Still, I should be more careful. Even if she hadn’t said as much in our meeting, I guessed the argument had contributed to her bad mood with me generally.
“Well, thank you again for the help,” I told him sincerely. Because he’d found me just short of a meltdown last night. “I was a little frazzled.”
“So, are you seeing anyone?”
I laughed, throwing my hands up. “That’s your segue?”
Charles put on an innocent face and shrugged. “We’re friends now, right? I’m taking an interest. Getting to know you. If there’s someone waiting back in Denver . . .”
“Chai latte and black coffee!” the barista called cheerily.
I grabbed my cup and handed Charles his as I headed toward the door and back outside onto the sidewalk.
“No one waiting in Denver,” I told him, walking a little too fast. “Although seems a little late for that question, doesn’t it?”
He licked his lips and bit back a smile, almost blushing. I knew because the implied memories made my own face a little warmer too.
“So, where to now?” he asked as I walked in no particular direction past storefronts.
“Don’t you have plans of your own?”
“Nope. I’m all yours.”
I rolled my eyes at the innuendo. “That was cheesy.”
“Cheesy works,” he countered. “People like cheesy. It’s disarming.”
“Yeah?” I said, glancing up at him as I sipped my chai. “How’s that working out for you?”
“Pretty well so far.”
God, he was so sure of himself. And I hated that it looked so good on him.
As we wandered along the narrow streets, I was fully aware of the constant brush of his gloved hands against mine. The urge to reach out and take one was strong. The whole experience felt very domestic, which was not a usual feeling for me. My dating life, which only ever existed in fits and starts, usually amounted to sporadic dates with people I’d meet at work, until one of us ended up losing interest.
With Charles, he’d gotten under my skin. Made me feel things. Like the way he changed the air when he walked into a room. How my body always bent slightly in his direction. It was sort of infuriating.
“So . . .” I said, unable to shake him and struggling for how to fill the loaded silence. “Have you been coming to Maplewood Creek for a long time?”
The quaint shops, trimmed with twinkling lights, and holiday decor lining the snow-covered paths gave the town an almost storybook charm. It had all the appeal and none of the expensive headache of larger ski towns like Vail and Aspen. The perfect hideaway retreat.
“I used to spend summers here as a kid,” Charles said with fondness. “And every Christmas. It’s changed so much and yet not at all. It’s one of my favorite places. Especially this time of year.”
“Yeah, why’s that?”
“The holidays in town are just a dream. If that makes sense. Chaotic, sure, with so many extra people, but there’s a sense of joy and contentment that no other place on Earth has for me at Christmastime.”
There was a sense of nostalgia in his voice, even longing. Something romantic about the way he talked about this place, with all the sincerity and innocence we have as kids when special places take root in our hearts. It was a different side of Charles I hadn’t expected. It hinted at something deeper than the flirty banter and cocky charm. And only made it harder to pretend I was immune to him.
“What about you?” he asked. “Where’s your perfect Christmas?”
“I’m usually in a kitchen somewhere,” I told him.
“That sounds kind of lonely.”
I shrugged. “Some of us have to work for a living.” I said it like a joke, but it was real to me. “I’ve worked pretty much every day since I was fourteen. When my mom got sick, she couldn’t work anymore. It was just me and her, so I didn’t really have a choice. All of the rent and groceries, her medications, everything, it was suddenly all my responsibility.”
“That’s a lot for a kid,” he said grimly. “Is she doing better now?”
