Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
CLARA
A good night’s sleep did nothing for the confusion I felt after Silas clammed up and skedaddled from my house.
I thought he was having fun. After all, I had been having fun.
How could I not? I was watching the classic Christmas movie, Elf, I was stringing popcorn for my next tree, and all my decorations were finally out of their bins.
For Clara Snow, that was a quintessential December night.
Silas might not have been enjoying himself, but he had definitely been tolerating it. There were even a couple of times here and there when it felt like Silas was complimenting me. Understanding me. Speaking to me in a way that no one had spoken to me before.
Then it all came crashing down. Suddenly, he was scooping up Isabelle, rushing through my house, and disappearing out the door like Santa running late to drop off presents.
There was no explanation for his hasty exit, and I was left wondering what the heck had just happened.
So I went to bed. Gran always said that things made more sense in the stark light of morning. But as I lay on my bed, staring up at the ceiling that was softly illuminated by the Christmas tree in the corner, I was still at a loss.
Silas’s sudden shift didn’t make sense.
Maybe he was the kind of guy that had a hard limit. Once he got to a certain amount of Christmas joy, he was done. He’d been moments away from overheating and needed to return to his dark and cheerless house to cool down.
I nodded. “That’s it,” I said, trying to convince myself, even though I knew, deep down, I was wrong.
I didn’t want to acknowledge it, but I knew what the true explanation was. He’d seen a little too much of my crazy and had had enough. It happened every time I tried to let someone in. They either tried to change me or left without a word.
Silas was no different.
I groaned as I grabbed a nearby pillow and covered my face with it. Even the men who were forced to spend time with me couldn’t stick around. I shook my head against the soft fabric. I was going to die alone.
My plan for the day was the only thing that forced me out of my funk, off my bed, and into the shower.
Once I was clean and fully awake, I shut off the water and grabbed a towel.
After I dried off, I wrapped the towel around my body and stepped out onto the plushy bathmat with Merry Christmas written in cursive.
I settled on a plain green sweater and a pair of dark jeans.
My plans included Isabelle, and I didn’t want my obnoxious Christmas clothes to be the reason Silas rejected my ideas.
He said Isabelle couldn’t participate in Christmas-related activities.
The things I had planned didn’t have to be categorized as Christmas.
I was excited to spend the day with that little girl. I almost cried yesterday when I saw her outfit. The fact that she’d mimicked me was the best compliment anyone had ever paid me. Ever.
And the fact that Silas let his daughter pick such an outfit even though he was vehemently opposed to Christmas…well it endeared him to me a tad bit more.
It was hard to want to take him down when he could be so sweet with his daughter. Why couldn’t he just be a grinch to everyone? It would make hating him that much easier.
After blow-drying my hair and applying some makeup, I turned off my lights and headed out into the kitchen, where I grabbed a granola bar and a Christmas cookie.
I was chewing while I slipped on my boots, and I finished off my cookie before I pulled on my jacket and tied my least Christmas-looking, yellow scarf around my neck.
I shouldered my purse and headed out the door. When I passed by my garage, I slipped inside to grab Pudgie.
The sun’s rays were peeking through the branches as I made my way up Silas’s walkway. It was such a shame that he hated Christmas. His house was just begging for some decorations. He really had the perfect place for it. It was every Christmas fanatic’s dream.
“Such a waste,” I whispered as I climbed the front steps.
I had to knock a few times before the door opened. Isabelle stood there in a Princess Tiana nightgown, and there was a dusting of what looked like flour across her nose. Her hair was pulled back into a braid, but a night of tossing and turning had matted up chunks of it.
“Ms. Snow!” Isabelle exclaimed as she stepped to the side to let me in.
“Hey, sweetie,” I said as I glanced around, not sure if I should wait until Silas invited me in. “Your dad home?”
She glanced behind her toward what I could only assume was the kitchen. “Yeah,” she said as she started to walk away from me.
Not knowing what to do, I stepped into the foyer and turned to shut the door behind me. “Can you let him know that I’m here?” There was no way I was going further inside without being invited.
“Belly, that was not okay.” The door to the right past the staircase opened, and a flustered, shirtless Silas came walking out. His hair was disheveled, his jaw was unshaven, and his chest…
Crap.
His broad shoulders, muscular chest, and abs… I didn’t need to know that he has abs under all of his pretentious suits. Why couldn’t he be anything but perfect? He looked like he was chiseled by the gods.
“Ms. Snow?”
