Mistletoe Kisses by Sam Mariano
Chapter Twelve
Noelle
After touchingevery single spine in the store, I’m finally ready to leave with only three books clutched against my chest.
Cal has been a trouper. I’ve gone to bookstores with guys before and none have ever been as patient as he is. He picked out a book for himself and stopped shopping a while ago, but he proceeded to follow me around without complaint as I checked out every aisle.
When I told him I should take up Egyptology in the historical section, he nodded as if he approved of the idea. When I made it to the Tudor section and remembered I wanted to circle back to fiction and see if they had The Other Boleyn Girl, he dutifully followed.
As we finally walk toward the register, I tell Cal, “I’ve been wanting to read this for a while, but it’s one of those books I always forget to look for when I’m actually in the bookstore.”
The saleslady smiles as we approach. “Find some things to read?”
“Yes, lot of things, but we’re going to go with these for now,” I say, setting my books on the counter. “This is such a great shop, I’m definitely going to come back here.”
It’s then that I notice my previous pile of books has vanished. “Where are my books?” I ask the saleslady.
Cal puts his book down on the counter with mine, then draws out his wallet. “Already paid for and packed away in the car.”
I glance up at him. “You don’t have to buy my books.”
“I really don’t mind,” he assures me. “All for a good cause,” he adds.
Mr. Scrooge has surprised me. “Thanks,” I say with a warm smile.
While the saleslady rings up our purchases and Cal pays, I pull my phone out of my purse to check the time. Oh, wow, it’s already past five. We spent a little longer in the store than I intended.
Cal reaches across the counter and grabs our shopping bag, then I thank the woman one more time for her help and we make our way back to the car.
I’m running a little behind schedule now, so I start calculating in my head. The snow is still falling—hasn’t stopped—so the roads are all dusted, with more falling all the time. That might mean Cal will have to drive home a little slower. I should still have about 10 minutes from the time he drops me off until Percy is supposed to pick me up, but just in case he comes early, I might tell him I’m running late. The last thing I need is him showing up at my house while Cal is still there—for all of the reasons.
I get a whiff of Cal’s incredible scent as he approaches, though I’m not sure why he is. I take an uncertain step back and look up at him, but he’s only opening the back door to put our bag of books in the seat behind me.
I slide into the passenger seat just to get away from him and close the door. Cal walks around to the driver’s side and gets in. He starts the car and I brace myself for him to put his hand on the back of my seat to look back while he reverses again, but we don’t make it that far. He’s scowling at some message that’s popped up to alert him that there’s a problem.
“What’s up?” I ask.
“Says I need to check the rear tire pressure. Hang tight, I’ll go check it out.”
I wait in the warm car while he goes to check the tire pressure. Rather than walk back around to the driver’s side once he’s finished, he stops outside my door. His mouth is set in a grim line, so I open it to see what he needs.
“I have a flat,” he announces.
“Oh, no! Do you have a spare in the trunk?”
“As luck would have it, no. I just put on winter tires and took the old spare out. Meant to buy a new one, but… well, that won’t help us now. I’m going to run back inside and see if the shopkeeper knows of any auto repair places nearby that might be able to help.”
“All right. Do you want me to come?”
He shakes his head, assures me he has it under control, and heads back inside the bookstore.
While Cal does that, I check my phone for text messages. There’s one from my mom, wanting to know if I’ll have time to eat dinner at home before my date picks me up so she can tell Adeline.
It’s not a date, I want to write back, even though I guess it is. I have a lot of doubts about going out with Percy, but I’m trying to be open-minded. I don’t think he’s my type, but maybe I’m misjudging him and he’ll surprise me.
In any case, if Cal’s dating already, there’s no reason for me to sit at home by myself and pine over him. Maybe I’ll have fun with Percy and maybe I won’t, but I owe it to myself to give it a shot.
