Chapter 18
The sun peeked through the blinds of Paige’s childhood bedroom on Christmas morning, and the smell of fresh coffee pulled her out of bed and toward the kitchen where her early riser dad was surely getting started on breakfast.
They always started Christmas morning with a big meal, and when she turned into the kitchen, she saw a box of pancake mix sitting on the counter. She couldn’t help but smile as she thought of Carter.
“Hey, dad, let me help,” she said, grabbing a mixing bowl and the rest of the pancake ingredients. “I learned a trick recently to make the best pancakes.”
Paige added in the ingredients just as Carter had taught her the week before, carefully mixing everything together. She poured the batter onto the pan and within minutes she had a beautiful stack of golden pancakes to set in front of her dad, Ron.
“Whatever trick you used, I need to learn it! These are fantastic, Paige,” he said.
“You just need to pay attention to the little things,” Paige said, echoing Carter’s words. “You need to put the ingredients in the bowl in the right order, don’t mix them too fast, and take your time before the first flip on the pan.”
“Well, compliments to the chef, and the chef’s teacher,” Ron replied before digging back into his pancakes.
Paige started on the next stack as her mom filed into the kitchen. She had thought a lot about what her mom had told her the day before, and the pancake mix on the counter this morning felt like a sign.
She knew she should have given Carter more time to tell her his side of the story before she jumped to conclusions.
Paige was still hurt by his lack of communication about his relationship status with Monica, especially after she told him about her past with Chance, but what if he was really feeling the same thing she was feeling?
On the flip side, what if her blatant rejection of his apology sent him straight back into the arms of his ex-girlfriend?
Being alone at the holidays sucked—she knew from personal experience the year before—and as cool as Carter portrayed himself, Paige knew he wasn’t immune to feeling lonely.
Besides, he had seen the messages she sent to Nadia.
He probably thought she wanted nothing to do with him anymore.
Paige decided she would ask Carter to meet up as soon as she got back to Chicago so she could apologize for the messages and talk through everything that happened, and she desperately hoped he would say yes.
***
After breakfast, the family moved on to opening presents.
Paige gave each of her parents the books she got them on Black Friday.
She unwrapped a candle, a sweater, some fun nail polish, and a gift certificate to upgrade her Nespresso machine when she got back to Chicago.
She thought of the first morning snowed in with Carter and how he stole her freshly brewed coffee.
It had infuriated her in the moment, but she couldn’t help but smile at the memory now.
If she had told herself eleven days ago that she would be missing Carter, she would have laughed out loud.
But here she was, wishing she could be wrapped up in his arms.
As they were cleaning up at the end of the gift exchange, there was a knock on the door.
The family exchanged confused glances, clearly not expecting company on the holiday. Paige was closest to the front door, so she made her way over to it.
Dad probably just forgot about something he ordered for mom. But I didn’t think they delivered on holidays.
When she opened the door, her stomach flipped, and she let out an audible gasp.
Standing there on the front porch was Carter, decked out in the ugliest Christmas sweater she had ever seen.
“What the—”
“Hi,” Carter said at the same time, interrupting Paige’s shocked response.
She blinked several times to confirm that this wasn’t a dream.
“Hi,” she said back, smiling from ear to ear. “What are you doing here? How did you know where to find me?”
She looked into his golden-brown eyes, still in shock that he was standing right in front of her.
“I just couldn’t get past how we left things last week,” Carter confessed. “And I couldn’t stand the thought that I might not see you again without getting another chance to apologize.”
Paige had thought about that too. Carter was set to move out the first week of January, and she was nervous he would be gone by the time she got back to the condo.
“Are you kidding?” Paige interjected. “It’s me who should be apologizing to you! I shouldn’t have sent those messages about you, and I should have given you a fair chance to explain yourself. I’m so sorry I shut you out.”
“Well, it was actually those messages that helped me figure out where to find you,” he said.
“I was just moping around the condo wishing I could see you and talk to you, but I thought that if I tried to call or text you would ignore the message. Besides, a call or text felt like too small of a gesture. That’s when I got the idea to reach out to Nadia.
Shortly after I moved in, Nadia found me on Instagram and sent me a follow request that I ignored. ”
Super subtle, Nadia.
“So, I went back to the app, accepted her request, and sent her a message. I asked if she thought you’d be okay with a surprise visit after everything that happened, and where to find you.
