Page 89 of Wrapped with a Beau

He turns back to her.

“I am lucky, you know,” she says. “I’m really glad I met you, Ves Hollins.”

His chest twists like someone’s wringing out a wet rag. Her words have a note of finality, like this is a goodbye. And he wishes it weren’t.

All these weeks he’d cursed the valuation specialists for not being here on time, forcing him to wait it out. Giving him the time to fall for the town, for her. The memories he’s made here won’t melt away like morning frost. They’ve stacked one on top of the other, a steadfast tundra in his mind.

And now? Now he wishes he’d never picked up that phone call last night. Then maybe he’d be cocooned in bed with her, happy and sated, not out here shivering and bereft of her warmth. Christmas is almost upon them, but he feels like he’s already clutching a lump of coal.

“I feel like I’ve known you forever,” he says, but even so, it’s not nearly enough.

He wants more and he wants it with her.

But how would that discussion even go? After everything she’s done to make her career work out in Piney Peaks, he can’t see her giving it all up to move to the city. After losing Maeve and her grandma Lou, of course she wants every possible day she can get with Grandpa Dave. She wants to learn the ropes of managing the Chocolate Mouse so she’s ready to take over one day—hopefully far in the future—when her parents retire.

Everything she loves in her life is here. He’d be the biggest jerk to even ask her for more.

Elisha’s smile is bittersweet. “I’m not ready for it to be over.”

Their shared sentiments won’t change anything. This was a nice holiday, but he knows he doesn’t belong here, no matter how easy it was to pretend he did. And her stance on long-distance relationships won’t change. So they’re at an impasse. Maybe it’s just better to part on good terms.

The brisk air steals his oxygen, or maybe it’s just looking at her beautiful face and knowing that it’s all coming to an end.

“Me neither,” he admits. We said no strings, he reminds himself. No strings.

“But are you still going to stay?” She falters. “For Christmas, I mean. The end of the Winter Festival. You said Damian told you to take your time, so you could—I mean, if you wanted.”

She’s giving him an opening. It’s the exact opposite of no strings, and he latches onto it with the grip of a desperate man.

“I’ll be home—I mean, here for Christmas,” he promises.

Chapter Forty-Six

Ves

Adam proposes to Solana in the Old Stoat after Friday-night trivia, five minutes into his shift, two feet away from Ves and Elisha. The happy screeches pound in Ves’s ears, even though he puts on a good face.

“Congratulations,” he says, shaking Adam’s hand and returning Solana’s hug.

His blood buzzes pleasantly when he sips his wassail, and then it positively electrifies when Elisha bridges the gap between them with her hand, lacing their fingers loosely together. He likes her friends, so he’s happy to be part of their moment, but it’s with a bittersweet twinge that he acknowledges a new beginning on the eve of his own new beginning’s end.

“I want a spring wedding!” Solana exclaims giddily. She thumps her empty glass of wine on the counter, voice loud and merry. “Ves, it’s so beautiful when everything is in bloom. Beautiful like Elisha! Don’t sell your beautiful house, either! You’ll need it when you come back!”

He lofts a brow. He wonders if he can get drunk Solana to admit that she was steering him in the wrong direction regarding the housing market. He’d figured out her meddling a while ago.

“Oh, bless.” Elisha kisses her friend’s cheek. “You don’t even have a date fixed yet, you drunk mess.”

“Well, we will! And Ves should be there! As your plus-one, obviously!”

His heart doubles in size. It’s humbling that his presence isn’t just wanted, it’s expected. As though, of course he’s going to be there on the day of the wedding day, what absolute nonsense to think otherwise!

Solana gets caught up in another round of celebratory drinks and thankfully the subject is dropped, but her exuberant proclamations have sobered him right up.

All Ves can think about is what color Elisha will paint her nails in spring. In summer. Seeing the flowers Maeve loved so much. Putting her to rest somewhere really beautiful.

Another year of trivia Fridays and wiping the floor with Dork Academia. Asking Elisha to move in with him, making the Christmas House truly theirs. Getting up early on the weekends to pitch in at the Chocolate Mouse and learning how to make bebinca, if they’ll let him in on the family recipe. Double dates in New York with Arun and Cade. Asking Grandpa Dave what their next woodworking project will be.

God, he wants this life so fucking much.

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