Page 126 of Peppermint Bark

Victoria glided elegantly to the small porch, black heels tapping. Mallory followed, winking at me salaciously and closing the door behind her.

Alex’s hands dropped to his sides. He said tenderly, “Grace, I’m sorry I didn’t make it clear, I wasn’t expecting you to — she only had an hour, and before I …”

His eyes were too intense, his voice too deep, his smell too strong. After missing him so much, not knowing if I’d ever see him again, finally reaching out and getting brushed off, feeling like he didn’t want me here now …

I cracked. I had to look away, anywhere but at his worried face.

“Shit,” he muttered. “I wanted to give you my undivided attention. I had — I had two hours to finish this, then I was going to —”

“Stop,” I said, holding up my hand. “I need a minute.”

He exhaled, then dropped into the chair Mallory had just vacated. Instead of her relaxed sprawl, he sat with his elbows on his knees, running his palms along his legs. My fingers rose to my brow, rubbing my forehead as if I could smooth out the myriad questions floating around my head.

After a few moments, I asked the only question my overwhelmed brain could parse: “What are you doing here?”

He blinked twice, like it was obvious from the pitch he just delivered. “I’m moving home. I regretted leaving before I even walked out of your house.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“You told me not to." His hands clenched in fists like it had been as much of an effort for him not to call as it had been for me. “You said not to drag out the inevitable.”

“But I … I didn’t know you were thinking about all this,” I gestured at the screen, displaying & the Blackstone Clarke logo.

“When you called, I was already on a plane back east so I could apologize in person for how badly I fucked up, and see if I still had a chance.”

“You’ve been here since Tuesday?” I’d been waiting for his stupid call, if he’d been hanging out at his parents house while I was —

“No, I flew in this afternoon. I had days of meetings lined up, trying to figure out …” he gestured loosely to the screen. “I knew you’d have questions I couldn’t answer yet, and I didn’t want you to turn me away for being an idiot again, tell me not to bother.”

“I wouldn’t have,” I breathed.

“My plan was to call from your driveway and ask you to look out your window. I have —” he laughed lightly, leaning closer. “I have the Santa jacket in my car. I was going to ask if I could come up even though it isn’t Christmas. Would you have let me in, Grace?”

My hand rose to the lump in my throat. Trying to lighten the mood, I asked in a hoarse voice, “Did you make me a fancy slide deck too?”

“No, darling,” he said, his tone softening. “What I’m doing with them, that’s how I want to make a living.” He gestured to where Victoria and Mallory leaned on the railing talking to somebody on the sidewalk. “But it’s you I want to make a life with, Grace.”

When a sob escaped my mouth, he scrubbed his hand over his face. “I never should have asked you to move, especially without time to think about it. It wasn’t fair. I was …” He lifted a hand to run it through his hair.

“I thought that having you near me would be enough, that I would be ok if you were mine. But I don’t want you to be mine, Grace. I just want to be yours.”

He brought a fingertip to my chin. “I’ve spent the last month figuring out how to fix my mistakes and make it up to you. Hoping I can prove how much I love you. Hoping you can forgive me. Hoping that I’m not too late.”

He held out his hand, his eyes pleading. When I detangled my fingers and removed them from my sweatshirt pocket, he reached for me, dropping his gaze to where our fingers touched … and then frowned. His throat bobbed as his thumb ran over the diamond on my right ring finger.

When his eyes lifted to mine, they were disoriented.

He released my hands with a curse — the bad one — then stood up abruptly. His face crumpled in grief before he turned away. “I was only gone a few weeks, but already you —”

“It’s not what you think,” I said, standing up quickly.

His clenched fist rose to his forehead. “Was it the man I heard on the phone?”

I couldn’t handle the pain on his face, not for a single second. I slid my hand through the placket of his button-down and pulled him closer, pressing my lips to his. His tense body softened, wrapping his cautious arm around my waist.

“I can’t believe I fell in love with somebody so oblivious.”

His body stilled. “Say that again.”

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