by Tabatha Kiss
My heart breaks. Poor Phoebe.
“Where’s Phoebe?” I ask. “Is she okay?”
“That’s the burning question,” he says. “She wouldn’t talk to me about it. Just took the dog for a walk. I waited an hour for her to come back, but she didn’t show, so I came here.”
I bite down. Hard. Thad and I aren’t strangers to the world of parental disappointment, obviously. Between our fathers, we have enough material to write a very long self-help book or maybe some sort of self-deprecating stand-up comedy routine, but Phoebe? She grew up very differently than we did. Her parents supported her through thick and thin. They worshiped the ground she walked on, but now?
They can’t support her lifestyle?
They can’t support her because she loves us.
“I’m mad, Max,” Thad says, his jaw fixed in a straight line.
I nod. “Me, too.”
“The world can chew me up and spit me out all it wants, but not her,” he says. “Not her.”
“I agree,” I say. “We need to find her. Knowing Phoebe, she’s…”
“She’s over-thinking it. Exactly,” he says. “She’s following every last dangling thread of a thought to its most dramatic conclusion. Maybe talking herself into actually agreeing with them and I won’t have it. So, what do we do?”
“The same thing we always do when people side-eye us,” I say. “We prove them wrong and convince her we love her.”
“How?” he asks, panic building in his blue eyes. “The last time Pheebs took off, we had the luxury of cornering her in an airplane bathroom. Might not be so easy this time.”
I smile at the memory. Me and Thad deadheading in the cockpit, sneaking peeks at Phoebe sitting all the way back in coach, just waiting for the right moment to prove how much we both loved her. I remember replaying everything in my head before that moment; from that first fateful night the three of us spent together, to the adorable morning after, to the moment Thad and I looked at each other and agreed that neither of us was willing to compromise when it came to Phoebe fucking Pink.
And that’s never changed.
If she’s out there right now doubting every word, every kiss, every moment… then we need to do something about it.
We won her back before.
We’ll do it again.
I reach into my pocket for my phone. “Only a few places she’d go,” I say as I swipe open my contact book.
“Yes!” Thad says, nodding. “Good. Man of action. I like it.”
I tap Jackie’s number. Phoebe’s assistant and best friend. “Might be a long shot, but…” I listen to the dull ringing as Thad eagerly watches.
There’s a quick answer, followed instantly by an annoyed groan. “She’s at the office,” Jackie says.
“Hey, Jackie.” I raise a brow. “It’s Max.”
“Yeah, I can read.”
“She’s at the office? Are you sure?”
“She was when I left her there a half hour ago,” she says. “You two hatch a plan to cheer her up yet because I’m gonna be a little tied up for most of the foreseeable future.”
“We’re working on it.”
“I mean that literally, by the way,” she says. “So, y’all do what you need to do and leave me—”
I tilt the phone away to talk to Thad. “I have an idea but it may require some setup.”
“I’m in.” Thad gives a thumbs up. “Let’s do it.”
“Jackie—” I say, interrupting her. “We need you to stall her. Keep her away from the house. Can you do that?”
“Seriously?” she asks.
“Just for an hour. Or two.”
“… Seriously?”
“I’ll make it worth your while,” I beg. “Please.”
“Two first class tickets to wherever I want to go for spring break worth my while?” she asks.
I bite my cheek. “Sure. I can swing that.”
Jackie lets out a long, exasperated sigh. “Fine. I will call her and stall so you two can lavish her with all that adorably annoying love while I—”
“Thank you, Jackie,” I say with a smile. “Merry Christmas.”
“Yeah, Merry Cock-block to you, too,” she mutters.
I hang up and drop my phone into my pocket.
Thad looks at me with excitement. “Well? What’s your idea?”
I hold up two fingers. “One, do you remember your first date with her?”
“Second best night of my life,” he says with a shrug. “Easy.”
“Second best?” I repeat, genuinely curious.
He nods. “That night the three of us made it official wins out.” He raises his pinched fingers, fingertips separated by a short inch. “Just a tad.”
I let it sink in, slowly realizing that it might be my first choice, too. That whole weekend, actually. The three of us alone together in Phoebe’s loft with no real contact with the outside world.
That was when I truly fell in love with us.
“What’s the second thing?” Thad asks, nodding at my two fingers still hanging in the air.
I smile. “Do you know what size thong you wear?”
“Is this gonna get weird if I say yes?” he asks.
“No.”
He grins. “Then, yes.”
“Good.” I grab my car keys from my pocket and toss them at Thad. He easily catches them with a smirk. “My car’s in B lot. I’ll meet you down there in five and then I’ll explain on the way.”
Thad twirls the keys around his fingers and steps onto the elevator, his dimples still proudly displayed.
“Trust me, Maximillian,” he says as the doors begin to close. “You had me way before thong.”
5
Phoebe
Junk. Junk. Delete. Pin. Junk. Delete.
There’s really no better time to clean out your email inbox than when you’re avoiding your feelings on Christmas Eve.
Save for later. Delete. Delete. Super delete.
This not at all qualifies as unhealthy. I’m merely using my time productively.
Junk. Junk.
I am fine.
