Page 31 of Say My Name

Not helping matters, everyone watched me with raised eyebrows and curiosity on my way into town, only for me to remember that it’s Christmas and the coffee shop is closed.

I make it back to the safety of my house when there’s a knock at the door, and peeking through the peephole, I open it to Sam standing on my porch holding a bottle of wine.

“Thank God. Don’t you ever look at your phone?” she asks when I open the door wider and usher her through.

“Sorry. I got a late start to the morning and am a little behind. What’s up?”

She walks through my living room and then into my kitchen before opening my cabinet and snagging two wine glasses.

I glance at the clock. “Uh…Sam, are you okay? It’s like ten a.m.”

“Listen, Chip. I don’t have a lot of time. I need to finish prepping the sides for dinner tonight, and the family is going to descend on my house in a few hours. We can’t have sexy morning-after girl talk without some liquid encouragement. It’s five o’clock somewhere, so indulge me.”

“Half a glass for me.” I still have a little bit of work to get through before I swing by the nursery.

I thought that Warrick was going to take me to work with him, but him being gone this morning when I woke up told a different story.

I’ve spent the last few Christmas Days alone, but I was really hoping that this Christmas wouldn’t be like that since Warrick and I started seeing each other.

Guess I was wrong.

He probably has plans anyway. I never felt right accepting Sam’s invite to holiday dinner, so I usually curl up with a good book and then putter around my own house and work until the day is over.

Heading to the nursery will not only give me the chance to finish up his project, but maybe I can broach the subject of him coming back to my house tonight.

We’ve gone through all of the paperwork and sorted it according to how it needs to be filed. Warrick picked up some filing cabinets, and I planned to get the rest of the office cleaned up today, so he has a dedicated workspace for the business side of the nursery. But with him sneaking out this morning, I’m not sure that I’m still welcome or even needed there.

Only way to find out is to go there and see what’s what.

“Spill,” Sam demands after pouring the wine.

I pull out some cheese wedges and grab crackers from the pantry and arrange them on a plate before I answer. “Warrick spent the night.” My cheeks heat in a blush that I wish I could stomp into submission, but it’s no hope. The replay of last night is enough to light my face on fire in the best way possible.

“Yeah. I gathered that when it was reported he was seen in his driveway this morning wearing yesterday’s clothes. I want the details. How was the date? What happened when you came home?”

“The movie day was good. I had a lot of fun spending the day with him. We went to dinner, which was also good. But then he admitted to the biggest travesty of all by the time he was getting ready to drop me off.”

Sam’s eyes are wide by the time I finish. “What did he do?”

“He’s never read the HP books, only seen the movies.”

“No,” she gasps.

I nod. “Yes.”

“The betrayal.” There’s a laugh in her voice as she says it.

“Hush, you. So I invited him in and I read a few chapters of the first book. After that…you can guess. He was gone this morning when I woke.”

Sam hangs on my every word, but I don’t want to go into too much detail and instead offer lamely, “It was really good. Like amazingly good. Blow my socks off and launch them into the next county good.”

“Oh em gee!” She squeals, and I can’t help but laugh with her.

“What does this mean?” she asks when she stops imitating a dog whistle.

I shrug, some of the happiness at last night dissipating at the reminder that he wasn’t here when I woke up and didn’t even wake me up before he left.

“I have no idea.”

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