* * *
My cell phone vibrated on my desk, and I glanced down to see a message from Austin waiting for me. I smiled to myself thinking about our plans tonight.
* * *
"I'll text him now and see what he says," Addie said, sounding defeated and pulling my attention from my phone.
* * *
"Sorry, Addie. Really I am."
* * *
"It's okay. I'll forgive you. Can I pop by to get the ticket later?"
* * *
"Yep. What time?"
* * *
"I dunno. I'll call you. Let me talk to Phil first, okay."
* * *
"Sure thing. I’ve got to go," I said, looking at the clock that sat on my desk.
* * *
"Okay, I will call you in a bit."
* * *
I hung up the phone and buried my face in my hands. I hated lying to her. This secret relationship was starting to weigh heavily on me. I blew out a breath and decided it was time to go for the day. I gathered my purse and coat, shut my computer off, and ran off towards the elevator.
* * *
I'd only been home for twenty minutes when the buzzer sounded for the front door of my building. I was giddy with excitement when I heard Austin's voice, and I ran to unlock the door. A few minutes later, grocery bags on the floor, he had me pressed against the wall with his lips on mine. I could feel his hard ridge between us and put my hands on his chest to stop him before things went too far.
* * *
"We better stop and save that for later," I said shyly, running my hands over his hard cock.
* * *
“You are such a tease.” He pouted for a minute, then smiled and adjusted himself. He picked the bags up off the floor and went right to work preparing the food for the stir-fry he was planning on making us. I turned on some soft music and returned to the kitchen opening a cold bottle of wine, pouring two glasses.
* * *
"Can you please get me a bowl from the cupboard?" Austin asked, since his hands were covered in raw chicken.
* * *
"Of course." I reached for a bowl and heard my phone go off.
* * *
"You need to get that?"
* * *
"No, I'm sure it’s nothing important," I said, reaching for my phone and turning it off.
* * *
Once the food was in the pan frying and the rice was on the stove cooking, Austin hoisted me up on the counter and stood between my legs. He placed his hands on my hips and leaned in for a deep and gentle kiss. Everything about kissing him was perfection. I could feel the throbbing building between my thighs when a knock on the door drew our attention away from one another.
* * *
"You expecting someone?" he questioned, kissing my neck.
* * *
I shook my head. "It might be my neighbor Mrs. Clark," I said as he stepped to the side while I hoped down off the counter with Austin’s help. "She suffers from dementia, so she might be in trouble."
* * *
I went to the door and was just about to open it when I decided to glance out the peephole first in case someone left the main door to the building open. Addie stood on the other side waiting impatiently. My eyes bulged, and I ran back to the kitchen.
* * *
"Who was it?" Austin questioned as he stirred the chicken and vegetables.
* * *
"It's Addie. I totally forgot she was going to stop by. You've got to hide," I whispered.
* * *
Addie banged on the door again. "Kristy, open up!" She yelled from the other side. "I know you’re home. Your car is parked in its normal spot."
* * *
"Go to the bedroom," I whispered and watched as Austin took off down the hall. As soon as I heard the bedroom door shut, I walked to the door and opened it.
* * *
"Addie, sorry, I had my headphones on," I lied.
* * *
"That's okay. You have that ticket? Phil is waiting downstairs."
* * *
"Yep, come on in."
* * *
I turned and headed into the kitchen and grabbed the ticket off the fridge where it hung. I turned around to walk back to the door but was surprised to find that Addie had followed me inside and now stood right behind me.
* * *
"Cooking with headphones on, Kristy?" Addie said, looking to the stove. "With music playing?"
* * *
"I was listening to a podcast," I lied.
* * *
"Uh huh," she said, glancing around the kitchen. "And two wine glasses?"
* * *
I closed my eyes. I was just about to tell her everything when she looked at me and smiled. "Are you seeing someone? Is he here?"
* * *
"You caught me." I shrugged.
* * *
"Who is it?" she asked.
* * *
"Just a guy from the office. You don't know him."
* * *
"Okay then, well, I won't keep you. You could have just told me. I wouldn't have been upset. I will get out of your way then. Have a good night," she said, pulling me in for a hug. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” As soon as I let her go, she looked down to the floor. I too glanced in the direction she was looking and eyed Austin's shoes lying there. I bit my bottom lip, praying that she didn't recognize them.
