Terms + Conditions (Strangers #3)

Chapter Twenty-Two

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

NOW

THE PALM VALLEY CHRISTMAS Market is nestled in the large courtyard in front of City Hall in Town Square. There are more and more vendors every time we come, and after being gone for the past two years, it seems like it has tripled in size from the last time we were here. If they keep growing at this pace, they’ll have to find a new location for it. The market is made up of food and small item stalls with a stage and dance floor at the far left end and a skating rink carved out in the middle. Every year, they have a different souvenir mug. One year, it was a snowman, and another was Santa’s boot. All I know is I can’t wait to get my hands on some roasted peanuts and spiced wine, two food staples of the market. Getting closer to the market, the air begins to smell like Christmas: nutmeg, cinnamon, freshly baked donuts, and cider. My mouth begins to water just thinking about it.

I drape my arm around Elizabeth’s shoulders, pulling her close, and her arm hangs loose around my waist as we fall in step with each other. Walking down Main Street from Teddy’s toward Town Square, Georgie and Noah walk side-by-side, holding hands—and this time, Noah doesn’t pull away when his wife reaches for him. I’m beginning to think I’ve been imagining the whole thing. Maybe I haven’t been, maybe I’m just reading too far into it. Maybe they’re trying to come down from the stress of everyday life. Georgie has always said Noah’s job stresses him out a lot. You know, it’s none of my business anyway.

Lola pulls Jeremy through the crowd once we get close enough, and he laughs at her enthusiasm. I like him; he seems nice enough, and he seems to really like Lola. He’s protective of her—I can tell by the way he’s in tune with her every move—and she seems…different. Not in a bad way, but in a “she’s been through some shit” kind of way. Then again, who wouldn’t be different after going through a traumatic stalker situation?

Walking through the rows of stalls, our group begins to break off one couple at a time until it’s just me and Elizabeth strolling down the main drag. It reminds me of the first time the girls invited their significant others to join on their third trip to Palm Valley. It was the same year we got married, just a few months after the wedding. That year, I bought Elizabeth a set of Santa Claus stacking dolls from one of the vendors. Her mother collected stacking dolls, and Elizabeth had always been fascinated by them, but she lost her mother’s collection in the fire.

Elizabeth had been eyeing the Santa Claus dolls, even went up and inspected them, but didn’t buy them. She complimented the shop owner on his craftsmanship and considered buying them, but put them down with a heavy sigh and walked away. When she was preoccupied skating with the girls, I went back to the vendor and bought the dolls, saving them for her to open on Christmas morning. I’ll never forget her face when she opened the box to find them, the tears that welled in her eyes before she kissed me wordlessly and set them up on the mantle.

“What’s going on with Georgie?” I ask, but Elizabeth doesn’t answer. She doesn’t even flinch or show any sign of hearing what I just said. “I know you know something.”

“Just leave it alone, Josh.” She sighs.

“Liz—”

“I said leave it alone.” Elizabeth tears herself away from me and storms off.

Oh, she definitely knows something.

I stand in the same place, watching as she swims through the sea of people. Should I follow? Yeah, I should. Right? If I don’t, it could look bad to the others, and I’m supposed to be keeping up appearances. We’re supposed to be getting along. We just have to get through this weekend, that’s it. Then we don’t have to do this ever again…

It takes only a few minutes to find her, and when I do, my heart sinks. Her blonde hair blows in the breeze standing in front of the same vendor from six years ago—the one I bought the nesting dolls from. Cautiously, I approach her, stepping up beside her as she fingers a set of dolls—a nativity set.

“My mother had a set like this,” she whispers. Her fingers run over the face of the Mary doll. “She loved getting it out every year, and did it in place of a normal nativity.”

Picking up the set next to the display, I hand it to the shop owner ready to purchase it. The whole ordeal takes barely two minutes, and the entire exchange is silent, aside from the owner telling me the total. I hand him a hundred-dollar bill, and he hands over the now wrapped-up doll set.

It’s not until we’re a few steps away that she says, “You didn’t have to do that.”

I wrap my arm around her shoulders again, pulling her into my side, and plant a kiss on her temple.

The souvenir mug this year is a penguin dressed in a suit with a teal-colored bowtie. The warmth of the spiced wine and the sun breaking through the clouds fend off the breeze that blows through the market. At least the sun came out to play.

Elizabeth sips on her cider, walking close by. Since the exchange at the doll vendor, she’s kept minimal distance between us. When we come to the skating rink, I see Elijah struggling on the ice, being led by Selena, who can’t keep a straight face no matter how hard she tries. Jeremy and Lola skate circles around him, either offering him words of encouragement or heckling him, I can’t tell. Elizabeth giggles as Elijah attempts to let go of Selena, only to desperately grab for her moments later when he starts to go down.

“Do we need to get the push bar for you, Eli?” I ask.

“No, you ass,” he retorts with a sour face, earning another giggle from Elizabeth.

“We all had to start somewhere, no need to be embarrassed.”

“Yeah,” Elizabeth calls to him, trying not to laugh. “Pay no mind to the little kids skating circles around you.”

We both laugh when he shoots us another glare. Even Selena can barely hide her laugh.

“I don’t understand how anyone thinks this is fun!”

Lola and Jeremy skate over, meeting us on the side of the rink, and in sync, we tilt our heads, watching as Elijah’s feet slip from underneath him. Lucky for him, Selena catches him before he goes down. Lola finally says, “You’re trying too hard, Elijah. You can’t think so much. It’s just like rollerblading.”

