Chapter Seven
CHAPTER SEVEN
December 2028
WHEN I WAKE UP on Christmas morning, I don’t open my eyes immediately, offering the same small prayer I had last night before falling asleep. I recite my one Christmas wish this year for anyone listening, hoping it will come true if I say it enough times. Squeezing my eyes tightly, I open them and blink rapidly to adjust to the dark room around me, disappointment settling in almost immediately. My wish didn’t come true. I’m still in the same room I fell asleep last night. I had hoped and prayed and wished (and prayed some more) that when I opened my eyes, I would be back home in the comfort of my bed with whoever was out there waiting for me, and this would have all been a bad dream. I’m not so lucky…
And it leaves me wondering: If the “magic” of Christmas can’t cure this, is there anything that can?
Pulling myself out of bed, I’m not filled with the Christmas spirit and don’t feel like joining in whatever traditions the Blackwoods have. So, I get dressed and head straight for the barn, planning to spend the entire day working to keep my mind off things.
My plan works until well past sundown when the clock on the wall reads six o’clock in the evening and Charlie strolls into the barn.
“Dad said to tell you to get your ass inside,” she says, still bundled up to ward off the weather outside.
“Thanks, but no thanks. I’m not really in the mood to celebrate Christmas right now, Charlie.” I continue cleaning out Lady’s stall for the second time today. I’ve been doing anything to keep myself busy and avoid being roped into their celebration.
“That’s exactly why you should.” Charlie stands there a moment longer, waiting for me to respond, but this time I ignore her. “I made red velvet cake. I remembered you said you liked it.” She huffs when I still ignore her. “C’mon, Zay, you need to eat something. Come inside and get something in your stomach. Then you can come out here and brood some more.”
Charlie smiles when my gaze finally snaps to her. When I step out of the stall, I say, “I am not brooding.”
“That’s exactly what you’re doing. And I respect it, I love a good brooding session as much as the next person, but you can’t avoid the basic human necessities to keep doing it.”
There’s a reason Joseph sent her out there instead of coming out himself. If I said no enough times, Joseph would leave me be, but he knows Charlie won’t leave until I agree to come inside. She’s just that damn stubborn. And if I don’t agree here in the next few minutes, she will come over, rip this rake from my hands, and drag me inside whether I want to go or not.
“Fine, Charlie.” I sigh, glancing back into the stall. “Let me finish this stall and then I’ll be in.” But she doesn’t move an inch. She crosses her arms over her chest, which puffs out her already puffy coat even further, making her look like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
“What’s so funny?” Charlie asks when I laugh.
“You look ridiculous.” I grab the bucket filled with bedding and spread it across the floor, half expecting her to ask me why she looks ridiculous, but the question never comes. Instead, she stands with her arms still crossed, and I can hear the impatient tapping of her boot against the concrete floor.
It takes less than five minutes to finish the stall and move Lady back into it, offering the horse an apple, before I turn back to Charlie, who cocks her brow. “Are you ready now?”
I nod, grabbing my brown Carhartt from the coat hook and slipping my arms through it.
“You look like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man,” I say when we walk outside, stuffing my hands into my coat pockets. Charlie’s brows knit together, confused by what I just said. “You asked what was so funny earlier. That’s what I was laughing at. When you crossed your arms, it made you look like that oversized marshmallow man from Ghostbusters .”
“I do not!”
“Your coat is white, and it’s big and puffy. That is exactly who you look like.”
Charlie’s next step is closer to me, using her shoulder to shove into me, the motion sending me stumbling a few steps to my right. My foot catches on something protruding from the snow and I lose my balance. I tumble into the fresh, powdery snow that had fallen while I was brooding in the barn, laughing the whole time.
“Xavier!” Charlie runs after me. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I say, still laughing.
“You almost gave me a heart attack.” She extends her hand out to help me up.
“You? You’re the one who pushed me.” I sit up and reach for her hand, but instead of standing, I pull her down into the snow with me and she screams, making contact with the cold substance. “Now we’re even,” I say, looking down at her.
“You jerk!” Charlie throws snow at me, but I turn in time to avoid it hitting my face.
“Don’t start something unless you’re prepared to finish it, Charlotte.” I gather a mound of snow in my hands, compacting it into a ball. Opening my hands, I show her the snowball, my brow lifted in question. But Charlie already has one ready. She tosses it at me, and before I know it, we’re in the midst of a snow fight, neither one of us making it quite to the snow ball part before throwing it at the other.
“Okay, okay, I surrender!” Charlie laughs, lifting her hands in the air.
When I drop the snow in my hands, she smashes a final ball in my face before scrambling to her feet. I do the same, grabbing her ankle, and somewhere in the mix of it all, the world spins before she lands on top of me. Her hands brace on either side of my head and our breaths mingle between us in heavy pants. I watch her throat swell with a hard swallow, her green eyes dipping to my lips before meeting my stare again. I don’t realize what’s happening until her lips are on mine. The first kiss is soft and hesitant, and I’m too stunned to react. Sure, there has been…something between us, but I wasn’t expecting this.
Her kiss becomes more confident when I don’t reject or push her away. She nips at my bottom lip and traces her tongue along the seam of my lips. When I comply, opening my mouth to her, she dominates. Her tongue tangles with mine and this feels like a first. I can’t remember a woman being so dominating before, but that’s not saying much, since I can’t remember anything.
“Charlie!” Joseph’s voice rings out through the air, breaking the trance.
Her lips are swollen from the kiss when we part, and I push a few strands of hair that blow in the wind behind her ear. Charlie starts to lean in again, but I turn my face so her lips land on my cheek. A look of hurt crosses her features.
Joseph calls again, and I’m surprised he can’t see us. When I lean forward, I realize we’re out of view behind the small peninsula of trees that branch out on the right side of the barn.
Charlie sits up and her hips move against mine in a fluid motion. It elicits a strangled moan from me. Without warning, she grinds her hips against mine again, and fuck…the friction is magical, but I can’t let this continue. We need to go before Joseph comes looking and finds us like this. My hands land on her hips, stopping her movements. “We need to go before he comes looking for you.” She tries to move her hips again, but I hold her steady. “Charlie, you’ve got to stop.”
“C’mon, Zay,” she whines, her breath hot against the shell of my ear when she leans back down. “I can return what I got you if you want to unwrap me instead.”
That might be the corniest thing I’ve ever heard, or maybe it’s because Charlie said it. I bite back the laugh threatening to spill from my lips, and she straightens her back.
“Are you laughing?” she hisses.
“I’m sorry, that was just…That was so corny.”
Charlie huffs, bracing her palms on my chest to push herself off the ground. She doesn’t offer her hand this time, instead marching down the hill toward the house without a second glance.
Despite being soaked to the bone, I lay there a moment longer, staring up at the expansive sky. A multitude of stars twinkle above me, but one in particular shines brighter than the others. There’s a tug on my heart with each wink from high above, a feeling deep within that there is more out there. It makes me wonder if someone is looking up at the same sky, hoping we’ll be together again someday. I wonder if I’m their Christmas wish, the same way they were mine.