Chapter 7
Thanksgiving went off without a hitch.
The meal, in all of its many courses and side dishes, was delicious as always.
This year, their Friendsgiving included Paige’s colleague Laura, Nadia’s colleague Jason and his boyfriend Kyle, plus Linus and his childhood friend Mike.
The day provided lots of laughs, which kept Carter far from Paige’s thoughts.
She and Nadia had just returned from their Black Friday shopping spree, which ended up being more window shopping than actual shopping. But Nadia had nabbed a cashmere sweater that was on sale for Linus’s mom, leather gloves for his dad, and a candle and trinket dish for his sister.
Paige had already told her parents that her presence would have to suffice as their main present this year, but she took advantage of the bookstore’s buy one get one fifty percent off deal and got them each a book so she wouldn’t be completely empty-handed on Christmas morning.
Now it was time for their favorite part of the day: decorating.
Each year, Paige and Nadia surprised each other with a new holiday-themed sweater to wear while they were decorating. It was always so hard for Paige to keep her sweater a secret, but the grand debut after they returned from their Black Friday hunt was a highlight of the day.
This year, Paige found an oversized knit cream sweater with embroidered Christmas-themed items scattered over the front and back. Nadia showcased a sweatshirt with actual blinking Christmas lights.
Once they were in their cozy decorating uniforms, with Mariah Carey singing them in, they got to work putting up the tree—a fake one, but the kind that makes it almost impossible to tell—followed by Christmas lights and their shared collection of kitschy ornaments.
After the tree was done, they filled the rest of the condo with wreaths, nutcrackers, festive pillows, tea towels, vintage Santa salt-and-pepper shakers, Christmas candles, chunky knit stockings, more small trees, garland, and tinsel.
Hours later, every surface was covered in holiday cheer, and Paige and Nadia sat on the couch with Christmas-themed mugs filled with extra boozy hot chocolate and gooey marshmallows, proudly surveying their hard work before Nadia had to go home to her new apartment.
“When is Carter coming back?” Nadia asked as she got up to start packing her bag.
Oh, right, Carter. Paige realized she had barely thought about him while he was gone with everything she had going on.
“I didn’t ask.” Paige shrugged. “I’m assuming tomorrow or Sunday.”
She was exhausted from their three-day holiday extravaganza and couldn’t wait to pop on another Christmas movie and fall asleep.
She opened Instagram while Nadia packed, and her stomach dropped. The first post in her feed showed Chance down on one knee proposing to Diana, with the caption: “I have so much to be thankful for this year. She said yes!”
It hadn’t even been a year.
She knew she should just keep scrolling, but she couldn’t look away. Paige couldn’t stop looking at the way Chance was beaming at the gorgeous blonde girl. She couldn’t remember him looking at her like that in any of their own photos.
And, because why not add insult to injury, she swiped through the carousel of photos and confirmed that this was indeed the largest rock she’d seen on a non-celebrity engagement ring.
How did he afford that? She wondered. Anytime I brought up getting engaged, he always had some excuse lined up about not having enough money saved up to get me the ring I deserved. But apparently his wallet is just as loose as his behavior was when it came to Diana.
Paige knew she should have unfollowed Chance after the breakup, but there was a part of her that needed to know if this assumed fling with Diana was more than just an office hookup.
And with each month that passed, his Instagram stories featured more and more coffee dates, kisses in front of The Bean, walking hand-in-hand on Navy Pier, and summer getaways to his parents’ lake house in Wisconsin—a place she had only been invited to once in their three years of dating.
She hadn’t wanted to get back together with him. But she’d silently hoped the day would come when Diana would end things and he’d finally experience the heartbreak she had felt last December.
Seeing the engagement post shouldn’t be a shock. They didn’t try to hide the fact that they were serious around the office. But the finality of it felt like a punch in the gut.
Chance was living his life as if nothing had ever happened. He continued being in a relationship, only swapping one blonde for another that was five years younger.
And now, here she was nearing thirty years old with no dating prospects, a roommate who barely even acknowledges her existence, a job that doesn’t value her, and a joke of a savings account.
“Paige.” She barely registered her friend’s voice.
“Paige,” Nadia repeated. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”
It wasn’t until then that Paige felt tears streaming down her cheeks. She turned her phone screen toward Nadia, who dropped her bag immediately and rushed to hug Paige after seeing the picture. It only made Paige cry harder.
“That motherfu—” Nadia started before getting distracted by the sound of a key in the front door.
Carter.
Startled, Paige turned away from the door, not wanting Carter to notice her red, splotchy, mascara-smudged face.
He walked inside and his face hardened the second he noticed the updated decor.
