Page 36 of The Holiday Ex-Files

Exactly! Miss Sparkly shouted.

But . . . it’s none of our business who Noah dates and loves. Besides, they dated in high school. Remember? They were like the junior homecoming prince and princess.

Ugh. Miss Sparkly wasn’t so sparkly anymore and gave me the silent treatment.

The more I thought about it, the more Annika made sense. Maybe Noah had been pining for her all these years.

“Well, okay,” I said in an octave well above my normal range. I really needed to get out of my head. “Just no coupling up at the event. It’s supposed to be a safe space for singles.”

“I think you need to get out of your comfort zone,” he grumbled. “And a lot of your sycophants probably do too.” Was he talking about Annika there?

“Wow. Why are you so salty?”

He loves Annika, Miss Sparkly growled.

I think she was right.

He didn’t answer right away, so I added in, “By the way, the only sycophants I have are my nieces and nephews.”

Noah’s lip twitched. “Perhaps sycophants was the wrong word. It’s just, don’t you think you take this whole singles thing too far sometimes? I mean, what if you’re hurting people more than helping them?” He launched that out there like a missile to my heart.

I rubbed my chest. “I’m not hurting anyone,” I defended myself. “Not everyone gets to be so lucky in love like you,” I tossed back at him.

His face turned redder than when I’d embarrassed him earlier. But this was a different kind of red. It was an angry-bull red. Noah gripped the steering wheel as if he might bend it. “You’re not the only person, Cami, who knows what it’s like to lose the love of your life.” His words cut deeply—so much so, I teared up.

He rendered me speechless. I didn’t know he was carrying around that kind of heartbreak. Of course not, because all I’d cared about the last few years was myself. I looked out the window at all the storefronts dressed for fall and wiped my eyes. “I’m sorry, Noah,” I whispered. “I think you should just take me home.” I had no business being around people. I wasn’t Miss Sparkly anymore.

You could be, she whispered. Please don’t lose me.

Noah pulled over near an old eatery. He threw his truck in park before reaching over the console for my hand. “Cams, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.”

I squeezed his hand like a lifeline, though I couldn’t face him. “It’s okay. I’ll call an Uber.”

He tugged on my hand. “Cams, come on, look at me. Please.”

I wiped my eyes with my free hand before turning toward him. I found Noah wearing a pensive expression.

“No one’s calling an Uber. You got this. We got this,” he amended. “Besides, I have it on good authority that the day is going to end with your favorite dark chocolate caramel apples. And I know you would kick yourself for missing out on one or two.” He tucked some hair behind my ear.

Do not miss out on those apples, Miss Sparkly begged. Or the day with Noah. Look at him all concerned. Don’t screw this up.

I was afraid I already had. But I did love a good caramel apple. “Are the apples from the The Chocolate?” It was the best place in town. I hadn’t been there in over three years.

Noah’s face broke into a huge grin. “Where else?”

“I can’t believe you remembered that place is my favorite.”

“Well, you did make us drive through a blizzard once to get you an apple there.”

By us, I knew he meant Ben and him.

“It was more like a moderate snowstorm. Besides, I didn’t force you. I just mentioned I could go for one.”

“We had a hard time saying no to you.”

That seemed like forever ago. It was hard to believe Ben was willing to do anything for me once upon a time. Even Noah seemed happy to tag along to fulfill my whims, whether it was caramel apples on a snowy night or polar bear plunges in the lake on New Year’s Day. That was ancient history though. “Ben got over that,” I said flatly.

Noah cleared his throat. “Let’s not talk about him.”

“Fine by me.” I had to remind myself not to go into a tailspin about it. Ben didn’t deserve the honor.

Noah inched closer and smiled. “Cams, I am sorry.”

“I am too. I had no idea you lost someone you loved. Who was she?” I dared to ask.

“I’d rather not tell you right now.” He wasn’t curt, but his tone said not to push him about it.

It had to be Annika. He’d really kept that close to the vest. I didn’t even know about her until she’d moved back a couple of years ago. She’d left Nevada after high school and went to college in the Midwest. She’d lived there with her husband until their divorce. The only reason I even knew she’d dated Noah was because I’d posted one of his photoshopped pics on my website in the “My Work” section and she mentioned they dated for a while in high school. Come to think of it, she did swoon a bit talking about how he was even better looking now. However, she did go into a tirade after about how all men were the spawn of Satan.

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