Page 30 of Once Upon A Christmas Song

“Georgine’s daughter,” he said with a grin. “Yeah. That’s where she said you were going.”

I only stared at him.

“She seems really nice, been there three years, she said. You must’ve hired her six months after I left, right?”

I nodded.

“Georgine said that you didn’t have to be the one to go get her cute kid.”

“Yeah, but I needed to get my bearings, you know?”

“Because there I was, outta the blue.”

“That’s right,” I agreed, moving by him. “So if you could just leave me––”

“Rehab kicked my ass,” he informed me, not getting the hint and instead falling into step beside me easily. “And after I got out, I needed to regroup. In my head.”

“Are you listening to me?” I asked irritably.

“Yeah. I just wanted to explain that after I saw you last, we went out on the road for a bit, and then I realized that after three records and making lots of money and winning a lot of awards, including some Grammys, that all of that pretty much pales next to you.”

I stopped walking, and he wasn’t ready for that, went right by me, but then corrected and came back.

“Really?” I growled at him.

“What?”

“I haven’t heard from you in—” I thought a moment, realizing it was actually longer. “—over two years, but everything is nothing next to me?”

“It’s true,” he said flatly.

“You’ll forgive me if I call bullshit on that,” I grumbled, starting to walk again, bumping him with my shoulder as I went by.

“It’s not bullshit,” he argued, catching up easily. “I just thought I wanted one thing, and I did, just not like I thought I did.”

I stopped again, but he was ready that time and froze at my side. “The fuck does that even mean?”

“First off, is it fine that I walk with you, or do you really need to be alone?”

“Alone,” I answered, huffing out a breath and walking away.

A couple of minutes later, stomach churning, heart pounding in my ears, I looked over my shoulder to check, and as I suspected, he was about ten feet behind me.

I stopped. “What’re you doing?”

He grimaced as he moved up alongside me. “Well, I’m basically committed to this walk at this point. I mean, we’re closer to the school than the club, yeah?”

Both hands went into my hair, because already, that fast, he was driving me nuts.

“You’re wearing that a little longer than you used to,” he commented, smiling at me. “It looks good.”

“Shut up.”

“It does. You want me to lie?”

“Just, come on.”

The smile I got was radiant, and under the sunglasses, with the stupid hat on, the people in the cars sitting in traffic beside us were probably thinking what a beautiful man he was.