Chapter 44

"I was hoping that you could bring them down from the attic for me," she said in a flirtatious voice.
"You mean, we can bring them down. I'll hand them down to you." He let out a deep breath. "Mallory, just be yourself and stop flirting."
She sighed. "I don't know how."
"Well- try. Or there will never be any hope for us even being friends."
"Fine." She had obviously been hoping that she could just bat her eyes and get him to do all the work for her, as he did years ago. But he was a man now and was no longer a foolish boy who would fall for her flirtations.
"Where's the attic?" he asked, headed up the stairs.
"It's right this way." She stepped in front of him and stood in the center of the second floor. He had always liked their house. The upstairs must have been an apartment at one time and had a sitting room in the center, with bedrooms jetting off from it. Then toward the right had been a kitchenette and to the left, a bathroom.
"Where's the attic?" Caden asked, looking around.
She pointed up to a crawl space. "Up there."
Caden pulled the string at the ceiling, releasing the trap door, and wooden stairs unfolded from the ceiling. He climbed the stairs and stepped up into the attic. It was big enough to stand up in with open rafters and exposed beams. But it had a floor solid enough to walk on. He looked around and boxes were setting off to the side.
"Come on up and show me which of these boxes you want," Caden yelled down.
"They're the ones marked 'Christmas,'" Mallory yelled up, obviously having no intention of climbing up the wooden stairs.
Caden looked toward the right and, sure enough, there were boxes marked Christmas. He took one of the boxes and headed toward the stairs. Mallory was still standing on the floor. "Here. I'll hand them down to you."
Mallory let out a deep breath, but plastered on a fake smile as she took the box from him and set it on the floor.
"So, why aren't you working today?" he asked her.
She shrugged. "I was off and thought we could use the time to get to know one another again."
For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why she was being so attentive and nice to him. He remembered how furious she had been the night before. Her face had contorted into something ugly when she saw him and Jocelyn kissing. Then he remembered that Jocelyn had been short with him earlier that morning and knew that Mallory must have taken out her fury on her. Why, then, was she being so nice and wasn't taking her fury out on him, too? Either she was using him to decorate the tree or she was trying to get back together with him, which he was having no part of. Now, she was so attentive, when before, she was too busy even to spend time with him.
After the last of the boxes were down, he climbed down the stairs and folded the stairs back up into the ceiling. "Come on. Grab a box and help me carry these into the living room."
She huffed, but picked up a box and followed him. "Thank you for helping me bring these down. I couldn't have done it alone."
Caden knew better than that. "Oh, don't worry. I think that Jocelyn would have done it," he replied, surprised that Mallory had wanted to do it in the first place. He suspected that she left most of the hard work up to Jocelyn when she could. "So, is Jocelyn okay? She was short with me this morning."
Mallory's head snapped up, obviously surprised that he had spoken to her that morning. "She's fine."
"Did you two have a fight last night?" Caden asked, unable to resist.
Mallory opened a box and pulled out a string of lights. "I have no idea what you mean."
He let out a deep breath. It was so obvious that she was lying. "Mallory, look. I'm sorry that you saw me kiss Jocelyn last night--"
"Let's not talk about it--"
"But I want to."
"Why?" She threw down the lights and they rattled against the hardwood floor.
He placed his hands on her waist, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Mallory, I don't want to come between you and Jocelyn. You two are sisters."
She pulled away from him and folded her arms across her chest. "Then why did you kiss her? Were you just trying to get back at me?"
Caden let out a deep breath. "Mallory, not everything is about you. I care about her--"
"Oh? Like you cared about me?"
"Mallory, that's not fair." Caden took a step closer to her, but she stepped back. "You never really cared about me."
Her eyes welled up with tears. "Oh, yes. I did."
Unable to see her cry, he pulled her to his chest. "Mallory, don't cry."
Her head snapped up. "But does she feel the same way about you? Have you ever thought that maybe she was just using you to try and get back at me?"
Caden let his arms drop to his side, releasing her. "Again, not everything is about you." He picked up his coat and walked toward the door.
"But what about the tree?" Mallory gestured around at the boxes covering the floor.
Caden shrugged. "I helped you get the boxes down. Maybe you and Jocelyn can decorate the tree together. It'll give you time to talk."
Mallory hurried across the room and threw her arms around his neck. "Caden, please don't go."
He peeled her arms away from his neck and took a step back. "I have to go." He stepped out onto the front porch and she followed him.
"But I thought you wanted to be friends," she said from the porch, folding her arms around her waist.
"And when you want to be friends, let me know." Standing in the white blanket of snow covering the yard, he looked up at her. "Mallory, I don't want to come between you and your sister, but I care about her and I'd like to date her, if she'll have me. I'm sorry it came down to this, but I just wanted you to know. I hope that we can be friends one day. But if not, then have a good life."
"So, you're leaving me- for my sister?"
"Mallory, this- whatever this is between us- has nothing to do with her." He took a step toward her, but was careful not to get too close. "I would have wanted to be just friends anyway, even if Jocelyn wasn't in the picture. As I said, I've grown up and you haven't."
With that, she stormed back into the house and slammed the door behind her.
As he slid into the driver's seat and turned on the engine, his thoughts went to Jocelyn. He had never intended on coming between her and Mallory. But he knew that the problems Jocelyn and Mallory had between them had been festering for years and had nothing to do with him. He just hoped that they could work it out. If he hadn't learned anything else on this trip, it was that family was forever- no matter what.