Page 57 of Meet Me on Christmas Eve

I don’t know what I expected, but I wasn’t prepared for his glower. “Can I decide what I want?”

I bit my lip. “But you don’tknow—”

“Thenlet meget to know you!” He threw his hands up, leaning away from me. “You are such a maddening woman.” He exhaled in frustration, looking away for a long moment. “But I want you, all of you. The maddening parts too. And the messy parts. New, old, whatever. We all change, you know? You’re not the only one whose life has changed dramatically in the last decade.”

I opened my mouth to reply, and I couldn’t find the words at first. Of course, his life had changed too, and not for the better. His parents had died, and he’d gone from ridiculously wealthy to … poor? Middle class? I didn’t even know his status, but it was certainly massively downgraded from what it was. But he was still the same person, wasn’t he? He hadn’t needed to change who he was, to discard his old self, his past … that was the difference between us. Maybe what he went through was worse though. I shook my head, more confused than ever. “I don’t know,” I said hesitantly. “I want everything to be as simple as that, to just … be with you.”

Before I could say more, he took both my hands and brought them to his lips as his eyes pierced my soul. “Then it will be simple. Be with me.”

I was going to cry again. This man.

I leaned in to kiss him but then stopped, suddenly hearingJoy to the World.

“Dammit.” His voice was rough as we sat up, looking for our phones. “I’ll put it on silent.”

I spotted the phone at the same time he did. His eyes slid over to me, probably hoping I hadn’t seen it. But I had.

Jane was calling.

Jane.

Another reason we’d been at odds.

I crossed my arms over my stomach, steeling myself for this conversation. Was he going to continue to sabotage me with Jane, as he had been? Could I forgive him for that?

He didn’t answer the call but sent it to voicemail and stared into the fireplace for what felt like an eternity.

“I guess we should talk about this,” he said, his voice sounding kind of distant. Not warm and comforting as before. I felt my guard go up further, wondering what he was going to say.

“Absolutely,” I said firmly, and he turned to look at me. I was all business now, and I lifted my chin as I said, “So have you been working against me with Jane in this business deal?”

He looked back to the fire. “No.” A muscle tensed in his jaw. “Also, yes.”

I waited for a moment as my ire rose. “Which is it?” I snapped.

His eyes swung toward me, and I was taken aback. He looked sad. Scared. Maybe even defeated. “I’d never try to hurt you. You should know that.”

I stuck my chin out, trying to breathe steadily. “Having a hard time believing it, based on how this conversation is going. But keep going.”

He sighed heavily. “When you first started talks with Jane, she was impressed with you. She was really considering it. You had a good shot.”

I nodded. “I felt that. And then, something changed.” I narrowed my eyes. “What happened?”

He took a deep breath, looking at me only briefly before looking down at his hands. “My grandma convinced her not to sell and … to give it to me instead.”

My jaw dropped. “What?Why on earth—”

“My grandma is married to Jane. They decided it was best to keep it in the family.” He looked at me then, fear and something else in his eyes. Regret?

“Married … isNinayour grandma?” He nodded ever so slightly, his expression full of guilt. “That’s—why didn’t anyone tell me this?”

“I’m sorry, Mariana. Really, we should’ve—”

“It’s a little late for apologies now, isn’t it? You let me waste my time and everyone else’s trying to woo her … make a fool of myself, really. How … how could you?” I was furious but somehow also on the verge of tears. I had to lean in to the anger to avoid cryingagain. “And how couldthey?”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. “It’s not like you and I were on good terms. And they wanted me to wait before telling you.”

My eyes widened. “Why? Because it was entertaining for them?”

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