“I was kidding!”
But Juniper returns with yet another bottle. “How do you English feel about tequila?!”
My eyebrows rise. “I didn’t see lemons in the fridge, but I do have a pack of sourHariboin my suitcase?”
Juniper’s eyes light up. “Go!” She giggles. “Oh, and see if you can find some salt too!”
I grab the sweets from my bag then head for the kitchen where I—aha!—procure a tray and dance around collecting salt and three mugs (unsurprisingly, there are no shot glasses to be found). Of course Willow has provided the fanciest mugs ever.Ceramic with a sort of ombre pink, the mugs are dusted with gold at the top, and I grin to myself. I bet she’d be horrified if she found out I plan to fill them with alcohol.
I carefully carry my stash of supplies back to the living room and place them on the blanket between us.
“Perfection!” Juniper unscrews the cap from the white wine and pours the first mug. She looks up, unsure. “Should I have chilled it first?”
“Nah.” Ethan reaches for the bottle. “Though I can chuck the bottle in the snow for a bit if you wanna keep it festive?”
“Do it!” I tell him, and he jumps up delightedly, taking the bottle with him as he goes.
“We have a fridge, you know.” Juniper laughs.
“This is more fun,” I say.
Juniper pours us each a mug of red. “Cheers to that!” She eyes me, and I feel something akin to butterflies in my stomach.
Chapter Six
Afterallmytalkof lamps, when the last of the light dims to darkness, Ethan lights candles and we sip wine, our faces lit only by the soft flickering flames. And though there’s a fridge full of pizza for dinner, we’re so enraptured in conversation that none of us even thinks to eat.
Juniper curls up with Ethan while I chuck another log on the fire. My feelings for them are both soft and fuzzy—or maybe that’s the wine going to my head.
Juniper eyes me as I approach them, top up my mug, and raise it.
“To us?” I announce, and they clink their mugs to my own.
“To us.” Ethan grins while Juniper simpers.
“So, a pretty shit year then?” she asks later as we drunkenly recount the chaos that has been going on with our families. “You know,Ihad cancer.” She gazes down at the dregs of her wine.
“You did?” I take her hand, and she smiles up at me.
“Ovarian,” she says in that same dreamy tone, as if she’s talking about something else, orsomeoneelse.
I put down my mug, trying to ignore the buzzing in my head so I can listen and be there for her.
“They um—” She looks down again, swirling her mug now so the last of her wine licks around, making patterns inside. “In the end, they sort of just … whipped it all out.” She chuckles darkly. “And I um …” She swallows. “It was a lot. Yeah.” She looks up, eyes glazed, but then she throws on a smile. “But I’m all better now!” She takes a breath. “And since we appear to be out of wine—” She eyes me playfully, and I smile back. “We better start on the tequila!”
Several hours, half a bottle of tequila, and one large packet ofTangfasticslater, we find ourselves in a conga-line cuddle puddle on the sofa. Ethan sits at the end, and I lean back against him, the back of my head resting on his chest. My legs are sprawled along the length of the sofa, with Juniper nestled between them, lying back on me and using my chest as a pillow.
“Miaaaaa? Truth or dare?” Juniper slurs.
“I dunno,” I murmur back. “If I choose dare, will that involve me moving?”
Ethan’s soft laughter vibrates through my body, and I grin up at him. He kisses my forehead, and I relax further into his embrace.
Lying here, sandwiched between them both, I’m so damn comfy.
“Not sure,” Juniper says, reaching up behind her to stroke my cheek.
“Truth,” I say, smiling, content.
