the words almost not coming out. “I have to give him the chance to get to that.”
“Why don’t you give yourself one more chance?” she says to me. “Why don’t you go and fight for him?”
My heart goes to my throat. “What if he doesn’t want me?” I shake my head. “I don’t think I can survive it twice.”
“Baby girl,” she says. “The best love is the one fought for.”
“That’s what Google says,” I tell her, laughing at the little joke that reminds me of Miller.
“May I have this dance?” The man who Grandma kissed before comes over and holds out his hand for her.
“If you play your cards right,” she says, putting her hand in his, “you can get more than a dance.” He smirks at her, and I just watch her spend the night dancing. I smile at the kids who bump into me and smile at the parents when they kiss their kids goodbye.
I get up finally and walk over to kiss my grandmother. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” I tell her, and she hugs me.
“Don’t give up,” she says, kissing my cheek. I walk back to her apartment to grab my jacket and make my way home. I unlock the door and shrug my jacket off. I undress, slipping into my jogging pants and a large shirt. I grab my cover and cover myself on the couch. I just lie here watching the white lights on my tree twinkle.
I didn’t want to put up a tree, but Granma Nancy came over while I was at work and transformed my house. I grab my phone, and my heart speeds up.
“Here goes nothing,” I tell the universe, pulling up Miller’s name.
Me: Merry Christmas, Miller.
Chapter 34
Miller
Gorgeous: Merry Christmas, Miller.
It’s been two days since I got that text. Seven days and I was tempted every single day to text her back. But I just couldn’t; my heart was telling me that I had to see her to say what I needed to say.
“What are you doing in here?” my father asks, walking into the game room. My parents arrived this morning. The rest of my family is coming in tomorrow morning for the festivities leading up to the winter classic game. The whole town has spent the month preparing for this. I still don’t get how they are going to have ice for us to skate on in Dallas, but they said it’s going to happen. We will finally be able to skate on the ice tomorrow.
“Just thinking,” I say, and he sits in front of me. This whole month has flown by, one day into the next, yet I felt stuck. I spent Christmas with my parents at their house since it was easy for everyone. I made an excuse to bail out early, landing on the twenty-fourth and leaving the twenty-fifth at night. I spent Christmas night lying on my couch watching the lights on the tree, wondering if she was all by herself or if she was out with friends or maybe even with Grandma Nancy.
“Well, the way you are looking at that phone, it looks like bad news,” he says, sitting in front of me. “What’s up with you?” I look up at him. “Your mother says something is wrong with you, and I told her she was wrong.” He puts his foot on top of his other leg. “Seeing you now, I think she might be right.”
“I think I fucked up, Dad,” I tell him, and he just looks at me, waiting. “I …” I start to say and rub my hands over my face. “I don’t even know where to start, to be honest.”
“They say starting at the beginning is the best.” My mother walks in, carrying a tray with coffee on it.
“I thought you might need something to drink,” she says and goes over to sit down next to my father.
“You were right,” my father says, kissing her head and putting an arm around her shoulder. “Now out with it,” he says to me, and I tell them the story. From meeting her four years ago to chasing her. To the date with Grandma Nancy that had my mother laughing so hard she was crying to the ex-husband opening the door.
“So you just let her leave?” my mother asks, wiping the corner of her eyes with a tissue. “You just let the love of your life leave without going after her?”
“Idiot,” my father says. “What is wrong with you?”