Page 22 of Christmas with a Chimera (Claw Haven)

Emma entertained a brief fantasy of yelling at her. Maybe it would make people finally stop pressing all around her and give her some air. It would be so satisfying, unleashing her anxiety on Hazel, who had pissed her off so much already.

Emma took a deep breath and squatted down. “I haven’t been that nice to you.”

Hazel paused. She was in the middle of slopping some of the carpet cream back into the mug, with mixed results.

“You’re alright,” Hazel said, fast and a little frightened.

“I’m an asshole,” Emma replied. “I know how hard it is, starting a new job. And even if it’s not coming naturally to you, I see how hard you try. You try harder than any of us. So…thank you. For that.”

Hazel blinked hard, eyes bright in the dim party light. “I swear I’ll be better soon. It’s my New Year’s resolution! No customer complaints about how bad my coffees are.”

“Let’s aim a little lower,” Emma told her.

Microphone feedback screeched around the room. Emma and Hazel flinched, a few monsters letting out a pained cry as their sensitive ears were assaulted.

“Sorry,” came Rusty’s not-so-apologetic voice. “Sorry, everybody. If we could get everyone toward the back of the room, we have a few words from our stars.”

Emma’s stomach dropped. She took another hopeful mouthful of her eggnog, then decided it wasn’t worth it. Shots would be a hundred times better than this sickeningly sweet swill.

She turned to find Arthur and Jennifer standing queasily close, leaning over the shared microphone.

“We just wanted to say thank you for your hard work,” Arthur began. “You guys were fantastic. Can’t wait to see this in theaters next Christmas. Jen?”

He tilted the microphone. In the background, Rusty darted around taking pictures on his phone. He motioned at Jennifer, who smiled even wider. She even managed to make it look natural.

“I had reservations about the wig,” she admitted, with a resounding laugh from the makeup team. “But you guys made it work!”

She slipped her hand into Arthur’s. “I looked good, right?”

Arthur laughed. They suited each other, Emma realized resentfully. That specific brand of Hollywood perfect, teeth too straight and hair too shiny, completely relaxed with all eyes on them. Except for that barely there tightness around Arthur’s eyes, betraying his discomfort.

“You looked amazing,” he said. He turned toward the crowd. “I wanted to thank the residents of Claw Haven for letting us show off their home for this movie.”

“Your home, too,” came a shout from the crowd. It sounded a lot like Jasper Dawn, that annoying vampire who worked at the hospital.

Jennifer nudged him. “Was it good to be back?”

Arthur cleared his throat. “It was great. It was…it was really great, being back. I—”

He stopped, his smile freezing as he noticed Emma through the crowd.

Emma’s stomach twisted. She’d never seen him lost for words before. Jennifer eyed him curiously, and Rusty paused in his picture-taking to shoot him a pointed look.

Arthur didn’t seem to notice.

“I—” he repeated. His hand flexed around Jennifer’s, his smile solidifying as he addressed the crowd once again. “Anyway! Great job, everyone. Enjoy the free booze. I gotta…”

He trailed off, uncharacteristically uncharismatic as he detangled himself from Jennifer and headed into the crowd to a chorus of clapping and an enthusiastic whoop from Hazel, who was busy getting wiped clean with Daisy’s napkins.

“We should go,” Daisy told Hazel, ears flicking nervously as she looked over at Emma. “Right?”

She was asking if Emma needed backup for this inevitable interaction.

Emma thought about telling them to stay.

Then she made the stupid decision of looking at Arthur again, his gaze intent on her as he made his way through the crowd.

A few people tried to talk to him, but he gave them a distracted grin and kept going.

“Yep,” Emma croaked.

Daisy pulled Hazel away, still wiping eggnog cream off her hands.

Arthur stopped in front of her, somehow managing to look small despite his height, mane, and giant shoulders.

“Emma,” he said. “You came! I heard you couldn’t make it.”

“I’m only here for a while,” Emma said, searching desperately for a lie. “I, uh, have a headache.”

“Oh.” Arthur twisted toward the kitchen. “I can get you something.”

“No, no!” She caught his arm before he could go running off. “It’s fine. I have eggnog.”

