The Hazards of Mistletoe (9 page)

“Nuh uh. Not going there.”

“Why not?”

“Because that’s Glen’s story to tell. Not mine.”

“Come on. I need to know.”

“And he needs to talk to you. I’ve got this crazy idea.” He put a hand over his mouth as if in surprise. “Maybe you two could talk? Wouldn’t that just be wild?”

I laughed again. Winston was a real character. “The strange part is the more I get used to seeing him the less angry I am.” Then I realized what I’d said. “Wait. Didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

“Don’t worry. It’s a gift I have. People tell me things.”

“Why?”

“Maybe I look trustworthy?”

“Do you just look it, or are you?”

“What do you think?”

“I think I’m going to keep my mouth shut from now on.”

“Come on. You don’t need to do that.” He put a hand on the armrest between us.

“Evidently I do.”

“Your secret is safe with me.” He stood up and moved back to his seat.

I glanced at my original seat. The one next to Glen’s.

“Come on, you know you want to do it.”

“Why do you care so much?”

“Because Glen’s a nice guy. He’s had a crappy year, and something tells me he’s going to be nicer to live with if things work out for you two. Plus he needs to get laid.”

I looked away. “I can’t help with that last part.”

“Whatever you say.”

After a few more minutes of debate I moved back to my original seat. What was the point of sitting two seats away anyway?

Just as the previews started Dalton and Glen returned with the food. Dalton took a glance at where I was sitting before stepping around me to my seat. He set my meal in front of me. “Moving around again?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Just giving you your seat back.” I put my napkin on my lap.

Glen settled in next to me. “Glad to have you back, neighbor.”

“The person in front of this seat is shorter,” I whispered, finding the need to explain my actions.

“Whatever you say.”

I didn’t answer. I kept staring at the screen, waiting for the movie to start. I didn’t look away for over a half hour. Glen took the opportunity to grab my hand during a jumpy scene. I didn’t remove it from his right away. I liked the feel of his larger hand wrapped around mine, but I didn’t allow myself to enjoy the luxury for long. I couldn’t feel that way with Glen. He’d only hurt me again. I pulled my hand away.

“Hey. I was using that,” he whispered against my ear before taking my hand again.

“It’s mine.”

“I thought you were good at sharing.”

Winston looked around Glen and right at me. He winked. Dalton seemed oblivious. I guess he was just completely zoned in on the movie. Either that or he was being careful.

I didn’t take my hand back the second time. I let him hold it. I tried not to focus on the way he rubbed his thumb over my hand, but it felt so good. So comforting. So familiar.

I reluctantly pulled my hand back when the movie ended. Glen straightened up. “So where to now?”

“What do you mean?” I stretched before slipping back into my jacket.

“Where to now? It’s only nine.”

“We’re going home.” There was only so much time I could spend around Glen. Holding his hand or not, that didn’t mean we were going to start hanging out again.

“Oh. Maybe I could drive you home?”

“Dalton’s going to drive me.”

“If you change your mind in the next few minutes, let me know.” He smiled.

“Doubtful, but thanks.” At least my stomach wasn’t in knots when I looked at him anymore. I hoped eventually the years of good memories would replace the one night of bad ones.

The feel of Savy’s hand in mine was like coming home. It’s a dramatic statement, but it’s a true one. Everything in my life was a mess, yet for the first time in a year I actually felt good. When she pulled her hand away at the end of the movie, she left me cold. It couldn’t be the last time I touched her. I needed more.

I caught Winston’s eye as we headed out of the theatre. The first part of the plan had worked. Layden had told me her plans for the evening, and we’d made a huge step forward. She was talking to me, and she was also letting me hold her hand. Now I just had to keep moving things in that direction.

We walked outside of the theater to the plaza at Solaris. It was another one of the swanky resort areas in Vail. In good weather it was actually a short walk from Lionshead, but I had no plans to let Savy walk.

“Is that a sleigh?” Savy pointed to a horse drawn sleigh, complete with bells, waiting off to the side. “I haven’t been on one of those in years.” Her face brightened, and for a moment she looked like the Savy I knew again.

