Page 28 of A Grinchmas Delight

“Good morning,” I chime.

“You sound chipper this morning,” she notes.

“Meh. I’m okay. Get up so I can bring you to get your car at Scotty’s. Or do you want to Uber?”

“Ughh,” she groans. “Okay. Fine. I’m getting up. But I’m turning your heater on. It’s freezing in here.”

I laugh as I hear her teeth chatter.

“Okay. Put Reese’s sweater on her before you let her out.”

“Okay, okay. See you in a few. Love you,” she chimes before she hangs up.

The sun is starting to rise in the sky and the world is awake as I drive through the countryside into the city. The Christmas lights and yard décor sing to my soul, soothing the anxiety that I’ve had all morning. Temporarily, anyway.

It’s Saturday morning and the streets are calm as most of the hustle and bustle is still in bed asleep this early. The traffic is minimal, but that will all change later as everyone rushes out to do their last minute Christmas shopping. Occupying my brain is relieving, if only for a bit, to let me concentrate on anything other than what my life is right now.

I don’t know how it got here. But it scares the hell out of me. I pull into my driveway and walk inside to find Maia sitting on my couch with a cup of coffee and Reese Piecie in her sweater about to wiggle off the couch when she sees me.

“Hi, sweet girl,” I greet her, petting both sides of her face as she tries to lick me to death. I pick her up and sit down on the couch next to Maia, who nonchalantly takes a sip of her coffee with a smug look on her face.

“Don’t give me that look.”

She raises her brows, still looking at me in the same manner.

“What, do you want details?” I ask, patting the top of Reese’s head and looking away from her intrusive stare.

“Umm. Yes. Yes that would be great,” she muses.

“Ugh. Fine. We went back to his house and had great hate sex. Happy?”

“What? No! That wasn’t details. Jesus H, did you not have a good time? I need to know what happened, lady!”

I sigh and look over at her as tears well in my eyes. Her expression shifts from happy to concerned.

“What? What happened? What’s wrong? Did he hurt you?” She fires off the questions faster than I can answer anything.

“No, God no. He didn’t hurt me. He would never. It’s worse than that. He actuallywantsme.”

Maia throws her hands up, coffee cup in the air and all. “Dayra. And that’s a problem because?”

“Because it is! He’s the Tall Hateful Devil. The man who has hated me since the day that I got hired on. He’s been so hateful and mean and crude and now things are so different I don’t know what to do with it. And I’m up to apply for a promotion and what if I get the promotion just because we’re sleeping together?”

Silent tears stream down my face as I voice all of the concerns that have been swirling around inside of my brain for the last few hours. And yesterday. The way he doesn’t quite hate me anymore the way that he claims.

“Oh my gosh, Dayra. Are you telling me that this man, who is not the devil you thought he was, is treating you better than you could have ever imagined and you’re worried about HR at your job?”

I laugh through my self-pity tears. “Yes. That’s pretty much exactly what I’m telling you.”

She shakes her head in disbelief and tosses her hands up again in dismissal.

“I cannot with you.”

“I even snuck out this morning without telling him goodbye or waking him up. I caught an Uber back to Scotty’s to get my car. And it was expensive, I spent fifty dollars on that trip.”

“Christ. What am I going to do with you?”

I shrug and offer her my best fake smile “Love me and help me navigate my fucked up insecurities?”

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