Our Song Returns: Falling In Love At The Wrong Time Read Online Free PDF Page B

parents’ house, but she needed some Christmas cheer. She sat on the floor and unwrapped everything, showing each gift to Mozart and wondering if doing so made her an official crazy cat lady or if she had a few years before she could lay claim to that title. Patrick had bought her tickets to the Boston Symphony, which was an annual tradition for them. It would be nice to have a date to bring, but she and Patrick always had fun. They usually went out for dinner first. She looked at the tickets. The program was Mozart and Shostakovich, not the most likely combination, but anyone who got sleepy during the Mozart would wake up as soon as the Shostakovich started. He had also given her a cashmere sweater, something that she would scold him about after thanking him. They were doing okay, and this was a busy time of year, but it was not as if either one of them was wealthy.
    Two hours later she was dressed, wearing a ridiculous Christmas sweater that her mother had made her two years ago. It featured a giant reindeer face with a red pompom for a nose. The cuffs were rimmed with jingle bells, so she rang every time she moved. She finished wrapping the last of the gifts for her family, then gathered them into a large shopping bag to bring with her. She made most of her gifts this year, and she hoped her parents would like them. She picked up the bag and headed to the door, figuring it would be okay if she were a little bit early. She had enough solitude for one day.
    She was standing just inside the door, ready to put on her coat, when the doorbell rang.
    She opened the door. Bill stood there, holding a gift. She stood there, gaping at him, unsure what to do. She had been so sure she would never see him again, and now he was here. Not with his wife, not celebrating Christmas. He was here, with a gift. She was afraid to breathe.
    “Can I come in?”
    She opened the door wider and stood back to let him in her apartment. She took her time closing the door, wondering what to say. Her instincts had not done very well by her in the past twenty-four hours, and she wanted to make sure not to mess things up again. She took a deep breath and turned to look at him. “Merry Christmas.”
    “Merry Christmas.” He held out the package to her. “This is for you. I needed to apologize for last night. You were right, I kissed you just as much as you kissed me. I shouldn’t have blamed you for what happened, not without accepting part of the blame myself.”
    She took the package. “Come in and sit down. Do you want coffee? I can put on a pot?”
    “No, thanks. It looks like you were on your way out. You’re wearing that sweater…”
    She laughed. “Yeah, my mom made this for me. She loves to see me wearing it.”
    “I can understand why. It looks spectacular on you.”
    She glanced at him, wondering how to respond. It was an ugly sweater, and maybe he was just being nice. Sure, it was a slightly flirtatious comment, but she misread him last night and she did not want to do it again. She finally just smiled and went into the kitchen, where she put on a pot of coffee before heading out to the living room. She found him sitting on her couch, petting Mozart, who was purring so loudly he was practically shaking.
    “I see you have a new friend.”
    “Yes.” He nodded to the package, which she was still holding. “Will you open that?”
    She nodded and sat down on the couch with Mozart between them. “What is it?”
    He smirked. “Open it. Why do people always ask that? Just unwrap it and find out.”
    She slid the ribbon off and unwrapped it. What she held in her hands was a perfect little wooden box with a hummingbird inlaid in the lid. It looked like mother of pearl, and she ran a finger over it. She opened the lid, and music started to play. At first she did not recognize it, but then her ears made sense of it, and she realized. It was playing “Just the Way You Are.” She looked up at him.
    “Do you like it?”
    Maggie tried to