The Escape

Chapter 8

ABBY

Lauren was right about one thing so far. Jace liked me; if he didn't, he kissed me for nothing. That kiss we shared yesterday was electric. It was my first one, too. My first real one anyway, and I wouldn't take back Jace kissing me. It was certainly not a regret, and I had lots of those.

I crawled out of bed and headed for the kitchen, where Jace sat at the counter with a cup of coffee.

"Good morning," he said. "Bagel?" He pushed a bagel with cream cheese to the empty counter before me.

"Thanks." I sat down next to him and began eating. After our kiss yesterday, it was awkward. We ate our food and spent the rest of the evening apart. He said he needed to do some last-minute work, so I didn't bother him. I stayed in my room and watched movies since Bella was gone for the night. For dinner, Chef Goodwin came by and made a chicken pie. After that, I didn't see any more of Jace.

"Are we... are we okay?"

JACE

I turned my head to Abby. "Of course we are. Why wouldn't we be?"

Oh no, she thought I was avoiding her, didn't she? That's not the reason I wasn't spending time with her. I had been doing some work. Technically, I wasn't supposed to be doing anything with work right before Christmas. The business was closed, but there were a couple of last-minute things I needed to finish up.

"I-I wasn't sure. After the kiss, you disappeared a lot. Where do we stand now?" Abby asked.

"I don't know where we stand. I'll leave that up to you, Abby. I don't want to force you or push you to get into a relationship. You have complete control of our next steps. I should have asked if it was alright to kiss you, but I went for it."

Abby turned her body to face me. She was still in the T-shirt I'd given her. "I'm glad you kissed me."

Abby smiled at me and blushed. It was so adorable. "You can kiss me any time you want," she whispered. Abby walked off.

Abby wanted me to kiss her again. She felt the same way or similar to me. I didn't know exactly how she felt, but her wanting to be kissed again told me enough. I put the paper plates in the trash and headed toward Abby's room. I softly knocked, and she opened the door. She hadn't changed yet, and I was glad. I loved seeing her wear something that was mine.

"Did you need something?" She asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, I did." I leaned down and kissed her again. I pulled her waist closer, and she wrapped her arms around my neck. I pulled back from her lips, and she had the biggest smile. "Anytime, huh?"

"Yep." Abby shooed me away with her hands. "Alright, I have to change. Lauren said your parents are coming today."

"Yeah, that's right, they are. They won't be here for like two hours, though."

"Maybe so, but I have to look presentable. This is not presentable to meet parents of any kind," she laughed.

Abby was right. When it was time to meet my parents, my T-shirt didn't do justice. A pair of jeans and a nice Lauren shirt would suffice, though.

"Agreed. I will leave you to get changed. I'll be out on the deck finishing my coffee. Lauren should be here soon with all the presents to go under the tree."

"Okay," she said softly.

Abby closed the door after I left, and I wondered what always went through her mind. The way she said okay had me curious. Was it like a change of emotions from happy to maybe sad? I knew nothing except that Abby had been through a lot in her life in the last few years.