Chapter 9 Explanations and Elves
Chapter Nine: Explanations and Elves
His house wasn’t what she’d expected. It was a refurbished bungalow on one of the quieter side streets.
Directly across from the veterinarian that treated Sophie’s gerbil.
The place that had volunteer hours once a month for anyone who wanted to spend time with the dogs at the shelter.
There was a dog park behind the building, and Hannah knew a lot of people who ended up falling in love with one of the dogs they walked.
She’d brought a bottle of wine because it felt weird to show up empty-handed.
When he opened the door, he crossed his arms and leaned against the frame.
He was wearing a faded green tee and a pair of gray sweatpants sat low on his waist. His feet were bare and his dark brown hair was wet, like he’d just gotten out of the shower.
His glasses were nowhere to be seen and those hazel eyes did a leisurely scan that made her flush to the roots of her hair.
“Hi,” he said with a dimpled grin.
“Hi,” she replied as she held up the bottle of wine.
“What’s this?” he asked as he reached for it. When their fingers brushed together, there was an arc of static electricity that made both of them jump back. He stumbled, and almost lost his balance, when a gigantic white cat pirouetted around his legs.
Hannah crouched in the doorway and stuck out her hand. “Who’s this beautiful thing?” She crooned.
“Come inside and I’ll properly introduce you. Maximilian is always eager to welcome new members to his fan club.”
She followed him inside and found the inside of the house even more surprising than its outside.
There was a sunken living room with a giant tv mounted to the wall, a leather sectional, and a gaming console. It was well lit, and there were pendant lights hanging from the ceiling that looked like they were period original.
“Do you want a tour after we finish planning?” He asked with a chuckle.
She blushed again. “Your home isn’t at all what I expected.”
He raised a brow. “You mean it’s not the bachelor pad you expected. I can’t say I blame you because most of my single friends live in what I consider absolute squalor.”
“It’s very clean,” she agreed. The floors were sparkling and Hannah mused that she could probably eat off them. She didn’t get around to sweeping or mopping as often as she wanted in her own house, so she was very aware of the effort that went into spotless floors.
“Yes. Just the way I like it. Why don’t you have a seat on the couch and I’ll bring us some wine and a charcuterie board?”
Hannah watched him saunter away, flabbergasted. A spotless, comfortable house, wine and charcuterie. How was Graham Hollister still a bachelor?
She gingerly sat on the edge of the couch, unwound her scarf, and took off her coat. As soon as she’d piled them beside her, the cat who’d been eyeing her leapt into her lap.
He pranced across her knees with his tail and nose in the air, already purring. She laid a hand on his luxurious coat and he arched his back beneath her touch, pushing his head against her palm.
“I take back what I said about my cat not having good taste,” her host rumbled.
“I love cats,” Hannah sighed.
Graham snorted. “Trust me when I say he can sense another conquest.”
He set a wooden board with olives, prosciutto, fancy crackers, and at least four variations of cheese on the coffee table. “I’ll be right back with your wine. Help yourself.”
It hadn’t even been five minutes and there was no way he’d prepared everything that quickly.
Hannah wondered if he’d set everything up before or after he’d hopped in the shower.
The thought of him bare-chested in his kitchen, wearing only those sinful sweats as he made an impeccable charcuterie board, gave her chills.
“Your human is full of surprises,” she murmured into the cat’s fur.
“I heard that,” Graham said as he handed her a glass of the wine she’d brought and took a seat beside her. He leaned back against the cushions and Hannah concentrated very hard on keeping her eyes on his face and not the way the sweatpants were molded to his muscular thighs.
She tucked one leg beneath her and turned to face him as she took a sip. “What more is there to plan?”
“Well, we never talked about music and even if we decide to curate a streaming playlist, anything’s better than what we had to suffer through last year.”
Hannah waved a hand in the air. “It’s handled.”
“You found a dee jay?”
“Nope, I called in a favor. My best friend owes me one and she’s the lead singer of a Fleetwood Mac tribute band, The Dreamers.”
“And she’s okay with performing at a holiday party for teachers?”
