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CHAPTER 37: Charlotte's Final Move
publish date:
2026-01-27 12:57:40
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The Holidate Pact CHAPTER 53: The Voicemail
**SLOANE**The wine bottle was empty.I stared at it. Tried to remember when I'd opened it. After I got home from Murphy's maybe. After I'd driven away like a coward.My phone was in my hand. Had been for the last hour.2:13 AM.I should go to bed. Sleep. Stop thinking about Jackson sitting in that bar looking broken.Instead I hit call.It rang. Once. Twice. Three times.Voicemail.His voice. Recorded. Professional."You've reached Jackson. Leave a message."The beep came too fast. I wasn't ready."Hi. It's me. Sloane. Obviously you know that. Caller ID. I'm rambling. Sorry."I took a breath. Tried to focus. Failed."I'm calling because I saw you tonight. At Murphy's. I was outside. In my car. Peter told me to come and I came but I couldn't go in. I sat there for twenty minutes like an idiot and then I left. And now I'm home and I'm drunk and I'm calling you at two in the morning because apparently I make terrible decisions."My voice cracked. I kept going."I'm sorry. For everything
The Holidate Pact CHAPTER 52: Three Days Until Australia
**JACKSON**"To new beginnings!"Dean raised his glass. Everyone else followed. Beer sloshing. Voices too loud.I lifted mine. Forced a smile. Drank.The whiskey burned going down. Good. I wanted it to burn."Can't believe you're actually doing this," Mike said. He was on his third beer. Maybe fourth. I'd lost count."Doing what?""Going back. After everything."After everything. Yeah. That about summed it up.The bar was packed. Friday night in Chicago. Everyone celebrating the weekend. The holidays. Life.I was celebrating leaving.Dean ordered another round. I didn't argue. Just kept drinking."Australia's lucky to have you back," someone said. One of the other golfers. I couldn't remember his name."Thanks.""You're going to kill it on that tour.""That's the plan."My phone sat on the table. Screen dark. Silent.I checked it anyway.Nothing.No calls. No texts. No Sloane.Three days. I was leaving in three days and she hadn't said a word.Not that I expected her to. Three weeks o
The Holidate Pact CHAPTER 51: Coward
gl**SLOANE**"Get to Murphy's. Now."Peter's voice came through the phone sharp. Angry. The kind of angry he saved for when I was being particularly stupid."I can't.""Yes you can. You're getting in your car and you're driving here."I was already in my pajamas. Already settled on the couch with a blanket and Netflix I wasn't watching."Peter, I don't think...""He's leaving in five days, Sloane. FIVE DAYS. You have five days to fix this or you regret it for the rest of your life."My chest tightened. Five days. That's what Mike's text had said. December twentieth."What am I supposed to say to him?""I don't know. Start with sorry. Start with anything. Just get here.""He doesn't want to see me.""He's sitting in a bar alone looking miserable because of you. Pretty sure he wants to see you.""Then why hasn't he called?""Why haven't you?"I didn't have an answer for that.Peter's sigh came through the phone."Murphy's. Twenty minutes. If you're not here, I'm coming to drag you out m
The Holidate Pact CHAPTER 50: Five Days Until His Flight
**JACKSON**"You're really doing this."Caroline stood in my bedroom doorway. Watching me fold shirts into my suitcase."Yeah.""You're leaving in five days.""I know what day it is."She walked in. Sat on the edge of my bed. The one I hadn't slept in for weeks."Are you sure about this?"I kept folding. Blue shirt. Gray shirt. Black shirt. Everything looked the same."No.""Then why are you going?""Because there's nothing keeping me here.""That's not true."I stopped folding. Looked at her."She hasn't called. Hasn't texted. Hasn't even looked at me in three weeks. What am I supposed to do? Keep waiting forever?""She's scared.""So am I. Difference is I'm not running.""Aren't you?"The words hit harder than they should have.I shoved another shirt in the suitcase. Didn't bother folding it.Caroline picked up a photo frame from my nightstand. The one from Easter. Me and Sloane at her parents' house. Her laughing at something. My arm around her.We looked happy. We were happy."She
The Holidate Pact CHAPTER 49: December Blues
**SLOANE**"That'll be forty-three fifty."The cashier smiled at me. I didn't smile back. Just handed her my card.The sweater for my dad sat in the bag. Blue. Cashmere. Expensive. He'd never wear it.I didn't care. Shopping was something to do. Better than sitting in my apartment staring at Jackson's golf clubs.The mall was packed. Families. Couples. People who looked happy.I hated all of them.A woman bumped into me. Didn't apologize. Just kept walking with her boyfriend's hand in hers.They were laughing about something. His arm around her shoulders. Her leaning into him.I wanted to scream.Instead I walked to the next store. Bath and Body Works. Maya loved their candles.The smell hit me immediately. Cinnamon. Pine. All the Christmas scents.Last year I'd been here with Jackson. He'd made fun of every single candle."Who wants their house to smell like a fake tree?""People who don't have real trees.""Then get a real tree.""I live in an apartment.""So do I. Doesn't stop me."
The Holidate Pact CHAPTER 48: Thanksgiving Apart
**JACKSON**"You're not eating."My mum, Caroline set another plate in front of me. Turkey. Mashed potatoes. Stuffing. All of it looked like cardboard."I'm not hungry.""You're never hungry anymore."She sat across from me at her small dining table. Just the two of us. First Thanksgiving in years it'd been just us.First Thanksgiving without Sloane."Eat anyway," she said. "You're wasting away."I picked up my fork. Moved food around the plate. Put the fork down.My phone sat next to my napkin. Screen dark. Silent."Have you heard from her?" Caroline asked."No.""Have you tried calling?""She doesn't want to talk to me.""Did she say that?""She ran away from me at the diner. That's pretty clear."Caroline cut her turkey. Chewed slowly. The silence stretched."You know what today is?" she asked finally."Thanksgiving.""It's the first holiday you've missed. Since the pact."The pact. God. That felt like a lifetime ago.New Year's. Valentine's. Easter. Memorial Day. We'd done them al
The Holidate Pact CHAPTER 42: The Tournament (Day Two - The Watching)
**SLOANE**Seven AM. I haven't slept. I've been watching it spread across the ceiling for hours.His text sits on my phone screen. *I love you. I'm just not ready yet.*I read it at two AM. Typed three different responses. Deleted them all.What could I say? I'm not ready either.But I love him. G
The Holidate Pact CHAPTER 3: The Austrailian
SLOANE The smell hits me first. Old coffee, fryer grease, maple syrup that’s been warming since the breakfast rush. It’s not pleasant, but it’s honest, and after the plastic cheer of the last forty-eight hours, honest feels like oxygen. Doris, the waitress who has probably worked every graveyard s
The Holidate Pact CHAPTER 2: Boxing Day Regrets
SLOANE The Target returns line on December 26th is where hope goes to die. I’m standing in it now, clutching a fondue set I will never use, watching my life tick away one agonizing minute at a time. The line stretches from Customer Service all the way back to Housewares. At least ten people ahead
The Holidate Pact CHAPTER 1: The Worst Christmas Ever
SLOANE Here's what nobody tells you about being thirty-five and single during the holidays: it's not the loneliness that kills you. It's the pity. The head tilts. The soft voices. The "How are you doing... really?" I'm standing on my parents' front porch, staring at the wreath, gathering courage
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