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He had a point. The entire time, Samantha kept asking herself how any of this could be true. How could she randomly come face to face with Brandon’s other woman and how could it be the same problematic woman who Bryce was stuck working with? She now regretted prejudging the woman and was relieved she’d gone out of her comfort zone to try to help Bryce. It was a tough situation, but she did feel much lighter knowing the entire story.
“Thanks for talking to us about everything,” Samantha said, redirecting her attention to Lizzy. “You didn’t have to, so thank you. Will you stay and eat now that that’s all out of the way?”
She looked up with a weak smile. “Yes. I’d like that.”
Chapter 19
“Merry Christmas!” Rayelle sang as she joined them in the living room first thing Christmas morning.
Rayelle had insisted she and Dominic make the drive down for Christmas since they had yet to spend a Christmas apart since Bryce’s mom died. She’d made it her mission to make sure he didn’t spend the holidays alone. Not wanting to intrude, they showed up late Christmas Eve and planned to leave the next morning. Bryce acted annoyed, but he couldn’t think of a better way to spend the holidays while stuck in Delaware.
“Merry Christmas,” Samantha responded from her place next to him on the couch.
She still wasn’t quite herself since the night she found out who Lizzy was, but she seemed to be in a much better mood since Rayelle and Dominic arrived. She looked beautiful sitting on the sofa wearing her Christmas pajamas and fuzzy socks. As much as he loved to see her dressed up, having her relaxed and in his space was the way he preferred her to be.
“Are you guys hungry yet? I put breakfast in the crock pot last night for whenever you’re ready to eat. And you already know Bryce made coffee.”
Asher was curled up on the other side of Samantha in his new Christmas sweater. He looked ridiculous, but the women were hearing nothing about him taking it off. Asher didn’t complain, so he let it go.
“I’m always hungry,” Dom grumbled. “And why are we up so early?”
“Because it’s Christmas morning,” Rayelle answered as if that explained everything.
“Holidays are for sleeping in,” Dominic retorted.
Samantha and Rayelle both rolled their eyes after a moment of eye contact. Samantha squealed when Bryce wrapped his arms around her and pulled her onto his lap. It was a sound he needed to hear as often as possible.
“You okay?” he asked Samantha, just loud enough for her to hear.
She nuzzled into him. “I’m better now. This is nice.”
Rayelle, so intuitive it was annoying, honed in on their conversation. Bryce looked up to find her making her way over to where they were seated. Coffee cup in hand, she sat on the other side of Samantha and put her arm around her.
“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever. I missed you,” Rayelle said as she looked back and forth between the two of them.
“I know. I’m sorry. Rehearsals have been crazy and then I started coming down here on the weekends. I’m a shitty friend,” Samantha responded with a soft chuckle.
Rayelle leaned over and nudged her with her shoulder. “Girl, stop. You knew Bryce first. I’m just the cheapy free gift that comes with the purchase.”
“My god, Rayelle,” Bryce said on a sigh. “Seriously?”
Rayelle shrugged. “I’m just saying. She can’t ditch me for you when you were here first.”
Samantha returned to sipping her coffee. They hadn’t told Rayelle what all had happened the past few days, but no doubt she could tell something was up. As Samantha sipped her coffee, Rayelle kept stealing glances at her. He hoped Samantha would decide to talk to her about it at some point. It would be good to get the perspective of someone who wasn’t involved. They hadn’t talked much about everything in detail. The only conversations were about how each of them was holding up. Bryce needed some time to process everything, and he assumed Samantha was the same way.
“Actually, Rayelle,” Samantha said after a moment, “these past few days have been crazy. I’m glad you guys came. I really needed it.”
“Wanna talk about it?” Rayelle offered.
Samantha looked at Bryce then looked around the room with a contemplative look on her face but didn’t say anything. Bryce could sense the internal battle she was fighting and decided to buy her some time.
“Why don’t we eat breakfast and do the Christmas morning thing. Then you two can go off and talk, or whatever. We have all day and tomorrow if we want, so don’t worry about me,” Bryce suggested.
Samantha leaned against Bryce once more as she nodded in agreement. He was glad Samantha took his advice because he was enjoying relaxing on the couch with her and wasn’t ready for her to leave his side, or for anything to change after the conversation that would inevitably happen.
“Feel like some fresh air?” Samantha asked Rayelle. It was freezing but she would rather get out of the house while she spoke the words she hadn’t dared speak aloud.
Rayelle gave her a long look before she finally nodded. “Okay. Let me put on more layers.”
