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“I’m not in the way of anything, am I?” he asked, breaking the silence before it lingered any longer than it already had.
Victoria ignored him while Tess sighed exasperatedly. She broke eye contact with Victoria and faced him.
“We’re movie marathoning tonight,” she explained, though she thrust a scowl at her friend. “It’s been something of a weekly ritual for us these past few months. However, you're more than welcome to join us if you’d like to stay.”
Victoria’s gaze tightened slightly, but she didn’t speak again—not for the rest of the time he was there. It didn’t take him long to weigh his options. If he’d been a bit more stubborn, perhaps a little less concerned about social cues, he might have taken her up on the offer.
“Maybe next time,” he said, using a look at his phone as a tool to appear like he hadn’t realized how late it’d gotten. “I still need to unpack everything.”
Tess’s displeasure swam behind her electric blue eyes, though he knew she knew this was the better choice. Whatever was happening here, his presence would only cast a pall upon the situation while he remained. He didn’t expect Victoria would warm up to him if he intruded on their potentially sacred movie night. It didn’t halt his wondering, but he knew better than to rock the boat further, especially while he remained uncertainwhyhis presence rocked it for her friend.
“Okay.” Tess turned her gaze sharply toward Victoria. “Pick out the first movie.”
Tess stomped off toward the entry hall, leaving Liam and Victoria briefly alone in the living room. Liam didn’t tarry.
“It was nice to meet you, Victoria,” he said, but they both knew it was a blatant lie. She didn’t respond with a duplicate lie. “I hope you two have a fun night together.” That was less of a lie, though he couldn’t tell if his sincerity earned him anything from the severe woman. She only nodded at him, her eyes betraying a shift in her unhappiness’s foundation, but he failed to identify much more than that.
Passing by her on his way to the entry hall, he found Tess standing with folded arms by his shoes. He rushed a mild smile onto his face and started putting his shoes back on.
“Sorry about her,” Tess said quietly, glancing down at where he knelt. “She’s… not a bad person.”
“I don’t think she is,” he said as he finished doing his laces and stood up. “If she’s your friend, there must be a lot of good about her.”
Tess wore the pained expression of someone withholding a secret she desperately wanted to share. Her eyes flickered toward the living room. She sighed and opened the front door for him as he retrieved and donned his coat. Surprisingly, in only her socks, she stepped out onto her porch. He followed her, aiming a glance at the living room before he stepped outside and joined the gorgeous professor in the gelid night temperatures.
She looked at the dark form of his house. “Are you planning to put up Christmas lights?”
“Oh, um, maybe?”
Swathed in the light of her porchlights, Tess’s eyes practically radiated light. “If you do, let me know. I’d be happy to help.”
While he’d always helped his parents, he’d never taken charge of hanging the lights at his house. He was sure he’d do a shoddy job of it if he tried.
“Then I will,” he said, staring into Tess’s scintillating eyes. “I don’t want my house to look like a dark gremlin between yours and Gary’s.”
She responded to his sudden decision with a smile so luminous that it could have outshone a star. “Good. Just give me a knock when you want me.”
He knew he shouldn’t have allowed it, but his heart skipped a beat because of her word choice. Quickly nodding, Tess bid him farewell. As he bounded from her front door to his, he glanced over his shoulder. She remained standing in the cold, braving its frigid touch to wave at him as he hurried home. Heart clamoring within his chest with the boom of a rock concert, he waved back.
To his dismay, upon entering his home, he realized that he’d forgotten to turn up the heat before heading over to Tess’s place.
Chapter Four
A Searing Memory
The next day proved no warmer than its predecessor. Frost sheathed Liam’s front yard in shades of pale blue, and the meek sun in a cloudless sky selfishly kept all its heat to itself. Braving the outdoors a little after nine, he shivered and regretted opening his door for even a moment. Yet, by the time ten arrived, he’d armored himself in his thickest clothes and punched through the chill barrier hovering outside his door.
It did its damndest to see him beat a hasty retreat to his home’s warmth, which would shake its head at him like a parent who’d warned him that his silly actions would end badly but still smother him in a hearty embrace. However, neither the crunch of the stiff grass nor the shivers plunged into his bones by the cruel wind impeded his path. The joints in his forefinger ached as he pressed her doorbell.
While he waited, he danced that little jig that anyone familiar with standing in the cold would recognize. He breathed in short, frantic puffs, gritting his teeth as white plumes gathered before his lips. His eyes turned toward a frosty Cherry Lane, which was far bluer in the pallid daylight than last night. At least they’d been spared an ice storm so far.
The pale coloration summoned memories of the gorgeous but disdainful Victoria. He’d combed his mind for any explanation behind her immediate dislike for him but came up with nothing. He knew they’d never met before; he’dneverhave forgotten her if they had. He couldn’t scrounge up a memory of Tess mentioning her name before, either. He lacked even the thinnest lead as to why she’d glared nothing but daggers at him last night. Perhaps he could convince Tess to reveal the reason behind her apparent hatred today.
If she ever comes to her door!his mind whined as he reaffixed his attention to her door.
The cold savaged him for another ten seconds before someone appeared at the door. Yesterday, he’d seen a sight—Tess in leggings—that he’d never imagined he would see. Today, as her door opened, he realized it might no longer be such an uncommon sight. Inwardly, he cheered.
Hair slightly damp after a recent shower, Tess had swapped yesterday’s black leggings for a grey pair today. Minus a sweater to replicate last night’s look, she shivered as the cold flooded into her home through the crack she made when checking who was at her door. Regardless, she smiled upon finding him there and opened the door further.
