A Little Bit of Christmas (Crystal Lake 3)

She yanked her head up but remained silent.

“Maybe.” Chess wasn’t making this easy.

“If you want it to be.”

“I don’t understand,” she said slowly.

“Come with me to New York. We’ll have a long road trip to talk about all the stuff we don’t understand. About the hundreds of reasons this is probably a crazy thing to do. About the fact that I normally take the left side of the bed but I gave it up for you. Or that your smile is the only thing I want to see right now, so I need you to smile.”

She did.

“And then tell me you’ll come with me. Tell me you feel the same. That we were brought together for a reason and that maybe that reason is long-term.” He took a step back and held out his hand. “What do you say?”

Silence stretched so long and thin, it felt like it could snap.

“Oh my God, Chess, answer the man.” Joely stood a few feet away, her excited voice at least two decibels higher than normal.

Ted Williams sat back in his chair and nodded. “Just look at her face,” he said. “She already did.”

Chess Somers gave the old man a hug before doing the same to Joely and Steve, who’d heard the commotion and come out of the kitchen. She took her gift and held it close while Cash swallowed her other hand in his big one.

“Are we really doing this?” she said to him as they walked into the cold fresh air.

“Yes,” he said, enveloping her in his arms. “We are.”

He helped her pack her things, and less than an hour later, they were on the highway headed to New York City and a future full of possibilities with no names to them. All because of a storm, an old man who looked like Santa Claus, and because sometimes love finds you when you’re not looking for it. And it doesn’t matter that the love is new or that it hasn’t been fully explored. What matters is that when it comes along, you pay attention.

Cash grinned and glanced at the woman beside him.

For once in his life, he’d listened.

Chess glanced up suddenly. “What?” she asked with a smile.

“I’m just thinking that if I have to give up the left side of the bed,

then you’re going to have to give me something in return.”

“Is that so? What do you have in mind?’

“I don’t know yet.” Cash winked. “I’ve got hours to think about it.”

“Well, you let me know when you figure it out.”

“Oh, I will.” He settled back as the truck ate up the miles. “You can count on that.”

And much later, he did, many times, in fact, to both of their mutual pleasure. But the thing was, and this he kept to himself—Cash didn’t mind sleeping on the right side of the bed…

As long as that bed had Chess in it.