by Jamie Pope
“A little of both,” he admitted with a smile. “I didn’t love it as much as my best friend, Marcus. Or at least I thought he loved it. I was sure he was going to go pro but he turned down a few full football scholarships.”
“College is so expensive. What made him do that?”
“I’m still not sure. I thought he was crazy. It had something to do with my sister’s best friend. They had been secretly in love all through school and broke up right before we graduated.”
“So he gave up his scholarship because of that?”
Asa nodded. “He had put the game before her. I guess he was trying to prove something. He worked in public relations in DC until he gave all that up to become a teacher.”
“Did they get back together then?”
“Yes, but last year. They met again at my sister’s wedding in Costa Rica. They’re expecting their first baby.”
“Do you see him a lot?” she asked, knowing she was full of questions.
“He lives in New York now, but I don’t get to see him as much as I should. He’s got a wife and a baby on the way. His life is a lot different than it used to be. We used to catch a plane to Vegas on a whim. Now when I see him, he’s planning out how they are going to do their nursery.”
“It must be tough, having your friendship change like that.” Hallie could identify. Her best friend had had a baby a few months ago, a baby Hallie had never met, but even before that she had been seeing less and less of her friend. Marriage and family often did that.
“It’s the way things are supposed to be, though. I would be a selfish bastard if I blamed him for not hanging out with me as much. He’s happier now than I have ever seen him. Plus, I love his wife. We grew up together. They’re like my family.”
“It’s nice to have friends like that,” she said softly, missing home tremendously then.
“It is.” He picked up his glass and took a long drink before he smiled at it.
“Why are you smiling?”
“I was just thinking. Cranberry juice reminds me of Christmas.”
“Really? Why? I would think Thanksgiving. Ugh. I was just reminded that I didn’t get to have any cranberry sauce this year. Plopping that stuff out of that can is my favorite thing about the holiday.”
“My mother hates the stuff from the can and refuses to serve it, but I love it. But cranberries remind me of Christmas because my mother used to make us string them for garland every year.”
“That seems like a lot of work,” she said, but she could tell by his smile that it was a good memory.
“It was, and my sister and I hated it. But looking back, it was fun. My mother used to go crazy when we were kids. My father would take us to cut down a huge tree every year and my mother would pull out the old ornaments that she got from her grandmother and each one of them had to be placed just right. And in the front, under the star were the ornaments that my sister and I made in first grade. They didn’t go with the antique stuff, but they got a place of honor every year.”
“That’s very sweet. Does she still do that?”
“No.” He shook his head and an almost sad expression crossed his face. “She hasn’t put up a tree in years. Our house used to be decked out in lights, but after my sister and I graduated from college she stopped doing all of that. It was too much work.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t do it again. I’m sure your mother would like it if you wanted to do it again.”
“She told me they’ve put the house up for sale and that they are moving to Florida. That’s why she stopped by yesterday, to tell me she’s retiring. There won’t be any more snowy Christmases at that house.”
“But what about this Christmas?”
“We’re going to my sister’s place.”
Hallie put her plate down on the table and wrapped her arms around his middle, feeling the need to comfort him. “Your childhood home is something you feel should always be there, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t realize I’d missed all those little traditions until I knew they weren’t going to happen anymore.”
“You can make your own traditions, you know. You’ll get married and have kids and you’ll do things for them like your parents did for you.”
“You’re right.” He draped his arm around her and rested his lips on her forehead. She closed her eyes, liking the closeness, the intimacy she had with him. She had never had this with Brent. They’d never just sat like this, their skin touching, their arms wrapped around each other, each lost in their own thoughts.
The only time Brent touched her was when he wanted to take her to bed. She barely knew Asa and yet was sitting this close to him on the couch. She felt closer to him than the man she had been planning to spend the rest of her life with. And then it dawned on her what she was doing.
She sat up quickly, retrieving her plate so that her hands would be full and not reach for him.
She barely knew him.
They were just supposed to be friends.
She wasn’t supposed to feel this kind of pull toward him.
Chapter 5
Asa knocked on Hallie’s door two mornings later. She opened it almost immediately and smiled when she saw that it was him. She looked better than he had seen her look all week. The pain and exhaustion that had come over her the last few times he had seen her seemed to have disappeared.
“Hi. I wasn’t expecting to see you this morning. I’m just heading out. I have an appointment with my doctor so he can clear me to go back to work next week.”
“I know. That’s why I’m here.” He looked down at her feet to see that she was wearing pink ballet flats. Better than the high-heeled boots she had worn the day she slipped and fell but nowhere near the right footwear for this very cold season. “I need to tell you something important. Can I come in for a moment?”
“Yeah.” She looked unsure, but she stepped aside. “What’s up?”
