“Home Alonemarathon,” Logan says. He puts his arm around me and grins like a wolf. “And don’t even think about finding our sister.”
“Can I go to the bathroom?”
“You can go outside,” Lucas says.
I scoff. “Are you serious?” I point to the windows, where the glare of the sun from the thick snow is blinding. And it’s still snowing.
“I can escort you to the bathroom,” Logan says.
“I don’t need to go that badly.”
Lucas and Logan both smile and lean back into the couch. And because Logan’s muscled arm is around me, I lean back with them.
So, this is Christmas Eve.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
LIESEL
Imust still be dreaming.
There’s no other explanation for why Coop is sitting in between my brothers on our plush cream couch watchingHome Aloneand eating Canadian Smarties from a candy dish at nine a.m.
Hope explodes in my chest like fireworks on New Year’s. Are they … getting along?
I take a step further into the room—still far enough away that they can’t see me—and excitement bursts in me again as they laugh at one of Kevin’s pranks on the big screen.
My brothers—my big, obnoxiously overprotective brothers who hate Coop as much as I ever thought I did—are laughing with him like they’re old friends.
As nervous as Coop was last night, it’s nothing to how I’ve felt. I’ve never liked someone enough to bring him home. The storm forced it on us, but it felt inevitable after last night,anyway. Our roads have converged. The path would have led us here eventually.
And my brothers are getting along with him!
Joy makes me tear up …
And it’s then that Coop tries to stand up, and both my brothers grab a shoulder and push him back down.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Logan asks.
“I was hoping to use the bathroom again,” Coop says.
“I already escorted you to the bathroom. You mean you were hoping to find our sister,” Logan says. His voice is as sharp as the nail Marv’s about to step on in the movie. The hope in my chest fizzles out like a dud.
“Guys, come on. I just want a shower. Do you really think I’m gonna … canoodle?” he asks.
Lucas snorts, and Logan shoots him a look. “Sorry,” Lucas says. “Canoodle’s a great word.”
Logan’s nostrils flare at Lucas. Then he pats Coop’s back. “It’s not that we think you’re dumb enough to try something with Lee while we’re here. It’s that somehow, you’ve tricked her into thinking you’re not the guy we all know you are. And we can’t let you keep that up.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“We know enough, and we don’t like it,” Logan says, and I wish I could curl back up in bed.
Lucas watches the TV as he talks. “Listen, man, you’re stuck here, so we’ll let you live. But not if you go anywhere near Lee.”
Coop shakes his head. “I’m not staying away unlessshewants me to.”
“No, that won’t do,” Logan says.