Cal comes back, but he’s talking on his cell phone. After he hangs up, he tells me a tow truck is on its way, but the shop is only open until seven and apparently they’re booked solid. They said they could squeeze him in at the end of the day for just a single tire change, but that definitely means we won’t be going home anytime soon.
Since I know he didn’t even want to come here with me to begin with, I expect him to look a little more annoyed, but he seems surprisingly upbeat. He looks adorable, too, standing there with snow falling on him, clinging to the coarse fabric covering his broad shoulders and catching in his thick, dark hair.
He always looks incredibly handsome, whether he’s brooding or in a rare good mood, but there’s an added something about him right now. Some sparkle of mischief in his eyes that makes me feel like he didn’t just take a sledgehammer to my heart yesterday—or if he did, it’s old news.
I know that’s not the case. Part of the reason he’s in a better mood today could even be because of his stupid date with Mystery Girl. I’ve been dying to ask about it, but I can’t. There’s no way I can possibly approach that without it being weird.
Pulling me from my thoughts, Cal looks around at the falling snow and says, “Since we’re stuck here anyway, we might as well walk across the street and check out that festival you were so excited about.”
So, after the tow truck comes and hauls his car to the auto shop, we do.
It’s nice, doing something Christmassy with Mr. Scrooge. He’s more like post-ghost Ebenezer than grouchy Scrooge today, and it’s a nice change of pace.
I’m more comfortable to be here with him out in the open, too, since we’re a couple towns from home. Plenty of people pass us as we make our way to Winterfest together, but they’re strangers so it doesn’t matter if we’re seen.
Cal is taller than I am with longer legs and a broader stride, so he gets ahead of me as I dawdle, looking around at all the holiday decorations. When he realizes it, he stops and waits for me to catch up. Then, almost without thought it seems, he reaches down and places a hand at the small of my back, bringing me with him as he begins to walk again.
“You want some hot chocolate?” he asks, since we’re approaching a pop-up coffee booth advertising the warm drink.
“Yes, please,” I say, reaching into the pocket of my coat and drawing out my cashmere gloves. I didn’t need them just to walk to and from the book shop, but if we’re going to walk around outside, I need to put them on.
Cal releases me and steps forward, ordering a coffee for himself and a hot chocolate for me.
Armed with our steaming hot drinks, wandering around the festival is more enjoyable. There are tables set up, a little Christmas marketplace. There are lots of different things—tables with crafts for sale, small toys, homemade bead jewelry. It’s mostly cheap stuff, but my eye catches on something glittery—Christmassy headbands.
My hair is down today, and every time a gust of wind hits, it blows in my face, so I could really use one. I pick out a red headband with glittery green holly leaves and grin at Cal as I put it on.
“How do I look?”
“Festive,” he says dryly, as he draws out his wallet again.
We make our way over to the lively ice rink to watch people skate. Despite the weather, a lot of people are out on the ice. A little boy calls out for his parents to watch how well he’s doing—right before falling on his little butt and skidding across the frosty surface. I laugh a little and my gaze shifts to a couple, holding hands as they wobble across the ice. Neither appears to be very good at it, but they’re both smiling, clearly having a great time.
“Do you know how to ice skate?” I ask, looking over at Cal.
He glances away from the ice to look at me and shakes his head. “I’ve never tried. I had a pair of roller blades when I was around 10, probably more or less the same.”
“I bet I’m better than you,” I say mischievously.
Cal cocks an eyebrow. “You think you are better than me? Have you ice skated before?”
“Nope. Betting on blind faith. Only one way to show me up,” I tease, cocking an eyebrow.
Cal rolls his eyes at my transparent attempt to goad him into ice skating with me, but he doesn’t tell me it’s a hard no, like I expect. “What size skates do you need?”
I have no idea, but I can’t believe he agreed, so I haul him over to the skate rental booth before he can change his mind.
There are a lot of people already in line, but it gives us a chance to finish our warm drinks before we have to put on skates.
