Page 38 of Sleighing You
Chapter 16
Chris
As soon as we unlocked the front door of the shop, Kringle rushed over to greet the new visitor, jumping up on Helena and attempting to give her exuberant kisses.
“Ah! I’m allergic. How can you have a dog in a store? What ifkidshave allergies?”
Yep, that was Helena. Not a proper hello or introduction to Avery… just launching into her complaints.
I snorted and shook my head as I tugged the Santa hat and beard off my face. “Avery, this is Helena. Helena, this is Avery, my—”
“You look good… even as Santa,” Helena said, cutting me off and completely ignoring Avery.
My stomach roiled at the thought of being with Helena again. Catching her in the bathroom with my cousin had been painful as hell… but it had also shown me how much better off I was without her.
“It’s Mrs. Claus who makes me look good.” I met Avery’s gaze briefly, giving her what I hoped was a reassuring smile. Apprehension tightened her expression with the downward curve of her mouth and the concerned wrinkle of her brow. Her mouth twitched… almost like she was trying to smile back, but didn’t quite succeed. Then, she snagged Kringle’s collar and tugged him gently away from Helena. “I’ll give you two a few minutes.”
“Avery, you don’t have to go—”
“It’s okay.” She turned, pausing on the bottom step to face me. “Really. Just make sure you’re out of the Santa costume and that it’s hidden before any kids come up to the window.”
“Of course,” I said. What the hell was it about Helena that ruined almost every holiday? Avery returned my smile, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Come on, buddy,” she and turned to head up the stairs with Kringle trotting beside her.
I waited until she was out of view, before I spun to face Helena. “What the hell are you doing here?”
She blinked those overly gunked up lashes, flaking mascara down onto her cheek. “The board meeting is tonight.”
“I know. Butyouare not on the board.”
Her gray eyes narrowed in my direction and her mouth puckered into an angry frown. “Well, if you had answered any of my messages, you would have known I was coming. And that I’ve wanted to talk to you.”
I rolled my eyes and slid my arms out of the Santa coat. “Iblockedyou, Helena. Believe it or not, most people don’t want to talk to their exes who cheated on them.”
“Iknow,” she whined, following me around to behind the register where I snapped the suspenders off my shoulders and stepped out of the red velvet pants. They were baggy enough that I had kept my dress pants on beneath them. “But I’ve missed you. This year has been the worst year of my life.”
I snorted, grabbing my dress shirt off the hanger and slipping my arms into it. “Great. I’ll be sure to tell Tristan you said so.”
“I’mserious, babe.” She grabbed my tie off the hanger and slid it over my head, tying it as I buttoned my shirt. It was such a familiar action… one we had done morning after morning before I left for work. And yet now? It was foreign. Uncomfortable. Her long, red painted fingernails scraped across my neck as she tied my tie, and I jerked away from her, fixing the tie myself. I grabbed the red sweater off the hanger, smiling as I remembered how excited Avery had been when she’d seen it hanging in my closet.Something Christmasy!She had screamed and practically begged me to wear it today.
I felt immediately better as I slipped the sweater over my head and pulled it down so the top of my Windsor knot peeked out at the v-neck. Like somehow, this sweater she picked out was a shield of armor keeping me safe from Helena.
“I’mserious, too. Stop texting me. We’renotgetting back together.”
She glanced up between us where the mistletoe dangled from the garland, and a sly smile curved on her mouth as she pointed up. “How about a goodbye kiss?”
Man, I really needed to take that mistletoe down. It was doing no good up here in the store. I narrowed my eyes, prepared to tell her to fuck off… but before I could say a word, she closed her eyes and leaned toward me with parted lips.
I didn’t want her kiss. If I was being honest, I didn’t think I wanted anyone’s kisses ever again except for Avery’s. I wasn’t sure how she and I could make it work, but I knew I had to try. I’d thought I was a city boy, but there truly was something magical about this town.
I quickly grabbed the can of whipped cream from beside me and squirted some onto Helena’s lips, just like Avery had done to me yesterday.
Helena squealed, her eyes popping open in shock. “Whipped cream? Are you fucking kidding me?” I couldn’t help the chuckle that tore from my throat as I handed her a roll of paper towels. I barely ever saw Helena eatanything… let alone something full of fat and sugar like whipped cream. And the sight of it spread across her face? It was too good.
She glared daggers at me, and if I gave any fucks whatsoever, that angry scowl may have been terrifying. “What are you, four years old?” she said.
I put my thumb in my mouth, licking the sticky sweetness off and pulling it free from my lips with a loud pop. “Nope. But it sure feels good to embrace my more playful side. Avery taught me that.”
As she grabbed a napkin from beside the hot chocolate station, wiping at her chin where the whipped cream had sprayed, Helena’s eyes narrowed and slid to the stairs where Avery had disappeared. “That chick? Mother Hubbard?”
