Page 85 of A Break in Communications

“Oh—let me get that for you, darling,” she said, beaming, and I swatted her hand, laughing.

“I can’t believe you right now,” I said, but I let her take my hand and help me up out of the car. Guess we were one for one on the car today.

“Can’t you, though?” She tugged me into her, pressing a kiss to my lips, and she parted with a sparkle in her eyes, a hand on my waist. “Besides, it’s only right. Your grandmother is spying on us again, much less subtly than she thinks.”

“Ah. I should have known.” I softened into her—not like I really had to act to put on a show this time. Not that I had last year, either. I’d been in love with Lucy well before that… and apparently the last one to know.

But I still put on a show, sinking against her front, slipping a hand to her cheek, batting my eyelashes at her, and I’d only just gotten started on whispering sweet nothings that I knew would get that cute embarrassed smile out of her again when Charlotte interrupted.

“Oh, will you two quit it with the whole sappy show and get me out of the damn car?” she called, and I pouted. Lucy laughed.

“We’ll put on a show inside, instead,” she said, kissing me quickly before she turned to help Charlotte from the car.

That sounded better anyway. More people getting to see how I’d managed to get the world’s best girlfriend—I liked to show off, I’d been realizing.

It was pretty easy to, honestly. The new promotion wasn’t quite as much of a pay raise as it would have been if the role were just for one person, but it was a damn good position. I’d had myeyes on that seat for so long, and I was a little bit… confused, at first, once I’d gotten into the role and realized I didn’t want to go anywhere else. The only way to go up, really, was to aim for the chief executorship roles, and nothing could have interested me less. I’d had a little crisis of confidence there, wondering who I was without climbing the ladder, but it had been pretty clear after a minute in the job together with Lucy.

I was a person waiting to see what the next opportunity I wanted to take was, and for the time being, happy to keep doing the best job I could, together with Lucy. We kept Gould’s account after all, and he even bulked up the size of his account with us and gave us some solid referrals that led to a collection of other strong accounts signing up with us, and our department was busy through it all, so the two of us leading it had been the right call, even leaving aside the details of how we got there by gaslighting poor Sean.

But Sean was happily retired now, all of that behind him, off to go take pictures of trees. And now I got to show off a dream job and a dream partner.

I clasped Lucy’s hand in mine as we headed up to the front door, and Charlotte refused our offers for help and went up the ramp my father had installed specifically so she could get in and insult people. Snow drifted slowly around us, thicker at the door where it blew off the roof in little clouds, and I knocked, the sound muffled under the thick wool of my glove.

The door cracked open, and I was halfway through scraping snow off my boots when I stopped with anuh—buhof eloquently stated confusion when it was Matthew Gould in the doorway, wearing an ugly Christmas sweater.

“Oh, well—if it isn’t my favorite communications couple,” he said, beaming.

“Gould… uh… hi there,” I said. “This is—surprising.”

Lucy laughed. “This was a good opportunity to take off work, wasn’t it?”

He furrowed his brow. “This is important to me,” he said. “Christmas with some of my favorite people. Cinnamon rolls and Miss Charlotte…” He paused. “There was a meeting with the advisors today that I wasn’t interested in.”

Incredible how some people could keep a high-powered career while doing everything in their power to not work that career. “Well… always good to see you for the holidays, Gould,” I said.

“Not to me, it’s not,” Charlotte said. “Are you ever going to move out of the way and let an old woman inside?”

He smiled warmly at her. “Miss Charlotte, it’s wonderful to see you again. How have things been?”

“Awful. It’s cold and snowy.”

We got inside, into where Mom greeted me with a big hug and then an even bigger, longer hug for Lucy, throwing herself at us the instant we’d gotten into the family room. “Oh, god, you both, it’s been ages since I last got to see you,” she gushed. “I’d worried you were dead.”

“Holidays are a busy time of year…” I said. “Everyone’s coordinating something for the holidays. I’m just looking forward to the week after Christmas when everyone loses all their ambition and the world quiets down.”

Mom put her hands on her hips, giving me a stern look. “Don’t you lie. When was the last time you looked forward to finishing work? Not now that your darling wife is in the same office as you all the time… you must basically live there now.”

“You know Lucy and I aren’t married.”

“And I’m very upset it’s taking you so long. Now, Lucy, talk to me about trees. Are we going to your friend’s tree farm again?”

“Oh.” Lucy snuck a sidelong look at me, and I flushed, instantly knowing exactly what she was thinking. “We definitely should,” she said, beaming at Mom again. “We have to get Anna her tree, too. We had a really good time picking out her tree last year.”

I swallowed, my face buzzing with awareness, as I looked at anything other than the two of them. “Ah… we—we did. Yeah. We’ll definitely need to go… do that.”

“Tomorrow, then,” Mom said, clasping her hands together, beaming. “It’s a new tradition. Oh, you both, I’m just… I’m just so happy for you,” she gushed, giving me another hug and then another one for Lucy before she turned and practically floated away, and I nudged Lucy’s side.

“Did you… have to say it like that?” I mumbled, leaning close to her, and she slipped a hand to my lower back, whispering back to me.

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