The Christmas Plan - Samantha Chase Page 0,8
places to stop and sightsee along the road again.”
“There are some cool things to see once we hit upstate New York, but I figure at some point over the course of the month, we can break away and do a day trip or something. I know how much you’d enjoy that.”
“You are too sweet,” she beamed. “Thank you.”
“If we get on the road by seven, we can realistically be in Silver Bell Falls by four. It will start getting dark by then but it’ll still be light enough for you to get your first glimpse of the town. Then after dinner I thought we could go walk around downtown so you can see all the decorations and lights and whatnot. Again, I know how much you love seeing Christmas lights.”
“I seriously do,” she replied before taking a long sip of her milkshake. “Oh, my God, Gabe. You have to try this. It’s beyond chocolatey.” She handed him the glass and he took a sip and groaned at how good it was. Aspen quickly took it back before he drank more than his share. “That’s your punishment for mocking me for ordering dessert. It’s delicious and you only get a sip.”
“And the pie?”
Her eyes narrowed. “You’ll get the obligatory bite, but after that, it’s all mine.”
Before he could second-guess himself, he walked over to the desk phone and called room service and ordered his own pie and shake before triumphantly walking back to the table. “Problem solved.”
“Fine. But I get to take a ginormous sip of your shake.”
“What? Why?”
“Because that’s what you did with mine. Fair is fair.”
There was no point in arguing. “Fine. You can have a sip of mine.”
“A ginormous sip,” she corrected.
He nodded as he sat back down. “Sure. A ginormous sip.”
She preened in her seat for a moment before they picked up their conversation about the drive tomorrow. “I think seven is totally doable. I’m exhausted and will probably be asleep by nine.”
“Same.”
“I was thinking that when we’re close to Silver Bell Falls, you need to be the one driving.”
“Why?”
“I want to get the whole ‘Welcome to Silver Bell Falls’ experience! You’re going to have to play tour guide and there’s no way I can keep my eye on the road and see everything.”
“I can do that,” he agreed. “But I think you’re expecting way more than what there really is. I don’t want you to be disappointed.”
“Will there be snow on the ground?”
“Probably.”
“Are Christmas decorations already up?”
“Definitely.”
“So what are we going to see first when we get to town?”
“If I tell you that, you won’t be surprised,” he teased and smiled when she laughed. Aspen had a great laugh.
“Ugh…you know I hate surprises.”
“No. You hate bad surprises. This is a good one.”
“Technicalities,” she murmured before finishing her dinner. “I hope your order gets here soon so we can eat dessert together.” She took another sip of her milkshake before adding, “Although I’m pretty sure this will be gone by then. Still, we can have our pie together.”
“Sure.”
“Ooh!” Jumping up excitedly, she said, “Let’s get our pajamas on and then we can eat our pie in bed while we watch TV!” And before he could answer, she was opening her suitcase and pulling clothes out. “Give me five minutes and I’ll be ready! You can get changed out here. Just call out when you’re done!” The slamming of the bathroom door came next and Gabe let out a long breath as he stood.
Pajamas, pfft…
He normally slept in his boxers, but since he was going home to his parents’ house, he had packed a couple of pairs of flannel pajama pants. He had assumed that he’d be alone in a hotel room tonight, but it looked like he was getting a head start on wearing pants to bed.
Dammit.
Changing quickly, he slid a clean t-shirt over his head as Aspen walked out of the bathroom and breezed by him wearing her own flannel pajama pants and t-shirt. She smiled as she walked over to her bed. “Hey, we almost match!”
Glancing down at himself, Gabe shrugged.
There was a knock at the door and he went and retrieved his dessert and even helped clean up their dinner dishes so room service could take them away. Once the door was closed, he turned to see Aspen sitting on her bed flipping through the channels on the TV to find something to watch. After a moment, she huffed with annoyance. “I’m just going to pull up something on Netflix. Is that okay with