Next Door Santa: Looking Back, Texas by Lacy Williams

Author:Lacy Williams [Williams, Lacy]
Language: eng
Format: epub

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Will wasn't usually one to get into horror movies, but the suspenseful plot of the second movie had his stomach tied in knots and him on the edge of his seat.

And he was constantly aware of Bridie at his side. After the first movie had ended, her friends had chatted while everyone grabbed new refreshments and then rearranged themselves in the room. Now Bridie sat cross-legged on the couch next to him, her knee occasionally brushing his thigh. Carly sat on the third cushion, which meant there was nowhere else for him to go.

And he was loath to move anyway.

Ollie was stretched across his feet, snoring softly.

He'd almost kissed Bridie in the kitchen earlier. He couldn't say what had come over him, except that he'd finally done something right and made the lingering hurt in her eyes disappear.

And then he'd touched her.

And let himself get caught in her gaze. And then let his focus move to her lips.

What had happened to him? The guy who had no issues keeping people at arm's length?

How many times had he said they weren't involved? It had become almost rote.

But ...

When the on-screen killer finally jumped out, they all recoiled. He didn't know if it was him who reached out, or Bridie, but somehow he found her hand wrapped in his.

Their fingers linked.

And he hung on.

He kept his eyes on the screen, though they were unfocused.

In his peripheral vision, he caught the tilt of her head. Felt her eyes on his face.

Finally, she looked back at the screen. And shifted slightly so that her shoulder pressed into his bicep.

When the movie ended, she let go and stood to turn on the inside lights. Her friends left a few minutes later, and he offered to stay and help clean up.

Ollie, the lazybones, jumped up onto the vacant couch and laid his hands on his paws. Bridie only laughed.

"I don't think your friends like me," he said as he picked up two glasses to relocate them to the kitchen.

"Why not?"

"Noah tried to scare me off that first night, and Eric spent the entire second movie tonight glaring at me."

They passed each other as he went back to hunt for more glasses while she carried the empty popcorn bowl and some smaller bowls.

She shook her head, a smile playing at the corners of her lips. "Sure you weren't imagining it?"

"I'm certain," he called to her when she was in the kitchen. "They're protective of you."

She came into view from the waist up, the countertop between them. "Well, they have a reason to be."

"What?"

She hesitated. "No family, remember?"

Was it more than that? He let it go, though something still nagged at him.

He found the last of the empty glasses and held them in a triangle between both his hands as he delivered them to Bridie in the kitchen. She was running water into the sink.

As he set the glasses on the counter, he caught sight of a familiar envelope sticking out from beneath a mail-order catalogue. He nudged it with one finger, catching sight of the debt collection agency's return address.

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