Page 37 of The Holiday Ex-Files

“Anyway,” I said. “I’m sorry. I know how much it hurts.”

“It hurts like hell, but I’m better now.” He brushed his thumb over my hand.

Oh baby, that feels nice. Seriously, so surprised by his soft skin. Miss Sparkly was about to lose all self-control.

I get it. It had been a long time since we’d had any male affection. And we used to be a super fan of affection. Like number one fan. Regardless, I pulled my hand away before Miss Sparkly did something I would regret, and Noah too. “I’m glad you’re better.”

He stared down at his empty hand and curled it into a fist. “We better get to my sister’s house before she sentences me to death for being late. The only thing she can control right now is her precious schedule. Believe me, it’s ugly when all doesn’t go as planned.”

Oh, did I know all about how ugly things got when life didn’t go as planned. Which reminded me. “What are we doing today?”

He flipped on his blinker. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing too Cami-esque. We’re going to start off slow.”

At this rate, it was going to need to be snail-paced.

Chapter Twelve

Hey, Ex-Filers, scratch the witch costume. There has been a new development. I’m still searching.

Boy, wasn’t that the truth.

In other news, here’s another pro tip to make your bed feel less empty. Stop folding your clothes. Let those babies pile up next to you. And as a bonus, fresh, clean laundry smells way better than morning breath. You’re welcome.

Lots of love,

Cami

I probably should have added a word of caution in there that if you have a skittish dog, he wouldn’t take too kindly to a pile falling over on him. Poor Neville was still trying to recover. Weren’t we all?

Like right now, I was trying to get my heart rate to calm the heck down. We were on Shanna’s street. The cab of the truck had been awfully quiet since Noah pulled over earlier. For the last several minutes my mind was spinning with thoughts of him and Annika. She was painfully beautiful, even with a boob job and extensions, which I had no solid evidence of. But I had a feeling Miss Sparkly would be checking her out more carefully when we saw her in a couple of days, for the final committee meeting for the Halloween Bash. I just hoped she wouldn’t want to claw her eyes out. She had no right to be jealous.

Hello. I can hear you thinking about me. Miss Sparkly was apparently offended.

I smiled to myself. I was pretty hilarious. Deranged, but funny.

You won’t be smiling when you finally wake up and realize what we could be missing out on, she scolded me.

I took a peek at Noah, who also seemed lost in his thoughts, as he drove slowly down his sister’s very suburban street, filled with upper-middle-class homes and large SUVs and a smattering of foreign luxury cars. There was no denying how attractive Noah was. But he was clearly in love with his mystery woman, a.k.a. Annika. And I obviously had no business being in a relationship. I mean, I was talking to myself. Even arguing with myself. That had to be like next-level crazy. Besides, I would never be the other woman. I hated that woman. We all know her as Claudia. Not to say it was all her fault. Ben could have honored our marriage vows.

I scratched my neck. These thoughts were giving me hives. See? I was better suited for single life. It was hive-free.

Noah glanced my way and caught me staring at him. He flashed me that brilliant smile of his. His dentist deserved an award.

“Shanna’s really looking forward to seeing you.”

I bit my lip. “Really? I’m surprised she doesn’t hate me.” Not only had I not even sent a condolence card, but she’d also been begging me to take her family pictures for the last few years. But I’d turned her down every time, even though she’d offered me a lot of money and flattered me with the sentiment of no one being as good as I was. I had done several photo shoots for her beautiful family in my previous life. Oh, what a life that was.

I miss it. Miss Sparkly sighed.

Me too.

“No one hates you, Cams.” Noah pulled in front of Shanna and Adonis Diaz’s house. Adonis, the professional ex–baseball player, now highly sought-after trainer, was from the Dominican Republic—and his first name was fitting, as he was quite gorgeous, along with the rest of his family. Their boys got Adonis’s beautiful dark skin and those Cullen blue eyes. The women of the future had no chance once the Diaz boys were older and set loose on the world.

I wrung my hands together and blew out a deep breath. “If you say so.”

“I know so.” He threw his truck in park and turned it off.

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