Chapter 15- Part 2

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After running his five miles Christmas morning, Noah got back to the house to find Roni still asleep. Perfect. He made a pot of coffee before jumping in to take a quick shower. Her door was still closed when he got out of the shower. He changed into a pair of loose sweats and a t-shirt, grabbed the gift bag from the closet, and placed it under the tree.

He was nervous as hell. It was something he'd thought of getting her before but was afraid she'd think him corny.

The doorknob to her room jiggled. She was up. Noah's eyes shot back down to the bag under the tree; there was still time. He could make a dive for it and get it before she saw it. But he took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen instead.

"Merry Christmas."

The sound of her voice instantly made him smile. He turned from where he poured himself a cup of coffee and smiled at her. "Merry Christmas."

He grabbed another cup out of the cupboard and poured her some coffee.

"I don't know about you, but I could go for some blueberry pancakes."

"Sounds good," Noah said.

Of all the Christmas mornings he'd ever had even as a child, he couldn't remember one feeling more satisfying than how he felt that very moment. Coffee and pancakes with Roni and the promise that he'd have her all to himself for the entire day. He couldn't think of a better present. Well, he could think of one thing that could make this even better, but he wouldn't push it.

Noah walked Roni's mug over to where she stood by the stove and set it down for her. "Need any help?"

"Nope," she said cheerfully. "But you could turn on the Christmas music."

He did just that and walked back to lean against the counter. He tried not to stare at her profile, but at this point, she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen, even right now in the morning, especially right now in the morning, because this look—her tousled hair, her pajamas, and big fuzzy slippers—was reserved for him. No one else could see her like this but him.

She looked up and caught him staring at her like a lovesick puppy. The more he was around her, the less effort he put into concealing how he felt about her. Though he did take a sip of his coffee before he freaked her out and pulled her right out of her cheery mood.

"Year's  almost over, Noah. Any resolutions for the New Year?"

"Nah, I don't make resolutions. Or I guess I do, but I call them goals, and I don't wait for the New Year to start toward them."

She turned to him, her eyebrow arched. "You have a point. Why wait?"

"Do you?" Noah asked, genuinely curious.

"It's not really a goal, but I want my life back. I'm just hoping that by going back to work and catching up with my old friends, I can get back to the way things used to be, you know, before I let myself fall into this black hole I was in for so long."

Feeling a little annoyed by that last statement, Noah asked. "But you haven't been in it lately, right?"

She now had a stack of pancakes ready, and she flipped the last one onto the top of the stack, adding a sliver of butter on top like she had with all the others. She picked up the tray with the stack and turned to him. "No, I haven't, and I have you and Nellie to thank for that."

They sat and ate as she told him more about her plans for the next year, irritatingly adding that she was also going to work on getting her social life back.

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