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After grabbing a plate for himself, he settled in next to me. “Maybe. But the look on your face was worth it.” He chuckled.
I rolled my eyes and pretended to huff a little more. My few seconds of embarrassment were one-hundred percent worth seeing such a carefree look on Jareth’s face. I wanted to take a picture of it so he could see just how I saw him. Kind and sweet and completely loveable.
After taking another bite, he picked up the remote and turned on the TV. He tapped the buttons, until he pulled up a queue of movies. At first it didn’t hit me until I focused on the list he was scrolling through.
“Is that The Holiday?” I loved watching that movie around Christmas. A tug of sadness settled within my belly. Gran, Lacey, and I always watched this together in the few days leading up to Christmas.
“Looks like it.” He didn’t say anything else.
“And Elf?” I looked harder at the titles scrolling across the screen and gasped. “You have all my go-to holiday movies.”
A sheepish look settled on his face. “I know Christmas is your favorite holiday. And it’s your tradition to watch these.”
“It is.” My heart thudded in my chest. He had done this to try and make up for dragging me here so close to the holidays. I blinked to clear the tears obscuring my vision. “Thank you.”
“It’s no big deal.” He shrugged.
Then it hit me. “You talked to Lacey?” He’d met her a handful of times, but I was surprised he remembered her. Guilt seared through me that I hadn’t been the one to call her and break the news I wasn’t going to be home for Christmas.
“I know she’s your best friend. She’s in your list of contacts,” he admitted without remorse. The only way for him to know that is if he hacked into my phone.
“You know we’re going to have to discuss this little thing called privacy at some point,” I teased.
I didn’t miss the scowl that crossed his face.
“Seriously though, Jareth. You need to promise me you’ll stop.”
He opened his mouth with what I was pretty sure was a reason to negate my demand based on the furrow between his brows.
“If you want to know something, ask. Okay?”
He gave a reluctant nod.
I leaned into his side and placed a light kiss on the curve of his jaw. “I know you were trying to do something nice for me and because of that I’ll let it slide this time. I need to trust you won’t just invade my privacy because you can.”
His grunt of concession had me laughing so hard I snorted.
We finished eating, put away the food, and curled up together to watch the rest of the movie. His arm lay snug around me while my head rested in the crook of his shoulder. This wasn’t how I imagined this week going, but a small part of me was grateful to Gran for insisting I stay. Maybe she was right and this was just what I needed.
CHAPTER 18
Hazel
Jareth’s phone rang as the credits to the movie started rolling. He answered the call, giving a curt sound of acknowledgement before hanging up. When he stood, I shifted to the edge of the bed to follow him.
“What’s going on?” I tugged on his hand to stop him from leaving the room without clueing me in.
His gaze gentled as a bright smile I didn’t see enough crossed his face. “We have a delivery.”
His cryptic reply had me scrambling off the bed and grabbing my shirt he’d tossed to the floor. “What kind of delivery?” I asked, finding my shorts next and pulling them on.
“It’s a surprise.” He turned on his heel and strode from the room with purpose. Did he expect me to follow?
I hurried after him into the living room, watching in awe as he opened the front door, revealing a parade of employees who entered our kitchen, their arms laden with grocery bags. They set them on the floor and quickly began to unpack what was inside.
The first staff member, a tiny woman maybe ten years older than me wearing the same white and turquoise uniform as everyone else, unearthed a bag of flour and placed it on the island followed by four more. My gaze darted between the four people standing in our kitchen, pulling item after item out from the reusable bags in front of them. Sugar, spices, then three cartons of eggs, and milk all lined up neatly on the counter in front of me.
Everything I needed to make the traditional cookies Gran and I made for Christmas was now set up in front of me. How in the world had Jareth known about all this?
