Chapter 84 (1/2)

“A bracelet.” She extracts and dangles a silver chain-link bracelet in front of me. A small bow-shaped charm and a heart hang from the expensive metal. The shiny object makes the bracelet on her wrist, my gift to her, look like complete shit.

“Of course it is,” I say under my breath.

Tessa frowns at me, then turns back to them. “It’s beautiful; thank you both so much.” She beams.

“She already . . .” I begin to complain. I hate that they got her a better gift than mine. I get it—he has money. Couldn’t they have gotten her something else, anything else?

But Tessa turns back to me, silently begging me not to make shit any more awkward. I sigh in defeat and lean back against the chair.

“What’s in yours?” Tessa smiles, trying to lighten my mood. She rests against me, kissing my forehead. She looks down at the box on the arm of the chair, hinting for me to open it. When I do, I hold the expensive contents up for her to see.

“A watch.” I show her, trying to humor her the best I can.

Honestly, I’m still fucking irritated about the bracelet. I wanted her to wear my bracelet every day—I wanted it to be her favorite gift.

Chapter fifty-two

HARDIN

Karen beams over the box of pans from Tessa. “I’ve been wanting this set all season!”

Tessa thought I didn’t notice that she added my name to the small snowman-shaped tags, but I did. I just didn’t feel like crossing it out.

“I feel like a jerk because I only got you a gift card when you got me these awesome tickets,” Landon says to Tessa.

I have to admit that I’m happy for his impersonal present of a gift card for the e-reader that I got her for her birthday. If he had gotten something more thoughtful, it would have annoyed me, but with Tessa’s caring smile, you’d think he bought her a fucking first-edition Austen novel. I still can’t believe they got her an expensive bracelet; what show-offs. What if she wants to wear this new one instead of mine?

“Thank you for the gifts, they’re great,” my dad says and looks at me, holding up the key chain Tessa mistakenly chose for him.

I feel a little guilty for his busted face, but at the same time I find the weird coloring slightly amusing. I want to apologize for my outburst—well, I wouldn’t say I want to, but I need to. I don’t want to go backward with him. It was sort of okay to spend time with him, I guess. Karen and Tessa get on pretty well, and I feel obligated to give her the chance to have a motherly figure around, since it’s my fault her and her mother are on such bad terms. It’s good for me, in a fucked-up way, that they are, because it’s one less person in the way of us being together.

“Hardin?” Tessa’s voice says into my ear.

I look up at her and realize that one of them must have been talking to me.

“Would you want to go with Landon to the game?” she asks.

“What? No,” I say quickly.

“Thanks, man.” Landon rolls his eyes.