Page 34 of Promise Yule Be Mine
"Really? You said ‘to-die-for’? Awww, shucks."
I grimaced. "I don't believe I said that."
Josh shrugged. "I don't buy it." He turned to Nova. "You want to try the nachos? We've got some special toppings you can try," he said, pointing to the section on the menu. "Any drinks while you decide?"
I ordered a bottle of red wine while Nova perused the menu and when Josh returned I distracted myself from my companion by turning my attention to Josh.
"How is little Emmanuela?"
His daughter had been born last Christmas and was growing up fast, way too fast. She was an adorable little thing.
"She's good. She's a poop machine though. I swear there's something wrong with her."
Nova laughed.
"How is the wedding planning going?" Josh asked him.
I would be insulted that he was asking him instead of me, if Nova wasn't our wedding planner and a literal lifesaver.
"All good now I'm here," he answered and I nodded.
Everything was better now he was here. Better but alsosomuch worse.
An hour and two full stomachs later we made our way to Season's Readings where a small group had gathered around a table in the back. Nova practically squealed walking beside me and I had half a mind to wrap him in my arms and share in his excitement. But I didn't…for obvious reasons, not least being we weren't friends or anything else.
We joined the line and I couldn't help but watch Nova as he kept peeking at the front of the line as if he were a child waiting impatiently their turn to get to the ice cream truck.
"You really like him, don't you?" I asked.
There was a part of me, a part of me in my stomach, that was twisted in knots. I didn't like that he was so excited about meeting Emerson and that he wasn't looking at me that way. Which was completely illogical but it didn't make it any less painful.
But there was also a part of me, a bigger one, so stunned by this man who carried as much exuberance and confidence I wished I did most days, and I was already quite a happy-go-lucky guy. At least that was what my family and Jenna had told me on many an occasion.
These days, I couldn't see it or believe it.
"Hi," Emerson said when we got to the front of the line.
Nova grabbed and squeezed my hand, rendering me utterly immobile.
"Oh my God! You're E.S. Maxwell!" He cried and people turned to look at him. I smiled.
"In the flesh. But you can call me Emerson.”
"Oh! I can. I will, I mean. Uhm… Oh God. I'm making a complete fool of myself, aren't I?" He squeezed my forearm even tighter and even though it hurt, at that moment, I didn't ever want him to let me go.
"No. Not at all. It's actually pretty cool to be treated like a superstar." Emerson chuckled.
"You are a superstar in my eyes," he said and there it was again. That twist in my guts twisting even more. "I've read all your books. Twice. And your new series? I fucking loved it."
"You have no idea how happy that makes me," Emerson answered.
"Hey," a guy said, approaching behind the seated Emerson and put his hands on his shoulders. "It's Nova, isn't it?"
Arlo, the owner of Gingerbread Cottage, looked at Nova and smiled. If possible, the way he was being looked at by both of them, by anyone around us, was giving me a stomach ache.
Because I could never look at him that way. And if I did, I couldn't do anything about it. I'd made a promise to my best friend and I couldn't break it.
"It is, yeah," he said. "I stayed at yours last week but I had to extend my stay so I'm staying at my friend's while she's out of town."