“I couldn’t in good conscience let you out of the building without wearing the right stuff.” He pulled a pair of black fur-lined boots. “Look at the rubber soles on these.”
“Oh, Asa.” She moaned as she took them from him. The sound caught him off guard and his groin grew tight. It had been hard for him to be with her the other day and not touch her. He had spent nearly four hours with her that night. They had eaten dinner together and talked about their friends and their college days. They had even watched a Claymation Christmas special that was on. It wasn’t a date, but if it had been it would have easily been one of the best he had ever been on. It was nice to come home after a long day of work and have somebody there waiting. And when it was time for him to go, he had to stop himself from pulling her soft, curvy body into his and kissing her until she melted. But he knew if he did that it would have been hard to stop at just a kiss. He would have wanted to tumble her onto her bed and peel every inch of clothing off her, just so he could kiss every inch of her lush bare skin.
He pulled himself out of that fantasy, because he could feel himself growing harder as he thought about her. He didn’t need to fantasize about her because the look of pure pleasure on her face would be enough to sustain him for years.
“I’ve never had a pair of snow boots. These are cute, too.”
“I got you something else. Hat, scarf, gloves and an official limited edition FDNY fleece hooded jacket.” He pulled them all out of the bag. “It’s water resistant, too.”
“Asa...” She looked up at him, eyes full of something he couldn’t name. Gratitude? Appreciation? He didn’t know. He just knew he liked looking into her eyes and when he hadn’t seen her at all the day before he’d missed those eyes. He found himself just missing her.
It was odd. He had never felt that way about another woman. He wasn’t sure what it was about her, what made her different from anyone else.
/> “I might cry again. This is the nicest thing any man has ever done for me.”
“It can’t be. Your ex must have done nice things for you.”
“He would buy me a lot of jewelry, but I think it was more for him than me. So he could parade me in front of his wealthy friends and show them what he could afford to buy. But this is...thoughtful. Thank you for being so thoughtful.”
He nodded, wanting to kiss her, but holding back. “Put them on. I can’t let you out on the streets of New York City until you do.”
She sat down on her couch and slipped her feet inside of the boots. She moaned again as her feet touched the warm, soft lining. She was a moaner. She moaned when she ate cupcakes. She moaned when she was pleased. She’d moaned when he had kissed her. He was starting to become addicted to that sound.
“My feet will never be cold again in these.”
“How could you live in New York and not have a good pair of boots?”
“I’m from the South. I didn’t think about it. My cousin told me it was eighty degrees there today. When it gets below fifty-five back home we go into a panic.”
“Southerners.” He shook his head.
“I was stupid. I just didn’t think about it. I didn’t have a winter coat. It was the end of June when I moved here and so unbearably hot that I thought it was never going to cool down. In the back of my mind I knew winter would come. I just didn’t think it would be so cold.”
“This is not typical December weather. It’s one of the coldest on record. We’re responding to a lot of exposure calls. Frostbite, hypothermia. One man didn’t...” He stopped himself, not wanting to expose that detail to her.
“Why did you stop?” She looked suspicious. “What were you going to say?”
“Nothing.” He took the scarf and wrapped it around her neck. “Just stay warm today.”
“I will. Thanks to you.” She stood up. “Would you want to come with me today?”
He grinned at her. “Don’t trust yourself outside yet?”
“No.” She grinned back. “I haven’t been outside in a few days and I don’t want to hurry back. I could buy you lunch and take you to a movie. Whatever you wanted to do. It will be my small way of thanking you.”
“You don’t have to thank me. But I will go to the doctor with you. I don’t trust you on the ice, either.”
It was only a few blocks to her doctor’s office and they decided to walk there. Asa sat in the waiting room thinking about what his life would have been like if he had gone through with becoming a doctor. He would have chosen to be a heart surgeon, or maybe work in emergency medicine. He’d never seen himself in an office like this. He had always liked the fast-paced stuff, the life or death of it all. But he could do that as a rescue paramedic without the residency and certifications and fellowships. His friends thought he was crazy for giving up the prestige and the much higher salary, but what most people didn’t know was that he didn’t have the need for money. Or the prestige.
He had helped invent a special knee brace with one of his friends that became incredibly popular with athletes. He’d played football all through college. He had stayed incredibly active afterward. He knew how athletes’ bodies worked. He knew how they hurt and along with his knowledge of human anatomy and the help of a roommate who was a biomedical engineer, he had come up with something good. His design was used by millions of people. He was nowhere as rich as his brother-in-law, but he’d gained a small fortune when they had sold the design and he still received a percentage of the profits every year. He could have lived a flashier lifestyle. But he liked his fairly simple life.
He had made a choice long ago to not let what he could have influence how he lived his life.
Hallie emerged from the back of the office and he stood up to meet her. “What did the doctor say?”