Junk.
Totally fine.
Delete.
Wait, no. I need that one.
Undelete.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Phoebe?”
I glare at Jackie’s voice echoing out of my desk phone. “I am fine,” I say.
“Yeah, once more with feeling, honey,” she says.
I exhale hard. “I just can’t believe they’d do this.”
“Uh-huh. Let it out. Take your time.”
“Don’t you have a silver fox there to keep you company?” I ask, suspiciously.
“No,” she answers. “Okay, yeah, I do, but as I said before, I am here for you. I’m not going to let you sulk by yourself on Christmas.”
“I’m not sulking.”
“You’re a little sulky.”
“Well, wouldn’t you be?”
“Not really,” she says. “My parents have been whining about me since I was thirteen. Never understood why I would leave a small town paradise in Kansas for a den of sin like Los Angeles.” She chuckles. “You should have seen the look on their faces when I said I was transferring to New York with you. It was classic.”
I slam my left mouse button to delete another email. “All this time, my parents have never said a word. Now, it’s your lifestyle this and we can’t support that and—”
Delete.
“Pheebs.”
Delete. Delete.
“And I feel like dirt for disappointing them,” I say. “I’ve never disappointed my parents before. We never even had so much as a fight until now. What’s a girl supposed to do without her parents?”
Jackie sighs loudly. “Phoebe. Come on. We’ve been over this.”
I raise a brow. “We have?”
“Give me your coffee.”
“I’m not holding coffee,” I say slowly. “And you’re in a phone.”
“Just pretend to hand me y
our coffee so I can slap you in the face.”
I snort. “Okay.”
“You’re a boss ass bitch, Phoebe Pink,” she scolds. “Boss ass bitches don’t need their mommies and daddies. They put on their big girl panties and they do what they want. You want Max, right?”
“Right.”
“You want Thad, right?”
“Definitely.”
“Do you want Max and Thad more than your parents’ approval?”
I think of this morning and I tilt my head. “Yep,” I say.
“Well, there you go,” she says. “Honey, everyone goes through this. It’s just that we all did it in our twenties.”
“I always have been a late-bloomer,” I mutter with a sigh. “You’re right, Jackie. I’m gonna pull up my panties and go home.”
“Wait, no,” she says. “Don’t do that.”
I pause with my bottom halfway out of the chair. “Don’t?”
“Yeah, stay. Stay and talk. Forever.”
“I feel officially better now, Jackie,” I say as I stand. “Enjoy the rest of your holiday.”
“Damn me and my powers of motivation,” she says. “Wait, just—”
Stinky’s head rises from her resting spot on the couch and she points her snout toward the door to my office.
“Jackie, I gotta—”
The elevator doors open and Stinky lets out a timid growl.
I pause. “Stinky…”
She bolts off the couch and races into the dark office.
“Shit…” I murmur, locked between fear and curiosity. “There’s someone here,” I say at the phone.
“A janitor, maybe?” Jackie suggests. “Or an axe murderer.”
“It’s not an axe murderer,” I say, mostly to make myself feel better. Stinky would surely be barking if it were an axe murderer.
She barks once in the hallway.
Fuck.
“Phoebe?” she asks.
I snatch my stapler off the desk and hold it over my head, ready to wail on my attacker. “Who’s there?” I ask, steadying my voice. “I have a weapon…”
Footsteps echo through the wall, steadily making their way to my office door. I grip the stapler even harder as my pulse slams like a drum. Oh, god. Why did I announce myself? Why didn’t I just leap into my closet and hide?
Stinky races back into the room, her tail wagging with excitement. She barks at me twice and turns back to the door as a man enters the frame and smiles.
I sigh with relief at his raised hands. A black suit, a blue tie, and those unforgettable green eyes.
“Max,” I squeak. “You scared me.”
He chuckles. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to.”
I drop the stapler back onto the desk. “It’s okay.” I crane my neck to look over his shoulder. “Is Thad with you?”
“No,” he says as he steps inside. “It’s just me.”
“Max!” Jackie cries over the speakerphone. “I did the thing. Can I go now?”
“Yeah. Thanks, Jackie,” he says.
“Okay, good. But don’t forget our dea—”
Max raises the receiver and drops it down again, hanging up on her.
I flick my eyes back and forth. “And what was that?”
He shakes his head. “I wouldn’t worry about it,” he says. “Just Jackie being Jackie.”
I nod. Fair enough.
I switch my computer monitor off. “Guess you heard by now,” I say.
He nods. “Yeah but I don’t want to talk about that.”
My lips twitch. “Neither do I.” I look at him across my desk and a shiver crawls up my spine. Those gorgeous eyes of his. As much as he’s changed since high school, those have remained as breathtaking as always. “How’d it go with your dad today?” I ask.
“I don’t want to talk about him, either,” he says, a playful bounce in his voice.
“Well, is there something you did want to talk about?” I ask.
Max wets his lips. “Actually, I wanted to ask you if you’d like to come to dinner with me tonight.”
I blink. “Tonight?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s Christmas Eve.”
He chuckles, flashing a bit of that boyish charm as he steps around my desk. “I had a great time with you at the reunion last week,” he says. “A really great time, actually.”
