Tommy Sallow is onto better and brighter things. After working a small hometown beat in upstate New York, he's finally in sunny California. As expected, it's the same shit in a different town. Except, you know, now he's near the ocean and miserable...
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Christmas in New York is fucking cold.
It's not the worst thing in the world. If anything, it feels more like the actual holidays here. The nostalgia kicks right in with the bitter chill and that lingering smell of cinnamon and pine that seems to overcome you the minute you step into town.
I've always enjoyed the smell. It's this bitter fucking chill that has me out of sorts. I wasn't ready for it. I never am.
Ever since I moved away, it takes days to reacclimate myself to the temperature change in Oakwood. And of course, as soon as I'm used to it, it's time to go back to California. Life is funny like that, isn't it?
I stuff my hands into the pockets of my hoodie and slump down onto the couch, enjoying the scent of banana bread wafting through the air as my eyes wander to the colorful twinkling lights on the tree in my sister's living room.
Amber and Mia's tree has colored lights, too.
It's four in the morning there. I wonder if Amber leaves her tree on all night like Sadie and Austin do. Does she put a toothbrush in Mia's stocking? I didn't know parents actually did that until last night and now I can't stop thinking about it.
Shaking off those depressing thoughts, I try and bring myself back to the moment as Sadie appears in front of me with two cups of coffee, placing one in my eager hands and keeping the other for herself. My freezing fingers revel in the heat emanating from the mug and I let the steam warm my face before taking a sip from it.
Sadie laughs, like always. "The west coast sun has ruined you, big bro," she says as she takes the spot beside me on the couch.
"How do you figure?"
"A hoodie? Inside? You're a winter wimp now."
"Am not," I whine, knowing she's absolutely right. I'll never admit it though. She'd have way too much fun with that. "Might help if you turned your heat up past seventy for once. You do realize it's thirty-two degrees outside, right?"
Her eye roll is dramatic. "You do realize that once upon a time, this was warm for you, right? Thirty-two degrees on Christmas is unseasonably warm for here. I'm pretty sure you're just spoiled now."
She's right. Again. I've been spoiled. Only now, lately... it's not just the California sunshine that's been keeping me warm. A certain caramel eyed woman walked into my life, thawing out every frigid part of my being and making me feel more alive than I ever have. The disconnect between us currently is icier than Oakwood's most brutal winter.
I can't get our last conversation out of my head. What she said to me, what I said to her. The only shining light in our argument was that she actually fought back. I saw the fire in her eyes and it was beautiful because I know she's going to need it. But it's hard to even focus on that part because too easily, I'm reminded of the way she recoiled at the slightest move of my hand. It replays in my head like a never-ending horror reel and the only relief comes from Trevor's daily text, informing me that everything is okay. As far as he knows.
