9. Gray

CHAPTER 9

Gray

A s we started walking to The White Elephant it was clear that my big plan of taking Sunny downtown when it was less crowded wasn't going to go the way I thought. First of all, less crowded at this time of year was still pretty fucking crowded. Everybody around here was friendly, of course, but the second time somebody nearly pushed Sunny off the sidewalk I almost lost my shit. When we arrived, there was a wait.

That wasn't terribly unusual, but I could see Sunny slowly beginning to get more and more anxious.

“Hey,” I said, squeezing his hand. “Why don't we get out of downtown? I don’t want you to associate the holiday with all this madness.”

Sunny gave me a pained smile when another person—an out-of-towner—bumped into him. “I actually have enjoyed what we've done so far.”

When the stranger tried to apologize, I sent him off with a scowl before turning back to Sunny. “Then maybe we just need to do things in small batches. If you don’t mind a sandwich after we ate, like, half that French bread, my favorite place is close to my house, and it’s on the way to the airport. Maybe we can save the beef stew for another time.” I remembered one important detail. “The sandwich shop isn’t Christmas themed, though. Do you think you would still want to check it out?”

I was met with Sunny’s amused smirk.

“What?”

“Well, first of all, I’m pretty sure you scared that tourist.”

I grunted appreciatively. “At least you can spot the tourists.”

“And second, I will never complain about adding more bread to bread.”

“Is there a third?” I asked, already grinning.

“Yes. Leave it to you to find the one non-Christmas themed place to eat in this town.”

I dusted off my shoulder. “It’s a skill.”

He snaked his arm around mine. “Freak.”

We laughed and made our way to the truck. I didn't have to punch anybody for running over Sunny, so bonus. We were out of downtown and pulling in front of Fontane’s Sandwich Shoppe a few minutes later.

“They have a Fontane’s out here?” Sunny asked jumping out of the truck with a big grin on his face.

“Oh, that’s right. Joey said his brother owned a place in Chicago.”

“It’s my favorite place to get a sandwich.”

“Well, I'm told this is just as good.” I shifted nervously, hoping that it would be. “I guess we'll see.”

He once again wrapped his arm around mine, squeezing it tight. “As long as I’m eating lunch with you, I don't care.”

I flushed, and held the door open for him.

Joey was at the cash register, and his wife Tina was at the order line. This was a popular neighborhood spot, but even though there were half a dozen folks in front of us, we got through the line quickly.

“I see you have a new friend,” Joey said, ringing us up.

Before I could think of a witty rejoinder, Sunny answered, “I'm looking to move here from Chicago, and I was going to be so sad that I wouldn't be able to eat my favorite Fontane’s sub with hot peppers.”

Joey’s smile was broad and warm. “Mickey does make a good sandwich out there, but I think you'll like mine just as much,” he said, pushing our bags forward. “On the house, Chicago. Welcome to Christmas Falls.”

I put the amount of the order in the tip jar and exchanged a nod with Joey. He was a little like me in that he could be salty, but his bark was always worse than his bite.

Sunny and I filled our fountain drinks, then found a small two-top booth by the window and squeezed in across from each other. We were both hungry from all this morning’s ventures, so we tore into our paper wrapped sandwiches, and I waited for Sunny’s reaction. He grabbed half of a sandwich and took a big bite.

The sound that came from him was damn near pornographic.

“That’s what I like to hear,” Joey said as he rang somebody else up.

“Oh no, now you're gonna give Joey a big head about his sandwiches and it’s gonna cause a fight at the Fontane family Christmas.”

Joey held up his phone. “I'm not waiting till Christmas. I'm rubbing Mickey’s face in it right now.”

Sunny snorted, then lightly banged his forehead on the tabletop. “Don't blame me.”

Joey laughed and put the call on speakerphone. “Hey Mickey, it’s your brother. I got somebody here from Chicago who says your sandwiches are dog shit and mine are the very best.”

“You kiss our mother with a mouth like that?”

Everyone in the shop laughed and continued to listen in on their back-and-forth as we ate. They covered a lot of ground, ranging from good hearted ribbing to family drama and back to ribbing all over again.

Joey hung up and shouted over at us, “Mickey is demanding a retry, so the next time you're in Chicago, stop by his shop. He’s got a sandwich for you.”

“I said don’t cause drama,” Sunny said through a mouthful of sandwich.

“Are you kidding? It’s practically our love language.”

The other Christmas Fallians laughed along, and I pointed at the man across from me. “I'm gonna start calling this the Sunny effect.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, a bit of lettuce falling from his sandwich.

“Some people light up the space. And that’s pretty nice.” I said, reaching for his free hand. “But you don't stop there. You make the people in the space light up, and that’s even more special, I think.”

Sunny’s cheeks pinked up. “That’s probably the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.” He then winked at me. “Which is pretty amazing, considering what an asshole you are.”

I crinkled up my napkin and tossed it at him.

“Don't litter in my store,” Joey shouted from the counter.

“Sorry, Joey,” I shouted back. “I gave this one a compliment and he called me an asshole.”

The whole shop laughed.

Shaking our heads, we tucked back into our food. It was fun to watch Sunny unselfconsciously tear apart his sub.

“You're kind of sexy when you're hungry,” I noted, opening the bag of kettle chips.

“And you're kind of sexy when you're all stern and disapproving,” he tossed back.

“Guess that makes us a pretty good fit.”

“It does, doesn't it?”

We lingered on each other for probably longer than was socially acceptable, then went back to our sandwiches. I only noticed the time when we were tossing our trash.

