Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Nicole

Isqueezed the steering wheel tightly as I watched the valley roll by underneath me, out along the long quiet of Cambert Road. The view was always beautiful, a sweeping vista of the valley all twinkling with Christmas lights, but right now all I could focus on was the wild thrumming in my heart as I headed towards the Carston house.

My stereo track went to Brooke’s Silent Night, soft rolling guitar chords starting the song, and I shivered at how well-timed it was. I didn’t know if it was a good sign or a bad one, but it was a sign.

When Daniel had pulled me aside, away from the gift-giving festivities, I’d already been prepared for bad news. His face always spelled out his thoughts and emotions in big, seventy-two-point font with audio accompaniment. But my stomach had dropped when he’d said, “Brooke just up and left.”

“Left?” I’d said, a sinking feeling settling in. The Christmas lights and celebrations all around us at the lodge had already felt dismal and gray, but when he said that, they were suddenly all miles and miles away.

“I don’t know where. We’d just been talking about…” He went red suddenly, scratching the back of his head. “Uh, stuff… when she just walked away towards her car, and said she’d be back whenever she was.”

“Oh, Daniel,” I sighed, rubbing my temples. “You were trying to get into what happened between us, weren’t you?”

“No!” He put his hands up, but after a second, he slumped. “Well… yes.”

“Oh, you must have pushed her right over the edge,” I groaned. “Where was she going?”

“I don’t know. I’d mentioned a sandwich, so maybe she was just craving some food?”

“Daniel. We just ate.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

I sank back against the wall near the fireplace, its crackling warmth the only thing I could feel. “Do you think she’s just… leaving? I didn’t want to pressure her into anything—I was just scared she’d tense up and leave if I tried. I wanted her to stay because it felt right to her, not just to make me happy.”

“Nicole…” He put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Nicole, you know, it’s okay to ask someone for something.”

“I did. I asked her last night to stay. She said…”

“She didn’t say no, did she?”

I groaned. “She said maybe. That’s just a longer form of no.”

“No, I think it’s a maybe, Nicole.” He squeezed my shoulder again. “I think she really wants to, and she just needs the confirmation that it’s okay. I think you should go after her.”

“Oh, Daniel,” I sighed. “Could you not just leave well enough alone?”

“You know me,” he laughed. “That’s the absolute last thing I can do.” But he dropped his arms by his sides, giving me a serious expression I almost never saw from him. “Brooke’s waiting for you right now, Nicole, I just know it. Go give her a very merry Christmas.”

Fear of rejection be damned, somehow, I went for it. I told my mom Brooke had dipped out and she needed my help with something, and she was entirely too happy to see me go after Brooke Carston, so I was off before long, feeling my car rumble over the rough road as I pulled off and up towards the Carston house.

I felt the relief like warmth in a snowstorm when I saw Brooke’s car out front, and I parked next to it, once again asking myself a million times if I was being too much, if I was being pushy, if I was pressuring her. Once again, I strained to push the worries out of my mind.

Switching off the music, I stepped out of the car and shut it behind me, pulling my jacket tighter and feeling the cold bite at my ears. The wind picked up harder, and I couldn’t tell if it was snowing or if it was just blowing snow out of the trees, but I pushed through it up to the front door and took a deep breath before I knocked.

A minute later with no reply, my heart was sinking, but I knocked again. I glanced at my phone, but—she had to know it was me at the door, right? What would be the point of texting her too?

After another minute, when I was starting to give up, I heard footsteps coming quickly, and my heart jumped into my mouth. The door unlatched, swung open, and Brooke about charged out through the door straight towards me.

There was a split second in time where I put the pieces together—her noise-canceling headphones on, rushing out the door, she didn’t even know I was there, and it felt like time froze in that moment. She went wide-eyed, and I took a step back. It was a little late for that, though.

She crashed into me with a gasp, and I stumbled backwards, nearly falling off the front porch. I think I shrieked, sharp and fast, as I dropped backwards, but a strong arm around my waist and a hand on my arm caught me. For one funny second, I thought it was a perfect reversal of that time I caught her on the rock at the lake, and I marveled at how romantic fate could be—but then that happy little moment slipped away as Brooke slipped on the ice, staggering with me, and we both fell off the porch in an embrace like lovers’ suicide.

