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"Technically it's his job to drive you around. Not me."
"Penny, you're my fiancée."
"Your point?"
He laughed. "My point is that what's mine is yours."
It wasn't the first time we'd had this conversation. The problem was that I didn't need everything he was offering. I wasn't used to the extravagantness of his life. Sometimes I craved normalcy. A ride in the subway once a day didn't seem like such a bad thing to me.
He let his hand fall from my knee.
My body instantly felt cold. How could his hands do that? Warm me when I didn't even realize I needed warming? I didn't want to fight with him. "Okay. If you're sure Ian doesn't mind."
The corners of his mouth turned up. "He doesn't mind. Ask him yourself next time you see him. You know, when you stop randomly giving him time off."
"James! It's only a few days till Christmas. He deserved time off tonight. And we didn't need his help getting a tree. It's supposed to be a special thing, just the two of us."
"Well that might be a problem," James said as he pulled into the parking lot beneath our apartment building.
Rob was standing by the elevator examining the slot where you had to insert a keycard.
"I didn't know Rob was coming," I said.
"Well, he mentioned he was coming to town for Christmas. But I didn't know he was coming over tonight."
"Oh. I thought your parents weren't doing anything this year."
"About that." James unbuckled his seatbelt. "Penny..." his voice trailed off as Rob pounded his hand against the window of the passenger's side.
"It's freezing, guys. Let me up." He crossed his arms around himself.
I laughed and stepped out of the car. "Of course you're cold. Where is your coat?" He was only wearing a sweater.
"It's warmer in Delaware. Give me a hug to warm me up, you dirty temptress." He wrapped his arms around me.
I laughed. "It's only a little more than two hours from here, Rob. I doubt it's any warmer there."
"I swear it is." He kissed my cheek. "It's good to see you, Penny."
I smiled up at him. "You too."
"It's good you're here," James said. "Because I have no idea what to do with this." He gestured to the tree.
Rob laughed and pulled James' scarf off and twirled it around his own neck. "Your knight in shining armor is here, my lady," he said and winked at me.
James exhaled loudly. I would never tire of seeing the way that Rob pushed James' buttons.
"Here, catch," Rob said as he pulled a pocket knife from him back pocket and tossed it at James. "The woman and I will go start a fire."
"Oh, no, Rob, take my key. I was going to help him with the tree." My romantic evening was suddenly fluttering away with the wind that was picking up.
"I got it, baby," James said. "Go get him warm before he catches pneumonia." He nodded toward Rob who was still shivering despite the scarf.
"Are you sure?"
"Yup, I've got this." He turned back to the car and started fidgeting with the rope.
I followed Rob over to the elevator. As the doors closed I saw James scratching the scruff on his chin and examining the tree on the roof of his car. I smiled, knowing that he had probably sent me away because he had no idea what he was doing. He still wasn't good at showing me every side of him.
"Thanks for letting me stay with you guys," Rob said.
"Are you staying with us?"
He laughed. "Of course. Where do you expect me to stay? My parents'?" He seemed to shiver worse at that idea.
"No, I guess not." Whenever Rob visited, he always crashed at our place. I loved having him in town, I did. But he didn't really fit into my naughty Christmas. I was hoping to snuggle up to James in front of the fire. Not set Rob in front of it and hope he didn't catch a cold.
"What's bothering you, Penny?"
I laughed. Apparently all the Hunter men could read me now. "Nothing." I stepped off the elevator and unlocked the door to our apartment.
"You're not getting off that easy, sweet cheeks."
I set my keys down on the kitchen counter. What was bothering me? It wasn't that Rob was here. I loved when he visited. I looked around the apartment. There wasn't a single Christmas decoration in place. Growing up, my mom would always decorate the day after Thanksgiving. Our house would resemble a Christmas themed store. And I loved it. I loved the holiday spirit. I loved how it brought us all together.
But James was busy starting his new company. And I had been busy studying for finals. It was three days before Christmas and we had only just gotten a tree. I bit the inside of my lip. This wasn't what I expected. For some reason, I just assumed everything would be the same. But of course it wasn't. I wasn't even living in the same state. For the first time ever, I wasn't going to be with my parents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. I was trying to be good about the changes. But I had never really been great at change. And it was off-putting that it looked like a Grinch lived in our apartment.
"Earth to Penny." Rob waved his hand in front of my face.
I turned toward him. "Does James hate Christmas?"
He laughed. "Hate Christmas? What kind of monster hates Christmas?"
"I don't know, but look around." I gestured to the living room. "I had to drag him out tonight to get a tree. We haven't decorated at all."
"Oh. That. He's just not used to decorating. My parents' staff always did that."
"But he hasn't been living at home for years."
Rob shrugged as he opened up the fridge door and pulled out a beer. "Want one?"
I shook my head as I walked farther into the kitchen. "No, that's okay." I pulled out a pot, poured some milk in it, and turned on the stove. Hot chocolate could fix anything. Maybe it could even trick James into liking Christmas.
Rob popped off the cap of his beer. "I'm a little surprised Ellen didn't decorate for him."
"She offered almost as much as I did. But he was really dismissive about it. He hates Christmas, doesn't he?" It felt like my heart was beating faster as I waited for him to respond.
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