“It’s okay. I understand. And . . . I do believe you about not seeing the note.”
“You do?” he said. His expression was bewildered.
“I do,” I said truthfully. I turned to leave, and as I did, I hooked the toe of my boot under the Doggie de Lite display rack and tugged. The rack toppled, and cellophane bags tumbled to the floor, bursting open and spilling dog treats everywhere.
“Oh, no!” I cried.
“Aw, crap,” Nathan said. He came around from behind the counter, knelt, and started piling up the bags that were still intact.
“I am so sorry,” I said. As he fished for a stray dog cookie, I leaned over the counter and plucked the white receipt. I shoved it into my pocket. “You must hate me even more now, huh?”
He paused, straightening up and propping one hand on his knee. He did a weird thing with his lips, as if he were going through some sort of struggle.
“I don’t hate you,” he said at last.
“You don’t?”
“I just don’t think you realize, sometimes, how you affect people. And I’m not just talking about me.”
“Then . . . who are you talking about?” I was very aware of the receipt in my pocket, but I couldn’t walk away from a comment like that.
“Forget it.”
“No way. Tell me.”
He sighed. “I don’t want this to go to your head, but you’re not always annoying.”
Gee, thanks, I wanted to say. But I held my tongue.
“You’ve got this . . . light about you,” he said, turning red. “You make people feel special, like maybe there’s a light in them, too. But then if you never call them, or if you, you know, kiss some asshole behind their back . . . ”
My vision blurred, and not just because Nathan was suddenly saying things that instead of being rude were dangerously close to sweet. I stared at the floor.
“It’s just cruel, Addie. It’s really cold.” He gestured at a bag of Doggy de Lites by my boot. “Pass me that, will you?”
I bent down and picked it up.
“I don’t mean to be cold,” I said awkwardly. I handed him the Doggy de Lites. “And I’m not trying to make excuses.” I swallowed, surprised by how much I needed to say this to someone who was Jeb’s friend and not mine. “But sometimes I need someone to shine a little light on me, too.”
The muscles of Nathan’s face didn’t move. He let my comment hover between us, just long enough for regret to start pressing in.
Then he grunted. “Jeb’s not exactly the most demonstrative guy,” he acknowledged.
“You think?”
“But get a grip. When it comes to you, he’s totally whupped.”
“Was whupped,” I said. “Not anymore.” I felt a tear, and then another, make its way down my cheek, and I felt like a fool. “Yeah. I’m going now.”
“Hey, Addie,” Nathan said.
I turned.
“If we get another teacup pig, I’ll call you.”
I looked past his acne and his Star Trek shirt and saw just plain Nathan, who, as it turned out, wasn’t always annoying, either.
“Thanks,” I said.
Chapter Thirteen
As soon as I was ten feet away from the pet store, I fished out the pilfered receipt. On the “item” line, Nathan had scrawled, pig. Where the credit-card info was printed, it said, Constance Billingsley.
I swiped away my tears with the back of my hand and took a steadying breath. Then I sent a psychic message to Gabriel: Don’t worry, little guy. I’ll get you to Tegan, where you belong.
First, I called Christina.
“Where are you?” she said. “Your break ended five minutes ago.”
“About that,” I said. “I’m having a bit of an emergency, and before you ask, no, this is not an Addie moment. This particular emergency is about Tegan. I have to do something for her.”
“What do you have to do?”
“Uh, something important. Something life-or-death, although don’t worry, no one’s actually going to die.” I paused. “Except me, if I don’t get it done.”
“Addie,” Christina said. Her tone that suggested I pulled this kind of crap all the time, which I did not.
“Christina, I’m not fooling around, and I’m not being dramatic just to be dramatic. I swear.”
“Well, Joyce just clocked in,” she said grudgingly, “so I suppose the two of us can cover things.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’ll be back in the quickest jiffy possible.” I started to hang up, but Christina’s tinny voice said, “Wait—hold on!”
I raised the phone back to my ear, antsy to be on my way. “What?”
“Your friend with the dreads is here.”
