“You live together?” he asks, tossing the towel into the corner.
“Yeah, we were together for a long time,” I say, letting the bitterness seep into my tone.
He nods, staring out of the window like he’s deep in thought about something before finally speaking.
“Let’s get showered.”
She walks out of her house with two massive suitcases, an angry expression on her face, and her hair blowing in her face despite the beanie she’s thrown on. I jump out of my car and help her, telling her to get in where it’s warm while I put them in the trunk.
Jesus Christ, they’re heavy.
“What happened?” I ask her as I climb back into the driver’s seat.
“She was there,” she tells me as I drive off in the direction of the diner. It’s snowing hard now, coming down in huge white flakes. We may finally get a white Christmas. “I decided just to pack as much of my shit as I could stay at my parents’ over Christmas, and then I told him I would be back for the rest.”
“Good, I’m glad you have your family to rely on.” I offer her my hand, and she looks at it a moment before taking it, lacing our fingers together and taking a deep breath. My chest swells with happiness when I feel her squeeze my hand.
“Sorry,” she mumbles, looking over at me with sad eyes.
“Why in the world are you sorry?”
“Just…could you possibly take me to my parents’ after breakfast? They don’t live that far from here.”
“Of course, Holly. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.” I give her hand a squeeze for reassurance, and she nods, turning her attention back out the car window.
The rest of the ride is silent, both of us watching it snow. I glance over at her a lot, unable to keep my eyes off her. She’s dressed in a simple outfit of boots, jeans, and a soft sweater. But I can’t get over how beautiful she looks in the soft light.
When we get to the diner, I jog around the car and open her door for her. When she steps out, she stands on her tiptoes and purses her lips, making a kissing noise. I smile and take her face in both of my hands, kissing her softly before throwing my arm around her and escorting her inside.
The diner is warm, and the scent of coffee and pancakes hits us as we walk in.
“Nicky!” Wanda comes walking up to us, eyeing Holly as she takes me in her arms. “Haven’t seen you in a while. Who’s the pretty girl?”
Holly blushes under the attention.
“This is Holly,” I say, smiling down at the soft pink coloring her cheeks. “Holly, this is Wanda. We’ve become pretty good friends over the years I’ve been coming here.”
“It’s so nice to meet you,” Holly says.
“It’s about time he brings a lady with him,” Wanda says as she walks us over to a booth in the corner. “We were all beginning to think he’d be alone in that bar for the rest of his life.” She doesn’t give me time to talk back before she’s saying something about coffee and walking off toward the counter.
“Wow, you come here often, huh?” Holly asks, her face lighting up with humor.
“Probably more than I should,” I tell her, handing her a menu.
We make small talk before ordering. Holly gets the snickerdoodle pancakes, and I get my normal breakfast platter. I watch her as she stares out of the window and sips on her extremely sugary coffee. I think she put five creamers and double that in sugar packets in that little cup.
“You’re staring,” she says, turning her attention back to me.
“I’m thinking,” I murmur, smiling behind my own cup of coffee.
“That’s scary.”
“I’m thinking I’d like to get to know you more,” I confess, leaning forward to gauge her reaction.
“I think we know each other pretty well,” she laughs as Wanda sits our food down in front of us. When she walks away, Holly continues. “You probably know me better than any other person I’ve been with.”
“You know what I mean,” I tell her, my eyes narrowing on her playfully as she takes an impressive bite of the pancakes. “I want to learn things about you outside of the bedroom. I mean, I’d love to continue to explore everything about that tight little body of yours inside the bedroom. But I’d also like to know your favorite food and if you organize your books by title or genre. You know, the big stuff.”
“Mmm,” she hums, smiling and nodding her head. “The big stuff.”
“I’ll even buy all the sugar and creamer the store has in stock to make sure you have enough to make your coffee exactly as you like it when you stay over.”