“It is a sleigh,” I smiled, aching to grab her hand again, but fighting the impulse.

“I didn’t take you as a sleigh ride person.” Dalton looked at her skeptically. “You seem too bah humbug for that.”

“Savy loves Christmas. She’d probably listen to Christmas music year round if she could,” I quickly supplied, letting it be known that I knew a whole lot more about her than he did.

“I used to.” She looked off into the distance.

“So have you changed your mind about letting me drive you back?”

“It’s not that far away. Dalton will take me.”

“What if I offered you the scenic route?” I added. Winston laughed.

“What?” She looked between us.

“What if I told you my offer for a ride home wasn’t in my car?” I nodded over to the sleigh. “Would that interest you more?”

“Wait?” She looked at me. “Are you saying that sleigh is for us?” Her voice lilted. She was excited, and that got me excited.

“Maybe. I thought we could do it for old times’ sake. You did have your first sleigh ride with me after all.”

She smiled lightly. “I did.” She turned to Dalton. “Are you up for it?”

“Hey. Who said he’s invited?” There was no way step-brother was intruding on this.

“You can’t expect me to go alone with you.”

“Why not? What do you think is going to happen? The driver will be with us anyway.”

She looked conflicted.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” Dalton asked.

I hesitated. I didn’t want to step away from Savy, but there was something in Dalton’s expression that made me wonder if he might actually want to help.

“I’ll keep Savannah company. We bonded earlier.” Winston stuffed his hands in the pockets of his coat.

“We’ll be right back.” Dalton walked around the corner, and I followed after one quick glance back at her.

“What is it?”

“Do you really care about her?”

“Of course.”

“And all that stuff you said earlier, about regretting the way you made her feel. About wanting to make things up to her. You meant it?” So he had been listening as I’d tried to explain myself to him as we’d waited for our food.

“Yes. I’ve been crazy about Savy for years. I know it seems weird because we only saw each other once a year, but she’s one of my best friends. We used to talk all the time.” She was still a favorite contact in my phone. One my thumb had hesitated over more frequently than I wanted to admit.

“I really have no say in what she does, so I’m not going to be able to convince her of anything, but I’ll see what I can do. It looks like we both want the same thing.”

“And what’s that?” He had better not say he wanted her.

“We want her happy. Although we want it for different reasons.”

“What’s your reason?”

“Aside from just generally kind of liking her, I also need her to snap out of her funk so her Dad stops stalling on proposing to my mom. I’ve got a lot going on in my life that I’ve put on hold. If she’s happy, and my sister’s happy, then I can start worrying about myself. Got that?”

“You think her dad’s stalling because of Savy?” I was trying to understand his logic.

“Yes. He thinks she got upset last year because of her mom’s engagement, but evidently you also had something to do with that.”

“Don’t remind me.” I cringed. I hated knowing I’d hurt her. I never wanted to cause her pain again. It was because of that that I probably should have stayed away, but she wasn’t happy without me. Maybe, just maybe, she’d be happier with me. I needed to at least try.

“So if she gives you a second chance, try not to screw it up, and try to work fast.”

“I only have a few days, so yeah. I’ll work fast.”

“Good. I have to give you points on the sleigh.”

“I thought I’d play the nostalgia card. Of course this time we aren’t kids, so I’m going for romantic.”

“You said her dad likes you, right?”

I nodded.

“So if I tell him I left her with you he’s not going to kill me?”

“He won’t. Besides, her grandpa already knows she’s going to be with me.”

“Layden? Do I want to know?”

“He also wants her happy.”

He smiled. “I guess there’s a lot of people rooting for that.”

“No one more than me.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks.” I started heading back toward Savy. As we walked over she was laughing at something Winston had said. Despite some of his annoying habits, Winston was really good at doing that.

“Are you done talking about me?” Savy set her eyes on me even though she was asking both of us. I was glad. I wanted all of her attention to myself.

“I just wanted to make sure you could trust him.” Dalton spoke slowly, seeming to be carefully selecting his words.

