Page 117 of The Import Slot
Vicky rolls her eyes. “So, there’s no way of you returning it?”
“Let’s just say you won’t want it back,” he says, a twinkle in his eye.
She lets out a breath and pulls her phone out, tapping away. I use the opportunity to talk Christmas with Ryan, who, I’ve learnt, loves it as much as I do.
“Can I get a tree and all these cute decorations for your place? Vicky isn’t keen.”
“Yeah, sure. Whatever you want.”
To my surprise, he pulls his wallet out and pulls out his credit card. “Grab what you want, babe.”
“I’ll get them,” I say, but he nudges me aside when we get to the counter and hands his card over.
“Do you know if Danny has a tree plan or—”
“No, we need to get a tree.” He grabs the bag from the cashier and hands it to me.
“Vic, you used to love Christmas,” he says, but her face changes, and she excuses herself, heading back to the double doors of the stairwell.
“Any ideas what’s eating her?” I ask.
Ryan’s browsing the tape, then he moves to the sticks and plucks one from the rack before tossing a puck down. He’s like a kid in a toy shop.
“No, I don’t.”
His eyes are down at the floor, watching his stick, his right wrist twisting so fast I can’t keep up.
“Hey, I did something.”
He doesn’t look up; he just carries on, flicking his wrist. “Yeah?”
“I invited Liam for Christmas.”
That gets his attention. He stops dead and looks at me. “You invited Liam, my brother Liam, to Christmas?”
“Yeah.”
He tosses the stick back on the rack and runs at me, lifting me into the air.
“Please tell me you’re not kidding. Is he coming?”
“He said he was coming, yeah.”
“You’re amazing, you know that?”
He sets me down and plants a kiss on my cheek. “Shit, does Vicky know?”
“No, and we won’t tell her. She’ll find out when he gets here. I’ve seen her looking at flights to Pearson, and she’s been stalking his Insta. She’s besotted still.”
“Oh shit, is this you meddling?”
Just as he says it, the store doors open, and a load of kids pile through, obviously on the way home from school, but they see Ryan and swarm around him.
“Hey, everyone!” he says cheerily, and I slip out the door while he gets accosted for his autograph.
Ryan
Fuck,wheredidshego? One minute we were talking about Liam coming to town, and the next, I’m surrounded by a load of excited kids.
