Page 56 of Wait a HO HO HO Second!

With a sinking heart, Kian frowned. “You heard me say that?”

“Graduation night lock-in,” she said, nodding. “I was actually leaving because my dad needed me, so I was walking to the car when I heard you and your cronies gossiping about me. Look at it this way. I took your advice and started working at the outlet mall. Does my fashion pass for anything other than a walking clearance bin now?”

Nodding, Kian held her gaze, hoping what Joy saw in his eyes told her how sorry he was. “I was a total ass.” When she shrugged, he tightened his grip on her leg, the braces digging into his fingers. “I was spoiled, entitled, and oblivious to other people’s struggles.”

“It was true. I did shop the clearance bins. It was the only way I could afford clothes and food. Sometimes I couldn’t do both, so I went to the clothes closet for a winter coat or boots to wear over my braces. I learned to keep our shitty old car running because without it, Dad and I would be stranded since neither of us could walk very far. Graduation night was supposed to be a celebration. For me, it was the end of the torment. The next six months were a different kind of torment as I watched my dad die from a disease he had fought for so long and so hard to beat.”

“You’re saying perspective matters?” Kian deduced.

“Or that we all come to life with different perspectives. You didn’t share the same perspective on life that I did. We both had only one parent, but even that shared experience had a different angle. You let it make you bitter, ugly, and mean. My perspective wasn’t going to change who you were because you had no interest in learning mine.”

“That’s a fair assessment,” he agreed. “Let me say this right here, just you and me in the room. You didn’t deserve the things I said to or about you. I made myself look and feel bigger by putting you down. Did I know what I was doing? Yes. Was I too insecure about being myself around my buddies to stop? Also yes. Not an excuse, just the truth. If I could rewind time and start over, I would do it right. You’ve taught me that adversity in life can do two things: It can harden a person into an ugly, vile human being or soften a person, making them someone who offers empathy and understanding to others. I was the former, while you are the latter.”

“I don’t think you’re an ugly, vile human being, Kian,” Joy said, leaning forward. “We were kids. We made mistakes. Now we’re adults, so we own up to them and move on. If all we do is look in the rearview mirror, we’ll miss the open road ahead.”

Blinking, he squared his shoulders, then lifted his head to meet her gaze. “I’ve been looking in the rearview mirror this whole time.” She refused to look away as he reached out and took her hands. “I was wrong. I have one more question.”

“Maybe I can answer it.”

That was all she said, as though she knew her answer could either break him or heal him. “When we’re deciding where the open road will take us, can we be in the car together?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Joy whispered with a soft smile on her lips.

The moment her words registered, he launched himself forward, kissing her with thankfulness, acceptance, and gratitude, none of which he deserved, yet he would accept all three as the perfect Christmas gift.

30

#Thebullytrope

Joy woke slowly. The block of heat under her confused her for a moment until she blinked away the sleep and noticed the television, then the room around it.

The storm. The hotel. Kian apologizing and asking for forgiveness. Wait. The kiss. She remembered it all now. They’d kissed, touched, and held each other, ignoring the world around them. Then what happened? Pushing herself up, she glanced down, relieved to see she was still dressed. Good. She hadn’t blacked out and made love to Kian for the first time without remembering. As much as it terrified her to think about, if that had happened, she wanted to remember it.

Then she realized why she’d woken up. Her AFO was pinching her ankle bone and irritating the blister again. She’d fallen asleep without taking them off, a big no-no when the skin needs to heal. Kian was still asleep, so she freed her legs from the blankets and grabbed her crutches.

In the bathroom, she checked the left leg, frowning at the red, hot skin around the blister. Knowing it was the start of an infection, she rummaged through her bag until she found the bottle of antibiotics she kept for this. She popped one into her mouth, washed it down with water from the sink, then did a bit of first aid on the blister itself.

Once she was sure it would be fine until morning, she turned off the light and walked back to bed. With Kian asleep, she could easily take off the braces and slip her feet under the blankets without him seeing her.

Why does it matter if he sees your legs? That voice asked. He knows you have CMT and has educated himself about it. Do you think he’d still be here asking you to date him if what he’d learned had turned him off?

Maybe not, but maybe they could get a bit further down that open road before he saw what she dealt with every day? Her favorite saying was that from the knees up, she was a sassy, sexy queen, but from the knees down, she was a gnarly, sassy witch. That was how her feet looked. Like a witch’s feet, all knobby and snarled. It wasn’t a good look. Not that she had any control over it, but a girl deserves a little dignity, if nothing else, right?

Lowering herself onto the bed, she leaned down to unstrap the first brace when Kian’s hand settled on her back. “Let me help.” The three words were sleepy, indicating she’d woken him. With any luck, she could convince him to go back to sleep.

“All good. Get some sleep,” she whispered, holding her breath as she waited for his hand to fall from her back and for his breathing to even out again.

Neither happened.

Instead, he pressed his warm chest to her back. She hated that it grounded her and offered her a sense of safety at the same time. “If you think I’ll run the moment I see your legs, you’re wrong. Let me prove it to you.”

Did she think he’d run the moment he saw her legs? No. But eventually he would leave. They always did. At least the five guys she’d dated since high school. She didn’t really want to make it a dirty half-dozen, but he wasn’t giving her a choice.

“It’s funny,” she said, her words devoid of humor. “But we’re following the bully trope to a T.”

“I’m sorry? The what?” he asked, spinning her around to face him. She had to lift her feet onto the bed to do so, but at least her AFOs were still on.

“The bully trope. You know, the high school bully taunts a girl who has less power or money than he does. They have a deep rivalry until the tide turns. He asks for forgiveness, and they fall in love. Except that he’s usually still a bully, disguising it as love.”