Page 100 of Check the Halls
“Please do.”
“I felt…relieved,” he admits. “When you left. I didn’t want to say it at the time. I didn’t even want to admit it to myself. But I think a part of me knew it was for the best.”
I meet his eyes and nod. “I felt the same way.”
“And I really hate that fucking cat.”
I grin. “He hates you more.”
“So,” he says, voice low, hand still holding the bouquetlike he doesn’t know what to do with it. “This is goodbye?”
I nod, gently but firmly. “Yeah. This is goodbye.”
For a beat, neither of us moves. Then he lifts the flowers between us, awkwardly. “These were…for you.”
I offer a faint smile, then shake my head. “Give them to your mother.”
He raises an eyebrow. “That’s…generous of you.”
I don’t mention that I’m secretly hoping she pricks herself on every single thorn.
“Goodbye, Derek.”
“Goodbye, Madelyn.” He looks around the room again, more appreciatively this time. “This is a great office. I wish you the very best.”
“Likewise,” I tell him.
And then he’s gone.
I glance around the room and shake my head. If I had incense, I’d light it right now—anything to cleanse the space of Kathleen’s lingering perfume.
A notification chimes from my desk. I grab my phone from my bag and find a new message from Ben. It’s a selfie of him on our bed, all eighteen pounds of Cheshire settled on his chest. He captioned it “Male Bonding.”
I grin at my phone thinking about Derek’s words. “I wish you the very best.”
I already have it.
CHAPTER 34
BEN
“What about an autographed Ben Michaels’ jersey?”
Sam and Maddy exchange unimpressed looks before they continue walking, like they didn’t hear me.
“I said?—”
“We heard you,” Maddy says, giving me a pat on the arm. “Let’s let Sam decide what to get his mom, okay? He probably wants something more personal.”
“I was going to sign it.Personally.”
“Actually, I already have an idea,” Sam says. He finishes his slushy and throws the empty cup in a nearby trash can. “I was thinking about getting her an Apple Watch.”
Now it's Maddy’s and my turn to exchange looks. “That’s a nice gift,” Maddy hedges.
“And an expensive one.” I add.
Sam shrugs. “I have money from my last tournament.” He’s referring to the money he won coming in first in a chess tournament two weekends ago. I was away for games, but he told me all about the upset he caused by beating the three-time champion.
