Claire made a face. “What? No, Grandpa… I don’t think that’s what Grandma was talking about.”
“Of course that’s what she was talking about. That’s how I won her over.”
Claire stifled a laugh.
“That was different,” Grandma Lawrence said. “I wasn’t sensitive like Gwenie.”
“Girls like sweets,” he argued. “Doesn’t matter how sensitive a girl is. Each and every one of ‘em has got a sweet tooth.”
“Not when their hearts are broken.”
“Girls always like sweets,” he repeated, sticking to his guns.
Claire shook her head at me, and I joined her in trying not to laugh.
Her grandfather directed his attention back to her. “Don’t laugh at me, Claire Lawrence. If I hadn’t taken your grandmother to get a milkshake, you wouldn’t be here right now. Think about that, young woman.”
Claire spread her hands. “I was laughing at the movie.”
“Bullshit,” he grumbled.
“All right,” she said seriously although I knew she was still poking fun at the situation. “I’ll think about how I wouldn’t be here today if you hadn’t taken Grandma for a milkshake.”
Grandpa Lawrence ignored her. “Jason, take the girl to the soda shop.”
“That’s a good idea,” I told him. “Thank you. I’ll think about that one.”
I waited to see if Claire would make some kind of joke about me giving Gwen my personal milkshake, but she didn’t say anything else.
In my pocket, my phone buzzed. I pulled it out to see Miles calling.
“I’ll be right back,” I announced.
I hurried out of the room and down the hallway to the guest bedroom. I passed the kitchen on the way, listening intently for Gwen’s voice. Only her mother’s words wafted out of the room, though, and I had to hurry to answer the phone before I missed Miles’ call.
“Hey,” I said into the phone as I closed the bedroom door behind me.
“So, guess what?”
“The baby came early?” I asked, uncertain as to whether or not six weeks early was enough of a bad thing to be worried about or not.
“Thank you for considering the proceedings of my own life first, but no. This is actually about you. I just heard from Jess’ lawyer.”
“On Christmas Eve?”
“Apparently it was important to her that they contact us right away.”
I sat down on the bed. “What happened?”
“She’s dropping all pursuits of that fifty percent.”
“Wow,” I murmured.
“Great, right?”
“I already said—”
He cut me off. “I know you said you didn’t care. And, as both your friend and lawyer, let me please say that there will come a day when you will care. This is good news, Jason. You’re basically a free man. Soon it will be as if the marriage never existed.”
“Wow,” I muttered again. “That’s a strange thought. I’m not really sure what to make of it.”
“Remember what I said then.”
I chortled. “Yeah, yeah. You never liked her anyway.”
“Best friends are supposed to be highly critical of girlfriends and wives. That’s me watching out for you.”
“Hey,” I laughed, “I don’t talk shit about your wife!”
“That’s because I have the best one in the world, so there’s not a damn thing you can say about her.”
“That’s true,” I agreed. “By the way… she called me last night.”
“My wife?”
“No. Jess.”
A short silence followed my announcement.
“Really?” Miles asked, his tone getting serious. “Why? What did she say?”
I swallowed a few times. Thinking about the conversation, although I knew at that point that I was ready to fully let go of Jess, was hard nonetheless. “She seemed to be really sorry about what happened.”
“Yeah, well, she should be,” he said, his words sharp.
I smirked. “All right, Miles. Thank you, but you don’t have to remind me which side you’re on.”
“Hey, I gotta stick up for you.”
I slowly shook my head. “It’s crazy.”
“How so? She did do you wrong. It was only a matter of time before the guilt got to her.”
I ignored the statement. “It’s crazy because I was having a lot of trouble.”
“Letting go,” he said, filling in the part of the sentence that was so hard for me to say.
“Yeah. Other than you, she was the only real constant in my life.”
“I know.”
“So, I guess I was hanging onto her for that reason… and now… now I’m not.”
“Can we call it a Christmas miracle?”
I laughed. “I’m not so sure I believe in those.”
“How about good things just randomly happening? Do you believe in those?”
“Of course.”
“Then that’s what happened. Miracle or not, I’m glad it happened. And I’m assuming you’re saying this conversation with her helped.”
“Immensely.”
“Good,” he said, sounding genuinely happy. “If she made you feel better, maybe she’s not such a bad person after all.”
I thought about telling Miles about Gwen but decided against it. The odds of winning her over were still not in my favor. It was best to actually cross the finish line before gloating about it. If Gwen and I did get together, though, he would be one of the first people to know about it.
“I gotta go,” Miles said. “Merry Christmas.”
“Same to you.”
I hung up the phone and smiled to myself. No matter what was going on with Gwen, the last two phone conversations I’d had seemed like great omens.
I made my way to the kitchen, then stopped in the hallway as I took note of the rising pitch of voices. Pressing my shoulder to the wall, I froze. The hall was dark and empty, with no signs of anyone else around. I shifted my weight back, slinking into the shadow of the staircase.
“It’s just not normal,” Susan said.
“There’s no such thing as normal,” Gwen responded, sounding like she was working terribly hard to keep from shrieking.