I knew I could wait for you to get back, but with each minute that passed, it felt like I was losing my grip on the one thing I’ve cared about in a long time. ”
Paige couldn’t believe the effort he had put into this. Any thought of him playing her had gone out the window the moment she found him on the other side of the door, because this was a move she had only seen in the movies.
“Well, I’m very glad you’re here.” She smiled. “And by the way, you’re looking quite . . . festive.”
“Oh, this old thing? I figured I’d really give my apology visit 110% effort,” Carter said.
“I know I said that all of your Christmas stuff was the stupidest thing I had ever seen, but then I realized the stupidest thing I had seen was me walking out of your room that day without fighting for a chance. Paige, you are funny, determined, smart, hot as hell, and optimistic even when life throws you curveball after curveball. I’ve been a coward and I’ve led a shallow existence the last several years, afraid to feel too much because I didn’t want to lose another person I cared about.
But getting to know you makes that impossible.
You make me want to feel everything. I just hope you can for—”
Before he could finish, Paige jumped toward Carter and kissed him. His lips felt familiar and warm. As he held her face in his hands, she felt the weight of the past week lift off of her.
“Apology accepted,” she said as she pulled back.
“You beat me to it,” he replied as he leaned in for a second kiss.
“Well, I'll set out another mug for hot cocoa,” Anne said from the hallway, catching the couple mid-make out.
Paige and Carter both blushed as they made their way inside.
After Carter had taken his things into Paige’s room, he joined the rest of the family in the kitchen for some hot cocoa and a game of Phase 10.
“How do I look?” Carter said as he entered the room.
Paige was shocked when she turned to see Carter had added a Santa hat to his ensemble.
“Wow, so you really are getting into the Christmas spirit!”
“It’s hard not to when the place I live in is drowning in Christmas decor,” he replied with a wink. “I figured that on the chance my surprise visit worked and you let me in, I should be prepared with the proper attire.”
“Well, you fit right in,” Paige’s mom said. “Now you just need to prove yourself with your gaming skills.”
“Oh, you’re on, Anne.” Carter took a seat next to Paige’s mom at the table, with Paige on his other side.
She reached next over and squeezed Carter’s hand. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Merry Christmas,” and gave her already blushing cheek a kiss.
***
The following week, Paige and Carter were back in Chicago getting ready for a New Year’s Eve party at LondonHouse downtown.
Carter had splurged on the tickets, insisting he wanted to take her out on a proper date.
He had no clue at the time that this was the same location of her company Christmas party a year earlier where she learned about Chance’s infidelity, but Paige was happy to replace the negative memory with a positive one.
For Paige, seeing Carter dressed up in a suit made it all worth it. She would have paid double the cost of the ticket for that sight alone.
Carter had stayed with Paige and her family for a few days following Christmas, soaking up the sun and the San Diego sights. They were like teenagers in love, walking the beaches, admiring the animals at the zoo, and stuffing their faces with tacos.
And on New Year's Eve, they drank and danced the night away, kissing every chance they could get.
Shortly before midnight, Carter led her to a quieter room.
“There’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about," he said. “You know I signed a lease for a new apartment a few weeks ago. Well, it turns out it’s a tough lease to break, and also, I want to make sure that we give our relationship the best chance to succeed. So, I think it’s best for me to move in there for now so we can each still have our own separate space for a bit and take things at the right pace. ”
Paige was slightly relieved to hear this. She had loved the days she’d spent with Carter in the condo and in California, but he was right—their relationship was in early stages, and moving too fast by continuing to live together could easily screw it up.
“As much as I’ll miss waking up to your pancakes, I think you’re right,” she admitted.
“But before I go anywhere, I need to make sure of a couple of things first,” he said. “For starters, according to our lease, I owe you a thirty-day written notice, so consider this my official notice.” He got out his phone and sent her a text that said:
This is my 30-day notice.
“Which means,” he continued, “that you have another rent check coming your way. Hopefully it helps pad your freelance fund.”
“Carter, you don’t have to do that,” she said.
“Oh, but I do. It’s a contractual obligation after all.” He gave her one of his signature smiles. “Plus, I want to. You’re brilliant, Paige, and selfishly I don’t want you seeing your ex-boyfriend five days out of the week.”
“You and me both.” She laughed and squeezed Carter into a tight hug.
“But most importantly,” he said, pulling away from the embrace to look her in the eyes, “I don’t want this move to be a step back in any way, so I officially want to ask if you would be my girlfriend.”
aige smiled and said, “I thought you’d never ask.”
They kissed as the countdown started, and Paige went into the new year as happy as she’d ever been.