Page 84 of A Love Like Christmas Time
“And which part is winning?”
He lifts his gaze from the empty box, meeting my eyes. “It’s a tie.”
“That certainly doesn’t make things easy.” I reach out, swiping a curl behind his ear and resting my hand on the side of his face. “Which part do you want to win?”
“Honestly, I don’t know.” He takes a deep breath, nudging his cheek against my palm. “It’s been a long time since I had a mother. In comparison, and considering the years I can’t remember, she was a part of my life for only such a short time, I barely remember what I’m missing out on.”
“Okay,” I nod, my thumb softly brushing over his skin. “But think about the future too. Imagine how long your life is still going to be and how many years of that she could be there for you.”
He freezes, eyes widening slowly as he lets my words linger. “Right.”
“And you have a sister,” I point out. “I mean, it’s a little late for ding-dong-ditch shenanigans, but still.”
“I’m trying to look at these two separately, but it’s hard.” He lets out a deep sigh. “Whatever decision I make, it’s going to take longer than the week they’re here to bring any meaningful changes. The fact that they’re leaving…” He lets the end of the sentence hang in the air.
“Yeah,” I agree in a whisper. “I know.” I get on my tiptoes for a short, soft kiss. “Forget the timeline. If you need more time to talk to your therapist in January, take it. I’m sure they’d also rather learn of your decision later than cause you more pain.”
I lower my hand and instead slide my arms around his middle, eyes darting to the almost finished Christmas tree. “What do you think?”
“I love it,” he whispers, putting a hand over mine.
“We only have to put up the star.” I point at the final ornament sitting on the table. “You do the honors.”
“Bold of you to assume I can reach that high,” he mumbles, gaze darting between the star and the top of the tree. He might be able to reach the sideways-facing branches close to the top, but even for those, he has to go on his tiptoes.
“How about I hoist you up?” Before I can reply, he steps out of the hug, hands me the star, leans down to wrap his arms around my middle, and lifts me up facing away from him, as if I weigh nothing.
"Caleb!" I squeal, almost dropping the damn thing. He quickly strides closer to the tree so that I can place the star on top.
“I’m afraid that means you have to help me out when it’s time to take this thing down, too,” I tell him once my feet are on the ground again.
“Oh, the horror,” he says deadpan.
Chapter 32
Lauren
I slide my arm around Caleb and take a deep breath, my nose buried in his shirt. We’re in my bed, cuddled together with the window ajar, sharing our warmth under my thick blanket.
I’m trying to sleep, but I’m way too distracted. All of my thoughts circle around Caleb.
How easy it is to spend time with him, how fast he makes my heart beat every time I catch him staring at me, how even during a fight, he never made me doubt that he wants to be with me.
And that this little snowed-in bubble we’re in is going to pop tomorrow. I’m not ready for that.
I don’t want to go back to a world where I don’t get to fall asleep in the same bed as him every night and where we can’t stay in for the whole day to bake cookies or cuddle.
Ugh. Being an adult with responsibilities sucks.
“Can’t sleep?” Caleb mumbles. I nod against his collarbone, the fabric of his shirt soft on my chin.
“Me neither,” he admits, sounding wistful. I glance up at him. For a moment we lay motionless, staring at each other in the dark, the only light in my room coming from a gap in my curtains.
“Okay,” I whisper and scoot up the bed until we lay face to face. I can barely make out his silhouette. Carefully, I reach into the darkness until I find his face and rest my hand on hischeek. “That means we can make out.” Before he gets a chance to answer, I lean forward and capture his lips in a kiss.
His scruff is longer than I’m used to, the hairs tickling my skin. I kind of like it. Hopefully, it won’t give me beard burn, though.
I swallow his happy hum and grin against his lips. He rolls onto his back and pulls me on top of him, cupping my ass, his fingers digging into my flesh.
