Christmas By The Shore (A Winter To Remember #1)

Chapter 5

5

“ D on’t look now, but that man across the bar is totally checking you out.”

Catherine moved to look over her shoulder, but McKenzie grabbed her arm and spun her back just in time. “I said don’t look.”

“Yeah, but that’s just a saying. Of course I was going to look. Everyone looks when they are prompted with that.”

“Okay, well, for future reference, when I say it—I mean it.” She frowned to underline her point. “So, just wait a second! I’ll tell you when he’s not looking. All right… now!”

Cat glanced back and spotted a tall man in a plaid shirt nursing a beer. He had long-ish hair, but it was hard to discern any other features in this dimly lit room. As far as she could tell, however, he seemed pretty handsome. Catherine scoffed at the thought that he would be checking her out. “He was probably looking at you, not me.”

“Why would he be looking at me?” McKenzie asked. “I’m over here in a paint-stained T-shirt and greasy hair. You’re the one in a cute dress, looking all hot and professional.”

“Hardly.”

She groaned. “What is with you these days? It’s like you’ve forgotten about the fact that when we were teenagers at the mall, you would get scouted to be a model all the freaking time!”

“Okay, first of all,” Cat said, “that was a long time ago. And second of all, I don’t think any of those scouts were legit. I have a feeling they were creeps looking to take pictures of teenagers or something. I’m not sure, but I know my mom was wary of them, and she probably had good reason to be.”

“Still—they never gave me their business card. So that should tell you something.”

“Why are we even talking about this?”

“Because I don’t get it. You used to be so confident! When did you start being so down on yourself?”

“I’m not down on myself. And I’m still confident… Just not as much in my looks. But I’m confident about my career and stuff.”

“But the fact that you can’t see how gorgeous you are—honestly, it’s insulting to the rest of us normies.”

“Oh, whatever,” scoffed Cat. “I’m just trying to stay realistic. I’m no spring chicken, and I just think it’s better that I don’t have too high expectations.”

“But that man is totally attainable!” McKenzie said, once again nodding in the man’s direction. Catherine didn’t look this time. She already knew what he looked like and didn’t want to accidentally make eye contact. “If you ask me, you’re out of his league.”

“You’re crazy.”

“No, you’re crazy! At least you’re acting a little crazy. But hey—let’s say you’re right, and

that man wasn’t actually checking you out. That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be interested in you if you went over and said hi. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“You don’t want me to answer that question.”

“It’ll be fun!” she prompted. “I thought you said you wanted to get back into the dating world.”

“I said I would let you make me an account on a dating app, but I never said I was going to start going up to random men in bars and chatting them up. That’s not something I feel comfortable with. I am only allowing you to put me out there electronically because at least then I’ll have the security of operating from my phone first.”

“Lame.”

Cat laughed. “I don’t know what you expected. You running into Chris definitely threw me for a loop, but it didn’t change my entire personality.” She brought her cool drink up to her lips but only sipped a tiny bit. She wanted to go slow. It had been a long time since she’d had hard alcohol, and this bar was notorious for serving generous pours. “But listen, before I forget, we’ve got to talk about Thanksgiving.”

“Oh yeah.” She nodded happily. “Did you talk to your mom? I was hoping they might be in need of an extra dessert because I have this coffee cake recipe I’ve been dying to try. It doesn’t take very long either, so assuming we’ll make the drive down there on Wednesday night, I could easily make the cake the morning of. I’ll just need the oven for a little bit. They have a dual anyway, right?”

“Er—yes, they do, but?—”

“And wine,” McKenzie interrupted. “What kind of wine do your parents drink again? There’s this liquor store not far from my building that always has this week-long Black Friday sale, so they’ve already got markdowns. I figured it’s my one chance to be able to afford really nice wine. At least, until I become a New York Times bestselling author, obviously.”

“Kenz, the thing is?—”

“Is your mom still trying to do keto? God, I hope not. Nothing more depressing than a keto version of Thanksgiving dinner, don’t you think?”

“Sure, yeah, but the thing is,” Catherine said, speaking fast so she could get her complete thought out before her friend talked over her again, “we’re not going to be having any sort of Thanksgiving dinner with my parents.”