* * *
"It's funny because he wears the same shoes as Austin. They even look like they might be the same size."
* * *
"I'm sure lots of people wear the same shoes as Austin."
* * *
"I guess."
* * *
An anxious feeling started to build, and I almost froze but played it cool and walked Addie to the door. "Have fun tonight," I said, praying she didn't see her brother’s coat from the Hope Valley Fire Department hanging on the hook by the door.
* * *
"Will do. I am so happy for you, Kristy."
* * *
"Go have fun. I will call you later," I said, closing and locking the door.
* * *
I turned around to see Austin standing in the kitchen doorway. I couldn't help but look at him with sad eyes. I hated lying to my best friend. I did my best to perk up and smile. "I bet dinner is probably ready. We should eat," I said, walking past him into the kitchen.
* * *
We sat across from one another, our empty plates in front of us as I reached for my wine.
* * *
"We really need to talk," I said, swallowing down the last of my wine.
* * *
"Okay."
* * *
"Austin, this is great and everything, but I am afraid that we are just ignoring the inevitable."
* * *
"What are you talking about?"
* * *
"Austin, I am the queen of impossible relationships, and I am accustomed to disappointment. It's only going to be a matter of time before you get bored with me or something comes up that we won't be able to fix."
* * *
"Kristy…" He ran his hands over his face. "I think your luck is about to change. This is totally possible. We are totally possible."
* * *
"Really, Austin? I just had to lie to my best friend, right to her face, because we haven't told her yet. She's going to be so angry with us."
* * *
"So we tell her. What difference does it make? Just give me a chance, Kristy. I really like you, and to be honest, I have never felt this way about anyone before."
* * *
I looked up at him. I could tell he wasn't just saying this. The look in his eyes said it all. He was telling me the truth. He wanted this just as badly as I did.
He stood up from his chair and held out his hand to me. I placed my hand into his, and he pulled me up from where I was sitting and into his arms.
* * *
"Another week, that's al
l I ask. Let me tell her, okay. It might take some of the pressure off of you, that way if she is pissed, she can take it out on me," he said and leaned in for a kiss.
* * *
"Okay. One more week and we come clean." I smiled, leaning in and kissing him back.
* * *
"What do you say we clean up and then curl up in bed together, watch a movie, and just relax?"
* * *
"That sounds like a perfect way to spend the rest of the night," I whispered, kissing him again.
16
Austin
* * *
I had just dumped the last of the spices into the ground beef and mixed everything together. I flipped the radio on, rolled a ball of meat in my hands, and plopped it down between two plates, pressing down to form the perfect burger patty. I repeated the steps, pressing out another perfect patty when my favorite song came on the radio. I sang out the lyrics as I continued making the burgers.
The back door opened and Addie walked in, dropping her bags just inside the door. She looked tired after her shift at the hospital, and she dropped onto one of the kitchen chairs and looked at me.
* * *
"Hey."
* * *
"Hey, you're home early," I said, pressing the next patty in the same fashion and flipping it onto the plate. "Everything okay? You look beat."
* * *
"Yeah, I was called in early. It was a hell of a day, and I figured I would have the house to myself tonight. I thought you were working. I've completely lost track of my days I guess," she mumbled, removing the elastic from her hair. She ran her fingers through her hair.
* * *
"Nope, not working tonight. You’re stuck with me," I said, dropping the dirty bowl into the sink and filling it up with hot soapy water. "I'm just about to barbecue some burgers. Did you want any?" I asked, looking over my shoulder at my sister.
* * *
"Dude, it's snowing out!" Addie said, reaching for the glass I had left on the table and taking a sip of my water. "There has to be a foot out there!"
* * *
"So what?" I shrugged. "I felt like burgers, and they are better barbequed," I said, continuing to sing to my absolute favorite part of the song.
* * *
"What the hell has gotten into you?" she asked, laughing at me as I missed every single note of the song. "God you sound awful." She laughed.
* * *
"Nothing has gotten into me. Can’t I be in a good mood?"
* * *
"Does this have anything to do with Kristy?" she questioned.
