Page 57 of A Very Snowed In New Year
I motion to slide my glasses up the bridge of my nose, but I’m not wearing my glasses. Lainey convinced me to put in my contacts this morning, so I would appear more bonery for Journal Guy. “Um…”
My mouth is so dry. I reach for the champagne, to rehydrate, so I can explain. I take one large, dainty, ladylike sip, and carefully place the bottle back down. Holden is watching me, and he appears to be amused. I clear my throat, take a deep breath, and then all the words start tumbling out of my mouth. All of them.
“I am so sorry. Shay hired me to text you because I always text guys for Lainey. Lainey’s my roommate. And Lainey is Shay’s sister.” I squeeze my eyes shut to say the next part. “Shay knew that I’m a big fan of yours and that I’m good at texting guys for her sister, and so she asked me to pretend to be her in Backroom. Because she wants to go to theWinds of Changepremiere with you to make her ex-boyfriend jealous!” I cover my mouth and shake my head before continuing, because it’s awful when I say it out loud; it’s so awful!
“And I signed an NDA, so I might go to jail for this—I don’t know—but you deserve to know, and I am so sorry I deceived you, Holden! It wasn’t my idea, but that doesn’t make me any less to blame for this horrible deception! I just liked talking to you and I got so caught up in it because I really, really like you and it was really fun! And I know I’m just some fan and it’s just a celebrity crush, but I think you’re wonderful and dreamy and I didn’t think I’d ever get another chance to meet you! It felt like we were in our own little world together for a while, and I loved it.
“And yes, yes. Maybe I was just fixated on you because I knew on some level I’d never meet you in person and that way you’d always be perfect!” I turn my back to him, because I can’t say the next part with him looking at my face. “But last night I thought itwas my last chance to ever communicate with you, and there was wine, and I had just seen you at the airport, and I thought we had a moment. And I’m so sorry if you feel like a victim, but I swear I’ve never done anything like that before and it really meant something to me and I hope you forgive me. Just please don’t tell Shay because I wasn’t supposed to, so don’t ever tell her we?—”
“Shhh,” Holden says. “Stop talking.” I do stop talking because he’s stepped around in front of me and he’s cupping my face in his big, beautiful, manly hands, and he kisses me. He kisses me on the mouth to shut me up. And he keeps on kissing me even though I’ve stopped talking possibly forever and I forgot what I was saying.
I get this flash of an image of what’s happening, like a gift from my future self: I’m wearing a wedding dress on a snowy New Year’s Eve and Holden Archer is kissing me.
And it finally registers that my confetti wish came true.
I’ve met Holden face-to-face and he figured out it was me he was texting with.
When he finally removes his lips from my lips, he rests his forehead against mine and says, “I knew it was you last night. Okay?” He brushes his thumbs across my cheeks. “Do you understand? I knew it was you, baby. You’re the one I was picturing. Everything I said, I was saying it to you.” He kisses my forehead. “Understand?”
I nod. My lips are still tingling and my brain is still bubbly and I might be floating off the ground a little bit. I understand the words. I don’t know if my brain will ever catch up, but my heart knows it’s true.
“I’m not here for Shay,” he tells me, tilting my chin up with a curled index finger until I look him straight in the eye. “I came here to meetyou.”
“Holden…I…um…I’m supposed to go meet someone else…”
“I know,” he says, nodding slowly. “I have good news and bad news for you. The bad news is it’s snowing pretty hard out there and you really shouldn’t drive anywhere now.”
Oh no.
Poor Journal Guy.
“The good news is…” Holden continues, planting a kiss on my left jaw, “I’m here, so you don’t have to go anywhere.” He plants a kiss on my right cheekbone. “I’m the one you’re supposed to meet at the restaurant… You sentmea message asking me to come help you with something.”
I jerk my head back. “Huh?”
“What I mean is,” he calmly continues, “you sent Journal Guy a message asking him to help you with something.”
And now I remember.
I realized there was no way I’d be able to get out of this dress by myself without tearing it. I FaceTimed Lainey in a panic because I couldn’t show up at the restaurant to meet Journal Guy in a wedding dress. After laughing for about five minutes straight, taking screenshots of me, and explaining that even if she had a car to drive up to Big Bear to help me with this, it would take her over two hours to get here, so I should ask Journal Guy to come to the cabin and get me out of the dress instead.
So, I guess I did that. But how does Holden Archer know about Journal Guy? I take a step back and stare at him, wide-eyed and now totally unable to blink.
He rests his beautiful, manly hands on his hips and says with a shrug, “I’mJournal Guy. I found your journal in that cab three years ago, Piper. I’m the one who emailed you. E. ForEverett. Holden Everett Archer. I’m the one you’ve been emailing and Google Chatting with. It’s me.”
I wrinkle my nose at him. “Huh?”
“Surpriiiise,” he mutters. After I stare at him in shock for what feels like a solid eternity, he exhales and says, “Okay. Let’s get you out of that wedding dress.”
SIXTEEN
Holden
NEW YEAR’S NO-MORE-COCKBLOCKIN’ EVE
“To be clear,” I tell Piper, “I didn’t mean I’ll undress you. I meant I’ll unzip the back of this dress for you so you can put on something else. When I’m not looking. You do have other clothes to wear, yes?”
“Yes.”
