Page 22 of Holiday Unscripted
“Is that your boyfriend?” I ask her, gripping my phone tighter.
“It is,” she confirms and then answers it, “Hey, sugarplum.”
“Hey yourself,” I hear a female voice. “Ty said you are having the best time you’ve ever had in your life,” the woman says and Elizabeth bursts out loud laughing.
“Is that what he bet?” she asks the phone.
“I’m having the worst time,” she tells the woman. “I was kicked out of my house and left to fend for myself. And to top it all off, I have to stay with my brother’s best friend, who I don’t really like.”
The woman laughs. “I just read that romance book.”
“Did it involve murder?” She looks over at me.
“Let me see what he looks like,” she urges and I shake my head, but she turns the phone on me and I see the woman wearing a robe and glasses staring at me. “Hello,” she says, putting her face even more into the screen, “aren’t you a tall glass of water?”
“Hi.” I hold up my hand and smirk at her. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Honey”—she winks at me—“the pleasure is all mine.” Elizabeth turns the phone to look at her. “So you are having a good time.”
“What part of anything I just said makes you think I’m having a good time?” she inquires, and the woman laughs.
“I’ll just pay Ty his twenty dollars and say he was right,” she announces, “and you have all the fun tonight. You’ve earned it.”
“Goodbye.” Elizabeth hangs up on her. “That was Gayle.” She looks over at me. “She’s my triage nurse who runs the board and me, and basically everything else.” Her voice trails off and she yawns as she looks out the window. I acknowledge her statement with a hum and we settle into silence for the rest of the drive.
We pull into the driveway, and she gets out and walks around the truck. “This was super fun,” she deadpans. “Loved the way you got up on stage and belted out your heart.”
“I was going to, but you didn’t give me a chance to do anything because you were all ‘peace out, bitches.’”
“Okay, for one, I would never say that.” She snorts as I walk to the door and then cover the keypad with my hand as I put the code in, making her push me to the side. “That’s not fair.”
“If you have the code,” I tell her as the sound of the lock starts working, “then what would you need me for?”
I turn the knob and then look at her. “Nate.” She puts her hand on my chest, and I can feel the heat from her hand come through my sweater and my T-shirt. “I still wouldn’t need you, regardless of if I had the code or not.”
“So you’d freeze outside?” I ask her and she chuckles.
“I bet you one hundred dollars”—she folds her arms over her chest—“one of your garage doors is unlocked.” I glare at her. “And I know this because you and Joshua always left it open for the other person.”
“You don’t know me,” I scoff at her as she turns and stomps down the stairs and heads to the garage. “The dog,” I yell out when I look over and see Whiskey stick his head out of the door and sniff the air, “he’s going to run away.”
“Yeah, right,” she says, turning and coming back, “you owe me a hundred bucks.” She taps my cheek with her hand. “I take cash.” She smirks. “Hello, Whiskey.” She squats to rub his neck. “Did you have fun tonight?” She gets up and walks into the house. “Did you chew any of his things?”
I walk in after her and shrug off my jacket as she walks to the back and opens the door for him. “Do you have to go to the bathroom?” she asks him and he just sits by her feet. “Did you pee in his bed?” she whispers to him. “It’s okay if you did.”
“Are you done with that?” I ask, pulling the sweater over my head and tossing it on the sofa, leaving me in my white T-shirt. Her eyes roam from my head to my shirt and then back up again. I can see the fire in them, and she catches me watching her with a smirk on my face. “You hungry?” I ask her instead of saying, “Do you see something that you want?”
“No, not really.” She breathes out a big sigh as she walks to the front door, taking off her boots. I walk back over to the staircase and the two of us walk up the steps together, almost in unison. Our arms rub against each other’s, and my heart starts to go nuts in my chest. Not a word is spoken, only the sound of our breathing can be heard. We get to the top of the steps.
“Do you need anything?” I turn to ask her, wanting to drag her to my room and ask her why our night meant nothing to her.
“I think I’m good.” She nods. “Night,” she says and turns to the spare bedroom, closing the door behind her.
I stand here watching the light come on under the door and then turn to look down at Whiskey, who is waiting on the top two steps to see if I’m going back downstairs or to my bedroom. “Let’s go, boy.” I motion with my head. “Time for some shut-eye.”
I listen to her moving around in the bedroom as I head to my own. I leave the door open, and notice her walk out of the bedroom and then head to the bathroom. “Should I go in there?” I ask Whiskey, who jumps on the bed. “Yeah, that’s what I think too. Not the best idea.”
CHAPTER 9
