My chest tightens at her words. "Anytime."
It takes all that I am not to grab her into my arms and kiss her deeply. To really have her. For real. For once.
Instead, I unlock the door and slip out of it.
CHAPTER 27
WREN
I’m never failed to be amazed by the Christmas decorations in Salt Lake. Although, each year, I feel like they get more and more extravagant. The girls and I like to keep our decorations simple with a small silver tree and decorations to match while the other apartments in our complex do the same. The second we venture out of our part of town; the houses get more glamorous. This year I’ve seen one house transformed into a giant present and one house with Christmas trees almost bigger than the one in Rockefeller.
When I walk up to Miles’ truck, he’s blasting Mariah Carey’s Christmas songs. I laugh as I open the door and slide in, watching him with adoration. I know I almost slipped up the other night after my performance, when I held his face. Physical touch has always been my love language and it felt like the best way to show my gratitude.
I couldn’t bring myself to say it then, but I am so grateful for him. He sat with me for what felt like hours after the show when I waited for my mom to show up.
He still brought me home and ate dinner with me after he saw how bratty I was acting with her. I’m not proud of it but I was really pissed about her missing the end of my performance. She tends to have that nasty effect on me. I am glad that she’s letting us go to Palm Springs though, I was lucky that I didn’t tell her about Austin.
I do need the break. I know she wanted me to do it after the performance but after everything, I didn’t have the energy to. She’s going to have to wait.
“Merry Christmas, my love,” he drawls as if he has only just noticed I got in the car. I turn down the music and frown at him.
“Hey, what happened to Wrenny Rainbow? It was starting to grow on me,” I groan. He laughs as looks at me and then back at the road. Then he gives me another glance.
“You look hot,” he says without missing a beat. I give him an unimpressed look.
“Do you have to say that every time?”
“Yes. You need to get used to it,” he replies with a smug grin. I ignore him.
“You could have told me to dress down,” I say gesturing to his jeans and thick jumper. I put on a short red skater dress and black boots, with a long black puffer coat to keep warm, assuming this would be more of a formal thing.
“What part of ‘you look hot’ don’t you get? If you look better than me, they’ll know that you care, and they’ll focus onyouinstead of me.”
“I don’t want them to focus on me,” I moan, sulking back in my seat.
“You could be wearing a garbage bag and you’d still be the most gorgeous woman in the room, Wren.” He looks at me intensely when he says it, his eyes taking another sweep of my outfit. I’m telling you; this man has no filter. I hold up the bag that I brought in my hand. "I got your mom a necklace and I couldn't find anything for Clara or your dad but I'm sure-"
"It's fine," Miles cuts me off. "Thank you. You really didn't have to do any of that but I'm sure my mom will appreciate it."
"Are you sure?" I ask, turning to him while he drives. "I didn't even ask if she prefers gold or silver. What if-"
He stops the car abruptly and he's lucky we're in the middle of an empty estate. He turns to me with a serious expression. "Amelia Wren Hackerly. Stop worrying for five minutes and just live in the moment. Can you do that for me?"
I stick my tongue in my cheek at his sudden seriousness. "I can try."
"Good," he replies sternly.
"Fine," I say back.
"Great."
"Perfect."
He holds my stare for a few beats before he smiles and turns back to driving. I pick up Miles' phone from the holder and look through his playlists, trying to put some decent music on. I find one called 'Songs for Wrenny,' and I laugh.
"What's this?" I ask, looking through it.
"Can't really see when I'm driving, baby," he says through a smile.
