AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I literally just walked in twenty seconds ago. How had I missed it?
Selena opens the front door and steps out onto the porch to look at it.
My stomach plummets as I follow after her. “Selena,” I warn. I don’t want anyone to recognize her.
“It’s fine,” she argues. I’m about to protest, but the fat flakes make me forget about it. Already, they’re sticking to the ground.
I don’t live where it snows anymore. It’s kind of mesmerizing to see.
Selena hugs herself because of the cold. Her bare feet are standing on the porch, and I don’t know how they haven’t turned into icicles yet.
“You know what we should do?” she asks, looking away from the snow for one second to set her eyes on mine. I can’t help but notice how beautiful she looks out here, so vulnerable and happy about the snow, sort of like a little kid. The bruise on her eye has nearly gone away, too.
“What?”
“We should buy some Christmas decorations. Hang them up. Make this place a little cheerier.”
I hesitate.
“Come on! Kenny, I know it’s just a rental, but who cares? Living in a rental and not knowing how long you’re going to stay isn’t a reasonnotto celebrate Christmas.”
As much as I want to be frustrated with her, as angry as I am at my boss, and as scared as I am about losing my job, I can’t help but feel a little bit lighter. Something about being around Selena just does that to me.
I crack a small smile. “Oh, what the heck.”
Selena squeals excitedly and throws her arms around me in a hug. I am not used to being hugged by her, so my body tenses up a little at first. When she seems to remember that she hasn’t ever hugged me either, she pauses briefly, and then steps away.
“I’m coming with,” she tells me.
“No, Selena.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’ll wear a hoodie and keep sunglasses on. You do the same. No one will recognize either of us. Besides, it’s late. No one is probably even out right now. Especially in the snow. Come on!”
She dashes back inside the house before I could even answer her. I chew on the inside of my cheeks nervously. If somebody catches me with Selena, I get the feeling that they’re going to spread rumors that I kidnapped her. That there’s no way she would be staying here, hidden, willingly.
And what if my boss finds out?
Selena quickly gets changed and meets me back out on the porch, where I haven’t moved. When she sees the look on my face, she tilts her head. “Kenny?”
I suck in a breath and shake my keys at her. “Let’s go,” I say to her.
We get into my Subaru and head to a supermarket, both of us wearing our disguises when we enter the store. Selena was right; the store is completely dead. Not even the workers really seem to be lingering around.
So, Selena and I go to the Christmas section and start browsing through the decorations, the two of us even managing to crack jokes and laugh with each other as we do so. The more time I spend with Selena, the more I wonder why anyone would want to hurt her. She’s literally perfect.
And really hard to be mad at, might I add.
After we’ve selected our lights, ribbons, Christmas tree, and ornaments, we go to pay at the self-checkout—that way, we don’t have to talk to anybody—then we get back into my car and head back to my rental.
“Look at that,” Selena comments as she helps me get the stuff out of my trunk. “We weren’t spotted once!”
It’s around seven at night now, but even though the snow is falling heavily, and we can barely see, Selena is determined to hang up the decorations right now. So together, we line the roof of the rental and the porch railing with red and green strands of lights, then when we’re nearly about to freeze our asses off, we head inside and get to work on the Christmas tree.
“I don’t want to freak you out, but I left the stove on warm the entire time we were gone…” Selena says to me, biting her bottom lip as she looks over into the kitchen.
I look over at the pot on the stove. Indeed, the stove light is on.
I rush over to it and open the lid. I had expected such an old stove to have burned the shit out of whatever’s inside, but to my surprise, the soup that Selena made is gently bubbling and still smells as heavenly as ever.
