“Your breath smells like antifreeze.”
Stanley managed to lick Freddie’s chin despite his cone of shame.
“But I’m glad you’re feeling better.” Stanley did look like he was feeling better. He also looked quite happy curled up snug in Freddie’s arms.
I would’ve smiled if I could remember how. I was actually kind of numb, but even though I hadn’t had time to process everything that had happened tonight, I did know that Freddie having Stanley was undoubtedly a good thing. An hour or so had passed, and Freddie, Sean, Stanley, and I were hanging out in the club chairs Tweety and Kit Kat had occupied earlier. Most everybody had gone home—including my mother. She wanted to whip up some more aloe lotion for my scrapes. The twins had left too. They had a busy day ahead of them tomorrow given that they had at least some of the inside scoop. Freddie and I were still waiting to be questioned, whereas Sean … I think he just wasn’t ready to say good-bye. Turned out, he was going to med school. The server gig was just to help pay bills over the holiday. I kind of got the impression that this freaked out Freddie even more. I mean, sure he wanted to be half of a power couple, but not the lesser half.
“Hey guys,” Matthew said, strolling up to us, bow tie hanging loose. “I was wondering if you all would like to join me outside for a second.”
I guess we all looked equally confused because Matthew added, “I know it’s been a rough night, and we missed midnight, but there’s no sense in wasting the historical society’s last surprise.”
Best we could figure, midnight had struck right around the time Grady and Joey were tumbling down the stairs, so, yeah, it had kind of been a busy time. We hauled ourselves to our feet and followed Matthew onto the back terrace. Light snow had begun to fall.
There were a few other people waiting outside. Mrs. Watson. A couple of the servers. Rhonda and Bethanny. Tyler. Oh yeah, Tyler had been having a great time celebrating his epic takedown. At one point, his friends were even bouncing him up and down on a chair, parading him around the house. They had waited until Tyler’s mom had gone home though. No need for her to know that it had been her son on the snowmobile just yet. She left happy seeing him happy without knowing the reason why. Chloe had gone home too. I couldn’t help but wonder if she might see Tyler a little differently now, but Freddie seemed to think that that was beside the point. Tyler could do better. Freddie never had been one to easily forgive. Grady and the other handful of officers weren’t outside though. They were still questioning Candace. The Arthurs and Bryson had been taken to the sheriff’s department for holding.
“Okay,” Matthew called out. “So things didn’t entirely go as planned earlier, but I can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t do the countdown now before it really starts to snow.” He then held up a finger for us to wait while he called somebody on his phone. “Is everybody ready?”
A few people mumbled assent. I shrugged.
“All right. All together now. Ten … Nine … Eight…”
Freddie, Rhonda, and I exchanged looks. Rhonda raised a glass. Dammit! I should have gotten myself some champagne. I was so over the not-drinking thing.
“Five … Four … Three … Two…”
“One!”
Gold fireworks blew open the night sky.
“Happy New Year!”
We all stared up at the beautiful display. Even Stanley roused himself from Freddie’s arms to give the sky a look and then Freddie another lick on the chin. Freddie held him out to Sean, and Stanley obliged to give him a lick too.
“Aw,” Matthew said, coming to my side. “The dog gives kisses at midnight? Lucky.”
I looked up at him.
“Hey, are you okay?” Matthew asked. “I mean, obviously you’re not okay given everything that’s happened tonight, but—”
Maybe it sounds a cliché, but all of a sudden, something came over me. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why I had never kissed Matthew. Here I had spent all of these months waiting for Grady … while he dated someone else … and for what?
Then, before I even realized what I was doing, I had stretched up and my lips were on Matthew’s.
He jolted with the surprise, but then his arms were around me … and I was sinking into the warmth of his arms as snowflakes melted on my cheeks.
This … this … was not what I’d expected. Chills raced up my back as Matthew’s hand dropped from my shoulder to my waist, pulling me in just a little bit closer. A tiny, tiny voice somewhere in my head was screaming something about stopping, but I couldn’t really hear it.
Another loud bang exploded overhead. A sizzling crackle followed.
Finally after what felt like both way too long, and yet not nearly long enough, Matthew pulled back. “That was…” He shook his head. Sparkles fell behind him like enormous golden snowflakes. “I’m sorry if…”
“Oh no…”
We stepped apart.
“I should probably, uh…” Matthew said, pointing behind him.
“Yeah, you should.”
He nodded quickly.
I nodded back.
I whirled around to make my escape and—
“Freddie!”
He shook his head. “Boom go the fireworks.”