“What the hell is all of this?” Carter said, less as a question and more as an angry observation, clearly not picking up on the mood of the room.
“Well, obviously it’s Christmas decorations.” Nadia didn’t bother to hide her annoyance. “We’re actually in the middle of—”
“Take it down,” he interrupted, each word biting the tense air between them. “This looks insane. I live here too, you know. And I refuse to look at these absurd decorations for the next god only knows how long.”
Nadia turned to face him, shielding Paige from view.
“Calm down, dude.”
Carter was fuming now.
“If I remember correctly, I pay for half of the condo. So that means I get a say in how my half looks.”
Before he even finished the sentence, he grabbed one of the empty boxes near the storage closet and made his way over to the bookshelf near his bedroom door. He began grabbing the candles, tinsel, and all other Christmas decorations in his path and placed them back in the box.
Until he reached the couch and noticed Paige.
Paige saw his eyes widen with awareness, but Carter didn’t back down. Instead, he proceeded to the right half of the living room and filled the rest of the box.
“Okay, Carter.” Paige rose from the couch to face him, feeling the liquid courage from the extra shot of vanilla vodka she put in her hot chocolate. “Quit being an asshole. This is childish behavior.”
“Well, these decorations are childish,” he responded, holding up a pillow with the words “Holiday Who-be-What-ee?” on it, which was, appropriately, a quote from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
“What does it even matter to you? It’s not like you’ve ever bothered to spend time here,” Paige said, face turning even redder. “Has it occurred to you that maybe the world doesn’t revolve around you and that this is something that makes people happy? Or are you too much of a grinch to care?”
“You don’t have to be a grinch to be put off by these tacky Christmas decorations,” he retaliated.
I can’t believe this is happening, Paige thought. This has to be a nightmare.
Carter’s behavior on top of Chance’s engagement announcement was enough to push Paige over the edge.
“Well, if you don’t like them, then move! You clearly hate it here, so just find somewhere else to live!”
“Fine,” Carter said, leaving the now full box of decorations next to the Christmas tree. “Here, do whatever you want. I’ll start looking for something new this weekend.”
And with that, he walked back to where he had left his suitcase and proceeded to close himself in his room.
The girls stood there in silence for what felt like an eternity before Nadia grabbed the vanilla vodka from the counter and poured them each a shot.
“Well, shit,” Paige groaned as she sank back into the couch. She had barely even tasted the shot as it went down her throat.
“I don’t know what the hell his problem is,” Nadia said as she followed suit. “But it seems like Mr. Grinch’s heart is three sizes too small. I wonder how big that makes his di—”
“Nadia,” Paige cut her friend off before she could finish.
“Too soon? I had a feeling, but I just couldn’t help myself.”
Paige buried her face in the pillow and let the last ten minutes sink in.
Chance is engaged. And Carter is a big enough asshole that I actually kicked him out. Paige felt sick, and not just from the alcohol.
The realization hit her hard: as soon as Carter leaves the apartment, her cash flow and freelance dream will leave with him.
Leaving Chance to officially win their breakup, once and for all.
***
Saturday came and went with no Carter sightings—something Paige was grateful for, especially given her intense hangover. She had gone a bit overboard with the vanilla vodka after the drama on Friday night.
She wasn’t sure what she was going to say to Carter when she saw him next.
He was out of line for being so demanding about the Christmas decorations, which she had promptly put back in their places on Saturday morning.
And he had definitely noticed her crying and continued in his Scrooge-level tirade anyway.
But there was a part of her that felt embarrassed about her reaction that night. Carter had only lived with her for two weeks, and she basically kicked him out with the snap of a finger. Did unfriendliness really warrant an eviction notice?
And that’s not to mention the fact that Carter had seen her in complete disarray. As sick as she was of being around him, Paige was still conscious of the fact that he was an attractive male who she hoped thought she was attractive in return.
She wasn’t sure her red, splotchy face and puffy eyes did her any favors in that department.
But today, Carter was the least of her concerns.
Today, Paige had to focus on how she was going to get through the workday tomorrow. It was going to be the first day back after the holiday, which meant Chance and Diana would be parading around her massive ring and telling their engagement story to anyone who would listen.
Paige wished she could just take a sick day to avoid it all, but she didn’t want to look like she couldn’t handle it.
So, since it was Sunday, she planned on having a self-care day to ensure she walked into the office tomorrow looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with freshly painted nails and an outfit that screamed, “I’m completely unfazed by my ex getting engaged to the girl he cheated on me with less than one year after the scandal in question. ”
She texted Nadia, and within twenty minutes Paige was on her way to meet her best friend back on Michigan Avenue to take advantage of the lingering Black Friday deals.