Page 60 of Christmas Comeback


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Ileft Will on his own after our talk. I needed to be alone with my thoughts. He came out of the bedroom to grab a snack and use the bathroom, but other than that, he gave me space.

In the quiet house, I heard the scratch of his pencil moving against sketch paper throughout the day.

Forgiving him wasn’t a question anymore. Even before he’d explained, I’d made my peace with our history. Now that I’d heard the whole story, I felt even more sure. Until this week, I’d only been able to picture my pain, the result of his actions on my life. But he’d suffered too.

What I didn’t know was how I wanted to move forward.

Did we simply forget about the past? Give in to our attraction? After everything we’d been through, did I want to start going on dates with Will, pretend we were in thegetting to know youphase of our relationship?

I didn’t know his favorite color or his middle name. He’d never had the chance to tell me how he liked his eggs cooked or whether he was a good swimmer.

You know me better than anyone.

But I knew some things. Big things. Little things. From our night together, our hours of conversation. How many favorite bands we had in common. That we were both night owls. I knew he’d almost gotten a dragon tattoo on his twenty-first birthday, and that he had a touch aversion to packaging peanuts. That he put a ton of hot sauce on his fries.

Five years ago, we’d been so comfortable, as though we’d started in the middle. Now, he’d given me his secrets. His trust. I’d never forget the way he teared up over how I caressed his scarred fingers.

Immediate intensity between us would be a given.What did I want from Will?

Marley and James returned home from work just as I popped a pan of enchiladas into the oven. Bambi and Oscar sat nearby, ready to catch anything that might fall on the floor.

“How’s Will been?” Marley asked me after peeking into his room to find him napping.

“Much better. I haven’t needed to help him with much. He used the bathroom on his own and has been drawing. Very limited screens, though, and he’ll probably need another few days staying mostly in bed.”

James hummed. “Has he been sleeping all day?”

“No. That’s improved a lot. Pretty sure this is the first nap he’s taken. Unless he cat-napped and I missed it.”

“Fingers crossed, that means good news for his CT scan,” Marley said. “He’ll hopefully be back to himself by then.”

“True. But I still doubt he’ll feel up to driving a ton this weekend.” James gave Oscar and Bambi candy cane dog treats. “And I know he wants to get home. We’ll need to figure something out.”

“I’m sure we will,” I said. “Now, why don’t you guys go amuse yourselves and let me keep working on dinner.” James waggled his brows at Marley, and I made a face at him. “Sheesh, brother-in-law. Get your mind out of the gutter. I meant, like, amuse yourself playing Scrabble or something.”

Half an hour later, James was downstairs in the rec room working on a jigsaw puzzle. Marley brought in the mail. She lovingly opened the many holiday cards before attaching each one to the fridge with a Christmas tree magnet.

“You’re sure Will was okay today?” she asked, placing a picture of Katy and her kids in Santa hats on the freezer.

“Uh-huh.”

“And did you two…talk?”

“That’s a loaded question, but yeah.” She gave me a curious look, so I added, “And it was way overdue.”

“I figured.” She pushed off the fridge to stand next to me near the counter. “You want to tell me what’s going on there? Or are we still acting like Will is just a friend of your future brother-in-law who you barely know?”

I sighed. It would be nice to have someone else’s opinion, and there was no one I trusted more than Marley.

Leaving out some details—ahem, our little scene in the shower—I spent twenty minutes giving her the story, starting with what happened five years ago and ending with the basics of what Will told me earlier today.

“Wow,” Marley said once I’d finished. “I knew there was something, but I had no idea you were going to tell me you met him five years ago. That’s wild.”

Out of curiosity, I asked, “What did you think I would say?”

“I don’t know. Maybe that he made a move on you last Christmas or that you’d run into him in Seattle. But that you’ve known him for that long never occurred to me.” She shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. “You really almost died?”

“It’s why I don’t drink very often.”