* * *
I was about to pick up the plate of burgers and take them to the barbecue, but, instead, I froze, not really sure what to say. This question felt like some sort of trap to get me to confess to where I had been going the last couple of weeks. I had been married, and this was the exact tactic Laura used to use to get me to confess when she thought I was hiding things. I knew how this worked.
* * *
"Just tell me. I'm not mad, but just so you know, I am the one who sent you both up to Serenity Lake. I'm practically to blame, since I set you up. So, spill it because no matter how hard I’ve tried Kristy sure won't budge."
* * *
I looked at Addie who sat there with a smile on her face. I thought for a second. Kristy had said she was feeling awful having to lie to Addie and that she wanted this out in the open. I, too, felt terrible keeping this from my own sister. Even though we had agreed on one more week, I had also promised I would be the one to talk to her. Now, seeing the end in sight of having this secret out in the open, the secret we had been keeping lifted off me like a weight.
* * *
"How did you know?"
* * *
"I'm not an idiot, Austin. I saw your shoes in the hallway at her apartment last night, and your coat hanging on the hook inside her door. I wasn't going to confront her on it, especially with you hiding in her bedroom," Addie said, laughing.
* * *
I laughed to myself and ran my hand over my face. "Listen, Addie, you can't say anything to Kristy. I told her I wanted another week before we said anything. I don't want to blow this with her. I really like her."
* * *
"Hey, look, you've got the perfect opportunity to make this work, so I promise I will keep it to myself."
* * *
"Good," I mumbled and blew out a breath, "because I think, I might be in love with her."
* * *
Addie jumped up off the chair and wrapped her arms around my neck, hugging me. I hugged her back. It felt good to get my feelings out in the open.
* * *
"You are something else, Austin. It’s taken you all this time when I could have told you that you loved her all along."
* * *
I looked at my sister and frowned. "What do you mean?" I questioned.
* * *
"Come with me," she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me along behind her like she used to do when she was a little kid.
* * *
She pulled me into the living room and then opened the cupboard where we kept the photo albums. She pulled out one I hadn't looked at in years and flipped it open to a page. It was one of our family trips up to Serenity Lake. I looked at the images. Addie, Kristy, and I were on the dock out in the middle of the lake. Kristy and Addie were sunbathing, while I sat behind them both, my focus clearly on Kristy. She flipped the page to another bunch of photos, where again in each of them I was either clearly staring at Kristy or next to her. Then she opened the album of my engagement photos.
* * *
"What are you doing with that?" I questioned.
* * *
"Just wait and see," Addie said, flipping to one of the pages and pointing at one of the photographs.
* * *
In one of the photos Laura stood in the background posing for the shot. Instead of being enamored with my future bride like I should have been, I was looking off in the distance at Kristy who sat behind Laura with a sad look on her face.
* * *
"Seriously, man, it couldn't be more obvious. Did it ever occur to you that this was what the problem was with your marriage?"
* * *
"The problem with my marriage was the fact that my wife preferred the company of someone else in the bedroom."
* * *
"No, Austin, I'm not talking about that. It doesn't take rocket science to know that you were never happy. You were forced into a situation to marry Laura because together 'you made sense' to everyone but yourselves. You never really loved her. That is why Kristy wasn't invited to the wedding. It wasn't because of money and needing to cap guests like you told her. It also wasn't because Laura didn't want her there. It was because you were in love with Kristy. That was the real reason why she was not there at the wedding. Just admit it."
* * *
"No, Addie, it was because we had to cap guests. Laura was throwing a fit about how much we were spending."
* * *
"You know that isn't true, because I know that isn't true. I can guarantee that if Kristy had been sitting in the audience, you would have been stuck on what could have been if you had of made a different choice. Perhaps you might not even have gone through with the wedding at all."
* * *
I slowly flipped through the album in front of me and then it hit. I had spent hours upon hours and thousands of dollars in couples therapy, and in one conversation, Addie hit the nail on the head. Suddenly, the embarrassment of the entire situation started to hit, and I wanted to crawl into a hole.
* * *
"It's not just photographs, Austin. I have watched you with her over the last year and a half. She was the only one you would talk to after Laura died. She was the one you went outside with the day of the funeral after the guys kicked that douche out. She was the one who held you as you cried. She was the one who also dropped everything to be with you during that time."
All I Want for Christmas: A Contemporary Romance Holiday Collection Page 40