Page 7 of Home for Christmas

At first, she tries to put space between us but over the course of the evening, I wear her down, getting her use to my touch, playing with the tips of her hair which she wore up for the night, and brushing my thigh against hers.

When a tall, dark-haired woman comes over to our table, I notice immediately that Marley stiffens and tries to shrug my arm off her shoulder.

“Tannen! Hi! I didn’t realize you were back.”

She acts like we are old friends but I’m not sure who the hell she is. I don’t want to be rude but I’m not liking the way Marley acts around her like maybe this girl has been mean to her in the past.

“You should come over so we can catch up like the last time you were home.”

Like the last time? We never caught up. The last time I was here I barely stayed for more than a few hours and the time before that I spent all my time at my mom’s. Marley shrinks away from me trying to put space between us, but I won’t allow it.

“You should come over so we can catch up like the last time.”

Is she doing it on purpose because Marley is beside me or is she delusional or getting me confused with someone else? Any way I look at it, she’s going to be very lonely because I’m not leaving here without Marley.

Unfortunately, Marley has other ideas.

Chapter Seven

Marley

I pop up like a jack-in-the-box and finally slip free of Tannen’s grasp. “That’s a great idea! You won’t mind taking him home after you two…catch up, I’m sure. Me and Danni have to go.”

I drag Danni up with me and ignore the look she gives me. Tannen looks like he is about to argue so I go ahead and cut him off.

“You stay and visit friends and Amberly will bring you home whenever. Bye, everyone!”

I half drag, half push Danni through the Lounge and pay for the drinks we both got.

“What the hell is going on, Mar? You’re acting like someone shot a dart in your butt or something.”

“I just…,” I wait until we are outside before I say anything. “I wanted to give Tannen more time to be with his friends and I’m getting a headache. I didn’t want to just go home and leave you there, stranded.”

“That’s why we’re running from The Lounge like we stole something? Because you have a headache? And you didn’t mind leaving Tannen behind? What’s with that?”

I scowl at her before turning to finish the walk to the car searching my bag for my keys. It’s cold and too yucky to standaround outside talking about this shit. A slushy rain/snow mix has started to fall making everything even slicker.

“Fine! The truth is I wanted to leave because we are trying to lose…”

I come up short and blink as I spot the car…and Tannen, leaning against the car like he’s been here the whole time.

“Our ability to speak?” Danni finishes the sentence I started and walks around me. “I think Tannen already figured that one out since he seems to have knocked you wordless.”

“Wh…How?”

“I call shotgun this time!” It’s all he says as he gives me an egotistical look that tells me he realized I was running from him.

The ride to Danni’s is silent and the tension is so thick I’m nearly choking from it. By the time we pull into her driveway, the slush has turned to full-on snow, big white flakes that stick to the road and driveways.

“Thanks for driving and going with me, Marl.” We hug one another and I promise to call her to let her know I made it home safe.

When I head back to the car, Tannen is standing by the driver’s side door. “You want me to drive?” I arch a brow and put my hands on my hips, but he starts talking fast, putting his hands up to show me he isn’t being an ass. “I’m not saying you can’t drive but I kind of remember you being a little freaked out driving in snow when you were in high school. My mom said you would always have Ruby take you to school when it snowed.”

I give him a nod and hand him the keys before I go to the other side much more relaxed knowing I don’t have to drive in this slush. After a few seconds of silence, I finally can’t take anymore.

“It was really sweet that you remembered your mom talking about that and offering to drive for me.”

“No problem.” He gives me one of those smiles that melt my insides.

---