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I grinned. To think all these years, all I had to do to get Carson to stop antagonizing me was to pay him attention.
“Well, go on. I know you’re dying to open it.” She shooed me inside. “I won’t hover.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I called out as I picked up the box. Then proceeded up the stairs, the box balanced in front of me.
“Don’t fall,” she hollered after me.
I hurried into my bedroom, set the box down on the floor, and opened the card. Inside was a small note.
Mia,
You deserve the best. And though the quality of this tree is questionable, it’s little like you. Maybe it’s kismet.
Or maybe it’s all the drugstore had left. Either way, everyone deserves a tree. Especially you.
Merry Christmas, Shorty.
Yours,
Carson
I smiled as I opened the box, and, sure enough, inside was a little two-foot Christmas tree. The pine branches stretched to the top of the box, reaching like little arms. Scooping it up by the plastic base, I pulled it out and set it on top of my desk.
Hanging from the little branches were small plastic bulbs in pink, blue, and silver. Strung across the artificial pine, on clear twine that looked suspiciously like fishing wire, were diamond-shaped crystals. And when I clicked the red button on the box at the base, bright, white lights twinkled like stars.
It was maybe the best tree I’d ever seen. And it was mine.
Sinking down into my desk chair, I stared at it, memorizing every little detail before I picked up my cell and dialed Carson’s number to tell him thanks. When he finally answered, and I heard the deep rumble of his voice, my stomach somersaulted, and all I could think was that it felt a lot like falling.
Chapter 24
MIA
Iwipedmydamppalms on the top of my jeans and glanced at the people around me, wondering if anyone else could possibly be as nervous as I was.
That morning, I put on my green Lakeview hoodie and a pair of cute jeans, then took a ridiculous amount of time to weave my peachy locks into a fishtail braid underneath a baseball cap. Some light makeup and lip gloss completed the look. All in all, I thought I looked cute, but not like I was trying too hard.
My phone dinged again, but I ignored it, shoving down the little surge of guilt that accompanied that sound. Ethan had texted me just before I left the house, asking if I wanted to hang out. As a general rule, we didn’t lie to each other. But something felt wrong about telling him I was going to Carson’s meet. And if I’d told him and he wanted to go, then what? Carson made it pretty clear without saying so that he wanted me to come alone.
He wanted me. All to himself. And how could I argue with that?
I wasn’t doing anything wrong, I told myself as I waited for Carson’s relays. I was allowed to have a life outside of Ethan. Even he had plans to officially ask Beth out over winter break, and then he’d be so preoccupied, I’d hardly see him.
By the time I arrived at the meet, junior varsity had already finished swimming. I sat through girls varsity, and when they finished their final relay, I knew the boys varsity was finally about to start, which meant Carson would be up soon.
I searched for him in the team seats by the pool, but there was no sight of him. It wasn’t more than a minute later, however, when I felt a small tug on the messy braid trailing over my shoulder and turned.
Carson smiled at me. “Having fun?”
“Yeah,” I said, and I hardly recognized my own voice. It was soft and breathless as I soaked him in. The Lakeview warm-up suit he wore brought out the blue in his eyes, and there was an energy there I had never seen before, one that I was sure had to do with the race.
He ran a hand through his messy, dark hair and laughed. “Liar. I’m sure you’re bored.”
“Brooks!” His coach yelled from across the pool, where he stood, clipboard in hand.
Carson rolled his eyes. “That man keeps tabs on me like I’m his kid.”
“Well, they can’t be missing their star swimmer, now can they?”