“Oh, Gwen, when are you going to see that we’re just worried about you?”
“When are you going to see that I need some space?”
Her father spoke up. “All you do is take space. When you’re not at Freddy’s — which, might I add, is hardly ever — you’re alone. Maybe you should see a therapist.”
“I don’t need therapy,” Gwen coldly replied. “And don’t act like I’m a hermit or something. I’m here with you right now, aren’t I?”
“What about when Christmas is over?” he asked. “And everyone is gone? Are you going to go back to all your regular habits?”
Susan clucked. “Sleeping at Freddy’s every night just can’t be good for you.”
“I don’t sleep there every night,” Gwen seethed. “And why is that even an issue? In what way can that possibly be bad?”
Harry’s voice was stern. “It’s what the action is reflective of. Maybe you should give up your house and come move back in here.”
Gwen muttered something.
“What was that, honey?” Susan asked.
“I said, ‘no thank you,’” Gwen answered in a small voice. “I like that house. I get a good deal on it.”
“That’s not a good reason to stay there,” her mom said. “Why rent a place if you’re never there?”
“Where do you think I shower?” Gwen snapped.
“Hey,” Harry said. “Watch your tone with your mother. She’s trying to help you out here.”
A short silence followed, during which someone’s chair creaked.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” Gwen finally said, her voice sounding incredibly sad. “That was wrong of me.”
I slowly shifted my weight, trying my hardest to make sure the floor didn’t creak and give me away. So Gwen
slept at Freddy’s. That explained the movement I thought I had seen when I passed by the shop the other night.
“Claire told us about Mike,” Harry said.
“Seriously? I told her not to say anything.”
“Don’t be mad at her, Gwen. She’s worried about you. Do you want to talk about him at all?”
There was a short silence before Gwen spoke again. “No, thank you.”
“You never told us what happened between you two,” Susan said.
“We just broke up. In a normal way, like normal people do.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to tell us anything?” Harry asked.
A chair scooted across the linoleum. When Gwen didn’t respond, Harry went on. “Maybe getting out and dating some would help.”
“Ugh,” Gwen muttered. “No. It wouldn’t. There are no decent guys around here anyway. There are, like, six people my age who aren’t married or redneck.”
“What about that volunteer firefighter who asked you out?” Susan said.
I felt myself bristle. Volunteer firefighter?
“No,” Gwen responded with some sass in her voice.
“What’s wrong with him?” Susan asked. “Don’t you think firefighters are cute? It’s the most romantic job out there.”
“Every time I see him, the only thing he can talk about is his motorcycle. It’s boring.”
“You know I think Jason might be interested in you,” Harry said.
Way to go, Harry. I was going to have to give him a big pat on the back later.
Gwen scoffed. “He’s not. Or if he is, he’s also interested in every other woman on the face of the planet.”
“No,” Susan said. “You don’t know that. Who said that?”
“No one said it,” Gwen grumbled. “I’m just telling you what I think. Can we talk about something else, please?”
“All right,” her mother sighed.
Harry spoke up. “Let’s go back to this another time, after the holiday is over. We don’t know when the whole family will be together again, but the three of us can talk at any time.”
“The cookies are almost ready,” Susan said. “Gwen, do you want to go tell everyone?”
“Sure,” she flatly answered.
Quickly, I back tracked, rushing to make it look like I was just leaving the guest bedroom. Gwen entered the hallway, her arms crossed in front of her chest. She narrowed her eyes when she saw me.
“What are you doing?” she asked. “Were you listening to our conversation?”
“What?” I asked, trying to do my best to look offended. “No. I was just going to the living room.”
“Hm.”
I could tell she didn’t believe me. Instead of pressing the issue, though, she turned towards the living room.
“Gwen,” I quickly said, stepping forward. “Wait.”
Surprisingly, she did. She stopped walking, although she didn’t turn around. She kept her head bowed, her shoulders tense.
“Can we talk?” I asked.
Slowly, she turned around. “About what?”
I swallowed hard, trying to calm my frantic heart. “About everything that’s happened. There are some things I want to tell you.”
Her arms fell to her sides, her shoulders dropping even more. “You’ve told me enough. I really can’t take any more of this, Jason. Are you looking to ruin every single minute I’m trying to enjoy with my family?”
“You don’t seem like you’re enjoying your time much.”
I had meant for the claim to be more of a segue into a different part of the conversation than an insult, but the glint in her eyes told me she was offended.
“Gee, I wonder why that might be,” she caustically said.
“I want you,” I said, the words flying from my lips so fast they were barely audible.
She stared. “And?”
I took another deep breath. “I mean, I want you for more than one weekend.”
She pursed her lips. “I don’t quite see what you’re getting at, but I do know I can’t believe anything you say.”
“I know, I know,” I quickly agreed, taking a couple steps toward her. “So, can I please explain myself? There are some things I want to tell you.”
She twisted her lips, looking thoughtful. Was I getting across to her?
“Like what?” she asked.
“Like things about my past; my marriage.”
She didn’t say anything. Maybe I wasn’t as close to winning her over as I’d thought. Time to try a new tactic.
