back of my neck stood up. He pushed himself off of me and my lungs filled with air. I stayed where I was, afraid that I might be too dizzy if I tried to sit up too quickly.
Ethan smacked my ass before getting up and making his way to the bathroom to clean himself up. I lay on his sofa the whole time with a racing heart and thoughts.
As my heartrate slowed and my breathing evened out, my mind became clear. I sat up and began collecting my clothes. I shimmied into my panties and nylons and had my skirt halfway down my thighs when Ethan came out of the bathroom.
He pouted. “Back into your clothes just like that?”
“I have to go.”
“Running out on me again?” There was a bitter edge to his words.
“No,” I said hurriedly. “I have to go see Miriam. Something you said made me realize what I have to do.”
“Something I said?”
“About Christmas being about showing up for people. I need to show up for my friend. I’m sorry, but I can’t wait another night. This is important.” I glanced at the clock. It was almost eight o’clock, which meant Miriam was half an hour from putting Bobby down for his nap.
Robert was working nights, if my math was correct due to all the overtime shifts he’d been taking, and she would have been home for who knew how many evenings alone with the kids.
She needed an assistant.
“I’ll see you soon.” I hurried over to him to give him a kiss on the cheek. “I’m not running out on you. Okay? I promise.”
“One of these nights, you’ll have to stay until sunrise.”
“One of these nights, I will.”
I stepped into my heels and buttoned up my shirt. He walked me to his door and held out my jacket for me to slide my arms into. Then he opened the door for me and draped himself lazily against it. He had no shirt on and his pants were undone but pulled up. He looked like a sex god all haphazardly leaning against the door, and had I not been dead set on going to Miriam’s, I might have dropped to my knees for him right then and there.
But I was dead set on it.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?” I called as I made my way down the hall to the elevator.
He nodded. “Tomorrow.”
I arrived on Miriam’s doorstep at a quarter to nine. I could hear little Adeline crying inside and it was no secret what kind of night Miriam was having.
Struggling to balance the package I’d picked up on my way over on my forearms, I knocked on the door.
The package, a flat, gift-wrapped box on the bottom and a smaller present on top, glittered in the Christmas lights wrapped around her door. I’d stopped at a boutique on the way over and caught them fifteen minutes before they closed. Somehow, I convinced the two young women behind the counter to giftwrap the presents for me so I could rush straight here and not have to stop and get giftwrapping. I needed all the help I could get, and when I explained who I was giving this to and why, they were more than happy to help.
They understood the Christmas spirit as Ethan did, it seemed.
Miriam threw the door open with a baby in one arm and Bobby thrashing in the other. Both kids were in their pajamas. Bobby’s hair was wet and he was wailing about wanting to play with his toy truck. Adeline was red in the face from crying, and Miriam, my poor Miriam, had tears in her eyes and unwashed hair. Her pajamas were stained with spit-up and what I assumed was Bobby’s dinner. She had dark circles under her eyes and a pink nose.
She’d been crying at some point and was hardly keeping it together.
“Kathryn,” she managed with a shaky voice, “I can’t—”
I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. Miriam retreated with a confused look on her face as I marched into the living room and set the gifts down on her sofa. I turned back to my friend and held out my arms expectantly.
“Give me the baby,” I said.
Miriam frowned.
I took Adeline from her and sat down on one corner of the sofa. She lowered Bobby to the floor and he rubbed at his eyes. I reached for him, took his wrist, and guided him gently over to me.
“Hey, kiddo,” I said, smiling at his sleepy eyes and frustrated brow. “Are