Hannah shook her head ruefully and smiled. “She’s excited about revisiting the high school gym she said held so many of her core memories.”
“She sounds fascinating,” he said.
“My friends lead much more interesting lives than I do,” Hannah said as she scratched the cat behind the ears. He butted his head in response, begging for more.
“Your life seems pretty interesting to me. At least you have people you love to share it with. Your kids are amazing, Hannah.”
Her chest tightened at his use of her first name in that soft, rumbly voice.
“I know August is amazing, but Sophie is in that snarky preteen era that’s driving me nuts. She challenges me about everything and won’t listen to anything I say.”
“Sophie’s amazing too. Any kid you bring into this world could be nothing less.”
“That sounds a little too much like praise, Graham Hollister.”
“That’s exactly what it is. My sister and I basically raised ourselves when our mom left because our dad buried himself in a bottle of whiskey. I respect the hell out of you.”
As if the cat sensed how intense the conversation had become, and the fact he was no longer the sole focus of her attention, he leapt off her lap.
Hannah nervously tipped back her glass and finished off the wine. She set it on the end table and wondered what she was supposed to say.
Just as she was mustering the courage to tell him she wasn’t the paragon he thought she was, he groaned and ran a hand over his face. “I shouldn’t have said that, because now I’ve made you uncomfortable.”
“Not uncomfortable exactly. That’s just not how I see myself.”
“Then you need to look in the mirror more often,” he said as he set his empty glass on the table.
“What other details should we go over?”
“I’ve been doing a mental check-off. I ordered some snack trays from the deli, and Cupcake on Main is providing us with free coffee and a cupcake tower.
The owner said it was her way of atoning for what a brat she was to her teachers.
We’re having the cookie exchange too, and I’ve heard a lot of debate about recipes and what people hope is available to trade.
We have all the board games for the teachers who are more comfortable sitting in a corner than dancing.
I was going to propose some solutions to providing music, but you’ve got that covered. ”
“So everything’s ready. I can’t believe we actually did it.”
“I can. Of course the only two teachers in the last six years who’ve worn the crown could pull off a revival,” he joked as he held up his hand for a high five.
When she leaned forward to smack her palm against his, he tugged her forward so she fell sideways across his lap.
Hannah’s stomach was pressed against one of his iron thighs, and her upper body was suspended awkwardly over the couch. She raised herself to her forearms and tossed her hair out of her face so she could look up at him.
“What was that for?” She asked breathlessly as she struggled to right herself without touching him.
“I couldn’t resist,” he explained as he clasped her waist and twisted his body so he was reclining against the cushions with her sprawled over him.
Hannah’s knees were on either side of his hips and when she braced her hands on his chest, he closed his eyes.
“Don’t go yet. I didn’t mean to move so fast.”
“We haven’t even kissed yet. Nothing besides that forehead kiss in my kitchen, which I don’t think counts.”
His lids flickered open. “That can be rectified.”
“Maybe in a position that's not so precarious?” She squeaked.
Hannah felt caged in by the strength and heat of him.
The out of body feeling that had overwhelmed her when he loomed over her like this last December, was nowhere to be found.
She wanted to stand on her tiptoes and hook her fingers in the tangle of hair at his nape.
She wanted to curl her leg around his calf and press herself against him from sternum to ankle.
“You’re safe with me, Hannah,” he said as he cupped her jaw.
Hannah couldn’t catch her breath. “My reasons for not doing this are still there.”
“I know, but I can’t stop thinking about what August said about wishes,” he confessed in a rough voice.
“What did he say?”
“Before we put in the last batch of cookies, after you went upstairs to make sure Sophie cleaned out the gerbil cage, he tugged me into the living room because he said he had something to show me. He pointed up at the mantel and said he wasn’t scared of the elf sitting there no matter how creepy it was because sometimes he thought maybe it was there so he would think about it instead of the things that made him sad.
He said thinking about the elf gave him the courage to wish for other things. ”
Hannah smiled softly. “My six-year-old is such an old soul.”
Graham smiled back. “He’s like a wise little Yoda and he made me realize something.”
“What’s that?” She asked as she gave in to temptation and draped her arms over his shoulders.