I snapped my gaze up. His eyes were wide and his eyebrows were raised as he stared at me in disbelief.
“Isabelle let me in,” I said as if that was going to justify why I was so obviously ogling him.
He glanced over his shoulder and then turned back to me.
“Oh.” He studied me for a moment. “Belly! What did I tell you about answering the door?” And then, as if he suddenly realized that he was standing there shirtless, his smile turned sheepish.
“Sorry. Belly spilled pancake mix all over my shirt.” He moved his hands like he was trying to decide if he should cover up or not.
I nodded. “Oh.” I wasn’t sure if I should drop my gaze or keep it focused on Silas. If I looked away, would he think that I was embarrassed? Or if I kept looking at him, would he think that I liked what I was seeing?
This was all too complicated for me, and my brain was short-circuiting, so I just stood there like an idiot. Then I remembered that I was holding Pudgie. “Brought this over,” I said as I leaned forward and set the penguin down next to the front door.
I could feel Silas’s gaze on me, and when I straightened and looked back at him, he startled as if he’d been snapped out of a trance.
“I’ll go get dressed,” he said as he walked forward to the entrance of the staircase and then took the stairs two at a time.
I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just stood there, facing the staircase. My mind instantly went to how I would decorate it. Magical was the only way to describe it.
“Um, can you help Belly clean up in the kitchen?” Silas suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs. His gaze met mine, and all I could do was nod.
Yes. Good. A job. That was what I needed.
“Absolutely,” I said as I kicked off my boots and started to unzip my jacket.
Isabelle and I had cleaned up the spilled pancake mix with paper towels and were in the middle of mopping when Silas joined us.
His hair was damp, his face was freshly shaven, and he was wearing a black sweater and dark jeans.
I shook my head. I was determined to see him in color before our seven days were over.
He glanced around and noticed that I was watching him. He met my gaze for a moment before he turned his attention to Isabelle. “Looks great, peanut,” he said as he crossed the space between them and planted a kiss on the top of her head.
She paused and then wrinkled her nose. “You smell weird.”
Silas’s cheeks reddened as he glanced over at me. “It’s just my cologne. You’ve smelled it before.” He reached out to tousle her hair, but she dipped and dodged his hand.
Isabelle shook her head. “I never smelt that before in my life,” she said as she swished her hand in front of her nose.
Silas glanced around like he was looking for an out. I couldn’t help but smile. He was embarrassed. Five-year-olds will do that to you. They have a way of making the proudest in society crumble with self-doubt.
“You missed a spot,” he said as he pointed his finger to a spotless section of the kitchen floor.
Isabelle dragged the mop across the floor in a squiggly pattern, cleaning the spot that he’d claimed she’d missed.
“Ms. Snow helped me,” Isabelle said as she glanced back to me and smiled.
Silas looked relieved that we were now officially off the topic of his cologne. “I know,” he said as he glanced over at me once more. Then he mouthed, thank you.
I just smiled and shrugged. “Happy to help.” Then I paused. “Actually, I was hoping it would put me in your good graces.”
Silas eyed me. “What did you have in mind?”
I took a step to the side and motioned with my head for him to follow. Isabelle didn’t seem to notice as she continued drawing with the mop.
“As you know, it’s day two.”
His eyebrows went up, stopping any more of my proposition from flowing. “I didn’t think we’d be doing this on the weekends. You know, with Isabelle being around and all.”
“I was hoping we could take her out with us today.” I nodded discreetly toward Isabelle.
Silas flicked his gaze toward his daughter. “I don’t know,” he said slowly.
I waved toward my clothes. “Look, I’m just wearing plain green.
And the things I have planned aren’t reserved just for Christmastime.
” I held up three fingers. “Scouts honor, I promise the word that shall never be said will not be said while we are out.” Then I leaned in and started to spell it out. “C-h-r—”
“I know what the word is,” he said. He was watching Isabelle, and I could see the internal battle raging. He finally sighed. “All right, she can come with us,” he said as he glanced back at me.
I didn’t fight my excitement this time. I leaned in, grabbed his forearm, and shook it while I squealed. I’d completely forgotten that he didn’t like to be touched, and his entire body froze. It wasn’t until I let him go that he finally started moving.
“Sorry,” I said, making a mental note to not touch Silas again.
He shook his head before pushing his hand through his hair. “It’s okay,” he said, his voice low. He took in a deep breath. “So what are these Christmas-but-not-Christmas activities we’re going to be doing?”
I tapped my lips with my forefinger. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”