“Brenna? Ugh. Not my friend.” I had a horrible thought. “She’s not with anyone, is she?”
“She’s not with Jeb, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Thank God. Then why are you telling me?”
“Just thought you’d be interested. Oh, and your dad came by. He said to tell you he took the Explorer.”
“He . . . what?!” My gaze flew to the north end of the parking lot. There was a rectangle of smushed snow where I’d parked the Explorer. “Why? Why in the world did he take my car?”
“Your car?”
“His car, whatever. What was he thinking?”
“No idea. Why, do you need it for your thing?”
“Yes, I need it for my thing. And now I have no clue how I’m going to—” I broke off, because ranting to Christina wouldn’t help.
“Never mind, I’ll figure it out,” I said. “Bye.”
I hit the end button, then called my voice mail.
“You have three new messages,” the recording said.
Three? I thought. I’d only heard my phone ring once—although I guess things got kind of loud when the Doggy de Lites came crashing down.
“Addie, it’s Dad,” Dad said on message number one.
“Yes, Dad, I know,” I said under my breath.
“I rode into town with Phil, because your mom needs some groceries. I’m taking the Explorer, so don’t worry if you look out and see that it’s gone. I’ll swing by to pick you up at two.”
“Nooooo!” I cried.
“Next message,” my phone informed me. I bit my lip, praying that it was Dad saying, “Ha-ha, just kidding. I didn’t take the Explorer; I just moved it. Ha-ha!”
It wasn’t Dad. It was Tegan.
“Hola, Addikins!” she said. “Do you have Gabriel? Do ya, do ya, do ya? I cannot wait to see him. I found a heat lamp down in the basement—remember that year my dad was trying to grow those tomatoes?—and I set it up so Gabriel will stay warm in his little bed. Oh, and while I was down there, I found my old American Girl stuff, including a Barcalounger that is just the right size for him. And a backpack with a star on it, though I’m not sure he’ll need a backpack. But you never know, right? Okay, um, call me. Call me as soon as you can. The snowplow is two streets over, so if I don’t hear from you, I’ll just head on over to Starbucks, ’kay? Bye!”
My stomach sank all the way to my toes, and I stood there dumbly as my voice mail announced the final message. It was Tegan again. “Oh, and Addie?” she said. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Well, that made me feel better.
I shut my phone, cursing myself for not going to Pet World at the crack of nine like I’d planned. But rather than whimper pathetically, I had to deal with it. The old me would have stood here feeling sorry for myself until I got frostbite and my toes fell off, and good luck finding strappy heels to wear on New Year’s Eve then, buster. Not that I had anywhere to go wearing strappy heels. But whatever.
The new me, however, was not a whimperer.
So. Where could I get a last-minute pig-rescue car?
Chapter Fourteen
Christina? Not an option. She got dropped off this morning by her boyfriend, per usual. Joyce, the barista whose shift just started, was also without car. Joyce
walked to work no matter what the weather was like and wore one of those personal pedometers to measure how many steps she took.
Hmm, hmm, hmm. Not Dorrie and not Tegan, because (a) their street was still being plowed (hopefully), and (b) no way was I going to tell them why I needed said car.
Not Brenna, heaven forbid. If I asked her to take me to the south end of town, she’d drive north just to spite me. And she’d blast her reggae-emo-fusion crap, which sounded like drugged-out ghouls.
Which left only one person. One evil, charming, too-handsome-for-his-own-good person. I kicked a whump of snow, because he was the last person in the world I ever wanted to call, ever ever ever.
Well, guess what? I told myself. You’re going to have to suck it up for the sake of Tegan. Either that, or say bye-bye to Gabriel forever.
I flipped opened my phone, scrolled through my contacts, and jabbed CALL. I clenched my toes inside my boots as I counted rings. One ringie-dingie, two ringie-dingies, three ringie—
“Yo, mama!” Charlie said when he picked up. “S’up?”
“It’s Addie,” I said. “I need a ride, and I’m only asking because I have absolutely no other choice. I’m outside Pet World. Come pick me up.”
“Someone’s bossy this morning,” Charlie said. I could practically hear him waggle his eyebrows. “I like it.”
