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“Oh my gosh, a carousel!” Melody’s loud voice carried out across Santa Land, cutting off Claire’s words again. “Okay, everybody, quick. Let’s go there before the line gets bigger!”
Claire fell silent again, and Liam frowned in frustration. He’d finally made some progress, and now he was back at square one. Melody was a good person. He knew that. But whenever she was around Dean, she became unbearable.
A buzz in his back pocket distracted him for a minute as he followed the others through the crowds of parents wrangling their children. With Claire no longer speaking, he pulled it out to read yet another message from another coworker.
Andrew: Mate, sorry to hear about the promotion. I couldn’t believe it. Let me know when you want to go out for a bite. Maybe catch up on a few things. I’m glad you took time off, at least. You deserve it.
Liam typed out a quick response, then tucked his phone back into his pocket, determined to never open the blasted thing again. Watching Melody and Dean snogging would be better at this point.
While the message was nice, it had to be the tenth of its kind Liam had received that day from different workmates as the promotion had officially been filled as of that morning.
He appreciated the sentiments he received, but he couldn’t take the pity any longer. What he wanted now, more than anything, was a distraction. Something to keep his mind off of the disaster that was now his work life.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry!” Melody cried out.
Dean hurried. Claire and Liam did not.
When they finally reached the carousel, Melody slipped right in front of a woman and her young son. Disapproval marked the mother’s brow as she pulled her boy back to avoid him getting rammed to the side. Melody and Dean, of course, were completely oblivious to the whole affair.
By the time Liam and Claire reached the queue, three more families had filed in front of them, so Melody tried to wave Claire and Liam forward to join them at their place in the queue.
Liam shook his head, not wanting to displace even more families than they already had. But would Claire want to join her friend?
“Do you want to move up to them?” he asked as the queue continued to grow.
To his relief, Claire shook her head. “No, that’s fine. To be honest, I’d just as soon leave the line altogether.”
That was something he could get right on board with. “I’m with you. Let’s wait over there until they finish with their kiddie ride.”
After telling Melody where they’d be—Melody barely acknowledging their words—Liam led the way to stand to the side of the Santa Land Chill Space shelter.
“Will this do?” he asked, ensuring they were well out of the way of the families moving in and out of the doors like clockwork. Kids rode on the train across from them, and the air was filled with the stomach-warming scent of cinnamon and sugar.
“Yeah, this’ll work great,” Claire responded. “Anything is better than standing near those two any longer.”
His heart lifted. Here was the real Claire. Did that mean that Melody was the culprit to her silence, then, and not he?
“I take it you haven’t been enjoying your time with them,” he said.
“No, I haven’t. Thank-freaking-heavens he only joined me and Melody for the last half hour.” She blinked, seeming to think better of her words. “I mean, he’s super nice, but…”
Liam held up a hand in the air. “You don’t have to explain to me. I’ve known him for most of my life, and I can barely stand him. Or Melody, for that matter. At least when she’s around him.”
“Right?” Claire responded, the ice melting from her eyes one slab at a time as she peered up at him with ease. “I seriously love Melody. And I usually have such a great time when I’m with her. It’s just that…whenever she’s around guys, she just turns into this airheaded attention-hog.”
“So she’s like this with more men than Dean?” That was encouraging. At least Dean and Melody deserved each other, then.
“Oh, yeah. You should’ve seen her in college.” She paused, smiling politely at a family with a double pram before continuing in a lower tone. “She used to make me go with her to all these stupid parties where I’d end up alone by the dessert table while she just made out with random guys.”
Liam grimaced. Unfortunately, he wasn’t surprised.
Before he had the chance to respond, Claire pressed on, her words coming out in a constant stream, as if the dam had broken and the water couldn’t help but spurt out.
“I’m used to being second choice with everyone,” she said, her eyes focusing on Melody as she leaned her head against Dean’s arm. “And really, it’s not that big of a deal. But she just pushes and pushes and pushes until she gets exactly what she wants, you know?” She waved her hand in the air toward Liam. “I mean, today is the perfect example. I told her not to invite you, but she just went ahead and did it anyway. Then I told her to make sure that you knew that this wasn’t a date, and who knows if she even did that. I just can’t with her sometimes.”
She stopped, shaking her head as she did so.
Liam chewed the inside of his lip, not sure how to proceed. So Claire hadn’t wanted him to come today, then. Was she still upset about whatever he’d said last night?