“Shit. We need to get going.”

Sunny and I said our goodbyes to Joey and his wife then made our way out to the truck.

“Do you want me to drop you off first, or do you want to drop me off and take the truck?” I asked him.

“If you don't mind dropping me off, that’s fine. I really do have an entire mountain of emails to get through, and if I absolutely need to get somewhere, I'll hire a car service.”

“Hire Santa’s Sleigh. They're the best,” I said, putting my truck into Drive.

We made it to my house just a few minutes later, and I leaned across the console to kiss my man.

I then sucked in a sharp breath at the thought of calling him my man .

I liked that. I liked it more than I cared to admit.

“You. Are. Going. To. Make. Me. So. Late,” I said, kissing Sunny between each word.

“Can't have that, can we?” He pulled away with something that looked like regret.

“I should be back around ten-ish. That is, if everything goes well.”

“Then I'll cross my fingers and hope that everything goes well,” he said with a kiss. “I’ll be here, waiting for you.”

We kissed one more time, and I watched as he made his way up the front porch and into my house. I'd given him a spare key as a convenience, but in so many ways it felt symbolic. He didn't just have the key to my house, I was quickly realizing. In fact, I was pretty sure that he was the man who was meant to have the key to my heart.

Seriously, when had I become the lead in a Hallmark Christmas movie?

Miriam set her glasses on top of her head and looked at her watch, then looked at me. “You okay, boss?”

I rolled my eyes. “I'm one minute late.”

“Yes. And you are chronically twenty minutes early. Also, you still haven't answered my question.”

“I'm fine,” I insisted as my face heated up. “I just got waylaid.”

Her eyes widened. “Are you blushing? Is that blushing ?”

I covered my cheeks with my hands. “No. I was just outside.”

“Hm.” She examined me from head to toe. “I don't think that’s blushing at all.”

“Told you. It’s just cold outside.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s beard burn,” she said, looking entirely too happy about the situation.

My hands flew to my face again. Neither Sunny nor I had gotten around to shaving the last couple of days because we’d been, well, busy.

“Oh my God. It is beard burn.” She clamped her hand over her mouth. “If I were to check on a certain millionaire out of Chicago, would he also have the same beard burn on his face?”

I grabbed her arm and pulled her into my office, shutting the door.

“Would you be quiet?” I said, gesturing for her to zip it. “There are other people here.”

Her grin broadened. “Oh. My. God. Have you dirtied up that sweet little millionaire?”

“Sex is not dirty,” I said.

“Oh. My. God . You did dirty him up!”

“ Would you shut up ?” I whisper-hissed.

Before I could get too feisty about it, though, the absolute joy on her face, gave me pause.

“Wait. Are you happy for me?”

“Uh, you just admitted that you're having a fling with the millionaire. Of course I’m happy for you.”

I shook my head, my eyes going straight to my shoes. “It’s not a fling.”

Her hand shot out to my arm. “What? Wait, it’s only been a few days. Are you already serious about this guy?”

Shit.

Miriam was right, of course. It had only been a few days, but . . .

“We are more compatible than I initially thought we could be,” I finally admitted. “He’s a really, really good guy.”

She giggled. Actually giggled.

“It’s not funny.”

She shook head. “I’m not laughing because it’s funny, Gray. I'm laughing because those are the exact words I used to describe you to him. I told him that you were a really good guy. You know, underneath it all.”

I shot her the finger, and she laughed even louder.

“Wait,” she said gesturing a circle at my face. “What’s this expression? Why do you look so stressed?”

“I've never felt this way before. You’re right—this is moving fast, but it also feels like something that’s been a long time coming,” I said, suddenly unable to shut up about the feelings that were starting to boil over. “I don't know how to explain it. I just feel like suddenly, I looked up and . . . there he was.”

Both of her hands went over her heart and she let out a sigh.

“Seriously, Mir. Don't make fun of me. I can't handle it right now.”

“I promise, I am not making fun of you. You literally just described the first time I met—well, re-met—Harold. He was everything all at once. Everyone around me thought I was an insane person, but I just knew.”

“How long had you known him?”

“We had gone to high school together, but never had any of the same classes together. We went off to separate colleges and happened to run into each other at Frosty’s over Christmas break. We took one look at each other, and I don't think we've spent a day apart since.”

“And your friends were okay with that?”

“Eventually,” she said with a shrug. “I made sure they knew I was listening to their concerns, but I also made sure they knew that I had just found my person. I didn't intend to go into it blindly, I wasn't gonna sign over the deed to my parents’ land or anything like that, but sometimes you just fucking know.”

I started nodding along. “How can something feel like a lightning strike and home? All at the same time?”

Her smile said everything. “I don't know, boss. But that’s the feeling. That’s exactly the feeling.”

I must've looked a little lost, because she closed the distance between us and gave me a big hug. And I must be lost because I let her.

“Oh shit. Did someone die?”

We pulled away from each other and Mark, our head janitor, was there with a bucket and a mop. I shook my head.

“No, no one died. I may have tripped and fallen for someone though.”

“The millionaire?” he asked.

I stared at Miriam. She held her hands up. “It’s a small airport, Gray. Gossip is currency.”

I laughed, shaking my head. Honestly, I loved these people.

Miriam winked at me, then smacked my arm. “I've got to get up into the tower. Here’s hoping for an easy night.”

Mark muttered under his breath. “Great. She just jinxed the entire lot of us.”

I laughed and waved them both off. Yes, this thing between me and Sunny was sudden, but it felt good to share with people who were important to me.