“Whatever. Just come get me, will you?”
He lowered his voice. “What’ll you give me in return?”
“A free chai,” I said flatly.
“Venti?”
I tightened my jaw, because the way he said it, even “venti” sounded lewd.
“Fine, a venti chai. Have you left yet?”
He chuckled. “Hold on, babe. I’m still in my skivvies. My venti skivvies, and not because I’m fat, but because I’m”—ridiculous, loaded pause—“venti.”
“Just get over here,” I said. I started to hang up, then thought of one last thing. “Oh—and bring a phone book.”
I hung up, did a shake-it-off shudder, and despised myself all over again for fooling around with such a skeeze. Yes, he was hot—in theory—and once upon a time, I suppose, I’d even found him funny.
But he wasn’t Jeb.
Dorrie had summed up the difference between them one night at a party. Not the party, but just a normal, pre-breakup party. Dorrie and I were slouching on a sofa, rating a bunch of guys according to their strengths and weaknesses. When we got to Charlie, Dorrie let out a sigh.
“The problem with Charlie,” she said, “is that he’s too charming, and he knows it. He knows he can have any girl in the grade—”
“Not me,” I interjected, balancing my drink on my knee.
“—so he sails through life like a typical trust-fund baby.”
“Charlie has a trust fund? I didn’t know that.”
“But what that means, sadly, is that he has no depth. He’s never had to work for anything in his life.”
“I wish I didn’t have to work for anything,” I said wistfully. “I wish I had a trust fund.”
“No, you don’t,” Dorrie said. “Are you even listening?” She took my drink, and I made a sound of protest.
“Take Jeb, for instance,” Dorrie said. “Jeb is going to grow up to be the kind of man who spends his Saturdays teaching his little boy to ride a bike.”
“Or little girl,” I said. “Or twins! Maybe we’ll have twins!”
“Charlie, on the other hand, will be off playing golf while his kid kills people on his Xbox. Charlie will be dashing and debonair, and he’ll buy his kid all kinds of crap, but he’ll never actually be there.”
“That is so sad,” I said. I reclaimed my drink and took a long sip. “Does that mean his kid will never learn to ride a bike?”
“Not unless Jeb goes over and teaches him,” Dorrie said.
We sat. For several minutes, we watched the guys play pool. Charlie’s ball hit its mark, and Charlie pulled his fist in by his side.
“That’s what I’m talking about!” he crowed. “Ice, baby!”
Jeb looked across the room at me, and his lips twitched. I felt warm and happy, because the message in his eyes was, You’re mine and I’m yours. And thank you for not using expressions like “Ice, baby.”
A twitch of the lips and a loving look . . . what I wouldn’t give to have that back. Instead, I threw it all away for the guy who was rumbling into the parking lot this very second in his ridiculous gray Hummer.
He pulled up short, spraying me with snow.
“Hey,” he said, powering down the window. He jerked his chin at my hair and grinned. “Look at you, Pink!”
“Stop smiling at me,” I warned him. “Don’t even look at me.” I trudged to the passenger side and heaved myself in, straining my quads. I felt like I was climbing into a tank, which, basically, I was.
“Did you bring the phone book?”
He flicked it with his finger, and I saw that it was resting on the seat beside me. I found the residential section and flipped to the Bs. Baker, Barnsfeld, Belmont . . .
“I’m glad you called,” Charlie said. “I’ve missed you.”
“Shut up,” I said. “And no, you haven’t.”
“You’re being awfully mean toward someone who’s giving you a ride,” he said. I rolled my eyes. “Seriously, Adds. Ever since you broke up with Jeb—and I’m sorry about that, by the way—I’ve been hoping we could, you know, give it a go.”
“That’s not going to happen, and seriously, shut up.”
“Why?”
I ignored him. Bichener, Biggers, Bilson . . .
“Addie,” Charlie said. “I dropped everything to come pick you up. Think you could at least talk to me?”
“I’m sorry, but no.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re an asshat.”
