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She stopped before she could embarrass herself by telling him how hot he was now. Did he know?
“Don’t tell me I was too scrawny then. I know I was, but come on.”
“I wasn’t going to say that.” Phoebe changed tack. “What made you decide to grow out your hair?”
“I figured I should do it while I still can. In case I go bald someday.” Jonathan swished his hair around like a Pantene Pro-V model.
“Very glamorous.” Phoebe put her hands under her thighs to stop herself from running her fingers through the thick, shiny locks. “And you’re not going to go bald. All the men out there have their hair.”
“One of my grandpas was bald.”
“Well, it suits you.”
“You think so?” Jonathan paused. “I just realized we have the same haircut now.”
Phoebe swished her hair around the way he had, and they both doubled over laughing. Jonathan’s niece, Charlotte, found them with their heads together, nearly crying with laughter.
“Um. Uncle Jonathan, your mom says everyone should come for dinner now.”
“Coming,” Jonathan said weakly, wiping his eyes. He stood up and held out his hand to Phoebe. “Shall we?”
“We shall.” She took his hand and felt like she was floating as she followed him down the hall.
Chapter 16
Arden
On Christmas morning, Arden sat beside Sam at the long dining table laden with an assortment of bagels, cream cheeses, and smoked salmon. There was also an enormous fruit salad, deviled eggs, slivered onions, ribbons of cucumber rolled into bows, and a small bowl of something Arden was pretty sure was caviar but was too afraid to ask.
The flowing pants, collared shirt, cardigan, and flats Arden was wearing felt at once too casual and too stuffy. The rest of the family wore jeans and chunky pullover sweaters or sweatshirts. Kayla and Donna both wore artfully rumpled jeans that fit loosely and were cuffed at the ankle, Donna’s paired with a cream-colored cashmere sweater, a pearl necklace, and house slippers, Kayla’s with a UCLA sweatshirt and Ugg mini-boots. Arden wondered what Phoebe would have worn to this gathering. The same jeans as her mom and sister, no doubt. Arden could tell at a glance that those jeans cost more than she spent on groceries in a month.
Arden’s eyes kept flicking toward the gift she had brought for Donna. The gold-and-silver bag sat untouched on a side table. Why hadn’t Donna opened it? Shouldn’t she have opened it? Now it was sitting there, taunting Arden with its existence. What had she been thinking to buy a gift for a woman who lived in a house like this? The saleswoman at the adorable gift shop had cooed over Arden’s choice: a set of ceramic oil and vinegar bottles, dark green with swirls of blue, hand-painted by a local artist. Now it seemed impossibly presumptuous. As if Donna didn’t already have carefully chosen bottles for her oil and vinegar, probably much more tasteful ones that matched her kitchen decor. As if she wanted a reminder of Arden sitting on her counter. Arden, the random date her son had brought home. It was highly likely that Arden would never set foot in this house again—a small voice in her head wondered if Sam had invited her purely so he wouldn’t be the only single sibling at the festivities—but the oil and vinegar bottles would remain. Arden wished she could snatch the gift back and keep it for herself.
As the family chattered happily, Arden observed the way they served themselves, the words they used to ask someone to pass a dish.
Use the serving knife in the cream cheese bowl to put some cream cheese on your plate, then use your own knife to spread it on your bagel.
Pass the fruit salad, please, Alex.
She felt like enough of an interloper; she at least wanted to blend in.
Sam smiled at her as they both smeared cream cheese on their bagels. He’d chosen an everything bagel; she went with salt, afraid of getting poppy seeds stuck in her teeth.
“I’m glad you could make it.” His voice was low in her ear.
“Well, I did have a busy schedule, but I made it work. Santa Tell Me and Jingle Bell Run will just have to wait.”
“What are those?”
“The Hallmark movies I would be watching right now if I weren’t here.”
“Ah.”
“I’m really glad you invited me.” Arden felt herself relax as she said it, because it was true. So she was a little uncomfortable in such an unfamiliar environment. She was spending Christmas with Sam. The thought made her stomach swoop with excitement.
“Yeah?”
Arden nodded.
