Page 99 of Holiday Hostilities

Aaron passes the gift to me, and I open the package to find a set of white queen-size bed sheets.

One-thousand-thread-count Egyptian cotton.

“Exactly the same as mine, but for a queen bed,” he explains as I run my thumb along the soft, luxurious material. “For your new apartment.”

“Thank you, Aaron. This is so thoughtful!”

It really is.

I just don’t have the heart to tell him that the apartment I’ll be moving into on January first is furnished with a double bed, and not a queen bed. It’s the thought that counts, and Aaron clearly put thought into this gift.

He bites his lower lip as he watches me gently stroke the incredible fabric. “Open the card.”

“Oh!”

I hadn’t noticed the red envelope tucked into the side of the packaging. I slide it open and out falls not a card, but what appears to be a folded document. A legal-looking document.

I squint at it. “It’s a… lease?”

Aaron nods. “For the apartment you wanted, the one in Kris’s building. Starting January first.”

“What?” My jaw drops open as I look at the paperwork again in confusion.

But, there it is.

My name is on the lease. Damage deposit, plus first and last month’s rent, are fully paid.

“You don’t have to take it if you don’t want,” Aaron says, apparently misunderstanding my silence. “I just knew that you hadn’t paid the deposit on the other apartment yet, and I could tell that you weren’t excited to live there. I didn’t want this one to get snatched up by someone else. But obviously, feel free to throw this in the trash and live where you please.”

The paper goes slack in my hands as I process this. For so long, I’ve been on my own and looking out for myself. But here I am, on Christmas morning, no longer alone but living in the house of my former nemesis, who is now giving me a gift that shows he’s looking out for me, too.

“How did you do this?”

“I called Kris after we left and told him that I’d like to lease it in your name.” His green eyes are boring into mine as he speaks.

“Naturally,” I mutter, my head spinning. With the first and last month’s rent and damage deposit all taken care of, this apartment is now viable for me. More than viable.

But this gift, it’s just…too much.

It’s beyond generous and kind and thoughtful and oh-so-Aaron. It also reminds me of the fact that the new year is less than a week away, and I’m going to miss being here, at his place, with him.

Is he going to miss me, too?

“I don’t know what to say,” I tell him honestly.

“You don’t have to say anything right now.” He shrugs. “This is your decision. I just didn’t want you to lose the option of living there.”

“And if I don’t take it?”

“I’ll sublease it, I guess.” He grins suddenly. “Or use it to store all my hockey memorabilia. After living in that guest room for a couple weeks, I was a little sick of staring at my own face. Which I didn’t think could ever happen, but here we are.”

“Here we are,” I echo, that now-familiar fluttery feeling gathering in my stomach once again. The Aaron effect on me, it seems. “Thank you. This is unbelievable.”

It continually surprises me how intuitive he is, how well he reads me. How well heknowsme.

What a guy.

No. What aman.

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