Page 75 of The Other Side
“Coming,” I replied, my voice as unsteady as my legs.
When I made it to the window, I couldn’t help but let my jaw drop. Chance had two giant bags of takeout food.
“What is all this?” I asked, grabbing the bags from him so he could make it through the window without falling.
“It’s not Thanksgiving without good food.” He grinned at me, taking both of the bags back the moment he was inside the lounge.
“What?” I squeaked, following him as he strode toward the study table.
“Lenny mentioned a place in town that puts together Thanksgiving meals for those who are less inclined to cook,” he explained as he pulled out box after box of food from the bags. “Or for people like us who might be willing or able, but can’t fit more than a drumstick in our ovens, let alone a whole turkey.”
I watched in awe as he began to open the containers. He’d thought of everything; there was a perfectly cooked and sliced turkey breast, mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetables, rolls, and even an entire pumpkin pie.
“Why?” I hadn’t realized I’d spoken the thought aloud until Chance paused to look at me.
He cocked his head, as if he didn’t understand.
“I’ve been awful to you. Hot and cold, keeping you at a distance, threatening you with knives…” I half laughed.
Chance smiled, his eyes crinkling at the edges. “I like a challenge.”
“I’m serious, Chance. Why?”
Chance took two steps toward me, closing the distance between us. He gently placed his palm flat on my stomach. “Because I think you feel it too.”
“Feel what?” I asked, my voice shaky.
Chance smiled softly as he replied, “The butterflies.”
The heat of a blush flooded my cheeks. Looking up at him through my lashes, I slowly nodded, breathing the confirmation he was waiting for, “Yes.”
He tilted his head down, his nose skimming the column of my neck, eliciting a hitched breath from my lips.
“I can be very patient. I know you’ll be worth the wait.”
I swallowed hard, holding my breath as Chance placed a soft kiss just below my ear, before he withdrew.
“We should eat before it gets cold.” He dug out plates and plastic utensils from the very bottom of the bag and handed them to me while he made work to open the bottle of wine that had been stashed with everything else. It was only a screw top, so it required no corkscrew.
I worried over how much he had spent on the food. I knew in my heart that he was doing it out of kindness, but I’d felt that before, with Harry, and been proven so wrong, so it was hard not to feel some weird sense of guilt knowing I couldn’t pay him back with money. And I was desperate to know how and when he had arranged all of this with Lenny. But I pushed my questions aside and tried to just enjoy the moment, a feat I wasn’t often capable of.
This moment, making idle chitchat with Chance over this unexpected but lovely shared meal, felt like one of those times you knew you were creating a memory you would look back upon fondly for years to come. It wasn’t just that we had kissed.
God. I can’t think about the kiss right now.
No, it was everything that had happened that day. And then it dawned on me that it was the first holiday I had spent with another person in years—nine years, to be exact.
I must have stopped eating or looked like I was on the verge of tears because Chance put down his fork and rubbed gentle circles across my back. He didn’t ask me what was wrong. He just knew something was, and on instinct, he comforted me.
“I’ve been alone for every single holiday for almost a decade,” I confessed.
“I’m sorry,” he replied sweetly, continuing to rub my back.
After a beat he asked tentatively, “You don’t want to go home?”
“I can’t.” I swallowed the lump in my throat, knowing what was coming next, and having already decided to tell him the only secret that was left to share. If he judged me or ever used this against me like Harry had, that would be it between us.
“Why not?”
