The Assignment

I blinked. “What?”

His stare burned into mine. “I thought I could wait to tell you that. I wanted to get the tough conversation over with first, but I can’t hold it in anymore. I fucking love you, and at the very least, I need you to know that.”

“I don’t understand.” My chest heaved. “Why don’t you just say what you need to say?”

“I just did. The rest can wait until the day after Christmas. What I need you to understand as you go to sleep tonight is that I love you—and I have for some time. Pretty sure the day I stormed out of here in jealousy and took that long ride, I already knew it then.”

I shook my head. As much as I’d felt the same way about him, I couldn’t return the sentiment right now without understanding the full picture.

Kiki came running into the kitchen and over to the stovetop where the cookies were cooling.

“Troy, you want a cookie?”

It took a few seconds before he moved his eyes off of me and over to her. “I would love a cookie.”

“Aspyn can’t have one,” she said. “They have sugar.”

“Damn, I should’ve made her some of mine.” He winked.

Kiki took a bite out of the sugar cookie shaped like a gingerbread man. “On Christmas Eve, we get to have cookies before dinner.” She handed him one.

“Lucky girl.” Troy smiled.

“Are you staying for dinner?” she asked.

“Well, I have tree parts to get back to my granddad…” He looked over at me.

Despite my hesitation, I felt like I should at least offer him the opportunity to have dinner with us, given his hard work on the tree tonight.

“You should stay for dinner, if you want,” I said.

He placed his hand on my shoulder, sending shockwaves of awareness through me. “No. You enjoy your evening with your family. Just make some time for me the day after tomorrow, okay?”

Still feeling almost outside my own body after his proclamation of love, I accompanied him to the door and watched as he disappeared into the cold winter night.

Needless to say, I spent most of that Christmas Eve and the day after totally preoccupied. I couldn’t even look at the tree without thinking of Troy. His behavior had me completely baffled, but I couldn’t help but be buoyed by hope. He loves me. I just hoped our conversation would make all the other pieces fall into place.

Troy

Nervouswas too mild a word to describe how I felt as I stood at Aspyn’s door the day after Christmas. My holiday had been filled with anticipatory anxiety. Nonno, my father, and I had eaten a nice dinner together yesterday, but while my body was there, my head wasn’t.

Aspyn had agreed to let me come over at noon. And when she opened the door, she was dressed up a bit more than usual for just hanging around the house. She wore a lavender sweater and short black skirt with leather boots up to her knees. She looked incredibly hot, but I couldn’t even allow myself to enjoy it until I knew the direction things would be heading today.

I wiped the snow off my feet before entering. “Thank you for making time for me. I assume Kiki is with your parents since it’s a Saturday?”

“Yeah. She’s not here, so we have privacy.” Aspyn headed toward the kitchen. “You want some coffee? I just brewed a new pot.”

“Sure.”

“Milk and sugar, right?”

“No, actually I’ve been drinking it black.”

“Really…”

“Yeah.” I smiled, neglecting to admit the sappy reason why.

Aspyn quietly prepared our coffees before handing me a mug.

“Should we sit?” I asked, feeling jittery.

She shook her head. “No. I’m too antsy to sit still. Just tell me what this is all about. I don’t understand anything that’s happened since you went to Seattle.”

I gave myself a mental push to start talking. All I was doing was wasting time. “So…I stopped in Boston on my way back to Meadowbrook.”

Aspyn paused mid-sip. “You did?”

“Yeah. I decided to go see where my mother lived. I’d been doing a lot of self-reflection in Seattle, and part of that was needing to understand the things that were supposedly so important to Jennifer—more important than me.” I inhaled and blew out some air. “Anyway, I ran into her boyfriend, Gregory, the man who’d taken care of her before she died.”

“Wow. Okay…”