“I like her. She’s nice.”
“With your weird but nice roommate, and her creepy cat?—”
“I like him, too. He just enjoys jump-scaring humans.”
Summer sighed. “Fine, but I needed to see you somewhere else, so thank you for coming here tonight.”
“The second thing on our list is getting you drunk,” Gabi continued. “What kind of friends would we be if we put you on a plane tomorrow without a hangover?”
I shook my head. “I’m not getting on a plane. I’m driving to my parents’ house.”
“Driving across the country?” Summer said loudly.
Mason glanced in our direction and gave me his disapproving dad look.
“I have my reasons,” I said.
Not the least of them was I didn’t want to spend days alone with my parents before my brother came home. That was way too much time without him as a buffer when Mom and Dad silently—and yet distinctly—expressed their abject disappointment with my life choices. They tried to understand why I’d moved to the West Coast and how, exactly I paid my bills. But Mom was an IT manager and Dad was an accountant, and hawking sculptures made of found materials had never made sense to them. At least this year I would make the concession that might finally allow them to worry less about my future prospects and lack of a retirement fund.
“Fine, drinks but no getting drunk,” Gabi conceded.
“The third...” Summer glanced at Gabi, whose face showed no emotion, then she lowered her voice and leaned close to me, “and arguably the most important thing on our list tonight, is getting you laid.”
“No. That is not an option.” I glanced at Gabi. “Tell me you agree with me.”
She shrugged. “Summer has had some objectively terrible ideas over the years, but this one isn’t half bad.”
“No,” I repeated, but Summer was smiling and Gabi was unhelpfully shrugging again.
I could do hard things. Like drag my sorry ass out to a bar. See my ever-more-disappointed parents over Christmas. Trade in my dreams of becoming a real artist for a predictable, mind-numbing, bill-paying job. But I could not consider hooking up with a rando five months after the end of a seven-year relationship, and only thirty-nine days after giving up on my ex for good.
CHAPTER 2
NICK
“You ever consider being less of a Grinch?” Henry, my old army buddy, asked.
“Nope.”
Henry closed his locker, which was three doors down from mine in our ATF station house in Glendale, California. He leaned against the metal door and stared me down.
I refused to relent. My consistency was a point of pride in all areas of my life, and nowhere was I more constant than in my disdain for the holiday season. While the rest of the world strung lights, burned candles, and threw celebrations to illuminate the longest nights of the year, I embraced the darkness. December was the one month of the year that I gave in to my inner grouch.
Unfortunately, my friends were just as consistent in their attempts to change my mind.
“I ask because Janie and the kids would love to see you at our place on Christmas Day,” he said.
Henry and Janie meant well. They knew the holidays were a fraught time for me. They were careful to tread lightly. They always extended an invitation to join them on the most family-focused day of the year and then accepted my refusal gracefully.
“Thanks, man, but you know I have to say no.”
He sighed. “Well, that’s going to be a problem.”
This was different. “Why?”
“Because this year the twins are old enough to know what’s going on. They’ve been asking about celebrating with all their favorite people, and for some reason that totally escapes my understanding, that includes you. So, if you don’t show...”
I groaned. “Then I’m the real-life Grinch.”
