Page 128 of The 21-Day Boyfriend
“Are you busy?”
“Not at all. I was just having dinner.”
“Let me guess: a meal deal sandwich from the corner shop on your way home from work?”
I hear him laugh, and follow suit.
“Almost. Chicken burger from the chippy at the end of the road.”
“That stuff is bad for you.”
“Are you worried about my health?”
I sigh. “Yeah.”
He sighs, too, from the other end of the line, before a heavy silence falls between us. I wish I could tell him that I’m sorry about the other night, for whatever happened, but Sean anticipates me.
“I’m sorry about the other night.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was just… Confused, I think.”
“Because of all Granny’s questions?”
“No.”
“Because of our situation?”
Another silence, more terrifying than the last.
“Yeah.”
“Do you want to give up to…?”
To what? This whole pretending? Christmas? The gazes and kisses…God, those kisses! Or maybe you want to stop before we can keep following this painful, dangerous path?
“No,” he says, interrupting my thoughts. “I don’t want to give up.”
“Okay.” I wish I didn’t seem so relieved, but I can’t help it. “I was scared you wanted to dump me just before Christmas.”
I feel him smile down the phone.
“I’d be a terrible boyfriend.”
“And you wouldn’t want to be one.”
“I’d never dump my man just a few days before Christmas.”
A shiver of excitement creeps across my body hearing Sean describe us that way.
“So, we’re agreed? You’ll spend Christmas with me?”
“I’m all yours.”
Another shiver, this time seeping into my bones.
“I can’t wait,” I say, without thinking.
