Page 57 of Peppermint Bark

“So she shows up out of nowhere, and within seconds you’re gone.”

“My job was on the line, Grace,” he said gruffly, “I couldn’t —“

“She made that clear. But you didn’t call or text me or your sister, you just … disappeared.” My hand made a poof gesture. His face showed it hadn’t occurred to him that either of us would be mad. “Then you showed up unannounced and scared the crap out of me. Did you think about how it would feel for me to wake up to two men talking outside my house?”

His mouth fell open. Clearly he hadn’t.

“And you won’t tell me what you want from me, except that it’s shameful enough that you want to hide it.”

As much as it pained me to say it, I crossed my arms over my chest and forced it out: “I think you should go.”

His eyebrows shot up. I wondered if he’d ever been turned down for sex in his life. I’d be kicking myself well into the nursing home, knowing that I had the hottest man alive in my bed and I declined.

But there was too much on the line.

He threaded his hands behind his head. “I told my boss I wasn’t going back until January. I left Manhattan in the middle of the night because I want to be here with you.” His voice cracked. “And you won’t give me a chance because you’re afraid of my sister?”

“I’m not afraid of her,” I said, even though I totally was. “But she’s not prepared. At her solstice party last week, she kept trying to set me up.”

He stiffened, his jaw clenching. “She did?”

“She had mistletoe hanging all over the studio, hoping I’d meet somebody.” She invited Dr. Tran, hoping we’d hit it off. She called it ‘Operation Mistletoe: Get Grace Laid.’ She threatened to print t-shirts.

“You didn’t stop her? Tell her about —” he replicated my finger waggle.

“Tell her what, exactly? ‘Hey Mal, I sort of had a thing for your brother.’”

His discomfort disappeared under a cocky grin. “You have a thing for me.”

“Had, past tense,” I said sternly, tempering my reaction to that grin. “She’d ask what happened, and I’d tell her: I forced your brother to dress up as Santa and he got tricked into kissing me. When I told him I was transgender, he ran out like his hair was on fire. I scared him off with a PTSD flashback, and he came over because he pitied me. He left suddenly and I assume I’ll never see him again.”

He reeled like he’d been slapped. “That’s what you think happened?”

Chapter 21

Alex

She slumped onto the bed, staring at the ceiling to avoid my eyes. Again.

I hated seeing her dejected, knowing that it was my fault. She hadn’t expected me or known I’d been thinking about her …

Of course she hadn’t. I hadn’t told her.

Meanwhile, my sister was encouraging her to kiss somebody else — multiple somebodies, from the sounds of it. I couldn’t be mad if she had, yet the idea of her kissing anybody else twisted my gut.

I’d spent all my energy getting back here, without thinking about how it impacted her. Now I had to convince her to give me a chance. I opened my mouth to speak, but didn’t know where to start. I considered Inigo’s drunk slur from The Princess Bride: ‘When a job goes wrong, Vizzini said to go back to the beginning.’

“Can I tell you how I would tell it?” I said. Her guarded eyes met mine.

“I got a phone call from a girl who stood up to me. Nobody talks back to me, they’re too scared. But she didn’t back down. When she told me to get my ass on a plane, I listened.” I ran my hand through my hair, squeezing tightly on the back of my neck. Her lips tightened into a tight line.

“I went straight to the hospital, and there she was. I don’t think she meant to stay, I think she fell asleep,” I said wryly, and her flush confirmed my theory. “Even though it was unlikely, after a stressful day of traveling, I wanted to believe that a beautiful woman would wait for me.”

Her lips parted and closed like they had that night, driving me to distraction wondering what she’d been about to say.

“When I worried about Dad, she was at my side. Her hand in mine, her kind offer of friendship. I don’t have many friends,” I thought about leaving it there, but she’d given me her honesty, she deserved mine too. “Or any, come to think of it. I wouldn't have wanted anybody else there with me. And I — I resented her for seeing me looking weak. And yet …”

I stepped closer. Slowly, cautiously. She leaned forward.

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