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Unlike Foster and Abby’s apartment, the hockey house was devoid of almost all Christmas decorations because no one had really been here. Drew, Harper, Rory, Liam, and Ava were all down in Meadowbrook for the holiday, now that things were a little bit better with Drew and his parents despite him dating the girl involved in the family feud they’d been carrying for generations. Despite the plan that Drew and Harper would only go down Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Gordy had told me that Drew’s family promised to be nice if they’d come spend more time with them because they missed him and Rory so much. Deciding to accept the olive branch, they’d spent the last week down in Meadowbrook. They were working it out, and this Christmas had been a trial run to see how well things went.

Harry had run off to the store so he could give us some semblance of a Christmas feast, and I was lazily lounging on the couch binge-watching old episodes of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. I maybe had a slightly unhealthy obsession with reality television shows, especially ones around religious upbringings, likely because it so often mirrored my own. The drama was just starting to get good, which wasn’t uncommon for this show, when the front door of the hockey house opened. Instead of Gordy, like I expected, in walked Liam and Ava followed by Drew, holding a sleeping Rory in his arms, and Harper.

“What’s going on?” I asked. They were all carrying bags, a few of which looked like they had wrapped presents in them.

“We’re having a family Christmas,” Liam said. “We heard about your shit trip, and since we were only down in Meadowbrook for Christmas, we decided to drive up today so we can all celebrate together. We already informed our families. We spent the last few days with them and did most of our Christmas traditions last night, so they were fine.”

My breath caught in my throat before I finally found my words. “What?”

Liam looked at Drew. “Was my accent too thick just then?”

Drew laughed. “No, I think she’s just surprised, man.”

Liam had a faint—very faint—Irish lilt that came out when he was emotional or very, very drunk, but it wasn’t his slight accent that had confused me. It was the fact that they all had their own families to be with and yet they’d come back to Dunridge for me.

“Why do you look so surprised?” Drew asked. “We weren’t gonna let you sit in this house with just Gordy. The man hardly talks. You’d be bored to tears. That’s no way to spend a Christmas. You have to watch terrible Christmas movies or get rip-roaring drunk off Christmas eggnog.”

Harper rolled her eyes while Ava looked at Drew with a flat stare. “You get drunk off Christmas eggnog? Are you serious right now? How are we related?”

Drew grinned at her. “You’re just annoyed because you didn’t think of it first.”

Now it was Ava’s turn to roll her eyes. “Yeah, okay, keep lying to yourself.”

They bickered as they piled shopping bags onto the kitchen counter, and I couldn’t stop staring at the chaos of it. Liam was already raiding our mostly empty fridge while Drew settled Rory into her Pack ’n Play in the living room.

My heart felt full in my chest as I stared at them. I couldn’t believe they’d driven back here for me. Granted, Meadowbrook was only a forty-five-minute drive, but still. They were here.

Foster, Abby, and Mason arrived at the same time Harry got back from the store. Harry walked in carrying four grocery bags and stopped in the doorway, taking in the full living room. His gaze swept across the group and then found mine as the corner of his mouth ticked up.

He didn’t look nearly as surprised by their appearance as I had been which told me one thing. He’d been behind this. He’d been the one to rally the troops.

Of course he had.

Drew insisted on putting on a cheesy Christmas movie on a streaming site and poured us all Christmas eggnog, which I learned was just eggnog with an alarming amount of rum in it.

“This is a holiday tradition, Sam,” Drew said, handing me a glass like he was presenting a fine wine. “Passed down through generations of Dumontier men.”

“Through one generation,” Harper corrected from the couch. “Your dad made it last night and you stole the recipe.”

“Inherited. I inherited the recipe. There’s a difference.”

One sip and I was done. Not even rum could save the taste of eggnog. I set it on the coffee table, and Harry offered to make us other Christmas cocktails, which I accepted with pleasure.

Harper and Drew were sprawled across the floor with Rory while the movie played, Drew providing commentary that none of us had asked for. Liam and Ava had claimed the love seat, Ava tucked under his arm while Liam threw popcorn at Drew every time he said something dumb—so, frequently. Foster, Abby, and Mason were sitting on the couch, Foster playing with Abby’s ponytail where only I could see it. I loved that Abby had found a man who loved her so much. She deserved happiness more than anyone I’d ever met.

Meanwhile Harry had disappeared into the kitchen to prepare our feast.

I slipped out halfway through the movie, heading to the kitchen. I paused in the archway, my gaze running up and down the man who had become my everything. Harry stood at the counter with his back to me, sleeves rolled to his elbows, chopping something in a way that looked effortless even though I knew it wasn’t. He hadn’t been happy with the protein options so instead of doing a traditional Christmas dinner of ham or turkey, we were doing lasagna. The scent of garlic and tomato was absolutely heavenly, and I had no doubt Harry had put his own little twist on it.

I came up behind him and slid my arms around his waist, pressing my cheek to the broad plane of his back. His hands stilled on the cutting board.

“Hi,” I murmured against his shirt.

His hand came down to cover mine. “Hi.”

I didn’t say thank you. I’d already said it a hundred times and he’d told me to stop every single time. So instead I just held on, feeling his steady heartbeat under my palms, listening to the muffled chaos in the other room.

He turned in my arms, leaning back against the counter so he could look down at me. His gray eyes were warm as he stared back at me, not bothering to hide the love shining in them. I wondered now if he ever had and I’d just been too blind to notice.