Missing Christmas - Kate Clayborn Page 0,12
a smile, and my own lips curve in mirrored pleasure. While we stand like that I think of how fervently Jasper has been clinging to control since this morning. As much as he hates that I’m missing my family Christmas, I hate that he’s feeling so lost and out of sorts.
“We’ll make the best of it,” I say, squeezing his arm slightly, and he nods. Between us, a small shift has taken place: we feel more on the same team, more like the Jasper and Kristen who order late-night food and watch baseball. “We’ll have fun.”
“Well, we’ve found some things!” calls Romina’s chipper voice, interrupting our hushed conversation. She’s emerging from the basement door down the hall, Gil coming up behind her, his hands full. “We’ve got boots here that should work for you both, and we’ve just put some extra linens in the wash, so once those are ready we’ll take them out to the cottage, and—”
“Oh, fun!” chimes Allison, wiping her hands on a towel. “It’ll be nice for you two to stay out there.”
“The—?”
Gil speaks up, cutting off my question. “We’d have you in here, of course, but we’ve only got two bedrooms, and it seems silly for Tanner and Alli to pack up all their things—”
“No, no,” I say. “This is very generous of you.”
“It’s a bit rough-and-ready out there,” says Romina. “But the heat works, and you’ve got a small galley kitchen, and the bed is brand-new. . . .”
Jasper coughs. “The bed.” He repeats it rather than asks it. His hand is still warm over mine, warmer than before.
Romina’s eyes drop to where we’ve been holding on to each other, then she looks back up. “Oh,” she says, her face flushing. “Are you not—”
“You’re not?” says Gil. “I thought you were married.”
“Married?” I squeak. Jasper and I practically yank our hands away from each other. We stand like two teenagers who’ve been caught right in the middle of the most awkward game of Seven Minutes in Heaven. Seven Minutes in Tense Conversation With a Coworker You’re in Love With.
“We’re not married,” Jasper says.
“Huh,” Gil says, his expression pleasantly confused. “Not sure where I got the idea, I guess.”
I feel, rather than see, Tanner and Allison watching this sideshow. But I’m focused on the way Romina’s face falls. She looks around the living space, her brow furrowed. It’s a lovely, well-maintained home, but it’s clear it was built long ago, before it seemed like everyone wanted houses big enough where they’d never really have to see one another. In this front area of the house, everything overlooks something else—kitchen to living room, living room to small dining room—and I’m sure the back, down that narrow hallway, is little more than two bedrooms and a single bathroom between them. It’s not all that different from the house I grew up in, the house I’d be crammed into with my parents and my sister and her family, had everything gone to plan.
“But it’s fine!” I say, my voice overly cheerful. “It’s totally fine. The cottage sounds amazing! Like a special Christmas treat.” I am as good at this farce as I am because of all the holiday movies I watch, obviously. Kelly would be very proud.
I don’t know if my answer means Romina assumes Jasper and I are together, or if she’s just so relieved to have a solution that she doesn’t press the point any further. Gil’s holding the two pairs of boots and looking back and forth between Jasper and me like he’s trying to solve an equation.
“How about some dinner while we wait?” Romina says, clapping her hands together and smiling, already shuffling into the kitchen.
And it seems me and Jasper, we’re in sync again, at least on the outside, because neither of us seems to be able to do anything but stand mutely and nod, half smiles on our faces while we try to act unruffled by this change of plan.
I only wish I knew if we’re in sync on the inside. If he’s thinking as much about that Christmas cottage bed as I am.
Chapter Seven
JASPER
You can’t really avoid the bed in a place this small.
It’s one room, the cottage—not unlike the hotel room I’d have been staying in tonight, had things gone to plan—and while it’s true that there’s some unfinished details about it, mostly Gil and Romina had been underselling it. It’s warm and obviously freshly painted; the line of cabinets that form the small galley kitchen are bright white and