“Paige, wait,” Jordan says, the repentant tone back.
But I don’t wait. I drive home and flop onto my bed, rehashing every infuriating moment of that conversation. I feel like I’m in a rocking boat, my thoughts seesawing from wanting to forgive Jordan to wanting to shake sense into him. Just when I feel I may need some Dramamine for all this back-and-forth, I remember that I never told Jordan about Z3. We were too busy quarreling over Ian.
After tonight, Z3 looks more appealing than ever.
I let my mind wander into thoughts of California, dreaming of what my life would look like there. The beach, the food, my old college friends. Maybe I would even attempt surfing this time, even if Jordan isn’t there to teach me. These thoughts occupy me for a whopping one minute before my traitorous brain inevitably leads me back to Jordan.
A memory resurfaces, transporting me back to the week I returned to Colorado after college. After years of no contact with Jordan, I ran into him during the Pine Lakes Christmas Festival. We spent hours together that night, talking and laughing, and things just felt right. I was so full of hope then, honestly thinking his feelings for me had changed.
But I couldn't have been more wrong.
Chapter 14
JORDAN
· SIX MONTHS AGO ·
I’m fully costumed and standing in Santa’s Grotto at the Pine Lakes Christmas Festival, and I can already spot three people wandering around outside who look more like Santa than I do. When Mrs. Delgado asked me to volunteer for the festival, being Santa was not what I’d had in mind.
An unsettling bout of imposter syndrome creeps through me as Mrs. Delgado straightens the bright-red robe on my shoulders before picking out bits of who-knows-what from its white furry collar.
“There.” She nods. “You look like the real deal.”
I give her the most confident smile I can manage while knowing I have her niece’s fake pregnancy belly strapped to my middle.
The synthetic Santa beard makes my face itch, and I move it to scratch my chin, but Mrs. Delgado swats my hand. “Moving your beard ruins the illusion.”
A twenty-three-year-old playing Santa ruins the illusion, but I don’t dare say that aloud because Mrs. Delgado is a five-foot-nothing firebrand who isn’t above rapping my knuckles.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Santa’s helper should be here any minute. She’ll help control the line.” Mrs. Delgado winks at me then snaps a lid on an empty box of ornaments and shuffles toward the door with it.
My forehead scrunches.Santa's helper?I didn’t know there would be someone else with me tonight. Suddenly I know exactly why a twenty-three-year-old is playing Santa—Mrs. Delgado is playing matchmaker. She’s practically the yenta of Pine Lakes.
“Remember, tonight is about connection, Jordan,” she calls over her shoulder. “Don’t ruin this.”
Yep, she’s definitely setting me up.
I’m in the process of going through a list of all the single girls currently residing in Pine Lakes when an elf in striped tights and a tiny fur-trimmed skirt taps at the glass door with a pointed shoe. In her arms, she’s got two giant boxes full of little cellophane baggies and is holding the top box in place with her cheek.
I run to the door and open it to let her in. “Here, I can…” I begin, about to take the top box.
“If you take that one, it will all come down. But if you can make sure I don’t trip over anything, that would be great.”
“Sure.” Something is achingly familiar about her voice.Paige?It’s all I can do not to pull the boxes out of her hands just to see her face.
I stay next to her, making sure she doesn’t run into any of the gold poles or velvet ropes around Santa’s cushioned chair. When we get to a trio of tinsel-draped trees, she drops the boxes with a sigh, shakes her hands out, then turns to me.
With one look in those green eyes, I feel weightless but grounded, happy but sad, home but homesick. Either this pregnancy belly is doing something to my hormones or Paige is the elf.
“Paige?” I pull my beard down.
Paige’s mouth drops open as her eyebrows shoot up. “Jordan?”
I run a hand across my mouth, pulling out several wisps of Santa’s beard. “I can’t believe… You're an… When did you… You’re here.”Smooth, Jordan.
Paige laughs, and I swear I’m going to record that sound and make it my ringtone. How have I gone over four years without hearing that laugh?