“Huh?” Her face fell. “Oh no, don’t tell me that you’re backing out for work again! Please, Cat, don’t do this to me. I know you’re busy, but?—”

Catherine put a hand up. “It’s not me who is bailing. My parents are the ones who aren’t going to be in town this year.”

McKenzie frowned. “What?”

“Apparently, they are going on a cruise. My dad forgot to tell me, so when I called my mom earlier today to let her know that we were both going to be coming to Cape May for the holiday, she informed me that they were getting on a cruise first thing tomorrow morning and weren’t going to be back until January 2nd.”

“They’re not even going to be here for Christmas?”

Cat shook her head. “Nope.”

“So then—what? You’re just going to spend the holiday season here in Boston again? Doing nothing?”

“I—I hadn’t thought it through really. Granted, since it’s already the week of Thanksgiving, I don’t see any reason to expect another invitation to someone else’s dinner. As for Christmas, I have no idea what I’m going to do. Probably the same thing I did last year.”

“No. No, I do not accept this. What you did last year was too sad! And to think, you wouldn’t even come home with me for Christmas Eve dinner, even though my parents live like half an hour away.”

“In my defense, it was storming pretty bad that night, and you know how stressed out I get when it comes to driving in the snow.”

“Excuses, excuses.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll tell you one thing. I’m not going to let it happen again. You and I are going to do something for both major holidays this year, and who knows? If I’m feeling really bold, then I might even force you to come out with me on New Year's Eve as well. We’ll just have to see how things shake out.”

Catherine laughed and threw back half her drink in one swig. So much for going slow. The prospect of McKenzie making her go out and celebrate three upcoming holidays was enough to make her want to order another one, which is what she did. She understood that she was staring down the barrel of a very frustrating month and a half, during which time McKenzie wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She would be hounding her around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s, and it would most likely prove more distracting than if Catherine had just been able to visit home for a day or two.

Not to mention, the more time McKenzie spent getting on Cat’s case about not holing up alone in the office, the less time she would be spending actually writing her next book. It was truly a recipe for disaster.

“I’ll buy us some sliced turkey,” Catherine said as she slid out of her bar stool. “And we can make sandwiches and watch the parade on Thursday. But that’s all I’m promising you right now, okay?”

“Where are you going?”

“I have to use the bathroom,” she said. “Order me another round if you happen to get the bartender’s attention.”

“You really want another one?”

Catherine shrugged. “Why not? We can get to celebrating early.”

McKenzie pursed her lips. “You’re just getting another drink to drown your sorrows because you aren’t going to be able to work the rest of the year away, aren’t you?”

“I don’t see why it matters. I’m going to stay out a little longer with you. Isn’t that what you want?”

“... Fair enough.”

Catherine left her friend alone to get the next round of drinks and meandered through the crowd towards the bathroom. She was close enough to reach for the handle when the door swung open outwards and pushed her backward. She lost her footing and was a half-second away from hitting the disgusting, sticky floor when a pair of strong arms caught her. The wind was knocked out of her as she hit the solid chest of whichever tall man had saved her from falling flat on her butt, so all she could muster in response was a nervous laugh.

“Sorry!” said the woman who had come barreling out of the bathroom. “I didn’t know you were right there.”

“It’s fine,” Cat said as she was righted, once again steady on her feet. She glanced back and saw the man who had been looking at her from across the bar. He offered her a kindly smile and tugged on the brim of his baseball cap like it was a top hat, and he was a proper gentleman. “Thank you so much.”

“No problem.”

Now that they were closer to one another, Catherine could make out his strong jaw and striking blue eyes. She struggled to fill her lungs, but at least some of that had to have been from the impact, right?

Right?

“You have a good night,” he said, “and keep an eye out on the front door on your way out as well. It also swings both ways.”

“I—er—yeah, okay.” Before she could think of anything else to say, the man had disappeared back into the crowd. A part of her wanted to chase after him, to at least get his name so that she could thank him more formally, but the rest of her was overriding this thought and demanding she go into the bathroom and relieve her bladder.

Oh well, she thought as she rushed through the door and into the open stall. Maybe I’ll see him again. If he comes here often, there’s no reason to think we won’t run into each other another time…