“Well—fancy running into you here,” she grunted, as I came out of the haze of what exactly was happening. We’d landed on the courtyard pavers with Brooke underneath me, and the way she winced as she sat up in the snow said it hadn’t been nice on her tailbone.

“I—am so sorry,” I said, my face pale. “Are you okay?”

“At least I had a pretty girl hold me while I fell,” she said, pushing herself up. I staggered to my feet with her, holding both her hands, but she slipped on the ice halfway through, and once again, we both went down. “Oh my god,” she groaned. “Could I be any more of a city-slicker right now?”

“Okay, we’re going inside and I am checking to make sure you didn’t break anything,” I said.

“My pride,” she groaned, but she didn’t fight it.

The Carston house, big and open as it was, was a drafty place, so we went to the study and I flipped the switch for the gas fireplace before I sat Brooke down on the loveseat. She winced as I felt my way down her back, until I found the spot where she’d hit it, a nice bruise already forming near her tailbone.

“Well, good news is, nothing’s broken,” I said. “But that still looks painful.”

She sighed, sinking back into the loveseat. “Sorry to take you down with me. I was kind of rushing and didn’t think to expect someone at the door.”

“I guess I could have texted,” I mumbled. “You should rest for a minute. I’ll put on some tea.”

“Yeah. Speaking of texting, I should text our moms and let them know I’m held up a little longer than expected…”

I cleared my throat. “You know what they’ll think if the two of us are missing…”

She laughed. “That we’re out here getting physical?”

“Very funny.”

“I don’t mind what they think,” she said. “It’s fine. I’ve heard time is happy to wait around for someone here in Mountain Crossing.”

I was in the kitchen a minute later brewing tea when soft, padding footsteps followed me into the room. I spoke without turning around.

“You, young lady, need to rest.”

“I believe I’m the older one,” she said. “And I was just a little curious what you were even doing here.”

I poured the water for the tea, putting on a timer and turning back to meet Brooke halfway through her kitchen.

She really was so beautiful—standing there leaning against the kitchen counter like that, waves of brown hair cascading over one shoulder. She always dressed well, and Christmas Day was certainly no exception, wearing a slim turtleneck with a big pendant necklace against her chest. Those big brown eyes of her sparkled with that light they always did, like she was just here to live life however felt right to her, and all I wanted was to be along for the ride.

“I was—” I started, walking towards her, but she put a hand up.

“Ah. Two steps back.”

I blinked fast, but I took two steps back. I thought at first she just didn’t want me close, but she took two steps forward with me, leaning against the counter there.

“I… was coming after you,” I said, squinting, waiting for an explanation of why she’d backed me up. When it didn’t come, I just went on. “Daniel told me you were leaving, and I just… I was worried that… you know,” I mumbled, looking down.

“That I’d just up and leave the whole town right at the start of Christmas Day without even saying bye to everyone?”

I sighed. “Look, I’ve been left by a lot of people, Brooke. I’m just tired of it.”

“I came back here to pick something up. I was just heading back to the lodge when I, uh… found you on my stoop.”

“You find people very vigorously.” I shrugged wildly. “Okay, why exactly did you back me up? I’m still waiting.”

She laughed. “I promised you last night.”

It took me a second to figure it out. But sure enough, once I did, and when I glanced up, there was a little sprig of mistletoe hanging directly above the two of us, haphazardly stuck there like it had been a last-minute addition. One of the Carstons had been frisky this morning, it looked like.

“Had to hit all the Christmas clichés at once,” she said, stepping closer, slipping her fingers through the loops of my pants. I had a million and one questions, but for the moment, letting this happen was more important than any of it.

She kissed me, and I held her by the hips, leaned into her, and kissed her back. She murmured softly against me, moving her lips slowly with mine, like she was savoring every little touch, every tiniest motion, and I surrendered to her touch—let her kiss me in every way she wanted, let her move with me like it moved the whole earth.