“He’s making me take an extra day. I’m still having issues looking at computer screens.”
“It makes your head hurt?”
“The words swim all over the screen.”
“Were you trying to do work for school?”
She looked guilty. “Just some emails and light lesson planning.”
“Hallie...”
“I’ve been cooped up in my apartment! I was making use of my time.”
“The more you stress your eyes and brain, the longer it’s going to take for you to recover. I’m going to make sure you don’t do any of that stuff today.”
“No?”
“No.” He took her hand and led her outside. Today he didn’t want her thinking about anything but enjoying herself.
* * *
“I can’t believe it’s snowing again,” she said as they stepped outside.
“This is the best kind of snow. Big, fat flakes.” He held on to her hand as they navigated the snowy streets. Holding hands wasn’t something most friends did, and yet his fingers were locked in hers. She knew she should pull away, but she didn’t want to because she liked the way his big, warm hand felt in hers, as if they had been holding hands their entire lives. “Look what it does to the trees.”
He pointed to one as they entered Washington Square Park through a wrought iron gate. Hallie had been a major snow hater since it caused her to miss going home for Thanksgiving, but even she had to admit how beautiful the park was as they walked through it. There was glistening snow on the branches and on the ground all around them. The park was empty on this cold weekday morning and it felt as if they had the entire world to themselves.
“Okay. It is kind of nice.”
“You don’t impress easily, do you?”
“I grew up on the beach with gorgeous powdery sand to wiggle between my toes. I didn’t realize how much I would miss that feeling when I moved here. I could always go to the beach after work and dig my feet in the sand. I can’t dig my feet in the snow.”
“You could. They just might fall off later.” He let go of his hand and wrapped his arm around her. “It doesn’t snow all that much here. You should see upstate. I had a buddy who went to school in Buffalo. They had one hundred and ninety-nine inches of snow one season.”
“No.” Hallie shook her head. “I can’t hear that. I don’t even want to imagine that. Those poor people.”
“They’re used to it. And that’s nothing compared to Alta in Utah. They get six hundred inches annually.”
Hallie felt a little queasy. “That’s terrible. People are afraid of serial killers and zombies, but my worst nightmare is being surrounded by snow with no way to get out.”
“The people who go to Alta love it. It’s a ski town. The very wealthy hang out there.”
“How do you know so much about it?”
“I’ve been.”
“How bourgie of you,” she laughed.
“My father was a high-ranking military official. My mother teaches at a prestigious university and I went to the best medical school in the country. We were exposed to a lot of things that a lot of people never have the chance to see.”
“Your parents took you skiing there? Forgive me, but your mother doesn’t seem the type to be racing down mountains.”
“No. She’s not.” He shook his head with a smile. “I went with a friend’s family while on break from medical school. It was an experience.”
“Something you want to repeat again?”
“No. Not a ton of diversity there. That’s why I love New York City. Every country in the world is represented here. I can walk out of my apartment and hear five different languages before I get to work. I can see old architecture and new culture and I—”
“—can get a burrito with extra sour cream at three thirty in the morning,” Hallie added.
He grinned at her. “That’s obviously my favorite part. Along with the hot dogs and the cheesecake.”
“And the
pizza. Don’t forget the pizza.”
“That goes without saying. I’ve spent some time in Chicago and that deep dish stuff doesn’t deserve to be called pizza. It’s a casserole.”
“Those might be fighting words in some places.”
“Don’t tell me you like deep dish more than traditional?”
“Of course not. My father was born and raised in this city. I could never pledge allegiance to another type of pizza.”
“Good. It’s bad enough you hate the snow. I don’t think we could be friends if you didn’t like New York pizza.”
“You’re my only friend here. I’m not sure I could take you abandoning me,” she said, not meaning it the way it sounded. But there was a little extra heaviness in her voice. It appeared whenever she talked about her father.
“You don’t mean that. You must have other friends here. What about the people you work with?”
“Oh, they’re nice. But most of them are married with children and when the last bell rings they hurry off to be with their loved ones, which they should. I thought my move here would be easier than it has been. My father talked about this place with such great passion. About how exciting it was. I guess I just wanted to feel some of that.”
“What does your father say about it?”
“He passed away. Maybe I came here to feel closer to him. He used to live in this neighborhood. Got his start designing here.”
“I’m sorry about your father,” Asa said softly.
“Oh, don’t be. He died very happy, surrounded by everyone he loved, in his favorite place.”
“I’m not sorry for him, Hallie. I’m sorry for you because you are the one who is missing out on his love.”
She looked up at Asa, her heart beating just a little harder. He always had a knack for saying just the right thing at the right time. “He would hate for me to be sad. He would be happy that I’m not marrying Brent, though. Hated him. I should have known then.”
“Father knows best,” Asa said. “What did he design?”
