Page 32 of A Roommate for Christmas
“I’m sorry, Carter.Were you guys close?”
“Yeah, yeah, we were.But it’s all good.”He shrugged, but she could still see some pain lingering in his eyes.
“Oh, by the way,” he said, seeming to want to move on from the topic.“I’m sorry about your flight getting cancelled.I’m sure you were looking forward to going home.”
Again with the sensitivity.This version of Carter may very well end me.
“Thanks.I’m bummed to miss time with my family, but at least the snow got me out of the company Christmas party,” she confessed.
“Yeah, but it’s a shame that dress didn’t get its time to shine.”Carter ran his hand through his hair and avoided eye contact with her.
Paige blushed and let out a giggle.“Actually, you’re right.That is the one loss from it all.I was looking forward to seeing my ex’s reaction to that little number.”
Carter furrowed his brow in confusion.“Wait, I thought you said this was a company party?Do youworkwith your ex?”
“Yup.Well, I mean, we both work at the same company, in different departments, thank goodness.We met there.”
“I see.”Carter said, processing this information.
“He was going to be there with his new fiancée, who—get this—he cheated on me with.She was a new hire at our company.He confessed to sleeping with her at last year’s Christmas party.And they just got engaged on Thanksgiving, so I’ve been on the receiving end of looks of pity for weeks.”
Carter was momentarily speechless, staring at Paige with a look of awe.
“Let me get this straight—you were going to show up at this party in front of your idiot ex and petty colleagues all by yourself?Inthatdress?”
Paige wasn’t sure if he thought she was insane or badass, but when he let out a laugh and shook his head, it confirmed he was at least a little bit impressed.She felt her face heating up and quickly changed the subject.
“When was the last time you made them?”she asked.“The pancakes.”
“Hmm, probably like three years ago now.Back when I was trying to woo my last girlfriend,” he said with a wink.
“Ahh, I see.The perfect trick for getting girls into bed.Make them pancakes,” Paige said with a smile.
“Well, technically it was my move to get thembackinto bed with me,” Carter confessed.“I’d get up in the morning, feed a girl my famous pancakes, and it usually charmed them enough for ...seconds.”
“Men are so gross.”Paige rolled her eyes.
He gave a casual shrug.Paige’s mind turned back to Carter’s original answer to her question.He had said it was three years since he had made them, and then the words“last girlfriend.”Was he recently single, or did he just happen to grow out of his playboy phase?She wanted to know the answer but didn’t want to scare him off while they were actually having a good conversation.
“Okay, so ...cookies?”she asked, breaking from her thoughts.“You can help me measure out what we need while I get everything mixed together.”
He got up from the chair and made his way around the island.As he reached for the measuring cups, his hand brushed her arm, and just like the other night by the trash can, she felt something like electricity pass between them.
Did he feel it too?She wondered.They spent the next few minutes mostly in silence while they worked in tandem, reading off the go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe Paige kept on her phone.
“Okay, so what next?”asked Carter when he was done measuring.
“Now I combine everything together,” she said.“And then add some secret ingredients.”
“Oh, now we’re talking,” he said eagerly.“Am I allowed to know?”
“Well, we need to make this snow day exciting, don’t we?”She gave him a coy smile.“First secret ...I put in a few dashes of cinnamon.”She shook the spice into the mixing bowl.
“And then,” she continued, “pass me the salt.”
Carter reached over and grabbed the pink retro Santa saltshaker.“Is this really necessary?”
“What?”Paige asked.“Is it really so bad to like Christmas?”
