Page 28 of Snowed In With The Second Chance Daddy

I chuckle. “Finding anything good?”

“No, just…looking.”

“Oh, come on, I know you better than that.” The second it’s out, I regret it. I push through, not wanting to make a big deal of it. “You always need a souvenir.”

Iris rolls her eyes, but her smile is obvious. “Okay, true. I was thinking of getting one of these just to commemorate the year.”

I glance at the ornament she’s been admiring. It’s entirely gold in color, made out of finely cut metal. It’s the Chicago skyline surrounding a fluffy Christmas tree in the middle. “Much more subtle than you usually go for.”

“Yes, well, I’m not sure this is going to be a banner holiday for me, so…”

I swallow.

I get what she’s saying. How are we supposed to enjoy this Christmas when we’re dancing around each other, spending our first Christmas apart when we were supposed to be married?

I catch eyes with the woman running the booth and flag her down, grabbing my wallet from my pocket. “Yes, one of these, please.”

“Trevor–”

But I ignore her, paying for the ornament and sharing some friendly conversation with the woman before she wraps up the ornament in some fine tissue and hands it back over.

Alone again, I hand the ornament to Iris. “Don’t say I never did anything nice for you.”

She smiles, but not in a humored way.

As she takes the tiny package, her leather gloved fingers brush mine. “Thank you. That was…you didn’t have to do that.”

“It’s Christmas.”

Iris puts the ornament in her purse. The same purse she’s always carrying, old worn leather that looks like it’s been through a world war. “Should we walk?”

I nod. “Sure.”

So, we start to walk. Quiet. Side by side.

The market is crowded, which means we can’t put much distance between us as we walk. Just a year ago, we walked arm in arm. We would have won cutest couple at the Christmas Market. Not that it’s a competition.

“Look, Trevor, I’m sorry I’m here.”

I keep my eyes straight ahead. “It’s fine. I was…I was unkind. You deserve to be with your loved ones as much as I do this Christmas.”

“I was supposed to go home to Texas.”

“Well, I know that would have been less than pleasant.”

Iris’s family is extremely religious and conservative. Their colorful-haired, videogame-designing daughter definitely falls outside of that purview.

“I don’t blame you for changing your mind.”

Iris sighs. “I didn’t.”

I frown.

“I mean, technically I did, but Oliver and Rowan worked hard to convince me.”

I struggle to reply to that. “They told me you–”

“Yeah, I’m sure they did.” She sighs. “I think they thought if we were around each other again they could…make something happen. You know?”

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