The only thing I’d recently done for Christmas was split a bottle of white wine with Deidre while we watchedLove Actuallyfollowed by…sex.
But I couldn’t tell Aubrey that. I cleared my throat to make sure the suggestion stayed in my mind where it belonged. “I should be asking you the same question.”
She shrugged again. “Nothing really. I have a few more snacks to make, but I’m pretty set.”
Was that disappointment I felt knotting up behind my breastbone? No way was I going to start buying gifts for Aubrey. Heck, the only thing I knew she wanted was a kitten, which, no way. Deidre was allergic to cats. Okay, so I wasn’t seeing Deidre anymore, but the next woman I dated might be allergic to cats too. Besides, I’d never had a pet before. I didn’t know what to do with one. Not that I was about to admit that to Aubrey.
“Well, I guess I’ll go to bed since I have to get up early for work.”
“Sure,” she said.
Just as I was about to head down the hall, I stopped. “You know. My real mom used to make something called Nuts and Bolts. It’s kinda like Chex Mix. Sometimes I miss it.”
She smiled. “Interesting.”
“Good night,” I said, not knowing what to add and feeling ridiculously awkward about the whole thing.
5
Aubrey
Nuts and Bolts.
I’d googled it and found several recipes, but which one was the closest to what Cole was talking about? And would my efforts at tracking down the right recipe make my sleigh bell jingle?
That sounded kinda dirty.
To be honest, for half a second last night, I’d wanted Cole to jingle my bells. His eyes had twinkled behind his glasses, and his lips had turned up into a smile. For half a second, I felt that same jolt I’d felt as a teenager whenever he’d been around. It had to be because I almost subjected him toLove Actually, a movie that has more than one set of boobs and lots of people having sex or wanting to have sex or pretending to have sex in it. I had to have been losing my mind to have suggested it.
Just because Cole Frost was objectively attractive did not mean that the two of us would make a good match. If I wanted to live under the gaze of someone’s constant disapproval, then I could move in with my parents. Perish the thought.
Thank goodness I’d remembered all of the sexy times before we got too far into the movie because that would’ve beenawkward.
Even better, I’d gotten the first jingle out of that blasted bell. Only it wasn’t for all of the cleaning or the decorating; it was for saying I’d go to the basement and leave Cole alone. I mean, was I really that loud?
No, but you’re Naughty List adjacent, so it only makes sense you would have to go to your room. Or the basement, as it were.
A smarter person wouldn’t be playing into any of this, but I’d managed to avoid another flat tire and jury duty today, so I was going to continue with Operation Get Off the Not So Nice List.
The fact that Cole had been so happy with the cookies and the decorations was really its own reward. When I saw the look of wonder in his eyes when he walked through the door, it was almost like a present for me. How could I have forgotten how much time he spent with our family and with Grandma?
“Aubrey,” Isaac said from his office door. “How’s the calendar coming?”
“I sent you some PDFs for approval,” I said.
“What about Miss December?”
I smiled. “I had to improvise a little, but I think it’ll work.”
He grunted and adjusted himself.
That promotion had to come at the end of this journey because, vow or no vow, I was not going to be able to work for that man much longer.
As for the Miss December picture? I’d set my phone on a tripod and set a timer to take pictures of me in the skimpy dress with the bottle of tequila in front of the tree before Cole got home. Santa wasn’t included. No one could see my underwear—thank goodness—but I was pretty sure I’d captured the essence of what Isaac wanted.
Two turtledoves with one stone, that’s what I called that.
Except for the part where the turtledoves might get hurt, because I wasn’t on board with animal cruelty.