I got a little too handsy, though, because she tugged back with a gasp when I touched her bruise, and I stumbled back so suddenly I almost fell over. “Oh, no,” I blurted. “I am so sorry. Are you okay? I didn’t mean to hurt you, I was just feeling up your butt—”

“I know, I know—I get really into feeling your butt up too—” She cleared her throat. “It’s fine. Just wasn’t expecting it.”

I put my hands on my hips. “Well, I wasn’t expecting any of this. You just leave without telling anyone where you’re going, and apparently you’re coming back too, and now you’re kissing me? What was last night, anyway? If you’re leaving Mountain Crossing and leaving me behind—”

She put a finger to my lips. “I got you a present,” she said.

“Oh, you’re still not answering questions.” I let my shoulders fall. “But I don’t not want a present.”

She grinned. “The same thing worked on you when we were kids. Remember when I got us busted for the school lunch thing and I brought you a bag of Skittles to distract you after I told you about it?”

“Wait a second. Those were distraction Skittles? Brooke Louisa Carston. I thought they were a declaration of love.”

She slipped a gift-wrapped package from her bag, glossy red paper tied with a pale yellow ribbon. “Let me distract you from that shocking revelation with the latest gift, then,” she said, and I took it gingerly.

“You are so good at gift-wrapping all of a sudden. Ugh. I can’t tear this.”

“I know. There’s a little piece of tape on the bottom you can pull off and it’ll all come off in one piece. Since I know you don’t like tearing pretty wrapping.” She looked away. “I, uh, watched a tutorial online.”

I laughed breathlessly, slipping the ribbon off. “That’s the sweetest gesture anyone’s ever done for me.”

Unwrapping the paper gingerly still felt like a crime, but—maybe more like removing the Mona Lisa from its frame and just leaving it somewhere, as opposed to tearing it straight down the middle. Still, it left me with a Picture Perfect gift box, and I lifted it slowly.

Maybe I’d been expecting something dramatic, some confession of love inside, but it was a gift I got plenty of—a simple Christmas ornament, this one round, with a rough exterior that would be perfect for painting. I put on a smile. “You just have something against me having free time, don’t you, Brooke?” I said, just as the timer went off for the tea. She went to get it, taking the teabags out and tossing them in the trash, picking hers up and taking a slow sip while she watched out the window.

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you with it,” she said. “You know—so long as you don’t mind haunting eldritch reindeer beasts.”

I paused. “How much longer are you going to be in town?”

“I’m leaving tomorrow.” She looked down. “But I thought maybe I could come back and see you again?”

Ah… and there it was. My heart melted, and I looked back down at the ornament like it was the most beautiful gift I’d ever gotten, now. “I… think my tree could really use some eldritch reindeer beasts, Brooke.”

She broke out into a nervous smile. “Be careful what you wish for. You saw what you got when you asked for ugly. You should see what happens when you ask for nightmarish.”

I set the box down on the counter, taking Brooke’s tea from her hands and placing it behind her, too. “Do your worst,” I said, walking up closer to her until our fronts met, Brooke’s eyes filling my vision. “And… if I kiss you like this and shove you up against the counter, it’s not going to hurt your butt again, is it?”

“Uh, I think it might.” She shifted, standing up taller against the counter. “Okay. Now we’re good.”

“Great.” I slipped my hands up to her jawline and held her there, pressing my lips against hers and capturing her in a deep, long kiss—shoving her up against the counter, kissing her like my whole life depended on it.

Because if she was coming back to Mountain Crossing, she was my whole life.

“Nicole,” she breathed, hovering just past my lips.

“Yeah?”

“I texted them and told them we’d be gone a little while…”

“What are you getting at?” I kissed her again, quick and sweet against her lips.

“Do you think that buys us enough time for a quickie?”

I paused halfway towards another kiss. “Brooke,” I said.

“What?” She shrugged wildly, and I laughed, smiling into another kiss.

“You have not changed one little bit,” I said. “Troublemaker to the core.”

“What, like you’re not?”

I snorted. “Never said that. Bedroom? Right here against the kitchen counter? You name it, Brooke.”