“I have to admit something,” I said. “I just heard part of your conversation with your parents.”
Her eyes glinted. “So you were eavesdropping.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just trying to understand you better. I heard what they said about sleeping at Freddy’s.”
Her chest lifted. “That’s none of your business.”
“I know.”
She glared at me. “What else did you hear?”
“About Mike. Is he your ex-boyfriend?”
Her jaw ticked. “God, you’ve got a lot of nerve.” She pointed a finger at me. “How would you like it if I started asking you all these personal questions, huh?”
I opened my mouth to tell her that was exactly where I wanted our conversation to go. I got cut off by the sound of someone coming down the stairs, though. Danny hopped the last few steps and landed in the hall.
“I smell cookies,” he said. “Or is that cake?”
Gwen looked at the floor. “We’re decorating sugar cookies.”
If he noticed her dour mood, he didn’t show it.
“Cool,” he commented, breezing past us and going into the kitchen.
I looked back at Gwen. “Can we talk soon? Alone?”
“I have cookies to attend to,” she theatrically said, turning back around and disappearing into the living room.
A few seconds later, Claire appeared in the living room’s doorway. What happened? She mouthed at me.
I just shook my head. Her grandparents were edging past her, Grandpa Lawrence hobbling slightly on his cane. Claire let them go, then the second we were alone in the hallway, she hurried up to me.
“Well?” she asked.
I shook my head. “I’m no good at this. I already blew it.”
She frowned. “Dang. Don’t say that.”
“I’m afraid it’s true.”
“Maybe she just needs some time,” she whispered. “Come on.”
I followed her into the kitchen, purposefully hanging back slightly. I didn’t know how many ways there were to appeal to Gwen, but I knew I was quickly running the options dry.
She stood at the far end of the kitchen, her face stony. All across the table, icing and candy decorations were spread. Susan set a large platter of plain sugar cookies in various holiday shapes on the table. Danny snatched up a candy cane one and bit into it.
“Oh, Danny,” Grandma Lawrence laughed. “Let’s make them all pretty first. Goodness, this is a lot of cookies. Susie, what are we going to do with all these cookies?”
“I figured we could wrap them up and take them around to the neighbors.” She smiled over at me. “Jason, maybe you can do that later. Gwen could help.”
Susan handed Gwen a bowl of icing and she walked over to the table to slam it down onto the wooden surface. Everyone gathered around the table, and when Harry saw I was still standing back a bit, he waved me forward.
“Have a seat, Jason,” he said, pulling out a chair for me right next to the seat Gwen had just taken.
I tried to keep a smile plastered on my face as I settled down. Gwen grabbed a reindeer cookie and began aggressively swiping sugary white frosting on it. The sticky globs dripped off the cookie’s edges, falling down onto the table below.
Claire watched her. “You’re gonna suffocate that poor animal. What did it ever do to you?”
Gwen just glared at her.
“The snow stopped,” Grandpa Lawrence announced.
“Just
for the afternoon,” Susan commented. “We’ll be getting more of it tonight. Danny, make sure you bring some more wood in tonight, please. Grandma and Grandpa may want a fire later.”
“Did you use any of that firewood yesterday?” Harry asked, looking at Gwen.
“No,” she curtly responded.
“Is there something wrong with the fireplace?”
“No, Dad. I just prefer to use the heat.”
“A fire is so nice in the winter,” Grandma Lawrence said.
Harry spoke up again. “Jason could have helped you to make one.”
Gwen tensed. “I just said that I prefer to use the heat.” Her words came out staccato, each one more cutting than the last. “I know how to make a fire. I don’t need any help. I do perfectly fine living there by myself. I don’t need a man to do things for me.”
“You can run the heat and have the fire going at the same time” her dad reminded her. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“I don’t like fires.”
“Nonsense,” he snapped, and it was the first time I’d heard him raise his voice. “You don’t want Jason helping you. And there’s nothing wrong with having a man around. Why would you say such a thing?”
A heavy silence fell across the table. From my peripheral, I saw Gwen’s shoulders draw together.
“I… just… told… you,” she hissed. “I don’t like fires.”
“Everyone likes fires.”
From across the table, Claire observed the exchange intently, nibbling on a cookie like she was munching popcorn while watching a movie. I laughed out loud at the sight, and Gwen shot me a heated look. Pressing her palms on the table, she stood up and knocked her chair back before stalking out of the room.
I stood up, seeing another chance to get her alone.
Claire was just as quick. “I’ll go,” she said to me, grabbing another cookie and leaving the kitchen.
“What’s her problem?” Danny asked.
“Nothing,” Susan said quickly. “She’s stressed out. The holidays are taxing on a business.”
“Women are complicated,” Grandpa Lawrence said cryptically.
I sighed and picked up a snowflake cookie. “No more complicated than men.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Gwen
“Gwen, wait.”
I stopped in the middle of the upstairs hallway, right next to Grandma and Grandpa’s room, and turned around to face Claire. “Did you come to tell me what a bitch I was being? Because I already know.”
Damaged (Crystal Brook Billionaires) Page 18