Cal rents us each a pair and we put them on while a volunteer explains the basics. It’s little help when I take the first step onto the ice and wobble all over the place.
“Oh God, I’m gonna fall.”
I don’t, though. Call is right beside me, steady on his feet. When I flail, he grabs my arm to keep me stable. Not even bothering to hide his smugness as he drifts around to stand in front of me, he asks, “Now, what was that about you being better than me?”
I roll my eyes. “It was a tricky first step, that’s all.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“I’m gonna blow you right out of the water as soon as I catch my balance.”
“I won’t hold my breath,” Cal states.
Jerk. I shoot him a dirty look and tug my arm free, nearly tipping over with the momentum. He doesn’t stop me this time. I think he’d let me fall on my ass and smirk down at me afterward, but he’d probably still offer me a hand to pull me back up.
I don’t fall, but I don’t move, either. It occurs to me that I wasn’t paying attention when the volunteer told us how to push off, but I’d rather freeze to death where I stand than ask Cal.
Gesturing to the blue whales on the ice for young skaters to ride on, or little kids to push so they have something to balance on to keep them from falling face first on the ice, Cal asks, “Should we rent you one of those?”
I cock my head to convey are you done now? and let him know I’m not impressed with his ribbing. He merely smirks and crosses his arms over his muscular chest.
It can’t be that tricky. All these people are managing. Let’s see…
I try to use my weight to move forward, but that doesn’t work. I try pushing one skate forward and just gliding gracefully across the ice, but that’s a massive fail, too.
Seeing that I don’t know how to move, Cal says, “Want help?”
“Nope, I’m gonna figure it out on my own.”
He rolls his eyes. “While I’m still young? Should I ask someone to bring me a walker for when we have to get off the ice?”
I shoot him a narrowed look, then I play with the positioning of my feet. They feel so heavy with the skates on, so unstable with my weight balanced precariously on the blades. My feet keep tipping this way and that, so I bend my knees a little and make a concerted effort to balance my weight in the middle. Once I’m steady, I use the toe of my right foot to push myself forward, and then the blade glides across the ice.
“I did it!”
Cal easily skates back out of my way so I don’t bump into him. “And before my AARP discount kicked in—good job.”
Despite his teasing, his voice is warm with approval and it fills me up. I finally manage to glide across the ice—with less grace than I imagined, but I still do it.
I’m doing okay until one of the kids with their cheating little whales flies out in front of me. I don’t want to crash into him, but I don’t know how to stop, either, so I panic and try to turn.
I lose my balance and my feet fly out from under me. I flinch and brace for the impact of hitting the ice, but instead a pair of strong arms grab me, pulling me back against a strong, hard chest.
Cal’s voice is reassuring, his hold firm. “I’ve got you.”
My heart contracts and my tummy rocks as he holds me against his body. I tell myself I should pull away and try to start skating again, but despite the fun I was having only a moment ago, his embrace is so reminiscent of the way he held me last night, memories flash to mind of his hand on my breast, his lips on the curve of my shoulder, his nearly naked body pressed against my flesh.
I shake my head, centering on the noisy ice rink and trying to bring my focus back to the present.
There’s no point thinking about that. It’ll only make me sad.
Cal finally releases me, but he keeps his arms out like he doesn’t trust my balance and he wants to be prepared in case he needs to catch me again.
“I’m good now,” I tell him, a little mellower than a moment ago.
He frowns, his gaze raking over my body to make sure I’m not harmed somewhere he hasn’t noticed. “Are you okay?”
Forcing a smile, I nod. “Yeah. I’m fine. Let’s move over here by the edge so I don’t die.”
We move to the edge of the ice rink so I can exercise a little more caution, holding on as I make my way around the perimeter. Cal skates beside me, not needing to hold onto anything. He doesn’t rub it in, but he’s significantly better at this than I am.