He guffawed. “Since when have you been hanging out with JP Kim?” He shut the phone book, and I just barely managed to keep my finger in it to mark my place.
“Hey!” I said.
“Seriously, why don’t you want to go out with me?” he asked.
I lifted my head and glared. Surely he knew how much I regretted our kiss, and how much I hated just being here in this ridiculous Hummer with him. But as I took in his expression, I faltered. Was that . . . ? Oh good grief. Was that plaintiveness in those green eyes?
“I like you, Addie, and you know why? ’Cause you’re zesty.” He said “zesty” with the same intentional cheesiness as when he’d said “venti.”
“Don’t call me zesty,” I said. “I am not zesty.”
“You’re zesty, all right. And you’re a good kisser.”
“That was a mistake. That was me being drunk and stupid.” My throat closed, and I had to gaze out the window until I pulled myself together. I turned back and attempted to divert the conversation. “Anyway, what happened to Brenna?”
“Brenna,” he mused. He leaned back against the headrest. “Brenna, Brenna, Brenna.”
“You’re still into her, aren’t you?”
He shrugged. “She seems to be . . . involved with someone else, as I’m sure you know. At least, that’s what she tells me. I, myself, can’t see it.” He swiveled his head. “If you had the choice, would you pick Jeb over me?”
“In a heartbeat,” I said.
“Ouch,” he said. He gazed at me, and beneath his posturing, I saw that plaintiveness again. “Once, Brenna would have picked me. But I was a cad.”
“Um, yeah,” I said glumly. “I was there. I was an even bigger cad.”
“Which is why we’d be great together. We might as well make lemonade, right?”
“Huh?”
“Out of our lemons,” he explained. “Which is us. We’re the lemons.”
“Yeah, I got the reference. I just . . . ” I didn’t finish my sentence. If I had, it would have gone something like, “I just didn’t know you saw yourself that way. As a lemon.”
He snapped out of it. “So what do you say, Pink? Trixie’s havi
ng a rocking New Year’s Eve party. Want to go?”
I shook my head. “No.”
He put his hand on my thigh. “I know you’re having a rough time. Let me comfort you.”
I pushed him off. “Charlie, I’m in love with Jeb.”
“That didn’t stop you before. Anyway, Jeb dumped you.”
I was silent, because everything he said was true. Except, I wasn’t that girl anymore. I refused to be.
“Charlie . . . I can’t go out with you if I’m in love with someone else,” I finally said. “Even if he no longer wants me.”
“Whoa,” he said, drawing his hand to his heart. “Now that’s rejection.” He laughed, and just like that, he was back to being obnoxious Charlie. “What about Tegan? She’s hot. Think she’d go to Trixie’s party with me?”
“Give me back the phone book,” I demanded.
He let go of it, and I pulled it into my lap. I opened it back up, scanned the entries and—aha!
“Billingsley, Constance,” I read out loud. “108 Teal Eye Court. Do you know where Teal Eye Court is?”
“No clue,” he said. “But never fear, Lola is here.”
“Do guys always name their cars?”
He punched commands into his GPS system. “Quickest way, or most use of highways?”
“Quickest.”
He hit SELECT, and a sexy female voice said, “Please proceed to the highlighted route.”
“Ahhh,” I said. “Hello, Lola.”
“She’s my girl,” Charlie said. He shifted the Hummer into gear and bumped over the ridges of snow, slowing when he reached the parking lot’s exit. At Lola’s prompting, he took a right, drove half a block, and took another right into the narrow alley behind the stores.
“Prepare for a left turn in point one miles,” Lola purred. “Turn left now.”
Charlie wrenched the wheel to the left, taking the Hummer down a dinky, unplowed cul-de-sac.
There was a bing, and Lola said, “You have reached your destination.”
Charlie stopped the Hummer. He turned to me and lifted his eyebrows. “This is where you needed a ride to?”
I was as baffled as he was. I craned my neck to read the street sign at the corner of the cul-de-sac, and sure enough, it said Teal Eye Court. A hundred feet away was the back of the Starbucks. The entire ride had taken thirty seconds, tops.
Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances Page 21
