12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Walter

Waking up next to Shimmersnap was magical, just as our night had been. Seeing him come alive under the Christmas lights at the festival had been a joy, enough to melt my frozen heart that everyone seemed to think I had. Only it wasn’t my heart that was frozen—more like I just had a very strong wall up. Bit by bit, Shimmersnap was chiseling away at it. Soon there would be no turning back, or maybe I had already gone too far.

I looked over at his sleeping form. His cheeks were rosy, his curls all mussed from sleep. Everything about him shined. There was a faint sparkle to his skin. I didn’t know if it was just how in love with him I was, or perhaps some sort of sparkly lotion that he used. Either way, he lit up my whole world. When the sun hit his skin, the sparkles gleaned. The question was, how the hell was I going to be able to keep him? A man like Shimmersnap deserved someone so much better than me. Next to me his sparkle would be eclipsed by the doom and gloom that seemed to follow me.

I forced myself out of bed, went to the bathroom, splashed some water on my face, and did my business. Shimmersnap slept through all of it, not even stirring. He looked good in my room. I wanted to keep him there.

My coffee had made itself, thanks to the timer I had set. I looked in the fridge, hoping that I might have something I could make for Shimmersnap for breakfast to entice him to stay a while, but I was running very low on food. There were just things that I enjoyed—cereal, frozen dinners. It was pathetic. And it was a little too early to be putting in any grocery orders.

There weren’t even any eggs or bread for me to make a simple breakfast sandwich.

I would not be unprepared for the next time. I was determined that there would be a next time. Human Resources be damned, I was going to keep Shimmersnap. If we had to reassign him to another department, I could live with that. I would hate it, but I could live with it if it meant that I got to come home to him every night.

I would not complain. I would even take on another assistant if that was what my boss wished.

I wondered if it was too soon to ask Shimmersnap to move in. I’d bet wherever Shimmersnap lived was full of life and sparkle and shine. The only shine I had was the elf on my mantle.

Shimmersnap would like that elf. I grabbed my cup of coffee and turned toward the living room. I looked to the mantle, expecting to find the elf there, but where he usually sat was empty. A scowl settled on my face, robbing me of the smile that Shimmersnap had put there. Where the hell had my elf gone? The last time I had watched movies with him, I’d put him back. Which was a silly thing—to think that I regularly sat down and watched movies with an inanimate object—but whatever.

I stepped into the living room and began looking around. Had I set him on the end table? Maybe the television? But like most of my house, I did not have a whole lot in there. There weren’t many places he could be. He was the only knick-knack I had, and he was missing.

“Good morning,” Shimmersnap’s voice startled me, and I whirled around. He had pulled on a pair of my sleep pants. They looked good on him.

“Is that coffee I smell?” he asked.

“Yeah. I don’t have much for creamer, but—”

He waved a hand in the air. “I’ll be fine.”

“Hey, when we came home last night, you didn’t happen to see the elf I had, did you? I told you about him last night. He’s the only decoration I have.”

Shimmersnap stilled. “I didn’t really look around at all when we arrived,” he said.

I smiled, remembering how the night had gone when we came home. We hadn’t been able to keep our hands off each other. “I wanted to show him to you, but he’s not there. He’s usually right on the mantle.

“I’m sure you’ll find him,” he said.

Unease settled in my gut. What if I didn’t find him? And where could he be?

It was silly to be so attached to the little figurine, but I liked him. He was special to me. “It’s not like I have a lot of stuff,” I said. “Do you think someone broke in and took it?”

Shimmersnap shook his head. “No. I mean, why would they, right? They would take something of value.”

“Of course,” I said. “It’s just...”

“I’m sure he’ll turn up. Is there anything special you’d like to do today?” Shimmersnap busied himself with making a cup of coffee.

Irritation boiled in my gut. I didn’t appreciate having this brushed off, but Shimmersnap didn’t know how important the elf was to me. “He’s the only decoration I have,” I said. “I just... I like it a lot, and I don’t like that it’s missing.”

“Right,” he said, chewing his lower lip.

Oh goodness, I was sounding like an idiot to him—preoccupied with a silly decoration I’d gotten from a random estate sale. It wasn’t like he was a family heirloom or incredibly valuable outside of the sentimental value I’d given him.

“I should probably get going,” Shimmersnap said.

“You don’t want to go to breakfast?” I asked. “I know I don’t have much here.”

He shook his head, his gaze not meeting mine.

Fuck, I was messing this all up.

“Maybe later we can get together.”

“I’m meeting up with a friend for lunch,” he said.

“All right then.” I could read a room.

“I’ll see you Monday then?”

But Monday was two days away, and I would be sitting here without Shimmersnap, without my little elf—alone.

“Of course,” I said. “We’ve got the Santa event, right?”

He nodded, then spun on his heel and went toward the bedroom. He came back a moment later, fully dressed. He finished his cup of coffee and set it in the sink. Meanwhile, I still looked around the room as if the elf was going to appear suddenly.

Shimmersnap came over and kissed me lightly. “Thanks for, you know, everything.”

I smiled. “I don’t think you need to thank me for that.”

He laughed, and for a moment, it seemed that everything would be just fine. I pulled him into my arms and held him tight.

“You know, lunch isn’t for a while. We could...”

His hands pushed at my chest. “As much as I want to, I do have to go. I promise I’ll call, okay?”

“Of course,” I said. A tiny shred of home sparked inside me. This wasn’t the end. I hadn’t driven him away with my preoccupation with my elf, even if it did still worry me about where he was.

He would turn up. He had to. It wasn’t like he walked away on his own.