Page 33 of The Holiday Ex-Files

I shook each part of my body and jumped up and down a few times, trying to get Claudia and Ben out of my head. I could be friends with Noah and not have it wreck my mental state, right? After all, last night was one of the best nights I’d had in a long time. Don’t tell Mara.

I looked in the mirror one more time. “Okay, self. I’m talking to you, Miss Sparkly. We are going to keep our eyes and, yes, our hands to ourselves today. Don’t think that I didn’t notice how your hand inched a little too close to Noah’s last night in the popcorn bowl. That is a hard no. I don’t care how long it’s been since we have held hands with a man.” I blew out a deep breath. “Let’s do this.”

Go us! Miss Sparkly cheered in my head. I hope he’s taking us to a pumpkin patch. She practically squealed.

No. No. No. We weren’t ready for that. That could go one of two ways. I could either end up in the fetal position or I could go pumpkin crazy. We are talking filling the back of Noah’s truck with every pumpkin in the patch and then going on a carving extravaganza. But that would mean I would have to pull out all the Halloween movies, because you can’t carve pumpkins unless you are watching one of those. And if I watched my favorite Halloween movies, I would want someone to snuggle with while watching them, and you know what snuggling leads to. Let me tell you, it’s not the Virgin Islands. So, no pumpkin patches.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket to text Noah that I needed to cancel. But my phone buzzed with a text from him. Weird.

Noah: Don’t even think about backing out. You’ll only feel guilty. By the way, I’m here and willing to knock on your door for however long it takes for you to answer it.

That wasn’t just weird. It was freaky weird. Could Noah read my mind?

He knocked on the door.

I gripped my counter. “You can do this, Cami,” I said to myself.

Yeah, you can. Get out there, sister. We have a lot of making up to do. You should still send a card of condolence. You should probably make his sister dinner too.

That wasn’t a bad idea. But, whoa, was Miss Sparkly getting bossy. Was I that bossy before?

I needed to quit talking to myself—Noah was now shouting, “Free Cami!”

I laughed all the way to my door, where Neville was already perched as if waiting for Noah. I knelt and scratched his head. “Hey, don’t get any ideas of ditching me for Noah. I don’t care if he does let you run free at the dog park. Remember when you played dead yesterday after that car door slammed? That’s what a life with Noah will get you.”

“Cams, are you trying to turn your dog against me?” Noah yelled through the door.

“I’m just reminding him who loves him the most,” I yelled back before kissing Neville’s head and standing up to open the door.

When I flung the door open, I found Noah leaning against the doorframe on one arm like he was a Luke Perry knockoff, except even more attractive. He was in his signature tight blue jeans and black T-shirt, his tattoos proudly on display. His hair was mussed perfectly with his curls dancing above his ears.

Dang, Miss Sparkly purred.

I did my best to ignore her, but she was right. Noah Cullen was a hottie, like my sixteen-year-old self used to say. Just thinking it made me smile.

Noah didn’t smile back. Instead, his baby blues widened and I was pretty sure his jaw dropped before he quickly recovered.

I looked down at myself and Neville, who was traitorously jumping up on Noah’s legs, begging to be picked up by him.

Noah shook his head and picked up my dog.

“Is everything okay? Did I not nail the Han Solo look?”

He cleared his throat. “No, you nailed it. It’s just you look like . . . you.”

I bit my lip. “Is that a bad thing?”

“No, Cams. It’s the best thing I’ve seen in a long time.”

“No need to lie,” I teased him. “We both know that honor goes to your mystery woman.”

“She is beautiful,” he said all dreamily.

“I have no doubt.” I rolled my eyes. I’d cropped enough of his photos this past year to know that he only dated women who, if you saw them on the street, would make you stop and stare and wonder if they were real or not.

“Don’t roll your eyes. You’re going to feel bad when you find out who she is.”

“Is it Mara?” I was dying to know.

He coughed as if he had choked on some foul-tasting medicine. “Absolutely not. Why would you think that? She’s like a little sister to me.”

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