Page 27 of A Roommate for Christmas
She’d take it.
Now, what to do on my last night in town?
Paige had planned her flight home around the mandatory Christmas party and was mostly packed for the trip, so now she had the night wide open.
She had used up the last of her groceries this week in preparation for her two-week trip, so she opened up the takeout app on her phone and searched through the available options.
The weather must be getting worse,she thought.It seems like most restaurants are closed tonight.
She put in an order at a fast-food chicken chain a few blocks away and opened up Instagram.
“All dressed up with nowhere to go!”
Of course it was Chance’s post at the top of her feed again.The photo was of him and Diana in their Christmas party outfits standing in Chance’s living room.She sighed and finally hit the unfollow button.
Any relief Paige had felt about the party getting cancelled quickly subsided.This post was just another reminder of last year’s heartache and of what she no longer had.
She tried so hard to always be optimistic, but these past several weeks had started to test her limits on seeing the glass half full.
Four years ago she was polishing her resumé to get a better job, but then Chance walked into her life and sidetracked all of her plans.And for what?Sticking it out at the agency and making a crappy salary had felt worthwhile when she thought Chance was her soulmate.But now here she was feeling like she was totally behind in life.
As she looked out the window at the falling snow, she wished she had a partner to bundle up with for the walk to pick up her dinner—someone to snuggle up with on the couch under a cozy blanket.
She was a strong, independent woman who always looked for the bright side, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t use the company and partnership of a man.
Paige put on her puffy coat and gloves for her walk to the restaurant.She was about to open the front door when she heard an angry Carter on the other side.
“There is nothing more to discuss,” he growled.“I’m done with this conversation.”
Paige didn’t have time to move away from the door before he opened it, catching her like a deer in the headlights.
The look on Carter’s face warned of his sour mood.
“Move,” he practically grunted.
Paige knew he had caught her eavesdropping, but his command made her blood boil.
“What’s got your panties in a bunch?”She knew she was pushing dangerous buttons, but if he was going to be rude, she wasn’t going to just lay down and take it.Besides, at this point she had been wallowing in self-pity for the past half hour and had no shits left to give.
“Not in the mood,” he said coolly as he slid past her.
“So I take it you don’t want to walk with me and talk about it?”she said sarcastically, pushing harder.
Carter turned on his heels to glare at her.His brown eyes almost looked like they were on fire.Then the corner of his mouth twitched up in a smile, like he enjoyed her testing his boundaries.
“Not in the slightest,” he said before turning back around and closing himself in his bedroom.
“Asshole,” Paige muttered under breath as she started her trek to get dinner.
***
Later that night as Paige was brushing her teeth, she couldn’t shake her annoyance at her interaction with Carter earlier.This man really had the gall to check her out one day and then the next, treat her like she was trash on the sidewalk he could kick out of his way.
Just hours earlier she was regretting kicking him out, but now Paige was counting down the hours until her plane was set to take off and bring her far away from this disrespectful and inconsiderate jerk.
She had been checking the news and flight app all evening to make sure everything was still on track.The meteorologist seemed to take a casual stance on the snow falling outside, which eased Paige’s mind as she got into bed and drifted to sleep.
***
