Page 59 of A Very Snowed In New Year
I can’t think of one other person I’d want to be stuck in a cabin with tonight. Maybe that’s nuts. Maybe it’s a leap of faith in hernotbeing nuts. But maybe being nuts about a girl for once is exactly what I need.
I grab my duffel bag from the trunk of my rental car and a paper bag of takeout from the restaurant I was waiting at when she messaged me. The duffel bag contains, among other things, a bunch of belated Christmas presents for Piper. I’ve never reallywantedto get Christmas presents for anyone except my family before. I really wanted to get something for Piper. So I ordered the cheesiest things I could think of with overnight delivery, and I can’t wait to see the look on her face when I show her.
She’s still in the other room when I’m unpacking things from my bag. I’ve taken off my jacket and my sweater because it’s warm in here. The tight shirt I’m wearing puts every muscle I’ve built for Zephyr’s character on display, and I have a feeling Piper’s going to like what she sees. From what I’ve read of her fanfic, though, she probably cares more about what my glutes look like in these pants. And I happen to know she won’t be disappointed.
When the bedroom door opens, out walks Piper in a button-down white blouse and plaid miniskirt with bare legs and thick socks that go over her knees. Very naughty schoolgirl. I like it. I like that she was going to wear that to meet Journal Guy. She is so not my usual type, but I think my new type is…her.
She locks eyes with me as she shuffles toward me. Her hip knocks against the side of an armchair in the center of the room, and it startles her. “Oh, sorry!” she says.
“Did you just apologize to a chair?”
She’s blushing and scrunching her face up, and it’s so cute. “Don’t make fun of me for being polite.”
“Are you from Canada?”
“No, but I get that a lot when I’ve been drinking. Usually I have the New York edge.”
“Tough guy, huh?”
“You don’t want to mess with me.”
“You have no idea how much I do,” I say under my breath. “I brought a few things for you,” I tell her. “Why don’t you have a seat in that chair you just assaulted.”
She smiles so brightly, tilting her head to one side, and I like that too. “You brought something for me?”
“I brought somethingsfor you.”
She takes a seat in the armchair. “I feel bad—I didn’t bring you anything.”
“It’s fine. I’m obviously a much nicer person than you are.” First I hold out the beautiful soft leather journal to her. “It’s a journal,” I explain, as if I have to.
“Awww. Journal Guy. That is so sweet.” She runs her fingers over the leather, tests the stiffness of the cover, flips through the pages. “Dotted pages. My favorite.” She closes the notebook and holds it to her chest. “I love it. I can’t wait to write in it. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Then I present her with a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils. They’re tied together with a red ribbon. “I sharpened them myself. Had to borrow a pencil sharpener from the hotel manager.”
“Oh my God,” she says gleefully. “You are so obsessed withYou’ve Got Mail!”
“I watched it again with my sister, and I didn’t hate it.”
Then I give her a little model of the Empire State Building, forSleepless in Seattlereasons. “I’m going to keep this on my desk,” she informs me. “As a symbol of the triumph of rom-coms over cynicism.”
And then I tell her, “I was going to get you a Joni Mitchell CD, but I realized you’d think I was cheating on you with my secretary and also I couldn’t get a CD delivered overnight. But I did get you this…” I open up the bag from the restaurant and place a clear take-out container on the coffee table. “It’s a pastrami sandwich. Like the one Meg Ryan had inWhen Harry Met Sally….” Her doe eyes blink at me. “So you can have what she was having.”
She rubs her cherry-red lips together. “A really loud fake orgasm?”
“Oh, it won’t be fake,” I assure her.
She clears her throat. “That’s very generous of you.”
“I’m a giver.” It isn’t until I see Piper sitting there holding the journal and pencils and Empire State Building model thatI realize how fucking insane it is that I watched a bunch of romantic comedies and then purchased gifts for her referencing those romantic comedies simply because she loves romantic comedies. That is not the kind of thing I usually do for the girls I want to have sex with. Especially when I haven’t technically met them yet.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” she says quietly to the floor. “But I also totally can.”
It feels so good to hear her say this, it’s not even insane. It’s just good. “Like a comforting surprise?”
“Exactly.” She stares up at me, and I watch the expressions on her face change as she comes to some kind of decision. “Exactly,” she says again.
I look down at the deli sandwich. “I don’t even know if you eat meat,” I mumble, running my fingers through my hair.
