Page 11 of One Last Gift

She nodded. “That’s more like it.”

He smiled at her, and it looked almost grateful. Grateful that she was being normal, maybe—which meant that her attempt to sound normal must be working.

“Well, I can’t wait to see your new skills on the slope tomorrow, Chipmunk,” Tom said teasingly, heading for the sofa and flopping down as Hazel set up the Articulate board on the table. “I’m sure you’ll put us all to shame.”

Cassie huffed—mainly for his benefit—as she went to sit on the rug next to Hazel, who immediately started squabbling with Tom over who got to be the blue team. She swore neither of them actually cared, but the two of them would squabble over anything given half a chance—Hazel didn’t have any siblings, and Cassie knew she’d adopted Tom as a sort of surrogate big brother.

Cassie risked a glance over at Sam, who was sitting next to Tom on the sofa, but he was looking at the Articulate board, not her. She loosened a breath. They’d just have to tell Tom, she decided. It wouldn’t work if they were both too scared to even look at each other in front of her brother. So they’d come clean, and Hazel would be thrilled and Tom would deal. It would be fine. It would definitely all be fine.

Chapter Five

Cassie stood in front of the mirror in her and Hazel’s shared bedroom, carefully fastening Sam’s necklace into place: the finishing touch of her outfit, which she’d spent longer than usual picking out and complimenting with makeup. It shouldn’t matter. Sam had already kissed her, already proven how he felt. But still, for their Christmas Eve night out, she wanted to look pretty.

She jolted a little at the knock on her door. “Come in!”

It was Sam who opened the door, peered in almost cautiously. They hadn’t really seen each other since last night—Tom and Sam heading off to tackle some of the challenging slopes, while she and Hazel had a more leisurely day that consisted mainly of drinking hot chocolate and eating chips.

“Hey,” she said, smiling at him a little. How—how was it possible that the very air seemed to spike with electricity between them, even though he was across the room from her? It was like the whole room had woken up. Did other people feel this? Was it normal? She’d certainly never felt it before.

He’d still not spoken, was just watching her, those expressive blue eyes stormy with some kind of emotion she couldn’t quite place. “What’s up?” she asked. “Are we leaving?”

“No, I…” He cleared his throat. “I just came to…” He trailed off, and she saw him clock that she was wearing the necklace again, the gray stone sitting neatly against her red top. He dropped his gaze to the floor. “I just came to see if we could…talk, for a minute.”

Talk? What was that supposed to mean? A jolt ran through her, though she squashed it, raised her eyebrows in a casual way instead. “Sure.” She gestured for him to continue. Surely it couldn’t be anything bad, could it? There was no way he could kiss her like that and not mean it.

“I just…I wanted to make sure that we were on the same page.”

She made herself cross the distance between them. “The same page?”

“Yeah. You know, what with, the kiss and everything.”

Because she was there, she laid both her hands on his chest—and felt his heart thud against her palms. There. Proof. “Two kisses, if I remember rightly,” she said, her voice calm.

“Right,” he said. “Well, I—”

“I think we should tell the others,” she said, not giving him the chance to finish. She knew that he was worried about Tom—was sure that’s what this was about. But if they were open about it right from the beginning, then Tom would have to accept it—and it was better than lying to him. And then Sam wouldn’t feel awkward, because he wouldn’t be going behind his best friend’s back.

But Sam frowned. “What?”

“I think we should tell them. Tom and Hazel. They’re going to find out sooner or later, so we might as well come clean.”

“Cassie,” he said, and his voice was slightly pleading. “It was just a kiss.”

The words hurt, and she felt her hands jerk on his chest. She watched something flash across his own face—something pained, like he was already regretting the words. As he should. Because he knew as well as she did that it wasn’t “just” anything. So she shook her head. “Two kisses,” she said again.

She kept her gaze level on his as she spoke, so there would be no doubt between them. Because she didn’t want to keep pretending. She didn’t want to go back to dancing around each other. “I want this, Sam.” She smiled a little, even though her heart was hammering, almost like it was warning her to be careful, the way she was putting it on the line like this. “You and me. I’ve wanted…” She blew out a breath. She lifted one hand, traced his cheek, his jaw with her thumb, then rested it on his neck. He didn’t move. His body was utterly still, like he wasn’t even breathing.

“This is right,” she whispered. “I know it.”

He took her hands in his, squeezed gently. “Cassie, I—”

But whatever he wanted to say, she didn’t get to hear it. “Cassie!” Hazel’s voice sounded like a bloody foghorn from the living room. “Come on, hurry up, everyone’s ready to go!”

Cassie rolled her eyes at Sam, then stood on her tiptoes and pecked him on the lips. “We’ll talk later, OK?” She backed away from him, turned to grab her phone off the dressing table, along with her jacket. Looked back at him. “But it’ll be OK, Sam,” she said firmly. Like by saying it, she could will it into being. “I know you’re worried about Tom,” she added softly. “But he’ll get it. He might be a bit…confused…to begin with, but I really think he’ll get it.”

She patted him on the arm as she came past, then opened her bedroom door, cocked her head at him. “Coming?” And when he followed her out, when she linked her arm through his and he didn’t move away, she took it as a good sign.

—