He looked down at her hand. She dropped it, skin tingling with the feel of the sleek fabric.

She missed the anger. The first few times she’d seen him in town, her fury had been so big it blotted everything out.

Now all the emotions she’d been suppressing were flooding to the surface.

Standing in front of him felt like an exercise in yearning, every inch of her wanting to take his arm again.

Step closer. Run her fingers through the fur over his cheeks, tug him down in front of everybody.

“I thought you’d be on the phone with your parents,” Arthur said, jolting her out of her useless daydream. “Setting up the Christmas tree.”

“Already done.” Emma smiled, trying and failing not to think about her mother’s matter-of-fact voice as she told her that Arthur had cried.

She couldn’t help but picture him in his mid-twenties, alone in what would have to be a mansion by that point.

His tears rolling down his furry cheeks as he sat in the remains of a New Year’s party, mumbling down the phone to his ex-girlfriend’s parents.

“What about you?” Emma asked. “Any Christmas traditions?”

Arthur shrugged. “Not really. Any that I had, I had because of you.”

Emma’s traitorous heart spasmed in her chest. Before she could say anything to that, Hazel came squeezing through the crowd. Other than specks of cream on her shirt, she was completely clean.

“I’m not interrupting,” she insisted. “I’m just leaving, and I have to say goodbye first. Bye! And Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas,” Emma replied, thankful for the interruption from Arthur’s big, sad, golden eyes. “I’ll drop off your gift tomorrow.”

Hazel clasped her cream-streaked chest. “That’s so nice. Thank you. I really will try harder next year.”

“You try hard enough already,” Emma assured her. “I really appreciate it.”

Daisy appeared at Hazel’s shoulder, tugging gent-ly. Hazel let her drag her away, both of them waving as they vanished into the crowd.

“That was sweet,” Arthur said. “She didn’t seem scared of you at all.”

Emma sighed. “Probably because I apologized for being a hard-ass. Explained some stuff. I’m trying that whole… open thing.”

“That’s great!” Arthur said, so loud that several people looked over. He coughed, lowering his voice. “That’s really great, Emma.”

There was an annoyed little voice inside her telling her she was being patronized. But it was hard to believe when he was looking at her like this, his tail swishing and then stilling, then swishing again, like he had to continuously remind himself to cut it out.

Emma closed her eyes. She needed to make an exit soon before she did something stupid.

“So,” she said. “Flying out soon?”

“Tonight. After this.”

“Excited to get home?”

Arthur didn’t reply. He was still staring at her, his distracted smile getting smaller and smaller until his face was all desperation.

He stepped closer, so close that she could hear his intake of breath over the din.

The world fell away. The uncomfortable press of the crowd, the laughter and conversation, and the dreaded warmth of everyone’s bodies filling the same space narrowed down into Arthur standing in front of her, gazing down at her like he’d never wanted anything else.

Which, of course, was a lie. But he made it hard to remember that. Made it hard to think about anything but how good he would feel pressed against her, holding her close.

“Emma,” Arthur began. “I—”

His next word was cut off as Rusty appeared at his side, waving his phone.

“Arthur!” he said, cheeks red with excitement and eggnog. “Come and get a photo. Your lady awaits.”

That was Emma’s cue.

“I’m going to go,” she said, turning toward the doorway.

Arthur made a lost sound in the back of his throat. Half growl, half whimper. She’d never heard it before.

“Wait,” he said.

“Have a good flight, Arthur.” Emma squeezed through the crowd. She didn’t look back until she was at the doorway.

Arthur was standing with Jennifer, his arm around her waist. She was leaning into him, giggling at something Rusty was saying as he aimed his phone camera at them. She said something to Arthur, who nodded.

He was smiling. He looked perfectly normal if you didn’t know what to look for.

But Emma did. She saw it all: the spasming tail he kept trying to still, those beautiful laugh lines turning hard before he forced them to soften.

Emma swallowed. She’d been an idiot to think he had been unaffected by their breakup. She’d bought into his bullshit for once, too blinded by anger to look past it.

The camera light flashed. Arthur’s smile widened, strained.

I might never see him again , Emma thought.

Then she left, resolutely ignoring her heart as it cracked open in her chest.