Page 75 of Mistletoe Kisses

There were so many competing emotions assaulting me. I felt trapped in a ring, surrounded by people pelting me with paintballs. I wanted to hug her, run, beg her for forgiveness, act like I didn’t know what she was talking about, and drop to the ground and kiss it for not having to be the one to say it first.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to lie to you. I hope you can forgive me.” My words were stilted as my breaths grew quick. Tears spilled onto my cheeks as I ran away. Guilt threatened to consume me as my feet once again carried me without meaning to.

* * *

LUCAS

“You did great up there.”

“Yeah, nice job. Glad you broke the curse.”

I smiled and thanked people who said encouraging and sometimes slightly passive-aggressive things while I went in search of Arlo. I wanted to hold him close and thank him for what he’d done for me. I could only imagine what it had cost him to join me on that stage.

I spotted him about fifty feet away, talking to Judith. I couldn’t help but hope he was riding his courage and telling her his secret. Since they seemed deep in conversation, I held back to give them time together. But then Arlo turned and ran away, weaving through the crowd.

I took off after him and caught up about a block away. He was crying through short, quick breaths.

I stopped him, pulled him into my arms, and rubbed slow, steady circles on his back. “What happened, baby?”

“They know who I am. Judith figured it out.” He mumbled the words against my neck.

I wasn’t sure what had made him run, as I couldn’t imagine she was anything but completely thrilled. Who wouldn’t be happy to find out Arlo was part of their family? But I wasn’t carrying a lifetime of baggage about this, so I couldn’t presume to understand what was going on in his head. His anxiety likely wasn’t helping matters.

“Is she mad at you?”

“No. She seemed happy.”

I continued rubbing his back and letting him clutch my coat like a life raft as his quick breaths slowed to a nearly normal pace.

After a few minutes, he pulled back and stared at me with his puffy red eyes. “I shouldn’t have run.”

“Why did you?” I asked softly.

“I guess my danger instinct is to flee. I would’ve bet on freezing, to be honest.”

I laughed, and he smiled as he let me wipe the tears from his flushed cheeks. “Let’s go home and talk, okay?”

Arlo frowned. “I don’t want to pull you away from celebrating with your brother. I’ve got a key. I’ll be okay.”

I kissed his cheek. “Oh, we’re going to talk all about what happened on that stage later, you beautiful, wonderful man. But there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than with you right now. I can celebrate with Warren and Reed later. Let’s go figure this out.”

It was a quiet ride back to my place. As soon as we got inside, I began making cocoa. When I finished, we sat on the couch in silence. I gave Arlo all the time he needed.

“If we don’t talk about it, maybe that means it didn’t happen?”

“I wish things worked that way. You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to, but I can try to be as good a listener as you.”

He rested his hand over mine, so I turned mine over and intertwined our fingers. He sighed and squeezed as he dropped his head on my shoulder.

“I feel like I’m drowning in guilt. For not telling them, not telling my mom, holding on to these secrets. It’s been eating away at me, and I didn’t know how to react when confronted.”

“Any way you reacted is understandable. Meeting blood family that you didn’t know about for the vast majority of your life is a big deal, and I gotta say, I think you’ve been handling it well.”

“You really think so?”

I turned toward him and pulled my knee up on the couch so I could face him more fully. “Absolutely. You could’ve chosen to never reach out or not spend most of your vacation trying to give Ron’s struggling business a boost. I know in my heart that they’rethrilledto figure out you’re part of their family. They basically adopted you already.” I grabbed both his hands in mine. “Arlo, you have a wonderful family who is deserving of someone as amazing as you.”

Tears sprang to Arlo’s eyes again. I held him as he cried. I wanted to take away the decades of pain from him, but since I couldn’t, I could at least be there for him now. I was so proud of him. Coming to Dahlia Springs and building a relationship with Ron had been the hard part. Coming clean about their connection was a formality. I was thrilled he could now become a part of their family with no secrets.

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