Page 121 of Elf-ish

Julia watches me. Her brows pinching at something she sees in my face.

“I’m sorry,” I blurt, to distract her. “For making you concerned.”

“I know you are.” She slowly smiles. “And as your penance, we are here to celebrate Christmas.” She jostles Lolly on her hip and bops her on the nose before looking back at me. “We are just waiting on—”

A sharp knock comes to my front door, and I turn to face it before spinning back for my sister.

“Perfect timing. Can you get that?” Julia adds.

“What the hell is going on?”

Julia tries to give me a stern glare, but stoicism isn’t possible on her freckled cheeks.

Spinning toward the front door, I curse the building security. They exist so random people cannot enter the inner building without permission, and I only have two people on my admission list.

Julia and Angelica.

My blood rushes through my veins as hope sores. Maybe she’s come to me.

But when I open the door, I come face to face with a familiar-looking man and the sunshine of his life beside him.

“Dad?”

chapter 39

[Angelica]

I hate that I snuck out of Ashford’s, but when I heard soft voices and light music, I panicked.

I slipped into my uniform and slunk down seven flights of stairs until I reached the first floor. Thankfully, the same security guard was present at the State Street entrance to let me out of Ashford’s.

“Merry Christmas,” I muttered to the poor man working an overnight shift on Christmas Eve.

I’d been there. Knew someone had to do it. First responders like me. And medical staff. And security personnel.

I took an Uber back to the fire department to retrieve my car with blurry eyes both from exhaustion and an aching heart.

I couldn’t shake this sudden foreboding sensation that last night Jude was telling me goodbye, when I only wanted to keep saying hello to him over and over again.

The way Jude clung to me. The way he took his time. His patience was unparalleled considering he never goes slow. Every sexual encounter with him has been a rush, but last night, time stood still.

In that stillness, I felt him slipping away.

And because I’m a glutton for punishment, I invited Jude to spend the day with me, somehow knowing he won’t accept the invitation. Sensing I was pushing him too far.

A man can only change so much.

Once home and showered, I pull up the invitation for Jude to spend Christmas at Gran’s, seeing it’s been read, but not responded to. The pit of my stomach feels like I’ve eaten an entire fruit cake.

When I get to Gran’s, it’s still early, but her living room is an explosion of gifts, from big to small, and everything in between. While the packages are wrapped in brightly colored paper decorated with snowmen, reindeer, and elves, I envision every present I purchased for Gran and Gertie. The gifts I picked out myself . . . while shopping with Jude.

Hardly a month has passed since that day, and yet, it feels like a lifetime ago.

Our story will be one I tell in the future: The Month I Loved a Grinch.

Because I’d fallen in love with Jude Ashford. The new Jude. The one no longer a spoiled, aloof teenager, nor a short-sighted businessman, but the one who transformed into something more.

The one who embraced my family while baking cookies and donated half a million dollars because I missed a fundraiser. The one who took care of me when I was sick and paid for all my Christmas presents. The man who made a little girl smile in a hospital bed and kissed me like it wasn’t pretend.