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They go around giving hugs as Steven gives a toast, congratulating the newly engaged couple and thanking everyone for coming.
“I guess the next time we’ll all be together is at the wedding!” Everyone cheers and then downs their glass.
The champagne is tickling my tongue as I try to find Mandy, but she’s gone from her spot beside the tree. My heart starts to beat erratically as panic sets in. I don’t like not knowing where she is.
I start pushing my way through the crowd when Chrissy suddenly pops in front of me.
“Uncle Ethan!”
I wrap my arms around her and give her a hug, forgetting about Mandy for the moment. She’s my only niece and this is a huge moment for her (even if every impulse in my body is urging me to go find my girl).
“Congratulations, kid,” I say as I squeeze her. “I’d offer to straighten your guy out if he ever does you wrong, but I know I’ll never have to with Matt. He’s a keeper. I’m so proud of you.”
“Thank you, Uncle Ethan,” she says as she squeezes me back. She pulls away and looks up at me with a scrunched forehead. “I want this amazing feeling for you. How come you’re still single?”
“I guess I haven’t found the right girl,” I lie.
“Do you still have Grandma’s ring?”
I nod. My mother gave it to me on her deathbed. Told me it belonged to the girl who could thaw my icy heart. I put it in the back of my top drawer when I got home and it’s been there ever since.
“You sure you haven’t found the right girl?” she asks, giving me that suspicious look again.
“What are you talking about?” I ask as I get the feeling we’re not on the same page.
Her eyebrow raises as she grins at me. I stare back at her, playing dumb but she’s not buying it.
“Oh, please,” she says with a huff of breath. “You two haven’t taken your eyes off each other all night. Plus, her lipstick is all smudged up.”
I swallow as I watch her. Busted.
“Just be gentle with her,” she says with a tilt of her head. “She has a tender heart. And she’s been in love with you since she was eight years old.”
“But… she’s your friend. And I’m your uncle…”
“You’ve always had her heart, Uncle Ethan. I’ve told her to move on so many times. I’ve fought it and warned her for years. I don’t want to fight it anymore. I truly believe that you’re the only one who will make her happy.”
She steps on her toes and kisses my cheek, leaving me stunned.
“You have my blessing if you need it. And Uncle Ethan?”
“Yeah, kid?”
She gives me a wink. “Show her a good Christmas. She needs it.”Chapter SixMandyI lost Ethan.
Not lost lost, not yet anyway, but I haven’t seen him in about five minutes.
Rather than grapple with the urge to stalk him around the house like a crazed ex-girlfriend, I head into the kitchen to help out.
“Mandy!” my father shouts from the table. Oh no. He pours a shot for him and one for my mother who’s sitting beside him. He pours most of it on the table. “Mandy! Mandy! Watch us take a shooter of Brandy!”
They both giggle as they down them. I charge over.
“You guys are drunk!” I whisper-scream at them.
They look at each other and burst out laughing. “Guilty,” my mother says. “Don’t ground us.”
My dad roars out laughing as I turn away from them with a roll of my eyes. How am I the responsible adult here already? I’m only twenty-one!
“You’re driving,” my Dad hollers as I start gathering some empty bottles of wine and beer from the counter and toss them into the recycling bin.
Everyone is having a good time and the music is blasting. Someone turned off the Christmas music a while ago and Uptown Funk is blaring from the living room. It’s packed in there with people dancing and having a great time. Most of these people are going to get hangovers for Christmas morning.
I shiver as I step into the garage and squeeze past Mr. Hearst’s slick-looking mid-life crisis car. Mrs. Hearst said he was either going to get a car or a mistress, so she let him get the car. I don’t know what kind it is, but it looks like something John Wick would drive.
Goosebumps rise all over my skin with the chilly air in here. I dump the empty bottles into the big blue bin and gasp when I turn around.
Ethan is standing in front of the closed door with his hands in his pockets watching me with an intense gaze.
I swallow hard as I stare back. My nipples harden, but I’m not sure if it’s from the cold air or from the hot guy.
“What’s a beautiful girl like you doing in a place like this?” he says with a sexy grin. There’s a flutter in my chest as I watch him. I don’t know how all girls my age aren’t attracted to older guys. They’re so incredibly sexy. The guys my age at work and at school are so immature and act so childish at times. How could I possibly desire them when there are real men like Ethan Hearst in the world?
