“The ugliest lights I’ve ever seen,” he replied, his voice low and deep. “At least I have you to look at instead, huh?”
A lump formed in my throat, and I swallowed in a desperate attempt to wash away whatever feeling was grasping hold of me right now.
I wasn’t falling for this.
I didn’t know what his game was, but I wasn’t going to fall for it. I wasn’t buying what he was selling. I wasn’t going to fix the mistake that was our graduation night just because he wanted to.
The crowd started to disperse from the outer edges, and I took the chance to extract myself from Nicholas. I didn’t want him to think that there could be anything here, despite the fact I was attracted to him.
This whole situation blurred the lines.
“Do you want to walk and see the lights?” Oscar asked Erin, curling her into his side. “We can get hot chocolate on the way.”
“Sure.” She grinned at him and looked at me. “Do you mind?”
I waved my hand at her. “No, you go ahead.”
Go ahead she did.
Erin and Oscar waved goodbye to us and dispersed into the crowd.
Great.
I was alone with Nicholas.
Again.
Could I ever catch a break?
Nicholas stepped away and looked around. “I guess everyone is heading out to look at the lights.”
“Mm,” I replied. “I think I’ll head home.”
He glanced at me. “You’re that against it, huh?”
“No. I’m tired. That’s all.” I looked around the square. “I have a busy day tomorrow.”
“Come on.” Nicholas stopped in front of me and grasped my shoulders. “Your day is no busier than mine. It’s not going to kill you to walk up the street to look at the lights.”
It might.
“All right, fine.” I adjusted my scarf and shuffled out of his grasp.
He fought a smile as we slowly joined the myriad of people who were moving in the direction of Main Street where the lights were. We held back a little to allow a family with a screaming toddler in a stroller to pass us to where we could no longer hear them.
Thank God.
We trudged through the slushy mess that had been left by those who had gone before us. It was almost unbearable, but the town was so pretty all lit up that even I barely minded. We had to navigate several puddles of grey mess, and I almost slipped on black ice once, but I was able to right myself before Nicholas could be my hero again.
We paused at the hot chocolate stall and got two to go—this time, I paid, and his eyes only twinkled with amusement when I got in there before he did. The hot drink was welcome, and the warmth seeped through my gloves to my fingers.
“Are you cold?” Nicholas asked when I shivered despite the hot chocolate.
“It’s like the arctic out here. Isn’t everyone cold?”
“That’s true.” He laughed as we made it close to the square and stopped to look up at the tree. “They did a good job with the tree this year.”
He wasn’t wrong. It was at least thirty-foot tall, probably more, and it stretched right up above the stalls. The head-sized baubles on it were in beautiful shades of red, gold, and white, as were all the other decorations. The warm white lights twinkled amazingly in the darkness, and there were so many that they alone could probably light the whole square.
In all honesty, you could see this tree from space.
I put my empty takeout cup in the nearest trash can and walked back over to Nicholas. Right as I drew level with him, a little girl wearing a pink, sequin Santa hat came over with a stool tucked under her arm.
Wordlessly, she set the stool down on the ground near us and stepped onto it. She couldn’t have been more than eight-years-old, but she was full of confidence when she held out a hand and said, “For one dollar, I’ll make your day.”
This sounded like a scam.
Nicholas raised his eyebrows. “And how will you do that?”
“With Christmas spirit, silly.”
His lips twitched into a small smile, and he replied, “All right. I’ll buy it. But if you run off with my dollar, I will chase you.”
“That’s what everyone says.” She stared at him.
She was so going to run off with his dollar. I liked her.
He pulled a dollar bill from his wallet, put his wallet back into his pocket, and put the money in her hand.
The little girl delicately folded the dollar bill and put it in her little reindeer-shaped crossbody purse. I almost laughed when I saw all the meticulously folded notes in there.
The girl had been doing good business.
She had another crossbody purse, this time in the shape of Santa’s head, resting on her other hip. She unzipped it and pulled out a sprig of—
Oh, hell no.
I did not like this little girl.