Chapter Twenty-Three
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
AUDREY
Willa is awake and sitting up in bed looking at her phone when I try to sneak into the room we’re sharing. She looks at me over the top of her glasses.
“Well, at least it was a short walk of shame.”
I chuckle. “No shame here at all,” I say.
“That good?”
I let out a slow breath. “Beyond good. Stratospheric.”
Willa raises her eyebrows. “So things are going to be weird and awkward today. Got it. Merry Christmas Eve, by the way.” She returns her attention to her phone.
“Merry Christmas Eve to you, too.” I don’t need to have a special mental connection with my twin to see, and feel, that something is wrong.
“Why are you awake?”
“Watching cleaning videos.”
“What level cleaning?”
“Hoarders.”
Oh no. If she’s watching hoarder houses be emptied and cleaned that means she’s already been through the power-washing, rug-cleaning, and car-detailing videos. Transformation videos like these calm Willa when something in her life has grown into an unavoidable problem. The bigger the mess cleaned, the bigger her problem.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Nothing,” she replies.
“What happened?”
She drops her phone, takes off her glasses, and sighs. “You slept with Toni, and now everything is going to be all weird.”
“No, it won’t.”
“You two will either be all lovey-dovey or you’ll pretend to ignore each other. Either way, it will be weird and we have six more months of this shit.”
“Where is this coming from? I thought you liked Toni.”
“I do, but I’m not going to distract Greta so you two can go fuck in the supply closet at work.”
“Willa, Jesus. That’s not going to happen. One, that’s totally unprofessional. Two, Toni and I are just having fun.”
Willa’s mouth drops open. “Audrey, I know you aren’t that stupid. Though maybe you are. Toni’s in love with you—and don’t look all shocked when I say that, you know it’s true. I didn’t expect her to be strong enough to give you lots of time, but I really didn’t expect you to try to seduce her so soon.”
“I didn’t seduce her. It was mutual, trust me.”
“You’re in love with her, too?”
“God, no. I didn’t say that. It’s way too early for love. Why are you suddenly so against this?”
“The first time I criticize you and you try to turn it back around on me. Maybe you learned a little too much from being with Shae.”
“Hey! That’s unfair. I’m not turning it back around on you. From the very first day in the office you talked about me bending Toni over a table. I never asked you to distract Greta and I didn’t even know for sure that’s what you were doing. In fact, you seemed to enjoy it quite a bit.”
“This isn’t about me and Greta. There is nothing but friendship between me and Greta.”
“Are you sure about that? Because it’s pretty obvious there is to everyone else.”
Willa levels me with a hard stare. “I’m positive.”
We glare at each other for a long moment and I debate whether or not I should call her out on her lie. I’ve seen this expression from Willa before, not often, but I know now is definitely not the time to push her.
“OK,” I say.
She visibly relaxes and releases a sharp exhale. She pats the bed next to her, and opens her arms. “Come here.”
I lie down next to her and she wraps me up in a hug. “God, you smell like sex.”
“Sorry.”
“No, you’re not. How did you leave it with Toni?”
“Um, I didn’t really. She left early to go snowshoeing, of all things.”
“After having sex all night?”
“I know. But, last night, before, we agreed to have fun and take things slow.”
“She agreed to that?”
“Well, yeah. She said she would take me however she could get me.”
“Hmm,” Willa says, watching me. “I hope she meant it.”
So do I.
I take a shower and then go downstairs to meet Willa for coffee. We aren’t the first ones up, of course. Willa is in the kitchen, washing dishes, while Ingrid potters around cooking. Greta is sitting at the kitchen table on her computer, her hair up, and her business face on.
“Merry Christmas Eve,” I say.
Everyone greets me, though Greta’s eyes don’t leave her computer.
I go to her. “Everything OK?”
She looks up, and I realize her eyes were unfocused, not really seeing her computer. “Oh, yeah. Everything’s fine.”
“Here’s some coffee, Auds,” Willa says. She puts the mug on the table. “Want a refresh, Greta?”
“No, thank you.”
Willa sips her coffee and turns to me. “It’s ornament day. Decided what you’re going to do?”
“I picked up a rock yesterday and Toni said she’d punch a hole in it for me.”
“What do you usually do, Greta?” Willa asks.
“Popcorn garland,” she says.
“Sounds good, I’ll help,” Willa says. “And by help, I mean I’ll hold the bowl, eat the popcorn, and watch you.”
“It’s just plain popcorn,” Greta says.
“You don’t make festive-colored caramel popcorn?”
“No. I like plain.”
Willa nods slowly and sips her coffee. “Well, that tracks,” she says, and walks off.
Greta’s face flames with embarrassment or anger, I’m not sure which, and I don’t have time to think about what just happened because Toni bounds into the house.
When I see her I forget to breathe. I’ve never seen her look so gorgeous. Her eyes sparkle, her skin is bright with exertion and a little red from the cold, especially her nose. She’s smiling and I imagine this is what she always looks like after she’s been out hiking or skiing or snowshoeing or whatever crazy shit she does. Her energy fills the house, overpowering everything and everyone, jolting us out of our lethargy. Toni’s here. The day is alive with possibility.
“Where have you been?” Willa asks.
“I snowshoed over to Max’s place, then did a five-mile loop.”
“I’m sorry, did you say five miles?” Willa asks. She’s still in her flannel pajamas, with a thick navy sweater thrown over the top. She looks cozy and rather beautiful.
“I did,” Toni says.
Her eyes meet mine and blood roars through my body like class-five river rapids in the spring. I’m glad I’m sitting down because there’s no way my knees wouldn’t have buckled with the force of Toni’s charisma and my attraction to her.
She grins and walks toward me, taking off her beanie as she does. Her hair is absolute chaos, sticking out from her head with static electricity from the wool cap. So, I’m distracted when she comes up to me, leans down, says, “Merry Christmas Eve, Audrey,” and kisses me on the mouth.