I squint. “Last week?”
“I can’t stop thinking about it.” His eyes fall, purposefully admiring my body. “And about you.”
I lean in, sniffing him for any obvious signs of inebriation. “Max, are you okay?”I ask. “You know, the reunion was over a year ago…”
Max smiles. “And yet… I’m still as crazy for you as I was the second I saw you in that gym.” He takes my hand and gently brings it to his chest. “My heart still pounds for you, Phoebe Pink.”
I swallow hard. “Okay, not drunk.” I smile. “Just silly.”
He steps forward and kisses me, forcing me to fall back in time. I succumb to the memory of him. His palms on my cheeks. His body pressing into mine. His kiss, so sweet and kind but full of heat and desire for me. For Phoebe Pink, the loser of Belle Academy.
But that’s not me anymore.
Now, I’m his woman.
“Go out with me tonight,” he says. “I won’t take no for an answer.”
I smile as I lick my tingling lips. “What about Thad?” I ask, injecting some reality.
Max takes a step back and grabs Stinky’s leash off the desk. “He’s busy,” he says as he leans over and Stinky happily lets him hook it on.
“Busy?” I ask. “With what?”
Max wraps the leash around his hand without an answer. He simply gestures toward the door and gives me another one of those perfect smiles.
Oh, boy.
I press my lips together, still tingling from his kiss. “All right, then,” I say. “Where are we going?”
“I know a nice place nearby,” he says, still smiling. “Come on.”
He leads Stinky out of the office but I linger in place as a paralyzing warmth latches onto my spine. It’s so foreign yet beautifully familiar, reminding me of that day in my office a year ago. Just the two of us, back in Los Angeles, staring into each other without the rest of the world glaring back.
No judgmental parents. No Sally Sweet.
Not even Thad.
“Max,” I say, stepping forward.
Max turns around and gently snaps his fingers once to make Stinky kneel. “Phoebe,” he says.
I bridge the short gap between us into the darkened office space. Even in the shadows, I can see his bright green eyes shining back at me, seeing right through me, and I can think of nowhere else I’d rather be right now.
I hang my head and step forward into his open arms. Max embraces me as I rest my head on his chest. We stand still, surrounded by the mechanical hum of the city outside and the soft tap of Stinky’s tail wagging against the wall.
“Max,” I whisper, “is this really happening?”
Max kisses my temple. “Yes,” he answers, remembering our first moments all alone as I do. “I’m really here. You’re really here.” He kisses me again on the other temple. “This is really happening.”
Our lips lock in a deep kiss and I practically fall to pieces. He wraps an arm around my waist to hold me up as my ankles begin to sway. He smiles, knowing he’s got me.
“That’s my girl,” he says, his warm breath grazing my cheek.
6
Phoebe
Max and I walk down the street hand-in-hand. It happens often nowadays but I’m honestly not sure if I’ll ever get used to it. Back home in Los Angeles, I felt like Max’s dirty little secret, constantly dodging his father and co-workers so we wouldn’t spark the Belle Academy alumni rumor mill.
But not here. Not on the snow-covered streets of New York City.
Here, we can just be us.
Stinky hops along the sidewalk in front of us, having the time of her life in the small piles of snow. Ma
x and I laugh with a constant grip on her leash to keep her from running off.
We turn onto our street. I assume we’ll stop to let the dog in before heading back out but I instantly feel like something is off as we approach the door.
For one, we usually don’t knock on our own front door.
But Max pauses outside on our stoop and knocks twice.
“Did you forget your key?” I ask, reaching into my pocket for mine.
“No,” he answers.
“Then, why are we knocking?”
“I told you I knew a good place nearby for dinner.”
“This is our house.”
“I know.”
I grunt, somewhere between amusement and confusion. “Max, what—”
The front door swings open and Thad stands there. A breath catches in my throat as I look him up and down. I haven’t seen him dressed in a suit and tie since his airline pilot days — and even then he appeared wrinkled and worn out after a long day up in the sky.
Tonight, he’s perfectly pressed and clean-shaven with slicked back hair and that old, red checkerboard tie fitted around his neck.
“Good evening!” he greets. “Table for two? Right this way.”
He spins on his heels and marches through the foyer.
My lips twitch as I look at Max. “Uh…”
Max bends and unhooks Stinky’s leash, letting her bolt through the house to follow Thad before hooking his arm around mine and tugging me over the threshold.
“Come on,” he says.
I follow him. What girl wouldn’t?
I let all of my thoughts of doubt fade away and they disappear completely the moment the front door latches closed behind us.
We enter the dining room and my smile grows. The room is illuminated with little more than candles and strings of white Christmas lights. Just as Thad said, a table for only two is set up in the center with folded napkins and a small flower resting in a vase. My nose picks up the scent before I even get close. Jasmine.
Just like our first date.
Max sidles behind me and grips the collar on my coat. “Have a seat,” he says as he pulls it down my arms.
I lick my lips and nod, unable to fully vocalize anything just yet. As he deposits my coat in the closet by the door, I lower down into my chair, fold my hands into my lap, and I wait for him to come back.