Page 29 of That Time We Kissed Under the Mistletoe
“Stop!” she commands, and I freeze in my tracks, turning to face her again. She crosses the porch, hands hitting her hips. “Just come inside, and I’ll open up a jigsaw puzzle. There’s one that’s all candy canes. Like, literally every piece is just red and white stripes.”
“Sounds like a blast for a guy with a concussion.” I toss her an eye roll to be sure she catches the sarcasm.
“Right. No puzzles.” She tips her chin like she’s weighing her options. “The den is stocked with games. We could play chess.”
“Chess?” A guffaw puffs out of me.
“What? Too cool for you?” She approaches the porch railing, one eyebrow quirked slyly. “I’ll have you know Iwasthe president of our elementary school’s team. We were called the Chess Nuts.”
“Clever.”
“Thanks.” A grin crisscrosses her face. “The name was my idea. And for the record, my skills are a little rusty. So who knows? Youmighteven beat me.”
“Unlikely.”
“Because of the concussion?”
I cock my head. “Because I’ve never played chess.” She’s not wrong, though. My brain definitely feels … off. But at this point, I can’t tell if that’s due to my head injury or to being with Sara. Or both.
“How about checkers?” she persists. “It’s not as cool as chess, but everyone knows how to play checkers. Even people with concussions.”
I reach up and adjust my beanie, making sure the lump on my temple isn’t visible. “You go on without me.I’ll be all right.”
“But I can’t play alone.” Her smile falters. “And you’re not allowed to be unsupervised.”
“Then supervise me out here.” I nod to indicate the stretch of snow leading down to the lake. “We could go for a run. My skills are a little rusty, so who knows? Youmighteven beat me.”
“Sorry.” Sara tips her chin. “I only run when I’m being chased.”
“All right.” I arch a brow. “Then let me chase you.”
She shivers, and I find myself hoping her reaction’s less about being cold and more about … me. I know I shouldn’t entertain these thoughts, but I’m only human. A human who once loved Sara Hathaway with his whole stupid heart and his un-concussed head.
“We can’t run,” she says. “You could slip and fall and make everything worse.” She wraps her arms around her middle. “There must besomethingwe could do that’s low risk. Butnotpuzzles or chess.” Sara sighs, and a pang of sympathy starts clanking around my chest. She’s just trying to entertain me. I don’t have to make things any harder on her than they already are. “Do you want to build a snowman?”
She huffs out a laugh. “So you’re quotingFrozennow?”
“Nah.” I shake my head. “I’m not that cold.”
“No, I meant the movie.Frozen.”
“Never heard of it.”
Of course I’ve heard of it. I have a sister. Does Sara really believe I don’t know about Elsa and Anna?
“Wow.” She widens her eyes, bewildered. “Your brain really does have some big gaps.”
I hitch my shoulders. “I guess so.”
“Either way, it’s freezing out here, and you know I’m always cold.”
A fresh tremor racks her body, and my stomach plummets. Yeah. I actually do know that about Sara. I remember a lot of things I tried hard to forget. Likethat first night at the beach bonfire when I gave her my sweatshirt to keep warm. The thing smelled like her for the rest of the summer.
How about her tears when you broke her heart?
Yeah. I can’t forget those either.
“Three. Please.” She blows a strand of hair off her face, and I fight the urge to rush over and tuck it behind her ear. I used to kiss her there, along that soft curved shell.
