Unbreakable (Cloverleigh Farms, #4)(25)

Could I convince him he wouldn’t be an intrusion? Would he even want to come here? Maybe he just wanted to be left alone. Maybe it would just be awkward to be in the same room together today, after what we’d done last night. The thought made me sad—I didn’t want things to be awkward between us. Henry was the closest thing I had to a good friend here. I liked and respected him. He made me laugh. We understood each other.

Had the kiss ruined everything?

When the mess was cleaned up, I went upstairs, showered, and got dressed. Mack was due over with the girls around two, and my dad had promised to take everyone out in the new antique sleigh. We’d had plenty of snow overnight, and the whole farm looked magical, like something inside a snow globe.

Once I was dressed, I told Keaton and Whitney to get upstairs and do the same, then told my mom I was going for a walk.

“Want company?” she asked from the couch, where she was relaxing with another cup of coffee and a new paperback I’d gotten her.

“No, that’s okay. I won’t be long—just need to burn off some calories before Christmas dinner.” It was partly the truth, but I also wanted to see if Henry’s truck was in the lot.

“Sounds good. Bundle up,” she admonished, ever the mom.

“I will.” After pulling on all my winter gear, I left the house and wandered down the brick path again, as I had the other night. But this time, Henry’s truck wasn’t there.

I was both happy and sad—it was good that he wasn’t so miserable at home alone that he’d come into work on Christmas Day, but I also wanted to see him. I walked back home and asked my dad, who was helping Keaton unpack his telescope, if I could borrow his car.

“Sure, honey. Keys are on a hook in the mudroom. Be careful—the roads are still slippery.”

“Thanks, I will.” I ruffled Keaton’s hair. “I won’t be long.”

“Okay,” he said. “Can we call Dad when you get back? I want to tell him what I got.”

“You can call him whenever you want, buddy. But remember the time difference—it’s only about eight A.M. there right now. He might not be up yet.”

“Okay.”

Praying Brett wouldn’t ignore a call from his children on Christmas morning—but not putting it past him—I grabbed my dad’s car keys off the hook near the back door and headed out to the garage.

While the car warmed up, I called April.

“Hey,” she said after the first ring. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas.”

“Did Santa come?”

“He did. The kids are happy.”

“I didn’t even see you before I left last night. Did you sneak off to get the presents under the tree?”

“No, actually, I was in the bar most of the night talking to Henry. And then he walked back to the house with me and helped me get the gifts out after the kids went to bed.”

“Aha. Interesting.”

“It wasn’t like that,” I scolded, although actually, it was exactly like that.

“I’m only teasing. You know I adore Henry and think you two should be friends.”

“Yeah.” I bit my lip. “Speaking of that, you don’t happen to know his address, do you?”

“I probably have it somewhere. Hold on.”

I waited, trying to think up a good reason why I’d need his address right now and coming up short. Maybe I’d get lucky and she wouldn’t ask.

Nope.

Right after she recited it, she asked, “What do you need his address for?”

Sighing, I decided to be honest—or close to it. “Because I feel weird about something that happened last night, and I think he might too. And I don’t really want to deal with it over the phone, not that I even have his number.”

April was silent for a moment. “What happened last night?”

I hesitated.

“Sylvia, you cannot do this to me. What happened?”

“Okay, okay.” I took a breath. “He kissed me. We kissed.”

Her gasp was audible. “You said it wasn’t like that! And wait, those are two different things. He kissed you? Or you simultaneously kissed each other?”

“What difference does it make?”

“You’re not seriously asking me that, are you? It’s a huge difference! Who made the move?”

“He did.”

April squealed so loud I had to hold the phone away from my ear. “Details!”

“There aren’t that many. We were standing in the dark next to the tree, and he said something really sweet, and then the next thing I knew, he kissed me.”

“Did you kiss him back?”

“Um, yes. Very enthusiastically. I’m actually a little embarrassed at how enthusiastically I kissed him back.”

“Why?”

“Because I totally grabbed his ass.”

Another squeal, possibly louder than the first. “So what happened after that?”

I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Grandma Sawyer’s clock on the mantel went off and scared the shit out of us.”

“No!”

“Yep. We jumped apart, he apologized, and then he practically bolted out the door.”

“God, it’s like Cinderella! The clock struck midnight, and the spell was broken.”