Christmas Ever After (Puffin Island 3)

“Next time I’m on the island I’ll send you a text and we can hook up for a drink or something.” Knowing she had to get out of there, she walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks for everything, Alec. You’ve been a real friend. I owe you.” Before she could step back he clamped his arm round her waist and pulled her back to him.

“Wait.” His voice was thickened. “This is sudden.”

“Not really.”

“It’s sudden. And it doesn’t feel right. What aren’t you telling me? Did your parents call again? Did they say something?”

“Yes. And it was awkward.” Better for him to think that than know the truth. “And I really need to go home and clear the air.”

“Is Zach flying you?”

“No. I don’t want Emily and Brittany to know because they’ll try to talk me out of it. I’m taking the ferry.”

“I’ll drive you to the ferry.”

And she’d be trapped in the car with him, in that close, secluded intimacy that would somehow make her feelings feel huge. “No need. Pete is on his way.”

“You called Pete? Why?”

“Because you have a deadline.”

“I would have driven you.”

She eased away from him. “I probably won’t see you before you go to Antarctica, so have a great trip. Post some photos. I’m following you on Twitter and Instagram now, along with half the female population.”

“Sky—”

“I hear Pete.” Choked, she grabbed her case and walked quickly to the door. “You should probably spend Christmas Eve at Harbor House because there’s another storm forecast and you don’t want to be snowed in here with no turkey.”

She dragged open the door and gasped as the freezing air hit her.

The sky was gray and overcast, threatening more snow.

She paused, torn between stealing a last look at him and wanting to run. She’d wanted love for so long. She’d had no idea it would feel this painful.

“Merry Christmas, Alec.”

“WHAT DO YOU mean she’s gone? How can she have gone?” Brittany stared at him the next day when Alec headed over to Harbor House for some lunch. “What the hell did you do to her?” Her anger scraped over him like fingernails on a blackboard and Alec gritted his teeth.

There was no blame she could direct at him that he hadn’t already directed at himself. “I didn’t do anything.”

“She was going to have Christmas with us for the first time.” Brittany stalked around him, eyes flashing. “What happened?”

He’d asked himself the same question repeatedly. Looked at it from every angle. “Nothing happened.”

“Something must have happened to make her change her mind.”

Zach frowned. “He’s told you nothing happened.”

“I don’t believe him.” Brittany planted herself in front of him like a warrior confronting the enemy. “So you woke up and found her gone? She left a note?”

“No. She told me she was going.”

“And you didn’t call us?” Emily’s tone was reproachful. “Why didn’t you call us? If we had known, we might have been able to stop her. Did she seem upset?”

He’d asked himself that, too. Gone over and over that morning, as if repeatedly streaming the same movie, looking for something he’d missed.

“No. It didn’t occur to me that she was upset until after she’d left.”