Page 20 of My December Darling

“What happened to pride?”

“Turns out I was mistaking it for male fragility.”

She clamps a hand over her mouth to stifle her laugh, and I wish she hadn’t gone out of her way to stop us all from hearing the sound.

“Does that mean you forfeit?” Aiden asks with a cocked brow.

I grab a piece of gingerbread that was meant to be the door and take a bite. “Hell yes.”

Catalina slumps against the table. “Thank God. That was more stressful than building a five-thousand-piece LEGO set.”

“I take it you haven’t tried to build the Galactic Command Base yet?” I ask with a smile.

“By myself? Hell no. It would take me years to finish without any help.”

That’s the exact reason why I haven’t bothered buying it either. But maybe…

You need to talk to Aiden first.

First thing tomorrow, I plan on having a conversation with him about Catalina because there’s no way I can continue pretending I don’t like her company. It might not lead to anything more than friendship, but I’m okay with that.

Then why does your chest feel tight all of a sudden?

Because I can be friends with Catalina, but that won’t stop me from being attracted to her.

Maybe if you befriend her, all this will fade over time.

Maybe it will. Maybe it won’t. But I know one thing for certain. Come January first, she is leaving, so I only have three weeks to figure it all out.

I think I know the perfect way to start, so I only hope she agrees.

7

LUKE

Igo to sleep with a few thoughts on my mind about Catalina and seven hundred dollars less in my bank account and wake up with a new purpose.

I exit my room to find Aiden dressed in his work scrubs, making pancakes at four p.m. “Thank God your wedding is later in the day.”

His reply is cut off by his yawn. “No way in hell are we getting up before noon. As the groom, I forbid it.”

I take a seat at our kitchen counter and brush a hand through my ruffled hair. Our apartment is outdated but clean, and we even have a few picture frames hanging on the walls thanks to Gaby, although we haven’t bothered replacing the generic stock photos that came with them.

If it weren’t for Gaby strong-arming us into buying a small Christmas tree from the local farm and helping us pick out the most basic ornaments, our only holiday decor would’ve been a snowflake blanket that remains on our couch year-round and a pair of matching stockings Aiden and I bought during a post-holiday clearance sale back when we were in med school. Theywere the only ones that had our initials on them, most likely because they have the ugliest plaid pattern I’ve ever seen. We like the memory enough to keep them, although Gaby groans every year we hang them up.

Aiden serves me the first pancake from the batch. I think it’s supposed to resemble a snowman based on the batter design, but I don’t bother asking. It might be thin, brown on the edges, and suffering from a bulky center, but I’m too hungry to care as I take a massive bite.

“Thanks,” I say after sipping on some water.

“No problem.”

“You’re the best roommate ever.”

“Speaking of roommates…”

Oh no.

“Have you found a new one yet?” he asks while adding some batter to the pan in a shape that looks more like an obtuse triangle than a Christmas tree.

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