The Christmas Plan - Samantha Chase Page 0,9
you?”
“Yeah. Sure.” He got himself situated with his dessert–but not before giving Aspen a sip of his milkshake. Once he was comfortable, he pointed to the TV. “How about Master of None? We haven’t watched that in a while.” She nodded and got it set up. Once the show started, she leaned back on the pillows. Gabe could feel the heat of her stare and glanced over at her. “What? What’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” she said quickly, looking down to study her slice of apple pie. “I was just feeling really happy.” Then she looked up at him again. “I’m excited about spending Christmas with you and your family.”
Unsure of how to respond, he simply smiled and nodded.
“I mean it, Gabe. The last few years I’ve really dreaded the holidays.”
“Because you were always working and didn’t get to see your family?”
“Pretty much. There was nothing special about the days because they were just like any other.” She took a bite of her pie before adding, “Although, it did save me from having to deal with going home and dodging and weaving the whole time.”
“Because of the outlaws?”
She laughed softly. “Exactly. It’s hard to be joyful and relax when you always have to be on guard for wayward hands and gross innuendos.”
“I still can’t believe your sister married someone like that.”
“I know. Maddie’s a bit uptight and it seems to go directly against everything about her, but for some reason it doesn’t seem to register with her or bother her. It’s kind of bizarre.”
“Well, I can totally promise you that there will be no wayward hands or gross innuendos. And if by chance there are–and it would have to be a tourist because no local resident of Silver Bell would do something like that–just tell me and I’ll take care of it.”
Her smile grew from ear to ear as her hand flew up over her heart. “My hero.”
“Yeah, well…”
Aspen got up and walked over to him and sat herself beside him on the bed, placing her head on his shoulder. “You are, you know. You’re like the best best friend ever and totally have the hero thing going on, so…thank you.” She straightened and kissed him on the cheek before putting the smallest of space between them. “Come on, take a bite of the pie and let me know what you think!”
It took a minute for him to actually do it because he felt mildly uncomfortable with Aspen sitting so close to him.
On his bed.
It shouldn’t be a big deal because this was just who she was, but…it suddenly felt weird. Or maybe it was just him.
Probably just me…
Forcing those thoughts from his mind, he took a bite of his dessert and moaned because it was seriously delicious. He glanced at Aspen and saw her smiling at him.
“Stick with me, Gabe. I will always pick the yummiest things for you.”
And if that wasn’t a loaded statement, he didn’t know what was.
They finished eating in silence as they watched TV and after the second episode ended, Aspen yawned loudly. “That’s it for me. I can’t even hold my eyes open anymore.” She slid off the bed and put her pie plate over on the table where they ate before she slowly shuffled to the bathroom.
Gabe stood, stretched, and straightened up a bit, turning off all the lights except the one next to his bed. Setting the alarm on his phone, he plugged it in to charge. When Aspen came back out, he took his turn in the bathroom. By the time he came out five minutes later, she was already asleep.
He felt a little weird about not saying goodnight to her, but as he slid beneath the sheets with a big yawn of his own, he figured it wasn’t that big of a deal. Turning out the light, he slid further beneath the blankets and got comfortable and just when he was about to fall asleep, he heard her soft voice wishing him sweet dreams.
Gabe had been driving for the last hour and Aspen was teetering between being super excited about getting to Silver Bell Falls and complete and utter boredom. They were off the main highway and there hadn’t been anything of note to see in a while. Now the road was getting narrower and the sky was getting a little darker. “So, um…are we almost there?”
“About another mile up the road and we’ll hit the town limits.”
“Yay!” she cheered, bouncing in her seat. Honestly, she had no idea how Gabe did