Page 56 of Holiday Home 3
Grinning ear to ear, Avril twisted the handle to Anna’s door, pushed it wide open, and then, strangely, took a step away. He stood where she’d obliged him to stand, confused. What was the goal of this?
“I know you want to take a peek, so have at it.”
He frowned. “No, I don’t. Anna can show me her room if she wants to show it to me.”
“Think when that happens, things will go how they did when you saw my bedroom for the first time?” Avril teased.
“I’d put money against it,” he replied.
Avril grinned and shrugged. “Well, if you aren’t going to have a look, remember to shut the door. Don’t want her thinking you snooped around, do you?”
“If she’d suspect anyone here, it’d be you.”
Holding her hands out, Avril fast-tracked her departure from the hallway. His glare bounced off her back, and he quickly moved to close Anna’s door.
He saw a little between when he grabbed its handle and tugged it shut. Mostly, things he expected to see. An incredibly orderly room, a desk with a closed laptop, and a much smaller vanity mirror than the one Avril had. Rather than nail polish and mascara, several stuffed animals sat in the storage shelves among her makeup options. Her walls had fewer accouterments, though many that he did see were also pictures, including a twin of the one he’d seen of her and Avril in the latter’s room.
Just before he finished shutting her door, he spotted the stuffed animal, Sammy the Sloth, that he’d gotten her for Christmas napping on her bed, which was so nicely made thatitlooked ready for a photoshoot. He spent a moment staring at the felt animal, whose head rested on one of her pillows.
Hope it’s been helpful,Liam thought as the door clicked closed.
He decided to ask Avril when he finally caught up to her.
“Her sleeping problems?” Avril asked from the couch as he joined her on it. “Yeah, I’m not sure if she’s been sleeping any better since Christmas Eve, but you should ask when she gets back.”
“I’ll do that,” he said, picking up the cards on the coffee table and using their final minutes before Anna’s return to give a tip or two about looking professional while dealing.
The pizza was as good as he remembered, and as large. Even he needed to use two hands to keep the enormous pizza slice stable enough for him to bite into it. As had been the plan from the outset, he and Anna shared the pepperoni, mushroom, and black olives pizza, leaving Avril to claim the Hawaiian pizza all to herself.
“It kind of fits her personality,” he remarked at the dining room table, where they’d all gathered to play Blackjack about a week ago. Another thing that Giacomo’s pizzas were famous for was the grease, so eating on the couch was strictly prohibited by the apartment’s more responsible caretaker. Anna had gotten them all hand towels for said grease, which they all used plentily.
“I don’t care for it myself,” Anna said, wrinkling her nose as Avril finished her first slice and hefted a second. “I like the bacon and ham just fine, but the pineapple is too acidic.”
“The pineapple makes the pizza,” Avril hummed, tearing into her new slice. “You two just don’t get it. More for me, though. I’ll eat it all.”
“She will,” Anna confirmed. “All eight enormous slices will be gone before this time tomorrow.”
“Ya know, it’s rude to, umph, talk about a person when they’re right beside you,” Avril said to her best friend.
“And talking while your mouth is full?” Anna asked.
Avril grinned. “We both know I’m uncultured. Nothing can fix me at this point.”
“You’re not uncultured; you just chose to be… coarse.”
“Coarse?” Avril said, grinning as she glanced at him. “Guess that’s another word for me.”
A little while later, once Anna had finished her second and last pizza slice, Liam finally asked whether Sammy had helped with Anna’s troubled sleep.
“It has helped,” she said, smiling.
He would have believed her and let the conversation end there. However, her best friend was more knowledgeable about her tells than he was.
“Come on now,” Avril said while tugging her third slice away from its family. “Don’t lie.”
“I am not lying,” Anna said. “It helped on Christmas Eve. I’ve been more… stressed than usual these past two days.”
Avril momentarily judged her friend’s response before letting her off the hook. “Makes sense. Christmas Day always sucks for you, and then Trent and I made things really shitty for you yesterday.”