Whatever he was called, I was trying not to think about him. And yet, I'd been unable to think about anything else during the past eight hours, ever since he'd dropped me off.
After his crack about leaving the axe in his other tux, he'd made no further attempts at conversation – except to ask me where I wanted to be dropped off.
When I'd suggested a spot on the neighboring street, he hadn't looked surprised.He hadn't argued either.
Good.
Even so, hehadidled near the curb as I rushed off toward my aunt's place and snuck in through the back patio door without either of my cousins noticing.
The way things looked now, I would never see Drake again. I should've been glad. After all, I still didn't know who he really was, and they way it sounded, he had no intention of telling me.
Next to me, Lexie said, "You heard me, right?"
I winced. "Sorry. You said you found your scarf? I'm guessing you mean the red one?"
"Yup, that's it," she said, sounding like she couldn't care either way. "It was in the back entryway all along."
This wasn'texactlythe case, but I refrained from telling her otherwise. After retrieving the scarf from Drake, I'd washed it and spritzed it with Christmas scent as a silent apology. And then, I'd hung it on hook in the back entryway where she would be sure to see it.
The whole thing felt just a little sneaky, but it was probably for the best. I mean, now that Drake and I were no longer a thing, it wasn't worth mentioning.
Right?
And yet, I desperatelywantedto mention it. Or rather, I wanted to mentionhimfor reasons unrelated to the scarf. I wanted to ask Lexie what she thought and just maybe, spend a few minutes crying on her shoulder.
I gave her a secret sideways glance. The way she lookednow, she was ready to do some crying of her own.
For the past week or so, she had been so cheerless and quiet, I'd even asked her if something was wrong. I'd gotten no good answer. Instead, she'd made noises about simply being tired for the holidays.
She'd been lying.Obviously.
Just like me.
The whole thing was beyond maddening. Not only was I missing Drake, I was missing the chance to talk about him, too.
I mean, if Lexie couldn't confide inme, I didn't dare confide inher,not if it would cause friction with Harper.
From somewhere behind us, I heard a hollow thud. Without turning to look, I said, "Water bottle."
Lexie turned toward the noise. "Yeah, how'd you know?"
I felt tears prick at my eyes. "Eh, lucky guess."
Just then, Ginger scampered past the front of couch and bolted up the nearest Christmas tree with two other kittens on her heels. The tree still had no decorations except for Ginger's favorite ornament, the little jingle bell inside the globe.
A moment later, when she started batting it around to make it jingle, I felt a sad smile tug at my lips. She reallywasadorable.They all were. And yet, I heard myself sigh as I said, "You know, sometimes the holidays really suck."
Next to me, Lexie gave a slow nod. "Boy, isn'tthatthe truth."
Chapter 37
Drake
When I spotted Gwen, my breath caught in my throat.Man, I missed her.
From the store's entryway, I paused to gather my thoughts as I stared across the distance. She was standing exactly where I'd been expecting to find her – at the gift-wrapping counter of the department store where she'd been working part-time.
What Ihadn'texpected was to find her dressed as an elf – not the Christmas kind, the other kind.