“So much harder than rollerblading,” Elijah huffs. “At least with rollerblading the ground isn’t wet and slippery!”

“He’s not very good at that either,” Selena adds sheepishly.

“Oh, Elijah, you’re doing it all wrong!” Georgie appears beside Elizabeth with a pretzel. “You’re supposed to put your weight forward.”

Selena sighs. “That’s what I—”

“I’ll fall on my face!” Elijah interrupts Selena.

“Just try it,” Georgie encourages him.

“C’mon babe, just try.” Selena tugs on his arms to pull him forward a smidge more. Elijah groans in protest, and Lola urges Jeremy to demonstrate for him. “See, watch Jeremy!”

Jeremy bends his knees slightly, then pushes off and lengthens his right leg, gliding forward before shifting his weight gradually to the other foot as he lengthens his left leg, alternating his strides. He uses his arms to steer and control, keeping his posture as straight as possible. He makes it look easy. Too easy.

“Think of it like a scooter,” Georgie adds. “You stand on one foot and use the other to propel you forward!”

Elijah hesitates before he slowly pushes his right leg forward. “A scooter,” I hear him mumble to himself as Selena lets go, and his left leg moves forward wobbling. The next thing I know, he’s faceplanted in front of us.

“I don’t think that’s how it’s done,” Noah says, taking a sip of his beer. He appears next to Georgie, watching the scene unfold. When the hell did he get here?

Everyone laughs as Elijah crawls to the edge of the rink, pulling himself up from the ice. With a death grip on the wall, he inches his way toward the exit, absolutely over it . Selena calls after him, following him out of the rink and onto one of the benches, where he rips the skates from his feet. Jeremy and Lola follow, still chuckling, as they exit.

“What’s that?” Georgie asks, motioning to the bag in Elizabeth’s hand.

“Hm?” Elizabeth questions before realizing she is talking about the doll. “It’s just a nesting doll set. It reminded me of one Mom used to put out at Christmas time.”

She opens the bag gingerly, pulling out the set. As Georgie turns it over in her hands, Elizabeth meets my gaze and smiles softly. There’s a soft tug on my heart seeing her like this. A genuine smile on her pink lips, a smile I was able to put there for the first time in a long time.

“It’ll look great on the mantle of the new place,” Elizabeth says, taking it back from her friend and rewrapping it to put it away.

“New place?” Georgie asks.

Elizabeth’s brown eyes widen at the realization of what she just said. Shit .

“You didn’t tell me you moved.” Georgie looks between the two of us, and I’m just as tongue-tied as Elizabeth.

Shit, shit, shit. Of course she didn’t tell them she had a new place. She hasn’t told them about the separation yet.

“Hey Noah, you’re makin’ burgers tonight?” I ask him, trying to steer the conversation, but the question goes unanswered as the others finally join us.

“What’s going on?” Lola asks.

“Did you know they moved?” Georgie demands.

“Who?” Selena asks.

“These two.” She points at us. “Mr. and Mrs. Perfect.”

Elizabeth rolls her eyes at the nickname. She has always hated that Georgie calls us that—so do I—and it’s only because we’ve been together the longest and always stayed together no matter what. I can only imagine the shit-talking that will ensue if Elizabeth chooses to tell them about the arrangement. I doubt she will because they’ll never let her live it down—Georgie won’t anyway.

“Where did you move to?” Lola seems shocked, they all do. “You guys were so happy there!”

“I’m surprised you’d leave Nina,” Selena adds. “I mean, you loved being so close to her.”

“Yeah, what’s Nina think about you leaving?” Georgie asks, her gaze narrowed.

In my opinion, Georgie has always seemed somewhat threatened by the relationship between Elizabeth and Nina. I don’t know why. Elizabeth loves Georgie, and they are close, but Elizabeth will never be as close to someone as she is to Nina. That’s her sister. That’s a different kind of bond.

Their voices start to blend together as everyone continues to throw out question after question. Elizabeth tries to answer what’s tossed at her but can never quite get a word in. I can’t stop myself. I cut in, putting a stop to their interrogation.

“She just meant the beach house.” Looking down to meet the panicked gaze of my brown-eyed girl, I try to offer her a reassuring smile, but it doesn’t quite reach as far as I’d like. “Where we’ll be spending Christmas this year.”

The words are like a stab to the heart because we both know they’re not true. When we leave here, we won’t be going home to prepare for Christmas together. We won’t be finishing some last-minute shopping and wrapping gifts to bring to the Villas. I won’t be helping her make her Christmas cookies for Mom’s classroom holiday party. She won’t be surprising me at work with lunch plans before going to Nina’s to help her with last-minute Christmas prep…We won’t be doing any of that anymore and I don’t know that I truly, truly , realized it until this moment.

“I—We bought a house in Jupiter Beach,” Elizabeth adds, her eyes never leaving mine.

“Charleston?” Georgie scoffs. “Why Charleston?”

“I’m not in Charleston proper.” Elizabeth rolls her eyes. “Besides, Jupiter is more private; the tourists stick around the other beaches, like Folly and IOP.”

“Well, I won’t be visiting.”

“No one was inviting you, Georgie,” I quip. I hate the way she criticizes Elizabeth’s choice of beach home. So what if Georgie doesn’t like Charleston? Elizabeth does.

The raven-haired woman whips toward me with a death glare, but before she can get out whatever snarky response she’s formulating, her husband places his hands between her shoulder blades, grazing the back of her neck in a slight hold. “Who’s hungry? I’m making burgers!”