorations were insane. People could walk into this snow globe for the photos, and holy Christmas bonanza. The props went beyond the normal booths I’d seen at weddings.
We could dress in a full reindeer onesie. Or a full Grinch. Or a blow-up gingerbread man.
“Why?” Garrett swayed to the left a bit and shook his head. “Why would anyone want to put those on after another human? It is disgusting.”
“Because Penny wants us to.” Charlotte narrowed her eyes at him. “We’re gonna do it for Penny and Christian.”
“No. I’m not… look, I am a germaphobe. You might not assume that about me, but I will gag. You can’t make me.” He pointed toward the bar. “I’m going—”
Charlotte grabbed his hand and yanked him toward her. The movement caused him to almost crash into her, but their chests touched. The jealous feeling from earlier returned full force at the sight of them inches away. I had the urge to… hoist Charlotte up over my shoulder and take her away from here.
“You will do the photo booth. This isn’t up for discussion, Garrett.” Charlotte spoke in a direct tone.
“Hot,” Garrett said, mirroring my own reaction.
“Stop.” Charlotte rolled her eyes and dragged him toward the corner. Their hands were still intertwined. Sure, he was drunk and needed babysitting right now. Especially if Penny wanted this photo and he resisted it. But shit, how much longer could I fight my attraction to Charlotte?
What were my reasons for not kissing her again?
My phone buzzed on cue, like the universe reminding me of my issues. It was a random number.
Hi Hayden. It’s Frankie. I hope your parents told you that they gave me your number and asked me to get in touch. I’m excited to meet you and talk about watching Gwen. I know your mom set up Monday, but my professor switched my classes so could we meet Sunday instead? I can work around your schedule.
Classes? Was she in college? Part of me thought she’d be too young, too inexperienced, but class schedules maybe meant more flexibility.
Hayden:No problem. Let’s do 4:00 pm.
Sunday night would be the last Sunday dinner at my parents’ house before they moved. Sure, they’d be back for Christmas weekend and the wedding, but that was only for two days. They had performances the next two weeks and practice. New Year’s was a work night for bands.
We all prepared for the photo, and Charlotte actually got into a costume. There was a little dressing booth offto the side, and she ducked in. I put on a green top hat and green overalls, along with a cane. I had no idea if I was a Christmas version of the Monopoly man, but Penny had a vision for this photo, and I obeyed.
I waited for her to come out. When she did, I sucked in a breath. She was dressed in full elf gear—a sexy elf too—with red-and-white tights, a red sweater thing that hugged her body, and a hat and fake ears. She even wore pointed shoes and did a heel click.
As I watched her spin around and smile, reality hit me. It wouldn’t be fair to her, or to myself, to start something I couldn’t finish. I swallowed down a ball of regret and made sure my costume was in order.
Christian was Santa, obviously, and Penny his Mrs. Claus. She positioned the five of us so they were in the center, Garrett was on the ground as a reindeer—which, hell yeah, that was funny—but it put me together with Charlotte. Her familiar and comforting vanilla scent surrounded me as I neared her.
“Could you imagine how much fun Gwen would have here?” Charlotte asked. “She would be the cutest little snowflake. Or the snowman princess. I don’t know, but I keep thinking about her. She would have an awesome time.”
Fuck. This woman was incredible. How could I not want to be with her when she mentioned my daughter with genuine care?
“Yeah.” My voice cracked, and I adjusted the green polka-dot bow tie. Maybe I needed distance from Charlotte to get my head on right. Three years of distance had helped, but one day together had put me right back where I was.
“Okay, folks, three, two, one, smile!”
