My head was still spinning when Lexie looked to me and said, "You told me it was Cole." Her voice rose. "How could you assume such a thing?"
By now, I was finding it hard to catch my breath. "What else would I think?Hewas the monster not Grampkin."
She gave me a murderous look. "At the very least, you should've said it was my 'old boss' and not Cole."
I fought back tears. "But that's the same person."
She shot back, "Yeah, except it wasn't."
By now, our discussion had grown so loud, it had drawn the attention of not only the two remaining customers, but also of Lexie's coworker who left the back room to flip the door signs from open to closed.
From behind the front counter, Lexie murmured, "I was such an idiot."
No, she wasn't.
The idiot was me.
And that wasn't all. When I walked Mitchell back to his car, I learned something else that sent my world spinning in a totally different way.
Chapter 47
Bryce
It was Christmas night, and I wasn't happy to see her.But so what?I hadn't been happy about much of anything since the night of the reception.
Now, standing on my front porch – or ratherherfront porch – she shifted from foot to foot as I stared out from the open doorway.
She wore a dark wool coat and a striped candy-cane colored scarf. Her vivid red hair fell over her shoulders, and her green eyes were just as beautiful as I remembered. None of this improved my mood.
In a small voice, she said, "Hi."
Whatever game she was playing, I wanted no part of it. Working hard to keep my cool, I asked, "What do you want?"
She gave me a tentative smile. "Um…Merry Christmas?"
Not in my book, it wasn't. I didn't bother smiling back. "Was that a question or a statement?"
Her smile faded. "A statement."
"Then why'd you add the question mark?"
"I did?"
"Yeah." The smart-ass in me pointed out, "And you did it again just now."
"Yeah, but that time itwasa question." Her voice became earnest. "The Christmas thing was an honest statement. I reallyamwishing you a Merry Christmas."
This wasmycue to say it back.
I didn't.
After a long, awkward pause, she said, "You got my apology, right?"
I had.But if she'd been expecting it to make a difference, she had the wrong guy. Of course, it didn't help that she had apologized for the wrong thing.
But even if shehadgotten it right, there were some things that a simple apology wouldn't fix.
In reply to her question, I said, "Yeah, I got it."
