Page 50 of A Second Chance Christmas Kiss

His comment made me giggle even more, and I relished every second of being in his arms.

Gretchen moved to stand in front of the cash register and placed her hands on her hips. “Did this happen in the span of less than twenty-four hours?”

I pulled away from Charles. “I think so. Charles? Has it been less than twenty-four hours?” I busied myself with retrieving some extra printer paper for her.

“I don’t know,” said Charles, taking the printer paper from my hands and placing it in hers.

Gretchen laughed and then rushed around the counter and threw her arms around me. “I’m so happy for you, my friend. Truly.”

I pulled back and smiled at her. “Me too.”

Then she turned and threw her arms around Charles. “I’m happy for you too.”

Charles laughed. “You know this cart was in front of the horse a long time ago, or however you want to say it.”

I couldn’t help but laugh as well.

Gretchen left, and then Charles wrapped his arms around me again.

I snuggled into him and still couldn’t believe that this was real. “I don’t know if we should be this unprofessional in the store.”

He scrunched up his face and looked around. “There’s nobody here.” He put his forehead against mine. “Plus, you own the place.”

I shrugged, unable to wrap my head around the idea. “I don’t really own it. There is still debt on it. Plus the whole stupid waiting for the 401(k) thing.” I wiggled free of his grasp and moved back toward the Christmas display he had been fixing. I didn’t want to think about reality, but it had a way of creeping in.

Charles moved to my side. “I can imagine it’s frustrating to deal with your ex. Plus this whole situation.”

I fixed up the display and couldn’t help but smile. “You knew that if you offered to just fix all my problems, I wouldn’t like that. Didn’t you?”

He put one of the boxes back into place. “You never were the damsel in distress type.”

I laughed and took his hand. “True. And just so you know, when you did try to stop my wedding, it was hard for me. I may not have left with you, but there was part of me that wanted to.”

He used the leverage of my hand and yanked me toward him. “Pray tell.” He brushed his lips against mine.

Fire pulsed through me. It was like the familiar attraction between us was now a hundred times what it used to be. I wondered if he felt that too. I pulled back a little. “You were myfirst love. I had only ever loved you, until Peter.” I said the last word bitterly.

Charles picked up our linked hands and kissed the back of mine. “I’m glad. Because I missed you for so many years. When things went bad with Sheila, I thought about you.”

The ocean blue of his eyes rocked me. “You did?”

He nodded. “Of course. I thought you were happy, so I felt bad about it. It was hard to come back here at times, because all my memories of this place revolve around you in some way.”

“I know. I feel the same way. I hardly came over the years. Of course, I came to visit my mother and brought Will, but there were so many times that Peter didn’t come with us. He would claim that he had to work.” Sad feelings washed over me. “Too bad all those memories are tainted by his affairs. Like, I don’t even know if I can believe him. Maybe he had affairs when we were gone here.” Emptiness chilled me for a second.

Gently, Charles put a hand on my cheek. “It’s okay to be sad. I can imagine being tainted by that. I feel tainted in my own way. I felt like I failed Sheila.”

His words surprised me. “Why would you feel like you failed her?”

He hesitated and pulled back. With one of his hands still in mine, he looked down. “Because it didn’t matter how much money or resources I had—I couldn’t help her get pregnant. At the end of the day, I took that upon myself.”

I squeezed his hand. “It’s okay for you to be sad about that.”

A little smile crossed his lips. “Thank you.”

For a long time, we simply stared into each other’s eyes, and it felt like the past and present and future were wrapped up in this moment. If only I could download it like a computer attachment and come back to it forever. He’d always had such a big heart.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

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