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“You look happier today,” he observed.
“I am.” My cheeks heated as the memory of this morning flashed through my head.
“I’m glad, Juliana. You deserve it.” He spun me around. “Just make sure he treats you well.”
“We both made mistakes.” Ones I hadn’t had the chance to fix. Yet. But at least Mitch and I were talking again.
“Thank you. For letting me come home with you.”
I tilted my head back to look at him. The sadness in his eyes was almost more than I could bear. I placed a hand on his chest.
“I’m glad you’re not alone.”
His mouth flattened. “I’m used to it.”
“You don’t have to be anymore. My family loves you. They’d be thrilled for you to come around anytime you like.” I leaned in close, and lowered my voice. “As long as you promise not to tell Mama you slept on the air mattress.”
“Deal.” He glanced down between us. “Are you sure I won’t be imposing tomorrow? Christmas is usually family time.”
I shoved at his chest, though not too hard. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t ask that. Besides, if you aren’t there, how am I supposed to give you your present?”
“You got me a gift?” The surprise on his face broke my heart a little more.
“You didn’t get me one?” I asked, pretending to be insulted.
“Of course, I did.” He hugged me close. “This is the best Christmas I’ve ever had.”
“It hasn’t even happened yet.”
“Doesn’t matter.” I pushed up on my toes to kiss his cheek at the same time Emily called our names.
Alfie’s head turned.
Our lips touched.
We froze.
A bottle shattered.
Reality set in, and I tore my lips from Alfie’s. Mitch stood at the edge of the dance floor, broken glass at his feet. His muscles were tense, jaw tight, as his eyes flashed daggers at me. He whirled around, shoving Stone out of the way.
Mulaney stared in disbelief. The bar went quiet except for the song that hadn’t yet come to an end.
“Mitch!” I called, chasing after him.
I bobbed through the crowd and ran out the open front door just in time to see his truck back up before he flew out of the parking lot, leaving a cloud of dust.
I threw my hands up. They landed on top of my head as I watched him drive away. We’d been okay. That wasn’t even a kiss. It was an accident.
A hand touched my shoulder.
“Juliana. You okay?”
I shook my head at the compassion in Alfie’s tone. “I don’t think so,” I whispered.
Mitch hadn’t looked that hurt the day I’d told him about Paris. As sweet as he was, he would only tolerate so much. Me kissing another guy was over the line. Except I hadn’t, not intentionally anyway. But that didn’t matter. As long as Mitch believed he saw what he saw, he’d never hear me out.
I couldn’t blame him. If the roles had been reversed, I wouldn’t have either.
