Page 26 of A Very Grumpy Thanksgiving

“How do you want me to look at you?” he asks her as he leans on the counter across from her. “Maybe like this? Over dinner?”

“No.”

He just smiles at her, and her face flames bright red as she looks at anyone except him.

“Should we talk about Christmas? Is it too early for you to meet my parents?”

“Oh my god!” she shouts and throws her hands into the air.

His phone starts to ring and he smiles at Lilou before he answers it and heads back outside to his car.

“When is that going to happen?” Mira asks Lilou, and she glares at all of us when we giggle.

“Never.”

“He’s not going to give up,” I point out. “He’s been after you since he got to town. I haven’t even seen him look at another girl.”

“Never,” she growls and we all know to drop it. At least for now.

“Now, when are you going to talk to your man?” Lilou asks me, and I sigh.

“I’ll talk to him tonight,” I tell them.

I even manage to sound confident as I say it, but deep down, I’m terrified that I might be the only one feeling this way.

I spend the rest of the day dreading when I have to go home and talk to Nolan. By the time I’m closing up Shelf Indulgence, I’m on edge and feel nauseous.

Time to get this over with.

TEN

Nolan

I wake up alone,and it takes me a few moments before I remember where I am and what happened yesterday. I smile as I remember everything that Saffron and I did to each other last night. I sit up in bed and frown as I look around. Saffron’s side of the bed is cold, so I know that she must have gotten up a while ago.

I toss the covers back and pull on my boxers as I go in search of my girl. I can’t help but wonder if it’s a bad sign that she wasn’t still in bed with me as I make my way through the house.

It takes me only a few minutes to realize that Saffron isn’t here. She must have gone to the bookstore already.

I frown as I stand alone in her half-remodeled kitchen and wonder what to do now. I want to talk to Saffron about last night and our future together, but I know her well enough to know that she won’t want to have that conversation at work.

So, I’ll stay here. I’ll work on the house and practice what I want to say to her when she comes home. Then we can have our talk and get on with our relationship. Ourrealrelationship.

I’ve finished a lot of the bigger renovations around here already. The bathroom cabinets came in a few days ago so that room is done. The kitchen counters are on backorder so that will be a few more days, so instead, I get to work on a special project.

Saffron has a room off of the living room that she has no idea what to do with, but I know. It’s going to be her home library. I’ve already sketched out the layout for the custom built-in bookshelves and a cozy reading nook.

I head into the room and start bringing in all of the supplies and cutting the boards to size. I’m going to leave the wood raw and let Saffron pick out all of the colors that she wants.

The repetitive task and the hum of the saw helps me clear my head and figure out what I want to say to Saffron when she gets home. I want to tell her that this was never fake for me and ask her to officially make this relationship real.

When my phone rings a few hours later, my heart lodges in my throat, and I hurry to answer it, hoping that it’s Saffron calling to tell me that she’s coming home early. Instead, it’s my mom. I debate ignoring the call, but I know that she’ll just call me again.

“Hey, mom.”

“Nolan! I was just calling to make sure that you and Saffron made it home safely.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry, I should have let you know.”

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