I finally gain enough confidence to move away from the wall, but when Cal skates in front of me and turns around, drifting backwards and offering me his hands to hold onto, I can’t bring myself to turn him down. I’m wearing my gloves, but he doesn’t have any on. Even with the cashmere keeping us from skin to skin contact, when he takes my hands in his, my heart flutters.
I look up at him and find him watching me, an enigmatic twinkle in his blue-gray eyes. God, he’s so handsome. My heart aches just looking at him, knowing he can’t be mine.
Senior year is going to suck. I don’t know how I’ll make it so many more months in his classroom.
“What are you thinking?” Cal asks, as if he can sense what’s on my mind.
“That I wish I’d been put in Ms. Corbel’s English class instead of yours,” I answer honestly.
At that, he frowns. “Why?”
Isn’t it obvious? Because then I’d never have met him. I might’ve passed by his classroom or spotted him in the halls, but we would have never interacted. He would have never noticed me. Would never have had access to my body or my heart.
I don’t answer, I just push with my toe and glide across the ice. It’s much easier with him holding my hands like this, but now that I’ve noticed he’s not wearing gloves, I’m a little worried about how long we’ve been out in the cold.
We skate a little while longer, but the snow starts falling harder and as the majority of other people decide to stop skating, we do, too.
Cal moves off the ice first so he can help me. I appreciate his gallantry, especially because he’s more attentive to my mood tonight than usual and I’m not sure why. He didn’t care at all about hurting my feelings last night when my heart was wide open, so why should he care if I wish I’d never enrolled in his class to begin with?
We return our skates and put our shoes back on, then we overhear the event organizers talking about closing up early tonight due to the worsening weather.
Cal checks his watch, then tells me, “I think we’ll have to find somewhere else to pass the time until the car is ready. Want to walk over and look at the tree before the festival shuts down?”
I do, so we make our way along the snowy sidewalk to the enormous Christmas tree set up beyond the rink. It’s lit with oversized lights and decorated with ornaments the size of my head. The falling snow catches on the branches. It’s coming down harder now, but it still looks magical. I can’t look up for long, though, because the snow gets in my eyes.
Putting his hand at the small of my back to lead me away again, Cal walks me over to another display that seems quite popular. I’ve seen a lot of couples over here posing in front of Santa’s sleigh, mostly in kissing poses. It struck me as odd, since Santa’s sleigh doesn’t put me in the mind of kissing, but as we stop near the light post to have a look, I realize why.
Hanging over us on a string of Christmas lights, there’s a sprig of mistletoe. Cal hasn’t noticed. He has his phone out, studying the screen.
“I think I just figured out why all those couples were making out in front of Santa’s reindeer,” I tell him.
Shifting his gaze to me, he asks, “Why’s that?”
I point up.
Cal tips his head back and spots the mistletoe hanging directly above us. “Ah. Yep, that’ll do it.”
A bit self-conscious now that I pointed it out, I try to make a joke. “Well, I guess you have to kiss me now.”
Cal’s lips curve up in amusement as he slides his gaze me way. “I don’t have to do anything.”
I hate that he still has enough power over me to rock my insides with his rejection when I was only kidding to begin with, but my stomach knots up, proving he does. “I wasn’t serious. I don’t want you to kiss me.”
He cocks an eyebrow, sliding his cell phone into the pocket of his coat. “No?”
“Definitely not. You probably have coffee breath. Gross,” I say, turning and preparing to walk away.
Before I make it more than a single step, Cal’s firm grip on my arm halts me. He spins me around before I even fully digest that he grabbed me to stop me walking away, and before any of that can register, he’s yanking me in close, still holding my arm to keep me in place.
Startled, I look up at him. “What are you—?”
I don’t get to finish my question, shock stealing my words. Cal’s hand comes up to caress the side of my face. His hand is cold, but so is my skin, so I barely notice.
He pulls me closer. I stumble a step, crashing into his hard body, and instinctively grab on to his shoulder to brace myself. “What are you doing?” I ask more quietly.
“Making a liar out of you,” he says simply.