“And what’s the consensus?” she asked in a playful way. Playful was good. Playful was the Savy I knew.

“You can. He knows he’s a goner if he does anything to upset you again.”

“A goner?” Savy and I both asked at once.

He was unmoved. “You don’t want to know.”

“Is this when I discover that the college student thing is just cover, and you’re really in some secret government agency?” Savy laughed.

“You’re laughing now.” He seemed to be trying to hide a smile.

“So what’s it going to be?” I took a step toward Savy. “A sleigh ride together with me?”

“It’s lovely weather.”

Dalton groaned. “Did you just quote Christmas music lyrics?”

“I told you she’s obsessed with this time of year.”

“I’m not obsessed.” She gave me her pouty face.

“Not obsessed, passionate.”

“Passionate is an acceptable term.”

“Does that mean you’re going to come?”

She pursed her lips. “I don’t think I should.”

“Why not?”

“Because you only did this because you feel guilty or something. I already told you that you don’t have to worry about it. I got the hint, and I moved on.”

“The move on comment aside, we’ll talk about that later, but what if that’s not why I did it? What if I did it because I really want to go on a sleigh ride, and you’re the only one into Christmas enough to do it with me?”

“So now you’re saying you’re desperate.”

I shook my head. “You are making this way too complicated.”

“Oh, so it’s my fault?”

“No. I’m not saying that.”

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Dalton walking away. Winston followed with a wave. Savy was completely oblivious, and I tried to hide my smile. It looked like Dalton was going to help me out.

“Then what are you saying? You keep telling me how I’m wrong. How you didn’t reject me, blah blah blah. So give me answers.”

“Blah blah blah?” I moved toward her. “Are we back at that point again?”

She broke into a grin. “You remember that? Do you remember how mad my dad got when I said that to him?”

“Of course. You got grounded, cancelled on me, and I ended up sitting in my room alone. What a lame night.”

She laughed. It was her natural laugh, the one that made it impossible not to smile. “I can’t believe you remember that.”

“I remember everything about you.”

“So do I.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I mean about you.”

“Come on a sleigh ride with me.” I spoke quietly this time.

She nodded. “It doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you.”

“Deal. You have the right to go back to being mad at me afterward. Just give me this.”

She laughed again. “I hope they have blankets. It’s freezing tonight.”

I lightly tugged on her arm, pulling her toward me. “I’d never leave you to get cold.”

She looked away. “You’ve done it before.”

“And it’s my biggest regret.”

She turned to look at me. “I wish we never kissed.”

“Please don’t say that.”

“It’s true. If we hadn’t, none of that other stuff would have happened. We’d still be friends.”

“It would have happened eventually.”

She shook her head. “Not without the mistletoe.”

“I’ve been into you for years. It was going to happen with or without mistletoe.”

“Then why did you do it? What repulsed you so much you left?”

“I already told you I did it because I knew I didn’t deserve you.”

“But I don’t believe you. It doesn’t make sense.”

“How about you get on that sleigh with me, and I’ll make sure it makes sense.”

She shook her head and set her big blue eyes on me. “No. If we’re going on this ride, I’m going to enjoy it. No talking about that night.” A lone tear streamed down her face.

I wiped away the tear. “I swear I’m going to make it all up to you.”

“Just take me on this sleigh ride already.” She turned around. “Wait. Where’s Dalton?”

I shrugged. “He slipped off back when you were going off on me.”

“Jerk.”

“I was going to say great guy.”

She wrapped her arms tighter around her. “He has my phone.”

“I have mine.”

“Great.”

“You trust me, don’t you, Savy?”

“Do I trust you with my safety? Sure. I trust you with everything but my heart.”

My heart ached at her words. I’d change that. I’d change everything. “Then come with me.” I took her hand and got her to drop her arm from around her chest. “We’ll have fun.”

“You ready to go?” Harry, a friend of a friend, hopped down from the sleigh. He was doing me a huge favor. He was dressed up for the occasion in a long coat and a top hat. He was going for the full theatrics he usually did for the tourist gigs.

“How much is he paying you for this?” Savy asked.