He brushed her hair behind her ears. “It made me realize that you might think I hated you. I’ve never hated you. Just the opposite.”
Hannah’s lungs expanded until it felt like there was a helium balloon trapped in her chest. “You could have fooled me,” she said as she desperately tried to cling to the last shred of her animosity.
“Well, that was the objective, so I guess it worked.”
“Why are you telling me this now? What made you change your mind?”
“I’m telling you now because my self-restraint is hanging by a thread where you’re concerned and I hope you’ll give me permission to kiss you.”
“I’m not running away, am I?”
She wasn’t running away, but Hannah knew there was a part of herself that still wasn’t fully committed to hitting the gas and getting tangled up in this inevitable ten car pileup.
Did she want him to kiss her? She’d been surreptitiously watching his mouth for months — wondering how soft his mustache would feel against her upper lip.
But that didn’t mean she wanted to give him permission and accept the inevitable consequences of her actions.
Hannah had a feeling that kissing him would be too much like finding a home again.
If they kissed, the dynamic they shared would irrevocably shift into uncharted territory, and she didn’t know if she was ready for that.
She hadn’t kissed anyone since Wagner left for his last tour of duty almost four years ago.
“What if kissing changes things? We’re finally becoming friends and I don’t want to ruin that.”
He cupped her cheek and flicked his thumb over her pursed lips.
“Stop thinking so hard, Pi. I want it to change things because I’ve always wanted more than your friendship.
I’ve been patient for two years, waiting for you to see me standing in the wings, and if I need to be patient now, I will.
Even if it’s slowly killing me. Put me out of my misery and let me kiss you. ”
She’d barely given him a shaky nod, and was on the verge of asking him again why he called her Pie, when he pressed against her nape and touched his mouth to hers.
His mustache tickled her upper lip, more subtle than the press of her lipliner when she went into full out fancy setting makeup.
He didn’t dive into the kiss, instead he savored it, his mouth sipping at the corners of hers until she was the one suddenly impatient and she tilted her head to give him better access.
She was surprised when she felt him grind against her. She hadn’t even realized they were so perfectly aligned. “Mmm,” he groaned into the kiss as he slid a warm palm over the band of skin between her cropped angora sweater and corduroy skirt.
Hannah wriggled beneath his touch, like she was one of the fishing lures she’d seen an angler make once, sparkling on the end of a hook.
She fluttered in the wind before she landed softly, with barely a ripple, when he spread one hand over her navel and cupped her face in his other palm.
He was tethering her to him with a kiss she’d been telling herself she shouldn’t want.
“You’re doing a pretty good job persuading me to change my mind,” she confessed.
“I’ll go as slow as you need me to, Pi. I’ve been thinking about how much like soft velvet your skin would feel, and how your kiss would taste like the watermelon lip gloss you wear, for over two years. Two of my dreams just came true, and I can be patient until the rest of them do too.”
She buried her face in the crook between his shoulder and neck and curled around him. His lips feathered over the crown of her head and she smiled.
“Thank you for understanding, Grinch.”
“Grinch? Really?”
“Well you do have a pet named Max. And you give everyone the impression that you hate Christmas.”
“I do hate Christmas. At least I did until this year.”
“I still think deep down you’ll always be a Grinch,” she mumbled into his shoulder.
He flipped them over so he was the one leaning over her.
“What if I said I could feel my heart growing three sizes?”
“I’d tell you I’ll believe it when I see it,” Hannah teased.
“Will you let me take you to the party?”
“We should go together. We’re basically co-hosts.”
“Not like that,” he scoffed. “I want you to come with me as my date.”
“I don’t want to be that formal yet.”
“You’re the only one I’m going to dance with,” he warned.
“They’re probably already gossiping about us, anyway. August’s teacher warned me away from you after you rescued him.”
“You never said anything.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t think I needed to. I thought she was being ridiculous. But maybe we should be formal if we don’t want to get pulled into a three ring circus.”
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “We can be informal for now. I’ll pick you up at six thirty on Thursday. We have early dismissal that day, so I have plenty of time to figure out how I’m going to wow your socks off between now and then.”