A week later I was driving home from work trying to beat the forecast-ed mini blizzard that was supposed to start any minute. As I walked into my house Chris called me.

"Hey angel." I could hear the grin in his voice.

"Hey." I echoed. "What's up? I thought you'd be here."

"I'm heading that way. I was bringing firewood in for my mom."

"Wow. You're the sweetest in the world." I set my purse down on the kitchen table and slipped my jacket off followed by the beanie on my head.

"You know it sweetheart."

"Alight, drive safe. I'll see you in a little bit."

"I wanted to ask you what day the Christmas party, gala thing was."

"The 14th of December.....why?"

"I don't know if you remember I did a Gucci ad a couple years ago."

"I sort of remember." I was lying. I completely remembered. How could one FORGET that ad?

"Well they approached me to shoot a quick campaign ad in New York, but I would be flying home Friday the 14th."

"Oh well you should do it. Absolutely."

"I should be back in time to go to the party. It's only New York. And I'll be flying so it should be a quick flight as long as the weather is decent."

"When do you fly out?" I asked sitting down at the kitchen table trying not to feel sad.

"Monday. We film it Wednesday and Thursday and I fly home Friday."

"Ok."

"You sure?"

"Why are you asking me? I wouldn't ever tell you not to do something for your career. And you don't need my permission."

"I know but I like to check with you. Ok I'll be there in 5. Love you."

"Love you." I hung up setting my phone down with a pout.

"Do not look so sad." Scott nudged me with his arm.

It was the evening of the Holiday Gala. Chris didn't make it back in time. They were supposed to shoot the ad Wednesday and Thursday but bad weather had pushed it out a day and he missed his flight. It was 7:30 pm and I had to leave for the Gala, so I substituted Scott for my plus one.

"I'm not sad. I'm glad you're in town and able to come with me." I smiled at him in the darkness of the car as we drove into Boston.

"He really tried to get back." Scott said.

"I know he did. Speaking of." I pulled my ringing phone out of my purse, "Hey baby." I answered.

"Hey. I'm on the plane now. I know I'll miss a couple hours of the party but I'm coming straight there."

"Oh." I frowned, "Well I kinda invited someone else."

"Who?! Is it Zach? I'll kill him."

"No!" I practically shouted.

"Who did you invite?"

"Your brother." I said a little irritated. "Was I supposed to go solo? We paid for you to go and while $500 a table is probably pocket change for you, it reflected poorly on me to have a plus one who didn't make it."

"Bree." Chris sounded shocked, "No I didn't want you to go solo but I told you I was going to try and meet you."

"Well trying to meet me wasn't exactly something I could count on. I called Scott and said he'd come with me."

"So it's my fault that I couldn't come? You told me to go to New York."

"It's not your fault. I'm not mad you aren't here. I'm just disappointed."

"You're mad now." He pointed out.

"Because you wanted to know if I had invited Zach! And then you demanded to know who I invited as if I were cheating on you or something."

"I didn't mean it like that Bree. I didn't know Scott had agreed to go."

"I haven't been able to reach you all day. The only communication we had was a few text messages saying you were going to miss your flight."

"I was on set. I wanted to call you but I was working."

"Ok." I clipped.

"So I'll just go home from the airport."

"Yes. Scott's with me. I'll see you tomorrow."

"You don't want me to go to your house?"

"I'll see you tomorrow." I repeated.

"Breelan." He pleaded.

"Chris, I have to go." I hung my phone up. "Grrrr! Your brother drives me crazy!"

"Who's Zach?" Scott asked.

"My ex."

"Oh the hottie cop?"

"Don't let Chris hear you say that."

"You know he's only like that because he's so crazy about you."

"Is that it?"

"Seriously." Scott shook his head. "You're his first relationship with a girl not in the industry. You're his hometown girl. You're the most authentic relationship he's ever had. And that's not a guess. He told me that." He said softly.

"He did?" I looked out the window watching the lights flash by.

"He did. Go a little easy on him. I know he sounded like a jealous prick, but he didn't mean harm. He loves you so much. He's so scared to lose you Bree. Honest."

We arrived at the Gala and I did my best to put Chris to the back of my mind. Of course, I was disappointed he wasn't with me. I was also irritated by his accusing tone asking if I had brought Zach. Scott had me laughing and distracted in no time however and it was a lot of fun to be all dressed up, dancing to a live band sipping on cocktails.

"Don't you look gorgeous?" I spun around to face Zach (of all people!).

"Zach! I didn't know you were going to be here."

"I wasn't sure I was going to be off but the station always buys a few tables. I was able to snag a seat this year. Is Chris here?" He looked around.

"No, he's stuck in New York. I brought Scott." I pointed over to where Scott was getting us another round of cocktails at the bar.

"Oh I see. Well in that case he won't he jealous if I steal you for a dance?" Zach raised a dark eyebrow at me with a playful grin.

"Ok." I smiled accepting his hand. An upbeat version of The Christmas Waltz was playing and we spun around the dance floor effortlessly. Zach singing along in a deep goofy voice had me laughing and by the time the song was over I couldn't stop grinning.

"Thank you for the dance." I squeezed his arm.

"No thank you." He kissed my cheek. "I'll let you get back to your date. But I'm coming back for another dance." He warned.

"What was that?" Scott walked up to me handing me a flute of champagne.

"A dance." I narrowed my eyes. "It wasn't anything."

"I didn't say anything." Scott shrugged innocently. "Guess it's a good thing Chris isn't here though."

I looked over at Zach. "Probably. How about we don't tell him Zach was here tonight?"

Scott pretended to zip his lips and throw away the key.

I did dance with Zach one more time that evening before the party was over.

When Scott finally dropped me off at home at almost 1am, I was feeling bad for how I treated Chris. He hadn't called me when he got in so once I got in bed, I sent him a text. I waited 10 minutes and he didn't respond. I rolled over and eventually fell asleep feeling very, very guilty.

The next morning I tried to call Chris with no avail. I was sitting at my kitchen table slowly sipping on a cup of coffee when he knocked on the door.

"Hey." I grinned widely. "I've been trying to call you."

"Really?" He gave me a dirty look.

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? I don't know maybe you hanging all over your ex at a party you told me not to come to." He snapped.

"I'm sorry?" I took a step back.

"I know Zach was there last night. And I know that he was all over you. Or maybe it was you all over him."

"Did Scott say something?"

"No, Scott didn't say anything. He didn't deny it though. Even though I don't have a facebook, friends of mine do." He pulled his phone out and practically shoved it in my face. I was tagged in a few photos of Zach's.

"I didn't realize he posted those." I chewed on my lip.

"Didn't realize you were caught?"

"Caught?" I laughed. "I didn't do anything wrong."

"So you didn't dance with him?"

"I did. But that was it. It was harmless."

"Which is why you told Scott to not mention that Zach was there."

"I just didn't want THIS happening." I frowned. "You're jealous for no reason. If anyone should be jealous it should be me! I saw the photos from work. Working really hard out to dinner with the Victoria's Secret model you had the photo shoot with, weren't you?"

"Gucci took us all out for dinner. Stop." He shook his head.

"That's not what it looked like." I kept going even though I knew I should stop.

"At least I didn't lie about it."

"Yeah just the whole world suspecting you've got a new model girlfriend. That's much better."

"I don't address tabloid crap. And you can try to spin it all you want. You were the one with an ex last night. Not me."

"You should go." I pointed towards the still open front door.

"I was planning on it." He turned stomping down the front steps leaving me in disbelief.