“Okay…”
“No more serious talk for the rest of the night. We seem to veer into grave territory whenever we’re together. Tonight is supposed to be fun, so when we walk through the doors of the community center, let’s try to forget everything else. Our baggage will be waiting for us at the door.”
“Can we just ditch the baggage altogether?”
Liam tilts his head, eyes searching my face. “Yours followed you all the way to Honeywell, didn’t it?”
I let out a surprised ‘ha!’ and shake my head. “Touché. Baggage at the door it is.”
Rex joins us again and the three of us head inside the community center. We follow the steady stream of people into a large room full of folding chairs, small couches, and beanbag chairs that are all aimed at a huge white projection screen on the far wall. A row of tables near the entrance holds refreshments.
“Can I have popcorn?” Rex asks. “And M&Ms? And Skittles!”
Liam gives his nephew a squinty-eyed look. “So I can clean up rainbow-colored barf in the middle of the night? I don’t think so, pal.”
“I won’t eatallof it,” Rex promises. “At least not all at once. You know I like variety. Plus I’ll share with you and Joss.PlusI didn’t eat much dinner so I’d have room for movie snacks tonight.”
Liam’s gusty sigh is clearly just for show because his lips are twitching uncontrollably. “It’s not fair that you always take advantage of my inability to say no to you. Go save us some seats while Joss and I get snacks.”
Rex makes a triumphant sound as he spins and hurries away. Liam and I only have to wait in line a minute before we’re loading up a tray with snacks. As we trail along the table, he notices me eyeing the locked cash boxes amid the piles of food.
“Everything is donated by local businesses,” he explains as he reaches past me to slip a twenty-dollar bill into one of the boxes. “That way it’s a free event for the families who can’t afford a night out. The people whocanafford it are encouraged to donate money that’ll go directly to the center.”
When he offers to go get our drinks, I pull out my wallet and stuff all my cash into one of the locked boxes. A minute later, loaded down with snacks and drinks, we go in search of Rex.
Liam comes to an abrupt halt about halfway to the front of the room, nearly causing me to collide with his back. “Dude, seriously?”
I peer over his shoulder to find Rex nestled into the center of the biggest beanbag chair I’ve ever seen. He lets out a high-pitched giggle and shrugs as he wiggles into a sitting position. “What? This was the only thing left that was big enough to fit all three of us.”
Liam hands Rex the tray of snacks he’s holding and then reaches for mine, leaning in close as he takes it from me. “Hope you don’t mind cuddling during the movie.” The quiet rumble of his voice paired with his warm breath on my face makes me shiver. Good thing he’s got a grip on my tray or poor Rex might be wearing our drinks.
It takes some maneuvering to get all three of us sitting upright in the beanbag chair. I assumed Rex would stay in the middle with Liam and me on either side of him, but he scoots to the side so I’m forced to sit in the middle. We finally manage to get ourselves settled just as the lights dim.
“What movie are they showing anyway?” I ask, accepting a handful of M&Ms from Rex.
“The Santa Clause,” Rex whispers. “It’s tradition to show it every year after the tree lighting ceremony. People used to vote, but they always chose the same thing, so they stopped voting.”
The movie has barely started when I catch movement from Liam in my peripheral vision. He leans in and whispers, “Why are you grinning like that?”
“What? I’m not grinning like anything.”
“You are.” He moves to give me a playful poke, and I grab his finger before it makes contact. “You like this movie, don’t you?”
“I’m not a total Scrooge,” I tell him. “I do likesomeChristmas things, and this movie happens to be one of them.”
The slow smile spreading across his face can only be described as smug. “You want to know what I think?” He shifts even closer so he’s speaking directly in my ear, which sends a hot zing of lust straight to my center. I silently chastise my traitorous body for its incredibly inappropriate reaction given our current location.
“Ithink you’re secretly a true Christmas lover,” he whispers. “I think you’ll soon be so completely charmed by all our holiday festivities, Rex won’t have to beg you to come with us because you’ll be volunteering.”
I nod slowly as if his words have merit. “Want to know whatIthink?” I crook my finger in a ‘come here’ motion that has his eyes widening and darkening at the same time. He leans in so now I’m the one whispering inhisear. “I think you should shut up and watch the movie.”
He’s silent for a moment and then he lets out a quiet chuckle. He places his hand palm up on my thigh, and my heart skips as I think he’s asking to hold my hand. My pulse returns to normal a second later when Rex reaches over to pour some Skittles into his uncle’s palm.
We fall into a rhythm of silently passing snacks back and forth while we watch the movie. I’ve never experienced anything like this before. It’s so outside the realm of normal for me, and yet I know a night like this is typical for many people. I never expected to make friends when I came to Honeywell—in fact I wanted the bare minimum of interaction during my stay—and yet one of my goals was to experience a taste of real life. It doesn’t get more real than this: the small, warm body leaning against me and offering me another handful of M&Ms, and the solid man on my other side, pressed close from ankle to shoulder.
Thisis real life. It’s notmylife, not really. But even if it’s only temporary—just a taste—that doesn’t mean I can’t savor it while it lasts, right?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
