Sugar

Plucking my hat off my head, I caught my breath. My boots weren’t rubber soled or the sort any sane person would wear in the snow. Stretching my fingers to get the blood circulating under my mittens, I accepted the bags again.

“It’s supposed to snow quite a bit tonight,” Winston said, as he followed me to the lobby and called the elevator.

“Great.”

Philadelphia and snow were a catastrophe. Cars had to be moved so plow trucks could fit down the narrow streets. Then, once the plows came through, the drifts piled up in the usual parking spaces, giving pedestrians the claustrophobic pleasure of feeling like they were walking through a luge shaft to get where they needed to go.

The cold, northern temperatures ensured the snow piles took forever to melt, leaving hundreds of cars displaced, and the walks slicked with frozen black slush. Yes, I definitely needed to invest in new winter boots.

Lugging my groceries into the lift, I thanked Winston again and keyed in my floor number.

“Hold the door.” A hand slipped through the cracked opening just before it sealed shut and my heart stopped. Noah, holding his own bags, stared across the threshold.

“Hey.” He broke eye contact and turned away.

Were we speaking? To each other? “Hey.”

Lips pressed tight, I stepped to the far side and stared at the buttons. The doors closed again, and I could swear the elevator was moving extra slow today.

His natural scent mixed with the metallic trace of winter air on his clothes. From the corner of my eye, I noted he was wearing a new coat, this one wool with a duffel hood and wooden hoop buttons. Men really shouldn’t wear such nice clothes. It gave the impression they were trying too hard to be attractive, which he’d succeeded in doing. The man could honestly wear a poncho and bring sexy back.

“It’s supposed to snow tonight.”

Was he talking to me? Of course, he was. No one else was here. “Yup.”

“The stores are all picked over. I got the last loaf of bread.”

“Congratulations.”

For some reason, people in this area bombarded grocery stores, stocking up on obscene amounts of bread, milk, and shovels at the first sight of a flurry. Where did all the shovels go from last year, I often wondered.

“Did you get a backup charger for your phone? Sometimes the power goes out in the building when we get a blizzard.”

I frowned. Was he actually trying to be nice to me? Like a friend? “No, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“Well, I have one if you need to use it.”

“I said I’ll be fine.”

“I’m just being neighborly.”

“Well, don’t hurt yourself.”

For some reason, his gentle tone only reminded me of how awful his last few texts had hurt, and the sight of him plunging his tongue into some other woman’s mouth when he knew I watched. I couldn’t help the nasty tone in my own voice. It was the only way to keep from crying or apologizing.

The doors finally opened to our floor and I stepped out, walking quickly to my door. Fumbling with my purse, I dug out my key just as my bag split at the seam and my groceries clattered to the floor, scattering everywhere.

With a huff, I dropped my purse and other bags in the hall and went to collect my crap. Noah put his stuff down and bent to pick up a runaway can of soup.

“Here.”

“I’ve got it. Thanks.” I shoved the closest spilled items into my other bags.

“You dropped these, too.”

I stilled, my attention zeroing in on the box of tampons filling his hand. I snatched the box and shoved it deep into my purse. “I said I got it.” I scrambled to gather the rest of my items, but they were all over the place.

“Avery.”

This was so embarrassing. Couldn’t I just live a peaceful life without humiliating myself every time he showed up?

“Avery…”

He’d obviously moved on to greener, more brunette pastures and gotten over our little whatever the hell it was. No need to pretend we were still friends.

“Avery, look at me.”

“What?” My vision shimmered as my chin hardened.

“Hey. I’m sorry.”

“For what? You didn’t bag my groceries.”

His head tilted, and his brows drew together. “You know this isn’t what I wanted.”

“Oh, I know. I know all about what you want. You made sure of that.” I shoved the last of my frozen veggies into my bags and stood.

I couldn’t look at him. I could barely stop my hand from shaking long enough to get my key in the goddamn door.

“I didn’t sleep with her.”

Come on with this fucking key!

“The woman from the other night … she didn’t stay.”

Finally, the lock turned. I kicked my bags and purse over the threshold and went inside, turning to face him.

“It’s none of my business what you do, Noah. Excuse me. I have groceries to put away.”