CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER

3

“T

wenty bucks says we’re spending tonight in the airport.” Tyler slapped his money on the table and pinned it with a salt shaker.

Noah shook his head. “No way I’m taking that bet, man.” Their flight to Maui was still reading

delayed

, but he didn’t think that was going to last much longer. Outside the window, the snow was coming down even harder and everything was blanketed in white.

“Upside?” Noah nodded towards their server, who was on her way back to their table. “Doesn’t look like you’ll be spending it alone.”

She was cute, he had to admit. Blonde hair, stacked figure, a nice smile… and she did absolutely nothing for him. He’d never gotten over his preference for brunettes. But Ty had a weakness for blondes, and their server had “accidentally” poured Tyler another beer. If he wasn’t mistaken, she’d just written her number on the inside of Ty’s wrist. Noah shook his head. The man had a gift.

When the server was done with Tyler, she turned to Noah. “You sure you don’t want a beer?”

Noah shook his head. “I’m fine with the coffee, thanks.”

Ty made a face. “I’m not sure you can still call that coffee. I can smell the sugar from here. And the nutmeg.” He shuddered for effect. “I don’t know why you drink that stuff, man.”

“Me neither.” But that was a lie. He knew exactly why he was drinking it. He was torturing himself, full stop.

Noah took another sip of his eggnog latte and hoped the caffeine would get him through the next few hours. Maybe help pull him out of the mood he was in. He blamed a mild hangover. It was true that it had gotten a little drunk out the night before. He usually stuck to the occasional beer and avoided the hard stuff. But the combination of an intense rehearsal and the upcoming week off for the holidays—not to mention his desire to get into vacation mode—had convinced him to make an exception.

One of these years, he’d learn his lesson.

But Ty and Damon had always had the ability to pull him into their craziness.

They’d come a long way together.

He looked over at Damon, a.k.a. Officer Kouris. He’d let his clean-cut cop look relax a bit since he was off for the week. But even with his dark hair mussed, and his stubble a bit scruffy in honour of their vacation, he was still a stand-up guy and looked it. At twenty-eight, he was the oldest of the three and took his self-appointed role of big brother seriously.

Damon also had the patience of a saint. The entire time Ty was flirting with their server, Damon had been talking to an older couple at the table next to them. The woman was a writer, apparently, and she’d been picking his brains about police procedure for the past hour.

Suddenly the woman stopped talking, and they all turned towards the concourse. Damon looked amused about something.

Noah grinned when he caught the flash of a very fine pair of candy-cane-striped legs as an elf darted past, ducking through the crowd. He caught a flash of red high heels and long dark hair, and he sighed.

When was he going to get over her? It was ridiculous to see her in every long-legged brunette he came across.

He pulled his attention back to his friends and tried to shake off the mood that had descended on him like a lead-filled blanket.

He was done being haunted by the ghosts of girlfriends past. It had been almost a decade, and he seriously needed to move on.

Maybe he’d take a page out of Ty’s book. His Christmas gift to himself this year could be a nice, uncomplicated Christmas-on-the-beach hookup.

How many times had his friend told him just to keep it simple? Find someone looking for a good time, have some fun, and then move on.

Since Noah’s way clearly wasn’t working, maybe it was worth a shot. Okay, then. He’d make a move on the first woman he came across who made his pulse speed up, even a little. And he’d see where it led.

“I wonder how Ari’s doing.” He swirled his coffee in his cup and had a serious flash of guilt. “I feel bad we left him at home. I think we should have pushed harder for him to come with us.”

Tyler shrugged. “Yeah, but he was so insistent he wasn’t going to leave them in a lurch at the garage. I’m impressed he made the responsible decision. He’ll probably enjoy having the house to himself for a while.”

“You’re right. I know he’ll be fine. It’s just weird. I’m used to him being around all the time.”

Ty took a sip of his beer and grinned. “Remember the first time you stayed out at our place on your own?”

Noah chuckled. “That was such a disaster. I thought leaving the door open would help air the place out, and all I ended up with were unexpected house guests. You should have heard me scream when that raccoon leaped off the kitchen counter at me.”

Their laughter tapered off as a one-man marching band clip-clopped past, his hand drum and foot cymbals making a racket. He was dressed like one of Santa’s helpers and was doing a fair approximation of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” There were quite a few entertainers in the airport. Noah figured it made sense to keep people distracted while they waited for their flights. He’d seen a giant snowman wandering around earlier, and he’d heard some kids begging their mom to let them get their picture taken with Santa, so there was probably a North Pole setup around here somewhere. Maybe that’s where elf girl had been headed at such a rapid clip.

He’d never admit it, but he didn’t mind all the trappings of Christmas so much anymore. Sure, it’d been rough growing up, when it seemed like everyone else in the world sat around the tree on Christmas morning, opening presents and enjoying special traditions while their grandparents made a fuss over them.

Their foster mom had tried to make the holiday special for them, and the years when there were younger kids around had been better, but she could never jolly away the fact that she had a houseful of kids no one else wanted. They were especially aware of that at Christmas.

Tyler groaned along with the rest of the bar as a tinny voice over the PA system confirmed what they all now saw on the main board. “Guess that’s it, then. Looks like we’re grounded.”

Noah shrugged. “We’ve survived worse. At least we have food and drinks, and plenty of entertainment.” They’d spend the night here and make the best of it, like they always did when things didn’t go as planned. Hopefully they could fly out tomorrow.

He tossed back the dregs of his coffee, coughing a little on all the spices that had sunk to the bottom. Tyler laughed at him.

“What’s the plan, then?” Noah asked. “Should we try for a hotel? Or are we waiting for your new friend to get off shift?”

Ty laughed and shook his head. “No way, man. That was strictly catch-and-release sport back there.”

“What, you turning over a new leaf?”

Tyler snorted. “Hardly. But what kind of an asshole would I be if I got lucky while my friends had to listen from the next room over, sad and alone?”

Noah shrugged. “The same kind you’ve been our whole lives? Why do you think we let you have the apartment over the workshop?” He grabbed the twenty off the table. “Well, if we’re gonna sit here and watch you drink that free beer, you’re buying the snacks. I’m going to hit the gift shop for some stuff for later, and I’ll order up some actual food from the bar on the way back.” He pointed at the empty cup. “If someone comes around with coffee, can you get me a refill? Just the regular stuff this time.”

He was done torturing himself. No more eggnog. No more memories. No more fantasizing about what he couldn’t have. It was time to move on.